I haven’t played Requiem in ages, and this bit of information is welcome news. I might—just MIGHT—give Requiem another go, especially now that it has new content, including a significant revamp in the skills of every class and an expanded player-versus-player system.

Requiem from Gravity Interactive

Oh, and if you are like me, someone who hasn’t played for the longest time, don’t be startled if you log in and find your Temperion (Requiem’s novice class) no longer a Temperion. Back when Requiem: Bloodymare was in effect, you had to start the game as a Temperion before changing into the first job. In Requiem: Memento Mori, you can now start as a first “jobber.”

This means that when you log on to the game, you may find that your Turan Temperion is now a Defender. Same goes for the Bartuk Temperion (Warrior), Kruxena Temperion (Rogue), and Xenoa Temperion (Hunter).

Another new feature that may spice up gameplay—but turn off some players—is the fact that your character can now de-level. What this means is if your avatar has little or no experience points and dies, he or she can drop in level. So if, say, your character is Level 60 and wearing Level 60 equipment, and then suddenly falls in battle, you’ll discover that he or she can no longer wear that shiny new armor set.

Visit the official website for more information about the game and the complete Requiem: Memento Mori patch notes.

Before I forget, don’t stress yourself out by updating your Requiem: Bloodymare client. It just won’t work because Gravity changed the installation shield. You need to download the Requiem: Memento Mori client, either through Bittorent or Direct Download, to play the game.

Post from: MMOtaku

Wait! Before you cast that stone, hear me out (or read about it if you can spare a peek). I got discouraged, plain and simple. I didn’t continue playing Rohan: Blood Feud in the Philippines after the first day of closed beta because of sheer frustration with latency. I watched my character die dozens of times, and that was just inside the training area. She never even got past Level 10.

Now that Rohan Philippines is in open beta, I expect things to run a little more smoothly. Of course, I haven’t tried logging in. I’d hate to end up pulling my hair out in frustration again.

Anyway, for those who missed it, here’s the Rohan Online Philippines open beta announcement:

To celebrate the launch of OBT, we will be launching a new server: Syrephis!

Now you can forge your own legends and conquer the lands of Rohan for as long as you like because OBT will have NO MORE server wipeouts. Accounts and characters created in OBT will continue on until Rohan’s commercial launch.

OBT also includes the much-awaited Item Mall feature of Rohan Online as well as other web services and account linking to My Level Up.

Players may now register new accounts or use existing CBT accounts. Upon linking these accounts to MyLU, they may now use the web services such as change/forget password utilities. Linking accounts to MyLU also allows players to top-up their accounts and assign credits to acquire Rohan Points.

Image downloaded from Rohan Philippines official site. This online game, developed by YNK, is operated in the Philippines by Level Up! Games.

Post from: MMOtaku

No, it’s not Gravity’s fault; the fault is actually mine. I level so slow that it takes me ages to finish a quest, and by the time I get around to finish a quest, my character’s already a few levels higher than the recommended level.

Requiem: Bloodymare’s Toren’s Request is one such quest. Part One of Toren’s Request becomes available when your character reaches Level 10 (yes, once the avatar, called a Temperion in Requiem: Bloodymare-speak, changes to the first job).

Here’s a summary of Toren’s Request:

Part 1
Required Level: 10
Rewards: Around 6817 experience points and 116 Lant
Target NPC: Heyra

Talk to the smuggler Heyra at the Caput Sawmill.

Part 2
Required Level: 16
Rewards: Around 787 EXP and 116 Lant
Target NPC: Toren

Talk to the peddler Toren at the South Bivouac.

Part 3
Required Level: 16
Rewards: Around 967 EXP and 149 Lant
Target NPC: Toren

Collect Wild Small Gropie Claws and Ziebalt Molar Teeth at the Elba Gorge located northwest of the South Bivouac. Regardless of what’s written on the quest dialogue, the first quest item you need is Wild Small Gropie Claws and not Mini Golem Claws. The quest item name is apparently bugged. After collecting the items, talk to Toren.

Part 4
Required Level: 16
Rewards: Around 787 EXP and 116 Lant
Target NPC: Heyra

Talk to the smuggler Heyra at the Caput Sawmill.

Part 5
Required Level: 16
Rewards: Around 1,912 EXP and 149 Lant
Target NPC: Heyra

Collect 10 pieces of Torn Paper from Olgross, monsters that spawn near the Caput Sawmill, and then talk to Heyra again.

Part 6
Required Level: 16
Rewards: Around 787 EXP and 116 Lant
Target NPC: Toren

Talk to the peddler Toren at the South Bivouac.

Finale
Required Level: 16
Rewards: Around 2,970 EXP and 149 Lant
Target NPC: Toren

Talk to Toren after securing a treasure map from the Monster Gatus that roams the eastern part of the Fridha Snowfields. Can’t find Gatus? Leave the South Bivouac and head north. Make sure to follow the path, the one that intersects the lower left corner of the letter “B” in the word “Blackhand” of Blackhand Debouchment on the map.

Gatus is a wuss.

Post from: MMOtaku

First off, I’d like to thank MMOtaku’s avid readers, those who visit the blog every day, those who come and go for a dose of MMORPG news, reviews and what-have-yous, and those who have dropped in just to take a gander at what we have to offer. Without your constant support, MMOtaku would have floundered a long time ago.

Second, I’d like the acknowledge the inputs and help of several key people in the life of MMOtaku. To Mike Leaño, former b5media Video Games Channel editor, for putting trust in my abilities to bring the blog to life; to PJ Punla, pioneer blogger and player of Granado Espada Southeast Asia, for showing me that love for video games extends beyond playing them; to Siege Malvar and Alcarcalimo, for keeping me on my toes, a constant reminder that MMOtaku does have readers who crave insights on MMOs available in the market today; and to Joyce, my wife, for being the rigid wall off of which I throw my ideas to see if they stick.

Third and last, I salute the growing online games industry in Asia for giving us topnotch games (yes, despite Mike Leaño’s opinion that MMOGs developed in Asia are, ehem, excrement. These games are getting better, and they’re grabbing the attention of MMOG players in different parts of the globe.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I give you the best of MMOtaku:

November 2008
Granado Espada SEA pioneer pooh-poohs IP e-Games’ ‘mishandling’ of game
Zhu Xian: I came, I saw, I … got disappointed
Endless fun with Perfect World character customization

October 2008
Beach Volleyball Online: The latest craze
Florensia: Kill-stealers and other dregs of society are moving in
RF Online to go offline in November

September 2008
E-Games clamps down on Cabal botters
Perfect World: Bots popping out of the woodwork
NBA Street Online: Soon, real soon
Requiem Bloodymare: New race, yes, but what’s there to like?

August 2008
MMO Etiquette: Stop poking me!
Granado Espada fails to please Chinese market

July 2008
9you crushes Audition shutdown rumor
China’s online games market: 147 million players!
Dragon Nest: The King of MMORPGs

June 2008
Perfect World inks deal with IP e-Games
Requiem Bloodymare launched
Perfect World: Jump hack? Stop crying wolf

May 2008
MMO Etiquette: Pay it forward
Fly For Fun Penya Hack!
Khan Online Philippines bows out

April 2008
Philippines to host Ragnarok World Championships
In this part of the world, MMORPGs and cosplay go hand in hand
Pandora Saga to grace Philippine shores

March 2008
Fantasy Westward Journey online posts 166 million concurrent users
They’re cute and cuddly, and they’re coming to your PC
Not so supa anymore

February 2008
RF Online Crimson Dawn is now online
Blog post on Perfect World clan too hot to handle?
Third job classes coming to Ragnarok Online
Blog post on Perfect World clan’s struggle stirs hornets’ nest

January 2008
GigaMedia bags license to operate Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Reign of Revolution: No rules, just power
Counter-Strike Online to give other online shooters a run for their money
Top Ten Thursdays: Best MMORPGs in the Philippines

December 2007
China’s Perfect World claims strong presence in Asian MMORPG capital Korea
What’s in a(n MMOPRPG) name?
The Vista Trap: How to make your Asian MMOs work on Microsoft’s latest baby
FlyFF Philippines launches Volcane Legends
MMO war: Korea versus China

November 2007
Craving for a slice of Zhu Xian
Asian MMO, meet world

Screenshot taken by Joel from the online game Perfect World, developed by Beijing-based Perfect World Co. Ltd. and published in the Philippines by Level Up! Games.

Post from: MMOtaku

Requiem: Bloodymare, Gravity’s adult-oriented massively multiplayer online role-playing game, has just received a new patch today, dubbed simply as Requiem Update 4.0.

Here’s the official announcement from Gravity:

On Thursday, November 20, at 11 p.m. PST, all Requiem servers will have 4.0 Update go live! Areas of Ethergia long thought abandoned or inaccessible are now open to any Temperion brave enough to enter.

New Instance Dungeons:

Dark Sanctum: A Testing facility established in Media’nos, where some of the nightmare monsters were gathered and forced to venture to Ethergia. It is mostly devoid of monsters, thanks to the guards now protecting Nach’s Eye from the inside. However, it’s believed that Lord Werinuman and his generals still dwell inside this dungeon.

Robina Mines: Once a major source of precious metals for the people of Numara has been taken over by Blackhands. Alban is recruiting every able-bodied Temperion in an effort to take back what is rightfully theirs.

Wrecked Ship of Ru Buran:: Many secrets of a lost ancient civilization can be found in the wreckage. However, you will have to brave enough through hordes of lost spirits of the ship’s crew.

Doom Cheras Lair: An entry was found near the Ion Tree of Fire in North Hammerine, into the lair of a fire-breathing dragon believed to be even more violent than Ruinhorn. He is rumored to never leave his lair. However, many are too fearful to even get close enough to check.

Oh, yeah, about the new baddies. Lord Werinuman and his generals are mentioned above. Who are they and what are Nach Lords?

Well, Werinuman is the most aggressive and active monster among the Nach Lords. He has volunteered to reside in Nach’s Eye (yes, it’s a place of perpetual darkness … to be more precise, it’s sort of a doom machine that generates darkness) when the eye was completed. With strong psychic ability, he commands monsters to go through the Nach’s Eye and stir up trouble in Ethergia, expanding the influence of the Nach. To prevent the imminent attack on Ethergia from the monsters being sent through the Dark Sanctum, the Xenon are making an effort to oppose Werinuman’s actions and fight back.

Ksiphon and Roundelroot, meanwhile, are the generals of Lord Werinuman. Nach, at first, were able to gain physical bodies by defeating the monsters in Media’nos and possess their bodies in order to come into the world of Ethergia. Residing in the Dark Sanctum that they have created, they are preparing for an attack on Ethergia.

Want to know more about the update? Go check out Requiem: Bloodymare on MySpace.

Image taken from Requiem: Bloodymare’s official website. The game is owned and operated by Gravity.

Post from: MMOtaku

Anyway, overall, it’s been an amazing event, what with all the powerpacked competitions that occurred. Let’s count ‘em: Ragnarok World Championships, RF Online Novus Elite Squad, Perfect World Phoenix Council Wars, Fly For Fun Heroes of the Dragon Emblem, and Freestyle All Stars ‘08.

That’s five online games and five competitions, with the Ragnarok World Champions topping the list because it’s on a global scale, with a dozen teams from 20 different countries. Whew!

Sigh. To wrap up, I’m here to announce the winners in some of the competitions I’ve managed to catch on Level Up! Games’ live streaming of LU! Live 2008:

In the Ragnarok World Championships, Team Thailand took home the crown—again—after beating South Korea in an epic battle of heart, determination and strategy. Team Indonesia, on the other hand, bagged third place after defeating last year’s third placer, Team Philippines (known locally as The Bozanian Beast Fighters).

Here’s a better overview from Ragnarok Online Philippines overlord Carlo “Wauks” Ople:

Thailand pulled off a historic win over South Korea, making them back-to-back world champions for two years in a row. The defending champions literally bulldozed all of their opponents and showcased how good they were by constantly changing their tactics depending on their opponent. The finals between Thailand and Korea really proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were strong contenders deserving of slots in the finals. I don’t know if I’m calling this right but I think the main difference for the fight was when Thailand used the Gypsy. Apparently, Korea had low VIT characters and they almost often found key players stunned, which disrupted the overall flow of their teamwork.

Other Ragnarok World Championships participants include the United States, Russia, Japan, Brazil, France and Germany … at least, that’s all I can remember. For more information about Ragnarok Online, click here.

Ragnarok World Championships match: The Philippines versus Thailand

More Level Up! Live 2008 news and views after the jump.

In the Fly For Fun Heroes of the Dragon Emblem competition, on the other hand, Fly For Fun Philippines Shade server’s The Pink Paradise trounced Rekta from oldest server Bubble. Honestly, I was rooting for Rekta, since I’m a Bubble habitue and because I have an acquaintance in the team. Unfortunately, experience wasn’t enough to save Rekta from a downward spiral as The Pink Paradise (what a name for a clan/guild!) zoomed ahead to snatch the coveted crown.

I can’t seem to find a video of the match, so we’ll go on right ahead to the last competition I watched, Perfect World’s Phoenix Council Wars. This was just one competition I couldn’t afford to miss since I helped found one of the clans that duked it out.

It’s unfortunate the Guardians of Perfect World Philippines Tiger server failed to make a dent in their opponent, The Holy Order of Light from the Dragon server. Still, it’s nothing to be ashamed of since, after all, they beat all other clans that participated in the eliminations and came out on top.

In my honest and humble opinion, the members of the Holy Order of Light are just too damned powerful. Needless to say, the competition wasn’t really founded on equal footing. If they—the honchos at Level Up! Games and the players—really wanted a more or less equal match, they should have given the contestants pre-generated characters to that experience plays a bigger part than brute force.

Regardless of the outcome, however, let’s congratulate both Holy Order and Guardians for giving us a spectacular slug fest.

Post from: MMOtaku

With the skill Shadow Runner, a Kruxena Rogue can avoid detection from monsters for a set duration. There are drawbacks, of course, including the cancellation of the skill once your Requiem: Bloodymare Kruxena Rogue engages any enemy in combat. Also, the rogue’s movement, for the duration of the skill, is halved.

Shadow Runner is pretty useful in some stages of the game, particularly quests that force your character to adventure in areas where aggressive monsters spawn. One such area is the Forgotten Port on the northeastern part of Crescent Island, where hostile bandits thrive and some important NPCs, very unfortunately, can be found.

In my character’s last visit to the Forgotten Port, I had fun tempting the fates by parading my Kruxena Rogue through the bandit-infested streets. Of course, I couldn’t have done this without activating the Shadow Runner skill, which is only available to Kruxena Rogues at Level 14. Here’s a screenshot:

Screenshot taken by Joel from the online game Requiem: Bloodymare, the latest MMORPG epic from Gravity.

Post from: MMOtaku

Apparently, someone else, someone belonging to the online games development industry, thought about this, too. Gravity has found a way around this little debacle by actually imbuing once-useless monster drops with properties that can help characters in their adventures.

It took me a while to discover this. Fortunately, I found time to revisit my character in Requiem: Bloodymare, Gravity’s latest baby. When my avatar first set foot in the world of Requiem: Bloodymare’s Ethergia, I sold most of the loot I got from monsters to the non-player characters. This wanton disregard for what I thought were useless monster drops continued until my Kruxena Temperion changed into a Rogue.

A few days ago, while “cleaning” my Kruxena Rogue’s inventory, I noticed that most—if not all—items I got from monsters, from hides to broken teeth to tufts of feather, could imbue any character with special bonuses—from raising attributes to increasing evasion, damage and defense.

Now, I keep one bag full of these amazing monster drops, another bag for equipment drops, and the last bag for all other loot.

Post from: MMOtaku

Yes, those are bodies hanging from a tree branch.

Post from: MMOtaku

You see, bound items can’t be dropped, much less traded. It can be sold to an NPC (non-player character), though. Fortunately, bound items can still be removed from the “equipped” slots and placed in the inventory, otherwise, my Kruxena rogue, who some times favors a pair of swords, is fu … uhmmm, shocked.

Well, it’s time to put those shiny new claws to good use. Excuse me while I put them on and trash the golems at the nearby Fridha Mine.

Post from: MMOtaku