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[Game On!] Gundam Online - SIEG ZEON!
OtakuD00D
Can I hit the exploding rocks?San DiegoRegistered User regular
Can I hit the exploding rocks?San DiegoRegistered User regular
Here's a new thread! I'll be updating it more often. Max Damage prepared the intro for both SA and PA forums.
Vital Info:
The IRC channel (HIGHLY reccomended) is #GundamOnline @ irc.zirc.org.
The Wiki (our community home, including signup guide) is here.
There is no free trial. The client is, however, free - you ONLY pay the monthly fee.
Also, the game server undergoes DAILY downtime for three hours, from 1-4am GMT (adjust for your timezone). That's 5-8PM Pacific.
For those of you in-game and playing:
Most PA/SA players are fighting for the [b[Principality of Zeon.[/b]
We have multiple teams (guilds) - each one has a maximum member limit of 30.
To join a team, you must meet the founding member of it on foot, outside a vehicle.
You can find out what teams are recruiting by checking the Squad Roster page, or the IRC channel.
The Setting: (Illustrated with music videos. Click the links)
Do you like prettyboy robo-angst? Barely-restrained man-love? Incoherent plots and magical invincible mechas with angelfeather wings? You probably like Gundam Wing.
Or...
Do you like gritty and bloody sci-fi warfare? Ambiguous morality? High-impact mech combat and darkly anti-war stories? You probably like the Universal Century Gundam setting, as exemplified by 08th MS Team.
This game is based around the latter. In fact, almost all the hardware in that second video is in the game.
The Game:
Universal Century: Gundam Online. Now with two major updates - in July, the game added full space combat. This December, they added a lot of stuff, including a bunch of early 0080 technology, contested and coveted PvP cities to fight over, player-flyable aircraft and background Minovsky particle effects - radiation that blocks radar and communications. Also some major engine optimizations, at the cost of some of the (possibly excessive) view distance. The game now runs better than ever before.
This is technically a japanese-only MMO, but almost all the interface is in plain english, and there's very little static content, so you don't have to worry about wading through pages of NPC text. This game is all about the players. Hence, it is very easily accessible to foreigners like us. In addition, it's quite easy for people outside Japan to sign up (see the wiki), and you don't have to worry about recurring monthly fees, as we're paying via pre-paid timecards.
We've rapidly built up a large english community over the past month. Probably in excess of a hundred players just from PA/SA alone. There was already a small community from GameFAQs when we arrived, but we seem to far outnumber them now. The japanese community has been of great help to us so far, and we've been aided at every step by the english-speaking (japanese) players we've found. Don't let experiences with FFXI jerks put you off - these people seem pretty damn cool. Also, don't go around being a racist fuckwit. I know that sounds obvious, but some people approach foreign environments with both feet in mouth.
UCGO plays very much like old-school Ultima Online. They've lifted the skill system directly from UO (complete with skill cap and the option to unlearn things when you hit it), and most of the combat system. Much of the games focus is on PvP (factional - although you CAN attack friendlies if you want to endure the crime system - also lifted from UO), with NPC enemies mostly serving as training targets. As such, the greatest threat to your life is other players.
Assorted facts and details:
- The game takes place in Australia for the earthbound part, and a series of orbiting stations and colonies when you travel to space. Both are pretty bleak and bland environments - the cities on earth are highly detailed, but once you're past city limits, it's mostly flat desert with occasional hilly, rocky or forested areas. This isn't a game for sightseers, sadly. The environments are HUGE, though - Australia is actually modelled to scale, so any long-distance travel is best done via transport copters, which seem to be magical and way faster than they should logically be.
- This game is all about risk and reward. You could roll around in your free Magella tank all day long, but you won't achieve much. However, upgrading to a more expensive vehicle means that you've got an aspect of loss to worry about - being clumsy around NPCs, or (worse yet) falling victim to a wandering Federation gank-squad will cost you money. Still, the power-curve seems more fair than many MMOs. Even a newbie in a tank can do a bit of damage to an ace pilot in a Gundam.
- Thankfully, money isn't that huge a deal (not up to Eve Online levels, at least). You start out with 1,000,000 credits, and a basic Mobile Suit (mech) costs 130,000, albeit naked. Equipment will probably put that up to 200,000, but that means you should have enough for five suits with full equipment from the start, and once you're up and running (and ideally with goons), money is easy to make. Just be careful and play it safe at first and you'll be fine.
- As you kill enemies, both NPCs and (if you're lucky) players, you gain money and rank. Rank is a double-edged sword, as while it grants you a higher paycheque at the end of the week (fridays are payday), it also makes you a tastier and more financially rewarding target for enemies. You need a high rank to use certain special items, like base construction gear, too.
- No, you can't be a Newtype (think 'Giant Robot Jedi'), although interestingly, Amuro Ray's original voice actor plays and blogs about it!
- No, you cannot squish people on foot, or go around ineffectualy shooting pistols at gigantic robots. All combat is vehicular or suit-based.
- Unfortunately, you cannot pilot battleships (both land or space) or Mobile Armors (giant Zeon superweapons) yet. These things are planned for future updates though, and will be usable in time.
- More setting-related than anything, but Char Aznable is the man. Not only does he teamkill his entire goddamn side (his murder spree including, but not limited to, shooting a (bitch of a) woman directly IN THE FACE with a ROCKET LAUNCHER), but gets away with it - and later comes back driving a solid gold robot. :c00l:
The Screenshots:
A Feddie GM takes an easy potshot at an advancing Zaku 2. When combat reaches this kind of range, both combatants usually switch to melee weapons.
Claws! In! Spaaaace! Four Zeon suits floating in the inky blackness. The fourth one is the Z'Gok Experimental, recently added this patch. The second one is the Gasshia, which is actually the only one out of the four that works in space.
The game isn't all combat - while you'll still often be in a Mobile Suit, you can walk around town and raid clothes stores. Also, there's a variety of tradeskills, fuelled by resouces that have to be mined through driving a mobile mining rig.
It's not all giant robots either. Seems that there's a wide range of tanks, including this huge thing - the Guntank V2. Your starting vehicle is a tank, too (a Magella-class, if you're playing Zeon) and they're so shitty they're free to replace if you lose one.
A Zaku 2 floating around in orbit. Space is pretty. Real men melee in space.
This weird-looking machine is the ADZAM - one of Zeons crazy 'mobile armor' superweapon projects. Not pilotable yet, but probably one of the wandering boss-type NPCs.
Team SRX, the PA squad. Grown a lot larger since then! I'll post me a roster when I can.
It's pretty safe to say that this lone GM is fucked - facing down against a vast swathe of Zakus, backed up by a Gallop-class land battleship. Looks like half the Zeon army has locked onto him, too.
And a trio of Really Huge Screenshots (thanks to Shingin), appropriately enough showing off the Really Huge Scale of the game. Also showing the very english-language interface.
Note that you're not even as tall as the foot-segment of a GM.
The Gameplay Videos:
- A large Mobile Suit engagement set around a station. Notice that it's semi-realistic space combat with no friction, or even an up or down?
- A huge space dogfight, wherein this Zeon pilot appears to be ruining a lot of Federation pilots days. Lookit all them shiny radar contacts!
- A GIGANTIC Zeon ground-based force gradually assembles, and proceeds through the desert to clash head-on with Federation forces.
- A Gundam engages a Zeon armor division.
- Death from above! A looooong mid-air saber charge right into a Zakus back.
Vital Info:
The IRC channel (HIGHLY reccomended) is #GundamOnline @ irc.zirc.org.
The Wiki (our community home, including signup guide) is here.
There is no free trial. The client is, however, free - you ONLY pay the monthly fee.
Also, the game server undergoes DAILY downtime for three hours, from 1-4am GMT (adjust for your timezone). That's 5-8PM Pacific.
For those of you in-game and playing:
Most PA/SA players are fighting for the [b[Principality of Zeon.[/b]
We have multiple teams (guilds) - each one has a maximum member limit of 30.
To join a team, you must meet the founding member of it on foot, outside a vehicle.
You can find out what teams are recruiting by checking the Squad Roster page, or the IRC channel.
The Setting: (Illustrated with music videos. Click the links)
Do you like prettyboy robo-angst? Barely-restrained man-love? Incoherent plots and magical invincible mechas with angelfeather wings? You probably like Gundam Wing.
Or...
Do you like gritty and bloody sci-fi warfare? Ambiguous morality? High-impact mech combat and darkly anti-war stories? You probably like the Universal Century Gundam setting, as exemplified by 08th MS Team.
This game is based around the latter. In fact, almost all the hardware in that second video is in the game.
The Game:
Universal Century: Gundam Online. Now with two major updates - in July, the game added full space combat. This December, they added a lot of stuff, including a bunch of early 0080 technology, contested and coveted PvP cities to fight over, player-flyable aircraft and background Minovsky particle effects - radiation that blocks radar and communications. Also some major engine optimizations, at the cost of some of the (possibly excessive) view distance. The game now runs better than ever before.
This is technically a japanese-only MMO, but almost all the interface is in plain english, and there's very little static content, so you don't have to worry about wading through pages of NPC text. This game is all about the players. Hence, it is very easily accessible to foreigners like us. In addition, it's quite easy for people outside Japan to sign up (see the wiki), and you don't have to worry about recurring monthly fees, as we're paying via pre-paid timecards.
We've rapidly built up a large english community over the past month. Probably in excess of a hundred players just from PA/SA alone. There was already a small community from GameFAQs when we arrived, but we seem to far outnumber them now. The japanese community has been of great help to us so far, and we've been aided at every step by the english-speaking (japanese) players we've found. Don't let experiences with FFXI jerks put you off - these people seem pretty damn cool. Also, don't go around being a racist fuckwit. I know that sounds obvious, but some people approach foreign environments with both feet in mouth.
UCGO plays very much like old-school Ultima Online. They've lifted the skill system directly from UO (complete with skill cap and the option to unlearn things when you hit it), and most of the combat system. Much of the games focus is on PvP (factional - although you CAN attack friendlies if you want to endure the crime system - also lifted from UO), with NPC enemies mostly serving as training targets. As such, the greatest threat to your life is other players.
Assorted facts and details:
- The game takes place in Australia for the earthbound part, and a series of orbiting stations and colonies when you travel to space. Both are pretty bleak and bland environments - the cities on earth are highly detailed, but once you're past city limits, it's mostly flat desert with occasional hilly, rocky or forested areas. This isn't a game for sightseers, sadly. The environments are HUGE, though - Australia is actually modelled to scale, so any long-distance travel is best done via transport copters, which seem to be magical and way faster than they should logically be.
- This game is all about risk and reward. You could roll around in your free Magella tank all day long, but you won't achieve much. However, upgrading to a more expensive vehicle means that you've got an aspect of loss to worry about - being clumsy around NPCs, or (worse yet) falling victim to a wandering Federation gank-squad will cost you money. Still, the power-curve seems more fair than many MMOs. Even a newbie in a tank can do a bit of damage to an ace pilot in a Gundam.
- Thankfully, money isn't that huge a deal (not up to Eve Online levels, at least). You start out with 1,000,000 credits, and a basic Mobile Suit (mech) costs 130,000, albeit naked. Equipment will probably put that up to 200,000, but that means you should have enough for five suits with full equipment from the start, and once you're up and running (and ideally with goons), money is easy to make. Just be careful and play it safe at first and you'll be fine.
- As you kill enemies, both NPCs and (if you're lucky) players, you gain money and rank. Rank is a double-edged sword, as while it grants you a higher paycheque at the end of the week (fridays are payday), it also makes you a tastier and more financially rewarding target for enemies. You need a high rank to use certain special items, like base construction gear, too.
- No, you can't be a Newtype (think 'Giant Robot Jedi'), although interestingly, Amuro Ray's original voice actor plays and blogs about it!
- No, you cannot squish people on foot, or go around ineffectualy shooting pistols at gigantic robots. All combat is vehicular or suit-based.
- Unfortunately, you cannot pilot battleships (both land or space) or Mobile Armors (giant Zeon superweapons) yet. These things are planned for future updates though, and will be usable in time.
- More setting-related than anything, but Char Aznable is the man. Not only does he teamkill his entire goddamn side (his murder spree including, but not limited to, shooting a (bitch of a) woman directly IN THE FACE with a ROCKET LAUNCHER), but gets away with it - and later comes back driving a solid gold robot. :c00l:
The Screenshots:
A Feddie GM takes an easy potshot at an advancing Zaku 2. When combat reaches this kind of range, both combatants usually switch to melee weapons.
Claws! In! Spaaaace! Four Zeon suits floating in the inky blackness. The fourth one is the Z'Gok Experimental, recently added this patch. The second one is the Gasshia, which is actually the only one out of the four that works in space.
The game isn't all combat - while you'll still often be in a Mobile Suit, you can walk around town and raid clothes stores. Also, there's a variety of tradeskills, fuelled by resouces that have to be mined through driving a mobile mining rig.
It's not all giant robots either. Seems that there's a wide range of tanks, including this huge thing - the Guntank V2. Your starting vehicle is a tank, too (a Magella-class, if you're playing Zeon) and they're so shitty they're free to replace if you lose one.
A Zaku 2 floating around in orbit. Space is pretty. Real men melee in space.
This weird-looking machine is the ADZAM - one of Zeons crazy 'mobile armor' superweapon projects. Not pilotable yet, but probably one of the wandering boss-type NPCs.
Team SRX, the PA squad. Grown a lot larger since then! I'll post me a roster when I can.
It's pretty safe to say that this lone GM is fucked - facing down against a vast swathe of Zakus, backed up by a Gallop-class land battleship. Looks like half the Zeon army has locked onto him, too.
And a trio of Really Huge Screenshots (thanks to Shingin), appropriately enough showing off the Really Huge Scale of the game. Also showing the very english-language interface.
Note that you're not even as tall as the foot-segment of a GM.
The Gameplay Videos:
- A large Mobile Suit engagement set around a station. Notice that it's semi-realistic space combat with no friction, or even an up or down?
- A huge space dogfight, wherein this Zeon pilot appears to be ruining a lot of Federation pilots days. Lookit all them shiny radar contacts!
- A GIGANTIC Zeon ground-based force gradually assembles, and proceeds through the desert to clash head-on with Federation forces.
- A Gundam engages a Zeon armor division.
- Death from above! A looooong mid-air saber charge right into a Zakus back.
OtakuD00D on
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Posts
Sure thing.
Windows 2000/XP only, sorry. Do they even make OS X stuff? At all? Ever?
Seriously - I've never even seen a game that says it supports it.
On more relevent matters:
I have never played an MMO before. But this is the first game, probably ever, that has brought that pattern into question for me. Because I love UC Gundam unconditionally.
I get the overall impression that the Federation is hideously outnumbered in this game, though. Mainly because UC Gundam fans all but worship Char Aznable, and because they have cooler suits and the prospect of Mobile Armors in the future.
Well yeah you can't paint a Gundam red and make it 3 times as good.
I never asked for this!
I'm the leader of the PA-side team. Max and I are coordinating the threads now. He gave me all the necessary info for the Op post and I'll keep it updated on this side.
ZeroZero, sorry about being gone for this past hour. Had to go out with the family. Reply again and I'll make my way to Adelaide.
Speaking of the Ez-8, I find it interesting that the machine actually has better stats in this game than the Prototype Gundam, despite being made primarily from left over RX-78 components.
Neat.
EDIT: OtakuD00D- Groovy.
Asked for a while in-game, people might be too busy to answer. I've got MS Skill 2.7, 1.2 million spacebux, major skills in close quarters, solid shell guns. I'm still using the Zaku II, the same shield, the same heat axe and 7000 dollar machine gun. Is it time for a new suit, upgrades, or a new weapon?
"PROTOTYPE GUNDAM"
"GUNDAM"
"GUNDAM MASS PRODUCTION GROUND TYPE"
"GUNDAM MASS PRODUCTION GROUND TYPE EZ8"
"GUNDAM G3"
"FULL ARMOR GUNDAM"
"GM"
"GM COMMAND"
"GM GROUND TYPE"
"GM SNIPER"
etc
Wait until MS skill 3.0 and get either a Gouf or Dom Tropical Test Type depending on wether you prefer melee or ranged, respectively.
1. Where on the site do I obtain a Client?
2. How do I pay for this?
http://gundam.netmarble.net/
I have no idea about it other that it looks neat. So don't ask.
I never asked for this!
Gundam Capsule Fighter, a Korean action game using the liscence for almost every Gundam universe ever, including Gundam Seed, the most recent.
Looks pretty fun from gameplay videos I saw (and posted on the last UCGO thread). Apparently it just started beta testing in Korea, which means we've probably got quite some wait ahead of us.
This is complete speculation, but I believe that they may play up the 'collectilble toy' capsule angle for the payment system. The game itself is free (as are your first handfull of characters), but you pay more for random new ones, which you can trade with others.
Thats my assumption, at least.
I was trying to look at their web page to find a download and couldn't find one either. I think I'd like to give this a try at least, I've been hankering for new MMO experience.
I finally got my Gouf today. The heat rod is awesome, however, should I be using the sword? It seems more expensive=better, but since the heat rod is more exclusive, I'm not sure if it has better damage or something.
Next-up: acquiring a Rick Dom for space travel.
And is it possible to have an MS good at both ground and space, or do I have to lean toward one?
Yep. The wiki has a partial list of additions this update.
Added with the latest patch (along with aircraft), from the wiki:
MS-09R Rick Dom - Variant of the Dom fitted for space combat.
MSM-07E Z'Gok Experimental - A second-generation Z'Gok. Far cooler-looking.
Full Armor Gundam - Heavily armored weapons platform. Tons o' guns.
RX-78-3 G-3 GUNDAM - Fantastically expensive third-gen Gundam variant.
RGM-79 Cold Combat Type - Long-range oriented GM with good radar and sniping capabilities
Does nobody read things anymore?
The THIRD LINE of the post (starting with VITAL POINTS) is that there is no free trial yet.
Also, there's gameplay videos at the botom of the post, too. Read, people, read!
Also, it needs to be put in huge bold (preferably flashing and glowing) letters that the client download and signup guide are ON THE WIKI THE WIKI IS LIFE GO TO THE WIKI NOW.
Also, IRC.
Anyway - the gameplay videos are a bit out of date. I'd imagine PvP combat is at least more aesthetically pleasing now the PvP cities are in, as they've got far more interesting terrain, and means that both suits and aircraft have distinct roles.
Ergh, though, I just can't justify plopping down for some cash on this without giving it a try first, especially since the linked YouTube vids weren't utterly impressive to me. Sorry guys. :x
EDIT: actually one thing I haven't seen covered. How extensive is character customization? I mean like your hair color and face and whatnot. I'd imagine it's a bit basic since the game is mostly about vehicles.
It's pretty simple, but there's quite a few choices (skin color, hair style, hair color, face). There's actually a whole skill tree devoted to clothes production. I had it posted in the last thread, but I'm only up to level 30.0 skill and have a wide variety of clothes to customize characters with.
Yes it does, since the comment that talks about the client is below the one about the wiki. Thanks for pointing it out though I really didn't read the wiki line.
It kicks enormous amounts of ass. Goddamn shame it east up 15 beam ammo per shot, seems to wear out fast, and takes like five seconds in between shots.
In other words, just like a Bazooka, only it fires beams.
It really is just like UO. There are no quests, just crafting, PvE and PVP with a few GM-controlled special events sprinkled through out. If you like UO and giant robots, then you'll probably get at least a few good months out of it. However, if you like WoW and elves more, probably not even a week.