I remember simple fun. Simple fun was 4 player Bomberman chaos. It was fighting over rupees in Zelda Four Swords. Lately, simple fun has been Spiral Knights. Simple 4 player co-op MMO fun. ^^ Official Site is here. Trailer below.

Spiral Knights’ features read more like a blacklist than a whitelist. No classes. No races. No XP. No leveling up. No skill trees or skills… and you know what.. ..that’s just fine. ^^ I wasn’t playing Spiral Knights looking for a ‘deep meta-game’ that would ‘encourage efficient micro’. I wanted some good old sofa style co-op. Hell, you can play the whole game one-handed with just the mouse! I was eating ice-cream while playing most of the time (ice-cream yay! o^^o).

Essentially, run around dungeons together with your friends hackin’ n’ slashin’ your way through monsters while solving simple puzzles and dodging traps together. Combat roles are defined only by what gear you equip. Anyone can play anything provided they have the items (and there is only a sword or a gun so even here it’s bare bones roles). There is still the joy of collecting phat lootz and crafting new items. Gear does have a sort of ‘meta level’, but it maxes out at 10 and you get there so quickly that we rarely paid any attention to it. As a side note, the less griefing that is possible in an online game the better. While griefing in Four Swords was sometimes funny, it was largely due to you being able to lean over and punch the culprit right afterwards, then get on with defeating Ganon. In an online environment, removing any potential for griefing at all is paramount as it helps focus everyone on getting on with choppin’ monsters and collecting loot. Short of someone AFK’ing, Spiral Knights has this nailed.^^b

There is also a larger macro level of co-op taking place in Spiral Knights. All players on the server are ultimately working together to unlock new mine shafts (dungeons) allowing us all to delve deeper into the earth. Mine shafts are unlocked by players depositing minerals down them which are acquired from their adventures. The combination of minerals used to unlock shafts affects their alignment with certain para-elements, which ultimately alters their content. Realworld time-of-day also affects what dungeons you might encounter as you progress downward (the world beneath the surface is shifting), so there is a good chance of seeing a lot of variety provided you don’t have a 7:30 bedtime (next year ima stay up to 8:30! ><).

Must give a mention to the excellent business model they are running using a free ‘energy system’. All players are given a free amount of energy each day which will let you do 10 dungeons soaking roughly 2+ hours of your time. Crafting items also costs energy, but is directly proportional to the level of item being crafted.  Dying may also cost you a tiny bit if no teammates can rez you, but essentially the game can be played unhindered for a few hours a night (more than enough for me in my lifestyle). Anything beyond the relaxing few hours a day though (or higher level gameplay) will eventually tempt you to purchase energy in bulk. It is an elegant implementation of a system I have seen executed very poorly in the past (not to mention names, a spaceship game where a collected fuel resource was required to move and shoot.. but moving used fuel so, it was a loop of searching to collect fuel, to search, to collect fuel.. ..and never get to shoot anything ever -_-).

Honestly, Spiral Knights is probably a little too simple for my tastes. Even at late game, there appears to be little customisation and what I would call “stimulating challenge”. As a way to enjoy killing a few hours at night occasionally with friends though, it certainly ponied up. It makes me wonder at the direction a lot of online MMO’s seem to be taking lately. Maybe there is finally a realisation that the generation which birthed and played the graphical MMO genre as students, have no less passion to play them nowadays but simply less time.  Well, it did feel nice to have a sort of virtual sofa where we could collect and sit together again, running mindlessly around whacking anything that moved without fear of consequence. Simple free fun. o^^o

Is it a coincidence that just as I’ve been getting back into bullet-hell shooting games again, I stumble upon a bullet-hell shooter MMORPG?.. :D

The game is Valkyrie Sky. Website is here. Trailer below.  Take a moment to watch the trailer and clean your brains off the wall.

Before you get too excited about this I should mention a disclaimer. This game is being cancelled on December 14th, 2010 (the Japanese version has already been cancelled and not sure about the Korean version yet). I will cry in the fetal position later, but for now, the gameplay!

Q: “What score would you give this game?”

A: “Yes!”

Touhou Project (or insert your favourite Cave shooting game here) + WoW. That about sums it up. Levelling up, finding material drops, crafting gear, collecting phat lootz, fishing, cooking.. You’re basically playing WOW in between missions, then hitting up some crazy Espgaluda shooting action as the core gameplay instead of killing murlocs.

Was most impressed with how introducing classes to a bullet-hell shooter enriched the experience, and didn’t feel shoe-horned. It’s not simply, “you do more damage with your chain lightning than I did with my +1 sling”. While gear & stat related damage, crits and class skills are already interesting additions, it was how each individual class demanded a different playstyle from the player that I found enchanting. Mage typecasts have great AOE for cleaning up the small stuff, warriors actually have to weave patterns to engage in melee and hunters do high DPS to single targets (good for boss fights). This encourages good synergy when raiding in a party.

Wait.. raiding?.. wtf?! I’m raiding in a bullet-hell shooter?! Yep, up to 4 people in 1 stage battling their way to the boss for ‘phat loot dropz’. Obviously party class balance is important. I was also concerned about losing sight of  my character amongst party members, but an elegant solution is in place for this. When layering over the top of each other, all party members dissapear except for their weapon (staff, sword, bow) leaving my character clearly as the only visible one left. Playing a bullet-hell shooter with more than 2 people, (that has had effort go into balancing and role creation) was really a unique experience. It’s like “raidin’ in Raiden”. Yeah.. I went there.

PvP looks fairly unique as well. Both of you are essentially bosses flinging spectacular attacks at each other in what usually pans out as an epic Boss vs Boss battle. Vid below has a nice example of PvP with a Swordsman vs Summoner. Skip to 1:55 if you want to see the battle fairly heated up.

I can’t help but feel RPG’s have all but moved on from their classic menu-driven models now. Taking Final Fantasy as a model example of the past, nowadays you can do almost anything BUT select Magic->Firaga from a menu to enjoy the RPG experience. Shooting stuff in Mass Effect or Fallout, matching gems in Puzzle Quest or weaving in a bullet-hell shooter blends the RPG genre with almost anything now. That input for the ‘combat aspect’ has been revealed to be arbitrary. It’s that experience of.. well, ‘gaining experience’ and story progression which makes RPGs fun. Levelling, crafting, getting new gear, defeating the villian… who cares what my method of input is for doing these things anymore. I mean, at least I’m not just selecting skills from some sort of drop down menu and…. oh…. ^^;

And now the sadness. :( A game aiming at such a niche market crossover as “bullet-hell shooter + MMORPG + PC” clearly needs to have an equally modest scope for its projected player base. I don’t believe you can spend big budget MMORPG dollars on this and expect a return, no matter how good the game is. This looks like a pretty well funded game..  can almost feel a ‘suit’ somewhere in the background tapping their fingers and staring at their watch saying, “Well, we spent $10mil on this, where’s our 100,000 players?” Need to weigh the cost of the game against it’s potential appeal. From what I understand, the stamina system also drove away many players (when you lose stamina you can’t do missions anymore. Must grind fishing/cooking just to run missions else buy Premium food). I am stunned that a game which would already face problems with building initial interest would choose to exacerbate the problem with a stamina system as their main revenue model within their micro-transactions.

While I don’t know the financial specifics, I would suspect that less staff making this with no 3D world, just a lobby screen to enter missions/PvP & manage crafting/gear funded on 50% of the budget might still be running their servers (would be happy for anyone to post more information in the comments. very interested as to what happened.).. It’s a shame, as the core gameplay is really good fun. >_<

Gaze upon what was. :(

Warrior Epic

After the initial tutorial, buying a hero and leveling it up, getting Prestige points to furthermore buy new characters has made me think of the DIABLO versions of the game.
Feels very much like Diablo, could be a new source for Diablo fans.

Each character has their own traits, skill points to pump and advantages and disadvantages.

Within the game, after the party and mission has been selected, if you are to die 3 times in a row, you become a spirit. Your spirit can be either revived in your Sanctuary at the Hall or bound to your equipment. This means.. if you die 3 times in a game, you loose the xp earned that means you are a bit QQ”.. have to spend some Prestige Points to revive it. During combat, you can use health pots and other pots, but to get these, you require to spend REAL CASH for these, which, i find it kinda ok. If you want to spend money to be the king, go for it.. but, for me.. i’d just play for its enjoyment factor.

There’s quite a few maps, missions, PVP, PVE and unfortunately, alot of noobs.
ie.. You are level one.. u dont run towards lvl 40 creeps thinking you can survive, just cause your lvl 40+ character is running you. Hahahaha..

After leveling a bit, found some interesting similarities..
High leveled pplz, running lowbies thru what seemed like a BAAL run.
From level 1, i got up to lvl 10 in 2 games.. .. wow..

You can sell your characters for ‘Gold’ (payed credits) so that you can buy items in the Item Shop.

It feels really nostalgic, hm.. diablo..

Angels Online

From the producers that brought us Myth Wars, proudly presents Angels Online

This seems to be a fun, grinding game. The fun factor is all about the numbers (which, as i am concerned, i aint having fun)

I would leave my computer connected on just farm fishes or farm meat for my Chef professions.

ahahaahah

This is how it looks @ further Lvls..

But, as of right now, I look like this.

I’m inside a bucket / barrel and I have an arm that comes out and hits the monsters… w00t!

ahahahha…
But, imo, this feels like a heavily inclined grinding game.

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Rusty Cog Archive: 25/01/08

Wow… its been some time since either Bre3ze or I have posted a FREE MMORPG review, so.. here I will start off the ball rolling again.

I’ve stumbled upon Scions of Fate.. which was said to be released February, however, last year, when both Bre3ze and I found it.. it was still being translated into english from either Korean or Japanese.

Being bored as per usual and having internet *snicker @ Bre3ze* .. i decide to have another look to see if it was working and could be joined.

So.. here it is.. i’ll give u screenies and other stuff once i’m in game.

From the website found here @ Scions of Fate it is meant to be a Casual Action MMORPG.. What is this ‘casual’ meaning? I hope to find out more in detail.

It even comes with a warning

Hahahaaha.. damn, so those long hours of playing games are more harmful to my body than smoking? really?? .. nah.. ask Maung if gaming for multiple hours are Harmful for the body?

I can tell u more after a few hours of gameplay.. or if this was like Xiah.. probably about 20 mins or less…

This has got to be the BEST bug fix in the whole game..

2. Fixed the swear filter which didn’t allow players to type “hello.”

“Hello… how are you?” => “#$%#$… how are you”

hmm.. great.. ..

So.. another game utilising Pet system.. hmm.. coool!!!
Also, it has what seems to be a HARD TO UNDERSTAND enchantment system, where you need not only 35K gold but, you might also need some Ruby’s and other small minerals and items to make your sword or equipment more powerful. Woo..

Woo.. seems like a nice game..
hmm.. screenies..

Its soo cute and bubbly.. but i couldn’t create FEMALE character.. and someone took MONKE.. o m f g .. who takes my nick? grr.. they should be shot.. or deleted..

Meh.. oh well.. have to think of something more “Original” then..

Thats me, just started.. looks cute and bubbly!!

This is after 1 hour of pure grinding and geting KS’ed like hell in there!! damn.. Final blow = get item if any drops.. grrr.. (I HATE KSer’s)

Oh, btw.. a HIGHBIE.. and his sweeeet TIGER ride.. wah.. archer .. soo geng lah!!

Its a very ASIAN feel to this game.. (i wonder why.. )
hmm.. music is good.. and gets a bit on your nerves after the intial 10 minutes of the game, but besides that.. Techno Music and this game.. is good to grind with!

Alright.. found a minor flaw in this game..

Well.. its not really a flaw.. its more of a Pay To REALLY PLAY kinda flaw..

hahaahaha.. upon reaching my lvl 10.. and wanting to get a PET to play with, i did the quests to get a pet.

However, looking at the server, there aren’t alot of people with pets and even less that are really high level. Then, upon reading the forums to find out how to catch and keep a pet, it says something along the lines of

You need about 5 Million Gold to buy a pet from a Player, then 500, 000gold more to buy a Blossom Charm or something from a NPC which will realign its loyalty towards the current player OR you can spend NCash of 15,000 or somewhere like that to buy a new pet from EGG form.

And reading more into this..
$1USD => 1,000 NCash

Damn, it was going to be a good game, till the point where items dont really drop much, Quests dont give you Gold, but gives u Bronze / Silver / Gold Chests, which contain RANDOM items upon opening it.

Grinding is one of the key ways to level up with only major quests at every 3 or 4 levels in between.

Hahahaaha.. it would seem that there are alot of level 1′s to level 30′s around, but only a few higher levels. It requires alot of grinding to gain levels and quests dont give you EXP, but gold and chest boxes or Items (depending on the quests and from whom)

Nevertheless, i will still continue to play this game, because of the cute and bubbly sequences and as a healer, I’m kinda pawning my health to monsters which i can heal back and heal other players.

You always need a healer in your party, right?

A very nicely done Diablo and WoW game.. comes.. a FREE game called Dungeon Runners

The voice within the game is exceptional, the movements are pretty simple, based off the WASD movement keys..

The action is very Diablo like, click click click etc..etc..

The questing seems rather easy.. just fight certain monsters at certain locations.. for rewards and exp and something new called Kings Gold. Where, upon further examination of the Kings Gold.. its like a token that can be traded for special items or upgrades.

After about 1hour of gameplay, learning the few basics.. the key strokes.. and realising that it doesn’t lag as bad as some games.. you need to RESET the instance if u want the kreeps to respawn. Also.. at the town, u have to click on join party, so other pplz in your party will be in the same realm as you. Very diablo like, where its one VS the creeps.. or .. pplz in a party VS creeps..

The inventory is a pain, very much like making things in D2 fit together.. so u can increase the capacity of your inventory.

It would prove to be better for you to PAY 2 PLAY.. for the extra items and minor server issue’s, however, i’ll be happy with the Free2Play version..

Hmm.. makes me wanna grab out my D2 and play that again!!
*~Yells~* Baal Run 021.. lets go!!! *~Yells~*

oh.. happy days!!

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Rusty Cog Archive: 30/08/07

Dream of Mirror Online a.k.a. DOMO

So.. i was looking around the other week for a game we could try and play (nevertheless, found ZU online), but.. this had tickled my fancy.

This site, Planet Rakion, my friend told me about this funky new game.. DOMO..

So, after finally getting the package down and installed.. i gave it a go, then damn.. had to patch it, which.. .. was slow on my end.

But, long story short.. If you wanna get to knoe the game, go to Planet Rakion and have a look @ that guys post. I just post some screenies and what i think are good/krap about this game.

So.. yeah.. there are beautiful cut scenes, but.. sometimes slow.. but nevertheless, having a cut scene in a game makes it feel more.. .. personally.. and probably alot better than just text text text fight fight.. text text text.. fight fight.. now.. whats the story plot again? mwahahaha

Cut – Scenes

Photo Opportunities (it actually tells you that if you want a good screenshot.. of your character with this npc, stand here.. do this.. and wala..)

As the post from RAKION mention previously.. yeah.. they are all pretty bigger than me.. even the MONSTERS

Oh, btw.. a nice combo system.. when u match the combo crystals together.. u get something.. i have no idea..

I was standing here, taking a screeny, when all of a sudden i could heart the beating noises of a heart.
It turns out that your ‘computer matched in-game True Lover’ could be there, where you have to party with them and level up your intimacy bla bla bla.. to get points to get some uber prizes or LOVE EGG.. or something like that.

Hmm.. strange huh.. but.. this kinda pushes u towards meeting others and playing with others.

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Rusty Cog Archive: 06/02/08

Ok, the new game for trial time is what we have called ‘syntax error’.. lol..

no, only i get syntax error.. but.. the game is called “Tales Weaver”..

After watching a TV commercial, in Japan by Br33ze, he told me of a new kool game thats been out of some time.. (wow.. i’m soo contradicting myself) .. but back to the ball …

“Tales Weaver (Japanese/Korean Only)”

Hmm.. there are many forums out there trying to help the Non JP or Korean languaged people to understand this game to the full content.

However, only Br33ze has played it, and he’s not telling me much, cause.. i want to Experience it the Monke way.. (which will be uber nub) .. lol..

A Very Ragnarok feel to this game.. judging from the Screenshots….

It does posses an Unique battle system, where Linking of different Skills are supposibly more Rewarding for both the Game and the User Views.
There are quests for both the Character and Normal Plots.. which indicates to me that u will learn from both the character and how the world moves around you.. but.. i have to LvL up my Japanese ofcourse to fully understand and appreciate this beautiful game..

My Minor warning is .. that.. well.. the D/L is about 1.41gbs.. which means 400mbs of that is for Movies and Sound files (beautiful background music)

Hmm.. Kut-si-fied attacking creatures, backgrounds, damn.. my CPU could choke a bit during the first few minutes of every new map.. lol

Well.. at least its good.. i dont need to be uber Jap to play this because theres an english translation to the site called: Talesweaver.org

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Rusty Cog Archive: 30/11/06

It’s cute, it’s addicitve, it’s free. Free. FREE.
Feel free to check out Nostale (it’s in english) but don’t say I didn’t warn yous. Cutesfy.

Carries some interesting systems, including pets, item/weapon upgrades and synthesis and a plot that actually progresses. A PLOT! Complete missions to uncover the story and make your way through the Acts. Learn, discover, explore more.

Go on.. ^.^

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Rusty Cog Archive:  12/10/06

So you’re sick of playing the same MMORPG’s?.. where there’s no story, and you run around grinding levels until.. well, until you get sick of it.

No more excuses from you people. Think you can do better?.. then do it… here.

This shit is scary… the potential something like this has to take off. Thousands of people, DM’ing thousands of dungeons and worlds for us to play in. The company claims the editing tools are as simple or complex as you want them to be. And while people are exploring your scenario, you can be in there triggering traps, or providing the shopkeeper with a more ‘human’ voice. No more, “Welcome to Corneria.” :D The ability to create, play, and watch your own MMORPG story unfold, and share it with others.

Could the Free Trial hold back this MMORPG Scenario Editor’s wider appeal though?.. The trial only allows for selection from a palette of lower level creatures, and you may only test drive the scenario yourself. I could turn off some people from trialling it at all…

“Power to the players”?… shit, power to the DM’s! ^.^

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Rusty Cog Archive: 24/10/06