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*lazy*
This week, MMO Shenanigans will tackle on all contents teeny-tiny adorable, and yet awesome and destructive in their own way. If there is one thing that MMORPG has used as a theme for such a long time is cute and cartoony with their costumes, dances, emotions, and their skills in order to destroy giant monsters with that given pixelated size. There’s a genre of these games that promote these small, super-deformed avatars, adorable but dangerous monsters, and features that gamers of all genders and ages can enjoy. So here are my three mini-reviews/Experiences that can make you go “dawww” when you see them pwn a monster. I was planning to review AeriaGames’ EdenEternal, but our fellow blogger Shin has already wrapped up the things I wanted to say about this pretty interesting game. So if you wanna take a peek about his impressions of the Closed Beta, go to this link here. And if you wanna take a play on Open Beta, follow the link and the adorable alpaca banner.
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ROSE Online
Country of Origin: Korea
Genre: Fantasy RPG
Company of Origin: Triggersoft, Level-Up International
Distributors: Warpsoft (NA)
Current Gameplay Status: Dropped, only playing once more for review.
ROSE Online (Rush on Seven Episodes) is a well-known MMO game back in the days where all the new, hot MMOs are installed through CD form and top-up load cards were all the rage in order to play a few hours off your busy day of studying/working. This game was one of my first MMORPGs that I played in my highschool days (alongside Ragnarok Online and Tantra). God, I still remember that this has a promotional song called “Good to Be Me†sung by MYX VJ Iya that was always stuck in my head whenever playing the game itself. Of course the song did not fit the fairy-tale like soundtrack but if it worked at the time, it worked at the time.
[singlepic id=2488 w= h= float=center]Also, warriors don’t wear a red dress in combat. Still…
Of course, this was at the time the second biggest MMO in the Philippines at the time of its release, the first being Gravity’s Ragnarok Online. But due to the lack of constant content updates and also possibly due to Triggersoft giving the rights of the game to Level-Up NA in order to make their version of the game and release the newer version to other countries in the world (Philippines excluded), ROSE Online closed its Filipino cyber doors in 2007. Though nowadays I hear that many Filipinos are still yearning the taste of ROSE Online’s Philippine comeback, and many of those who are itching for it migrate to the US servers and Private Servers in order to play a game that was considered at their first MMO many have ever played. It’s more like an MMO nostalgia that needs neither reviews nor criticism (besides the slow running, limited customable features of hair and face, grind-happy, and only 4 out of 7 episodes were made in this game so far), just experiences and memories.
[singlepic id=2496 w= h= float=center]Such nostalgia plaything th- wait a second…
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I miss the castle… :'(
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LUNA Online
Country of Origin: Korea
Genre: Fantasy RPG
Company of Origin: EYA Interactive
Distributors: GPotato (US), Runup (Philippines)
Current Gameplay Status: Dropped, only playing once more for review.
Luna Online’s plot is your simple demons take over the land and a human-elf (and later on, the Majin Race) alliance has been made to defend their landfrom demons that resulted in the creation of the floating city, Blueland. No other plot than that, folks. But one thing is for sure, LUNA Online is all about the cute and deadly.
[singlepic id=2492 w= h= float=center]Mostly the cute part.
One thing I remembered about LUNA Online: the endless supply of dancing commands from the Wonder Girls’ “Nobody†and “Tell Me†to Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk. Luna’s probably more noted by many for the cute and adorable super-deformed avatars dancing “I want nobody, nobody, but you!†in animal costumes than the plot and the gameplay. Check any youtube video about them, there will always be an epic dance party or in-game music video using the game’s built-in video recording. Seriously.
[singlepic id=2489 w= h= float=center]Just dance!
Luna Online is likable because of some of the many in-game features aside from the dancing commands: you can easily get a new house, make weapons and armor without much of the hassle of grinding through enemies, and even get date dungeons by the means of a in-game dating service where you put in your likes and dislikes and browse through people who have the same interests as you. [singlepic id=2493 w= h= float=center]
Sort of like a kiddish version of a dating site.
Though I had a problem with The US Server’s log-in service, where I ended up changing passwords and server, and yet they tell you you to force logout of your log-in screen 3 times in order to log in with your new changed password/server. there are also times that I have the correct password, yet I cannot log in to the point of banning your account from too many logins. [singlepic id=2495 w= h= float=center]
#$@*!
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ASDA Story (aka Mic Mac Online)
Country of Origin: Korea
Genre: Anime MMORPG
Company of Origin: Max-On Soft Corp
Distributors: Warpsoft (NA)
Gameplay Status: Playing ASDA2
ASDA Story and its sequel, ASDA2, is an RPG series that revolves around the Omnibus world created from a person’s dreams. Depending on the situation of man’s mind as he ages and grows to complication, the fate of the Omnibus is overrun by demons. to summarize, this game is reflecting on the trials and complications of a man’s imagination… or something like that. One thing noted with ASDA story was its Soulmate system that gives off an incredibly strong advantage in the game as they give you special benefits of giving additional experience points and skills of summoning and resurrecting. Also, soulmates have the ability to level up your offline character when you give your soul to your soul mate. Sadly, it’s pretty hard to get another player to be one’s soul mate unless you really known that person behind it or you agree another friend to . You can have only one soul mate at a time and if you lose that soul mate, you can just seek another. I wasn’t exactly pleased with how they mark their soulmates with rainbow hula hoops, the ones Motonari Mori uses as a joke weapon in Sengoku BASARA. [singlepic id=2487 w= h= float=center]
Rainbow hula hoops.
Their skill system is also noted in ASDA, as you start off the game with only 3 jobs each of them have three paths that relies on the character’s referred weapon in that particular job. Fighters have skill lists for Sword and Shield, Spears, or Great Swords, Rogue’s skill lists include those for Crossbows, Bows, or Ballistas, and Mages can either use offensive, healing, or buffing/defense spells. Thus, making the jobs a little more interesting despite a rocky start for having limited classes (and races.)
There ends another MMO week. Tune in for Week 5 where we concentrate on online music/dancing games! And Stay Tuned for a (non-biased) 3DS review of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D next week!
