2011年12月4日日曜日
PES series tops 70 million sales
The Pro Evolution Soccer series has surpassed 70 million copies sold worldwide. Publisher Konami said in an earnings release that the franchise - known as Winning Eleven in Japan and the US - continues "to uphold strong repeat sales".Earlier this week Konami released a new batch of screenshots for PES 2012, which launches in the UK and Europe on October 14.Last week it launched a PES 2012 gameplay video detailing the improvements to one-on-one situations in this year's edition, as well as upper body feints, stepovers and other tricks. Tom Ivan
2011年12月2日金曜日
Fallen Earth F2P Interview
By Bryan King (Bryan), OnRPG JournalistThe competition in the F2P MMO industry just got a little bit hotter (or should I say, deadlier? Haha.. ha… *clears throat*), with the F2P transition of Fallen Earth. Originally developed by a section of the Icarus Studios team (now incorporated under GamersFirst’s Reloaded Productions), Fallen Earth provides players with a post-apocalyptic world with a mass variety of weapons, vehicles, and powers under their control. I had the chance to sit down with Joseph Willmon, associate games director for GamersFirst and Marie Croall, lead designer of Fallen Earth to speak about Fallen Earth’s transition to F2P, upcoming content, and the state of the game past, present, and future. Marie Croall: I’m the Lead Designer for Reloaded Productions, Cary. I’ve been the Lead Designer for Fallen Earth since its days with Icarus, and continue to be in-charge of all game development, features, gameplay, and source materials.Joseph Willmon: I’m the Associate Game Director for GamersFirst, and among many other job duties I’m responsible for the smooth integration of Fallen Earth into our Free2Play game catalogue. I also work very closely Marie and her team on game balance, fair monetization, and community relations.Marie Croall: Sure. Fallen Earth is a post-apocalyptic sandbox MMO. Players take on the role of a clone in the year 2156 struggling to survive in a world ravaged by a global pandemic and nuclear war. The game features a class-free system and a completely open-world environment of more than 1,000 square kilometers. Because the game uses a skills rather than levels, there are near-infinite choices to mix skills, attributes, and mutations. More than 95 percent of the game’s items, armor, weapons and transportation are player-crafted. The game also has a unique FPS/MMO hybrid combat system that is one-of-a-kind in the MMO landscape.Joseph Willmon: The community response was pretty welcoming, actually. True, there was a brief moment of anxiety between the announcement of Free2Play and when we actually revealed the details of how the monetization would be handled, but that’s to be expected with such a large change. Once we put up the details of the new ways Premium Subscriptions would be handled, the conversation sort of moved on past the payment model and just got right back to talking about the game!Regarding how the change in business model came about, we’re always looking for opportunities to find gameplay-rich, community driven games like Fallen Earth. When we started talking to Icarus about a possible partnership to help off-load their overhead costs, we ended up diving deep into the game and really liked what we saw. The talks naturally progressed to acquisition, and evolving the business model to Free2Play, which we have a ton of experience with but which is only now starting to enjoy popularity.Marie Croall: Anyone who’s ever played Fallen Earth can tell you that it’s a unique and fun experience. And while the traditional MMO subscription model did get us a great, small hard-core audience, the facts are that we couldn’t get enough players past the cost of the game to populate the world. The world is so huge that the game really thrives with a large-volume audience. GamersFirst has the experience in the Free2Play market and wanted the title, so here we are!Joseph Willmon: Sure. The details of the Premium Subscriptions can be found at our website (http://www.gamersfirst.com/fallenearth/?q=premium-subscriptions,) but here’s the breakdown: We have one free rank (Scavenger) and three subscription ranks named Survivalist, Wastelander and Commander. As with all GamersFirst titles, free players are not restricted on content or levels; they can go everywhere and do everything, including joining and creating clans, trading, using the auction house and mail system, travel the whole map, do all quests, and run all instances. There is a limit on how much in-game currency (chips) a player who has never paid can amass (to limit gold farming; this goes away if you ever pay), and an eight hour per-day crafting limit. All three levels of the subscriptions open these up and provide quality of life upgrades, such as more character slots, faster experience gains, faster crafting, faster harvesting, more Veteran Reward Points, faction reputation gains and the like. The top subscription tier, the Commander, also comes with a cool feature call the Commander Aura.We’re also planning on mirroring items found in the marketplace on in-game Reward Merchants as well, so if you have a subscription you can pick some of these items up in the game without having to spend additional money.Marie Croall: Yeah, the Commander Aura is really cool. It extends some of the Commander’s in-game benefits to everyone in the Commander’s group, including free players. The Aura stacks with other Commanders in the group, so if you have, say, three Commanders in a group, then you’ll see a 15 percent increase on all the stats a Premium Subscription increases (EXP gain, faction gain, etc). This is especially beneficial to groups of players who have friends who can’t afford a subscription, since they can effectively subsidize their free friends’ experience.Joseph Willmon: Paying players support the game for everyone, and we wanted to find a literal way to project this into the game. The players that go for Commander are the ones who are going out of their way to take care of their friends and allies; these are the same players that pay for Vent servers, host websites, or rent clan-servers in FPSes. As we work to make the game successful and further development without resorting to selling things that trade on the gameplay value, it seemed obvious to allow these players the opportunity to help us and their friends out at the same time.Marie Croall: Kind of a lot, now that I think about it! We’ve updated the new player experience to reduce the sort of dizzying-confusion that can result in starting out in a sandbox MMO, guiding new players to important questlines and learning valuable skills to survive in the wasteland. With July’s Alpha County expansion we raised the level cap to 55, introduced new skill-lines and abilities, new enemies, quests, and added a whole new section for players to quest and discover. Then there’s Fast Travel – a way to unlock travel waypoints to help navigate Fallen Earth’s massive world—unlockable Wardrobe slots that let players customize their appearance, and Progress Towns, which are towns that players must capture and hold from waves of hostile NPCs, building up defenses and extending the passive benefits the towns offer. It’s sort of like bringing the raid to the player, rather than sending the player to the raid. Of course there’s the new Chopper and the upcoming World Event system.Marie Croall: More supportive than not! We are doing some pretty extensive updates to fundamental gameplay systems players have gotten used to, so there’s some apprehension, but they’re updates that ultimately make the game more awesome by several orders of magnitude. It’s fantastic watching the realization set in that these changes help make Fallen Earth more of a virtual world than a standard linear MMO, and seeing how excited players are getting about that.Marie Croall: The World Event system is us making good on our goal of making Fallen Earth the premiere Free2Play sandbox MMO. World Events are dynamically generated events that happen at random all around the world, offering players who participate the opportunity to not only experience more of the world of Fallen Earth, but learn helpful skills, earn chips, and gain valuable, rare resources. World Events come in all sorts of different flavors, so there’s stuff there for PvP players, PvE players, crafters, and roleplayers. We’re keeping sort of quiet about what the actual events are because we want everyone to feel that rush of exploring something new, but as they happen you’ll definitely start to hear about them! Joseph Willmon: I also want to point out that this system is not just for higher levels. By making the game more sandboxy, we’re adding in new systems that everyone can enjoy rather than just layering content onto the end of the game. There’s a lot of great stuff here, and when you see your first World Event pop up on the map, you should definitely go check it out!Marie Croall: The short answer is yes, absolutely; our core focus with the transition to Free2Play is introducing more reasons for players to both compete and cooperate. We are currently working on Faction Territory Control, geared specifically toward letting PvP players capture and hold territory, paving the way for PvE players to exploit the controlled territory. There’s more coming, of course, but this is a huge step in that direction.Marie Croall: We’re always looking for way to draw the RP fan base into every feature we do. We want every player to feel the same immersion that the RPers bring to the community. Part of the incentive behind releasing the new unlockable Wardrobe Slots was to allow players to customize their appearance to be in accord with the character they want to roleplay as, extending that feeling to everyone in the wasteland.Joseph Willmon: Like I mentioned before, we’re not segregating our free players from Premium subscribers, and we’re not limiting them with level caps. We looked carefully at what options we had available to us when creating the subscriptions, and ended-up focusing on things like crafting, leveling – things that make life easier for subscribers rather than just giving direct combat advantages. We’re not offering weapons, armor, resources, or crafted goods on our cash shop, so that’s the main pillar of our paid vs. unpaid balance. Additionally, as mentioned above, since players who opt for the Commander Premium Subscription route can project some of their benefits onto others, it’s still possible to get a leg up without having to pay anything.Marie Croall: Joe pretty much nailed it. We’ve worked every heard of the last two years to create a game where almost everything is put in the hands of the player, and we’re extremely careful not to mess that up with the change to Free2Play.Marie Croall: Rather than one or two single features, I think what separates fallen earth is how everything is put together. We have a large open world for players to truly find their niche in. Joseph Willmon: Man, so much! What other Free2Play game has twitch-based third-person combat in a massive seamless world with the ability to craft everything while giving you the opportunity to really define your character from stats to appearance? That was a mouthful, but you get the point!Marie Croall: It would be impossible for me to pick one! Although in game I do find myself harvesting and crafting more than anything else. I love being able to make everything I need to get by, from food to ammo. Joseph Willmon: As someone who has always been into the post-apocalypse setting, for all of Fallen Earth’s awesome systems, I’m a huge fan of the world and the writing. Marie’s team really nailed it here, and I get a huge kick out of making my way through the various settlements and towns, meeting these new personalities and getting caught up in their unique storylines. My favorite NPC is this military guy with a crew cut and armor who gives out Enforcer missions. When you talk to him he says out loud “I give out more missions before 9 am than most people do all day.” Then there was the time I accidentally ran into the Chupacabras…Joseph Willmon: If you’re a vet, definitely come back and check out your Chopper! The world feels so much more alive now than it ever has before, and if you, like me, appreciate Fallen Earth for the opportunity to participate in this living, breathing post-apocalypse, well…we’re waiting to welcome you home!Marie Croall: The chopper is really cool, but new players have so much to experience that you just don’t find in other games. Ever had a cockroach for a pet? Put an ATV together with your bare hands? Tested dangerous new medications on unwitting specimens? Protected a town from raiders with your group? Explored a junk castle? Strapped a bomb to an ATV and driven into the heart of the Hoover dam just to make a statement? All of this is and more is waiting for you to check it out!Marie Croall: Beyond Faction Territory Control, I can’t really get into specifics. I can say that we’ll look to make the crafting and harvesting of materials more interesting or…. industrial I guess. We also are planning more PvP content and continue on our idea of making PvP and factions affect the world in more dramatic ways. I really can’t get into details because PR has installed kill-switches into our collars if we say too much!Marie Croall: I suggest you try it out; it’s free after all! Joseph Willmon: What she said!OnRPG: Thank you so much for your time! If you want to find other players to join you in your wasteland trials, be sure to check out OnRPG's active forum thread to share your IGN and meet up with other members of our community.
Early Access Langrisser Schwarz
By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-In-ChiefLangrisser Schwarz was the second stop on our tour of Gamania's Game Show. Now to be honest, I had never heard of this game until last Thursday when Gamania released their show's teaser trailer. One week later.. and I can say I am enthusiastically looking forward to reviewing this game at launch in person and might even consider bringing my guild on board to play it long term. This is truly the hit sleeper game of the show and I'm going to explain just why I'm so excited for it.Developers Jacky Chung and Roy Huang explained their game through a series of trailers and a clear cut resounding message. Langrisser Schwarz skimps on customization and crafting and instead focuses its fully development dollars into providing highly difficult content, immense class selection, and an emphasis on raw uninterrupted action at a level I have only seen in console games.To truly understand a game you first need to consider the available classes and how they interact. In Langrisser Schwarz this can be a daunting task! The beginning of the game throws you into the Goddess' test which decides your starting class (out of 6 possible) and your alliance (dark, light, or empire). But you aren't bound by this class and can freely change between any of the starting 6 classes so long as you have the armor to make it effective. As you level up and acquire TP from completing missions, each of these classes allow you to spend your TP to unlock one of two new classes. Those each lead to 2 more classes and then 2 more classes after that. From wizard to berserker to ninja to infighter to templar... players should never feel bored of their class in this game.What's even more interesting is that when changing classes, you don't fully lose access to the skills acquired from your previous class. In this way you have even more variety in that you can create hybrid classes with skills from two separate jobs, though it seems the hotkey is currently limited to about 6 skills which should add even more strategic depth to each battle.The actual action itself plays out as a sort of real time chess match. The camera is in third person and the game plays out similar to Diablo in that directional aiming is important. You won't just be able to click on a monster and automatically spam skills at them, each attack requires timing and aim to land successfully. A majority of the skills available also have a charging system in place to add more strategic depth. Against agile foes you might spam your skills rapid fire to ensure you can land hits, while more stationary foes require well placed charge shots to deal noticeable damage to. This system still needs some refinement though as some charge shots (like the archer's basic attack) are too wonky to use effectively. There's no reason an archer shouldn't be able to change the direction they are aiming while charging for an attack and I think this better get changed in the final release.Before entering a mission, players are able to customize their 'mercenaries' to accompany them in combat. Mercenaries act as mini soldiers that you can command in battle to offer extra damage and tanking ability to your character. If they die in combat you can easily revive them between fights, encouraging you to use them as expendables to speed up each quest.On the alliance versus alliance PvP side of things, mercenaries become more more important. A system is in place in which some mercenary units are more adept as defeating other mercenary units similar to the Fire Emblem series. In fact the example given felt straight out of Fire Emblem with cavalry units gaining the advantage over soldiers, soldiers being more effective against pikemen, and pikemen countering calvary. As you level up, your mercenaries gain strength as well, so don't expect tedious grinds to collect armor for both your mercenaries as well as yourself.Tedious grinds seem to be pretty optional in general in Langrisser Schwarz. Players will be able to acquire most of what they need in the battle arenas fighting for the honor of their chosen faction. After each match you will receive two types of currency: team points and personal points. Team points are rewarded based on whether you win or lose and how good of a fight your team put up altogether. Personal points exist to reward players that might have carried decently well but faced insurmountable odds due to baddies in their party. Currently the maximum combat consists of 5v5 though with the number of mercenaries added to the mix, this can have the look of a full out war zone.Besides armor sets, collectors will rejoice at the detailed card collecting system featured in Langrisser Schwarz. Through grinding or the cash shop players will be able to obtain 100s of cards, featuring buffs, traps, and summons to support you in battle. Players will then be able to take 3 cards into battle (I'm not positive but I believe the 3 cards are randomly selected from a larger deck each time you enter an arena). These cards shouldn't be mistaken as fluff nonsense that only collectors will be interested in. The effects of these cards are truly devastating, often dwarfing any skills your character has at their disposal, though with the incredibly long cooldown time it is to be expected.From our brief playthrough yesterday I can say with full confidence that his is not a pick up and play MMO. The dungeons are well thought out, difficult, and require a full team of competent players to ensure PvE success. Most monsters mobs consist of a central leader and a group of protecting mercenaries, ensuring that the PvE battles don't just become gang bangs. The AI is adept at controlling their mercenaries as well, as an archer I often found myself receiving major damage for sending my mercenaries to the front line to fight instead of keeping them on the defensive to act as a buffer from getting flanked.Langrisser Schwarz also utilizes hazards such as siege towers and monster ambushes to prevent players from slowly crawling through a dungeon one group at a time. In one situation we were forced to fight through 2 very powerful siege towers and, one we were fully committed to the battle, a lich rose up and began summoning hoards of skeletons to protect saidwarham towers. Another boss, a spiked lizard, summoned tons of mini lizards while he continually dug under ground and popped up under our squishy players to deal massive damage. This fight truly forced us to perfect the timing and aim of our skills to deal even a scratch against him.Finally we party wiped in less than 10 seconds against Ominous Eyes, the dungeon raid boss. Ominous Eyes shoots out armor shredding hyper beams from any direction his eyes gaze, reducing even fully speced tanks into dust in 5 seconds flat if you are unable to evade it. Our team foolishly ran in like a like of British Red Coats and was incinerated the moment our tank landed his first hit and drew the bosses' attention. Speed and armor boosting cards were vital to stay alive in this match and my two Canadian journalist teammates died repeatedly for not paying close enough attention to the boss' wandering eyes. After a long drawn out battle and much ridicule from the Empire booth girl/cheerleader we were finally able to claim victory!The overarching faction versus faction versus faction conflict is similar in setup to Warhammer Online. Through PvP and, to a lesser extent, PvE players will be able to acquire faction points to obtain unique buffs for their side while stealing the same benefits from their enemies. As a griefer I was sad to hear that players will be unable to communicate with members of the other alliances.If you are one of those nerdy gamers like me who adore gaming storylines, Langrisser Schwarz is the game that will truly shine out of Gamania's 5 on display. Each alliance features a unique storyline from start to finish, pulling you in to a world of destruction and chaos and forcing you to understand the motivations behind each alliance.A last item of note in Langrisser Schwarz is the game features controller plug-in capabilities for console gamers who feel a mouse and keyboard are too foreign. This controller set-up plays out extremely well, with the various control pads allowing you to command your character and your mercenaries on the fly. Skills and card activation is also a breeze with the L1 button acting as a scroll navigation bar to quickly flip through your line of skills. The only true downside I found to the system was this scrolling made defensive skills far too unwieldy to access on the fly. By the time you have scrolled to the mage's teleport skill you will have already been knocked on your ass and 1 shot by a boss. Hopefully they realize this during testing and alter the currently useless R2 and L2 buttons (currently assigned as hotkeys for help menus...) into fast cast assignable skills to allow players a quick draw button for vital dodge skills.This game might not have all the refinements of most typical MMOs but it certainly has enough focus on fun to keep me interested. If you want to catch the Schwarz fever yourself I'd suggest heading over to the Langrisser Schwarz website (http://corp.gamania.com/products/langrisserschwarz/en/index.htm) and taking the Goddess' test to see which starting character and alliance is for you!
Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D Video V
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3DNews (5)Previews (4)ReviewVideos (13)Screenshots (14)Cheats and Walkthroughs X-Play's video review for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D delves into the age old question: Should I buy this game? Adam Sessler details the reasons this game is fun, but flawed. If you would rather read, we have theResident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D review available too. We're all about options here at G4. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Video Review »
2011年12月1日木曜日
Assassin's Creed Revelations Interview -
Assassin's Creed: RevelationsNews (17)Previews (6)ReviewVideos (18)Screenshots (6)Cheats and WalkthroughsAssassin's Creed: RevelationsNews (17)Previews (6)ReviewVideos (18)Screenshots (6)Cheats and WalkthroughsAssassin's Creed: RevelationsNews (15)Previews (6)ReviewVideos (18)Screenshots (6)Cheats and Walkthroughs Assassin's Creed: BrotherhoodNews (40)Previews (10)ReviewVideos (59)Screenshots (22)Cheats and Walkthroughs (87)Assassin's Creed: BrotherhoodNews (46)Previews (10)ReviewVideos (60)Screenshots (22)Cheats and Walkthroughs (88)Assassin's Creed: BrotherhoodNews (36)Previews (10)ReviewVideos (58)Screenshots (22)Cheats and Walkthroughs Assassin's Creed Revelations Mission Design Director, Falko Poiker, spoke with us at Gamescom about some of the ways AC:R has changed since Brotherhood. Revelations is the final game to deal with Altair and Ezio, so expect tons of questions to be answered. Assassin's Creed: Revelations Interview From Gamescom 2011 » Assassin's Creed: Revelations will be released on November 15, 2011.
DVT victim's father 'Enjoy gaming, it's
The father of a young man who lost his life to Deep Vein Thrombosis has advised parents not to stop their children from playing video games - but warned that extended play sessions should be broken up. Chris Staniforth, 20, died in May after a DVT-related blood clot worked its way into his lungs. DVT-related clots are usually caused by extended periods of immobility. Chris's father believes that long, movement-free sessions spent both gaming and using social networks contributed to his son's death.Recounting the last night of Chris's life to BBC Look North, David Staniforth said: "He'd probably been on the computer on Facebook or gaming all night."David said that Chris drove to the Job Centre the following day. After parking, Chris told a friend that he'd suffered from a "pounding" in his chest - now believed to be a blood clot passing through his heart. He died shortly afterwards.Despite some scary tabloid reports of Chris' death appearing over the weekend ('Death By Xbox', said The Sun's front page), David commented that gaming was "great fun" - but recommended that parents monitor the number of hours their children spend in front of the PC or TV screen."Don't stop your child from playing the games," he said. "They love doing it. It's great fun. It's not to bug them about it or spoil their fun. But just be aware. Enjoy it, but take a break."David is now in the process of setting up a website with Chris's friends to warn people of the dangers of spending lengthy spells immobile."This is not normal in such a young person," he commented. "It's [usually] immobile people in hospital, and those that have been brought to hospital with DVTs after long-haul flights."
Elsword Manga Platforming Perfection
By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Journalist Elsword Online is a free-to-play, two dimensional side scrolling MMORPG. Elsword is a very popular Asian game developed by the South Korean company KOG Studios. It has now come to the US and I will be giving this game a fair shot to look how this game makes itself unique compared to other side scrolling MMORPGs. This manga oriented MMORPG is a popular franchise currently running in Asia and its taking the next step of releasing in Europe and America. This game is all about the fast paced stylish combat so let’s get to the details!The first impression when I got into the game is the cute music in the background that is extremely relaxing. Beyond this, the anime style this game uses is quite eye catching. When you first start up the game you can select a server, currently there is only one to pick from right now. There are several different channels; these channels have different level requirements so it is easily divided for everyone. After picking the corresponding channel it is time to create your character. There are currently four classes to pick from, each of these classes have different abilities and weapons that they are using. If you prefer melee types you can choose between Raven and Elsword. If you prefer range over melee you can pick between Aisha and Rena. The characters based off of their manga counterparts, which explains the odd class naming. I went with Rena as she has a good mix of range and melee combat options so I would get the best of both worlds.The current classes that are in the game are Aisha, Elsword, Raven and Rena. All the characters have different stories from the past and follow one main story that starts off with defending the El.Aisha is the mage class currently available in Elsword. She is equipped with a staff and possesses the abilities of magic and great sorcery. At the young age of 12, she traveled with her Grandfather to discover ancient magic ruins. He was an old wise man and taught her all his secret magical arts as they journeyed together. At the peak of her power, she discovered an ancient ring that deviously absorbed and transferred her magical powers to someone else. In order to retrieve her powers back, she sets off on a journey to find the person who swindled her of her strength.The Elsword is a melee class that uses the Great Sword as weapon. He was trained to use the Great Sword at a young age and excelled above all. Elsword’s sister was the leader of the Red Knights. Since childhood, she rigorously trained him to become one of the Red Knights. However, she soon left Elsword to pursue a greater mission for the Red Knights. Elsword wanted his sister to recognize him as a strong warrior and soon joined the Kingdom’s El Search Party. Even so his sister still did not acknowledge him to be strong enough. Elsword has now set out on a journey to become the leader of the strongest El Search party in order to gain his sister’s trust.The Raven is a class that uses a Nasod Arm along with a Blade to fight against his enemy. Raven, a commoner from the Kingdom of Velder worked hard to become the Head Captain of the Crow Mercenary Knights. Being a commoner in such a high ranking position caused jealousy to arise from the nobles and they decided to bring false accusations against him. Although he was rescued by his followers, Velder’s soldiers surrounded him, his fiancée, and his friends in the forest and slaughtered them. Raven however survived the incident and awoke with devices attached all over his body in a Nasod capsule. Reborn with a Nasod arm and a blade on the right hand, he fought unconsciously to destroy the kingdom he once protected. That is until he is shown the weakness of seeking revenge by Elsword and joins forces to find the El Shards and atone for his sins.Rena is a range class that uses the Bow along with body techniques to defeat her enemies. She provides long range attacks using a bow and the ability to double jump. Rena is a fairy living in the forest’s outskirts. One day she mysteriously lost her sense to commune with the spirits. She soon discovers that the weakening power of El is to blame for causing a split in the mortal and spiritual world. This news causes Rena to drop her peaceful ways as she begins a violent crusade to restore the spiritual link created with El. Rena felt the resonance of the El from the Tree of Light and soon sets out on a journey to find it. She believes that the Tree of Light will help her find the missing magic of El.Elsword can be played alone and with a party, follow the quest line to get to various different dungeons along with several different end bosses. Elsword is a really fun side scrolling MMORPG that uses a rather unique gameplay style. Every class has its unique style of play and I had fun with both melee and range. After a while I decided I preferred melee over range. Although its not nearly as safe playing Rena at melee range, the action is much more intense and overall more fun.Once you complete dungeons you unlock the privilege of replaying them on a harder difficulty, though you might want to team up with friends for this. Luckily the community is quite active and outgoing so finding groups to run dungeons with was never a challenge. And even if it was, the amount of fun I had playing this game grew exponentially when playing in a party compared to solo play.Beyond running dungeons, there is a lot of ways players can coordinate as a community in this game. There is a great crafting system in place and the PvP modes are always popular. Town shops similar to old school games like Ragnarok and Maplestory also add a feeling of community not always found in modern games.The Graphics are really beautiful for a side scrolling game while putting minimum strain on PCs to play it. As long as you have a dedicated video card your computer should be more than able to handle them. At minimum its recommended to have a GeForce FX5700/Ati Radeon 9600 Radeon video card along with a Pentium 4 processor. These video cards are at least 10 years old so even an ancient computer made out of twigs and stones should be able to run this game just fine.As I mentioned before, this game plays as if you were running through slides of a Manga. The overall graphics are wonderful and the combat is stylized to the point that you really feel each attack you deal is cinematic and epic. The real fireworks begin when you unleash combo attacks with your team against a boss monster. Sometimes it’s hard to focus on all the action because of the sheer amount of detail put into the background of each match. Heck sometimes the background will launch attacks at you so I guess that isn’t a bad thing!Elsword is a really beautiful and fun side scrolling MMORPG. You can easily play solo or grab a few friends as you progress through the story and dungeon crawl to collect crafting items. Something that really set this game apart from most MMOs is the storyline is intriguing and worth reading. Each character has a unique personality that helps draw you in and make you feel connected to the gaming world. Unfortunately the voice overs are still in their native language but that isn’t always a bad thing. This game is very casual friendly and a great pick up and play action game for people that don’t have large amounts of time to invest in an MMO. I recommend that all platformer gamers try this game out!ColbyCheeze also recently did a playthrough for Elsword. Be sure to check out his impressions video coming later today!