rise-and-shiny
Latest
Rise and Shiny recap: Pocket Legends and Star Legends
This week my job was a bit harder than it usually is. This week I had to revisit Pocket Legends and Star Legends, the entirety of the Spacetime Studios lineup, in order to catch the updates and differences since both games were recently adapted to play within the Chrome browser. See, the device that you play an MMO on does make a difference. While I haven't found many players who have an issue with moving up to a finer machine with a larger screen, I almost always receive a few comments in any of my mobile MMO columns about the lack of fun involved with playing anything on a screen that will fit in your hand. While I understand the difficulty in downgrading your monitor size, the mobile market's reception of Pocket Legends surprised even the developer. People are playing it, for many hours, on screens that are very small. But now we have the ability to play it in our browser. Does it make a difference in the experience? Click past the cut and I'll let you know.
Rise and Shiny recap: Fantasy Online
This week I decided to check out Fantasy Online, an extremely indie browser-based MMORPG by Pixelated Games. I've had my eye on it for a while but hadn't yet taken a chance on it. I liked the 8bit style of the game, but to be honest there are so many 8bit stylings going on right now (could it be more hip?) that it sort of all blends together into one pixelated mess. I have a buddy who makes 8bit music, t-shirts have featured 8bit designs for a while, and entire generations of gamers who never played the original games that the style is based on are diving head-first into the world of primitive graphics. Let's just say it's very popular. What are the advantages of making a game that looks like it came from 1985? Someone once pointed out to me that an indie developer might have an easier time making a game that doesn't require state-of-the-art graphics. Good point. 8bit is sort of instant indie cred, as well. Just ask Notch of Minecraft fame. Fantasy Online is more than just 8bit graphics, though, so allow me to fill you in on the details. Click past the cut!
Rise and Shiny recap: Revisiting Mabinogi
If you've kept up with my columns for a while, it should be no secret that I think Mabinogi is still one of the best games out there. While it does have its issues, the game simply presents more sandboxy goodness to players (while keeping those systems coming) than almost any game I can think of. In fact, the game has added so much since I started this column that a returning player can get confused. A new player might even become lost. I like to officially dip my toes into old, familiar games once in a while. Checking back on these games from my past is a great way for me to get my gamer's bearings and see how my opinions might have changed. Mabinogi has been calling to me for a while because I haven't really jumped into it for that long over the past few months. I figured now is the time. Click past the cut!
Rise and Shiny Recap: Evony
Yes, you read the title correctly. This week I revisited Evony. But don't worry -- I tend to write about a game's gameplay and how it made me feel, not the politics surrounding it, especially during a time when people are talking more about an instance of poor taste in lieu of a discussion about how fun the game is. In other words, I will only speak about the infamous Evony ads at the end of this column. if you want more opinionated stuff, check out our Soapbox column! I knew going in that the game had changed since I last played it. I also knew that it would not blow me away as far as gameplay is concerned, simply because I have played scores of MMORTS games over the last year. But what did I find? What was good and bad about the game? And what about those ads? Click past the cut and we'll chat about it.
Rise and Shiny recap: Ultima Online
This might sound silly, but my life is super rough. Well, OK, hardly rough at all, and I'm eternally thankful for that. But once in a while, a feeling of burn-out starts to creep into my everyday gaming life, and I need to take a vacation from the constant search for new titles and trolling through gaming forums to recharge my batteries. It might sound completely dorky, but I can understand how actors can seem so insane: They are. Sometimes you just need to play a good, juicy role to reset your creative self. There are certain games that we can always go back to, games that will instantly provide a feeling of nostalgia for those of us who have played them before. Ultima Online is one of those games, and it might just be the perfect example of a game that we can use as comfort food for our restless gamer hearts. So I spent an official week taking a look at the game (again) and found about what I'd expect. Click past the cut!
Rise and Shiny recap: MagicDuel
My job is to hunt down unique and hopefully exciting new games for my readers to try. Some actually try them, and others just enjoy reading about their choices and might try them later. Either way, I am proud to show off some of the gems I find, but I am a little sad when I have to say, "This game sucks." And MagicDuel, an odd browser-based MUD sort of game, sucks. Of course I will need to explain this to you or I'll risk coming off of some sort of buffoon who does not know how to navigate a simple point-and-click adventure, so click past the cut and I will tell you why.
Rise and Shiny recap: Glitch
Ah, so we meet at last, Glitch. I have been looking forward to playing this game for a long, long time. Possibly decades. All right, not decades... but there is something familiar about the game, something that feels homey and warm and nice. What is it? Perhaps I will find out soon. Before I get all gushy about the wonderful world of giants, I need to explain why I think it is important for the genre, not just for me. Glitch is like Minecraft, not in its dynamic or design but in the obvious impact it is having and will more than likely continue having on its particular genre. Actually, it has already had this type of effect on gaming in general, but not quite at the level of Minecraft. Yet. Click past the cut and I'll gush some more.
Rise and Shiny recap: Kultan
Bigpoint's latest browser-based game is called Kultan, and it's a game that does plenty to show that the developer is continuing to push the boundaries of what a browser and the Unity engine can do. It's always comforting to have somewhere to point people when they ask, "A browser MMO? What's that?" I imagine that Bigpoint is not planning on stopping anytime soon, and Kultan will take its place as one of the rungs in a very tall ladder. How important will Kultan be considered in the future of Bigpoint's portfolio? In some ways, very important. In other ways, I can see it losing itself in an endless line of kill-10-rats grinders, but we'll talk more about that. Click past the cut and let's cover the details.
Rise and Shiny recap: Starjack Online
This week I had the chance to dive into the universe of Starjack Online, a game of 4X strategy. While I have read that the X refers to explore, expand, exploit and exterminate, I say we should include a fifth X called "extreme occasional frustration for a number of reasons." OK, so maybe not... that's a little long. Still, the game does pull a player in for a number of reasons as well. Want to know those reasons? Good! Click past the cut and we'll get right to exploring this indie free-to-play game based in the harsh, cold realities of space!
Rise and Shiny recap: Crystal Saga
There's a lot to be said for automation. Thanks to automated processes, our society hums along more nicely than it ever has. But should we include our playtime on the list of things we want to automate? Is it possible to enjoy something like an MMO if we really don't control it at all? If we assemble our army men and wind them up, is watching them go as much fun as controlling what they do? Ah, such deep questions stemming from such a simple game. Crystal Saga is a browser-based, free-to-play, Flash-based MMORPG (there's a mouthful) that allows players to do a lot of things, including fully automate the grinding process. I can hear the potential comments already, so click past the cut and let me explain it more.
Rise and Shiny recap: Face of Mankind, a revisit
I'm not exactly sure why I am such a glutton for punishment, but over the last week I thought it would be a good idea to revisit Face of Mankind, an MMOFPS that pushes roleplay and politics in its description. I had already known from my previous experience that roleplay was pretty much non-existent and that the crowd was made up largely of typical MMOFPS or PvP types, but I have a rule to always give games second, third and sometimes fourth chances. It's a simple fact that many of them, especially independent ones, take a long time to grow and mature into the games they always should have been. So how has Face of Mankind matured? How has it grown? I have to be honest with you and tell you that the game surprised me in some ways this time around. Perhaps it was because I was already familiar with the controls and layout, but click past the cut and let me tell you all about it.
Rise and Shiny recap: LEGO Universe
Ah, LEGO. Who in this world was unfortunate enough to grow up without the wonderful plastic bits of imagination? I remember specific types of LEGO, from the hinged legs of the minifigs to the more advanced gears and pistons of the Technic sets. We used to build great long space battleships, similar to the ones you might see in Star Blazers, and we would run down the hall at each other, smashing them into hundreds of wonderful hard plastic pieces. LEGO built my childhood and was as important to me as destroying wasp's nests and building forts. Of course, girls moved to the top of the list pretty soon after that. So when I heard about LEGO Universe, I was as excited as any normal person would be. I imagined building anything possible, sort of like a child-friendly Second Life, and spending hours in gleeful, plastic bliss. What I found during the beta greatly disappointed me. Flash forward to now, and I have to say that my opinion has changed quite a bit. Let me tell you what I found, OK? Click past the cut... but leave the massive battleships behind for now.
Apple releases Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles to the app store
It's been a long time winding its way through the Apple approving process, but Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles is now available for iOS devices. The game, which is free with optional microtransaction purchases, is a universal app, so it will play on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Apple users have had to wait significantly longer to get their hands on Star Legends than Android players, as the Android version was released much earlier this month. Spacetime Studios promises gamers that a "majority" of the content of the game is completely free-to-play, and characters can reach the level cap without having to pay a dime. If you're interested in our impressions of this sci-fi blastathon, check out our Rise and Shiny Recap of Star Legends! %Gallery-23010%
Rise and Shiny recap: Nadirim
Ah, the desert. Great sand dunes, long shadows, and the sun burning hot all day. It's no place for the weak of heart. Designing an entire game that takes place in that setting isn't easy, either. Sure, many MMOs feature a desert zone or area and might feature a desert people whom we can choose to play. Generally, though, MMOs are lush and full of green. Perhaps gamers just prefer elves, forests, and wet weather effects? Nadirim has pulled players into a great expanse of desert and asked them to find adventure. I have to admit that desert area in games like Vanguard: Saga of Heroes are usually not my favorite, but I can understand their appeal. The desert is one of the last alien landscapes in our lives. Most of us have trees around us or a local swimming pool or at the least a green lawn to trim. Then we imagine an area devoid of anything leafy and it feels surreal. Luckily, Nadirim does a good job in many areas, so it was a pleasure to step into the sand. Click past the cut and I'll tell you more.
Legend of Edda going dark until 2012 due to revamp
Legend of Edda, the free-to-play title from GamesCampus, is temporarily closing its doors to the gaming public on August 26th until early next year. This isn't because of a dying population or financial difficulty, but rather to overhaul and relaunch the game with a much-improved version. According to a letter left on the website, EU's EYASoft developed a superior version of the game that went into open beta in Europe. Apparently this version was both so good and so incompatible with the North American version that GamesCampus decided to halt progress on the current edition of Legend of Edda in favor for the new and improved one. "Unfortunately," the letter says, "because of the extreme differences between the US version and the new version, it is impossible to update the US servers to the new game." To compensate Legend of Edda fans, GamesCampus is creating compensation packages to refund in-game currency and encourage players to try out on of the studio's other titles. We covered Legend of Edda earlier this year in our Rise and Shiny column.
Rise and Shiny recap: Castle Empire
Over the last week I have been enjoying some time in the so-new-it's-in-closed-beta Castle Empire. I have been struggling with how to describe exactly how the game makes me feel, since I am terrible at writing up exact details that end up making my article sound like the bland page of a wiki instead of a column based solely on this one dork's opinion. During my dog walks (I do my best thinking then), I try to come up with catchy arrangements of different words that would let you fair readers know the type of fun I had with the game, but more often than not, I would forget what I was thinking by the time I got back to the house. At one point I thought about wearing one of those goofy bluetooth headsets so I could dictate my thoughts while walking, but I feared getting my butt beaten in by the cooler elderly folks in the neighborhood. Luckily, I finally stumbled upon a great example that, in all actuality, is not really a great example. It'll give you a good idea, I hope. So click past the cut and let's talk about this wonderful new MMORTS I found.
Rise and Shiny recap: A Mystical Land
Over this last week I took a deeper look at the browser-based fantasy MMO A Mystical Land. This one even made it to my list of four games I am dying to play in 2011. Well, it has finally arrived, so I thought it would be a good time to tell you what I think about it. I spent the last week running through different areas, dying, crafting, exploring and generally having a pretty good time. Of course, the game is not without its issues. I wanted the game to be perfect, but then knew there was no way for it live up to my expectations. It's not as though it let me down, though, and the main flaws it has can be easily fixed or tweaked. Click past the cut and I'll tell you all about it! Check out my recorded Livestream of the game as well.
Rise and Shiny recap: Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles
Spacetime Studios, makers of the current heavyweight champion of the mobile world Pocket Legends, has expanded its lineup by adding Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles. I was more excited about this title than almost any other that was announced this year -- and for good reason. Pocket Legends proved that a real mobile MMO complete with a persistent world, real-time chat and multiplayer interaction is possible. Over this last year the developers have added on a lot of new options and kept the game moving forward. If their new game was going to follow the same patch as Pocket Legends, then more power to Spacetime. At the same time, would they be able to overcome or improve some of the basic issues that comes with mobile gaming? And what exactly was the goal of making a second mobile MMO if a lot of your core design would remain the same... and a lot of your players would as well? Click past the cut and I'll tell you what I found this week!
Rise and Shiny recap: Gilfor's Tales
OK, I have to admit: I liked Gilfor's Tales before and even recommended it to others, but without noticing many of the issues that came up over this last week. It should be noted, however, that many of them seemed to have happened since the last time I played and are the result of some sort of server change or update. I wish I knew more but the developer team seems to be about as communicative as a pet rock, even going so far as to finally apologize to their fans on Facebook. One fan replied "It's been a year guys..." What is this, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? (Ba dum kssh!) So, yes, this game has many flaws. Many. I'll tell you all about them in a minute, but it's important to note that after I streamed it live (check the embedded video) I gave it more time and the game did seem to open up and become more fun. It helped that things started to make more sense, but of course how I arrived upon the answers was pretty silly in itself. Click past the cut and check it out!
Rise and Shiny recap: Faxion Online
I've been following Faxion Online for quite a while. Aww, I remember when it was just a cute little game in development, back when I visited the UTV True Games studio for a tour during GDC Online last year. The team was very passionate about its product, and there was obviously a lot of talent at work behind the scenes. One of the comments I made then (and that I will always remember) is that the devs all seemed like a bunch of gamers -- they appeared to have a love for what they were doing and truly seemed to believe in the game. They also talked about how a lot of MMO development took several years and the budget of a small country. I agreed with them on that. So they wanted to create their game in a much shorter time period yet have it still feature free-to-play accessibility along with old-school PvP. It was a tall order, especially considering the time frame they were looking at. Again, though, the team seemed capable of pulling it off. But did it? I spent half a week (I will explain later) in the game, and my impressions are right past the cut.
