MGAME USA (www.netgame.com), publisher of Hero Online and Legend of Ares has a new Free to Play game entitled Scions of Fate. Scions of Fate (also called Yulgang) is an Asian Themed MMORPG with cute characters. It is said to be one of the more popular games in Asia. Asia? I’m in Asia and I’ve never heard of it before. LOL!

Title: Scions of Fate
Site: fate.netgame.com
Publisher: MGAME USA
Developer: MGAME USA
Access: Free 2 Play

Cuteness Reigns

Honestly, cute characters do nothing for me but there are a lot of gamers out there that really dig cute characters. Except for being cute, Fate’s gaphics is good. Nothing is innovative nor revolutionary about it but it’s good. In fact, I think it’s better than Flyff’s graphics. If you like Flyff’s graphics then you might also like the graphics of Fate.

Been there, done that!

What to do in Scions of Fate? If you guess “kill monsters” then you are absolutely correct! Once you have created your character and entered the world the next thing you have to do is fight and kill monsters. Kill monsters to level up. Reach a certain level and you’ll get a quest. It’s your typical MMORPG. Kill, kill, kill! Level, level, level. And like most of your favorite Asian mmorpg, you move by point and click. I’d like to continue on but I think you know the drill already. LOL!

Weird Lag!

I was doing a quest where I need to kill a boar. So, I went out to find a boar to kill and found some wild boars west of town. I clicked on a boar twice to attack it. The weird thing was, I was hitting it but the boar just keeps on moving away from me. I was dealing damage to it and I was receiving some damage from it too BUT it doesn’t show on my screen.

Another experience with lag was, I attacked a boar then suddenly everything around my character stopped except me. So, I moved away from the boar but as I was running away, everything moved again and I fell flat on the ground dead.

Selling In-Game Gold

You won’t miss this one. Your chat window will be flooded with messages of Gold Selling when you are in town. Does MGAME USA allows it? If not then they should put a stop to it. It’s hard to chat in public because your messages are being eaten up by Gold Seller spams.

Free 2 Play

That’s the best thing about this game. Everything may suck but since it’s FREE it’s acceptable to some extent. The game is supported by an Item Mall where players can purchase premium items with real life cash. You don’t really have to buy anything but if you feel like supporting the game then by all means do so.

Scions of Fate is just like any other mmorpgs that are out there but if you are looking for more games to try then why not try Scions of Fate. I might continue playing for a while but I don’t think I would be playing that long. My kids might like it though.

Rating: 6/10

I’ve been playing Voyage Century since December 23, 2006. Voyage Century is a Free 2 Play MMORPG set in the 15th century. I’m not a historian but I’m impressed with the game’s look and feel.

Title: Voyage Century Online
Site: www.voyagecenturyonline.com
Publisher: IGG
Developer: Snail Game
Access: Free 2 Play

About Voyage Century

“Voyage Century is a free to play nautical MMORPG published by IGG, the distributors of Myth War Online. Advertisements for the game suggest that it is the “First 3D Nautical Online Game”, but dates of the development of Burning Sea and the presence of Uncharted Waters Online seem to dispute this marketing ploy. It is set in 16th century Earth and features accurate historical representations of several coastal cities. Players are given a choice between four career paths at the beginning of the game: explorer, merchant, craftsman, or warrior. This choice is vital to a character, since it greatly influences the playing style of the character for the rest of the game. Combat occurs both on land and on the sea, where players risk the threat of pirates when venturing further from the more populated areas.”

“It is speculated that optional cash shop items will be available for players to purchase with real money after more development.”

Gameplay

Voyage Century features various gameplay and styles. You can be a swashbuckling ship captain, a passive merchant, an adventurous explorer, a material collector or a handycraftsman. Within these types, you can still have tons of variations in both gameplay and character development.

You can choose to specialize in a few skills or you can get them all but if you get them all you won’t be as proficient as those that specialized in a few skills. Skill range from combat skills to collecting/producing and crafting skills.

Different ship types also change the way you play. Battleships are good for pound for pound combat and it’s the games all around ship, raiding ships are great at boarding, grappling, ramming and exploring and merchant ships are not good for combat but they are great in delivering and carrying goods.

I like fast ships so I choose a raiding ship and my character’s job is an explorer but you are not limited to exploring and adventuring. You can also join the other Alliances (Merchant and Warrior Alliance) and do quests for them although some merchant quests will be tough especially those involved carrying many goods.

Combat in Voyage Century is accomplished in two ways. Land and sea battle! Success in sea battles relies heavily on your ship’s weapon skill level. The higher it is the better canons you’ll have. In land battle, success depends on your character’s weapon and barehand skill level. There are no stats to increase in Voyage Century. Just level up your skills to get better weapons, armors (dress), ships and equipments.

Another cool thing about this game is that you can also be a Pirate or a Privateer. Becoming a pirate is easy, becoming a privateer you’ll need to accomplish some requirements. I haven’t seen any player pirates nor privateers yet in the game but maybe later as the game matures even further.

There are many things to do in Voyage Century that’ll keep you busy for months. PVPs, Consortia Wars and others more. You choose your own path in developing a unique character suited to your gaming style. As for me, I like to learn them all and I still don’t know how long I will last leveling my skills but it’s just me.

Another thing I like about Voyage Century is that switching between programs is very fast because of that I can do other things like work while character vends, mines, fishes, plants and logs in-game.

Graphics

Overall, Voyage Century’s graphics are good but I was blown away by the water effect. It looks so real!

Sound FX and BGM

Sound is the Achilles heal of Voyage Century. The BGM will make you fall asleep.

Performance/Lag

Like many Free 2 Play MMORPG, lag is inevitable but you can easily remedy it by moving to a less populated city or port and because of the sheer amount of players playing everyday, the publisher will be opening a new server soon.

Conclusion

Well, I’m enjoying my time with the game and I’ve made a few friends (international) and I’ve joined a very nice guild with really mature players playing, Guild ~Poseidon~. I see myself playing this game for a while or until the time comes to review a new MMORPG.

Anyway, the game is pretty easy to learn. The website and the forum are filled with information about the game and there are many players willing to help out in-game.

Another thing I noticed, based on my nephew and kids reaction to the game, is that it will be hard for some elementary and high school players to fully enjoy the game. As an adult, I am enjoying the relaxing and slow pace of the game.

Rating: 7/10

I’ve been playing Rakion Online this past week and I must confess it’s addictively fun. It’s not an MMORPG but more of a casual MMO in the tradition of GunBound, FreeStyle, etc. It also has the feel of Counterstrike but instead of an AK and a Glock the characters wield swords, bows, daggers, hammers, etc.

Title: Rakion Online Philippines
Site: rakion.mobiusgames.net
Style: Fantasy/Medieval MMOG
Genre: Full Action
Publisher: Mobius
Developer: Softnyx
Access: Free 2 Play

I forgot how I came across Rakion but I think I clicked on some ad somewhere which took me to Rakion Online Philippine website. The site looked interesting so I downloaded the game, registered, installed and started playing. I also installed it on another PC so my kids can play it too.

Medieval Counter-Strike

If you’ve played and enjoyed Counter-Strike then you’ll definitely enjoy Rakion. I’ve read that Rakion is like GUNZ but since I never played Gunz I’ll just use Counter-Strike instead.

In Rakion, there are no rifles, no submachine guns, no pistols, no grenades, no shotguns all you have is yourself, your armor, your trusty old sword (hammer, bow, dagger, etc), and your God given playing skills.

Almost everything in Rakion feels like Counter-Strike to me maybe because I haven’t played any Counter-Strike like games for years. I don’t know but whatever that is I like it.

Choose your Champion

In Rakion Online you can choose any of the following:

1. Warrior
2. Blacksmith
3. Ninja
4. Archer
5. Mage

Well, you know me, I only know 1 class and that’s the Warrior/Knight/Swordman type. The warrior looks so cool and I like the fact that it’s very easy to use. I tried playing my son’s mage and I couldn’t make any sense of it. I guess the mage is just not for me. The Blacksmith is a pretty strong character. It can break a Golem in seconds. The Archer is pretty good in breaking another player’s momentum with their cheap shots. The Ninja is pretty fast and I’ve seen a Ninja that loves to grip/grab a lot. The Mage has powerful attacks and they can heal. I just love running after these small guys.

I have 3 Warriors and each with a different build and they are all at level 11. I’m experimenting with Attack Power + Attack Speed, Attack Power + Movement Speed and Cell Destruction + Cell Point. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter as long as your play defensively then you’ll get by eventually. You might even get a few kills here and there.

Prepare for Battle

The types of battle available in Rakion Online are:

1. Stage
2. Team Deathmatch
3. Solo Deathmatch
4. Boss War
5. and Golem War

They are almost self explanatory. My favorite is Golem War. I get a lot of experience and gold to spend in a Golem War and I like the fact that you don’t have to kill every player to win. You just need to protect your Golem and to destroy the other team’s Golem. The team that destroys the other team’s Golem wins.

Experience and Gold

Yup, as you battle you’ll gain experience points that will level up your character. When you level up, you’ll get bonus status points which you can use to further build your character. You’ll also receive gold which you can use to purchase better armors, weapons, accessories and cells. Rakion Online may have some RPG flavor but I feel that it’s more of an online action game much like FreeStyle than an online RPG.

Share your Stuff

I love the fact that all your characters share the same inventory and having 3 characters with the same class is a real budget saver. My 3 characters share the same armors, weapons, accessories and cells and because of this I am able to save a lot of gold. If I’m going to use a different character, I’ll just unequip everything and move it in to the inventory then change character and just equip it back on the new character.

Lights, Camera, ACTION

Rakion Online is full PVP action. There is no need to level grind, no need to wait a certain level to enjoy PVP. You get in and you fight and to top that it has nice 3D graphics. Low levels and high levels can wage war against each other in Rakion Online. Just set the game to Basic Mode and the playing field is even. Now, it’s skills versus skills and level is not a factor anymore.

Bandwidth HOG

Unfortunately, Rakion Online uses a lot of bandwidth. I’m on DSL and I still see a lot of RED and 999. I just can’t see a dial-up user enjoying this game.

Cheats, Hacks and Everything Nice

These are the ingredients that can make a game SUCK bad. Yup, there’s just too many cheats and hacks. Have you seen a low level summon 3 Golems? I have! Have you seen 1 character being ganged up by 6 and still kill everyone? I have!

Game On

I know Rakion Online does not fall under the MMORPG category but it has all the flavors of an MMORPG like the medieval/fantasy look and feel, character building, PVP, etc. The only thing missing is a persistent world to put it in but still it’s a very addictive game and best of all it’s absolutely FREE to PLAY!

Get Rakion Online at http://rakion.mobiusgames.net/

Rating: 7.5/10