Iris Online – Your fate is in the cards

Heyhey folks! Expjunkie here (yes! he lives!) and I’m bringing you a new review for a classic MMORPG called Iris Online. Published by GALA and Eyasoft and brought to you by gPotato! This 3D anime-style F2P game is definitely worth a look into. Check it out!

Story: Here it is in a nutshell: The land of Arcana was a peaceful place (as they all usually are to begin with) until an evil man named Lord Archane used a sword of other-worldly power to try to rule over Arcana. Using the sword, however proved to be too much to handle and so Lord Archane was taken down by a group of heroes who, once again, brought peace to the land…but it was short lived. The power generated by the sword used by Archane was slowly tearing the realm apart; opening dimensional rifts through which hoards of monsters and negative energy were seeping through. It’s up to you, the reincarnation of one of the great heroes of old, to seal the rifts and save Arcana once again! Ya that about sums it up. Throw in a crazy circus run by a crazy looking clown/ringmaster and a deck of Tarot cards and you’ve got a game!

Character Classes: Iris Online features races to choose from, each with their own classes to evolve into. There are the Humans (all-arounders), Hybrids (tanks/thieves) and Elves (scouts/mages). When you start the game, you pick your race and one of the two starting classes based on that race. There isn’t much in terms of customization, though. From there, as you level, you specialize in the two (or three) tiers in that particular class. Confused? Lemme explain: Take for example the Humans. You can choose to start off as either a Fighter or a Mage. From there, the Fighter can choose to become a Knight, Mercenary or Gladiator which can eventually become a Templar, Legionnare or Crusader respectively. The Mage can become either a Magician or Priest which end up as either a Wizard or High Priest (clever, eh?) respectively.

Graphics: If the 3D anime style bit didn’t get you then the bright, highly detailed environments and easy to handle UI will. The game flows quite nicely and in the week (or so) I’ve been playing, I haven’t encountered any problems with overlapping layers or polygons gone awry like in most other 3D games. The only hang-up is a slightly longer loading time when transitioning between maps. If you don’t mind staring at a random game tip for a few extra seconds then disregard that last part. Anyway, the game features great, crisp and vivid graphics. Very pretty to look at =]

Misc: One interesting concept Iris Online features is its Card system. The game is based on different types of cards from Monster Transformation cards that (amazingly) allow you to transform into monsters you see out in the fields, Magic Cards that you can equip or attach to your equipment to give you added stats, to Tarot cards that tell your fortune and give you extreme buffs. You can find cards all around the world as loot from killing monsters and bosses. There are even rare Monster Transformation cards that allow you to turn into bosses! Each card is a one-time use, though, so be careful about when and where you use them. Since it is a F2P game, Iris Online does feature an Item Mall. The selection is kinda limited but then again it isn’t one of those games where you can only get the full experience if you’re a gPotato cash user.

Overall: Iris Online is a great game. One of the better ones I’ve played. If you’ve ever played an MMORPG, you’ll have no problem getting the hang of the controls right off the bat. If you haven’t played one before, the hotkeys are all easily customizable and the simple and SHORT (love that part) in-game tutorial quest will be more than enough to get you by. There are plenty of quests available every level you gain, too so there’s always something to do if straight grinding isn’t your thing. You know, actually following the game plot. The one drawback I can think of is the annoyingly prolific amount of bots in the main area of the main city of the game >< Yeah, you can blacklist them but there WILL be new ones…and they just LOVE to spam every single chat channel. The bright side is that they’re only in that one area so just walk a few meters away and it stops haha

Rating: Definitely a 4.5 out of 5 stars here folks. There’s plenty going on in Iris Online to keep you occupied for a long time. Check it out over at their website Iris Online where you can find more info and download the game client. Happy gaming and remember, the cards don’t lie.

Video footage from YouTube.com

 

Dragon Saga Review

“Dragon Saga” (formerly known as “Dragonica Online”) is an MMORPG published by Gravity Interactive, the same company that brought you Ragnarok Online. It’s a side-scrolling style Action/Fantasy F2P RPG played almost entirely by your keyboard! Rated E10+

Story: “In a world where Dragons roam the land and sky, there exists a civilization with extraordinary magical powers. This world, the world of Dragon Saga, will take new adventurers into the discovery of it’s riches and traditions. Dragon Saga compliments the hyper quick game play with visually beautiful settings.” (www.playdragonsaga.com) Basically, it’s: Good Dragon keeps peace. Bad Dragon tries to rule the world. War breaks out. Four heroes (representing the four playable classes in the game) side with the Good Dragon to bring down the Bad Dragon and its followers to maintain peace. Hundreds of years pass, Bad Dragon is up to something. Find out what it is and stop it! Pretty generic but made interesting with the cartoony/anime looking characters and the occasional joke or two.

Character Classes: There are 4 playable character classes in Dragon Saga: Warrior, Magician, Archer and Thief. In addition to these basic jobs, upon reaching lvl 20, each class has the option of choosing to advance to one of two “specializations” with different equipment, stats and skills. Furthermore, each “specialization” has 3 advancements. For example, if you start the game off as an Archer, at lvl 20 you have the choice to advance into either a Hunter or a Marksman. If you choose Hunter, at lvl 40 you can advance into a Pathfinder and ultimately a Sentinel at lvl 60. The Marksman becomes a Specialist at lvl 40 and a Destroyer at lvl 60.

Graphics: The Dragon Saga world is a rich, colorful 3D environment. The characters are basic and can’t be customized very much but are still very visually pleasing and monsters range from small and cute to big and menacing. The entire game has a humorous element to it, though. There are even times when defeated monsters are launched towards the players screen, bashing against it and leaving cracks!

Misc: Since Gravity Interactive got its hands on Dragonica Online in late October of 2010, there have been a few…drawbacks and delays in the games development. The game has a few gaps and holes here and there such as in the Item Mall (IM), where players can spend real money for special in-game items. There are lots of items missing in the IM that Dragonica Online had like character costumes, pet items, etc. Some of the categories of items in the IM aren’t even available yet. Dragon Saga is still very substantial, in that it has been making a lot of progress with content releases with each update. The most recent update is the “Paris Strikes Back” patch, revealing multiple new dungeons and quests, the final (3rd) character class specialization, a level cap increase, the MyHome housing system, the Wedding system and Guild PvP.

Overall: Dragon Saga is a great, fun and funny game that will definitely keep you coming back for more. Veterans of Dragonica Online will notice lots of differences in the game but nothing that will keep them from experience the classic gameplay they’ve always enjoyed and new players will discover an easy to learn but difficult to master game filled with action, mystery and above all, humor!

Rating: Worthy of the download! Go here: http://www.playdragonsaga.com/ to download the game client. Happy hunting, folks =]

Video footage from YouTube.com: RaizenProductions