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First Impressions: Divine Souls

Beau Hindman — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, First Impressions, Divine Souls

Divine Souls, published by Outspark, reminds me of Vindictus in far too many ways. I only question which came first and whether more fighting games like the two are coming in the future. While I have had a lot of love for Vindictus since its release, I also have had enough issues with it that I had to stop playing it much at all. While I will save that for another article, I can use the popular Nexon release to illustrate what is wrong and right about Divine Souls. More of Massively's readers are probably familiar with Vindictus, so that will be a good point of comparison.

Think of Divine Souls as Vindictus' uglier little cousin. Granted, Vindictus is a supermodel, so that makes Divine Souls just an average beautiful person, but it should still be noted. Also, both games pit players against hordes of enemies -- massive swarms of baddies that die in spectacular ways. Well, spectacular when you see them for the first few times. After that it becomes pretty repetitive.

Join me past the cut and let's talk about what I liked and didn't like about Divine Souls. Don't worry, there are no baddies to jump you.

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First Impressions: Divine Souls originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wings Over Atreia: What's in a name?

MJ Guthrie — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia

Classic balladry informs us that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Would the same hold true of an Elyos or an Asmodian? OK, maybe sweet-smelling and back hair don't necessarily mix (and let's not even ask how long that Elyos has been stuffed in all-encompassing armor), but there is no denying the impact a name has in Aion.

Unlike those handed us at our birth (and with few exceptions kept throughout our lives), names in games are completely self-inflicted; we have control over what the floaty text above our heads announces to the rest of our pixel world. And announce it does -- more than many people even stop to think about. A name is so much more than just a convenient way to send whispers or in-game mail to others within Aion; with only a glance, your name implies much about you, your playstyle, and your personality. It is not uncommon for people to actually base their grouping decisions, their legion recruitment, their trust in you, and more on just a simple glance at your in-game moniker or your legion tag.

Whether the impact is born of reputation or of first impressions, others have a reaction to and make decisions based simply on names. Fly past the cut to see how different monikers influence the world we live, fly, and fight in.

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Wings Over Atreia: What's in a name? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A five-hour look at Ryzom

William Dobson — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Classes, Game mechanics, Crafting, Ryzom, Opinion

Ryzom certainly has a very shaky time-line, changing business models, being canceled and then saved. This sounds like a bit of a disaster, but in reality, it's proved that it can survive in the often-harsh MMO industry. A huge part of this resilience is the game's loyal fanbase, and in a recent first-impressions piece over at Eurogamer, it looks like the single server's community is still going strong -- in fact, it might be one of the reasons to give Ryzom a try.

The author of the article documented his first five hours with the game, reporting on each hour's experiences. He learned about the lack of restrictions with class choices, the stanza system (which allows players to customize their abilities), and discovered that Ryzom is definitely a lot more hardcore in terms of the hand-holding gameplay hints that most MMOs offer these days. Luckily, he found a lot of real people willing to help him out in learning the ways of the world.

This all sounds fine and dandy, but there are a lot of negatives too -- chief among these, the unintuitive crafting system, the grinding to raise different levels, and the harsh penalties associated with failure. These things are apparently bad enough to turn a lot of folks away, but for some, it's easy to look past them and enjoy what is there. We'd be interested to know where our readers stand on this title at this more peaceful stage in its life.

A five-hour look at Ryzom originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Impressions: Trickster Online Revolution

Krystalle Voecks — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Trickster Online, Free-to-play, Hands-on, First Impressions

Do you dig anime? Are you fond of mythology when coupled with strange and adorable characters? Looking for a free-to-play MMO with a large community and a surprising amount of PvP? This week, we look at the free-to-play/microtransaction title Trickster Online Revolution, which includes all of those and quite a bit more. Remember - this isn't a review; just a First Impression of a new (to us) MMO. As always, if it looks interesting to you, be sure to check it out on your own. After all, it doesn't really cost you anything beyond a bit of time. That said, on with the show!

Trickster Online Revolution is actually not a new title in the free-to-play space. This game actually launched on August 22, 2007, and has been steadily gaining players since then. The Ntreev USA staff have worked hard with the Ntreev Soft staff in South Korea to create many things from beginning quests to special pets and items specifically for the North American localization. From what I could tell, the community in the North American game seems to dig all the work they've put into it - and are definitely enjoying those fun little pets!

Participate in the Revolution >>

Gallery: First Impressions: Trickster Online Revolution

First Impressions: Trickster Online Revolution originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Impressions returns!

Krystalle Voecks — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Opinion, Humor, First Impressions

At last check we had identified and indexed well over 250 MMOs of just about every shape, size and color available for gamers from 8 to 80 - and up! Unfortunately, there just aren't enough hours in the day to cover every single game out there as in-depth as we'd like. That said, we are pretty insanely dedicated to MMOs and love to play them... So what's a blog to do?

After kicking the idea around, we've decided to bring back First Impressions for those readers who want to know about more games than just the mainstream. For now, we'll give you a brief look back at some of the staff's favorite past Impressions, as a taste of the fun to come. Be sure to come back next Wednesday and join me as we start a new journey through strange and fantastic worlds of First Impressions!

	First Impressions: Dungeon Runners Dungeon Runners is a game by NCsoft that trades off of the popularity of Blizzard titles WoW and Diablo II, but does it with a sense of humor. More properly, we should really say it does it with a healthy dose of snark and silliness. That's okay, we like it that way.
	First Impressions: Jumpgate Evolution Sometimes we get a ridiculously early look at a game in development. Wondering what Jumpgate Evolution was like in earlier beta days, or perhaps still waiting on your invite? Take a peek behind the scenes with Jennie.

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First Impressions returns! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Impressions: Sword of the New World

Adam Schumacher — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sword of the New World, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions

You've got to love that "new world smell". Sword of the New World or Granado Espada was created by imcGames and the creator of Ragnarok Online, Hakkyu Kim. K2 Networks has brought the game to North America and has made it free to play via the GamersFirst network. I'm not one to pass up a free to play game and since I had already been eyeing Sword of the New World with interest, it seemed like the perfect setup.

The first step was to create an account on GamersFirst. The site/network plays host to a number of free to play games you can gain access to and manage from their site. They also have giveaways and who doesn't love giveaways? Brace yourself, however, the game client is a 3-gig download and then you need an additional 600mb patch once you start the game. My advice: start the download before you go to work, provided you have a job. Then, start the patch when you come home for lunch. By the time you get home, the game should be ready to play and you'll be ready to go where no one ... well, where a bunch of people have gone before. But it will be new to you!

Gallery: Sword of the New World First Impression

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First Impressions: Sword of the New World originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Impressions: Zu Online

Adam Schumacher — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Zu Online, Free-to-play, First Impressions

Do you like anime? Do you crave Kung-fu? Do you salivate over anything with "Naruto" in the title? If so, Zu Online might be a game for you. Zu Online is the latest free-to-play game to come from the Internet Gaming Gate (IGG), a prolific MMOG developer. It seems this crew launches a new MMO every month. What does that mean for the masses of players out there? Well ... good and bad news.

I decided to take a little tour of Zu Online by giving it a few hours of my time. What I found might surprise you.

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First Impressions: Zu Online originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Impressions: Dungeon Runners

Akela Talamasca — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Dungeon Runners, Game mechanics, PvE, Opinion, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions

Dungeon Runners is a game by NCsoft that trades off of the popularity of Blizzard titles WoW and Diablo II, but does it with a sense of humor. I'm not going to rehash gameplay mechanics here, but I'll give you my impressions of the experience of logging on, creating a character, and playing for about an hour. Maybe this will give you an idea of what to expect; whether or not this is something you'll want to invest any time in pursuing. Remember, this is not meant to be a strategy guide, nor an in-depth look at how to optimize your stats. This is one person's take on what it's like to play Dungeon Runners.

We'll start with character creation after the jump.

Gallery: First Impression: Dungeon Runners

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First Impressions: Dungeon Runners originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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