Spiral Knights head start is up, yay! People that participated in the preview event or earlier get a cool beta testers set of armor too. It's t0, but has a nifty skin.
I was thinking about pets the other day and it's such an obvious feature I'm surprised it took free MMOs so long to implement it. Think about it: your players like cute creatures, in fact: the little shits probably look up pictures of puppies and kitties every day.
It's such an easy feature to implement too: no one expects decent path finding or AI from their pets, we're still totally OK with summoning and resummoning our pets every time we jump down a ramp in Pay to Play MMOs.
It's a beautiful money sink: make the pets have stamina/mana/live energy/loyalty that can only be replenished by a special item and you'll have every player in your game spending in-game/cash shop money on that item.
I don't like pets much, I enjoy playing classes that don't rely on a finicky NPCs trailing behind them. Exceptions are pets that I can have a lot of control over, like in LOTRO or WoW. I want them to be a vital part of my class instead of a little ball of fur adding some dps to my actions.
I could totally write a black book on "Shit no one wants to see in MMOs any more" by now.
Kingdom Heroes has a pretty decent pet system. You get 2-6 soldiers (depending on character class) which you raise from conscripts into a number of different specializations. They generally don't get hung up on terrain (they teleport/respawn next to you if they get too far away), and allow for AFK grinding if you're a Tactician (they get 6 soldiers). You don't get total control over them, but they only get 1 special attack and 1 skill (usually a buff), and they use them intelligently enough.
You do have to keep them loyal with cash shop items, though. Players sell them for in-game currency, and some minor loyalty items do drop from mobs, but you will almost certainly have to drop some cash at some point.
War Inc. is a team-based shooter that's in closed beta. Apparently the devs are being really good about fixing bugs quickly once they're reported. I'm planning on looking in to see if it's any better than Mars War.
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Also, it looks like Cosmic Break did well enough to warrant an English translation of its prequel, C21. The video that Cyberstep has made available is too short for me to bother linking.
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...And there's an English translation being made of another side-scrolling beat-em-up, Elsword. I've heard it's related to Grand Chase.
Elsword DOES look good. Plus, there's nothing wrong with more action MMO's. I hope it has good controller support, because that looks like the kind of game that needs it.
Awesome, thanks Skul! I'll add Elsword to Promising Titles, the other two don't look all that awesome to me, so I'll just put them in my database and post them once I hear about the games going open beta/live.
As advertised, this is basically the first 15 minutes of the game, unedited. You start out being able to choose from 4 pre-made characters. They all have different base stats, and later on they get a few unique skills. They don't quite fall into classes, except for the obvious heavy and sniper. However, each character can use all the basic weapon types.
You can pick from a few different hairstyles and faces, though the faces are just different eyes that you can barely see anyway. I went with whatever I figured would stand out the most on screen, so I wouldn't lose track of the character.
You get dropped into a short, optional tutorial, then into the hub, where you're introduced to the quest NPCs. Everything there is fairly simple. There are huge flashing arrows to follow so you don't get lost, and the entire hub city is 3 different areas that are all pretty small. At any time you can go straight to gameplay, you don't actually have to walk all the way to the east end of town.
There no graphics options. Everything is on default, I couldn't even change the resolution. There's windowed and fullscreen, a few options to hide player names and helmets, and that's about it. You can reconfigure some controls, but not all. And the ones you can't change kind of restrict the ones you can. For instance, you can remap movement from wasd to anything else, but you can't remap the basic skill quickslots from Q and E.
There are 3 distinct modes to play with. The first, the one I did in the video, is the Mission Mode. This is where you do story missions, PvE, and I guess you can compete for high scores. Everything is fairly simple. You move to the right and shoot everything in the way. This seems to be where you'd complete the majority of NPC quests as well.
The gameplay is not Metal Slug, it's Soldat-light. Moving with wasd, jumping with space, shooting with mouse1. You can bring different weapon with you on a mission, but you don't have to bring ammo. You start with a default stock of ammo and enemies will drop ammo kits in every mode. It's possible to run out, but the different weapons don't seem to share, so you can switch in a pinch.
The weird thing after the missions is how you get loot. During missions you get cards that let you buy a chance to pick one of the boxes, which are randomly filled with different types and qualities of loot. It's totally random.
Next up, I tried the pvp. I wasn't sure how this would go, since I was level 1 or 2 and still had my default gear, and didn't even know how to use my skills -- you'll see that a few minutes into the PvP game I figure out that I have a healing skill that's mapped to Q.
Fortunately, most of the players are pretty terrible, and I was able to dominate easily without having any clue of what I was doing. There are different maps and modes the server can choose, this one was a simple TDM race to 100 kills. There's some sort of capture mode as well, where each team tries to hold different points on the map, and some other stuff I haven't tried.
There were people who were higher level than me in the game, and ones who had better weapons, but it seems like each player gets a default base of hp and mp to work with. I saw later that you can get slightly better weapons around level 5-8, but I'm going to stick with the assault rifle because it gets the job done, but there are other weapon categories to invest in, from shotguns to pistols.
There are individual side-goals each player gets during a PvP game, like I got one that was "Get 4 kills with headshots." If you finish them, you get an xp and money bonus after the map. I also got a 20% bonus for being the "Ace" of the game.
Lastly, there's another PvE mode which is a base defence against waves of zombies.
At first I had no idea what was going on here, and it looks like I was spending points on all the wrong things between rounds (I kept buying health, thinking it was a health boost, but it was just a full heal). Anyway, there are 10 rounds or so where the zombies charge at the base in the middle of the map and the players have to keep them away. You can die, but if the team survives the round you will revive. Or you can spend in-game currency to revive instantly. Those coins are very limited unless you buy them from the cash shop. I had no idea, which is why I used a couple in an earlier PvE mission (the jumping mechanics take a bit to get used to).
One thing that you can see in the Defend mission is that the game gets really weird when the servers start to lag. When there's a lot of shit going on, the lag is quite obvious, and you can see that my cursor starts to act up. It looks like an aim-correction system starts to take over, because suddenly my crosshais will lock on to an enemy and track them whether I want it to or not.
All in all, I liked the hour or so I put into it, and I'll play some more. If I find anything else of interest I'll record it or whatever.
I'll have to put more time in to figure out how the levelling works. Pretty sure I levelled up a bunch of times, and I got some skill points, but it only let me improve 1 skill, though it says I have points left over. There are a bunch of universal skills, both active and passive, like the self healing, repairing, and speed boosts. I didn't see any obvious stats to raise, no way to increase hp or mp or defence without buying gear -- and the gear all increases stats in percentages, relative to the character's base, so you can't buy gear that's +500 damage. Unless there's cash shop stuff like that, I haven't looked.
There's something called licenses you can buy for the different weapon types. You get them with what looks like experience, but I have no idea what increasing the license level does. I'd imagine it ups damage and accuracy and such. It also keeps track of how many kills you get with each weapon, and you can see your pvp k/d ration in the character's stat screen (and other people's, if you check them out).
So, yeah, could be a decent game. At least everything in it is simple and quick. You can jump on and do a 10-15 minute PvP or Defend mission and get money and xp whenever.
Okay. A few answers to the questions you bring up.
That actually IS the auto aim. It's incredibly sticky, and best turned off. There's an option for it in the menu, thankfully.
With skill points, you probably didn't have enough. For some strange reason, you don't get many skill points, but even BASE skill upgrades cost seven or more points. From what I think, not all of them are terribly useful, I just pumped them into healing and upping the damage and reload of rockets.
The License system is actually used to buy new weapons. You have to be at a certain rank with the licenses to be able to buy the better weapons. I've mostly pumped it into rifles, since they ARE basically the best weapon for any job.
I agree that the jumping is very odd, and takes alot of getting used to. It makes platforming levels in mission mode EXTREMELY aggravating.
Another thing I'd like to point out is that it might just be me, but the difficulty seems....off. At least for mission mode. I go levels upon levels with no problem whatsoever, and then I get to a boss which oneshots me with every single attack.
On another note, there are actually TWO versions of co-op mode depending on the map. Two of the three maps I've seen are you defending a base from zombies, while the other is trying to go from the first floor of a building to the roof. I have actually not yet seen a winning game of either.
Sadly, the game mode that I most wanted to see, the PVP "Zombie infection" Is either not IN the beta, or nobody has been playing it, so I don't know about that one.
It's basically a dps meatgrinder, that scales to the number of players and has a time limit.
So the only way to beat it is to have enough players who can put out enough dps to get through the later floors before the time runs out. A few players with substandard gear, or who can't stand in place and hold mouse1 down properly, will sink the entire thing.
Plus, it's really hard to see anything.
Not the best mode going.
It would be easier if I could figure out a way to prevent new people from joining. New players don't get the post-round upgrades, so they're more of a drain as the game goes on.
I got to floor 7 or 8 before we just ran out of time. With about 6 players it would be manageable, with 12 players constantly dropping in and out, it's impossible.
Yeah. I've never seen past floor 8 myself. I've usually been in groups of almost max, of course, which makes it almost impossible to see. I suppose turning off the blood would help but Eeeh. I mostly stick to mission mode anyway.
Thanks for that Page-, gave me a pretty good idea that that game is not for me. I'd lose track of where my character was all the time.
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MrVyngaardLive From New EtoileStraight Outta SosariaRegistered Userregular
edited April 2011
Elsword looks cool, although I wish someone would come out with a more Western fantasy style of that kind of mmo - side scrolling D&D Tower of Doom, basically. Dungeon Fighter Online is sorta close to what I mean, but with a more D&D 2nd Ed. art style.
MrVyngaard on
"now I've got this mental image of caucuses as cafeteria tables in prison, and new congressmen having to beat someone up on inauguration day." - Raiden333
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Liquid GhostDO YOU HEAR THE VOICES, TOO?!Registered Userregular
edited April 2011
High fucking five. I'd play that shit all day long.
Same way people still play UO and EQ1. Nostalgia + intimate familiarity with the game make up for a lot. "Bullshit grinding" suddenly becomes "oh man, who wants to do an XYZ run, those are the best!".
RO's also a bit pretty, and there's a TON of different music in the game. For some of us, that's a pretty good plus.
Oh i used to play the shit out of RO back in the day, it was my first real MMO. I loved it once upon a time. Don't get me wrong. I think free to play is definitely the right choice for them in the end. It just surprises me that game has lasted out so long. I think my fondest memories of it are actually sitting in that water town with the boats with my friends, chatting about things and just hanging out, then gathering up and hunting for loot. The music was really good in that game, even by todays standards.
It's hard to believe I was a beta tester for that game before it even came out, i remember playing a thief and he had no skills because they weren't implemented yet. Still though, the game esentially has no quests at all and only grinding, that kind of gameplay is pretty outdated now. Eq1 is also a ghost town, just to burst that bubble, i logged in for nostalgia sake with a friend last year during the $2 sale on steam and we were the only ones playing on pretty much our entire server. We ran into 1 other person within our month of play time.
So...Spiral Knights just launched. I'm not sure it qualifies as an MMO; but if GW and/or Vindictus does, I don't see why it wouldn't. But it is a free to play game. I'm not entirely sure what the deal with it is as I don't see any sort of real money store on teh site or anything.
Anyway, dorked around in it for a bit; seems pretty fun. A little top down co-op in the vein of Zelda with some Diablo mixed in. For the cost of zero USD I think it's worth having some fun in.
Should it get its own thread? I figured it'd have had its own already; but there seems to be little to no interest in it.
I've been playing Spiral Knights since its launch a couple days ago. It's a blast, and even better when you get a few people playing together. I'm Kyanilis in game, of course, if anyone wants to friend me and run a few areas.
Spiral Knights is like Zelda 4-swords. Enforced teamwork and all that.
It does have a cash shop; you pay moneys in exchange for steam energy, which is related to revives and such in-game, I think? There's like three major currencies in the game.
The item system is a bit odd, as your equipment has "heat", which is item level, and a star rating, which is how effective it is to start with, I guess? It is a lot of fun, although I was somewhat disappointed to get to a point where the game basically says, "Your stuff it crap; go back and do it all over again until you can afford decent equipment."
The community seems nice too. This might be in part because loot is handled as close to automatically as possible, and each member of the party gets a copy of every crystal you haul out of a level.
As much fun as this is, it definitely needs a thread.
Not sure if this was mentioned in this thread, but Paradox Interactive (people responsible for Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, and other strategy games) announced free-to-play MMO, Salem. It's supposed to be released in 2011.
Persistent and mutable world.
Crafting, farming and building.
Open PvP combat with permanent death.
Full text from their website:
Salem
The Crafting MMO
Salem is set in a fantastical New England and offers free form massively multiplayer gameplay in a persistent, mutable and online world. With players taking the roles of intrepid colonists from the Old World seeking to make lives for themselves in the New, Salem provides them with unique crafting, farming and building systems inspired by 17th century alchemy.
Cast in a mold of cute-gothic Salem's lighthearted art style makes for the perfect contrast to the otherwise grim realities of open player-versus-player combat and permanent death. Experience Squonks, Hidebehinds, Witchcraft and the fullest freedom of a sandbox conceived in Liberty.
It looks custom-made for PA forumers: permadeath, sandbox, crafting.... :winky:
I agree the boundary to get into Tier 2 is a bit jarring. At this point I've soloed depth 5-7 a couple times when parties dropped out, yet the game still says my stuff isn't good enough to try starting the next monster level with a party. At least that's gotten me more of the 2-star mats to use, I should be ready for tier 2 in another day or so.
Edit: It's interesting that even for the 2-star equipment that's available in the NPC shops, right now it's far more cost-effective to buy the mats and energy (with crowns) to craft them. I wonder if we're just in the phase before inflation sets in or what.
Edit: It's interesting that even for the 2-star equipment that's available in the NPC shops, right now it's far more cost-effective to buy the mats and energy (with crowns) to craft them. I wonder if we're just in the phase before inflation sets in or what.
I came to a similar conclusion, although, is there a material trader? I ran around in the market district but didn't see one.
Spiral Knights in browser based, yes? Can you also download a client or not?
Yes and yes; they've put the out-of-browser client a bit out of the way, but it's there.
The out-of-browser client got installed when I went to the play page, although it did initially start installing the game from there. Maybe that's just because I'm using Chrome and not Internet Explorer or something? But I didn't even have the option to play in-browser.
You do want the equipment it suggests to get into T2. Trust me. I did in the preview a couple weeks ago. Stuff hits a lot harder there. I had several pieces of 2 Star armor with maxed heat and was getting brutalized if I wasn't careful.
The star rating on equipment is basically the tier. If you look it, the bars on it show it's power, and there's a faded bar that shows what it can grow to with heat.
If you craft an item, there's a chance you'll make a unique variant, which might have extra resist, or reduced charge time.
Energy is used for pretty much everything. Elevators cost 10 energy per use, unless you're going back to town, or one of the rest areas every 4 floors. There's "Mist" energy, which you slowly recover, enough to get 100 per day, which maxes out at 100. When you complete the tutorial you get a one time use item that replenishes 100 mist energy, and again when you make it to T2. I assume the same or similar occurs at 3. Crystal energy can be purchased via real world money, or can be bought with the in-game generic money, crowns. When it opened it was running about 1200 crowns per 100 CE. Last night it was about 1850. Glad I bought about 300 energy early . Energy is also used to unlock special gates that extra treasure, or super hard arena style fights with nice rewards if you can win. You use energy to revive, which scales exponentially if you do it multiple times in one dungeon run. 2, 5, 20, and so on.
It costs energy and crowns in addition to mats to craft items. The star tier costs for crafting as i recall are, starting from 0 stars: 10, 20, 50, 100, and I haven't gotten any farther.
The last currency is tokens. You find tokens from certain chests. Usually one per each floor or two. Though some floors are treasure floors with more. There's a vendor in Haven that sells trinkets and certain mats in exchange for them.
I play as Tofystedeth, and since i'm often playing other stuff, I'm willing to use my mist energy to craft stuff for folks on days I'm not using it for playing, if you provide recipes I don't have and the mats.
I was playing this game yesterday and its hells a lot of fun. Does anyone know if we can Effectively use a 360 controller? As in all I need from my lelft joystiq is to face and move my guy I am directing him at. Not one or the other.
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Kingdom Heroes has a pretty decent pet system. You get 2-6 soldiers (depending on character class) which you raise from conscripts into a number of different specializations. They generally don't get hung up on terrain (they teleport/respawn next to you if they get too far away), and allow for AFK grinding if you're a Tactician (they get 6 soldiers). You don't get total control over them, but they only get 1 special attack and 1 skill (usually a buff), and they use them intelligently enough.
You do have to keep them loyal with cash shop items, though. Players sell them for in-game currency, and some minor loyalty items do drop from mobs, but you will almost certainly have to drop some cash at some point.
Impressions and VIDEOS incoming.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NVDeI7MtqQ&feature=player_embedded
War Inc. is a team-based shooter that's in closed beta. Apparently the devs are being really good about fixing bugs quickly once they're reported. I'm planning on looking in to see if it's any better than Mars War.
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Also, it looks like Cosmic Break did well enough to warrant an English translation of its prequel, C21. The video that Cyberstep has made available is too short for me to bother linking.
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...And there's an English translation being made of another side-scrolling beat-em-up, Elsword. I've heard it's related to Grand Chase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUpaD6CLExs
I'm also giving a +1 to Microvolts. It's quite a bit more fun than I was expecting.
First up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CoYeLdp_Qg
As advertised, this is basically the first 15 minutes of the game, unedited. You start out being able to choose from 4 pre-made characters. They all have different base stats, and later on they get a few unique skills. They don't quite fall into classes, except for the obvious heavy and sniper. However, each character can use all the basic weapon types.
You can pick from a few different hairstyles and faces, though the faces are just different eyes that you can barely see anyway. I went with whatever I figured would stand out the most on screen, so I wouldn't lose track of the character.
You get dropped into a short, optional tutorial, then into the hub, where you're introduced to the quest NPCs. Everything there is fairly simple. There are huge flashing arrows to follow so you don't get lost, and the entire hub city is 3 different areas that are all pretty small. At any time you can go straight to gameplay, you don't actually have to walk all the way to the east end of town.
There no graphics options. Everything is on default, I couldn't even change the resolution. There's windowed and fullscreen, a few options to hide player names and helmets, and that's about it. You can reconfigure some controls, but not all. And the ones you can't change kind of restrict the ones you can. For instance, you can remap movement from wasd to anything else, but you can't remap the basic skill quickslots from Q and E.
There are 3 distinct modes to play with. The first, the one I did in the video, is the Mission Mode. This is where you do story missions, PvE, and I guess you can compete for high scores. Everything is fairly simple. You move to the right and shoot everything in the way. This seems to be where you'd complete the majority of NPC quests as well.
The gameplay is not Metal Slug, it's Soldat-light. Moving with wasd, jumping with space, shooting with mouse1. You can bring different weapon with you on a mission, but you don't have to bring ammo. You start with a default stock of ammo and enemies will drop ammo kits in every mode. It's possible to run out, but the different weapons don't seem to share, so you can switch in a pinch.
The weird thing after the missions is how you get loot. During missions you get cards that let you buy a chance to pick one of the boxes, which are randomly filled with different types and qualities of loot. It's totally random.
Next up, I tried the pvp. I wasn't sure how this would go, since I was level 1 or 2 and still had my default gear, and didn't even know how to use my skills -- you'll see that a few minutes into the PvP game I figure out that I have a healing skill that's mapped to Q.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePk0c9hi1AQ
Fortunately, most of the players are pretty terrible, and I was able to dominate easily without having any clue of what I was doing. There are different maps and modes the server can choose, this one was a simple TDM race to 100 kills. There's some sort of capture mode as well, where each team tries to hold different points on the map, and some other stuff I haven't tried.
There were people who were higher level than me in the game, and ones who had better weapons, but it seems like each player gets a default base of hp and mp to work with. I saw later that you can get slightly better weapons around level 5-8, but I'm going to stick with the assault rifle because it gets the job done, but there are other weapon categories to invest in, from shotguns to pistols.
There are individual side-goals each player gets during a PvP game, like I got one that was "Get 4 kills with headshots." If you finish them, you get an xp and money bonus after the map. I also got a 20% bonus for being the "Ace" of the game.
Lastly, there's another PvE mode which is a base defence against waves of zombies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04q70H-dyPQ
At first I had no idea what was going on here, and it looks like I was spending points on all the wrong things between rounds (I kept buying health, thinking it was a health boost, but it was just a full heal). Anyway, there are 10 rounds or so where the zombies charge at the base in the middle of the map and the players have to keep them away. You can die, but if the team survives the round you will revive. Or you can spend in-game currency to revive instantly. Those coins are very limited unless you buy them from the cash shop. I had no idea, which is why I used a couple in an earlier PvE mission (the jumping mechanics take a bit to get used to).
One thing that you can see in the Defend mission is that the game gets really weird when the servers start to lag. When there's a lot of shit going on, the lag is quite obvious, and you can see that my cursor starts to act up. It looks like an aim-correction system starts to take over, because suddenly my crosshais will lock on to an enemy and track them whether I want it to or not.
All in all, I liked the hour or so I put into it, and I'll play some more. If I find anything else of interest I'll record it or whatever.
I'll have to put more time in to figure out how the levelling works. Pretty sure I levelled up a bunch of times, and I got some skill points, but it only let me improve 1 skill, though it says I have points left over. There are a bunch of universal skills, both active and passive, like the self healing, repairing, and speed boosts. I didn't see any obvious stats to raise, no way to increase hp or mp or defence without buying gear -- and the gear all increases stats in percentages, relative to the character's base, so you can't buy gear that's +500 damage. Unless there's cash shop stuff like that, I haven't looked.
There's something called licenses you can buy for the different weapon types. You get them with what looks like experience, but I have no idea what increasing the license level does. I'd imagine it ups damage and accuracy and such. It also keeps track of how many kills you get with each weapon, and you can see your pvp k/d ration in the character's stat screen (and other people's, if you check them out).
So, yeah, could be a decent game. At least everything in it is simple and quick. You can jump on and do a 10-15 minute PvP or Defend mission and get money and xp whenever.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
That actually IS the auto aim. It's incredibly sticky, and best turned off. There's an option for it in the menu, thankfully.
With skill points, you probably didn't have enough. For some strange reason, you don't get many skill points, but even BASE skill upgrades cost seven or more points. From what I think, not all of them are terribly useful, I just pumped them into healing and upping the damage and reload of rockets.
The License system is actually used to buy new weapons. You have to be at a certain rank with the licenses to be able to buy the better weapons. I've mostly pumped it into rifles, since they ARE basically the best weapon for any job.
I agree that the jumping is very odd, and takes alot of getting used to. It makes platforming levels in mission mode EXTREMELY aggravating.
Another thing I'd like to point out is that it might just be me, but the difficulty seems....off. At least for mission mode. I go levels upon levels with no problem whatsoever, and then I get to a boss which oneshots me with every single attack.
On another note, there are actually TWO versions of co-op mode depending on the map. Two of the three maps I've seen are you defending a base from zombies, while the other is trying to go from the first floor of a building to the roof. I have actually not yet seen a winning game of either.
Sadly, the game mode that I most wanted to see, the PVP "Zombie infection" Is either not IN the beta, or nobody has been playing it, so I don't know about that one.
It's basically a dps meatgrinder, that scales to the number of players and has a time limit.
So the only way to beat it is to have enough players who can put out enough dps to get through the later floors before the time runs out. A few players with substandard gear, or who can't stand in place and hold mouse1 down properly, will sink the entire thing.
Plus, it's really hard to see anything.
Not the best mode going.
It would be easier if I could figure out a way to prevent new people from joining. New players don't get the post-round upgrades, so they're more of a drain as the game goes on.
I got to floor 7 or 8 before we just ran out of time. With about 6 players it would be manageable, with 12 players constantly dropping in and out, it's impossible.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
http://forums.irowiki.org/showthread.php?t=75601
Not that anyone in their right mind should play RO in this decade.
Cheers for the heads up. :^:
Ive got no idea how that game is still so popular and going. Its gameplay is super outdated at this point.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Oh i used to play the shit out of RO back in the day, it was my first real MMO. I loved it once upon a time. Don't get me wrong. I think free to play is definitely the right choice for them in the end. It just surprises me that game has lasted out so long. I think my fondest memories of it are actually sitting in that water town with the boats with my friends, chatting about things and just hanging out, then gathering up and hunting for loot. The music was really good in that game, even by todays standards.
It's hard to believe I was a beta tester for that game before it even came out, i remember playing a thief and he had no skills because they weren't implemented yet. Still though, the game esentially has no quests at all and only grinding, that kind of gameplay is pretty outdated now. Eq1 is also a ghost town, just to burst that bubble, i logged in for nostalgia sake with a friend last year during the $2 sale on steam and we were the only ones playing on pretty much our entire server. We ran into 1 other person within our month of play time.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Anyway, dorked around in it for a bit; seems pretty fun. A little top down co-op in the vein of Zelda with some Diablo mixed in. For the cost of zero USD I think it's worth having some fun in.
Should it get its own thread? I figured it'd have had its own already; but there seems to be little to no interest in it.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
It does have a cash shop; you pay moneys in exchange for steam energy, which is related to revives and such in-game, I think? There's like three major currencies in the game.
The item system is a bit odd, as your equipment has "heat", which is item level, and a star rating, which is how effective it is to start with, I guess? It is a lot of fun, although I was somewhat disappointed to get to a point where the game basically says, "Your stuff it crap; go back and do it all over again until you can afford decent equipment."
The community seems nice too. This might be in part because loot is handled as close to automatically as possible, and each member of the party gets a copy of every crystal you haul out of a level.
As much fun as this is, it definitely needs a thread.
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/salem
Features:
Persistent and mutable world.
Crafting, farming and building.
Open PvP combat with permanent death.
Full text from their website:
The Crafting MMO
Salem is set in a fantastical New England and offers free form massively multiplayer gameplay in a persistent, mutable and online world. With players taking the roles of intrepid colonists from the Old World seeking to make lives for themselves in the New, Salem provides them with unique crafting, farming and building systems inspired by 17th century alchemy.
Cast in a mold of cute-gothic Salem's lighthearted art style makes for the perfect contrast to the otherwise grim realities of open player-versus-player combat and permanent death. Experience Squonks, Hidebehinds, Witchcraft and the fullest freedom of a sandbox conceived in Liberty.
It looks custom-made for PA forumers: permadeath, sandbox, crafting.... :winky:
I agree the boundary to get into Tier 2 is a bit jarring. At this point I've soloed depth 5-7 a couple times when parties dropped out, yet the game still says my stuff isn't good enough to try starting the next monster level with a party. At least that's gotten me more of the 2-star mats to use, I should be ready for tier 2 in another day or so.
Edit: It's interesting that even for the 2-star equipment that's available in the NPC shops, right now it's far more cost-effective to buy the mats and energy (with crowns) to craft them. I wonder if we're just in the phase before inflation sets in or what.
I just did. You're right, nothing spectacular. Nothing to see, just move along....
Yes and yes; they've put the out-of-browser client a bit out of the way, but it's there.
I came to a similar conclusion, although, is there a material trader? I ran around in the market district but didn't see one.
The out-of-browser client got installed when I went to the play page, although it did initially start installing the game from there. Maybe that's just because I'm using Chrome and not Internet Explorer or something? But I didn't even have the option to play in-browser.
It's the Farmville + Animal Crossing with PermaDeath™ MMO you've always dreamed of but never thought was possible! :winky:
The star rating on equipment is basically the tier. If you look it, the bars on it show it's power, and there's a faded bar that shows what it can grow to with heat.
If you craft an item, there's a chance you'll make a unique variant, which might have extra resist, or reduced charge time.
Energy is used for pretty much everything. Elevators cost 10 energy per use, unless you're going back to town, or one of the rest areas every 4 floors. There's "Mist" energy, which you slowly recover, enough to get 100 per day, which maxes out at 100. When you complete the tutorial you get a one time use item that replenishes 100 mist energy, and again when you make it to T2. I assume the same or similar occurs at 3. Crystal energy can be purchased via real world money, or can be bought with the in-game generic money, crowns. When it opened it was running about 1200 crowns per 100 CE. Last night it was about 1850. Glad I bought about 300 energy early
It costs energy and crowns in addition to mats to craft items. The star tier costs for crafting as i recall are, starting from 0 stars: 10, 20, 50, 100, and I haven't gotten any farther.
The last currency is tokens. You find tokens from certain chests. Usually one per each floor or two. Though some floors are treasure floors with more. There's a vendor in Haven that sells trinkets and certain mats in exchange for them.
I play as Tofystedeth, and since i'm often playing other stuff, I'm willing to use my mist energy to craft stuff for folks on days I'm not using it for playing, if you provide recipes I don't have and the mats.