rise-and-shiny
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Rise and Shiny recap: PlanetSide
The only thing I can tell you for sure about the gameplay in PlanetSide is that it seems to be a battle that is constantly on recycle. You take over a base, and the enemy takes over another. You shoot a dozen enemies, and they shoot a dozen of yours. You get shot out of the sky, then you mount a gun and blow someone else out of the air. It's never-ending, an endless war over territory and pride. This is all the technical stuff. Why are we fighting? I have no idea. I'm sure there is plenty of lore on the website or wiki, some fantastic explanation for what exactly my motive is in getting myself murdered over and over, but honestly I don't care. I have played PlanetSide off and on over the past several years, and I just needed to play it at this time. The week prior was a rough one, filled with glitchy games and articles that did not come out exactly how I wanted them to. It was, for a stay-at-home writer, a rough week. I needed PlanetSide to give me some fun. Some real, tangible, tasty, blow-'em-up fun. Click past the cut and I'll tell you what I found.
Rise and Shiny recap: Second Life
I thought writing about Second Life would be easy. I figured that my seven-year experience with the game -- er, world -- would make writing this that much easier. I was wrong about that. I could list many of the technical specifications, telling you how to build something or how to script a basic weapon. I could also tell you how to host an event or how to form a group. In fact, I could make this recap a list brimming with specific details about the most sandbox of sandbox games in existence. Instead I decided to let you watch the embedded video for building details while I write up how I felt during this week long revisit. Technically I have never left the world of Second Life, but over the last week I crammed in more hours building, buying and exploring than I have in a long time. I found many new ways of doing things and many wonderful places. Second Life is not, and never was, about one specific thing, so let me just tell you what I found over the last week. Click past the cut to read it, and be sure to leave any questions or experiences in the comments section!
Rise and Shiny recap: The Realm Online
Playing elderly games is a great way to experience what it was like "back then." Of course, I was around back then, and "back then" was only slightly over a decade ago. Still, things have changed a lot. Even in all of my history, I missed some titles or didn't experience them until much later. This is the case with The Realm Online, one of the oldest bits of MMO goodness. I heard about it and have even looked at the site once or twice before -- it just never occurred to me to actually try it. To keep up with my tradition of trying anything that is put before me, I decided to download it. I have to admit being a little shocked to see a seven-day trial on the homepage. Not only do I rarely see seven-day trials anymore, but why on Earth is this game not free-to-play at least? It's $7.95 a month, as well? I was flabbergasted. Still, I signed up and downloaded the game. What did I find? Well, some good and some bad. Click past the cut and let me tell you all about it.
Rise and Shiny recap: Minions of Mirth
You know, I am all for "old-school" MMO gaming. In fact, I will be writing up my very own Soapbox about old-school travel, mainly because I enjoy it very much but think that developers can do so much more to satisfy those of us who enjoy playing the slow, simple way. So when I first started playing Minions of Mirth again (I took a short look at it last year), I fully expected to be down with whatever old-school challenges it threw at me. I was surprised in a few ways and annoyed in others. It's hard to describe the feeling of playing a game that reminds you of other games in so many ways yet does a good enough job in combining those reminders that you feel like you might be in some alien hybrid world. Let me tell you all about it. Join me after the cut, will you?
Rise and Shiny recap: CrimeCraft
The first thing I want to do when hearing about a game's poor quality is try it myself. I've found that unless the complaints specify performance issues, the real problem is that the gameplay just didn't mesh well with the person issuing the complaint. Often, those folks talk in general specifics like "Everyone hates the skillsets" or "No one liked that last patch." Gamers are great at declaring what "everyone" likes or dislikes, as though they have access to information that not even the developers themselves have. A good rule of thumb is that the more a player mentions "everyone," the more he is probably wrong. CrimeCraft is one of these games, but for different reasons. As I asked around about the game, most people I heard from simply complained about its resemblance to the original All Points Bulletin. And since APB had issues, surely CrimeCraft must as well. Players also commented on how they heard it was busted or that didn't play well at all or that it was just a really bad game. So I had to dig in. What did I find? Click past the cut and I'll tell you.
Priston Tale 2 goes to the Desert Frontier
Saddle up those camels and stock up on water: Priston Tale 2 is expanding once more with the all-new Desert Frontier zone! The new area may be weather-beaten and sandy, but it's certainly rich in additional quests, challenges and adventures. The Desert Frontier takes place in an alternate realm where the populace has bowed its will to the evil god Midranda. As you might imagine, this does not make for a fluffy, heart-warming place, and players will need to be quick on their toes to fend off never-before-seen mobs like the Anduhal Rider and the Grity. With today's 2.1.9 patch, all players will also be able to reset their skill combinations and reallocate points. GamerKraft plans to release another update next week to add PvP match-making features to the game. For more info on the free-to-play Priston Tale 2, check out our Rise and Shiny exploration of the title, and to get a quick overview of the Desert Frontier, hit the jump to watch the official trailer!
Rise and Shiny recap: Atlantica Online
Is it possible to be simultaneously annoyed and enchanted by an MMORPG? I think it just might be, now that I've spent several days and hours with Atlantica Online, now published by Nexon. It might not make sense to a lot of you, but the overwhelming and possibly overly complicated UI and systems of gathering basic information ("where's the bank?") filled me with a sense of wonder and even awe. There was so much to learn and see -- or was it just that the poorly designed UI gave me way too much information in too many ways? For example, if I wanted to locate the bank, I would open up an information window, go into a few more selections until I found the city and then the bank, then either try to find my way there or click on auto-walk to get there. Once there, I would have to join the bank then ask why the bank didn't allow me to store items in addition to money. Then I would find out that the only city with item storage is Rome, so then I'd need to open up the information book to find Rome, only to discover that I had no way of getting there until level 20. So then I would need to find an NPC through the book, auto-path to him or her to sell the goods that were taking up way too much room in my inventory, then double-click on the quest so I could double-click and auto-path my way top the NPC who gave me the quest (since the quest's mobs were not linked in the book), then continue on with my quests that would result in my bags becoming full again. Phew. Click past the cut and let me tell you all about it.
Rise and Shiny recap: Puzzle Pirates
Puzzles Pirates is pretty deceiving when you first look at it. The decade-old game looks closer to what you might have expected from LEGO Universe than it does a strategic, puzzle-based combat game. But as you get more into the basics of the game, you realize that many of the tricks up Puzzle Pirate's sleeve would be awesome if featured in other games. The puzzles are integrated into your experience flawlessly, and the grouping system is wonderful. In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about why other games don't feature systems like those in Puzzle Pirates. Name me a game that does group combat, ship combat or even crafting based on puzzles! I think that the perceived silliness of puzzles, or the perceived juvenile nature of puzzles, keeps them out of popular developer's minds. It's not as though raiding or other group activities in other games are high art or much more than a very basic puzzle. Stand here, push that. Repeat. Now move. Push that, followed by this. Repeat. So let's look at how Puzzle Pirates plays, how the community members fare, and what issues I did have with this brilliant puzzler. Click past the cut!
Rise and Shiny recap: Monster Forest
Monster Forest, brought to us by Asiasoft, is a deceptive little game. First of all, it feels so freshly translated that there are still bits of foreign language clinging to quest text and character speech. But the sheer amount of little games and systems involved makes me feel like I am revisiting Mabinogi for the first time. If you took a collectible pet game, a farming system, turn-based combat, a stock market, and several other major systems and wrapped them in a cartoony skin, you would get Monster Forest. Heck, we did get Monster Forest. Also, the GMs from Asiasoft are insane. Now, I am fully aware of the cultural differences between West and East. I respect them and always remember to avoid applying any stereotypes to any one group. But let's face it, North American game developers would never ask their GMs to dress up like the person in this video to film a game guide. It just wouldn't happen, unless the North American crew was attempting to be silly. To the lady in the video, this is just another day at the office. Anyway, let's find out some more details -- click past the cut!
Rise and Shiny recap: GhostX
There are quite a few side-scrolling action MMOs out there these days, so when I decided to take on yet another one, I thought that I might regret it. As soon as I downloaded GhostX and loaded it up, however, I knew I was in for a different experience than anything found in the other side-scrollers I have played in the past. First of all, GhostX is set in some kind of futuristic setting, complete with nanobots and strange mutant creatures. The look of the game is distinctively Anime, but the good kind. When I think Anime, I think incredibly bad creations like Naruto or Pokemon -- stuff that literally makes me cringe. GhostX is the kind that just looks like a toy, like you could reach through the screen and manipulate the characters and story yourself. Click past the cut to read more!
Rise and Shiny recap: Shadowtale
Shadowtale is pretty close to genius in a lot of ways. It can be played in pretty much any browser, it can run on almost any machine, and it still offers pretty in-depth gameplay, especially considering its limitations. While the controls are not necessarily the easiest to remember at first, they become very simple to manage after a short while. It would seem that the developers have a good grasp on how to make a solid, fun game for many different age groups. I spent most of my time running around, exploring and killing monsters along the way. Attacking enemies is one of the most fun parts of the game. You simply hit a keyboard or mouse button and your character will swing his sword. You have another button for block, and the number keys can fire off special abilities. I was so surprised when the combat responded as it did, allowing me to actually block and dodge incoming enemies. It was fluid and almost like a "2-D Vindictus-lite." But I'm not just going to go on about the controls all day. Click past the cut to see what I thought about the rest of the game.
Rise and Shiny recap: Free Realms
I remember when Free Realms was announced and when Laralyn McWilliams showed off a peeing puppy, in real-time, at Fan Faire. Everyone was excited for the new game and world -- even hardened raiders and roleplayers. The demo was just cool-looking and had a very unique feel to it. Most gamers' only experiences with a social or "real-life"-style game were with Second Life, and those experiences were often tainted by run-ins with 40-something-year-old bondage fans. My experience was slightly more broad. I spent a lot of my earlier MMO years within games like There, Second Life, Furcadia and a few others. While I was not a fan of some of the stranger people who frequented these games, I loved the idea of a game that allowed players to just hang out, to live in a virtual world, and to form relationships. My first experience with disabled players was through There, and ever since then I have looked at MMOs differently. So when Free Realms was announced and released, I looked forward to spending time in a game that revisited that style of "living" in a game world. Over the last week, I decided to peek back into the world to see how it has been holding up. Click past the cut to find out how it worked out!
Rise and Shiny recap: Asheron's Call
This is going to sound like I'm whining, but here goes: Sometimes I get tired of playing games. Yes, yes, I know -- this is a wonderful job, and anyone who enjoys playing games and talking to developers would love it. But once in a while, when I am feeling particulary tired, have a headache, or am just plain not feeling it, the last thing I want to do is log into a game that is either too challenging or too grindy. Normally I just skip it for a few hours and come back to it later. This last week was busy for me, though, so when I had time to play, I really needed to play. So I would load up Turbine's Asheron's Call, sigh, and log in. Even though I was having a great time from the start of my trial, I was having a blah week. Almost as soon as I saw the famous teleportation tunnel graphic, though, I just felt better. There was, in fact, not a moment of drudgery during my time with the game. It helped that I was hanging out with some of the top players in the game, but the easy-to-learn hard-to-master systems worked like modelling clay: Almost anyone can make something out of it, but if you take your time, you can make something truly unique. Click past the cut and I'll let you in on some of my experiences. They weren't perfect, but they were fun. %Gallery-115338%
Rise and Shiny recap: Anarchy Online
Older MMOs are interesting creatures. If they are subscription-based, they tend to lose players until they get down to a hardcore number, and then they are eventually shut down. World of Warcraft will eventually lose most of its numbers, too. In 20 years or so I fully expect to see players still playing it, though, talking about how the controls and game mechanics are still a lot of fun. If the game is from SOE, it might go on for ever and ever, albeit without much of a development team. Anarchy Online is a great example of how a game can age very, very gracefully. Perhaps newer games should look at AO to see how to keep both their dignity and their core players as the games approach their golden years. I tried to put my finger on exactly why AO seems to have held up so well, how it can still suck in "new" players like yours truly, and how it can still thrill with its lore and setting. How do you even get away with graphics like that in an age of players who literally think that upgrading their PCs every two years is a mark of pride? Click past the cut and I'll tell you.
Rise and Shiny recap: Uncharted Waters Online
Uncharted Waters Online by Netmarble is one of those games that I have been meaning to get around to taking a much deeper look at, but I never seemed to find the time. I knew that the game would require more concentration and chin-scratching than I was used to in many games, so I was a little worried. I also knew that a week would be seen as "not nearly enough time" to cover the game, but then I remembered my promise of covering the newbie experience for this column. I don't care which game we are talking about; they all deserve a look at the first few levels or days in game. UWO was surprisingly easy. In fact, the hardest part about the game was figuring out exactly what it was that I needed to do in order to move forward, but honestly even that was probably covered in the 34-year-long tutorial. Every time I broke down and asked the chat denizens about a certain item or quest section, they would give me the answer. When I asked them where they found the information, they would simply say "the tutorial." I believed them -- the tutorial is long and filled with information that I quickly forgot. In fact, if you decide to give the game a go, do yourself a favor and pay close attention to the tutorial. It will more than likely tell you everything you need to know. Besides my issues with listening, I found a lot more inside the world or pirates, exploration, and trade, so click past the cut and let's talk about it.
Rise and Shiny recap: Star Trek Online
I'm not a tough guy, but the first thing I want to do when someone wishes ill on one of my first impressions is to reach through the screen and punch his lights out. There were at least a few people who did this to me when I said I would be visiting Star Trek Online. It was as though they were warning me to stay away from that scary old house on the hill. "Don't go up there, see? That's Old Man Cryptic's house! If you do, don't say I didn't warn ya!" Duly noted, oddball. I long ago made a rule to revisit games, even if I hated them when I first played them. MMORPGs change -- they have to. They have to adjust to a growing (or shrinking) playerbase, adapt to a questioning (or screaming) audience, or react to market influences (or games that do it better). Despite understanding all of this, I was worried that the five bucks I spent on the STO special edition from Amazon would be wasted. I found something I did not expect, that's for sure. Join me after the cut to find out more.
Rise and Shiny recap: Dofus
Years ago I had to find a job in my new home state of Texas. Luckily for me, my wife hooked me up with a friend who helped me get hired at Starbucks. At first, I hung my head in shame. Later, though, I enjoyed dealing with customers and the free coffee. I had a co-worker, a real chin-scratching, coffee house wanna-be intellectual who would often spend more time dreaming about some game than about getting people on their breaks. He even brought his Macbook to work to sneak in time in the game. I glanced over his shoulder one day and was delighted to see an odd-looking, cartoony, turn-based game on his screen. It turned out that the game was Dofus. I tried it immediately and fell in love with it, but that was years ago. I still found time to revisit the game, but once I started working at Massively, most of my time became dedicated to every other game in the world. Well, it's time to visit it again. During the first part of this week, though, I thought this was going to be a disaster. I stayed strong and battled my way through bot after bot, spam message after spam message, and eventually found the great game I remember. Click past the cut to see exactly what I found!
Rise and Shiny recap: Forsakia
Forsakia is a new Flash-based free MMORPG brought to us by alaplaya -- the same company that brought us LOCO, Florensia and the soon-to-be Argo. I should have learned my lesson and taken my time to pick my next Rise and Shiny game, but in my pre-holiday haste I grabbed the first thing I could find. Granted, I wanted to find a Flash- or browser-based game to play since I would be writing a few upcoming articles about gaming with a new laptop or netbook, but Forsakia is still in beta and needs a lot done to it. So bear that in mind as I look at it, got it? If there is one thing I have learned over these years of playing free-to-play or imported games, it's that a lot can change between betas and releases. I'm hoping that this is the case for Forsakia. It's got its charm and its convinience, but I found myself a little confused and somewhat bored. A good measure of how bored you might be is to watch the chat: If players are talking about getting groups together to grind -- in the newbie area -- then you might be in trouble. Still, read on!
Rise and Shiny recap: RuneScape
This week I decided to take a deeper look at RuneScape, one of the web's largest free MMORPGs. I've played it off and on over the years but thought it was the perfect time to take a deeper look. After all, one of my fellow writers is currently taking a look at the game and its developers, so why not round off the discussion with a good solid week of playing? Really, I could have played it for a much shorter time and still come to the same conclusion. From the very beginning, the essence of RuneScape shines through. But what about the community? Isn't RuneScape a "kid's game?" Isn't it filled with 14-year-old boys named some version of "Pwnzer?" What about the graphics? Aren't they pathetically unrealistic? How does that affect immersion in the game? All I can say is read on! I was not only glad to see my gut feeling about the game being reinforced, but excited to see a game that is doing things that no others come close to doing.
Rise and Shiny recap: Linkrealms
Over the last week I was privileged enough to participate in Mythyn Interactive's Linkrealms beta, a game that I had watched for a while now. The trailer is just neat (to use a truly nerdy word) and strikes you immediately with its awesome animations and spell effects. In fact, the animations are very cool and probably one of my favorite parts of the game. That says a lot, especially since the combat and community are such charmers. There's something about the animations that brings the game out of indie territory -- and out of Ultima Online territory -- and plants it more in the area of original and immersive. Of course, the game is still testing. I will bet that, like many indie games, it will stay in beta for a long, long time. We players need to be forgiving when developers do this and understand that true release -- even just calling it that -- is just not that simple. I can almost sense the fear in my discussions with some of the developers: they have worked their butts off on the game, they have spent way too much time working on this digital world, and they don't want their work to be misrepresented. This fear is completely rational, especially if we think just for a second about how quickly players not only eat up content, but mercilessly blame developers for every single thing they feel is wrong with the game. So, follow me after the jump and let's talk about why this game is so good, even if it does still need a little more time in the oven.
