GunZ 2 - KR CBT Gameplay Videos

After re-configuring my system locale, re-downloading patches and dealing with 15+ error messages, I finally got into the GunZ 2 closed beta test for South Korea. As soon as I logged in, I wasted no time and recorded some footage just to show you guys how GunZ 2 looks in its current state. I got plenty to show and tell, but for now I have some early footage of the game's tutorial mode and first playthroughs with different classes.

Keep your eyes peeled on this post and/or my YouTube page as I'll be uploading GunZ 2 gameplay footage throughout the day, as well as my initial thoughts on the game once all my videos are up.

Just an update - 8/29

God damn, there's too many games on my radar this week! I've had my eye on a couple of upcoming F2P titles and it seems a whole lot of them are having their beta tests happen ON THE SAME WEEKEND!

First up: GunZ: the Second Duel. Even though I have very little knowledge of the Korean language, I decided to sign up for the Korean closed beta which will be happening tomorrow (I'm downloading the CBT client as I type this.) It seems that I was one of the lucky ones to get accepted, including Steparu who got access to the game with a bunch of media press accounts. I'm hoping that I'll get the chance to play with Steparu and a few other English speakers when CBT starts.

Also happening this weekend: A CBT for ArcheBlade. I've actually been tracking this game ever since I found alpha development videos on YouTube several months ago. It's touted as a 3rd person fighting game and fighting games are right up my alley. The game also seems to have some MOBA style gameplay modes, as well. Just today I found out that they're planning an international closed beta on August 30th.

Registration for the CBT happened on August 23rd with a set amount of keys that were sent out fairly quickly, and I wasn't able to snag one for myself. I decided to email the developers and see if they could hook me up with one, and they were nice enough to give me two keys instead of one. I'm not sure who I'll give the second key too, though.

Last up: Gamingo is having their CBT for their upcoming MMORPG: Otherland. It's a Sci-Fi and Fantasy inspired MMO based off Tad William's novels of the same name. I never read any of the Otherland books before, but the style and the vibe of the game looks incredibly breathtaking. The actual combat that I've seen from the GamesCom 2012 footage and from the Next-G 2012 footage, however, looks kinda dull and clunky. If nothing else, though, Otherland could end up being a really cool MMO to just hang around and socialize.

Well that's a whole bunch of titles that I wanna stick in before college begins. Not a bad way to end my summer, though.

I'm still bumping around TERA, even though my subscription was supposed to end on the 28th of this month, but I decided to stick around a bit longer as one of my in-game friends wanted to sell me a Chronoscroll for cheap. I'm really grateful to have met such nice people on the Celestial Hills RP-PVE server. If it wasn't for them, I would have quit this game months ago (I know I said that before, but I can't stress it enough. TERA is really in shambles right now.)

The Argon Queen update is nice, but I'm already burned out of it.  The new dungeons are fun for the first couple of runs, but then they just become another chore to deal with the enchantment slot-machines...

The new battlegrounds are fun, but the pick-up groups you have to deal with are freaking TERRIBLE. There's also a leader role in battleground matches where one player on each team is assigned as leader, and they get access to two special skills: One that temporarily scans the field for enemies, and another that spawns meteors at pointed locations. I gotten used to playing as a leader a lot and giving directions, and for awhile it was kinda fun, but overall it's such a fruitless job when most people on your team don't listen to a thing you say and the rest just bitch at you for making a bad call even though they're doing very little to help win the match.

I became sick of being the leader after dealing with so many hopeless players in pick-up groups, but yet the IMS LOVES sticking me as the leader, even if I don't select the "Able to lead the battle" option.

In addition to the "Able to lead the battle" checkbox, they should add a "Absolutely does not want to lead" checkbox.

I got some new outfits for my character in the past week, though. I got the T13 Nexus Chest and Glove pieces for my outfit, and let me just say the make my character look so damn classy. I wore this outfit when I was judging the Miss Velika contest and everyone said my character looked FABULOUS.

I also got my complete basic PvP armor set from doing battleground matches (Victor Set). Two of the pieces I got from the "Bounty of the Fray" eggs (Gloves and Boots) and the chest piece I purchased using my BG credits. I also got my enigmatic PvP sword yesterday (Adversarial Blade), since I went into HARDCORE MODE and played BG matches for 7 hours straight. The extra PvP damage you get from enchanting the sword is nice, but I hate the fact that I can't get an extra 8% attack speed on it like with the Nexus hybrid gear, since the bonuses are completely locked and can't be re-rolled. My attacks just feel too damn slow compared to my +7 Swarmsword with 16% attack speed, so with that in mind, I'm thinking I might just go and get the T13 Nexus Sword as well. I'm just hoping I won't have to do a lot of re-rolling to get 16% attack + extra PvP damage on it.

GunZ 2 - First CBT Test

MAIET is finally ready to unleash their stylish action shooter for the world to enjoy, and when I mean 'for the world', I mean South Korea only. GunZ: The Second Duel will be going into closed beta testing this month.

As preparation for the upcoming test, the official GunZ: TSD website is now live on Netmarble KR. The website showcases new screenshots and character demonstration videos of the latest build.

I took the liberty of re-recording the demo videos off the website and uploaded them onto YouTube for those that can't access them on the official website.

In regards of what's to be expected from CBT: They're planning on including a new duel and matchmaking system, as well as some interface changes from the VIP test build.

Closed beta sign-ups for GunZ: The Second Duel are currently going on now, with selected applicants being revealed on the 29th. Closed beta starts on August 30th and will be ending on September 2nd, with the game server being accessible from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m (Korean Time)

Official website: http://gunz2.netmarble.net/

TERA (NA) - Log - 8/11

On the Saturday of August 11th, a player named Arrafina and members of the Empyrean Divine hosted a summer festival, and along with it, a dueling competition. (It was limited to LV60 players with T12 gear only)
I didn't think I would make it very far, but low and behold, I managed to win first place!

Picture from Kayuki's Art Book 

There was a good amount of variety in classes that were competing, including priests, zerkers and lancers. There was one lancer in particular that I was worried for, manly due to to the lancer's high defense and reflect damage, and I was hoping that my re-enigma'd Nexus gear would be enough.What I got when I re-engima'd was an  extra 8% attack speed and 3% player damage reduction (though I was shooting for reflect damage myself, but that was good enough.)

Along with that, my friends decided to lend me some PvP zyrk crystals to use (More player damage reduction.) When it was time to compete, I had up to 52% player damage reduction on my character.

My first match against a priest really put me on edge, because I didn't realize that the priest also had reflect damage on them. First round I managed to defeat the priest with some health to spare, but the second round ended in a tie due to getting defeated by reflect damage. Third round I ended up losing and thought that it was over, but a friend pointed out that it left us both with two wins each. Final round: My new plan was to simply shut the priest down as soon as possible before the priest could heal back up again. I managed to dodge most of the incoming fiery escapes and pulled off multiple knockdowns in a row. Defeated the priest and moved on to the next round.

That battle sure taught me that priests are just as much of a pain to deal with as lancers.

The next couple of matches weren't as difficult as battling the priest, though. I had to compete against a warrior and an archer. The warrior I fought was damn fast, but my attack speed was just as good. The archer was kind of a push over, even though they managed to land most of their shots.

I quickly became the fan favorite at that competition. Having so many people cheer for me was a great feeling. And I managed to gain a creepy elin admirer.

Last I heard: That elin changed her animal form from a rabbit to a squirrel because she couldn't bare the memory of me rejecting her... Such a crazy Elin... wanting to be with me for the sake of genetics... HA. (I'M SORRY FOR MAKING YOU CHANGE. FORGIVE ME ;_;)

Moving on... It came down to me and another priest with reflect damage. Just like the last priest I fought, I wanted to shut the player down as soon as possible. I also switched out my defense cruxs with HP regeneration cruxs to keep me going. I managed to win both matches flawlessly. So I won the competition and my reward: Armor Templates! (Not a very good prize, I know, but I was still grateful that I got it.)

Overall, the whole thing was a lot of fun. Some people are wondering if there will be a WinterFest competition... If it happens, I'll definitely show up.

TERA (NA) - Log - 8/2 to 8/8

OK! So in the past few weeks, a lot of crazy stuff happened to me in the world of TERA, with some expected and not so expected mishaps. First off, I went on another road trip with the travelers of Broken Compass to climb the mountains near Tulufan.

Why did we decide to go on a mountain climb? I'm not really sure, but I think one of them muttered something about trying to capture "whale magic" or something. So we went out, traveled up the mountain and it was all pretty boring at first, but once we reached the top we got to see some sky whales, up close and personal.