KlowZer0's Game of the Week

You may not know this, but I used to rate game's on a Forum years ago. I originally got into it due to the large amount of games I used to play compared to most gamers, so, i have decided to do the same here for the Kindred guild. I will take the game's I come across, and review and rate them. Games will be chosen on either by my randomeness or by suggestion. Some i will choose based on their WEB popularity or just game's I feel deserve some attention. Screenshots or Video will also be made available. I am going to use a 10 star rating based on the core parameter's of general gaming. as follows:

Gameplay: This will be based on control scheme, and fun factor.
Graphics: Now, graphic's do not make the game, but it is always a plus.
Story: Any goog game keeps the player engrossed, to motivate game progress.
Content: The best games out there offer hours of gameplay, and replayability.
Availabilty: Is it free or cost, and if it costs, is it reasonable to the content of the game.

The last possible 5 stars will be added if either of the 5 subjects exceed a single star in rating.
The rating can be translated with 0 being absolute crap, 5 will be average, and 10 being a MUST play.
and for giggles, I will add next to any game I personally enjoy

Title: Silverfall/Earth Awakening
Genre: Action/RPG
Developer: Monte Cristo
Publisher: Atari
Platforem: PC
ESRB: Everyone

(OverView:)

There was a time when all computer RPG’s were like Diablo, hack and slash battle-fests that concentrated on levelling up your character, killing bigger and harder foes and progressing through the story until you meet the final boss and take them down.

Blizzard’s hack fest had strength, a pretty solid story that was brought to life with some excellent CGI.

Sacred and its various expansions did a good job in continuing this tradition, whilst Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: arguably two of the finest character driven RPG’s to date, went in another direction entirely.

It is now the turn of Silverfall to attempt to take up the reigns, to oust games like Neverwinter Nights 2 and it’s up against stiff competition. In an industry rife with clones and various fantasy genres all rattling the sabre for your attention, is this game worthy of anything but a quick play.

At the outset Silverfall reminded me a little of Dungeon Siege and that is not a bad thing, since I’m quite fond of the game. You begin the fairly generic story with a decently robust tutorial; it shows you the basics of the game and allows you to cut loose with some powers as the Archmage of the doomed City of Silverfall, against an attack by vicious creatures.

You can customise and create your own character however, choosing from elves, goblins, humans and trolls – (The Earth Awakening XP adds Dawarves and Lizard Men to the mix)- each with sliders to change their appearance and skin. As you play the game in the starting area, the Swamp, you’ll take on quests and sub-quests following either the path of nature or technology.

It’s here that Silverfall diverts into something other than the run of the mill fantasy, the struggle between these two opposing forces is something that actually comes through in the world itself and eventually your city. It will change as you do, as you begin to follow nature or technology, your weapon choices and various elements of the city are going to alter.

You have various skills and powers that are divided up between nature and technology, as you follow the path new skills and powers become available. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before but it’s implemented as part of the story rather than just a gameplay mechanic and that is something pretty good.

The GUI is fairly simple to get to grips with; it doesn’t get in the way of the game and all the important abilities are available via the icons or number keys.

It plays a lot like an MMO with the (mobs) groups of monsters re-spawning in an area, levelling up and grinding with various loot drops. When you die you leave a tombstone that you have to collect to get your equipment back, this reminds me of Dungeon Siege 2 and when you take out your Death Insurance then you can re-spawn with all your goodies intact.

Pro's/Con's
GamePlay:
(Pro)
-The game offer's a great tutorial for new players, and can be skipped for veteran's allowing you to pick up and play with great ease.
-The mechanics of this game offer a deep enough customization without needing to be a Uber Gamer to master.
-It offers WASD movement instead of just point and click to increase player control options.
-Loot is color coded for easy identification of rarity.
-The game uses a fast travel option for revisiting previous towns to help cut travel time for those quest's that would otherwise be annoying.
-Map markers, gotta love them, and Silverfall does not dissapoint, all quest's are marked on your map so you actually know where you need to go Vs. the lately common idea of "here's an quest, good luck finding it" idea that has plauged many recent RPG's
-Quest's are nicely organized by area and grouping's, making it extremely easy to navigate through them.
-Throughout the game you will be allowed to recruit companion's (2 makinf for a party of 3) to aid you. Simply taling to them allows you to change their role.
(Con)
-The mini map can be rather useless at time's, always pointing whichever way your facing, rather then the more usefull polar positions, you will find yourself having to bring up the main map more then once.
-Ok, I like companion's in any RPG, and Silverfall has them, BUT...They do not allow you to control their development, rather opting for the games AI to distribute Atttribute's and Skills. Now some would argue that this is a good thing, but I feel it takes away from the customization of the game.

Graphics:
(Pro)
-The graphic's are appealing and yet simple enough to run on most PC's. They flare with a colorful Cell shaded look. Armor and weapons each carry a unique look to their type.
(Con)
-As acceptable as they are, their isn't any real options to increase them for higher end PC's. (Excpet the Steam downloadable version, which does allow you to run in 14x9)

Story:
(Pro)
-It is simple enough to follow without any real repitition
-Quest's are always doomed to have some repetition in any RPG, but Silverfall has done their best to avoid it.
-The story is NOT linear, you can at any moment stop story progression and side quest alone.
(Con)
-at times, you ask yourself "what" as their is some point's where the story is just not laid out enough, the developer's effort to retain simplicity in the story has cut some point's a bit short.

Content:
(Pro)
-There more then enough quest's to keep you busy.
-A rather in depth crafting system which actually DOES pay off to explore, as the only items you can enchant, need to be crafted. and many crafted items are far superior.
-The open skill tree allows you to replay trying a different set of skills, some which are race unique.
(Cons)
-NONE

Availabiltiy:
Now this game does require to be purchased to play, but at the meager $19.99 price tag each (The Xp is a stand alone that does NOT require the Original to play) they are afforadable, Not to mention that almost every site offer's a discount for downloading both, ( I only paid $24.99 to download borh off Steam)

I believe that the Pro's do outweigh the cons in this game making it worth picking up and playing.
Rating

7/10
Here is the official trailer

Title: Ether Saga Online
Genre: MMO/RPG
Developer: Perfect World Entertainment
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
Platform: PC
ESRB: Everyone




Overview:
I have been telling people for a while that F2P’s are quickly coming up the quality ladder. That market and those developers just have a knack for it. Now, I am not saying that the bulk of freebies are currently at that quality level, but seeing a game like Ether Saga Online really makes you wonder how amazing the games are going to be in a very, very short time.
Remember Dragons Lair, the old video game that let you “play” through a cartoon? Basically, you just hit a series of triggers and you would move on to the next spot. But now, these games really look like cartoons, but play like MMO’s.
I’m more in touch with the “realistic” side of MMO’s, but there is something to be said for the fact that if you are doing a “cartoon” MMO, you can get much closer to the mark because the mark is so variable. Reality is harder to get to and often the developer can fall short because current technology in MMO’s just doesn’t allow for a game to look THAT amazing while supporting hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

Still, there is something endearing about cartoony characters. There is even something in me that is starting to get the super-mega-duper-cartoony-ness of Anime. I can see that when you have something like a little dot of an animal and you make it so cute that it has only button eyes and a little stalk for a hat, and then you add the fact that when it gets mad that it blows up the entire universe, you get some kind of appealing (yet often times annoying) of power and sweetness.
Something so cute, fluffy and cartoony becomes so pouty that it’s bottom lip swells, even I go "awww"

Ether Saga is going for less of a cute/powerful thing and more for a cute/smooth thing, but the power is still there. The engine they use for this game is amazing, and seeing it makes me realize that my prediction is coming true: Asian market F2P games will lead the world in graphics and (soon enough) game-play.

Think about it: they spit these games out faster than a jackrabbit on a date. But almost all of them have splendid design (if not repetitive) that plays on almost any system. And now with games like Perfect World, Dream of Mirrior Online, Grand Fantasia, you get the same game-play that you would normally pay for.

Again, do they still have some ways to go? YES and YES. But, they are getting there. If we want, we can sit back and watch as our gaming companies become the same as our car manufacturers and certain tech fields: out-sourced and crapped out. They need to step it up, and Ether Saga does just that.

Pro's/Con's:
Gameplay:
(Pro):
-This game is very easy to pick up and play, No complex controls.
-Questing feature's an autorun feature to help find the not so obvious quest locations/ or mobs
-There is a helpful tutorial of the basic's guide you through your first time playing, with an ingame referance guide.
(Con)
-There are many advanced elements to the game that have little or no referance on how to accomplish them.
-Being an MMO, community is a HUGE factor, and the community on this game is a bit lacking.
-Character advancemt is definitly linear and offers very little customization.
Graphics:
(Pro)
-Ok...AMAZING..the developers put alot of subtle yet detailed work into the graphic design for this game. Settings can keep them lower for less advanced computers, but for those of us with a powerhouse, this game has graphics that outdo many mainstream MMO's.
(Con)
-NONE

Story:
(Pro)
-The story, though typical of Asian MMO's, still try's to drive you forward.
(Con)
-Well, we are back to asian F2P game's, unless familair with the genre, it could be found lacking.

Content:
(Pro)
-There is definitly plenty to do in this game, Quest's are found around almost every corner.
-The rather simplified Pet system is more refreshing then droll. You can catch 80% of the World Mob's and make them your travel companions.
-The game world is rather large for this genre
-There is a mount and flying system that do enhance travel within the game
-The not too shabby crafting system may be a bit rough, but serves the game well
(Con)
-Quest's are definitly on the repetitive side, with a "Gather this, or Kill so many of this Mob" being most of the goals.

availability:
This a F2P (free to play) MMO. It does have an item mall for profit, but does not rely to heavily on it for gameplay. The "Free" pricetag should make it worth playing to most people without any worry of regret. I think most people will Enjoy it.

There are only a few drawback's to this game, making it a Gem in the very rough world of F2P MMO's. Ether Saga raises the bar on the genre putting most to shame. This Diamond in the rough deserves to be givin a chance.

RATING:

9/10