MMO Diaries

Archlord: A Killing Under The Moon

2007-12-09T21:48:00.000+01:00

I have just starting playing Archlord, a brilliant MMOG by Codemasters. The game is free to play, but lets you convert real money into in-game money that you can spend to improve your character faster.

Speaking of characters, mine is a sorcerer. Not your usual tagging behind the party kind, but a real badass that can quickly show you where he can stick that wooden +1 staff which I plundered in the first few minutes inside the game.

That the game world is HUGE is an understatement, with a vast land offering a lot to explore. However at this point it is better to stay in the village and try to get some quests. As usual, the elders start by showing you around the place to give you a general feeling of what you can expect. There are a lot of people in the marketplace right now, no doubt equipping themselves for their various quests.

The village of Galundo hosts some quirky inhabitants, not least of them Zion, the merchant whom I meet first and just as quickly gets me in an unpleasant situation where I have to find the weapons he had stolen earlier from merchant Mecante. Then there's the guards that well, guard the entrances to the village. You sure get a feeling of security knowing that they are doing their job well. Keep it up guys!

Stepping outside the village, you can meet a lot of ugly spiders that will surely come in handy for levelling up a bit. After getting to level 2, I could wear some armour to better challenge some bigger beasts and keep on going until I meet Rockbole, a boss spider through which I reach level 5.

Finally before taking a rest, I go to kill some goblins. However their skin is hard and so it's very difficult to beat them with a wooden stick. So I'll just pick up this hammer staff that is lying on the floor here and next time will try to see how these goblins like it.

One last comment; as you will have noticed the graphics in Archlord are great, especially that moon. Oh, the moon, I have to go back and watch it rise again...

Upshift StrikeRacer: Gimme Fuel, Gimme Firepower

2007-08-10T15:55:00.000+02:00

Upshift StrikeRacer, which comes in a 350Mb package, is an online racing challenge of sorts. Violence has never been so much fun. Violence in a good way, as in pure arcade racing action with up to eight players in a single race who beat up each other by means of the arsenal at their disposal.

The game is currently in open beta, everyone starting recently with the Snubby, which is the entry level car. There's a quick tutorial that teaches you how to accelerate, brake, select and fire your weapons, whilst not forgetting the very useful drift action.

There's a racing mode where players can compete without weapons, where racers can count only on their car handling skills to arrive first to the finish line. Even in this mode the adrenalin starts pumping as cars can still be thrown off the road and crashes happen frequently.

Each car has access to a turbo boost, which injects a good dose of speed when the player presses the Shift button. Turbos take time to reload, so they need to be used sparingly at the right moment. However the game ingeniously recharges the lagging players' turbo faster than those in front, effectively matching the difference that arises between starters and leveled up players with faster cars and equipment. The game is always fun, and I could win some races even at the start of my career.

The Strike Racing mode gives the player three weapons, a short range machine gun to be used when closely tailing someone, a rocket launcher, for hitting other cars from a distance, and the land mine, which can be dropped down to blow up the followers behind you. Apart from stopping the enemy by sending their burning cars flying around the place, the racing hitmen can try to win the race by navigating through the breaking scenery where confusion abounds.

All in all, Upshift StrikeRacer is a great game, even more as the open beta status makes us wonder about other nice things to come. I got rewarded gifts everytime that I leveled up, amongst them a Nightwing car and some neat equipment to make the car go faster. You should try the game right away, I will try not to laugh while I whizz by beside you into the horizon.

Dofus: Am I Still Too Young To Fight Brakmarians?

2007-07-25T17:54:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately, I am now starting to believe that I am tied in a position where I cannot complete my quests until I become more powerful. So fighting the sharks on the beach is the option that makes most sense right now. Maybe I'm still too young to fight bigger opponents.

I did manage to settle an argument between Bhen Neddal and Rocco Fidelio and came out of it with a handful of peeled potatoes. That’s the kind of quest that I can achieve.

What does seem impossible to achieve is the quests that Walt Apain and master Amayiro give me. Walt Apain wants to sample a number of beers, which seems innocent enough before knowing that one of the beers is from the heart of Brakmar itself. For a level 27 Bontarian, that beer is not easily accessible. But anyway, I decide to try the long walk to Brakmar, as Amayiro also wants me to explore this dark fortress.

To give me a little bit of additional courage, I encounter a group of gobbals along the way and after the encounter I manage to obtain a pair of warm gobboots. Apart from making the trip more comfortable on the feet, this footwear adds 14 additional health points to the wearer as well as increasing his attack damage. On we go!

BOTS!!: Playing a Massively Multiplayer Game Solo

2007-07-21T15:34:00.000+02:00

I tried to knock up a few levels for my pink robot today. Again, in Acclaim's BOTS!!, there's no story to tell, although one could argue that you can still talk about how you trashed that particular boss robot, or how you were the best player on that particular level. I'm sure time will answer this for us all.

What I wanted to test instead, is if it is better to play the first few levels alone or by teaming up with other people. The initial maps are easy enough for a newbie to fight alone, so you don't need other people's help there. The experience payoff is almost equal in both cases, so that's another vote to go solo.

The solo player can also claim all the bonuses that fall down from the beaten enemy viruses, whereas in 8-player mode one can hardly see what is happening around. The one advantage for team play though, is that the best players have a bigger monetary bonus at the end of a fight.

What one must admit, is that this game achieves a lot technically, regardless of playability. When the screen is full of players and enemy robots, the game hardly slows down. And seeing the arcade nature of the game, with data flowing between the server and the eight players, this is truly astounding.

In the end I decided to go alone. I am now trying not to just increase my experience, but also to collect spare parts that will make my pink robot (now with a red body) look meaner.

Dofus: Jump In For A Quick Swim

2007-07-16T22:19:00.000+02:00

Oh how times have changed! I remember when I was younger, when I used to go to the beach with my family, enjoying the sun and the sea. Now, I just log into my computer and at most stroll around the virtual beach near Astrub village. All is not lost however, as within these new found beaches I found an enemy that can give me experience points quickly and thus solve my mid-level crisis. The sharks (walking around on dry land) are my solution to leveling up a lot faster. But where's the ice cream van?

But that's not the only reason that I visited the world of Dofus today. I also succeeded to finally solve a good number of old quests. I started by exterminating the sick grossewer milirats lurking under Astrub village to gain 2000 experience points and 150 kamas. I also had the opportunity to find a dofawa (a dofus egg which gives its bearer +1 vitality), get a Gobtubby pet (thanks to my renewed subscription) and visit Allistair's castle. Finally, by improving my lumberjack trade skills, I can now cut down walnut trees!

To finish off this eventful day, I decided to visit Pandala. I never had a chance to really explore this island in the past, and seeing that it's not far away from the beach I might as well go to find its mysteries.

I am immediately greeted by a merchant named Narber, who asks me to pay the Pandrista tax as soon as I set foot on Pandala. This involves buying a hat from his souvenir stand. These pandawas come up with all sorts of excuses in an attempt to make me part from my money. The worst thing is that the hat makes me sick with the pandrista fever, which basically makes you want to shit.

Fortunately, not all pandawas are like this. Some of them are always willing to help the tourists. Surivitna the shaman for example cures my illness and sets me on a quest for the honour of the great Grandapan, who in turn sends me to pray to the drunken Pandala goddess.

I want to end today's entry by thanking another player, Schliemo, who has helped me get 14 thousand experience points in one go by skillfully fighting againt six rogues in the forest of Pandala. That's a very good idea for leveling up. Much appreciated!

Dungeon Runners: Will Work for King's Coins

2007-07-02T22:41:00.000+02:00

For sure, Algernon is a damned huge place. Too many creepy passageways, and the room layout changes each time I set foot inside. Sure there are monsters to kill, it's even fun for a while. But it does get repetitive especially when trying to find your way on levels that were supposedly already mapped, and on the rare occasion when I meet someone friendly I end up with another nearly identical quest. These folks are probably just bored themselves and are looking for the opportunity to find someone else to finish their own quests.

However there are certain goals to look forward to. Like the venom spitting enemies in Kog's Gearbox, or the stirring Orok Outpost, or the beastly heroes that always leave behind a hefty bounty when killed. Yeah, it just keeps you going.

As usual, there is a lot of inventory to pick up, surely to entice players to become full members. There's no argument though that the stuff you pick up isn't cool. All of them have cooler sounding names to boot. For example, I just obtained a couple of Heavenly Rusty Ornate Gauntlets of the Sheltered Tigon that require level 7 and a membership to equip and come in nice a golden finish.

This is all in a hero's day's work after all. There's a lot of grinding work to do, with an equal amount of warping to and fro to sell the found items in the Townston marketplace. But there are always interesting new places and enemies to look forward to and the bounty payoff is very sweet indeed. On with the slaying!

Dungeon Runners: Visiting Townston

2007-06-29T07:14:00.000+02:00

All the current paths lead to Townston, so that is where I go next. I get greeted by Sir Voss who is very impressed that I killed Rattle Tooth. I knew that my tales of adventures would be welcomed here. I try to find the local drinking hole where I can tell the people about my other tales, but alas, there is no such place in Townston!

It's a nice little town however, with colourful people all around. And being a Flourishing Noobie Obsidian Mage does not make a difference to the inhabitants. On the contrary, they find a reason to give me a lot of quests so that I can get more experience and become a much better mage.

There is one Abel Tukahst here. "Who is he?", I hear you say. Well he is the mage trainer, and for some cash Abel can teach you new skills. The good thing is that mages do not have to learn mage skills only, but can also learn from other professions. In fact the first skill I acquire is from Gwen of the Tree Folk, the ranger trainer. She gives me a sort of farting killer move where I can now emit a large green cloud around me that can poison my enemies.

There's also Audrey The Alchemist in town. Alchemists are always a mage's greatest asset in these kind of adventures, although at the moment Audrey is more worried about her husband who is probably lost deep down in the caves of Algernon. At this point, the number of adventurers visiting Townston starts to get quite large, with a lot of them seeking quests to embark on in the name of plunder.

I finally get to meet the town commander, who congratulates me on my achievements so far, but doesn't hide the fact that Rattle Tooth's kinfolk will surely be seeking my head for revenge. His suggestion is that I go looking for them first and kill the family one by one before they can be any trouble. The rats should be on different levels in Algernon's underground cave complex.

Seeing as the Townston townfolk are obsessed with sending me questing inside the caves of Algernon, that is where I plan to spend the next few days of my life. See you there, and oh, remember to bring a torch!

Dungeon Runners: Thank The Gods That It's Not Just That!

2007-06-25T17:22:00.000+02:00

As a member of Fileplanet, I recieved an invitation to play NCSoft's latest hack and slash MMO as a full member for 7 days. Naturally, I registered, downloaded the install file (which for just under 500 megs is not that large compared to similar games of this type), installed and logged in. As you will find out, it's not only about running in dungeons. What were NCSoft's branding people thinking?

Character creation is fairly straighforward, basically you just set the looks of your avatar. Only one choice will absulutely affect the player throughout his stay inside Dungeon Runners, which is the character type with a choice between fighter, mage or ranger. These generic classes will force the player's combat style to be either up close in the first case, ranged magical combat in the second and the last option puts you somewhere in between. This kind of character creation lets you get into the fray quicker.

The next step is to select a game world. Although not really massively populated, the players were evenly spread into the game worlds (up to world 30 when I checked). As I make my first steps, I walk into a clearing which is in the region of Dew Valley. This is some kind of lobby where Samford the Hermit and a Kingdom Representative can give me some quests to start with. There isn't really any tutorial mode to take your hand and walk you around (maybe not yet). However, the game is easy to pick up.

With a well built body, it is easy to get quests here and start making some money. With a promise to kill some Whisker Ratlings and find a ring, I venture into the forest to confront wolf pups and said ratlings. As a mage it is easy to pick opponents from some distance away, although the forest dwellers will be quick to retalilate in packs. However, even if I'm just a begginer, the opponents at this point pose no real threat.

The fun in this game is that you can get access to some cool inventory quite near the start of the game. Whereas in some MMORPGs I'm still walking barefoot months after I started, in Dungeon Runners my character Kaishakunin is all dressed up and ready to kick some Blademaster butt.

Eventually, I find myself in an underground cave fighting bigger wolves and rats. The Kingdom Representative wants the rat leader Rattle Tooth's head, so I go after the big red rat. After the ensuing struggle with the big tooth and his henchmen, I head towards Townston to boast about my victory and claim my just reward. So I pick up the round shield that the rat dropped during the battle and start climbing up the stairs back into the daylight.

Puzzle Pirates: How To Lose Money Quickly And Still Have A Good Time Out Of It

2007-06-12T21:12:00.001+02:00

I recently received 1000 Pieces of Eight with my e-mail newsletter from Three Rings, which I quickly went to claim. But alas, they were surely the shortest lived one grand in the history of online gaming. You see, I went and played them all at the local tavern. I know that it is a difficult moment with the Brigand Kings stalking these cutthroat islands and all, but what can I do when the Coin Drop pulls me in for another go?

I was just unlucky for the rest of the day, that's all. I did not actually start out that bad. After all, it was easy taking money from a group of Hearts players and then some booty from a Coin Drop tournament. But it all started going downhill from thar, down the hill and away into Davy Jones' Locker did me Doubloons go.

But still, ahoy there matey! If ye have still not opened yer e-mail and made yer rightful claim for those nice 1000 Pieces of Eight, be sure to do so before July 1st or they will just fly away. And then be warned! Even if ye chance upon a three on three swordfight or the greatest Coin Drop tournament ever, as I happened to find, don't jump in unless ye are sure that ye're going to own them all. Damn!

Pardus: Riding On The Economy

2007-06-03T07:57:00.000+02:00

Still in my tutorial simulation, I need to run some more errands for the Empire. It's not difficult; all I have to do is to deliver some packages and kill some space maggots and dragons. There is some good money to be made this way. At this point, Mike shows me a way to make money even more quickly. The fact that planets need energy produced from space stations and space stations in turn need food and water from the planets makes these goods quite valuable to transport from one to the other.

Anyway, I have enough money now to buy a small shield generator. Although not required during the simulation, it is still good to know how certain things function in this universe. After all, this device will save me some money by slowly repairing the ship's shields automatically and I can see how it works right now.

Marcoland: Busy Days And Sleepless Nights

2007-05-27T15:32:00.000+02:00

I did not know that other people can attack me while I am offline, but that is what happens in Marcoland. Now I can understand why I am always dead whenever I log into the game. To be fair, I have won four times as much fights compared to ending up dead without knowing, and that helps to improve experience too. So off to the reviving fruit tree to start today's adventure!

Out of necessity, I have to become stronger and equip myself to be able to handle unexpected attacks. A lot of prayers at the Temple of Tiipsi give me a 10.3 strength rating. And nearby inside the city, I make my way to the smoky smithy. The Blacksmith tells me that I have just enough strength now to wield a rusty sword. I pay him the 1000 gold coins he asks for and get ready to break some goblin heads.

Finding the first goblin, I lunge at it and kill it with a single blow. Good investment, I think. But one must always care of too much overconfidence! I decide to attack a cobold next. A good fight, but I end up dead. Still too weak to face these monsters. My reaction: back to killing goblins! As I waste one after another, my experience goes up until I reach the next level. I have enough mana left for the day to try to attack a cobold again. This time I walk away with 9 health points, 49 gold coins, one metal and a good dose of experience.

As I prepare to leave Marcoland, I notice that there are 181 players online, so I do not count on logging back with any health next time. Can I sleep again at night now that I know that my avatar can be attacked at any time?

Shot Online: Group Stroking

2007-05-20T16:57:00.000+02:00

I now feel confident enough to play some golf strokes with other people, so that is what I do. Finding an open match is very easy in Shot Online and most times a 4-player challenge fills up quickly. As play starts, I soon find out that the real game is an entirely different matter from the practice rounds. However, since the game of golf in itself lets the players comment while the acting player is contemplating his stroke, the paricipants in Shot Online are quite helpful and encourage each other throughout the course. I must say that I am learning quite quickly and having fun at the same time, as jokes are constantly being cracked around the green.

Group gaming is encouraged as the system assigns experience points even when the other players make good shots. There is a long way to go before golf is mastered, but I keep seeing progress every day. The Alfheim golf course is becoming a good training ground, although I still keep losing.

Around level 10, I'm still getting defeated by the better players, but I can keep up with them much of the time. At least, my golfer is looking less nerdish with his new clothes and that surely helps to make an impression on my adversaries. Now for some more on-the-course training, hoping to make enough money for that new wooden club!

Shot Online: A Stroll Around A Virtual Park

2007-05-12T08:57:00.000+02:00

gPotato tries to transform the game of golf into an online multiplayer extravaganza, and at first look the end result is a load of fun. Playing the game is free, but dressing your characters and changing their look costs money. So, for the purposes of trying the game, only a selection of four standard character looks is available. That makes it easy to jump into the game quickly and start playing though.

To learn to play golf, I must first attend Valhalla University, where Principal Bestra greets me and sends me to learn with Caddie Ceridwen. She teaches me the basic strokes, and shows me around the game interface, which is very intuitive and lets me concentrate on the game ahead. I start with some shots in the practice range, where the good thing is that the university gives a monetary allowance for my efforts.

After the tutorial, I am then left to go freely around the lobby. A number of other players are also present, presumably some of them talking with each other about the great shot they just made. I decide to enter into the practice course, where I can at least test my skills on a real 3-hole course. One thing is clear from the start - I must practice a lot! The sky is dark and rain is pouring down, making the game just that little bit harder. I am not that bad for approaching the green, always getting at least very close in a couple of shots. However I always blow it on the green mostly by hitting the ball to hard or too short. Ceridwen hasn't told me anything about how to judge the power to use when putting, and I can't find any markers on the screen either. So I guess that this has to be judged with experience as more games are played.

I do eventually succeed to put the ball into the hole, albeit with a +9 score. I still get rewarded with some money though and I look forward to improve my score the next time that I play.

Pardus: Testing The (Fuel-Filled) Space

2007-04-25T16:02:00.000+02:00

Pardus has put me in the seat of a Sabre spaceship with all the galaxy at my hand. However, I get sent to Nabuun to meet my instructor Crashtest Mike who wil teach me some things about survival in Pardus.

Mike equips my ship with some basic machinery and gives me some tasks such as fuel extraction and ore mining, so that I can get the general feeling of the universe. He then tells me how to make friends and send them messages. It seems that diplomacy will have a great influence on my stay in Pardus.

I am shown how to trade ore and make enough money to be able to buy armour and an impulse laser. So now I can fight some intergalactic monster scum. Hooray! To find some monsters, I must travel to the Lambda Quodanis sector, also learning wormhole jumping along the way. The best thing to do is to pick up fights with the lesser creatures, visit a nearby planet, trade, repair and repeat. In this way fighting experience starts going up.

The next item on my checklist is to join a faction and run some errands for it. I decide to join the Empire and start looking for some jobs on the bulletin board. My first delivery job takes me to Nubia with a cargo of some secret packages. Right where I started! The task is completed successfully and I get paid, but with no more action points at my disposal, I must leave my errands for another time.

Dofus: Going Through Midlevel Crisis

2007-02-25T11:19:00.000+01:00

At this point of my life in the Dofus world, I need to increase experience and keep leveling up. Perseverance is the key. So all I have to do is go around the land fighting every monster that I encounter. It eventually becomes a bit boring, the only unusual thing to happen is when a guy named Ouro-power (pictured left) kills me and the rest of his own team to fight the monsters by himself. I must wonder, his level is up at 56. Is he still going through the boring mid-level crisis to resort to these cheap tricks just to amuse himself? If that is so, at level 23 I still have a long way to go.

Anyway, I still continue going around Astrub, acquiring new items and experience. A thing that actually surprised me in my job as a woodcutter is when a tree that I was chopping actually turned to life and attacked me! Knowing about the power of Threechnids first hand, I thought that I was done there. But this was a relatively young bewitched chestnut and although it took me some time to win, the fight was not that difficult. Only energy draining. But I left this battle whith my energy low enough so that when a powerful Brakmarian aggressed me he could kill me just with a single blow. That's another problem of mid-level crisis. Your stats start becoming interesting for experienced fighters to challenge you, but at the same time you are totally helpless against their experience and hunger for even more.

Marcoland: Where Goblins Perish In The Name of Experience

2007-02-18T07:59:00.000+01:00

I was introduced to Marcoland, which once again came out as highly recommended by many of my readers, so I had to try it out too. On first impression, this fantasy text-based PHP game seems to have a quite solid story with a lot of care taken to provide detailed and immersive descriptions. It also has a tutorial mode, which is where I headed after I completed my registation.

As an absolute noob, I am very weak, having very low stats throughout and carrying no equipment whatsoever. So, I am directed to the city where I find the blacksmith's searing hot workshop to buy my first weapon. Nothing fancy, just a rusty dagger. Not that I cannot afford a bronze one, but then I would not have the strength to wield it, so rust it is. It may not be as sharp as the other weapons, but if it makes any contact any adversary will surely die slowly from tetanus.

So now I have something to fight with, but to improve my chances further I walk to the Temple of Tiipsi and pray for more strength. The temple looks a bit straight out of the Wizard of Oz, but what matters is that praying here has a positive effect all the same. At this point the tutorial assures me that I am ready for my first fight. Still, I should only attack goblins, as any other beast will surely have a nice meal of me. As the ugly goblin approaches, I strike with all my force. He strikes back and I attack again. This time the blow leaves the monster lying dead on the floor. That was a good first experience.

The gold coins which I gather from the body can be used to recover the energy that I have lost in the fight back. The Reviving Fruit Tree is where all fighters of Marcoland head to heal themselves. An old man greets me under the tree and sells me some fruit. These fruit are truly miraculous, I feel my health surge up completely and am ready for my next fight. To acquire more experience, I spend the rest of the day fighting more goblins. I sometimes get beat up nastily, although I always have enough money at the end of each fight to pay my health back up with fruit. Sometimes even a gem is needed for recovery, but I can also find some by pillaging more goblins.

Bots!: Metal Clashing Avatars

2007-01-30T22:23:00.000+01:00

After downloading and installing Bots!, waiting for the obligatory patch and registering for an account, I got ready to play this game from Acclaim. Presented with an initial choice of three robots, I selected a pink Ram type unit that, despite its colour, appears to be a very flexible machine with a lot of potential.

I entered the first fighting arena that I saw as soon as I had the option. I found the game to be pleasantly fast and arcade-y for an online game. I rushed into the fray as usual, but only managed to fall down a ledge into the molten rock. My robot was dead, but luckily I was teaming with a level 6 friend who revived me by the time that he was near the end of the stage. And just in time, as soon enough the end-of-level boss came after us with his huge axe in hand.

The post-level statistics showed that there were 25 opponents inside that first level, and my companion killed them all, including the big boss. What an impressive way to start! I did learn how to move around, jump and punch though. Furthermore I reached level 2, so I am ready for the next challenge. Since practice makes perfect, I tried the same stage again. Cooperating with other people and learning how to transform into a meaner robot got me my first kill. Now all that remains to do is to keep pushing forward, fighting the enemies as they try to stop us. The boss, although still much stronger than any of us alone, is easy enough for the three of us to beat together.

I spend the rest of the day aimlessly punching enemy bots, but the best dish was saved for last. I teamed with seven other people who ganged up to give a good beating to the boss' metal butt. This time there was no story to tell you. The fight was soon over. In spite of this, I do not want to sound too overconfident, but next time I will try to find some bigger butt to kick.

Puzzle Pirates: Wearing My New Pants For Christmas

2006-12-27T09:47:00.000+01:00

I start the day by going around town looking to play and win some money. It is about time that I dispose of those rags and buy something nicer. Playing the drinking game gets me some good money although still not enough to buy at least some pants. So I enter a free swordfighting tournament where the winner takes home the much needed pants and a map as prize. I fight my way through the final match but loose the last game, so still no pants.

As I go round the Christmas tree, I remember the free Santa outfit offer from Three Rings, and so I go to claim it complete with bearded hat, boots and most importantly red pants. Everyone is going around the island similarly dressed so what the heck, I do it too.

Whilst visiting an inn, I get introduced to the coin drop game for the first time. I enter a tournament in fact, but until I properly understand how it works, my opponent gets a good lead and ends up winning the match soundly. I like this game however and I give it some other goes until I at least win something back.

In the final part of the day, I spend the majority of the time competing in a couple of well played games of Hearts. The three other pirates Jollyjojo, Yeddy and Kittypam gave out a balanced match. Playing for nearly an hour, I lose the first match but win the second, collecting 150 pieces of eight after betting 100.

Before deciding to log off for the day, I meet Respectabile Amity, who wants to teach me another game that I had never played before. The student is quick to learn however, as after getting to grips with the confusion about the left-right mouse button operation, the game is won. Beginner's luck perhaps.

Dofus: Loyalty Pays With Deadly Missions

2006-12-10T21:12:00.000+01:00

Just as I was leaving Bonta, I had a change of heart and decided that the mayor's little daughter should have her necklace after all. I first visit the marketplace to see if I could do something about it, although I really end up with a Soft Caft necklace for myself. Its spooky look will surely help me to scare away my enemies.

Eventually I head to Goldenring Jewellers to show the broken necklace to the nice girl at the counter. The repair costs me 1000 kamas and as usual Amayiro still has something to criticise even when I bring him the glittering pendant. However, his confidence in me makes him decide to send me visiting Bonta's taverns to find any slacking soldiers and report them directly to him.

Caught between two minds whether I should help Amayiro or my fellow Bontarian comrades, I still end up finding all the drunk slackers who will probably not be much too happy when they find out that I was the cause for their pay reduction. This time however, Amayiro is wholly convinced of my loyalty and gives me a much harder task. If I heard him well, I should go to the enemy fortress of Brakmar and try to find a way to break open their city door.

This is a big task indeed, and I must be prepared for it. Which brings me to the same decision I arrived to last time; visit Astrub and earn some more experience, money and weaponry. Preferably find a cloak of invisibility also.

Dofus Arena: Trying To Tip The Balance

2006-11-20T14:43:00.000+01:00

The Dofus Arena engine has also been recently updated. This time, all stats have been reset and every player has to start his team from scratch. Annoyed with this, our Dofus Arena crew packed up their bags and went back to live their separate lives. Maybe one day we'll see them again in action.

The new team however, composed solely from women wearing red clothes, is as aggressive as the ones that came before it. How will Rani, Kaia, Zandra and Demi react to the new environment? The biggest change is that there are no special skills or experience points in the game anymore, so that Ankama has levelled the playfield with the aim that everyone can pick up the game and advance rapidly in ranking. I was the one who asked for and then applauded experience points when they were included, and now I am the one who will disapprove of taking them away. Without character development, there is nothing to keep players coming back once they reach a certain ranking.

Such is the amount of equal competition that Ankama want in the playing field that the bonus cards available at the start of each match are also distibuted to both players equally now. I admit that I myself sometimes suffered for being handed a bad card, but come on, it's part of the game which also makes it just a little more interesting.

Anyway, let me finish with the positive points. There is a new map to play on, which is quite symmetrical, but it is spread out in a way to make some good tactical battles possible. Character races have gained some similar spells from other races, again so that every race's repertoire is now balanced with the rest of them.

So here I am starting again from level one at the bottom of the ladder. For now, there is no big challenge as I am matched with all other players that had to start all over too. Losing the whole team at one go is a real bummer, and I'm sure that I will not become zealous about this team as the previous one simply because its members will all stay the same as they are now.

Dofus: No Peace For The Errand Boy

2006-11-19T19:43:00.000+01:00

Ankama have recently pulled out a new version of Dofus, so I decided to try it out. Although I initially got lost on the main menu not knowing where to click, once inside the game proper I can happily say that the past slowness problems seem to have been taken care of.

On to our quest, I still have to find the thieving crow, but first and foremost I have to find the damned Bontarian tower. After running around the place again for hours, killing birds as a revenge against all feathered pests, I meet a soldier of the Bontarian army who indicates the way to the tower.

Once I arrive to my destination, I find the Mayor blocking the entrance to the tower itself and bars me to go any further. No wonder that I never found the tower! Anyway, the lost crow is here. He is in a tight hidden location, but I manage to attack him just as another adventurer jumps on him also. Although I get beaten up in the fight, my teammate manages to kill the bird.

I have the necklace now, but as soon as Amayiro sees the messy state that it is in, he throws me out with it and tells me not to come back without a brand new one. That's it, I am not going to any jeweller's district to craft jewels. Instead, I am heading down to Astrub to satisfy some past grudges.

MU: Playing in The Sandbox

2006-11-08T13:34:00.000+01:00

After creating my MU character, I find myslef standing in Lorencia with a tavern behind me and a couple of people nearby. My first impression is that there is not much happening around. Even in the tavern there is only the barkeep and one client. I take a stool and sit down, then stand up again and sit on the next one. OK, so this game lets you sit down on pretty much anything and lean on walls, perhaps this will help when energy must be recovered quickly.

The graphics are quite detailed, as the nicely furnished tavern shows. However the low resolution setting causes some problems, especially with the scrolling text that is sometimes unreadable. I cannot find a control panel where I can change the graphic setting, so I must try to read the online help next time.

Just outside the tavern, I meet a weapons maker, take a quick look at his prices and decide that I need to obtain some bounty before attempting to acquire good armour. Each city exit leads to a bridge that opens upon a bleak field with some monsters running around.

Luckily for me, the southern exit only brings up a small challenge mostly from big spiders. With this kind of enemy, I can gain experience and start saving some money. Taking a short bow from one of my fallen adversaries some fights later, I go back to sell it to the weapons maker. Together with the rest of the bounty, I now have enough money to buy a small shield.

Venturing up North with shield in hand, I convince myself that it is not a good idea, especially after huge monsters continually send me to the respawn point with just two punches. Unless I want the ground to keep drinking my blood, it will be a good idea to stay playing with the spiders until more experience is gained.

Puzzle Pirates: Winning Your Hearts

2006-10-30T21:10:00.000+01:00

I was a bit lucky with the tutorial sessions today. When I met Weathered Johanna, my first instructor, she showed me how I should wear clothes. Then she also gave me a bandana so that I could look cooler when going around the seven seas.

Back to the notice board, I decided that some hands on training was in order. So I boarded a ship and went sailing with the navy. Our ship, the biggest vessel that I had seen so far, needed a lot of people to operate, so my work on the sails was also useful.

After learning puzzle-sailing on the blood red seas, the ship anchored on Harmattan Island, which was also a new land for me to explore. This island seems to be more sparsely populated than Sakejima, but as I found out there are still interesting places where pirates like me can enjoy their stay.

I soon found a parlor where I met some ugly pirates eager to challenge each other at card games. Hearts was my choice of game, and I have found out that my previous experience with this game has turned out to be useful in aiding me win a quick doubloon. Avast ye salty dogs! Place your bets.

Puzzle Pirates: Dead Costumed Pirate's Chest

2006-10-29T11:51:00.000+01:00

I don't know if it is because Halloween is approaching or because of something else, but everyone around, myself included, has a ghostly appearance today. I sure hope that I am not dead.

In fact, today I want to learn carpentry. And how do you do this? With the carpentry puzzle of course. The aim of this game is that while the ship is sailing on its course, I have to plug any holes on the ground by nailing wooden planks down. For my carpenting duties I manage to get 24 pieces of eight. Am I getting richer or what?

Once back on land, I get back to my shack to feed Koroko, my new pet rat. Isn't he lovely? Unfortunately my work does not pay enough yet to be able to afford any better furnishings than the humble rags that I always had. And due to all my wagering, I still cannot afford to even buy a set of decorative bones to hang to the room walls.

Speaking of wagers, down town is where I find some sword-fighting tournaments and naturally my competitive spirit gets the best of me again. As usual I win some fights and I lose some, but I'm still not good enough when it comes to winning the tournament pot.

Flyff: Flaris Revisited

2006-09-27T10:35:00.000+02:00

I returned to the world of Flyff and decided that this time I had to explore a wider area around the small town that had I started in first time round. I stepped into a valley between two hills and found myself surrounded with swarms of aibatts. No big deal, although there were quite a few of them I cut through each flying creature one by one. I even had the time to admire the wonderful skyscape whilst fighting. However, overconfidence is never a good thing, as an encounter with a Giant Aibatt sends me right to a respawn point.

A good point though, is that I have collected enough cash to afford buying an iron long sword from a merchant named Luda to replace my old wooden one. Confidence restored. I ventured up North to try my new sword against some crawling creatures called Burudengs. Whilst fighting and levelling up, I get a message from the Sacred Few Guild asking me to join them. I do so and continue fighting, this time also helping Sacred Few members when they appear to be in trouble.

I also manage to meet the last mapmaker who completes the map from the pieces I have. So now I have a map of Flaris to show you. But let’s finish the day with some questing. Having met Dunkan who wants some Bluemill, I go hunting Captain Mushpangs to extract it from them. I'll go and claim my reward next time.