I Want To Play

I love Rohan Online. Even though I can't play as much for the past days, I still dream of becoming a "mamaw" someday.

I even have the June Rohan calendar as my desktop wallpaper.



How I wish I could turn back the time to the days when I could play online games all day.

When the Game Sucks

Been playing Special Force, Crazy Kart and Gunz Online as of late. "Little games" IMHO. Something I can easily log out when the need arises, and where I don't have to continually grind because the levels don't matter much. On the second thought it does matter, too, but not as much as with the games where skills depend on levels.

Crazy Kart is so fun, reminiscent of my PlayStation addiction. Crash Bandicoot, yeah baby!

And like most PC gamers, I started out with Counter Strike. CS is still loved by millions up until now but variety has sprouted and gamers now have choices. But still, I must admit that I play Special Force and Gunz Online because I love Counter Strike. They are CS with more spice. Like eating mangga with bagoong, but it's still the mangga you like and not really the bagoong.

Special Force is locally published by MyGame. It's actually called Soldier Front in other countries (that's why you get "cannot run multiple instances of soldier front" error messages). And the game sucks most of the time because of the glitches and bugs. It totally messed up today after their maintenance. Computer restarts while patching or during gameplay. Mine restarted 15 times before I called it quits for the day. It's not my PC. I know mine's still on the high end. I even bought a new 19-inch widescreen LCD just because it wouldn't run on my 17-inch widescreen Samsung. That's why I know it's their new patch, and their forums are actually smoking with threads about restarting computers LOL.

So what do you do if the local publisher of the game you wanna play sucks? Download another country's publisher's client! LOL! I'm currently downloading the North American client (ijji.com).

And yeah same goes with Gunz. I stopped playing on the international server because of heavy lag. I also play the North American client through ijji.com.

Hayssss a gamer will always be a gamer, indeed! But hey, I don't play as heavily as before. I now just play whenever I'm free.

OMG Cabal/Globe Event

The Cabal Online guild activities happens this Saturday.

CM Jay writes:

There will be Guild 6 vs. 6 Tournaments, Guild Attendance Contests and special Item Vouchers will be given away to event attendees who will be able to win and participate in the different live activities.

In line with this, e-Games will also have activities for Dance Battle Audition, Top Speed, and Granado Espada- as they celebrate their anniversary.

HOW to JOIN the e-Games TOURNAMENTS during the EVENT?
1. For Globe Subscribers
-Not yet registered to G-cash: Register to G-cash (for P1) to be able to get a “Tournament Coupon” from G-cash promodizers during the event.
-Already registered to G-cash: Show the G-cash balance inquiry to the promodizers to get a “Tournament Coupon”
-Gamers to show the “Tournament Coupon” to E-games staff at the Tournament registration table to be able to sign up with the game tournament they want to compete in.

2. For non-Globe Subscribers
-Buy a Globe SIM at P45 (bundled with a free P20 e-pin) from the GLOBE Booth
-Register to G-cash to be able to get a “Tournament Coupon” from G-cash promodizers
-Gamers to show the “Tournament Coupon” to E-games staff at the registration table to be able to sign up with the game tournament they want to compete in.

Grand Chase's CBT Coming Soon

Grand Chase, Level Up!'s newest online game, is accepting applications for the Closed Beta Testing which is scheduled to start on the second or third week of October. Sign up now to be among the firsts to get a feel of this new game! I have just signed up myself =) I actually find the site very cool.

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King

Coming November 13, 2008. I just hope they release it here in the Philippines the same date. The expansion comes in two packages:

the standard package:


and the collector's edition package:


I wonder if the boxes are also frosty when you get them =)

Anyway, the features of this expansion:

* Master the necromantic powers of the Death Knight - World of Warcraft's first Hero class.
* Quest to level 80, gaining potent new abilities and talents along the way.
* Learn the craft of spell augmentation with the new Inscription profession.
* Brave the harsh new continent of Northrend, the icy domain of the Lich King.
* Engage in epic siege warfare, deploying mighty siege engines to lay waste to destructible buildings in your path.
* Transform your hero's look with new character-customization options, including new hairstyles and dances.
* Explore perilous new dungeons filled with some of the deadliest creatures -- and greatest treasures -- on Azeroth.
* And much, much more...

The last line sounds so promising... much, much more... more...

Source: worldofwarcraft.com

Grand Chase Philippines

Level Up! is bringing Grand Chase to the Philippines, a 2.5D game developed by KOG Studios which was first released in Korea in 2003. Grand Chase is known as Three Young Heroes in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Japan also published the game in 2005 but lasted only 22 months. Thailand's Asiasoft Online also published the game for Southeast Asia release for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Grand Chase was also released early this year in the US.

Grand Chase is much like GetAmped. If you like GetAmped, you'll like this one, too. Beta release is dated October 2008. It's likely that they'll launch it in the Level Up! Live event on October 18-19 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

24Ever 2Gder

So it's not just Ran Online that's having an event at the SMX. Cabal Online (another MMORPG from E-Games) will be having this "Guild Activities" thing this coming September 27th, a few days ahead of the Ran Global Tournament on October 4. The said event is in connection with the launch of Globe's newest mobile service, 24Ever.

Tagged as "24EVER 2GDER," there will be Guild Attendance Contests, Cabal Trivia, and Cabal Merchandise Selling. Item vouchers will also be given away to those who will win in live activities.

And yeah, Audition and Granado Espada will also celebrate their anniversaries on the said event. I don't know but I have a feeling this one's going to be more exciting than the October 4th event.

Ran Online Goes Global

Things are heating up in the local scene as the Philippines will play host to the Ran Online Global Tournament 2008, with the finals to be held on October 4, 2008, at the SMX Convention Center. A lot of fun and excitement await gamers as teams from Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam will fly to the Philippines to challenge our own Pinoy team to a grueling PK fest.

The Philippine team is composed of the following from Havoc Server:

Vincent Van Amado (Team Leader)
Carlo Angelo Magcalas
Kevin Medina
Martin Joseph Buday

Battle Mechanics
Each team will have four players, each representing a character class from RAN. Characters will be pre-generated with the following:

50,000 gold
40 pcs HP,MP,SP 50% potions
Level 180
180 Skill Points
Senior Armor Set (Defense 25, Resistance 0)

and with the following statistics (before stat and skill point allocation):

Brawler: HP 1602; MP 77; SP 560
Swordsman: HP 1478; MP 76; SP 698
Archer: HP 1314; MP 106; SP 436
Shaman: HP 1271; MP 221; SP 499

Swordsmen using a blade will not be allowed to use the Blood Lust skill, and Shamans will be unable to use Resurrection.

Arrows, charms, and potions are also available from the different NPCs. Unlimited bus tickets will also be available, to ensure that the competitors can move from the Ready Zone to the Battle Zone. The Chief Instructor will also be there to allow the combatants to create gangs.

After the character has been customized with skills, weapons, and statistics, and necessary purchases have been made, the teams are to create their gangs, from their parties, and prepare for battle. At this point in time, the teams will be notified that they will be transferred to the Battle Zone, with the Bus Terminal waiting to take them to their destination.

Once the teams enter the Battle Zone and confirm they are ready, the Bus Terminal will be removed from the map, and the battle will start.

The Battle Zone is similar to a wrestling ring, a square arena in the middle of the map where the teams will duke it out. The red zone indicated on the map, with borders marked with warning signs, indicates the death zone. Characters that move to the death zone will die, as the zone is similar to the bomb zones in the Ran Battle Royale. Last team standing wins. Once the winner is announced, the teams will then move back to the Ready Zone, using the Bus Machine that has once again been summoned, and await their next match. The teams will battle it out ladder style, with the order of matches to be announced at a later date.

Extreme Beauty

The Global Tournament not only marks the matching of wit and skill, since the Ran Global Tournament Site is in search for this year's Global Ran Boy and Girl. Ranatics from all over have sent in their pictures for the preliminary judging, and one male-female pair will represent each country to vie for being the next Global Ran Boy and Girl.

Winners of Extreme Beauty will win various real-life and in-game items, which include this exclusive and permanent in-game costume.

In Game
In game, everyone is hyped up about the recently released Hover Boards, which not only look cool, but provide people with a much faster way to move around a map as well. Everyone knows the scene in the game - you need to level up, even if the leveling spot is so far away from your location. None of your buddies is in the area, and there are simply no bus stops after Middle Hole. Instetad of risking your life and walking slowly to the spot to start your grinding, the Hover Board brings you there faster. It's like having a Shaman cast Massive Haste on you, only on a smaller scale.

boards

There are four boards available. Both the Sable board and the Sable Mark II board do not have a level requirement, but the Skylock and the SkyLock Quad boards require users to be above level 50. Of the four boards, the SkyLock Quad is the fastest.

There are even costumes available to match your spanking new board!

Ranny Bear

Ranny Bear is the latest addition to the RAN Online pet family. If you thought the Husky and the Turtle were cute, wait 'til you get a load of this awesome teddy bear. Ranny Bear can also be taught the same skills as those taught to other pets, and it eats the same food consumed by other pets. New costumes for this ursine companion include its Pilot box, Knight Box (where it looks like Puss in Boots from Shrek) and the Scuba Box.

Be sure you're not left behind! Get the latest RAN Online patch and hover off into the sunset with your cute and cuddly bear companion.-by Pepper Laforteza

Source: Game!

Cabal Online: Let the Pain Begin!

Cabal Online has become one of the biggest games in the Philippines, with more than 50,000 concurrent users online. With the Nation Wars coming, players are sure to grind more, level more, and basically be online more.

After the fall of the Sage Tower, the seven sages were disrupted. Among the fallen seven sages, Capella and Procyon decided to pursue their principles and established two different nations - named after themselves - with their followers in Nevareth. The nations come into conflict with each other because of their opposing principles. And now they choose war as the final resolution.

If you want to join in on the chaos that is Nation War, you will need to complete the Tower Of Sage Divide quest at Level 95. This quest can be done by talking to Captain Mark at the Group Camp in Fort Ruina. Once you accomplish this, you will be asked to choose a Nation.

Nation Wars are held in the Nation War Server - Tierra Gloriosa. One hundred players from each Nation Strive for dominance by overtaking outposts guarded by powerful guardians, killing the other nation's warriors, and ultimately taking control of the other Nation's capital. Entering the Nation War costs 1,000,000 Alz, which is non-refundable (even if you get disconnected). The War Lobby would be open 30 minutes before the War starts, giving time for the two nations to strategize and find their consumables from the grocer or from the item mall. Even though 250 people can enter the lobby, only 100 players at a time can go to war.

There are two types of Nation Wars: Personal and Mission. Personal Nation Wars are held every day except Saturday. Rewards for winning in Personal Nation Wars are dependent on the number of outposts overtaken and enemies killed. Mission Wars, on the other hand, occur only once a week (Saturdays) and, in some instances, during holidays. Rewards for Mission Wars are for everyone in the Nation, not just those who participate.

When in the War Channel, killing enemy monsters and characters of the opposing nation can earn you honor points. These honor points will vary, depending on the number of players of the opposing Nation online. However, if you do not have a nation, you earn a standard of one honor point per monster killed.

Killing players from the enemy nation (players with red, scrambled names) earns you an extra 50 points. However, killing neutral players (those who haven't chosen a Nation yet, and whose names are orange) will earn you the same amount of honor points as monsters.

The Nation War Update also comes with National Costumes for both Nations. Check the Cabal site and the e-Games community forums for details regarding the next Nation War. See you online! - by Pepper Laforteza

Source: Game!

Live '08

Cool picture, this is the back page of Game! magazine's September issue. They're really ready for the event, ads and all.

Ragnarok Online World Championships 2008

It's a fightfest as all guilds are scrambling to secure a spot for the Agit Lords. Baldur has Carnage and Sustainer of the Realm both gathering Siege Points while Coalescence is busy piling on Honor Points. †_M@cWorldCl@n_† and MayheM of Freya are also doing the same tactic of earning Siege Points, while Honor Points are being amassed by Frailty. The most controversial server, Tyr, has -Restricted- and Celestial Knights both earning Siege Points with Bitzbox and Cataclysm of Valhalla following suit. Meanwhile, Arméd n Loaded and Renegadesªª are fighting for the position of most Honor Points in the Tyr server, with Justice being the only running competitor for the Valhalla server. Finally, in Valkyrie Haràbas and illuminati™ are both grabbing as much Siege Points as they can, while Kingdom of Justice is busy hoarding Honor Points of their own.

For the Wild Card Nominations, BOZANIAN BEASTFIGHTER of Baldur has secured a tremendous lead over Vanquish of Valkyrie and Freya's Legion of Doom. Let's see what will happen during the final legs of the Ragnarok Philippine Championships!

RF Online Novus Elite Squad Tournament

Gears are burning as the Novus Chip Assault Squad sees the leading reps for each respective server. Nexus has WARPATH and >DemonZ<, Altrax's current leaders are MAFIA and NoPity, and ¶DIVAS¶ will be representing Xenos. For the City Under Siege we have the following teams, representing their race and servers. Mastermind - Accretia/Nexus, Represent - Bellato/Nexus, Immortals - Bellato/Praxis, Pure-18 - Accretia/Nexus, TearHere - Bellato/Nexus and finally Armado CDO - BEllato/Nexus.

Stay tuned as the best of the best RF players will gather at Live '08 to determine who is king in Novus!

Flyff Heroes of the Dragon Emblem

The Heroes of the Dragon Emblem Tournament (HoDET) has recently concluded its run in Luzon and the Visayan Region. The representatives are: North Luzon - Sayote Republic, Central Luzon - Rekta, GMA - TPP and for South Luzon - ALLSTAROUTCAST. Finally, the winner for the Visayan Leg was LEGION. Now all that's left is for the Flyff team to head for Mindanao to find the last Regional representatives! Those who missed out need not worry, the Wild Card nominations are just beginning, so there is still a chance to be among those who will compete in the HoDET at LU! Live 2008.

FreeStyle All Stars '08

Hip hoppin' along... The Netopia qualifiers for GMA and Luzon 2 have recently concluded with ELITE TEAM. Lord Louise, and Blades emerging as champs. Furthermore, the GMA regional has also completed its run with Turbulence taking the top spot. Things are heating up as the regional for Luzon 1 & 2 will be taking place this month. Also adding to the excitement are the Netopia qualifiers for Visayas and Mindanao.

Defeated players need not worry. Slots are still available through the online ranking battle. There are still tickets up for grabs for the FS All-Stars 08; jist be the number 1 ranked player for July and August. Good luck!

Perfect World's Phoenix Quest

Dynasty Wars ravage the lands of Pangu. 6 of the 10 legs of the DWars are now complete with HolyOrder, Celestial, Method, Carnage, Salawayun Dream Team and Shadow making the cut for Dragon server. Representing the Tiger server are teams Exiled, Aether Main, Aether 4th Ext., Decima, Fidelis and Legacy. For the Wild Card, the current leading teams are: Method, Exiled and Doomsday for Dragon, Tiger and Serpent respectively. There is time left and guilds can stillmake the cut if they don't make it to the DWars.

For the server reps, bHadBoys, GUARDIANS and Dei are the current leading clans for Dragon, Tiger and Serpent respectively. See who gets to grab a ticket to Live 2008!

Cabal Online's Image Verification

Cabal Online had an extended server maintenance today. The game resumed 4pm-ish. They made something again to minimize (if not totally eradicate) the use of third party bots - that is, the BOT Checker Image Authentication feature. It made me laugh, really, but I admire their efforts to make the game bot-free. Bot-free game = fair game. And I'll only do pa-level when it's totally bot-free. So perhaps a word verification window will pop-up every once in a while... But then again, botters can simply time it so they'd be there in time for the verification. Or if it's done in random time gaps, it'd be better.

Well they've fought bots in Ran Online! I'm kinda sure they can do it in Cabal Online, too.

They also applied the Chaos Arena System (entry is in Bloody Ice). Schedules are 12am, 4am, 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm daily on channels 3-10 of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter servers and channels 4-9 of Neptune.

Another good thing is that players on "old servers" can now create new characters!!! There goes inventory extensions hahaha. Then they fixed the bugs experienced when warping (or so they say). Let's just hope they have really fixed that. They also made the "trade channels" purely for vending. That's good. Less lag siguro. And yeah, there's no more monsters there also (that's why you can't do pa-level din).

The sad thing, though, is that you cannot use return stones anymore while on PVP. Haha. Too bad.

Other points I'm not so interested about are:
-Quick Slot registered skills can be used for the Auto-Attack function.
-Activated Force Change Skill purchasing from the different Town Trainers

100th Post: Cabal Online

I was kinda surprised to see my total post count. Ninety-nine. Haha. I started the blog out of boredom and now I'm so blabbing this is my 100th post. Haha.

Anyway, since I (kinda) inherited Joseph's Cabal Online Venus server character named Oscuro (which is an Italian word for "dark" - I'll talk more about it later), I am now "in tune" again to what's happening on Cabal. Wawa naman 'yong own character kong level 51 pa din till now. I just can't seem to find the map quest kasi. Lech!

Oscuro is now level 122. It had been 120 for so long when the level cap was still 120. Problem was, when Joseph reached the then level cap of 120, he stopped playing for a while and said he'll play na lang when the level cap was increased. So when E-games finally increased the level cap to 150, parang he didn't have the drive to play anymore. The result: he just stopped na after playing for a while. He let go of Oscuro at level 122. So it's (kinda) mine now hahaha. But of course it's still his property.



I really like the cape design. And it's fiery red. Haha.

Anyway, about the Italian word Oscuro, Joseph's a big fan of Final Fantasy. And from there comes the term "dark matter," which when translated into Italian becomes "materia oscuro." He already used Materia_Oscuro18 in Ran Online. He just shortened it for Cabal. So you can probably figure out his next online game character name. 18. Haha kidding.

Tomorrow's the scheduled maintenance and I think it's kinda major cuz they provided a link for the manual patch download. There's even a password for the patch haha. Anyway, the Installation Password is cbl081803 And yeah they gave a list of updates the game will undergo during the maintenance.

UPDATES:
*Level CAP Increase to 170
*Opening of the CHARISMA PAN Event
*Opening of Character Creation [again] to all OLD Servers
*Opening of CHAOS Arena
*New ITEM SHOP ITEM Rotations – Pets and Costumes
*New ITEMS: Keys to Enter Chaos Arena

But I really (promise) won't spend anymore on an online game. Haha yeah promise.

Gold Farmers

WoW (World of Warcraft), the best-selling MMORPG of all time has over 8 million players worldwide. And though it had been reported that the number of Chinese online gamers ballooned from just around 22.3 million less than a year ago, to 147 million today, to most Chinese, gold farming in WoW is a full-time job. They make like $150 to $250 a month for working 8 to 12 hours a day.

There's a huge demand for WoW gold, and players all over are willing to buy online gold for real cash. It's hard to level up without gold, you can't even get good weapons without enough gold. Most players would rather spend to get more gold quickly than spend time to farm for it themselves. As it is known, gold farming is the most boring part of the game.

Long ago, when the battle of online games in the Philippines was just between Ragnarok and MU Online, I had this teenager neighbor who's barely out of high school, working as a "farmer" in Manila. He worked in a three-story building owned by a Taiwanese. The first 2 storeys were packed with PCs and the third storey served as their quarters. He, together with kids his age, farm for adena (Lineage's currency). And it was the time when Lineage wasn't officially launched here yet (it was already Lineage II when AMDG bought a franchise). But unlike the Chinese who make like P11,000 a month, he only got P120 a day (or something like 3.6k a month).

Farm where the labor is cheap.

Cloudy Eyes

Princess has a cloudy right eye. Damn. It's on the upper right corner of her iris and not quite noticeable. I just noticed it because the white part near it was red. Darn it. I hope I can find a vet somewhere here. We'll go vet hunting tomorrow. Gastos.

Joseph and I were texting early today. All about Cabal. And Jong has been commenting on my friendster about the same game, too. Cge. I'll force myself to play and give myself a month. If my opinion about the game doesn't change after that time, I'm quitting. I'll be a force shielder. But Jong is already a force shielder. Pero so what haha. Then we'll be both shielders.

Cheeky, Eh?

i stopped taking appeton. i hate the taste. tastes like sustagen, and i also dislike its taste. and i wonder why i wanna gain weight when everyone else wants to shed pounds? perhaps i'll just leave my weight as it is. hmm.

tapos na pala ang board exams ni bans. at least she can now breathe a little easier. but the process of waiting for the results! i can imagine the anxiety. but i'm sure she'll pass. smart girl she is.

been playing cheeky ran during free times. and i choose when i'm free and when i'm not. depends on the mood, actually. but yeah, cheeky ran is an underground server of the popular online game ran online which i used to play. it took me a year and 2 months in ran online to reach level 175. then i stopped playing, but my character is now level 176. the additional 1 level was sponsored by jong and the sponsorship included everything up to the top-up cards.

but i am now level 298 in cheeky ran. and i've been playing for just like 2 weeks for just a few hours a day. i know of someone who reached level 200+ for just a day.

underground servers are not stable. true. so all the efforts you spend in playing the game will just go to waste if the one hosting the game decided to call it quits. but underground servers offer fast level up. no top-ups. just donations hehe. but donations are so optional. that is why... i already donated 50 pesos haha. just this afternoon. but i'm level 298 already. i enjoy the game. 50 pesos for a fun past-time for the past two weeks is just okay. and besides, i spent 50-100 pesos a day (sometimes more) when i was with ran online.

what if cheeky ran goes bye bye? okay lang. i'll just go look for another private server haha. my bad.

Cabal Online

It's past 1 am and was about to turn off the puter when I was reminded of Cabal Online, the new online (as goes with the game's name) game from E-Games. I clicked on Firefox to visit the site and download the game so I can install and test-play it tomorrow. But alas! amidst my wanting to take a bath and go to bed as soon as possible, I was faced with the game's story line, slowly appearing line by line on my browser, as if their target market are those who read so slow like a kindergarten. It's a flash thingie. I know it's there for effect. I just wish they put an option for skipping it. I don't wanna be faced with the game's story line everytime I visit the site.

Anyway online game addiction has me by the neck, so I waited... and guess what? It's not yet downloadable. AMF!

Valkyrie

We pretty much acquire the interests of the people around us. And even if we don't acquire as much, we tend to try the things our friends do. Like I wouldn't be playing Ragnarok Online again if not for a friend who began playing the game. I'm not a newbie on Ragnarok. It's my first online game, as it is the first online game to hit the country. But when free-to-play online games emerged, I shifted. Just like much of my old game buddies. Unless you're so addicted to a pay-to-play game, you would definitely think of shifting to a free-to-play one considering the amount of money you spend on the former. But as it is proven by gamers, a free-to-play online game is more expensive to play than a pay-to-play one. Nothing is free, after all.

Ragnarok's free-to-play server Valkyrie was introduced late last year. I wasn't that enthusiastic about it when it first came out. Old school. Who'd want to go back to 2d when you have a handful of 3d's? I must admit, though, that a lot still play the game, including my friend who started talking about Valkyrie. So I tried playing Ragnarok again. I realized I still like being a blacksmith. Actually, I still have my blacksmith in the Odin server. In fact, I am using that old levelup account in the new Valkyrie server. But I don't want to purchase game time so I still haven't seen my Odin blacksmith since like three years ago, before I lost the drive to play Ragnarok.

It's fun being a blacksmith. It's the best looking character (imho) in Ragnarok Online. And isn't it best to have overcharge and discount everytime you do transaction with the NPC's? Here's the link to the guide I used for my new BS: blacksmith guide. And unlike the old days, there are lots of other guides now available. Quests guides, even answers to the tests required to pass the quests are now so available. But then, of course, doing that lessens the thrill of the game.

P.S.
I do bot.

ran ver. 2

I play Ran Online again to kill time. I chose Tala server for a change. I already have a shaman in Strife server and I know a lot of people there and I know I won’t be able to have peace if I play in Strife again (just like what the server means... strife!). So I chose a different server. I named my shaman bel_mago (beautiful magician). She is a replica of my Strife shaman named michh.