Ah, Entropia Universe… marketed as a Virtual Universe with a Real Cash Economy and rightly so. Non-depositors, like myself, will have a very hard time getting started forcing them to quit or make a deposit.

Title: Entropia Universe
Site: www.entropiauniverse.com
Publisher/Developer: MindArk
Access: Free 2 Play

Entropia Universe is marketed like a real universe that is backed by a real cash economy. It means that in-game money (PED) you gain can be withdrawn at a conversion rate of 1 USD = 10 PED (Project Entropia Dollar) and vice versa. You can also deposit real cash and use the converted PED in your virtual life in the Entropia Universe.

Graphics and Sounds

The graphics of Entropia Universe is very good. Even at lower 16 bit settings the visuals remain good to look at. The character models could be better but they are not bad. The game’s GUI isn’t cluttered and has a huge window that will allow you to see the surrounding area better. Virtual world has great terrains and the surrounding environment are well textured giving it some realism.

I haven’t heard all the sounds effects and background music in Entropia Universe but I already have one sound that annoys me very much and that’s the voodoo like chant you’ll hear when you are concentrating for some mindforce.

Gameplay

The best way to get started in Entropia Universe is by depositing some funds to your account. You can convert that to PED and use the money to buy starter kits like a first-aid kit but depositing is not required. In fact, you can play the game without depositing ever since there are no Item Malls. Everything you’ll need is in the game. Anyways, in Entropia Universe, the goal is to exist, to survive, to strive and to become self-sufficient.

Depositors can immediately use the money they deposited to get them started. They can hunt, mine, tame or craft. All of these activities require some amount of PED but players can treat their deposit as an investment because once they are settled in the profession they selected they will eventually gain profit from it (that is if they’re good at managing their investment).

Non-depositors will have to work harder to get started. They can either gather vibrant sweat, collect fruits and dungs and grab oil from the oil field. They can sell these items to other players to earn the PED they need to get started. You see, in Entropia Universe, you start with nothing and you can’t do anything except for the three things that were mentioned above.

There are various things a player can do in Entropia Universe. They can open shops, buy land or real estate, advertise, do auctions, etc. It’s up to you to decide.

By the way, dying in Entropia Universe has no penalty. You can die as many times you want without losing anything. Isn’t that great!

Lag and Community

As far as community goes, Entropia Universe has one of the best community. I’ve met many players, both old and new, who willingly help others. Well, they don’t give out PED but they’ll help you understand how the game works, they’ll answer questions and even show you around. Don’t get me wrong, there are also some bad apples but fortunately the good out weighs the bad in Entropia.

Like in many massively multiplayer worlds, there will be some form of lag in crowded areas but since you’ll be outside most of the time then it will not be much of a problem.

Price

Entropia Universe is free to play and free to download. I don’t think you can go cheaper than that.

Fun Factor

What makes Entropia Universe fun is the challenge of making your character self-sufficient but many non-depositors get frustrated easy.

Overall Entropia Universe is good and is worth a try it has enough unique features that sets it apart from traditional mmorpgs. Getting started maybe hard but you’ll learn the basic mechanics of the game and gain some important skills like Evade while gathering vibrant sweat.

Rating: 8/10

Dungeon Runners is a free to download and free to play online RPG published by NCSoft (publisher of City of Heroes/Villains, Lineage 1 and 2, GuildWars Series, Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa and other titles). Unlike NCSoft’s other titles, Dungeon Runners can be played absolutely FREE.

Title: Dungeon Runners
Site: www.dungeonrunners.com
Publisher: NCSoft
Access: Free 2 Play | Paid Membership

What is Dungeon Runners?

Dungeon Runners is not like your typical MMORPG. For one, it doesn’t have a persistent world where everybody can roam around instead every area in Dungeon Runners is instanced (except maybe Townston). If you have played GuildWars then you’ll know exactly what I mean. For those who have not played GuildWars then instancing means that you’ll have your very own private copy of the map/dungeon you are entering. Once you goes through that portal out of town, you will be in your own map/area/dungeon. No one can enter it except you unless of course you are in a group then everyone in your group will share the same instance of a map/area/dungeon.

Dungeon Runners is, in it’s simplest form, an online RPG. Just like single player RPGs, you create a character, explore the world around you, do various quest and kill hundreds of creatures but in Dungeon Runners, you don’t have to explore and kill monsters alone. Form a group with other players and head out together. You’ll experience lots of action and loads of fun.

Graphics & Sound

Dungeon Runners’ graphics isn’t extra ordinary but it isn’t that bad too. The character models look kinda stiff but I guess I’m just used to seeing Asian/Anime style character models. The colors are a little bright for me and I think that the game has a cartoon feel to it.

One thing I can’t understand about Dungeon Runners is that my machine is having a hard time running it in higher graphics mode. I can run GuildWars and City of Villains with almost no problem in higher graphic settings but with Dungeon Runners the animation just chops badly. I don’t know if there is something wrong with the game or with my machine. Anyway, the game still looks good at lower graphic settings.

The selection in character creation is very limited so there won’t be much variations from other player created characters but it is not overwhelming like Second Life’s character creation so you’ll be able to get in to the game quickly.

Dungeon Runners’ opening music very nice. It has that old medieval feel to it. The sound effects kinda reminded me of GuildWars. The NPC voiceovers are kinda cool too.

Gameplay

Dungeon Runners’ gameplay is quite simple. You take a quest, get out of town and enter a dungeon, kill monsters, complete your mission, report back to the NPC after completion. You develop your character by allocating status points every time you level up. Further development can be achieved through the various (although similar looking) items that monsters drop when killed. Looting won’t be a problem since the dungeon is exclusive to you or to your group only and dropped items are pre-assigned to its owner, just like in GuildWars.

In Dungeon Runners, you can choose to play a Fighter, a Mage and a Ranger. Each type has its pros and cons but I prefer to fight in close combat hence I chose to play a fighter. You’ll be equipped with basic armor and weapon and it’s up to you to improve on that. Don’t worry, it’s not that hard and you’ll get all the items you’ll ever need as you play.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any form of PVP in Dungeon Runner and the official site did not mention anything about it. So, it’s safe to assume that there won’t be any PVP in Dungeon Runners (for now at least).

Lag and Community

I did mention that I’m experiencing some weird animation chops with Dungeon Runner but besides that there is still some amount of lag in game. I’ve experienced a few “death by lag” incidents. This happens when everything stops and after a few seconds everything move but your dead already.

There seems to be an active community composed of not so many players. The world chat is always active. You’ll find a lot of chit-chat going on.

Price and Customer Service

The great thing about NCSoft is that they provide great customer service and there customer support team responds quickly to inquiries. This is based on my personal experience back when I was still playing City of Villains.

Dungeon Runners’ price can’t be beat! Why? Because it’s FREE TO DOWNLOAD and PLAY although there is an option to become a paying subscriber or member. Paying members get tons of goodies like strong items, storage, stackable potions, etc.

Fun Factor

Overall, Dungeon Runner is fun to play. Casual and hardcore gamers will surely find it enjoyable as it is. You can play it for free or you can become a member and take your gaming experience a notch higher.

If you want to experience or just try out Dungeon Runners then just post a comment with your e-mail and I will send an invite to you! Come on try it!

Rating: 7/10

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 purchased City of Villains last year and played for a few months and it’s a great game. Now, I’m trying out how it feels to be a hero. Here are a few screenshots of my characters in the game.

If you would like to try City of Heroes/Villains just post a comment with your e-mail and I will send an invite to you. You’ll get a 10 Day Free Trial Serial Code.

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

How much money will you spend on a virtual item just to achieve “absolute power”?

I try to visit Khan Online Philippines’ official board everyday to check what’s happening in the community. Khan Online’s community is composed of very loyal Khanatics that has stayed on with the game since open beta. In my visit, I would click on “View New Posts” and start my browsing from there. Every time I go through that list of new posts, a thread or topic from the marketplace forum will always grab my attention and those are threads that sell in-game accounts and/or items for real life cash (PHP).

One time, I saw a thread at the marketplace forum with a title that says something like “selling a level 140 set for Mickos”. A mobile phone number was posted and out of curiosity I sent a text message to the seller offering 1,500 PHP for it. The almost instant reply kind of surprised me. I was not expecting the vendor to reply immediately. The price given to me was 6,000 PHP for the set. I was surprised at the amount. I never realized that an “armor set” in Khan Online would cost that much.

I tried contacting a few other vendors of in-game items through texting but I never received a reply. Well, I did receive one reply but he said he was buying not selling.

What I did is just out of curiosity. A lot of these offers were being posted on the marketplace forum everyday and since I don’t know how much these items are worth in real cash (PHP), as an experiment, I decided to send a text message to one vendor to find out and find out I did.
Who would have thought that a virtual item or in this case an “armor set” in Khan Online Philippines would cost or worth that much? I thought that it would only cost a few pesos but I was wrong and I believe that players are buying these items because if not then these type of trading would have died a long time ago.

Almost everyday, you will see at least 1 of these illegal offers posted at the marketplace forum. Although the moderators are quick in closing illegal trade threads and banning forum accounts yet it doesn’t seems to discourage these players from posting these kinds of offers. Forum account banning is not enough to neither discourage nor stop these black-market/illegal traders from posting their offers because they’ll just create new forum accounts and continue on posting until their items are sold. Sad but true!

Black-market trading of virtual/in-game items isn’t new. In fact, there are many websites that deal with this type of trading and it is present in almost all MMOs specially the more popular ones like WOW, Everquest, Lineage, Guild Wars, etc. In Philippine published games, I’ve seen it everywhere not only in Khan Online. It’s big business.

Fortunately, game publishers like Netgames highly discourage black-market/illegal trading. The risk of being scammed is very high and since it is conducted outside of the game publisher’s server, the game publisher can do nothing to protect you. If something goes wrong and you lose both your money and game account then you alone will take the consequences of your action.

The question now is, “How much are you willing to pay to achieve absolute power? 6,000 PHP? 10,000 PHP?” For me, achieving absolute power in Khan Online or in any other game for that matter shouldn’t cost you more than what you are normally spending for the game. In my humble opinion, items acquired through hunting while partying with friends have more value than items bought from illegal means, besides, these are virtual items which will eventually be replaced by newer items once new game updates arrive.

I guess it all boils down to whatever makes a particular gamer/player happy. If achieving power in an online game by black-market trading makes them happy then who am I to stop them? It’s their money. They can do whatever they want with it but always be very, very careful when engaging in these kinds of transactions. There are hundreds of scammers out there who will not have second thoughts of stealing from you and like what was stated above the game publisher won’t and can’t help you if something goes terribly wrong.

Khan Online has the tag line “Absolute Power”. How you attain that so called “absolute power” is all up to you but I am strongly encouraging every Khanatics to achieve “absolute power” through legal means. Shortcuts through black-market/illegal trading might get you there faster but after that what’s next? Nothing, just waiting for the next new items to purchase. The joy of getting there through hard work and through partying with friends is much more fulfilling and for true hardcore Khanatics, is the only path to “absolute power”!