Saturday, March 31, 2012

Spirit Tales Open Beta Set For Late April

http://st.koramgame.com/guide/ 

Click the image above to see what new features will be in the next round of beta tests. Also this round will be OPEN beta so anyone can join.image No submitting an e-mail address and hoping for a beta code! They have not released an actual date yet but for every 1000 NEW likes they get on Facebook they will push the start date by one day. Currently there are over 5000 likes....

So that would make a worse case start date of 4/28/12 (they had 3000). They are also giving in-game prizes to the top 100 users on their Facebook page. I'm not sure how exactly this will be figured. Click the image below to see their Facebook Blog Announcement

If your planning on joining or interested in seeing more about this game leave a message on one of the Spirit Tales posts.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Good Old Games

http://www.gog.com/

If you have played games for any length of time you probably have an old favorite stuck in the back of your mind. When someone asks you "favorite MMO" or "favorite strategy" you immediately go back in time.

Do you have a favorite old game that you wish you could play again? How many games have you played and never finished? I know I can think of a few... Unreal 2, Myst, Syberia 2, Thief, Hitman, oh and remember the Kings Quest series? Wow I played Kings Quest 1-7 and I'm not sure that I ever finished a single one of them.

Have you ever wished you could find those games to play through again? Well guess what now you can. Good Old Games is going to bat for us gamers and asking the producers to remove the copy protection from older games. They are then posting these games for download for a small fee (some are free!). No more trying to remember where you put the CD Key.  No more leaving the disc in the drive for three weeks straight. Simply install, on multiple computers if needed, and play.

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I had always bought the latest games as they came out but finally had to stop. I simply couldn't afford to buy THREE copies of a game just so my boys and I could play together. Some games would require unique CD Keys, others would require the CD stay in the drive. So we would wait on the games to hit the bargain bin because we needed three copies. I remember waiting for the price to come down on both Age of Empires II and Stronghold 2. Any game from www.gog.com will not have that problem!

But wait there's more... image

Just for signing up you receive these 7 free games!

AND all older games are remastered and guaranteed to run on the latest Windows versions.

And that's not all....

Most of the games come with additional content that was not included when the game released. Content like bonus soundtracks, guides and manuals, maps, game related avatars and wallpapers, and developer interviews and artwork.

Now if only I can get them to include Sea Rogue from Microplay (1992) I used to play that on our 286 for hours on end. Come on www.gog.com Sea Rogue Sea Rogue Sea Rogue Sea Rogue Sea Rogue Sea Rogue Sea Rogue Sea Rogue .....

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Minecraft Technic - A Way to Diamonds when you can't find any.

http://wiki.industrial-craft.net   

I have been playing a map for several days now. While I have found several huge cave systems I cannot find a single diamond. There are a number of ways to "create" a diamond. But most of those ways REQUIRE a diamond. How can I create a diamond with NO starting diamonds?

A Howard_Miller Tip

Compressor, Macerator, Furnace and Generator

First build the machines. <<Macerator Wiki>>   <<Compressor Wiki>>   <<Generator Wiki>>

64 Coal 8 Flint 4 Iron + Plus fuel (Coal/Wood) for the machines

  1. Macerate all coal and iron into dust
  2. Coal Balls - Crafting table
    1. 64 Coal Dust and 8 Flint
    2. <<Coal Ball Wiki>>  
    3. image
  3. Compressed Coal Balls - Compressor
    1. Run the Coal Balls through the Compressor to create eight Compressed Coal Balls.
    2. <<Compressed Coal Ball Wiki>>
    3. image
  4. Iron Block - Crafting Table
    1. If you have Clay you can replace the Iron Block with a Brink (Four Clay)
    2. Smelt all Iron dust into ingots
    3. Fill all nine spots on a crafting table to create an Iron Block
    4. <<Block of Iron Wiki>>
    5. image
  5. Coal Chunk - Crafting Table
    1. Create a Coal Chunk with using the eight Compressed Coal Balls and the Iron Block
    2. <<Coal Chunk Wiki>>
    3. image
  6. Industrial Diamond - Compressor
    1. As of version 1.63 this will create a regular diamond!
    2. <<Industrial Diamond Wiki>>
    3. image

Friday, March 23, 2012

Spirit Tales - A First Look - Beta Closed Server

http://st.koramgame.com/guide/

This has to be the cutest game I have ever played!  I'm sure its designed to appeal to the younger generation, specifically girls. That said its still a solid MMO and I spent far more hours in the game than I originally planned. I think what kept me in the game was the number of new types of gameplay and goals. Its not the typical grind fest I've come to expect from these free to play games.

SP Intro 1

Gameplay of Taylor and I

SP Intro 2

 

Troopie

Throughout the game I kept finding cute little things that made me laugh. Like the army troops named "Troopie." Or when switching levels paw prints replace the typical progress bar!

Changing Level Progress bar

Its the little things that make me remember a game for years. Seriously when will we see paw prints in a progress bar again?

 

The Story

Three tribes lived in peace and harmony until one day the Northern invaders attacked. The world is devastated because no one was prepared to fight. Finally pushed to the very bottom of the land the people regroup and start to fight back. You choose from three different tribes. Each tribe has two unique classes giving a total of 6 possible characters to choose from. Once you character is chosen you start off on your adventure working your way North determined to help take back your land.

image

I followed the story until around level 10. After that the story line seemed fairly repetitive. The quests are not the focal point of the game. In the Item mall (I assume this will be for pay to play items) they had an item called Telefether that instantly transferred you to the next location the quest called for. Once I discovered these I knocked out some serious quests and gained a few levels within an hour. That kind of took care of the story line for me.

The Characters

From the Gold Kirin tribe:  Fighter and Shaman

12

From the Maned Dragon tribe: Archer and Warrior

34

From the Lunar Fox tribe: Sorcerer and Assassin

56

I only played the Shaman since that typically fits my gameplay style. I like to sit in the background casting heals more than charging forward leading the pack. I also like to explore other parts of the game. To be honest I could do without the fighting all together. I like to see what type of economy exists in the game; or what type of crafting system it has. Sadly most games seem to have crafting thrown in as an after thought. Skills - TEAMMATES

One feature that really surprised me was only being able to heal IN A PARTY!?! While running along if I seen someone in trouble I must first ask them to party before I can heal. Most say no thinking I only want in on the boss kill. I made it to level 20 and didn't see a way to heal those outside of my party. 

This is a major turn off for me. One way I get into parties is by sitting on the sidelines casting heals. Eventually someone from the party comes over and asks me to join. Or if I see someone with 1/4 health while heading somewhere I always stop and cast a heal. Were all on the same side right? Not in this game. I would really like to know the reason behind this limitation. Really my Shaman is forced into being a Sorcerer but with fewer attack spells and power. Also look at the skills tree... NO REVIVE?? How can you be a healer and not have a revive skill?

This is really my one and only real complaint about this game. I have yet to play a game that doesn't allow healing outside of your own party. Several times I stood and watched a player slowly die and I could do nothing about it. 

You are able to reset the Skill tree and that's nice. This allows you try out several types of gameplay and tweak the tree as new spells come into play.

Item Crafting  Crafting

  Pretty straight forward. Looks like a few consumables and your classes weapons. The way this dialog is setup you would have a hard time not understanding crafting in this game. A huge plus because I have played games that after three months of playing I gave up on ever understanding the crafting system. You shouldn't have to go out to a webpage to figure out a major part of the game.

  Weapons never really wear out, sure if you don't repair them they may break in some games, but typically you can repair them forever. That feature in itself usually renders the crafting side of a game useless. That is what I seen here as well. As long as your weapon is repaired your good to go. I was only able to craft a few weapons and they did seem more powerful than any drops I picked up. But since they never wear out (if repaired) what's the point of making more than one?Character Info Dialog

Character Setup

The character setup is more about dress and less about configuring stats. There are all kinds of stats that show on the character screen but there is little you can do besides equip different items to affect these stats. Collection

That besides weapons there are all kinds of items the characters can wear. According to website there are over 40 million combinations of dress. As you can see in the picture above there are eight pages of headgear alone! The website also has a link for a Fashion Show. Currently it's a dead link but with this many combinations of dress I'm sure the fashion show will be up and running when the game releases. ClanThere also many pets that can be collected as well. These pets can fight with you or just tag along.

What About Clans?

The clan side of Spirit Tales is fairly well thought out. I found a clan fairly easily and was able to receive help quite often. Since I had a late start to the game I was of little help to anyone else. So to do my part I tried to contribute to the Clan Funds whenever possible.

The tax system can be put into play to buy islands that become available after your clan has leveled enough through clan quests. Members can also donate to the cause if they care to. The islands give the clan warehouse space inside their own private town.

Clan 1

 

Clan 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clan 3

 

 

 

♥♥♥♥ Relationships ♥♥♥♥

This really could be a great Social MMO. There is a lot here for groups to do together. Oh and I did I mention relationships? Yep, by expressing love to another player you end up in a relationship. This gives an automatic 5% buff when the two of you are in the same area. As the Love Meter goes up the buff percentage increases as well.

My son thought you should receive a -5% hit to defense if you break off the relationship.

Community - Relationship

Conclusion

I would say Spirit Tales appeals to the younger crowd but there is a lot for adults as well. It has a good interface and an easy to learn quest system. The maps "roads" sometimes seem restrictive if your used to being able to free roam. However that negative is easily offset by never getting stuck on something while running around. Tell your character to go to the other end of the map and it will. If you leave for a drink and come back you don't have to worry about it getting stuck on a fence somewhere.

The worlds are beautiful! Quite often I stopped to check out a rainbow in a valley or watch the sun set. I have to also mention how the world rolls as you walk. (watch the videos!) That takes care of the setting a render distance and gives a really cool effect in the process.

All in all this is a HUGE game. I didn't even mention PVP and most of the topics above are covered in a single paragraph. Just not enough to do any one of the topics justice. My guess is this will be a free to play so there's nothing keeping you from giving it a try once it releases.

Spirit Tales - Gameplay

Sunday, March 18, 2012

SpaceChem - W2-L1

Sernimir IV - Double Bonds

In the first level of the second world multiple bonds are introduced. This is a fairly straight forward level but if you look at the statistics you can see quite a range of times and number of symbols used. As always I'm shooting for shorter number of cycles over fewer symbols.

Sernimir IV 1

Sernimir IV - Double Bonds

Sernimir IV 1 Solution

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wolf Team Case Study 1 - How Much Better Does AP Make Your Character?

http://wolfteam.aeriagames.com/

image image

Wolf Team is a free to download free to play FPS (First Person Shooter). What makes this game unique is the players can transform between human and werewolf. AP (Aeria Points purchased with real money) and in-game gold can be used to purchase new weapons and armor. This study is to find out how much better a player can be when using AP.

image

The extra armor and better weapons is without a doubt an advantage. But how much? I see a lot of complaining both in the game and on the forums about "AP Noobs." For some reason people who purchase and use these upgrades are considered amateurs or newbies. Why is someone who uses something that is a part of the game so looked down upon? Its not like only people with money can have these items. Aeria Games sends out random gifts to all players. Currently I have two free one day uses of Lin Meiling with full armor. Lin Meiling with no armor costs 1200 AP for 30 days of use. This is approximately 10 to 13 US dollars depending on method of payment.

image

image

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Along with the random free gifts there is also a daily mystery box all users can access for free gifts. http://wolfteam.aeriagames.com/itemmall/free-rewards

mystery_box    image

Even with the gifts the matches are typically fairly even. Usually each side has one or two players in full gear. However the users with NO gear typically feel they are at a serious disadvantage when coming head to head against AP armor and guns.

So Is it skill or is it armor?

Hopefully this series of tests will lay this question to rest. How much of an advantage does AP armor and guns give the player? To keep things in focus I will not bring the wolves into any of these tests.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

My First Adventure Map in Minecraft

http://www.minecraft.net/

image

So it took my boys several months to convince me to try Minecraft. I held off for the longest time for two reasons. My first reason: What are the goals? There are no goals. Only stay alive and build build build.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Lime Odyssey Beta Update & Screen Grab Links

http://limeodyssey.aeriagames.com/

According to the forums Korea Lime Odyssey is shutting down indefinitely. And now Thailand Lime Odyssey will be shutting down as well. However Thailand will only be for an estimated 5 months as they add some new features and update/overhaul some others. The list published was as follows:

  • New world and dungeon for Level 45
  • New world and dungeon for Level 50
  • Daily Quest System
  • Arena System
  • Player Shop
  • Party Matching System
  • Quest History Book System

SpaceChem - W1-L7

Sernimir II - Removing Bonds

This level completes the tutorial world  of Sernimir II. You are now ready for some real puzzles. This is also the first level removing bonds (-bond).
image

SpaceChem - W1-L6

Sernimir II - A Brief History of SpaceChem
This level gets its name from the story line. Basically its another simple bonding level.
image
Sernimir II - A Brief History of SpaceChem
image

SpaceChem - W1-L5

Sernimir II - Intro to Bonding

This is another scripted tutorial. Again after completing it you can return and get a better time if you want. Shown below is the fewest cycles I could figure out.

image


image

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Lime Odyssey - Closed Beta

http://limeodyssey.aeriagames.com/ 

http://wiki.aeriagames.com/limeodyssey/index.php?title=Main_Page

lime_town33duval03

So far this game has been stuck in small scale betas. From what I have read I am expecting a large scale closed beta before the month is out. Anyone can sign up for these closed beta tests at the link above. Simply sign in and then press the Beta Sign Up button near the top right.

After playing a number of Aeria games MMORPG's, I'm excited to see some real professions coming in their new Lime Odyssey. Some serious trades and economy as always been the thing lacking in Shaiya. In Lime Odyssey there will be four trade classes adding a new dynamic to the three races and four typical battle classes.

 

The Trades

Blacksmith_femaleBlacksmith_maleCook_femaleCook_maleTailor_femaleTailor_male

Blacksmith, Tailor, Chef and Crafting http://limeodyssey.aeriagames.com/guide/tclass/blacksmith

 

The Battle Classes

lime_cleric_flime_cleric_m2lime_fighter_f2lime_fighter_mlime_mage_f2lime_mage_m2lime_thief_f2lime_thief_m2

Warrior, Thief, Cleric and Mage http://limeodyssey.aeriagames.com/guide/bclass/warriorhazeisland02

I have found several websites stating Lime Odyssey Korea shut down indefinitely after 100 days of open beta. Was it lack of interest or number of bugs? Will the American version follow suit? I have to admit the market of free-to-play MMO's is quite flooded right now. This looks like a better than average MMO and I look forward to playing it.

I will post more once I can and I hope to see you in closed beta. Until then here are a few websites from people with some behind the scenes access to this game.

ONRPG - Early Access: Lime Odyssey Part 1

ONRPG - Early Access: Lime Odyssey Part 2

Official Lime Odyssey WIKI

http://www.siriusent.co.kr/