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Lucent Heart, Divina closing on January 13
Free-to-play firm Gamania is closing down its Divina and Lucent Heart MMOs as of January 13th, 2013. The publisher posted a brief explanation on its beanfun! forums, citing an inability to renew its contracts with developer PlayCoo. "This decision happened very quickly and we wish we could give you more time, but unfortunately we could not," a Gamania representative said. The firm will not offer reimbursements for item shop purchases but is "looking into some sort of compensation for any player who still has beanpoints left on their account." [Thanks to Nuno for the tip.]
Massively Exclusive: Lucent Heart unleashes guild vs. guild
With Lucent Heart's Scaena expansion fast on the way, the developers have yet to run out of new and exciting features to share with the game's players. This week, it's all about pitting guild against guild in mortal conflict. Who will rise? Who will fall? And most importantly of all, who will be pwned and who will be leet? It seems as though Gamania is angling this expansion toward as wide an array of player types as possible, with not only GvG combat satiating the PvP crowd, but Scaena's custom dancing tools pleasing the fluff nuts and new bosses and zones appealing to the PvE questers. Today we have several exclusive pictures showing off Lucent Heart's guild vs. guild combat, as well as an in-depth look into this system from the developers after the jump! %Gallery-130977%
Exclusive: Lucent Heart's Scaena zones and bosses
If you were looking for something a little more "traditional fantasy" after Lucent Heart's music-and-dance routine video last week, then today's dev diary will suit your tastes. In it, the folks at Gamania have delivered to us an exclusive preview of the upcoming Scaena update's zones and bosses. The world of Acadia is being enhanced with the Witch's Cliff on the continent of Cropolis; the level 65-69 Heart of Fire in the lands of Fostyre; the crafting hub Minotsize, City of Industry; and the continents of Edea and Aislan. The dev diary also highlights two of the opponents that players can expect to encounter: the formidable God's Advocate in Mount Destiny and the scorpion-riding Medea in the Witch's Cliff. Hit the break for the full scoop, and check out screenshots of some of the bosses and zones in the gallery below.%Gallery-130977%
Exclusive: Lucent Heart shows off the Scaena expansion's dance moves
Anyone can win in a fight where your mettle is tested by firearms and swords, but Lucent Heart is pushing players to battle in the arena where true victories are forged: the dance floor. That's the central feature shown off in the new trailer for the upcoming Scaena expansion, in which characters will be able to create custom dances set to custom music and then fight for dominance on the dance floor in exchange for powerful new rewards. Yes, this a real thing. There's more to the expansion than just the opportunity to set your dance troupe on fire with a Nyan Cat-based dance routine. There are new guild-vs.-guild battles, new areas for players to explore, and new enemies for players to fight. But you don't have to take our word for it; the trailer is just past the break to show off all of the coming update's moves. (And the Nyan Cat dance is also a real thing, for the record.)
The Daily Grind: What do you think of MMO dating?
When we talk about MMO dating, we're not talking about the creepy guy in your guild who hits on all the female characters until you kick him out. No, we're talking about genuine dating, forming a relationship with someone and eventually asking the other person out on a date, possibly even in-game. Lucent Heart is unique in some ways because it offers a similar function baked in to the client, but nearly every longtime veteran has at least one story of the couple that met via the game and wound up in a happy relationship. On the one hand, if the key to making a relationship work is a shared interest, dating someone you meet via an MMO certainly seems like a viable approach. On the other hand, virtual relationships face a unique level of challenge even without introducing the possibility of a long argument over who should have rolled need on that last piece of gear. So what do you think about the idea of MMO dating? Is it a good idea with some problems or something that sounds nice but just doesn't work right? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Free for All: Going on a hot date with Lucent Heart
Lucent Heart has really gotten under my skin. While my recent schedule has not allowed me as much time in the game as I would liked, I have been poking around the official site and Facebook page and sneaking in a few quests here and there. I really enjoyed chatting with the devs from Gamania during E3, and they asked whether I'd a personal tour of the game afterwards. We were finally able to hang out for a while, and I captured a lot of it on video for your viewing pleasure. We decided to look at the Cupid system and a bit of a dungeon, but we could have gone on for a lot longer. The fact is that the game, like many of its foreign counterparts, simply packs more gameplay and new systems into every square inch of its design than many Western MMOs. With the Japanese version of Lucent Heart two years ahead of the U.S. version, more content is guaranteed. Click past the cut to check out my hot date with Mark, Product Manager of Lucent Heart, and to hear a bit more about the game!
Lucent Heart open beta starts next week
Current MMO mainstay got you down? Lucent Heart's North American open beta is almost here, the better to facilitate your massively multiplayer infidelity by adding yet another title to the stack of need-to-play icons on your desktop. June 21st is the big day, and Gamania is hosting a "no wipe" beta. That doesn't mean you won't be dying during the beta but rather that you'll get to keep your characters and progression when the service goes live. Lucent Heart's open beta will also feature Q&A sessions with the game staff and GMs, community competitions including Grand Prix races and battle of the sexes events, and numerous opportunities to fight off invading monster hordes. You can see the full event schedule at the official website, and don't forget to sign up for the open beta while you're at it. For more on Lucent Heart, see our first impressions as well as our coverage from this year's E3.
E3 2011: Lucent Heart's charming social experimentation
Recently, we took a look at Lucent Heart and found a game that was interesting but slightly confusing. Sure, the game offered some standard questing and interesting systems, but overall our experience barely scraped the surface. Described as a "social MMO," Lucent Heart features some very different systems that are normally only found in other community-heavy games like Nexon's Mabinogi. If someone plays it expecting only kill-10-rats-style gameplay, he will easily miss half of the appeal of the title. At this year's E3, we sat down with Gamania, publisher and developer of Lucent Heart, to clear up the details behind some of these... different systems. The publisher has 1,500 employees world-wide and is headquartered in Taiwan, with branch offices in Hong Kong, China, and Korea. The Japanese U.S. office started in 2009 and previously published a game called Hero 108, which is currently on hold pending a revamp. Click past the cut and see what we talked about!
First Impressions: Lucent Heart
Once again I have been tasked with taking a look at an upcoming or newly released MMO, this time one called Lucent Heart. The game has been brought to us by Gamania, the same company responsible for the adorable Hero 108. Each time I am asked to play one of these games and to report to you lovely readers what I found, I am a little frightened that the game will simply suck. Yes, I know, "suck" is not a very good descriptive term, and it does not quite detail exactly what I disliked about something, but if a game is just not meant for me, it can be hard to describe why. No, I did not just spoil my entire article for you by telling you how I felt about the game in one word (you should always read to the end anyway). I've described to you how scared I am of finding a game that does, indeed, suck. Lucent Heart does not suck. In fact, I was relieved to find a game that, like Iris Online, seems to offer the same overall wonderful experience that so many of these Anime-style, not-from-our-shores games seem to avoid. Of course, Lucent Heart has plenty of issues, so let me tell you about those as well. Click past the cut, will ya?
Lucent Heart asks: What's your sign?
Lucent Heart, the free-to-play anime-flavored MMO by BeanFun, takes a different approach to its combat-role system. Although you do find the classic trinity of tank, support, and DPS buried in the system somewhere, the roles are broken into the 12 signs of the zodiac. Each of the four base classes and all of the eight advanced classes can take on any of these roles. The Zodiac System adds enhanced flavor and strategy to the game. When Lucent Heart asks you, "What's your sign?" it's not trying to ask you out on a date. The developers of Lucent Heart gave Massively an exclusive break-down of each of the zodiac roles. For instance, those born under Sagittarius take on the classic DPS role. They hit hard and keep the damage coming. Sagittarius has its own special armor to help differentiate it from the other classes. Hop past the break to see the zodiac system exactly as the developers gave it to us. Then be sure to jump to the BeanFun forums for more information on how you can join beta testing.
