Continent of the Ninth Seal - Interview

It’s been a long time coming, but the waiting is almost over. C9, a new fast action MMO will be launching for the global market very soon, along with a closed beta test that will be happening next month. While few online games can currently boast of a system even comparable to the impressive action oriented combat system C9 offers, it still has a lot to prove to players that it’s been well worth the wait. Eager and excited, I asked the guys at Webzen a few questions…

OnRPG: Hello there! Before we begin, would you care to introduce yourself for the readers?

Denis Kim and Chung Gil Yu: Hello, it is an honor to introduce our C9-Global team to the readers of OnRPG. Hope you enjoy our interview. Let me introduce myself and the producer of C9. My name is Dennis Kim, I am the Product Manager in C9-Global service, and Chung Gil Yu is the producer of Cloud9Studio. Our team consists of several different parts which are marketing, localizing, operating and service team, etc. 50 on-site and outside members are supporting the launch of C9-Global.

Just a thought - Combos in Fighting Games

Does anyone else out there feel that today's fighting games are putting too much emphasis on combos? I mean sure, there's still a focus on tactics and mindgames , but all of that just seems to lead towards who can combo and juggle their opponents the most. It’s like with every modern fighting game I see, high level tournament play amounts to players finding an opening on their opponent and dealing out 30+ hits in the prettiest way possible.

The way I see it: Combo execution needs to be QUICK and BRIEF, and not just take up half the match. Also: they need have a moderate level of difficulty in pulling off, or at least enough to make a player go:

“Oh wow, that combo was amazing! How did he do that?!”

...and not...

“Oh geez, he got that single hit on me to start off a huge combo. Time to go through the motions…”.

Just as long as the command inputs aren't something ridiculous as Ivy's "Summon Suffering" grab in Soul Caliber... Yeah, I'm sure you know what grab I'm talking about.

Anyway... that's just me. What do you think?

Project Zomboid - Impressions

A month ago, I was asked to try out Project Zomboid, a new Zombie Survial game created by indie group "Indie Stone". Now the game has recieved several updates since I last tried the demo, including a sandbox mode. Even with the small amount of features currently present, easily becoming the most "realistic" zombie survival game to date.

From Resident Evil to Dead Island, gamers all over can’t seem to get enough of zombies. The market has been flooded with all kinds of zombie games recently, but none of them come close to recreating the vibe and feel of a “realistic” zombie survival as portrayed in movies such as Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later…

In enters “Project Zomboid”, a new kind of action RPG that’s set out to prove it’s not just another mindless zombie shootout. The available tech demo gives players just a little taste of what to expect from the final game, and I dived right in.

Just an update - 1/20/2012

I never thought my life could be
Anything but catastrophe
But suddenly I begin to see
A bit of good luck for me

'Cause I've got a golden ticket
'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden twinkle in my eye

I never had a chance to shine
Never a happy song to sing
But suddenly half the world is mine
What an amazing thing

'Cause I've got a golden ticket
'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden chance to make my way
And with a golden ticket, it's a golden day!

If you haven't figured out by now: I got into the "VIP" closed beta test for Continent of the Ninth Seal. Webzen is finally localizing the damn thing after three years. Better late than never, rght? Even though I'm eager to try this out, I am a bit curious as to how well this game will do once it's out on the market. Back when it was first annouced, it looked pretty slick, but now there's a handful of action MMOs out there, making C9 look a bit bland in comparison to titles like Vindictus and Dragon Nest... but that' s just me.

Other than that: I've been going through my backlog of articles including a review on Cabal Online, CosmicBreak, Face of Mankind and Vindictus. I just got started on Cabal, thinking it would be a nice bit of nostalgia since I played the hell out of it back in High School. Certainly doesn't feel as fun as I remembered it to be, though.

Hopefully I'll get that out of the way by next week.

*more later*



War Inc. Battlezone - Impressions

Back in July of 2011, a little company named Online Warmongers Group Inc. released an ambitious new third person shooter title called “War Inc. Battlezone” with the promise of an AAA shooter experience that’s easy on your wallet. Unfortunately, with a sea of other free-to-play shooters all competing for a spotlight, it was quickly swept under the rug by most of the gaming masses. War Inc. is currently available as a downloadable title on Steam and with a standalone client. At around 1.70GB, it decided to give it a go.

My MMO prediction for 2012

Just to keep some content flowing: here's my previously mentioned prediction for the MMO market in 2012. As I already shouted on my twitter feed, the funny thing about this article was that I made a joke about F2P cash shops selling overpowered items like golden machine guns and whatnot. A day after that article was posted on OnRPG, the site was giving away golden weapon keys for Repluse. Kind of ironic, but the golden weapons were free anyway...

"What are my predictions for 2012? Well it has nothing to do with any big name titles like TERA or Guild Wars 2. My prediction leans toward the future of the free-to-play gaming market. I predict that new online game titles will come and follow down the F2P route in the RIGHT way. Most free-to-play games these days always promote themselves free, but they always include some sort of catch or crippling factor on free players that force them to cough up some real money in order for them to enjoy the game properly. You know… the whole "Free-to-play = Pay-to-win" thing. This has become less of a mockery against particular games and more of a philosophy shared by publishers throughout the free-to-play MMO world."

Brawl Busters - Review

Rock Hippo Productions’ latest free-to-play title is primed and ready for action. Brawl Busters is a multiplayer online action game that mixes class-based combat with simple and intuitive controls, creating a game that everyone can have a ball (or in this case, a brawl.)

Repluse - Early Access Preview

Aeria Games is gearing up for a closed beta release of their newest sci-fi shooter, Repluse. Before closed beta gets rolling, Aeria Games invited OnRPG to try out the game first hand. Repluse is the re-launch of a previous FPS title called Genesis AD (hosted by ijji). While the name has changed, almost every else from the original game is still intact. Repluse is all about twitch-based shooter action mixed with class based combat roles. As a previous Genesis AD player, I checked it out to see what was new, and to give you readers a look at to expect from the closed beta.