tcos
Latest
Chronicles of Spellborn servers have one last hurrah
The Chronicles of Spellborn fans have had a confusing week. On August 10th, an announcement was posted on Acclaim's TCoS forums, letting players know that the game would come to an end on August 25th. The announcement warned players to spend all unused Acclaim coins by that time and offered a customer support email address for players with questions. However, the servers were taken offline almost immediately with no word from Acclaim, and after a week of silence from the developers, fans concluded that the game was gone for good. Not so, it seems. A post entitled "The game is up!" appeared on the forums, sending a handful of players rushing to reinstall and enjoy a little more playtime. Unfortunately, there is still no announcement or explanation from the TCoS team, so there is no official word on what happened or how long it will last. For the time being, fans of The Chronicles of Spellborn can enjoy one last chance to play. [Thanks to CowMooFlage for the tip!]
Chronicles of Spellborn shutting down?
While Frogster Interactive is perhaps best known for its main MMO, Runes of Magic, it also carries other games for players to enjoy. One of the titles handled by Frogster Asia is The Chronicles of Spellborn -- a belabored game that has seen its model shift from subscription to free within a few months of launch, had its development team go bankrupt and scatter to the winds, and watched its player-base drop off. Well, according to the most recent press release by Frogster Interactive, it would appear that the Frogster Asia division plans to slough off The Chronicles of Spellborn once and for all. Meanwhile, in North America, Acclaim still has servers (somewhat) open for The Chronicles of Spellborn, but the game feels as if it has been left chained in a dusty corner with a crust of stale bread and a tin of rusty water by its neglectful parents. There are enormous issues on the official site, such as a broken downloader setup, corrupted patches, and most recently, a bug requiring players to change their passwords each and every time they try to log in to the game. No fixes or responses are forthcoming, and we were unable to get any official comment from Acclaim regarding its intentions for the North American version as of the time we published this. The full text of the section of Frogster's press release dealing with TCoS can be found behind the break. As to Acclaim's intent, we'll update this post if we get a response. [Thanks, Cow Moo Flage]
One Shots: High House Silver
With the recent news that The Chronicles of Spellborn is going to be going from a Freemium to a fully free-to-play game, emotions are torn. Those who have been subscribing feel like they're about to lose the game they've been enjoying. Those who have wanted to try it out but have been unable to do more than the first several levels are glad as it will give them a chance to play more. Either way you slice it though, it means change for the Spellborn community. With that said, we have a lovely screenshot from within The Chronicles of Spellborn that was sent to us by Terrivad of the Deiquonril server. He writes in: This is a screen shot of the interior of High House Silver in the city of Hawksmouth. House Silver being one of the five High Houses of the Enclave. They keep the economy in order and the day to day activities such as transportation, taxing and trade. (They're also obviously the richest House.)One Shots runs on reader submissions, so we need to hear from you! Just snap a quick screenshot from your favorite MMO and send it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and the game/location it was taken in. We'll do the rest from there and give you the credit for sending it in.%Gallery-9798%
The Chronicles of Spellborn to be re-developed as free to play, bankruptcy issues loom
The Chronicles of Spellborn only launched a few months ago, but they've already announced that they're going to "re-develop" the game as a free-to-play title. Acclaim Games stated on Monday: "The development is planned to carry into 2010 and will include several enhancements and changes to the current game. The enhancements and development of the new model will be carried through a joint venture between Spellborn NV and the development studio of Frogster Asia Co. Ltd based in Seoul, the Korean studio bringing its expertise in the field of free-to-play and micro-transactions." Once this re-development is complete The Chronicles of Spellborn will cease to be a subscription game and will switch over to the free-to-play model. We're not sure if there will be any further development on TCOS as it exists now, but a post on the game's EU forums by community manager Kelas stated, "For now, the servers and system (subscription) will remain the way it is. There are still people available for running the daily work and systems."
One Shots: From the front lines
We don't often get to look in on The Chronicles of Spellborn, so it's great to get a report back from a Spellborn player for One Shots. Today's beautiful-yet-almost-psychadelic screenshot comes in to us from Eric who writes in: Looking down at the docks as I venture, for the first time, to The Vaults. The first thing that drew me into the The Chronicles of Spellborn was the atmospheric scenery. The area I'm traveling to is used to further the lore of the game, and the long trek up to the top of the mountain really gave me a perspective much like a pilgrim. Really well done! If your MMO travels have taken you to a world we don't often see, why not send in some screenshots and share your journeys! Email them to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post them here and give you the credit. %Gallery-9798%
One Shots: To the vault
We haven't had many looks into this world as yet here on One Shots, which is a shame. The armor artwork and texturing is really quite interesting to look at! Not sure where this lone adventurer - Rayko Silverthorn of the guild Sacred, level 14 Trickster of High House Shroud - stands? He's exploring the world of The Chronicles of Spellborn, and writes in to tell us a bit more about the scene we're seeing - and why he likes The Chronicles of Spellborn. My first trip off of Parliament led me to Atheneum, home of The Consanguineous Vaults or just The Vaults. The ever increasingly difficult Vaults are were young adventurers go to hone their skills to become the heroes of tomorrow. This game features arguably the best combat system ever, The best way to handle death via Pep levels and a refreshing theme that breaks away from the oh so common style of fantasy MMORPGs.If you're traveling in a world we don't see often - or haven't really seen at all - then we want to see some screenshots from you! Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description - or your thoughts on why your favorite MMO is awesome! We'll post them out here and give you the nod for sending the image and note in.%Gallery-9798%
The Chronicles of Spellborn art book now available as free PDF
The newly launched fantasy game The Chronicles of Spellborn is a (air quote) freemium massively multiplayer online title from Acclaim, where three areas of the game are available for free, while subscriptions truly open the game up for its players. Those gamers in the EU who jump into The Chronicles of Spellborn are able to buy the title as a boxed product and thus get the art book which accompanies the box release, but no such luck for North American players. That is, until now. Acclaim has opted to release the art book as a free PDF file, which you can find over at MMORPG.com. It's a nice, in-depth look at the game spanning 151 pages of art content and lore. The High Houses, the game's myriad Inhabitants, and of course weapons and armor are all included in The Chronicles of Spellborn art book. If you're already into TCoS or are just curious about it, be sure to grab your free download at MMORPG.com.
The Chronicles of Spellborn interview explains game's unique aspects
The Chronicles of Spellborn is a game we've been hearing more about lately. We recently noticed an interview by Nolvadex at the Italian gaming site Gamesource with The Chronicles of Spellborn's lead community manager Pierre-Yves "Mirage" Deslandes. Mirage discusses a relatively smooth European launch for the title and some of the complexities of their publishing deals, insofar as they affect the European market. The challenges of balancing PvE and PvP content in the game comes up, and Mirage also addresses why The Chronicles of Spellborn shipped without an auction house, stressing that a marketplace is indeed on the way. In terms of building upon the game's combat systems, Netherlands-based developer Spellborn NV doesn't plan to make any major changes to the game's combat system, which Mirage states is the trademark and backbone of The Chronicles of Spellborn. Adding greater depth to what's presently offered instead of simply adding more races and classes to the game is clearly a priority for the developers.
Spellborn updates for 2009 mapped out
Although the US is still waiting for The Chronicles of Spellborn to finish up its beta phases, the European version of the game has already been released. As is usually the case with an MMO launch, the developers didn't just flip the switch and then wash their hands of the project, and have been pushing out patches and hotfixes to their live servers as needed. Now we've been given an idea of where they hope to take the game over the coming year, via a post on the official forums.In the short term, a big patch is expected to be ready for the end of January, which will include some new monsters as well as a tutorial that comes in response to feedback from the community and press. A bit later in the year, the plan is to roll out the market, and an arena match-up system that will allow 2v2 and 4v4 PvP games. Longer term development goals include mounts and guild alliances, but when we're looking at this time-frame, it's highly likely that more ideas will come about. So, who is already on board with Spellborn?
The Chronicles of Spellborn scores 8/10 in an early review
Although a great deal of the world is still playing the beta version of The Chronicles of Spellborn, continental Europe has had access to the retail copy since the 27th of November. Since Eurogamer has had a couple of weeks to put the game through its paces, they've posted a review. Now, we're sure you know the various problems with MMO reviews in general -- the two biggest being that most (good) MMOs are updated frequently post-launch, and that there's usually too much content to get through to provide accurate insight to all levels and areas of a game -- but it's worth nothing that this one comes with a rather healthy eight-out-of-ten score at the end.The art style and environments get an approving nod in the review, and so do the action-based combat mechanics. The "Skill Deck", which is the replacement for the traditional action bar you might be used to from a huge number of other MMOs, is both praised and knocked for its complexity. The primary criticisms that the review levels against TCoS are that it can be a bit generic at times, and that it lacks the glossy polish that you see in big-budget titles. Obviously these complaints were not significant enough to stop the reviewer from enjoying the game, and we look forward to seeing how it shapes up by the time it's released to the rest of the world in January.
More beta screenshots from Chronicles of Spellborn
The team at Spellborn NV continues to entice with its latest screenshots from its closed beta for The Chronicles of Spellborn. These depict various cities and other places on the Shards of Parliament and Quarterstone, as well as some of the creatures who will be more than glad to help you test your skill at bleeding. After looking at the new screenshots, forum regulars wondered if the landscapes are too empty and flat when compared to World of Warcraft's lush richness.Spellborn NV recently showed the game at the RPC Münster role-playing convention, where players reportedly loved the character creation system and combat systems best. Similarly to NCSoft's City of Heroes, the gear and outfits worn by Spellborn characters don't affect the gameplay -- you can look however you wish and still fight at your best. The Spellborn combat system is similar to first person shooters and Age of Conan in that you don't target anything specifically; if something is in range of your attacks, it will be hit. It also is uniquely based on a grid on which you arrange your possible attacks that moves to allow you to use different sets of all your abilities as the fight moves on, adding a "deck building" element to battle.No news on the identity of the publisher with whom they signed a letter of intent to publish the game in North America, or whether we will still see The Chronicles of Spellborn this year. In a year that has seen Age of Conan and will likely see Warhammer Online and the next World of Warcraft expansion, Spellborn will have to work doubly hard to get a share of gamers' time and money.%Gallery-23170%
Of the Spellborn PC, personal experience points, and adventure!
There's been a lot of talk recently about special collector's editions. Are they really worth the money? Chronicles of Spellborn may have just made the ultimate deal here. For about 1200 Teuros (about two grand in US dollars), they've teamed up with Ultraforce to sell you a game and the custom gaming rig on which to play it. You just can't beat a deal like this. A highly anticipated MMO and a speedy Core2 Duo processor, twin GeForce 9600s SLI on an nForce 750i motherboard and custom Spellborn case art... No idea whether it comes with a three day head start, though, and we can hope those aren't the minimum system specs to play the game.We've been seeing a lot of beta screen shots out of Spellborn, but there's been too many shots showing static scenes with perhaps a person standing in them but precious little action. The beta testers finally came through for us with a dozen adventuring screen shots and there is plenty of action to be seen. The screen shot above showcases how different the characters you create can look -- the woman in front is gray-haired and chunky but still looks good in her steel-and-silk bikini. She doesn't have to run fast; just faster than the doomed, thin girl lagging behind.Spellborn is currently due to release world-wide in Q4 2008. They'll have some tough competition. The Spellborn devs just (like, a minute ago) put up a new beta video showing off their Personal Experience Point system. The PEPs are gained through PvE and grant permanent buffs to your character ... provided you don't die. Good stuff, and you can be one of the first to see it! Click on through to watch the video below the cut.
Chronicles of Spellborn unveils new area
Every MMO has its own style, but few have such a uniqueness to them as that of Chronicles of Spellborn. Set in great hollow rocks called Shards, caught in an immense cataclysm called the Deadspell Storm, it's a setting unlike any other. Though currently in closed beta, the developers let us have a peek at Shorath Mesa, a swampy land surrounded by mountains that drop in immense cliffs and thunderous waterfalls to the land of Garminholm, far below.Spellborn art lead Frank Bakker, in his latest art journal, brings us through the design, development and implementation Shorath Mesa. How does a designer balance the needs of the game with the desires of the player? What goes into designing a visually interesting area? How do you get weather inside a rock? This is a fascinating look into the art development of an exciting new MMO.
Devs post hectic Spellborn combat video
The developers behind the long-delayed Chronicles of Spellborn usually put out an in-depth article about a specific system, like this one on balancing combat in the game. As usual, they offer up a lengthy discussion of the subject, taking pains to include everyone in their development process. For example, I can say that a certain basic damage attack should do 50 damage. The model will then show the amount of damage a weak attack should do or what amount a heavy heal should heal for. It will not only give these basic values, it will actually also reflect the effect of the use of consumables, sigils and attribute points by the player, so we can theoretically predict the outcome. Past taught us that these predictions are often far from the situation you end up with eventually, especially considering MMO's, but you need to start somewhere. As long as we keep updating the model to our actual findings and experiences, it will become more accurate as we progress. Near the end of last month in lieu of a diary they offered up a frantic video of their PvP stress test. It's a brief stress test of their combat engine in the level 1 areas, a place that won't normally allow Player vs. Player combat. The designers hopped in to hack away at each other, and it was so much fun they decided to FRAPS the experience and share it wiith us. The voice-over by the TCOS designers provides some more insight into what gameplay in the game will be like. They don't rely on auto-targetting or background calculations to control damage. If you swing and hit with a sword, you do damage. Just one of the many decidedly different elements that make Spellborn stand out from the crowd.
