MMO Updates

Rise and Shiny recap: Pocket Legends and Star Legends
Global Chat: December 11-17, 2011
The Daily Grind: Do you try to grab names on launch?
The Tattered Notebook: Six things not to miss during Frostfell
The Mog Log: Forward impressions of patch 1.20
Illyriad keeps players on edge with new live event
The Road to Mordor: Treasure hunting!
SWTOR welcomes Collector's Edition arrivals and suffers credit farmers
On the fifth day of giveaways, Trion gave to me...

Rise and Shiny recap: Pocket Legends and Star Legends

Posted: 18 Dec 2011 09:00 AM PST

Filed under: Screenshots, Video, Game mechanics, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Hands-on, Casual, Rise and Shiny, Livestream

This week my job was a bit harder than it usually is. This week I had to revisit Pocket Legends and Star Legends, the entirety of the Spacetime Studios lineup, in order to catch the updates and differences since both games were recently adapted to play within the Chrome browser.

See, the device that you play an MMO on does make a difference. While I haven't found many players who have an issue with moving up to a finer machine with a larger screen, I almost always receive a few comments in any of my mobile MMO columns about the lack of fun involved with playing anything on a screen that will fit in your hand. While I understand the difficulty in downgrading your monitor size, the mobile market's reception of Pocket Legends surprised even the developer. People are playing it, for many hours, on screens that are very small.

But now we have the ability to play it in our browser. Does it make a difference in the experience? Click past the cut and I'll let you know.

Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: Pocket Legends and Star Legends

Rise and Shiny recap: Pocket Legends and Star Legends originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Chat: December 11-17, 2011

Posted: 18 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, Massively Meta, Global Chat, Miscellaneous

Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat!

It was a crazy busy week with so much to talk about, and while we could go all over the map with reader comments, we're going to focus on one last goodbye today. Follow along after the break for our readers' fondest farewells to Star Wars Galaxies.

Continue reading Global Chat: December 11-17, 2011

Global Chat: December 11-17, 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Do you try to grab names on launch?

Posted: 18 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST

Filed under: Culture, Launches, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

Now and forever, it is I that will be known as Steve!

Early access for Star Wars: The Old Republic started earlier this week, and that meant that Tuesday evening saw me taking part in a time-honored tradition, namely speeding through the character creator several times in hopes of getting the names that I wanted. I got pretty lucky; out of the eight names I was hoping for, six were available and two were available with just a slight tweak, which was pretty good all around.

Of course, these are all characters that I plan on playing in the very near future, but it was still a big batch of character names right out of the starting gate. Do you do the same? When a new game comes out, do you rush to nab the names of characters you already know you want to play? Do you wait and see if you can get certain names or try to grab the same ones? Or are character names just not that important to you in the long run?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Do you try to grab names on launch? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Tattered Notebook: Six things not to miss during Frostfell

Posted: 17 Dec 2011 05:00 PM PST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Events, in-game, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook, Guides

The timing is probably purely coincidental, but EverQuest II's transition to free-to-play is coming at the best time of the year in Norrath: Frostfell! EverQuest II has always done a lovely job tying together seasonal events with the larger lore of Norrath, but Frostfell is the biggest event of the year. Now, everyone can check it out for free, and it's a great way to get acclimated to the game and get some really nice (and valuable) items in the process.

In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll cover the must-sees for Frostfell. From snowball fights to snow cloud mounts to heavy-breathing Gigglegibbers dressed as Santa, this is a list you'll definitely want to check twice.

Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Six things not to miss during Frostfell

The Tattered Notebook: Six things not to miss during Frostfell originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Mog Log: Forward impressions of patch 1.20

Posted: 17 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game mechanics, Patches, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log

As I write this, patch 1.20 is not actually live just yet. All I have to go on is a monster list of patch notes and the various previews we've been given thus far. Of course, by the time you're reading this, the patch will have released, and I have no doubt that some people will have played through everything it has to offer a couple of times over. So I'm working at a bit of a disadvantage.

In some ways I'm actually not in that terrible a spot. The last two patches have done great things for Final Fantasy XIV, and the patch notes are long enough that I can at least make some reasonable guesses about how things will play out. So I'm going to do precisely that, with the obvious caveat that I might be punching at the wind. Long story short: I'm confident about this patch; only a few bits irritate me.

Continue reading The Mog Log: Forward impressions of patch 1.20

The Mog Log: Forward impressions of patch 1.20 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Illyriad keeps players on edge with new live event

Posted: 17 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST

Filed under: Events, in-game, PvP, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, MMORTS

Who says MMOs don't have live events anymore? Triple-A titles, listen up: Your F2P brethren are doing what you won't. On Thursday, the citizens of Illyriad awoke to find that a massive rift had opened in the Northern section of the in-game map. A forum post later detailed the events and told of a mage from the Circle of Five who had recently been tampering with magical uses for the body parts of animals. Soon after, a blast was "felt by all for hundreds of miles in every direction." Scouts, armies and caravans were dispatched from curious cities. The next night, skeleton armies poured from the rift and attacked the investigators.

Illyriad is a free-to-play MMORTS that features city-building, resource management, deep strategy, free-for-all PvP, and a player-driven market. Thanks to HTML5, it works on any device. If dynamic live world events sound interesting to you, check the game out at the official site.

Illyriad keeps players on edge with new live event originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: Illyriad official forum post

The Road to Mordor: Treasure hunting!

Posted: 17 Dec 2011 01:00 PM PST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Events, in-game, Previews, Free-to-play, The Road to Mordor

It's not been an insignificant week for Lord of the Rings Online, as Turbine rolled out its big holiday patch: Update 5. With it came all manner of goodies, from an instance finder to another book in our epic quest across Middle-earth. Cooks got coffee (have you had a cup of joe yet?), and I reveled in the ability to expand my sorely taxed wardrobe beyond 100 slots.

But amidst all of the excitement and analysis of the new features slid in something surprising. The night of the update, Turbine opened up its long-promised treasure hunting mini-event for a sneak peek. I joined the throngs of curious lookie-loos who made a beeline for Ered Luin and some mysterious patches of glowing soil that promised riches galore.

Treasure hunting was originally supposed to hit the game much earlier this year, but for reasons unknown, Turbine pushed it back until a later date. Personally, I was psyched that another non-combat event was on its way, so when I saw that there was an actual sneak peek of the event, I cast aside all of the shiny new content of the update to see what this was all about. While I came away with favorable impressions, it was with a slight bitter aftertaste of something not quite palatable. What could it be? Well, you're just going to have to keep reading these here fancy words to find out!

Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Treasure hunting!

The Road to Mordor: Treasure hunting! originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SWTOR welcomes Collector's Edition arrivals and suffers credit farmers

Posted: 17 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Economy, Launches, Star Wars: The Old Republic

It was the best of times in The Old Republic, it was the worst of times. Even though BioWare's freshman MMO has yet to officially launch, so-called "credit farmers" are already hard at work setting up operations to sell in-game currency via third party sources. Shacknews identified one company, IGXE, as spearheading the assault on SWTOR's economy, although that company certainly is not alone in attempting to bypass the EULA.

On a brighter note, the Collector's Edition of the game has already shipped to many (but not all) customers, and Darth Hater has a massive 20-minute unboxing video to show off all of the physical goodies that come inside. If you're curious or are still waiting for your own CE to arrive, you can view the action-packed video after the jump.

Continue reading SWTOR welcomes Collector's Edition arrivals and suffers credit farmers

SWTOR welcomes Collector's Edition arrivals and suffers credit farmers originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: Shacknews, Darth Hater

On the fifth day of giveaways, Trion gave to me...

Posted: 17 Dec 2011 10:00 AM PST

Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, RIFT, Giveaways

On the fifth day of giveaways, Trion gave to me... five subscription codes!
On the fourth day of giveaways, Nexon gave to me... four pet items!
On the third day of giveaways, Wargaming.net gave to me... three premium years!
On the second day of giveaways, BioWare gave to me... two warring factions!
On the first day of giveaways, Turbine gave to me... a lifetime VIP!

We're flying through our 12 Days of Giveaways, and today brings another newcomer to the crowd: RIFT. Trion is enjoying RIFT's first holiday event with Fae Yule, a celebration giving players the chance to participate in special quests and earn "epic gear, a festive corgi pet, a fancy vaiyuu mount, and more!"

The team at Trion has expanded the festivities by giving us gifts for five Massively readers: a digital collector's edition along with six months of free gameplay. If you've been watching all of the RIFT updates this year and dying to get in on the action, win one of these codes and you're covered!

As always, check our contest rules for eligibility, then enter by telling us why you should be one of the five winners. The entry deadline is tomorrow, December 18th, at 1:00 p.m. EST, so hit that comment button, and best of luck!

On the fifth day of giveaways, Trion gave to me... originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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General gaming

Retrospective: Five Secrets of Suikoden's Success

Posted: 17 Dec 2011 09:59 AM PST

Feature

Retrospective: The Five Secrets of Suikoden's Success

Suikoden's simple formula for a great RPG has seemingly been lost to the ages.

By: Jeremy Parish December 17, 2011

In December 1996, Konami did something unprecedented, at least for them: They released a role-playing game in the U.S. The company was no stranger to the RPG genre, with both traditional variants (Super Famicom's Madara) and action-based iterations (King Kong for Famicom) under its belt, but those games had never escaped the irresistible gravity of the Japanese market. This new effort, Suikoden, was the company's bid to develop an international RPG presence. Launched in the early days of the PlayStation, Suikoden arrived in the fallow period between the Super NES's RPG pinnacle and Final Fantasy VII's explosive debut.

While Suikoden wasn't a runaway hit, it did well enough that Konami turned it into a steady franchise, releasing four direct sequels and almost half a dozen spin-offs over the following decade. Its sweeping sense of history and enormous cast of characters earned the series a modest but passionate fanbase. Though the series has become something of a footnote these days -- a PSP spin-off is due in Japan in 2012, though its prospects for Western localization are grim due to the platform's effective demise here -- the games still command a loyal fan base who look back at Suikoden's heyday and remember all it did right. On the occasion of the original game's 15th anniversary, let's look back at what made Suikoden both great and unique among its peers.