So a while back I received an email from Asiasoft, the people behind creating the local zombie gamers mob many popular MMOs for the South-East Asia region like Maple Story SEA (eww), PangyaSEA (it's actually nice, but i suck at golf) and AuditionSEA (interesting system, but i have a feeling music isn't the reason why most people play it. hint: little girls). It was an invite for the Close-Beta of yet another one of their new games (they sure are getting greedy nowadays huh), GrandChaseSEA
.
Now, people may say that getting an invite for a Closed-Beta isn't any worth boasting about, especially considering how the Closed-Beta for Granado Espada SEA went, but hey. I've never received been "picked from a million names" before, so bite me I like the feeling of winning something.
Anyway, I finally remembered the mail today, and decided to try it out.
God it's awesome. Think of it as lobby-style games like Gunbound, Pangya, Audition and Big Shot, except this one actually has a somewhat fair experience gaining system. As in, you don't actually have to play like, your entire life away to get a decent level. One day spent playing a few rounds of Monster Battle (it's actually hunting monsters for points) and Quest ("story") mode and I'm already at level 8.
Now people may once again say that's not much different. Take a moment to think here though. How many rounds of a Worms-ripoff, or how many matches of golf, or how many dances do you have to play before you can actually level up beyond level 5?
And then the best thing? This game is actually fun. It's not frustrating like Gunbound or Pangya where you like, have to be some great Mathematician to factor in all the wind, angle, blahblah to play well, and it doesn't require good finger motion and rhythm senses to be fun. It's like your typical platformer which nearly everyone knows how to navigate, especially if you're a (urgh) Mapler without all the skills and stuff. Just some basic moves for each class, along with a special move and item function. There, plain and easy. Fun for everyone.
Yeah, if it isn't obvious already, I hate Asiasoft's current lineup. GetAmped looks and sounds dumb, Dark And Light isn't my style so it's forgiven, but damn. The rest are all either horribly gay, or hard to master, or limited in selection (WHERE ARE THE ANIME SONGS DAMMIT). And in case anyone from Asiasoft's reading this, don't say I hate you guys. Here, you guys should bring in this game too. It's by Nexon, plus it's a more fast-paced and projectile-oriented version of actually-fun games like GrandChaseSEA.
The sad thing though, is that I didn't have much sense to take pictures of the action because it was just too fun, so I decided to just take some pictures of my characters. In order, the Knight (swordie), the Elf (archer) and the Magician (mage). There seems to be three other classes to choose from, but I guess they're gonna be resting till Open-Beta.
So well, a basic rundown of each character, since the length of this post might very well be a formal review of the game, ignoring the fact that I was just dissing Asiasoft's other games lol.
The Knight is your only close-range fighter because heck if you're gonna play close-quarters combat with the other two. The typical stuff like combos are there, as well as the standard highest Strength and Defence. What's fun about this Knight though is it's a combination of the clinche Warrior and Thief and also the only character to have a dash/run and air-dashes for great mobility, and great knockdown capabilities for both normal mobs and PvP.
The Knight's special moves are as follows. Level 1 which is three quick stabs followed by a overhead down that reaches far enough to keep anyone caught by the first three down on the ground. Level 2 is simply a two-way spin attack that throws anything it hits across the screen, which is important in PvP as it's a cheap yet good way to keep people away for a while. Level 3 is a rising slash combo followed by a dive diagonally down that although powerful, is somewhat easy to avoid and snap out of.
The Elf, as with typical RPG archers, has the bow and arrows, although this one loses to gravity. You can aim the arrows up or down as a way to go against the gravity, or a cheap way to stay out of danger from other platforms of the stage. The Elf, although lacking a running capabilities, has a double jump for a quick escape on stages with many platforms. Its dash is also a great escape method because if you hit the attack button while dashing away you can shoot arrows behind you to stop anyone behind. Other than that, the Elf also has a somewhat useful yet dangerous downward dive move that is executed from a double jump. It's dangerous because it does not really knockdown enemies. If the dude is like, gearing up a special move, then good luck.
The Elf's special moves are as follows. Level 1, which is just a three-arrow shot for more damage and nothing else. Level 2, which is Ragnarok's Arrow Shower, shooting upwards and raining arrows all over the stage. Good day to anyone standing above. Level 3, is a sort of homing arrow where the Elf fires arrows in all directions, before they all return to that very same spot whacking anyone in their path. Good for stopping people who're about to fry you, but damage-wise it's too weak to do much.
The Magician, one might be expecting by now, is the slowest and hardest character to master, and yet with possibly the best special moves around. Her basic move consists of hitting the attack button four times to draw a complete magic circle-with-star-in-middle before launching it forward, repeatedly whittling on the health of anything in its path. By drawing only two strokes and hitting the up button, the Magician instead does a upwards launching attack that knockdowns anyone by her sides, as well as damaging anyone slightly above. The Magician's dash is also another escape move, allowing her to fire a fireball behind her as she makes her escape. Also, the dash renders her temporarily invincible, so she's the true cheapo escapist.
The Magician's special moves are different in that she has two sets: black magic and white magic. With black, Level 1 is a stunning wave forward that temporarily stuns anyone who gets hit. Which makes for either a terribly helpful move in PvP team battle, or a very annoying move in VS mode, especially considering its cost. Level 2 is a straight forward lightning shock that's adjustable up and down slightly and makes for a great pressure move for her teammates as it keeps its targets immobile for the duration of the spell, as well as deals continuous damage. Level 3 is the nuclear death strike. No, not really, but its close. Fireball raining diagonally all over the stage, dealing monstrous damage each hit.
For white, Level 1 is a barrier move that sets up a barrier around the Magician. What effects it has, I have no idea though. Level 2 is a close-range, floating move that sends everyone in its oh-so-limited range thrown up and slammed right back down for average damage. Yet another great move to execute against a Knight's pressuring combo. Level 3 has the Magician shooting hearts all around, so I'm assuming it heals all teammates in range. Otherwise, she's officially a mahou shoujo in my eyes.
Well, I was only gonna post up those screenshots, but look at me. Dissing Asiasoft, and writing a characer review for the game.
I proclaim myself the greatest off-topicer.
SP people, this is for you. Hotmail has this function that allows you to link your SP mail to your current existing hotmail account (or vice versa) so I guess this makes it easier to check your mails. It's important, because if I didn't develop the habit of checking my mail early, I would have missed my chance to join the WSS.
For people who're not using the classic version of hotmail, click on your email account name above the sign-out button and click on Link Other Accounts.
I make it sound so important because one of the latest mail says we won't be receiving any more mail notifying us of our exam stuff. So get working on the habit of regularly checking your SP mails, people.
.Now, people may say that getting an invite for a Closed-Beta isn't any worth boasting about, especially considering how the Closed-Beta for Granado Espada SEA went, but hey. I've never received been "picked from a million names" before, so bite me I like the feeling of winning something.
Anyway, I finally remembered the mail today, and decided to try it out.
God it's awesome. Think of it as lobby-style games like Gunbound, Pangya, Audition and Big Shot, except this one actually has a somewhat fair experience gaining system. As in, you don't actually have to play like, your entire life away to get a decent level. One day spent playing a few rounds of Monster Battle (it's actually hunting monsters for points) and Quest ("story") mode and I'm already at level 8.
Now people may once again say that's not much different. Take a moment to think here though. How many rounds of a Worms-ripoff, or how many matches of golf, or how many dances do you have to play before you can actually level up beyond level 5?
And then the best thing? This game is actually fun. It's not frustrating like Gunbound or Pangya where you like, have to be some great Mathematician to factor in all the wind, angle, blahblah to play well, and it doesn't require good finger motion and rhythm senses to be fun. It's like your typical platformer which nearly everyone knows how to navigate, especially if you're a (urgh) Mapler without all the skills and stuff. Just some basic moves for each class, along with a special move and item function. There, plain and easy. Fun for everyone.
Yeah, if it isn't obvious already, I hate Asiasoft's current lineup. GetAmped looks and sounds dumb, Dark And Light isn't my style so it's forgiven, but damn. The rest are all either horribly gay, or hard to master, or limited in selection (WHERE ARE THE ANIME SONGS DAMMIT). And in case anyone from Asiasoft's reading this, don't say I hate you guys. Here, you guys should bring in this game
too. It's by Nexon, plus it's a more fast-paced and projectile-oriented version of actually-fun games like GrandChaseSEA.The sad thing though, is that I didn't have much sense to take pictures of the action because it was just too fun, so I decided to just take some
pictures of
my characters
. In order, the Knight (swordie), the Elf (archer) and the Magician (mage). There seems to be three other classes to choose from, but I guess they're gonna be resting till Open-Beta.So well, a basic rundown of each character, since the length of this post might very well be a formal review of the game, ignoring the fact that I was just dissing Asiasoft's other games lol.
The Knight is your only close-range fighter because heck if you're gonna play close-quarters combat with the other two. The typical stuff like combos are there, as well as the standard highest Strength and Defence. What's fun about this Knight though is it's a combination of the clinche Warrior and Thief and also the only character to have a dash/run and air-dashes for great mobility, and great knockdown capabilities for both normal mobs and PvP.
The Knight's special moves are as follows. Level 1 which is three quick stabs followed by a overhead down that reaches far enough to keep anyone caught by the first three down on the ground. Level 2 is simply a two-way spin attack that throws anything it hits across the screen, which is important in PvP as it's a cheap yet good way to keep people away for a while. Level 3 is a rising slash combo followed by a dive diagonally down that although powerful, is somewhat easy to avoid and snap out of.
The Elf, as with typical RPG archers, has the bow and arrows, although this one loses to gravity. You can aim the arrows up or down as a way to go against the gravity, or a cheap way to stay out of danger from other platforms of the stage. The Elf, although lacking a running capabilities, has a double jump for a quick escape on stages with many platforms. Its dash is also a great escape method because if you hit the attack button while dashing away you can shoot arrows behind you to stop anyone behind. Other than that, the Elf also has a somewhat useful yet dangerous downward dive move that is executed from a double jump. It's dangerous because it does not really knockdown enemies. If the dude is like, gearing up a special move, then good luck.
The Elf's special moves are as follows. Level 1, which is just a three-arrow shot for more damage and nothing else. Level 2, which is Ragnarok's Arrow Shower, shooting upwards and raining arrows all over the stage. Good day to anyone standing above. Level 3, is a sort of homing arrow where the Elf fires arrows in all directions, before they all return to that very same spot whacking anyone in their path. Good for stopping people who're about to fry you, but damage-wise it's too weak to do much.
The Magician, one might be expecting by now, is the slowest and hardest character to master, and yet with possibly the best special moves around. Her basic move consists of hitting the attack button four times to draw a complete magic circle-with-star-in-middle before launching it forward, repeatedly whittling on the health of anything in its path. By drawing only two strokes and hitting the up button, the Magician instead does a upwards launching attack that knockdowns anyone by her sides, as well as damaging anyone slightly above. The Magician's dash is also another escape move, allowing her to fire a fireball behind her as she makes her escape. Also, the dash renders her temporarily invincible, so she's the true cheapo escapist.
The Magician's special moves are different in that she has two sets: black magic and white magic. With black, Level 1 is a stunning wave forward that temporarily stuns anyone who gets hit. Which makes for either a terribly helpful move in PvP team battle, or a very annoying move in VS mode, especially considering its cost. Level 2 is a straight forward lightning shock that's adjustable up and down slightly and makes for a great pressure move for her teammates as it keeps its targets immobile for the duration of the spell, as well as deals continuous damage. Level 3 is the nuclear death strike. No, not really, but its close. Fireball raining diagonally all over the stage, dealing monstrous damage each hit.
For white, Level 1 is a barrier move that sets up a barrier around the Magician. What effects it has, I have no idea though. Level 2 is a close-range, floating move that sends everyone in its oh-so-limited range thrown up and slammed right back down for average damage. Yet another great move to execute against a Knight's pressuring combo. Level 3 has the Magician shooting hearts all around, so I'm assuming it heals all teammates in range. Otherwise, she's officially a mahou shoujo in my eyes.
Well, I was only gonna post up those screenshots, but look at me. Dissing Asiasoft, and writing a characer review for the game.
I proclaim myself the greatest off-topicer.
SP people, this is for you. Hotmail has this function that allows you to link your SP mail to your current existing hotmail account (or vice versa) so I guess this makes it easier to check your mails. It's important, because if I didn't develop the habit of checking my mail early, I would have missed my chance to join the WSS.
For people who're not using the classic version of hotmail, click on your email account name above the sign-out button and click on Link Other Accounts.
I make it sound so important because one of the latest mail says we won't be receiving any more mail notifying us of our exam stuff. So get working on the habit of regularly checking your SP mails, people.
Now Playing: Nagisa theme, CLANNAD soundtrack
