So, as I said in the last update (I think) I was giving Age of Wushu another shot. So far, I've kept with the game, tho I'm not playing nearly as often as I once did. Part of that is because I'm way behind, part of that is I am working on a few personal projects plus stuff for OnRPG. I am having fun, though, and if they give out some information about up-coming expansions soon, I may even consider maintaining a subscription. We'll see, though.
Truth be told, probably the only reason I am currently playing is that I could afford VIP thanks to 80 gold I had left on my account before quitting. That allows me to get the VIP and a Windrider, which is essentially required for Script Stealing. The game is still a pay-to-win mess in a lot of cases - that is evident by the Mount Hua competition. Really, it should just be called "Cash Shop Mountain" as the only people that won, or even had a chance, were those that sank hundreds or thousands of dollars into the game.
It honestly makes me feel bad about my own character. It's already extremely far behind. My meridians are weak and clogged, my internals are of a low level, I barely make the time to get on for Script Stealing, let alone do the instances and such I need to start doing. My reputation was even reset (or degraded over time, I'm not sure) so I have to work to regain my blue star.
I'm making slow progress on both my 4th and 5th inner. My 4th inner requires an item that only drops in small quantities from what are known as "School Instances." So far, I've only done one school instance and it was a hassle.I've only unlocked to level 9 of the 4th inner. My 5th inner is about the same, except the slow progress is due to the limited nature of the activity that is required to gain the Martial Merits to buy more pages for the inner.
On top of the 4th and 5th inner, I'm also working towards raising my school skill sets level caps. So far I've only raised a few skills to level 6. It takes about 10-15 minutes to raise one to level 6. 7 will probably be a tad harder. They go up to level 11 now, though, so a lot of work ahead of me there, too. I almost feel like I would have a better time if I just bought an account from someone that was already at a decent level. It seems it's a fairly common practice nowadays.
Anyways, I also talked about Blade and Soul last time. Well, I quit that for now. It was fun, but like I said I have other stuff to do. That other stuff is, of course, work for OnRPG. Right now I am reviewing a game called Cronix from Game and Game, also Sevencore from Webzen. Cronix is alright, though I ran into some technical issues. Sevencore reminds me a lot of a lower-quality Black Gold, as both games have a strong mount aspect with a nature vs steampunk theme. But Sevencore is a lot older and the gameplay reflects that - it was born in the "F2P Golden Age."
The other thing that is taking my time is a personal writing project. I'm taking my love for sci-fi, fantasy, Wuxia, MMOs, and gaming and rolling into one big ball. Of course, as I have not had much experience with writing fiction, I don't feel that it will turn out great. I've released the first few chapters online, and it got alright responses. However, the place I released it is known for the kind of fiction I'm writing (VR MMO, Eastern themes). I'm still trying to decide if I want to do a web serial type deal (releasing one chapter at a time on blogs/websites) or if I want to do a traditional novel format. Maybe I'll end up doing both.
That's it for now. I will probably release another update here concerning the fiction. I have a writing blog, but it would probably be a hassle to do two separate blogs. So I'll probably just release all the chapters on my "Apoca's gaming Blog" (This one). Thanks for reading, see ya.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Giving Blade & Soul a Go + An Update
So my friend recently pointed out that you can play Blade N Soul on a Russian server and it's partially translated into English. The link, for those interested. I'm not really interested in the game, but I've been kinda lost since I quit ArcheAge, so I figure I'll give it a try. My knowledge about the game is extremely limited, but I remember it being pretty popular (at least for a bit) a year or two ago.
Who doesn't like big boobs and cool guys?
The two things that stand out to me are the great graphics and the awesome-looking combat. My friend (who I will link to in a moment) says a lot of nice things about how the combat 'feels,' too. Which is great because we've both been searching for a game that can provide combat that felt as good as Age of Wushu (where we met). Perhaps this will sate that want.
One of my favorite streamers, ThommyHubbub.
And speaking of that, I have officially quit ArcheAge. I just can't bring myself to pay for the subscription as I'm simply not enjoying the game anymore. Partially because my server seems to be dying, partially because no new blood is appearing, partially because of the ways Trion has messed up. So, I've decided that in five days when my sub runs out, I wont be re-subbing. I've left Amitabha in the hands of my vice-leader and have turned my eyes to other games like Life is Feudal, The Repopulation, Black Desert, and even the future versions of Age of Wushu.
Anyone that has read the blog or knows me probably has figured out my love-hate affair with Age of Wushu again. However, I got an email today that convinced me to come play the game (with promises of awesome goodie bags and very easy re-entry into the game). That got me interested in checking up on the Chinese version of the game (both on the actual Chinese version website and my favorite foreign MMO website, MMOCulture).
I'm looking forward to the Player Housing the most.
Back in August the Chinese version of Age of Wushu got a major expansion. This expansion included things like Player Housing, a lot of new factions/schools, and survival features. I've not been able to find to much information on how the housing exactly works, just a video that previews it. Apparently the new survival features include a more detailed hunger system, a new thirst system, and even a temperature system that requires you to dress in thicker clothing in cold climates and lighter in hot climates. Pretty interesting stuff, honestly.
Anyways, that's it for now. I'll probably write a new entry in a few days talking about my experiences in Blade N Soul. In concerns to my writing, I recently wrote a 2015 Predictions article and it should be up in a few days or so. I'm currently reviewing a mobile game called Combat Monsters, too. Thanks for reading and see ya next time.
Friday, September 26, 2014
ArcheAge + Reviews Update
I meant to make an update sooner, but I've been so invested into ArcheAge I don't have much time left for other things.
It's been an intense two weeks, to say the least. For the first week, it was a battle just to play the game. On top of that headache, I found out that the one zerg guild I wanted my guild to avoid was on my server. This came about due to some issues with our originally planned alliance, the Council of Erenor. But, in the end, it's worked itself out (at least for now), so it's not so stressful.
We were able to get our Tradeship a bit over a week after Launch. The day after, our guild also got our first Galleon (A Lutesong Junk, pictured below). As we're a small guild, we have trouble manning both of them so we don't really see a reason to try hard to get more. We definitely could, but now our resources are better focused at getting neat houses and whatnot. Speaking of which, we got a deed for a medium house to act as our "Crafting Hall" last night. I'll post a screenshot of it in the next update (so in a month or so :D ).
My ArcheAge launch review was published on the same day the game went live as I had been working on it since beta. I used the Early Start to fine-tune everything to make it as accurate as possible for launch, and it was ready to be published as soon as the game went live. Of course, someone at OnRPG (not sure if it'll be me) will come back to the game after it's had time to mature to give it another look. Until then, though, you can find the review HERE.
In non-ArcheAge news, I recently did an article on the Early Access of a hack n' slash/ARPG game called Fight The Dragon. It was a surprising amount of fun, and I especially liked the unique take on end-game content. As the name suggest, you fight an epic dragon as the end-game boss. And you don't have to max out your character to do it, either. From the start you can challenge this dragon and you can continue to do it over and over, using items you get from regular adventures called Dragon Scrolls. The dragon has (at least for now) 1,000,000 HP and it will take some time to get it down. I haven't achieved it yet so I don't know what happens when you do (And I'm purposefully not looking into it as I would like it to be a surprise). Anyways, 3 Sprockets decided to use a quote from my article on their steam page.
It's been an intense two weeks, to say the least. For the first week, it was a battle just to play the game. On top of that headache, I found out that the one zerg guild I wanted my guild to avoid was on my server. This came about due to some issues with our originally planned alliance, the Council of Erenor. But, in the end, it's worked itself out (at least for now), so it's not so stressful.
We were able to get our Tradeship a bit over a week after Launch. The day after, our guild also got our first Galleon (A Lutesong Junk, pictured below). As we're a small guild, we have trouble manning both of them so we don't really see a reason to try hard to get more. We definitely could, but now our resources are better focused at getting neat houses and whatnot. Speaking of which, we got a deed for a medium house to act as our "Crafting Hall" last night. I'll post a screenshot of it in the next update (so in a month or so :D ).
My ArcheAge launch review was published on the same day the game went live as I had been working on it since beta. I used the Early Start to fine-tune everything to make it as accurate as possible for launch, and it was ready to be published as soon as the game went live. Of course, someone at OnRPG (not sure if it'll be me) will come back to the game after it's had time to mature to give it another look. Until then, though, you can find the review HERE.
In non-ArcheAge news, I recently did an article on the Early Access of a hack n' slash/ARPG game called Fight The Dragon. It was a surprising amount of fun, and I especially liked the unique take on end-game content. As the name suggest, you fight an epic dragon as the end-game boss. And you don't have to max out your character to do it, either. From the start you can challenge this dragon and you can continue to do it over and over, using items you get from regular adventures called Dragon Scrolls. The dragon has (at least for now) 1,000,000 HP and it will take some time to get it down. I haven't achieved it yet so I don't know what happens when you do (And I'm purposefully not looking into it as I would like it to be a surprise). Anyways, 3 Sprockets decided to use a quote from my article on their steam page.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
ArcheAge Update
It's been about a month since I last posted a blog. In that month, Amitabha has been revived and has begun to flourish. With Head-Start for ArcheAge coming up in just three days, we're all excited for whats to come. Although, a lot of us must admit that the excitement we have is laced with a bit of trepidation, as a lot of us are fearful of what effect the recent changes to the Marketplace will have on the game. The term "Pay-to-win" has been thrown around a lot lately.
We've learned a few new things regarding the game. The most important being the launch date - September 16th. This means the Head Start begins on the 12th. We've also learned that we'll be restricted to two characters at launch, with the potential to purchase more slots. The maximum amount of characters we can have per server, per account, is four with a total of six characters account-wide. This is both a relief and a bit disheartening - a lot of us (including myself) have paid $150 and we feel that we should be able to get all that the game has to offer, in terms of character slots, at least, without having to pay even more.
Another thing we've learned is that Northern Continent will not be available at launch. A lot of people think it will be at least two months before it's made available. This threw the plans of a lot of guilds out the window, as a lot of strategy centered around the Northern continent. A lot of people plans to rush to the highest level and are afraid they'll have to nothing to do while they wait for Auroria to be made available.
Onto Amitabha, though. We have joined the Council of Erenor, an alliance of thirteen or so guilds who have a non-aggression pact, along with plans to generally improve the gameplay of all members of the guilds in the alliance. Part of the reason of the CoR's creation is the combat the number of so-called "Zerg Guilds" who plan to play the game. These are the guilds that have members in the hundreds that are generally toxic to the community.
Amitabha has also gained a lot more new members. We're still fairly small - we generally have somewhere between ten and fifteen people on TS3 during the beta - but we're a dedicated lot. I originally restarted Amitabha with the idea of creating a small and tight-knit casual group of players. Since then, though, I've found that we've evolved into a community that is a bit more hardcore than I anticipated. I've yet to find out if this is a good or bad thing, but we'll see.
Above is the emblem we have created that will be used in-game on our sails and flags. This is because our typical Amitabha logo doesn't look so good when seen from the backside of a sail or flag. We felt we needed something with no text that could represent us, so the above was created. As Amitabha was originally a Shaolin guild within Age of Wushu, we made use of a couple Buddhist symbols (The Eternal Knot and the Dharmachakra). We also stayed with the roots of our logo and made use of a circular blood smear. I think it looks quite nice.
Here's how it looks in-game.
We have yet to decide on a server, but if you see this logo in-game, you'll know it's us.
Well, that's all for now. As always, thanks for reading. I'll try to update again after the Head Start.
We've learned a few new things regarding the game. The most important being the launch date - September 16th. This means the Head Start begins on the 12th. We've also learned that we'll be restricted to two characters at launch, with the potential to purchase more slots. The maximum amount of characters we can have per server, per account, is four with a total of six characters account-wide. This is both a relief and a bit disheartening - a lot of us (including myself) have paid $150 and we feel that we should be able to get all that the game has to offer, in terms of character slots, at least, without having to pay even more.
Another thing we've learned is that Northern Continent will not be available at launch. A lot of people think it will be at least two months before it's made available. This threw the plans of a lot of guilds out the window, as a lot of strategy centered around the Northern continent. A lot of people plans to rush to the highest level and are afraid they'll have to nothing to do while they wait for Auroria to be made available.
Onto Amitabha, though. We have joined the Council of Erenor, an alliance of thirteen or so guilds who have a non-aggression pact, along with plans to generally improve the gameplay of all members of the guilds in the alliance. Part of the reason of the CoR's creation is the combat the number of so-called "Zerg Guilds" who plan to play the game. These are the guilds that have members in the hundreds that are generally toxic to the community.
Amitabha has also gained a lot more new members. We're still fairly small - we generally have somewhere between ten and fifteen people on TS3 during the beta - but we're a dedicated lot. I originally restarted Amitabha with the idea of creating a small and tight-knit casual group of players. Since then, though, I've found that we've evolved into a community that is a bit more hardcore than I anticipated. I've yet to find out if this is a good or bad thing, but we'll see.
Above is the emblem we have created that will be used in-game on our sails and flags. This is because our typical Amitabha logo doesn't look so good when seen from the backside of a sail or flag. We felt we needed something with no text that could represent us, so the above was created. As Amitabha was originally a Shaolin guild within Age of Wushu, we made use of a couple Buddhist symbols (The Eternal Knot and the Dharmachakra). We also stayed with the roots of our logo and made use of a circular blood smear. I think it looks quite nice.
Here's how it looks in-game.
We have yet to decide on a server, but if you see this logo in-game, you'll know it's us.
Well, that's all for now. As always, thanks for reading. I'll try to update again after the Head Start.
Friday, August 8, 2014
ArcheAge and the Rebirth of Amitabha
So, as the beta events for ArcheAge have been happening, I've found myself focusing on the game a lot more. If anyone has read any of my other blog post concerning ArcheAge, or my Early Look at the Russian ArcheAge Open Beta, you'll know I like the game a great deal. And my love for the game has continued into the Trion version. Although, I'll be the first to admit that certain parts of the game should be tweaked - such as F2P LP restrictions.
My time in the ArcheAge closed beta has inspired me to re-create Amitabha within the game. We've received multiple members, a number of which are quite active and all of them are Founder's. We're going for a medium-sized guild with around 50 active members at most. We want to be somewhere between casual and hardcore. We definitely do plan to play hardcore during the first weeks of the game, however. Especially during the 4-day Early Start.
I have also decided to upgrade from the $50 Founder's Pack to the $150 Founder's Pack once I get the money to do so. The alpha access will be nice, as I have a lot to re-learn about the game. Especially considering all the changes between the Russian and Trion versions. Plus the bonuses from the pack will be nice. Part of my early-game plan is to get a cash-shop mount and a cash-shop glider.
I've re-designed the Amitabha website a decent amount to get ready for our transition into ArcheAge. I've removed as many old relics from the site from our time in other games that we no longer play as possible. I also re-did our permissions and rank system to be more in-line with that of ArcheAge. One of our new members, who has been promoted to officer, has paid for our site and TS3 server for over a hundred days. We also have several very active members, a couple of which have also been promoted to Officer in preparation of ArcheAge. So it looks like Amitabha will have a full revival within ArcheAge with a strong core membership.
I've also experimented with importing our logo into the game. The system for doing it is quite nice, and you can even purchase clothing to have it printed on. As you can see, I'm wearing and "Amitabha" shirt. The only issue I ran into was that one side of the sail shows the logo in reverse, so you can imagine that would be a problem. I'm considering a slight re-design that will turn the Amitabha lettering so that it can be read from any direction. There's also the option of coming up with a crest or something that will represent Amitabha in ArcheAge that has no letters. I'm not sure yet.
Other than that, no real updates yet. I am working on an Early Look for an awesome game called Robocraft. I've played it in the past and coming back to the game to see how far it's come is great. I know it's an over-used description but it fits the game perfectly - It's a mix between Minecraft and World of Tanks. It's amazing right now, especially playing with friends. I'll have it done before the up-coming ArcheAge beta event on the 14th.
My time in the ArcheAge closed beta has inspired me to re-create Amitabha within the game. We've received multiple members, a number of which are quite active and all of them are Founder's. We're going for a medium-sized guild with around 50 active members at most. We want to be somewhere between casual and hardcore. We definitely do plan to play hardcore during the first weeks of the game, however. Especially during the 4-day Early Start.
I have also decided to upgrade from the $50 Founder's Pack to the $150 Founder's Pack once I get the money to do so. The alpha access will be nice, as I have a lot to re-learn about the game. Especially considering all the changes between the Russian and Trion versions. Plus the bonuses from the pack will be nice. Part of my early-game plan is to get a cash-shop mount and a cash-shop glider.
I've re-designed the Amitabha website a decent amount to get ready for our transition into ArcheAge. I've removed as many old relics from the site from our time in other games that we no longer play as possible. I also re-did our permissions and rank system to be more in-line with that of ArcheAge. One of our new members, who has been promoted to officer, has paid for our site and TS3 server for over a hundred days. We also have several very active members, a couple of which have also been promoted to Officer in preparation of ArcheAge. So it looks like Amitabha will have a full revival within ArcheAge with a strong core membership.
I've also experimented with importing our logo into the game. The system for doing it is quite nice, and you can even purchase clothing to have it printed on. As you can see, I'm wearing and "Amitabha" shirt. The only issue I ran into was that one side of the sail shows the logo in reverse, so you can imagine that would be a problem. I'm considering a slight re-design that will turn the Amitabha lettering so that it can be read from any direction. There's also the option of coming up with a crest or something that will represent Amitabha in ArcheAge that has no letters. I'm not sure yet.
Other than that, no real updates yet. I am working on an Early Look for an awesome game called Robocraft. I've played it in the past and coming back to the game to see how far it's come is great. I know it's an over-used description but it fits the game perfectly - It's a mix between Minecraft and World of Tanks. It's amazing right now, especially playing with friends. I'll have it done before the up-coming ArcheAge beta event on the 14th.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Ingress + Articles update
This month I submitted reviews/articles on Endless Legend, Divinity: Original Sin, Ingress, and Ascent: The Space game (which hasn't been published yet). Endless, Divinity, and Ingress were all superb games. I'm still playing Divinity and Ingress (especially Ingress), and the only reason I'm not playing Endless or Ascent right now is that they're not complete. I would recommend you check out all of the games, though.
Speaking of Ingress, this past week or two have been pretty fun. The "virus" released by Dr. Bogdanovich, that has greatly reduced the life-span of portals that don't receive regular XM recharges, has resulted in a lot of portal changes. This is perfect for the new influx of players thanks to the #NewAgentInitiative program and iOS release. Plus it makes playing in a town by myself a lot easier and interesting.
This week, my town has been visited by Resistance agents three times. I'm not sure if this is because they have plans that require portals in my town, or if they're just coming because they noticed my small town becoming an Enlightened-controlled haven. Either way, it's been fun having challengers. I'm able to take out their portals fairly easy, as they seem to only put up to level 6 reso's on the portals. Not sure if they're being considerate of me, or if they're just no higher than level 6.
If things continue as they have been, I should reach level 5 either today or Thursday.
That's all I have for today. My posts will probably center around Ingress and ArcheAge for the next few weeks. Thanks for reading.
Speaking of Ingress, this past week or two have been pretty fun. The "virus" released by Dr. Bogdanovich, that has greatly reduced the life-span of portals that don't receive regular XM recharges, has resulted in a lot of portal changes. This is perfect for the new influx of players thanks to the #NewAgentInitiative program and iOS release. Plus it makes playing in a town by myself a lot easier and interesting.
This week, my town has been visited by Resistance agents three times. I'm not sure if this is because they have plans that require portals in my town, or if they're just coming because they noticed my small town becoming an Enlightened-controlled haven. Either way, it's been fun having challengers. I'm able to take out their portals fairly easy, as they seem to only put up to level 6 reso's on the portals. Not sure if they're being considerate of me, or if they're just no higher than level 6.
If things continue as they have been, I should reach level 5 either today or Thursday.
That's all I have for today. My posts will probably center around Ingress and ArcheAge for the next few weeks. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Ingress and Summoners War + Article updates
So, I've continued to play Ingress and have continued to have a blast with it. Honestly, the game has been so enjoyable that I've decided to upgrade my phone to a device that can better play it (an LG G2). A few days ago I created my first link between two portals in my small town. A couple of days after that, I created my first field. It wasn't any fancy, just a simply field that covers less than a quarter of my small town that gave the Enlightened nine Mind Units. I have actually started coming up with a road-trip plan for a portal I want to span a huge area of open space between my town plus two medium sized towns. The entire trip should take about three hours and I honestly have no idea when I'll make it - I'm thinking once I hit level 4.
I've made a few trips into nearby towns for key collection so that I can help with future links/fields and so I can recharge portals from afar. Also, you might see a fully resonated portal in the top left corner of the above screenshot. Apparently someone passed by and turned it into a level 4 portal. Not sure if that'll be a problem for me. It has two shields, and I'm honestly not sure if I want to make the effort to cap it. I think it might provide some nice items since it's the highest portal in town - so it may be a boon.
Other than Ingress, I've still been playing Summoners War. I recently discovered that I can set it to auto-play in combat, so I've been spending a lot of time leveling up my creatures while doing other things like reading or playing games on the computer. It's still quite fun, and I enjoy how the game isn't really pay-to-win. Well, I suppose you DO need the cash shop currency to get some of the best stuff, but I've gotten about 500 of the cash shop currency since I started playing, from my daily wishes, missions, my crystal farms, etc... So it hasn't been an issue - especially since the game is mostly PVE driven and the PVP arena is fairly balanced.
My first field.
I've made a few trips into nearby towns for key collection so that I can help with future links/fields and so I can recharge portals from afar. Also, you might see a fully resonated portal in the top left corner of the above screenshot. Apparently someone passed by and turned it into a level 4 portal. Not sure if that'll be a problem for me. It has two shields, and I'm honestly not sure if I want to make the effort to cap it. I think it might provide some nice items since it's the highest portal in town - so it may be a boon.
Other than Ingress, I've still been playing Summoners War. I recently discovered that I can set it to auto-play in combat, so I've been spending a lot of time leveling up my creatures while doing other things like reading or playing games on the computer. It's still quite fun, and I enjoy how the game isn't really pay-to-win. Well, I suppose you DO need the cash shop currency to get some of the best stuff, but I've gotten about 500 of the cash shop currency since I started playing, from my daily wishes, missions, my crystal farms, etc... So it hasn't been an issue - especially since the game is mostly PVE driven and the PVP arena is fairly balanced.
My current line-up. I love my Nine-Tailed fox.
Other than that, I've been working on a few games for OnRPG. I recently completely my launch review of Divinity: Original Sin. Just click the link to see it if you like. I'm still working on Ascent: The Space Game - it seems like more projects with higher priorities keep popping up. It shouldn't take long to finish, I just want to get a bit further in the game and then need to collect all my screenshots. I also got the OK from Dizzy to do a review on Ingress, which shouldn't take long at all. And I recently got a key for Endless Legend to do a review. So my plate is pretty full for this month.
Other than that, the only other bit of news I have right now is that Dizzy has a project for me on September 19th, which he says should keep me plenty busy. So that's something to look forward to.
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