Author Archive

Global Agenda Fiction – In Your Nearest Dome City

5 May 2011 | No Comments » | Ronix

EVE Online, probably the most visible sci-fi/futuristic MMO out there, has always benefited from the attention of gaming journalists and bloggers that are attracted to the various shenanigans going on in space. Needless to say, the actions of players are supported and granted additional meaning when you consider the cold, harsh universe that EVE has developed thanks to a successful combination of lore and game mechanics. This is further extended with the recent re-introduction of live events that rely on the same mix of lore and gameplay in order to engage players on a deeper level.

So, it is quite sad to see that other games in the genre, such as Global Agenda and Perpetuum, haven’t had the opportunity to devote resources for proper storytelling just yet. The lore of these games is largely static and only serves as a backdrop for the actions of users. The situation is somewhat remedied when you consider the various fiction submitted by fans. Set in the same world that players know and inhabit, these stories help develop the universe of a beloved game further.

Today, I’d like to give you a teaser for a story I wrote back in the beta days of Global Agenda. It was a competition created by fans for fans, and most of us were eager to participate. My entry started off as a short story that followed the template given to us – the Commonwealth has designed a powerful mech, the construction of which could endanger the livelihood of nearby agencies. However, the narrative quickly went off in a direction I never planned for it. The end-result was quite different to what I originally expected. Continue Reading

Global Agenda: Dome 49 is Going Down

18 April 2011 | 1 Comment » | Ronix

As you may know, Global Agenda has recently received a content update and also became fully free-to-play. This sort of transition from one business model to another can be a challenging process for most games. However, the guys at HiRez already have shown that they are not afraid to take risks and modify their game to match a new direction they have chosen. Plus, the structure of Global Agenda itself, with its lobby-type system and instance-based gameplay has somewhat eased this process.

It was slightly disappointing to see that, despite the injection of fresh blood from new players rushing in to check out the free-to-play update, the queue waiting times still remained relatively long. You would think with more people queuing for matches, the system would allocate teams faster. But, sadly, that is not the case. This seems to be an issue from the developer’s side, and I hope they address this problem in the near future.

The update brought a couple of new maps, a new dome defense raid, as well as class tree changes. Going by the official patch notes and my own merc experiences, the developers’ aim was to balance out certain deadlock scenarios that occurred during matches and put a bump in the otherwise fairly stream-lined gameplay. An example of this would be the changes done to the Medic’s Paingun. Originally, with the -50% speed debuff from the weapon, a good assault and medic combo could pretty much tear up any target they laid their hungry eyes upon. With the new patch, the speed debuff is only 30%, but the target also receives -20% less healing. This gives your victim an actual chance to escape and, at the same time, grants the Paingun additional utility. Yes, I say that having a Medic as my main. Still, it is way too early to tell how the revised specializations will affect gameplay in the long-term, so let’s just wait and see how things pan out.

The new Dome Defense Raid, or DDR as some like to call it (not to be confused with Dance Dance Revolution), is probably the most exciting addition to the game. Not only does it give us cool targets to pew-pew at, but it also adds a layer of immersion to the setting of Global Agenda. With the introduction of the new raid, Dome City no longer seems to be just a glorified lobby. When you see it being invaded, you can’t help but feel that it is an actual place of habitat, set in the middle of a desert and surrounded by enemies.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Then a video must be worth a few thousand at least, and that’s why I’m including a video of a Dome Defense Raid I did with a random group of fellow agents. Watch us badly screw-up, get blown to pieces, and my robo trying to get a better look at the action, instead of minding his nest.

Click through to watch.

Continue Reading

Launch Battlestar Galactica Online? – Y/N

11 April 2011 | 4 Comments » | Ronix

Fans of MMOGs set in space can (sort of) rejoice – yet another contender for their time and attention has entered the ring. Battlestar Galactica Online is a browser-based MMOG, currently in open beta, set in an alternative universe of a popular IP of the same name. Brought to life by Bigpoint, in conjunction with Artplant, the game was developed using the Unity Engine. Is BigPoint’s new title a relevant entry in the increasingly popular space setting and does it do justice to the IP it is based on? Read on to get some initial impressions.

The first thing you notice is that the title looks great for a browser game. You can witness some really nice art assets, as well as imaginative and vivid portrayals of space. Gameplay systems present in BGO are pretty standard for an MMOG. You get your quests from NPCs located inside the stations scattered throughout the game world.  The main storyline arc is driven through special missions, but players can opt to skip them altogether and dive straight into gameplay and exploration. However, once the main line of quests is over, you are left to grind only a handful of daily missions. Doing this can quickly get repetitive, so skipping the main narrative isn’t recommended.

However, PvE isn’t the only experience that BGO has to offer.

Continue Reading

Introducing TERA: Spells and Honor

23 March 2011 | No Comments » | Ronix

Welcome back to a series that aims to get you acquainted with all things TERA. In our last entry, we covered the melee classes available in the game. Today, we are going to introduce the rest of the crew: 1 ranged class, 1 caster class and 2 support professions.

Archers represent the ranged melee class in this game. Being skilled in both medium and short ranged attacks, combined with the ability to manipulate traps, makes them a challenging opponent, similar to Warriors in their ability to stay flexible and change their tactics when necessary.

In PvP, Archers can afford to stay back concentrate on harassing healers and helping bring down focused enemy targets. Should the opponents get too close for comfort, you have a couple of tools to slow them down and buy you the chance to get escape. Traps remain invisible for enemies, usually produce AoE damage and a have various status alignments associated with them.

The ranged caster class is represented by the Sorcerer, who is the primary magic damage dealing class in TERA. Just like in other games, Sorcerers rely on keeping their distance from enemies while unleashing a ton of damage when the opportunity arises. Control wise, if you’ve played a similar class before, things will feel familiar but also slightly more intense, as you will have to exercise precision when timing and aiming your attacks.

Continue Reading

Introducing TERA: Blood and Guts

15 March 2011 | No Comments » | Ronix

It’s been a while since we’ve covered TERA, and I figured it’s time to change that. This time, we talk about an important choice you will make at the start of the game – your calling. The game features 8 classes: 4 melee, 1 ranged, 1 caster and 2 support. Today, we are going to cover the melee classes and their associated gameplay styles. So, if you like getting up close and personal with your enemies, read on.

First off, we have Lancers who are the main tanks of the game and are able to have the best protective equipment, as well as the ability to protect allies with their shields. They are a melee class, but due to the length of the spears they carry, they can easily attack from medium range. Due to particle collision in the game, your shield isn’t just a fancy piece of gear that you wear to impress ladies, but also a vital tool you have to rely on in order to prevent damage both to yourself and to the allies behind you.

In between blocks, you’ll also be making active use of the various taunts and guards available in order to keep aggro. When the going gets tough, expect to add a dash of offence skills as well. The Lancer brings reliability and survivability to the party. Skillful tanks in other games will feel right at home with this class.

We also have Slayers who use greatswords to maximize the reach of their swings, and are a melee class geared for fighting groups of enemies at once, while still being able to dodge enemy blows. Slayers do not have ‘spike’ damage like their cousins Berserkers, but they do make up for it with their versatility. This class has a wide range of skills for AoE damage, but can also utilize a couple of abilities that focus on a single enemy. Continue Reading

Forsaken World: Final Impressions and the Bottom Line on Whether You’ll Like It

10 March 2011 | 7 Comments » | Ronix

You can’t really argue that Perfect World Entertainment has quite a share of the free-to-play MMO-market in the West. The company’s stable of titles includes the likes of the ever popular Perfect World, Jade Dynasty, Battle of the Immortals and even the upcoming online version of Torchlight. Pretty much all titles are quite rich in the content offered, but over time, players have noticed that most of the games tend to look and play very similar, despite some major differences.

Forsaken World is PWE’s biggest title to date, with the project being the most costly undertaking in terms of finance and time. The game certainly has some genre staples, but also teases us with some of its more unique features. Does Forsaken World do justice to the company’s effort or is it yet another all too familiar endeavor? You’ve seen all our coverage to date — now read on for the bottom line.

When starting your character, we are offered a choice of five races – Humans, Elves, Kindred, Stonemen and Dwarves. The choice to restrict class choices for different races seems like an odd one. Currently, players who like Dwarves can only be Marksmen, and Stonemen can only be Protectors. Maybe it’s just me, but I like freedom and having the option to play the game my way, rather than developers telling me how to do it.

Visually, Forsaken World is a bit of a mixed bag. At times, the game looks truly impressive with some cool spell effects and imaginative environments, and the new engine can display some nice landscapes and scenes. This, however, makes some of the graphical weaknesses stand out even more. Characters look like they were a product of an inferior engine, and the game could use some variation in the animations of starter skills. At least character customization is decent (for a free-to-play title), and pretty soon I found the look my new Elven Bard would go for. You should note that you can wear two types of equipment in Forsaken World – one for stats and one for fashion. The best thing about this system is that you get the choice what set will appear on your character and what will be counted towards your stats. Continue Reading

Forsaken World – It’s interview time!

9 March 2011 | No Comments » | Ronix

Recently, Perfect World Entertainment announced that Forsaken World will be launching on the 9th of March (today!). As you may know, the Lore Hound crew has been checking the game out for some time, and you can see for yourself what we think of it so far. By the looks of it, we got at least a couple of you interested in checking this title out. For those of you who want more of an insider look at the game, we bring you an interview with Clifton Chu, Product Manager of Forsaken World. Today, we get some more details on the game and its features, Twong gets his question answered and we find out whether those damn Vampires really don’t sparkle.

For those that haven’t been following our coverage of Forsaken World, can you give us a quick synopsis of the MMORPG (in three or so sentences)?

Forsaken World is Perfect World Entertainment’s first game built from the ground up with the western audience in mind. Players can look forward to a darker, fantasy driven game with Dwarves that are more steam punk than drunk, Vampires that don’t sparkle and Stonemen, living, breathing forces of nature.

The beta phase has been pegged as the main reason to the early launch. What made you decide to launch two weeks ahead of schedule?

This has been our largest and longest closed beta to date and thanks to our active closed beta community, we were able to finish localization and polishing the game ahead of schedule. Given that Forsaken World has been our most anticipated game to date, we figured; why not launch two weeks ahead of schedule if the game is ready?

What kind of feedback has been the most unexpected or interesting?

We’re very fortunate to have such a dedicated and loyal fan base where they will try a new game and give feedback on not only what’s wrong, but how to fix it. One of the features that wasn’t originally planned for launch, but was requested by our players was the addition of the auction house. The auction house system was suggested by our players, and the developers were able to integrate that feature for closed beta testing as well as for launch.

Did anything that community members mentioned cause a major change or rethinking?

There’s always room for improvement in games and with MMOs, it’s more of a service than end product where we are constantly tweaking and improving features based on player feedback. Since Forsaken World was built with the western audience in mind, one thing that we weren’t expecting was the positive feedback we received from our Asian players who really liked some of the features that we implemented, and this is something we’ll keep in mind across all of our games. Continue Reading

Black Prophecy – Cinematic Tutorial and Basics

7 March 2011 | No Comments » | Ronix

Welcome back to the second entry in the video series covering Black Prophecy. Check out the introduction post for more information on the title and a quick look at the character creator. This time, join me in this video as we get through the cinematic tutorial, explore combat and gameplay mechanics, as well as go over the interface.