Knights Chronicle Celebrates Anniversary With Events


After a year of what has been described as enthusiastic fan support, mobile RPG Knights Chronicle is celebrating its 1-year anniversary with a slew of content. Starting today, players can enjoy new labyrinth dungeons. Choose your heroes carefully though, as you won’t be able to re-join in on other labyrinths until they are refreshed.

Events surrounding the update include:

  • New Awakenings for Electra and Edwin – Both Electra and Edwin can now be awoken by using growth materials and a six? version of either hero to achieve increased statistics, a new Awakened Passive skill upon reaching max Awakening level, and a new in-game appearance.
  • First-Year Anniversary Event – By playing the newly added ‘Blizzaria’ Advent Dungeon, players can acquire ‘1 Year Anniversary Summon Tickets’, which can be used to summon individual Heroes.

Knights Chronicle features classic turn-based role-playing gameplay, a beautiful Japanese animation-inspired art style and a compelling story showing the same standard of quality as console and PC RPGs. The game also sports standout features, including real-time party play where fans can form parties of up to five members to challenge multiplayer dungeons, explosive 3D-animated skills that demonstrate the game’s flashy and gorgeously detailed visuals, and over 100 heroes for players to choose from.

Source: Knights Chronicle

Battle Royale Comes To Lineage II: Revolution


Battle Royale is coming to Lineage II: Revolution, because of course it is.

Netmarble this week announced that the popular mobile MMO will receive a 25-player battle royale mode. Utilizing one of four battle royale specific characters, players will engage in combat and avoid penalty zones that apply debuffs. Players can also acquire exclusive skills from NPCs and various buff zones on the map, all in the effort to become the sole survivor.

Lineage II: Revolution players will also have access to the following events and items:

  • Sailor Costumes – Costumes that transform players into sailors are now available through the in-game Shop. Players will receive a Hat and Outfit, both of which increase Combat Power (CP) once owned.
  • Water Gun Weapon Costume – Cool off during the summer with the Water Gun Weapon Costume, now available in the in Shop. This also increases CP when owned.
  • In-Game Events – Netmarble is celebrating today’s new Battle Royale update with special events, such as:
    • Bingo events, where players earn points to complete an in-game bingo board by completing missions, for special rewards;
    • Attendance events, where Heroes receive prizes by logging in every day for up to fourteen consecutive days;
    • The Megakurin Web Events, where players collect stamina to evolve their Kukurin mount to receive various rewards for each evolving step.

Source: Netmarble Press Release

Black Desert Hits PS4 This Year


Black Desert is continuing to expand its reach into the gaming world, and this week Pearl Abyss took the opportunity at E3 to announce that the game will launch in just a few months on Playstation 4. Originally launched on PC, Black Desert expanded onto the Xbox One earlier this year. Pre-orders are set to begin on July 2 with early access to the full game and additional rewards.

“Our team has been working diligently to make Black Desert the best that it can be, and we’re finally ready to reward our patient player base,” said Kwangsam Kim, Lead Producer of Black Desert at Pearl Abyss. “If you’ve been looking for a open-world action MMORPG on the PS4 with deep personalization to fit your gameplay experience, we encourage you to pre-order this July.”

Pearl Abyss has promised an optimized user interface as well as 4k support for Pro owners. In addition, Black Desert Mobile will launch in 2019 worldwide for iOS and Android platforms.

More information in the weeks to come.

(Source: Pearl Abyss Press Release)

The Outer Worlds Announced For October 25


Private Division and Obsidian Entertainment have announced that The Outer Worlds will be coming to PC and consoles on October 25. The RPG emphasizes player choice, companion stories, and endgame scenarios wrapped in a neat package of science fiction, aliens, laser weapons, and big monsters.

“When I found myself contractually obligated to work with Leonard, we decided to make the game we always wanted,” said Tim Cain, Co-Game Director at Obsidian. “A game where player agency matters, and allows you to approach any situation however you’d like. Because it’s your story. And, because we haven’t figured out how to contractually oblige you to play how we want you to. Yet.”

The Outer Worlds will be available on Windows Game Store and the Epic Game Store for one year, after which it will be made available on other digital platforms.

“All kidding aside,” said Leonard Boyarsky, Co-Game Director at Obsidian, “Tim is truly honored to be working with me again on a game that focuses not only on a player-driven story, but also on establishing a new universe that is fun for players to explore with depth, humor, and corporate approved action.”

More information, as well as where to pre-order, can be found at the official website.

Ubisoft Announces UPlay Subscription Service: $14.99/mo


What more could we ask for from E3 2019? If your answer is Ubisoft launching its own version of EA Access, your oddly-specific wish has been granted.

Ubisoft today announced Uplay+, a subscription service coming to PC in September and for the absolutely monetary cost of $14.99 per month, you can get access to over 100 PC games including all of Ubisoft’s new launches. Yes, that means getting access to the upcoming Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Watch Dogs: Legion the day they hit store shelves. Where Uplay+ sets itself apart from EA Access for instance is that the service promises to offer the most premium version of each game, meaning you won’t need to pay for DLC or expansions.

If you are still on the bench, people who register now will be able to get a free month once the service goes live on September 3. No purchase necessary.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Heads Westward on Xbox and PC


Phantasy Star Online 2. Most of you have probably given up hope of this 2012 title ever coming to the west, but those who kept up their hopes have been handsomely rewarded. Today’s E3 conference brought the announcement that Sega will finally be bringing the MMORPG to the west.

Players of PSO2 become a member of a research expedition called “Arks,” which belong to a fleet of interplanetary cruising ships, setting out to a research a variety of different planets. Visiting places for the mission (quest) always evolves into a fresh and surprising adventure, including auto-generated maps, sudden events, and a Multiplayer Party Area, where up to 12 players can play together simultaneously.

PC and Xbox gamers will finally be able to get their hands on the free to play title in 2020 with crossplay between the two platforms.

Microsoft Releases Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Details Ahead of Conference


Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC systems, according to Microsoft and you don’t even have to wait for today’s conference to get more details. While there is sure to be more on display later this afternoon, Microsoft has already started rolling out its Ultimate Game Pass and you can actually get your hands on it now.

The Ultimate Game Pass costs $14.99 per month, but you can grab the first month for $1, and it combines Xbox Live and Game Pass in one handsome bundle. Alternately, if you just want the PC Game Pass you’ll be glad to hear it comes at a discount. $5 compared to the Xbox Game Pass being $10. This is also available for a $1 introductory price.

But Connor, I hear you asking, what if I’m a jerk like you and literally just renewed my Xbox Live for six months two days ago? Do I need to wait until December to make this worth it? The good news is that no, you don’t have to do much. Just spend the $1 for the ultimate game pass and your existing membership in both Live and the Game Pass will be converted to the Ultimate Game Pass time. So in my case, I spent $1 for the upgrade and now my membership doesn’t renew until January as the six months I had on Live and whatever days I had in the game pass were automatically converted in.

Beta information for the PC game pass will no doubt be in today’s conference as well as information on games coming to it.

Bless Online Goes Offline September 9


Among the splendor of the E3 game reveals, Neowiz has announced that Bless Online will be shutting down in the west as of September 9. The title launched into early access on Steam one year ago in June 2018 to a respectable peak of 28,000 players but players very quickly jumped ship due to a number of issues ranging from prevalent botting to balance problems and performance on even the best of gaming PCs. By the following month, the peak count had dropped by 80% and it never quite recovered.

To send the game off, Neowiz is launching a bonus experience event starting June 10th and running until sunset time for those of you who want to grind out some Steam achievements before the servers go offline forever.

Starting after server maintenance on June 10th, 2019 and until September 8th, 2019 23:59 Dungeons wants to be removed, and the Dungeon drop rates will be increased. Players want to see a 100% increase in Gathering / Mining EXP, Guild EXP, Dungeon Points, and Combat Points. Gathering, Mining, and Crafting speeds will be increased by 50%. 

Despite Bless failing in virtually every territory it has launched in, Neowiz plans on releasing a version on the Xbox One under the name Bless Unleashed.

Source: Steam

[Column] Thankfully Nothing Happens In This Industry


I’m back, nerds!

I’d like to start off by denying a few rumors I’ve seen floating around the internet, specifically that I was expelled out of law school because I sent my cat in to take the final exams for me. This is completely untrue, the cat managed to get fantastically passable grades considering the short study period and that she actually has more training in holistic plumbing. Second, and this is not meant to be a comment on my fellow writers, but I honestly expected that the announcement of MMO Fallout going on vacation would be met with less attention. I was incredibly touched that Massively and other websites decided to add a farewell address but I honestly expected to quietly sneak away into the darkness with naught but a few comments here on the ol’ blog. Again, I find myself humbled and thanked Massively OP by dropping some legal dockets in their lap in my absence.

Thankfully the gods are smiling down upon me in their sick and twisted monkey paw way, because I specifically recall asking for a reason to be able to focus on my final exams and did not include sending my gaming PC to the depths of hell to my list of exemptions. My PC burned down, almost literally since my hardware monitor pinged my CPU at well over 100 degrees Celsius before it blew out and took the rest of the computer with it, leaving behind nothing but the smell of something burning. As such, I have spent the last few weeks without a computer capable of doing much while I waited for my new friends at IBuyPower to build and ship my new gaming rig. I specifically went with a gaming laptop this time around because there is absolutely no way I’m going to spend long periods of time gaming on a laptop. The thing is awesome, and I will be talking about it (not a sponsorship, I paid full price for this laptop).

On the topic of the topic of this piece, the last month has gratefully seen nothing going on in the gaming industry. Nothing at all. I’m sure most of you are much more in tune with what’s been going on than I am, so spending ten hours writing a catch up piece is just going to remind me why I went on vacation in the first place.

I know a few developers whose games I have notoriously dragged down were glad to see me go. Get ready, it’s a new era of MMO Fallout goodness. I have a large supply of Canada Dry ginger ale and I’m ready to rip and tear.

[Column] I Came Back To Call Daybreak A Dead Husk


Hey folks,

You may have heard comments down the grapevine that MMO Fallout is planning on a comeback of sorts, but right now I’d like to pick up the mantle to talk about how Daybreak Game Company is a dead company with a bare bones, barely functioning development team. They just don’t care anymore folks. How do I know they don’t care? Whoever wrote the patch notes couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the spell check and left numerous obvious errors in the final publication.

So what brings me back briefly from my vacation early to talk about a game that I specifically said that I would never talk about again? The launch of Season 4, or the last season that I expect Daybreak will launch for H1Z1. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room to really get you excited for what Daybreak has to offer this season: The company has gone and slashed the price of the season pass by 50% over last season. That’s right, for around the cost of a two cheeseburger value meal (#9) at your local McDonald’s, you can feel disappointed and ripped off.

That’s a joke, folks, McDonald’s value meals are far less disappointing.

And what do you get for your money? Jack-freaking-squat. Season 3 annoyed me into quitting H1Z1 because the challenges were stupid and mostly broken, as was free for all, but ultimately I stuck around to complete the season pass because it didn’t take long and there were a hell of a lot of cosmetics to be unlocked. By comparison, Season 4 offers one outfit split up over the course of the season as well as accompanying AK-47, M17, and crossbow skins to match. Eleven items total. The rest of the pass are coins (2,600 total) and experience boosts. Enough coins to buy one and a half rare skins.

  • Scrub M17 (Level 1)
  • Scrub Jacket (Level 1)
  • Scrub Skirt (Level 18)
  • Scrub Pants (Level 40)
  • Scrub Backpack (Level 55)
  • Scrub Offroader (Level 60)
  • Scrub Shoes (Level 65)
  • Scrub Armor (Level 80)
  • Scrub Crossbow (Level 90)
  • Scrub AK-47 (Level 100)
  • Scrub Watch (Level 100)

Eleven bleeding items total. Stamp missions have been completely removed from the game, as have daily login rewards. You do now have the privilege of occasionally finding locked chests that you can pay a discount in order to unlock (ala Team Fortress 2) and you’re in luck because there are now six rotating arcade modes.

Six rotating arcade modes for a game that can barely get people into its standard modes. I played a few rounds of arcade mode on launch day and found that Daybreak can just about break 40/100 players at peak hours on a week night. The arcade modes are all based around ideas that probably took a good half hour to program into the game, such as headshot damage only, faster run speed, ATVs only, and pistols/explosives only. And this update was delayed by a week! And the season only runs for 36 days this time around for reasons I can’t honestly comprehend.

As far as game updates go, H1Z1 Season 4 is the That 70’s Show Season 8 of video games. Topher Grace is gone and so is Ashton Kutcher. Instead we get Randy, a guy so hated by the audience that he doesn’t even show up on the cover of the season DVD set. At this point, I can only assume that Daybreak is in need of a big success like say DC Universe Online becoming a smash hit on the Switch, and by smash hit I of course mean the game releasing and making a lot of money as opposed to just getting a lot of people to download, notice that the game has major performance problems, and uninstalling before investing anything in the title.

Now it’s time to go back into my hole and read legal documents. Otherwise I have no opinion on the matter.