Hi Everyone,
It’s been a while right?
A lot has happened. The place I live in has very old wiring, so much that I haven’t been able to play online games, and thus I haven’t had any recent reviews. I’m trying a new service, to see if I can play games again.
I am also thinking of scaling this blog to cover more than just cute games. I spend time playing other types of games too, so it’s something to consider. Thanks for reading!
MGame USA (aka NetGame) announced that they will be shutting down service for Holic, along with two other of it’s games: Ares, a traditional looking 360 degree MMO, and Ghost, a Maplestory-esque sidescroller. Out of the three games being cancelled, Holic had been the most popular.
Excerpt from Holic’s official site:
“After extended debate, we regret to inform you that MGame USA has decided to shut down Legend of Ares, Holic and Ghost Online. We understand what a loss this is to our loyal players and share in their dissapointment.”
Holic’s official community forums have, by the looks of it, been deleted along with the cash shop. According to announcements, the game itself should remain playable until the end of May this year.
There has been some hear-say around the net about the reasoning for Holic’s cancellation, the seemingly more successful of the three canned games. It has been said that Ngame has a nasty habit of making their game’s imbalanced to the point of making them unplayble without the use of cash shop items, turning many players away to cheaper alternative games. Others have complained about other little annoyances, such as lack of PvP, and the inconvenient browser-based game launcher.
There has been no mention of Holic being replaced by Holic 2, a sequal which is more like an expansion of the original game. This may make sense, as the new version of Holic may fix some of the problems that may have lead to the original’s cancellation.
MGame promises compensation for players in the form of in-game cash for another of their living games, Hero. Personly it would be nice to get some free cash for Scions of Fate instead 
The North American servers for Luna Online are going closed beta this weekend!
If you have an account at gPotato, be sure to login and download the game. There is sure to be a lot of players and tons of fun.
I have been without an internet connection at my home since Saturday (using my work’s computer right now). As soon as the problem is resolved, I’ll start posting reviews again. Thank you all for reading and your support!
On9g gives this cute preview of some adorable Luna Online fashion. I couldn’t help but post some here.
The graphics in Lime Odyssey are so sophisticated that it almost qualifies as being “un-cute”. However, I think there’s enough cute left over to deserve a spot here.
Lime Odyssey carries with it much of the development team of the original Ragnarok Online game. So much influence that, as some sites put it, Lime Odyssey could be the real sequel to RO.
Some features are said to include a heavy emphases on life-skill/crafting classes and trading, ten different playable races, seven fighting classes, and house ownership.
Lime Odyssey is still in development in Korea, with the beta set for early spring 2009.
More Images
(all images were taken from MMOSite, and Lime Odyssey)
By sheer chance I stumbled upon this game today in a youtube video.
Childhood Online boasts it self as, “…the only Cute 3D turned based Hardcore casual MMORPG masterpiece in the U.S. targeted at people of every age.” - Hardcore AND Casual?! I wonder who writes their copy. Odd taglines aside, the game is due to enter English beta in about a month or so. There is some debate whether or not to keep the original Chinese title “Childhood Online”, or go with something less infantine (candidates include LoLiPop Online, and Iaya [I am young again]).
The game actually looks pretty interesting, and the graphics reminiscent of those Final Fantasy DS remakes.
Some features said to be included are a Pokemon-esque pet system, stamp collecting, pvp with guns and slingshots, and console-like turn-based battles.
The publisher, MMOGravity, has released a few gameplay videos, including this one:
More Pictures
Website: MMOGravity’s Official Childhood Online Website
(All images and videos are from MMOGravity/Zyon Games Corp.)
(or should it be ‘Cool in Corea’?)
I’d like to take the time to post some games that do not have a set English release scheduled (but could potentially), or are in development stages oversees. Although we may not be able to play these games, checking out what might be in store can be a lot of fun, eh?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the endless beta testing of Ragnarok Online 2 in Korea. Currently there is no official release set for the KR version, let alone official foreign versions. And although the game’s popularity has dwindled during the last year or two, anticipation for RO2 is still high.
This second installment sports notable new features compared to the original game, like a complete 3D 360degree environment, and multiple playable races.
Website: Ragnarok Online II HQ - unofficial English news and fansite
Currently in development by Eyedentity (comprised of veteran developers from other successful games), with Nexon as the publisher, Dragon Nest is set for KR release sometime in 2009. It has been receiving a lot of buzz lately, and is said to be one of the highest anticipated games of 2009. Dragon Nest is also said to have low system requirements, with high value content, making it attractive to many gamers worldwide.
One of the novel features of Dragon Nest is it’s atypical, action oriented battle system. An official gameplay promo was released about a week ago:
According to Eyedentity’s news page, Nexon NA intends to release an English version (knowing Nexon, this would probably only allow players from North America, Australia, and New Zealand). Though there is no set date.
Website: Dragon Nest English Promo site at Eyedentity Games
Rating: 
Being an older game, Nostale is easily overshadowed. However in this case, age also means a well-polished system and smooth gameplay.
Nostale is a fairly well known game, if only for the fact that it’s been around for years. Nostale has survived many itterations of game hosts, and still thrives today.
I played Nostale years back when Game & Game was beta-testing (they no longer host the game today). I did not think to take screenshots of my cute little archer back then, so I hope these newbie screenshots of the current Nostale Global will suffice for this article.
It’s hard to show this in screenshots, but Nostale is actually a mix of 360degree point-n-click and 2D flat sprites. The camera can be rotated in a complete circle, while maintaining a Zelda-esque birdseye view. The characters, as well as some objects, are 2D with simple animation. The overall feel is a bit like the oringinal Ragnorok Online.
Nostale centers around conquering a series of instanced dungeons. The design of the dungeons emphasize player comrodery, and beating a time-limit. As you advance, it becomes almost impossible to play these dungeons solo. And because clearing dungeons is also an integral part of the game’s story, it’s essential to make friends and work with other people.
Another fun part of Nostale is building your house and showing it off. As one advances and accumulates more wealth, the player can purchase and place items in your housing area. And how could you resist showing that off?
Nostale has it’s own PvP zones, which are designed fairly well and fun. Think of hide-and-seek. If you’re not much into PvP, I’m willing to bet you’ll at least like Nostale’s version.
One benefit of replaying this game, was getting to see how well the game has been refined, and all the nice little additions. The dungeon timer is a lot nicer, the interface is cleaner, and the English is certainly much better. The beginning quests are so helpful infact, that I would recommend Nostale for anyone new to MMOs.
Nostale is notorious for having multiple versions out at the same time (all playable in virutally any country despite their regions). Here’s a rundown; take your pick:
Full screenshot gallery:
In case you missed my review of Luna Online Singapore, I mentioned that gPotato was going to publish the game for North America.
Looks like that time is approaching soon! gPotato just lauched their official Luna online website. There is very minimal information available yet, and it looks like things just redirect to a teaser for now. There is also no mention of a closed beta launch date.
Luna Online is an award-winning 3D MMORPG that has recieved a lot of good reviews and buzz since the Singapore version entered Beta late last year.
gPotato (Gala-Net) is a publisher of numerous popular free-to-play MMOs such as FlyFF, Tales Runner, and Rappelz.