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Tree of Savior Q&A 13 on tradeable items, scouting, and more
Tree of Savior's latest English dev blog features some interesting gameplay nuggets, chief among them the binding/trading mechanics and the game's map system. Lead developer Hakkyu Kim says that all in-game items are freely tradeable, which differentiates ToS from many of its bind-on-equip or bind-on-pickup contemporaries. There is a catch, though, and it is that an item's Potential stat will decrease by one whenever it's traded. The map system generally shows the location of your party members but not other players. However, Scouts can "select a spot on the map to find out which players or enemies are there and share this info with party members." There's more to this week's dev blog, so click through the links below to give it a full read.
Tree of Savior delays closed beta, talks classes
Classes are the hot topic for this week's Tree of Savior community Q&A, with many of the questions concerning the different roles that players will assume in the upcoming title. The Q&A was coy on a few specifics, such as which class only has five skills, but was more open on other topics. The Alchemist was singled out as a class that synergizes well with crafting, the Wugushi was noted as a class with a strong poison bent, the Pardoner was shown to be a scroll-producing Cleric, and the Peltasta was revealed as a sword-and-shield fighter. For those hoping to get some beta action in this summer, we have bad news: It's been delayed. "We focused on the development so that we can launch CBT within this year's summer, but more time was needed than we had expected on the overall balancing of the game so we think CBT will be delayed a bit," the devs wrote.
Tree of Savior Q&A 10 talks item customization and more
Korean publisher Hangame has yet to announce whether or not Tree of Savior will be localized for the Western market, but developer Hakkyu Kim continues to post lengthy blog updates in English. So that's something. Q&A #10 is now live, and it details everything from item grades and set bonuses to jewelry additions and other attribute tweaks. Read all about it, and feast your eyes on some gorgeous game assets, on the official Tree of Savior blog.
Kingdom Under Fire II gets 2013 launch window in SE Asia
It's been a couple of years since we last heard about Kingdom Under Fire II, so it's good to check in with one of our neighborly MMOs to see... oh hey! You're launching! What are the odds that this would happen during a completely random house call? OK, so the good news is that Kingdom Under Fire II has been scheduled for a 2013 launch. Unfortunately, the bad news is that so far this release will be limited to Southeast Asia at first. Apparently developer BlueSide wants to see the game in action in that region first before rolling it out elsewhere. The title is a combination of action-RPG and real-time strategy, promises battlefields with "thousands" of soldiers fighting at once, and will be launching on the PC and PlayStation 3. [Thanks to Steparu for the tip!]
New Asta beta videos show off questing, races, and world events
The Asian-themed Asta: The War of Tears and Winds is currently in its first round of closed beta testing, and Steparu has posted a review of the upcoming title along with a number of gameplay videos. Although there are a number of playable races and classes to choose from, some classes can only be played by certain races, which start in their own specific areas. The game features the standard tab-targeting combat, with either point and click or WASD movement commands. For leveling, Asta offers a variety of quests, from collecting to killing to running errands; it even boasts open live event quests with multiple phases. Check out the landscapes and underwater aspects of questing around a port town in the clip after the cut. Then, for even more videos on the open world events and character creation for various races, head on over to Steparu.com.
Check out ten minutes of Asta game footage
The folks at Asta: The War of Tears and Winds are probably hoping that Mists of Pandaria players will crave even more Asian World of Warcraft action as evidenced by a new video that shows off the game's looks and combat. It's a lengthy 10-minute tour that begins with character creation (why are MMO characters so fidgety, anyway?) and progresses through several zones with an emphasis on battles, scenery, and East Asian designs. Asta's been in the making for quite some time now and features a gorgeous look powered by the CryEngine 3. Check out the new footage after the jump and see whether this might tempt you to put your current game down in the future. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!]
New Asta gameplay clips revealed at G-Star 2012
Just when you thought there couldn't be any more interesting MMOs hailing from Korea and this week's G-Star 2012 convention, along comes Asta. Actually the full title is Asta: The War of Tears and Winds, and it's a game we've had one eye on since 2011. MMO Culture calls it an "Asian World of Warcraft," and this is borne out in the new trailer and gameplay clips released today. Hangame has built Asta on the CryEngine 3, and the game eschews the new hotness of action MMO combat for a more traditional tab-targeting system. Get a load of some gameplay footage after the cut.
Korean gaming giants adjusting data collection policies
Changes are afoot in the Korean gaming industry in the wake of last month's massive Nexon hack that cost over 13 million MapleStory users their personal information. NCsoft has decided to stop collecting its players' Resident Registration Number (which is a Korean analog to the American Social Security number) due to concerns over privacy issues. Korean gamers will still need to fork over the number to play NCsoft games, though, according to a report at ThisIsGame.com. Players need only an email and password to register for the PlayNC portal, but the RRN may still be required to verify that new registrants aren't bots, and NCsoft has handed off the collection responsibilities to a third-party agency. "We have acknowledged the importance of personal information for a long time. So we have collected minimum personal information and have asked another agency to do the sensitive information work including the RRN on behalf of us," said an NCsoft official. ThisIsGame also reports that NHN Hangame has decided to stop collecting personal information, while Nexon and Neowiz are formulating new collection policies.
Hangame MMO accidentally deleted, shut down forever
There's a good chance you've never heard of M2, a small free-to-play MMO developed by Japanese company Sankando and operated by Hangame, and if it wasn't for a major misstep last month, your ignorance might've gone on indefinitely. Due to a recent accident, the MMO was deleted and won't be coming back. Ever. The story goes like this: On October 21st, M2 suffered a critical server issue and the game was taken offline to check it out. Unfortunately, the problem was widespread and the company could not restore the game's data from whatever backups it did or did not have. With no other option but to declare the title dead on arrival, Hangame posted an announcement that it somehow deleted an entire MMO and could not -- or would not -- restart it from scratch. Hangame has since apologized and is offering conditional refunds to affected players, who were undoubtedly miffed when the money they spent on M2's microtransactions went poof during one October night.
New TERA trailer boasts battlegrounds, bosses, and more [updated]
Fans of En Masse Entertainment's upcoming TERA action MMORPG are anxiously awaiting news of a North American beta and release date. In the meantime, Bluehole Studio and Hangame are gearing up for the title's Korean open beta, which is scheduled to begin on January 11th, according to a recently released trailer. The four-minute clip is crammed full of new footage, and in addition to the usual suspects of combat and harvesting, you can check out new bosses, destructible terrain, and what appears to be a type of capture-the-flag battleground scenario. Have a look at all the mayhem after the cut, and head to the official TERA forums for further discussion. [Update: We've replaced the Korean version of the trailer with the newly released English-language version. Enjoy!]
G-Star 2010: PS3 version confirmed for Kingdom Under Fire II
Rumors of a Playstation 3 version of Blueside's upcoming Kingdom Under Fire II MMORTS were confirmed at G-Star 2010 today. The game is a sequel to the Xbox-exclusive Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, and gameplay for the new title will be similar to Blueside's previous RTS efforts (albeit with a fleshed-out MMO component that includes online castle sieges and huge battles). Players will control characters and combat from a third-person perspective and can also draw on many different unit types in order to adapt to various situations and multiplayer tactics. Blueside says that Kingdom Under Fire II "will not only inherit all the merits of the previous action RTS [games]... but will also feature an enhanced game system that will allow players to experience immense tactical game play and intense action on an unprecedented [battlefield scale]."
G-Star 2010: From the show floor
With the booming popularity of Korean games in western culture, the G-Star convention in Busan, South Korea is quickly turning into an international event. We had an opportunity to attend the four-day convention to see the latest and greatest from Korean online gaming. Follow along after the jump as I describe my experiences on the first day of the convention, as well as take a look at what else you can expect as we go into days two, three and four.
New TERA character creation video debuts
En Masse Entertainment's Evan "Scapes" Berman has called our attention to a new TERA-centric video over on the game's official forums. The short, produced by the development team at Bluehole Studio in Korea, shows various changes made in the character creation process as a result of player feedback. "One of the key pieces of feedback we received was the desire for more character customization and this video shows one of the upcoming enhancements to TERA that allows players to customize the unique look of their character: more facial feature options and feature sliders to allow for custom modification," Berman writes. Jump directly to the video on the Hangame website, or access it via the official TERA forums.
Hangame and EA to bring Warhammer Online to Korea
There was a time when the western MMO market was flooded with imports of popular Korean titles. While there's still a steady influx of Asian games reworked to fit western playstyles, there's also a growing number of western MMOs being exported to Asia, particularly Korea. The obvious title that succeeds anywhere it goes is World of Warcraft, whose Asian following is legion. But smaller games have also been making inroads. EVE Online has been operating in China for years and Hellgate: London gained a new lease on life in Korea. They're not alone in this. Turbine has its eyes set on expanding into Korea with Lord of the Rings Online, and we know that Age of Conan is marching eastward, too. The latest successful western title to look east is Warhammer Online, which will soon be played in Korea as well. Electronic Arts and Hangame are partnering to bring WAR to South Korea. In a related press statement, Mythic's Mark Jacobs said, "By partnering with Hangame, we hope to provide Korean gamers with a fresh, new fantasy experience and years' worth of Realm vs. Realm adventures on the frontlines of WAR." You can see the full announcement about WAR's attempt to capture Korean gamers over at The Earth Times. Given how PvP-centric Korean MMOs tend to be, do you think Warhammer Online would be a natural fit for gamers in this market? Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
