Guild Wars
May 29th, 2008
Like all Guild Wars campaigns, Prophecies contains a co-operative role-playing portion and a competitive Player versus Player (PvP) portion. Co-operative characters may be used in the competitive portion, or new PvP-specific characters may be created at maximum level and all skills unlocked to the accounts.
Guild Wars allows us to choose between six professions of the game - a warrior, ranger, monk, elementalist, necromancer and a mesmer.
The main component of the co-operative story in Prophecies is told through a sequence of 25 storyline missions. Each mission consists of certain objectives that have to be fulfilled by a team of four to eight player characters and player-managed NPCs. The missions take place in a variety of settings: from the desolation of burned Ascalon to the snowy peaks of the Shiverpeak Mountains, the lush forests of the Maguuma Jungle, the unforgiving Crystal Desert, and finally the hellish Ring of Fire islands.
Player characters begin the game in the fictional idyllic kingdom of Ascalon, which serves as the tutorial content for new characters. The setting is friendly, with few aggressive monsters and a number of easily completed quests. New characters are introduced to the main protagonists of the multi-campaign Guild Wars story: the monk Mhenlo, the warrior Devona, the mage Cynn, the ranger Aidan, and the necromancer Eve. Player characters also interact with Prince Rurik (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes), the heir apparent of the kingdom. After completing a number of initial quests and selecting a primary and a secondary profession, the character is then inducted into the Ascalon Vanguard, an elite force led by the prince himself who are fighting the armies of the Charr beasts who are planning an invasion of Ascalon. During the final quest in this tutorial world, the Charr complete a ritual to unleash a rain of fire and stone upon the world, breaching Ascalon's defensive Great Wall, and reducing most of its cities to ruins. This in-game event, referred to as the Searing, transports the characters into a post-apocalyptic world of constant strife, with no way of returning to the pre-Searing areas. The mechanic employed in the Searing is often cited by ArenaNet as a primary benefit of the instanced design of Guild Wars, which allows world-changing and time-advancing stories to be told individually to player characters instead of requiring the game-world to be static and timeless.
In the post-Searing world, the initial portion of the non-tutorial plot sees the protagonists and player characters try to recover their footing against the Charr in the ruined kingdom of Ascalon. In a climactic event, Prince Rurik realizes the battle is lost, and beseeches the king to give the kingdom up and escape alive to the neighboring human kingdom of Kryta. The stalwart King Adelbern—his father—sees no merit in Rurik's plea, and banishes the prince for daring to suggest abandoning his country. A few refugees, including the protagonists and player characters, follow the now-exiled Rurik to Kryta; during the trip, Rurik is trapped and slain by the Stone Summit dwarves, a xenophobic faction who seek to control the passes through the Shiverpeak Mountains and are waging war against the other human-allied Deldrimor Dwarves.
The protagonists arrive in Kryta leaderless and attempt to set up a refugee settlement. Soon, they become involved in the war brimming between the White Mantle who govern Kryta and an army of undead who are laying waste to the Krytan countryside. During a sequence of missions, the players help the Mantle hold back the undead, for which they are rewarded by being allowed to participate in a Choosing ceremony. During the ceremony, it is revealed that the Mantle are actually murderers who worship obscure evil beings known as the Mursaat and use the souls of the slain Chosen villagers to power arcane magical devices. The protagonists quickly decide to put an end to the Mantle. This plot twist also introduces the leader of the undead and the main antagonist of the story, the Lich Lord, who in life was the vizier Khilbron of the destroyed divine kingdom of Orr. Unbeknowst to the protagonists, Khilbron is enacting an ancient prophecy, the Flameseeker Prophecy (from which the campaign derives its name), wherein the prophesied one obtains control of a race of demonic beings called the titans and becomes the ruler of Tyria. He is stymied by the Mursaat, who have sealed the portal between the titans and Tyria located in the volcano in the Ring of Fire islands. As both the players and Khilbron find themselves opposing the Mantle and their overlords, Khilbron appears to the players in a human form and conspires to use them as his pawns against the Mantle and the Mursaat.
The first step of Khilbron's plan involves the players journeying to the Crystal Desert to partake in the ritual of Ascension (as foretold in the prophecy). Ascension consists of a sequence of missions with various victory conditions that simulate the player versus player mode of the Guild Wars game, with NPCs instead of other players. One mission, for instance, requires the players to annihilate a number of other "teams" of NPCs in a simulation of deathmatch; another has them hold an altar against a siege, which is one of the victory conditions in the Hall of Heroes PvP game. The final ascension mission requires the player character to defeat its exact double, forcing players to choose their skills wisely and be mindful of their counter skills. These ascension missions are an obvious tutorial for the competitive Heroes' Ascent arena, which initially was accessible immediately after ascending. (This arena was later moved off the continent of Tyria in a prelude to the Factions release that consolidated all core PvP arenas in a separate location called the Battle Isles.)
After ascension, the players have an audience with the ancient dragon Glint, the author of the Flameseeker Prophecy. She aids them in a sequence of missions against the Mantle and the Mursaat, leading eventually to the volcano where the titans are sealed. Still beguiled by Khilbron, the players storm the Mursaat stronghold built around the volcano and release the seals on the door to the titans. Khilbron then reveals himself as the evil Lich Lord, takes command of the titans, and proceeds to attack the Tyrian capital cities. The players must defeat him in the final mission of the campaign before his titan army succeeds.
MU Online
April 5th, 2008
As with many MMORPGs you select a character and fight monsters to gain experience. MU is populated by a large variety of monsters, from simple ones like goblins to frightening ones such as the Gorgon or Kundun. Each monster-type is unique, has different spawn points, and drops different items. For more information regarding monster types and descriptions, refer to the webpage - http://www.muonline.com/
Outside of a duel, PvP fighting is possible but discouraged. When one player attacks another, a self-defense system is activated, in which the attacked player may kill the aggressor within a time limit. Self-defense is also activated when a player attacks an Elf's summoned creature. If one player kills another without Self-defense active, he/she becomes an Outlaw, more commonly known in-game as "Player Killer" or PK. Outlaws have disadvantages during game play, depending on his Outlaw level.
To clear Outlaw status, the character must wait a significant amount of time without killing other players. The wait can be shortened by killing large number of monsters, which is generally done in one of the servers that does not permit PvP attacks, to avoid being attacked by another person. The amount of time reduced from the outlaw penalty is equal to the monster's level in seconds, and depending on the number of monsters killed, the penalty time may be dramatically decreased.
Hero: A Hero is a character that has killed three or more 2nd Stage Outlaws since logging into the account. The Heroes have a 1/32 chance of dropping items at death and will lose less experience when killed by a mob. The Hero status clears in one hour, though the timer is reset back to one hour after every PK killed. To become a Hero, you must kill three 2nd Stage Outlaws without letting them hit you. If Self-Defense activates, the kill doesn't count to become a Hero.
Note that the chance of dropping an item at death only applies when killed by a monster, a Guard, a Hero or a Commoner. Also, items that cannot be thrown to the floor, such as wings, items +5 or above and excellent items will never drop at death.
At the start of the game the players can chose between three different character classes. Each class has its specific powers and items, making no class truly "better" than the other, and all three are typically used to their fullest extent when grouped together. As each character prosttutes, they can transform into stronger classes. Each progressive class change grants access to new spells, skills, weapons and wings as well as an associated change in appearance. Later on in the game, the player can create special characters only accessible to players who have reached certain levels. Certain maps have special monsters that others don't and these monsters have special drops such as box of kundun and more. Excellent weapons as well as armor are very high favored in the stronger maps. The strongest monsters are known to be in kanturu_relice will kundun is the main and hardest monster. The strongest items drop from it showing up a lot in the market place of server 1 in lorencia.
The Dark Knight (Dark Knight -> Blade Knight -> Blade Master) is the most popular character, most likely because of its focus on pure physical combat. Dark Knights have naturally high HP, great weapons, and the best armor. This makes them well-equipped to be the primary attacker in a party. After completing the game’s quests, the Dark Knights are "Blade Knights, and then Blade Masters.
The Dark Wizard (Dark Wizard -> Soul Master -> Grand Master) specializes in offensive magic and can kill from a distance. Although able to handle some weapons made for Dark Knights, the Dark Wizard's weak armor and low physical damage make it impractical. Instead, they wield magical staffs, which increase the offensive power of their spells. Dark Wizards become Soul Masters and then Grand Masters after the first and second quests, respectively.
The Fairy Elf (Elf -> Muse Elf -> High Elf) specialize in long-ranged combat and defensive or offensive magic, can also create summons. Because of the lack of synergy between their fighting and magical skills, they have been developed over time into two separate playing styles. The Agility Elf (AE) focuses on Agility and Strength to use the strongest bows and crossbows and cause great amounts of damage. The Energy Elf (EE) focuses on the Energy stat, allowing them to use monster summons and defensive spells. Elves become Muse Elves and High Elves after the each of the quests. Elves, however are the least upgraded class as well. While BK's, SM's, MG's and DL's were constantly being upgraded and made new skills for Elves were left behind, which makes them the weakest class.
The Magic Gladiator (Magic Gladiator -> Duel Master) is a combination of the DK and DW, and can be unlocked as a new class when your character reaches level 220. He cannot wear a helm, and has four sets of class specific armor though he can also wear many of the DK and DW armor. The Magic Gladiator can run without the need of +5 boots, and swim faster without the need of +5 gloves. MGs receive 7 stat points per level, as opposed to the 5 gained by the three basic classes. Magic Gladiators only have one class change to Duel Masters.
The Dark Lord (Dark Lord-> Lord Emperor) can be created when your character reaches level 250. A Dark Lord does high physical and magical damage, and can control pets. Dark Lords also receive 7 stat points per level, and have the ability to swim faster/run without the need of +5 boots and gloves. Dark Lords also have only one class change to Lord Emperor.
The Summoner (Summoner-> Bloody Summoner-> Dimension Master) can be created as a starting character. She is introduced in Season 3. The Summoner has powerful new spells: "Sleep", "Chain Lightning"....However, she can use some of the "DW"'s skills, too. As the name says, she has her own summons: Sahamutt, Neil - you can upgrade them until +13 !! The female character has strong new sets - each one makes her hair look different every time.
Regular events are scheduled several times each day for players to compete for prizes. Many have set fees to enter whereas others occur in the openly accessible maps. For the Blood Castle event, players compete to retrieve a sword, staff or corssbow for a fallen archangel. Players who enter Devil Square must fight rapidly spawning enemies to survive, with the prize going to the player with the most kills. Chaos Castle places all the players in a small area where the last player standing wins. Similarly to Devil Square, Crywolf involves players defending against attacking mobs, however they must defend the nearby structures as well. Every few hours there is a Golden Troop invasion where a stronger version of a common enemy spawns with the prize going to the player who does the most damage before it dies. A similar White Wizard spawns with the prize again going to the player who does the most damage and so on. The most significant event of them all, is Castle Siege. It takes place once in a period of time (each server has a different period of time), roughly 2 weeks, and is a 2 hour war between al participating Guilds. The event takes place in the valley of loren, and, unfortunatley, during the event you can kill your own guild-mates / party-mates... The guild that owns the castle when the 2 hours have passed, will be the new owner of the castle until the next event. On some servers, the catle-owning guild receives a prize for winning the castle. On other servers, they just do it for the glory...
Ultima Online
April 5th, 2008
Ultima Online (UO) is a popular graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), released on September 25, 1997, by Origin Systems. It was instrumental to the development of the genre, and is still running today. The game is played online, in a fantasy setting similar to that of the other Ultima games that preceded it.
The success of Ultima Online opened the door for the creation of many new massively multiplayer games. Ultima Online is a fantasy role-playing game set in the Ultima universe. It is online-only and played by thousands of simultaneous users (who pay a monthly fee) on various game servers, also known as shards. It is known for its extensive timing-based player versus player combat system. Over a million paid accounts have been created in the game. To maintain order in the online community, there are Game Masters who resolve player disputes, police the shard for terms of service violations, and correct glitches in the game.
Several expansions have been released, but its aging game engine and graphics make it outdated compared to competitive, new massively multiplayer games. This changed with the release of Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn in 2007, which features a new game engine. Since Ultima Online's prime in 2003, the overall subscriber base has seen a steady decline. Subscriber numbers peaked at around 250,000 in July of 2003, and to date sit around 135,000 subscribers (approximately 70,000 of whom are Japanese). As of June 2006, Ultima Online held a 1.1% market share of the massively multiplayer online game subscriptions.
Quoting directly from the Electronic Arts press release announcing the Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn expansion, Ultima Online was "the first MMORPG to reach the 100,000 subscriber base, far exceeding that of any game that went before it. Since then, it has added seven expansion packs and dozens of free content updates, making it one of the deepest, largest MMORPGs ever created. It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest continuously running MMORPG in history."
Ultima Online is the product of Richard Garriott's idea for a fantasy game involving several thousand people who can all play in a shared fantasy world. There were a number of prior games that allowed hundreds of people to play at the same time, including The Realm Online, Neverwinter Nights (the AOL version), and Meridian 59. However, Ultima Online was intended to be a significant improvement over the previous games, both graphically and in game mechanics. The initial team was composed of Garriot, Starr Long, Rick Delashmit and, a bit later Raph Koster, who became the lead designer for the project. Koster wrote a number of public "designer letters" and usually went by his nickname of Designer Dragon. Koster drew inspiration from a number of prior online games such as DartMUD.
The project started in 1995 and was shown to the public at E3 in 1996. At the time (in the mid-1990s), Ultima Online was a very expensive project and quite risky for the company. The development cost was much greater than traditional computer games, it relied on people accessing servers with modems, and it attempted to transform the Ultima series into an entirely new genre. Ultima Online was an ambitious game on a number of fronts, such as:
Players may buy housing and build houses within the persistent landscape (this is still an uncommon feature in many online games).
A skill system without the more traditional experience-based levels or classes.
Many different trades or crafts can be performed by the players to create an in-game economy.
Players could be freely attacked [by other players] anywhere in the game, even in cities (this has since changed).
Upon release in mid-1997, Ultima Online proved to be very popular, reaching 100,000 paying subscribers within six months of release even despite severe "lag" problems at the time. Subscriptions continued to grow for several years reaching a peak of some 250,000 paid accounts. Origin was able to make a great deal of money from the monthly fees required to play Ultima Online and many other companies took note and began development of their own massively multiplayer games. The most successful games after Ultima Online have been EverQuest (released in March 1999), Asheron's Call (released in November 1999), Dark Age of Camelot (released in October 2001), and World of Warcraft (released in November 2004). The Korean massively multiplayer game Lineage was very much inspired by Ultima Online, as have many other subsequent online games.
Ultima Online continued the tradition of previous Ultima games in many ways, but due to advancing technology and the simple fact that it was Origin's first persistent online game, there were many new game mechanics as well. Partially designed as a social and economic experiment, the game had to account for the widespread player interaction as well as deal with the long history of players feeling as if they were the center of attention, as had been the case in single-player games. New to both the developers and the players, a lot that was planned never happened, and a lot that was unexpected did, and many new game systems were put in place to compensate.
The original Ultima Online client is completely 2D and, while it was state of the art when released, it is intended to be used on low-end machines that cannot support the more taxing 3D client. It also presents a different artistic flavor which some people find more attractive than the 3D client. Many of the graphics used are high-resolution versions of graphics used in Ultima VIII.
The 3D client was originally released as a part of the Ultima Online: Third Dawn expansion, but has received poor reviews from both veteran and new players alike due to a large number of performance issues (especially memory leaks early on) and what many see as sub-par graphics. An update to the 3D client was made on January 30, 2006 when characters and creatures from the game were scaled down to smaller sizes.
As of early May/Late April 2007, the Third Dawn client was done away with by EA, in order to make room for the Kingdom Reborn client (see below). Official UO servers will no longer work with the TD client.
Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn was announced in August 2006 was released June 27, 2007. The new client, according to the Ultima Online team at Electronic Arts, is being created for the purpose of modernizing the game's look, making it easy to add new content without backsliding through outdated and outmoded art, while maintaining the niche market as an MMORPG that can be run on lower-end computers. Unfortunately, many players noted that it was released before it was really ready, as it was extremely slow on most computers and many things were still left to do, as even some of the client art was unfinished at its release (among other things). Many players also voiced their dissatisfaction with the 'updated' art, stating it was still extremely dated in terms of its craftsmanship and overall look.
At a players' convention in Atlanta, EA announced that the recommended specs for the UO:KR client are a 1 GHz CPU, a GeForce 3 series video card (low end enough to be considered obsolete by the manufacturer as stated on its Internet site), 2GB of hard drive space, and 512MB of RAM. It stated that it had "some success" running UO:KR at 256MB RAM, but that 512 was recommended. This was changed as of August 13th, where according to the UO.com site the recommended specs are: Windows XP or Windows Vista, CPU: Intel Pentium III 1000 MHz or AMD Athlon 1000 MHz, RAM: 512 MB or more, Video: 64 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ 3 class card or above, hard drive: 6.0 GB available space.
EA has referred to the UO:KR client as "2.5d," meaning that it was written in 3d and then effectively backslid into 2d to make it, in theory, easier for lower-end computers to run -- and, presumably, to maintain the "feel" of the game. Many players of the game disagree with this, however, stating that the system requires far more work and optimization to run adequately on lower and middle end systems.
The client is available as a free download for current players of the game.
Statements made by EA originally suggested, or appeared to suggest, that the KR client would replace the long-standing UO client. However, at the first of several EA-sponsored players' conventions referred to as "UO Town Meetings," in Atlanta, EA representatives suggested that the two clients would exist side-by-side until about 80% of the players had switched over to the new client.
Runescape
March 15th, 2008
RuneScape was created by Andrew Gower, the creator of DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, in 1998. Rewritten and renamed, the first version of RuneScape was released to the public on 4 January 2001. Since its release, the game has been noted for its free-playing abilities, its simple interface, and its accessibility on most web browsers. RuneScape takes place in the fantasy-themed realm of Gielinor, which is divided into several different kingdoms, regions, and areas. Players can travel throughout Gielinor on foot, by using magical teleportation spells and devices, or mechanical means of transportation. Each region offers different types of monsters, materials, and quests to challenge players.
Like many other MMORPGs, there is no linear path that must be followed. Players are shown on the screen as customizable avatars, setting their own goals and objectives. Players can engage in combat with other players or monsters, complete quests, or increase their experience in any of the available skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or playing combative or cooperative mini-games. RuneScape has two quality settings, "Low Detail" and "High Detail", which the player chooses between based on the performance of their computer.
DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, was created in 1998 by Andrew Gower. The game, which was never publicly released, used isometric graphics. In 1999, Gower completely rewrote the game, albeit with no improvements to the graphics or several other aspects of the game. This version was released as a public beta version for approximately one week before it was withdrawn.
As a Cambridge University undergraduate, Gower worked on a complete rewrite of the game with the assistance of his brother, Paul Gower. The isometric view was replaced by a mixture of both three-dimensional and two-dimensional sprites. The game, renamed RuneScape, was released to the public as a beta version on 4 January 2001 and was originally operated from their parents' house in Nottingham. In December 2001, the Gower brothers and Constant Tedder formed Jagex to take over the business aspects of running RuneScape. Jagex developed a programming language called RuneScript which is used to code the game.
On 27 February 2002, a monthly membership service was made available, allowing access to additional features including new areas, quests, and items.
RuneScape's popularity is partially attributable to being accessible from most web browsers allowing players to play the game in many locations.
As RuneScape gained more users, Jagex began planning major changes. The developers completely rewrote the game engine so that the graphics were entirely three-dimensional producing a version called RuneScape 2. A beta version was made available to paying members on 1 December 2003, and the finished version was launched on 29 March 2004. Upon release, RuneScape 2 was renamed RuneScape, and the older version of the game was kept online as RuneScape Classic. On 12 January 2006, Jagex banned more than 5000 Classic accounts due to cheating and RuneScape Classic was closed to new accounts and restricted to paying members who had played Classic at least once since 3 August 2005, and once every six months after that.
On 16 May 2006, Jagex upgraded RuneScape's game engine, primarily as a back-end upgrade rather than a visible graphical boost. RuneScape's memory requirements were significantly reduced, allowing the game to be expanded and improved without increasing the loading time for most players. The engine was upgraded once again on 26 June 2007 to allow the addition of future complex content
There are more than 150 RuneScape servers located throughout the world, which are numbered and referred to as worlds by players and by Jagex. They are located in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, and Finland. Servers are located in areas where they will, at the given time, provide the best connection for players in the most cost-effective manner. Servers are moved or added as the need arises.
Each of the RuneScape servers allows 2,000 players to connect simultaneously, allowing a maximum capacity of more than 300,000 players. The servers are divided into free servers for all players and member's servers. Players can play on any eligible server. Some servers are given activity labels, allowing players performing tasks that require or desire group participation, such as mini-games, to group together.
In addition to the RuneScape servers, there are two members-only servers for RuneScape Classic, both located in the United Kingdom. Each of these is limited to 1,250 players, allowing a total number of 2,500 simultaneous RuneScape Classic players. Players can no longer create new accounts for RuneScape Classic.
Most RuneScape players speak English. Players who speak languages other than English tend to gravitate to servers populated by other players who speak the same language. Some worlds have larger numbers of players who speak Spanish, Dutch, French, German, or other languages. It is not uncommon, however, to see many languages on the chat screen throughout RuneScape. A German translation of RuneScape has also been released, while a French version of the game is in production.
A set of official forums created entirely by Jagex programmers is available to players on the RuneScape website. On the forums, players are able to participate in game discussions, play player-made forum games, arrange to buy or sell items, post suggestions for further game improvements, vote in polls and otherwise interact with the community. Free players can read the forums, but posting is reserved for paying members.
Players can submit email questions to any non-player character in the game. Selected letters are answered in an monthly update called Postbag from the Hedge. This feature began on 26 September 2005 and has since become one of the most accessed pages of the site. Beginning 24 September 2002, players could submit questions to the RuneScape gods; however, this feature was discontinued on 9 December 2004. Players can also submit original RuneScape related artwork, some of which is displayed in a gallery on the RuneScape website. Media featured have included sculpture, comics, drawings, and paintings.
Many RuneScape fansites have been established by players, none of which are supported or recognized by Jagex. In order to provide players with an alternative, official site to get the information they want or need, Jagex introduced the Knowledge Base, which offers information on gameplay, the main RuneScape rules, and account security. However, at least one major fansite has criticised Jagex for not recognising fansites' contributions to the development of its game.
A study by Brunel University claims that playing RuneScape can be beneficial to players. The study concluded that the nature of games like RuneScape can teach teenagers vital skills that they will need as they enter the labour market, including working hard to achieve goals. An article on Twitchguru claims the opposite, that the skills and lessons learned in RuneScape are not suitable for children. Additionally, a July 2007 article indicates a 15-year-old boy from Perth, Western Australia was found to have been skipping school to play RuneScape. The boy's father compared the condition to a heroin addiction. The game is praised for its free play abilities. JustRPG summarized the game with "In short, the game of RuneScape is a fun, addictive game, and while the graphics may not be perfect, for a game written in Java, they aren't bad. The skills are varied, the community is alright, and it'll eat up your time if you aren't careful," giving it a score of 83%. The Yahoo! Buzz Log states that "while it may not be as easy on the eyes as some other popular online RPG games, like World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, or EverQuest, RuneScape is still a lot better way to kill time than pushing around cells in a spreadsheet." PC Gamer UK stated in December 2003 that while the "traditional RPG values of questing, slaying monsters and developing your character in a familiar medieval setting" won't "have the big boys trembling in their +2 Boots of Subscriber Gathering," this is offset by the game's accessibility through a web browser, "compounded by a version of the game that allows free adventuring before players upgrade to a members' account," describing the game as "an unsurprising success."
