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Monday, November 7, 2011

Exploring Lagendia: Dragon Nest SEA Review

Over the long weekend, Arckham and I decided to try out Dragon Nest aka DN. It's an MMORPG game, developed by EYEDENTITY and published by Shanda Games. We are both officially hooked and we wanted to give you guys a preview of our DN experience so far.



Arckham having more time to play is already level 22 and I happy to announce that I've reached level 15 as of this weekend [Yes, work and everything else in between.] I think we're still pretty much on a pretty fast pace seeing that this game's current level cap is only at 32. We currently are on one of the Southeast Asia Servers, namely Springwood. The three others are:  Westwood, Holywood, and Greenwood .

Xylith's Character
This games gives you four classes: Warrior, Cleric, Archer and Sorceress. Each class has two paths or job changes which you achieve once you complete the job quest at Level 15. Something we like is once you've chosen you next job you're given a chance to try out the different skills to kind of have a feel of how you'll build up your character. Then you are given a ticket to reset your Skill Points and finalize you skill tree. One thing I wasn't too happy about was that the classes are gender locked. What that means is that all Warriors and Clerics are male while all Archers and Sorceresses are female. Since I am are used to playing my own gender as my main character, I feel a bit boxed in.

Xylith Showing Off Some Moves
The Skill Points are earned as you move up. What we like about the DN skill tree is that if you right click the particular skill, a tiny window pops out and runs a short clip on what the skill would look like which helps with the decision making process. Stat Growth is not character specific like in Ragnarok. Character Stat Growth is directly proportional to your level, you can only augment you stats with in game gear and the titles or achievements you get to complete.



The controls is something that I needed to get used to since it heavily relies on WASD for movement and the mouse for direction. What I appreciate about this game is that the interface is not hard to understand, you have everything you need to see on screen and at the same time there's not a lot of clicking since everything is keyboard dependent. Despite it being a keyboard dependent game, it's actually very keyboard friendly. For example, if you need to run around for a long time you don't have to constantly hit W, you can hit E and it's on auto run. Another is that if you need to go to a particular place on the map, all you have to do is to pull the map up and right click where you want to go and the character makes its way there similar to Pet Forest. Since, I play on my laptop these functions help prevent me from wearing down my keyboard.

 
Arckham's Character
Gameplay is dungeon based and very similar to Grand Chase. The story line is intricate and you really learn a lot about Lagendia's (the fictional world of this game)  history. I appreciate the dungeon based game play since it helps lessen the lag for the different players which has always been a given in MMORPGs. It also caters to those that want to play solo and those that constantly want to party.


Arckham Showing Off Some Moves
Graphics is something I am very picky about but I am glad to say that DN does deliver. It may not be the best out there in terms of graphics but it isn't a sore eye either. The skill sprites are smooth and the movement runs smoothly as well. The character designs despite being Chibi don't give you the feel of controlling a child on screen. They were able to put in a bit of maturity into the characters that would also not alienate children.


What we like about this game is that it seemed to learn and take the best functions from all the other MMOPRGs out there and blended in to a nice smooth system. Whether you're a casual gamer or a hard core one, this game caters to both with the different dungeon difficulties and in game achievements. Safe to say that we both are enjoying this game very much and we hope to see you guys around Lagendia.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Video Copilot's Lightsaber preset



 Lightsaber video! XD

 So upon picking up yet another geeky hobby of visual effects and video editing, lightsabers are definitely something I wanted to do. The first one I did was just MovieMaker and Photoshop. Eventually I picked up AfterEffects and started with presets. Surprisingly, it's a lot simpler to do than you would think.

 Check out Video Copilot to learn how to do the lightsaber effect. 'Later.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Budjette's Trese

Arckham and I have been following Trese. This comic-slash-graphic novel features a female underworld detective, Alexandra Trese, as she solves various mysteries involving the different mythical creatures of Philippine Lore expertly told by Budjette Tan.


Above are the covers of Trese 1, 2 and 3 whose art is by Kajo Baldisimo. The technique in which he conveys the characters are quite engaging. Moreover the style that he incorporates is both modern with a hint of the traditional which I think is needed when you're dealing with legends and lore.

I am very picky when it comes to story telling and art when I choose graphic novel to read and Trese scores high on both. Characters are very well rounded and the stories are definitely uniquely told. Budjette does a great job of mixing in the modern world with that of tradition. His description of how the mythical creatures have adapted to the real world would leave you wondering just a bit as you pas sby the different places he describes in the City of Manila.

You can read more about Trese and developments at tresekomix.blogspot.com.


The great news is that after quite a long wait Trese 4: Last Seen After Midnight is coming out this October 8 at the Robinson's Galleria NBS Bestsellers. So you know, where we'll be on the 8th, we hope to see you guys then.


For those that need a little refresher or insight on Philippine Lore. Here's a funny tutorial that should get you started: