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

Yes, you read that right. For those not keeping tabs on Requiem: Bloodymare and its website, a new patch, dubbed Update 5.0, will take effect tomorrow, March 5, 2009. Don’t look at me; I’m just as surprised as you.

I confess, I’ve been remiss in my duty as a player of Requiem: Bloodymare. Not that it’s entirely my fault. I blame it, partially, on the last patch brouhaha, the one that almost had me uninstalling the game from the computer.

Anyway, I’m not here to talk about THAT update. I’m here to dissect what’s new in the world of Requiem: Bloodymare so you guys won’t run blindly into the wall that is Update 5.0.

The biggest change is the inclusion of the Ancient Ruins, a new battlefield option that enables cross-server fights. Yes, CROSS-SERVER!

Here are the details:

Ancient Ruins will be a new battlefield option that will include the whole server to battle for points and prizes. With more than 1,000 players able to join at one time, the large-scale battle will be a new experience allowing the whole server to battle for glory and deciding which server stands above the others.

The Ancient Ruins will be available three days a week, twice a day: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

There will be an in-game announcement 30 minutes prior to each scheduled battlefield. A reminder announcement will be made during the fight, every 10 minutes that the battle is going on.

The War has two sides and will allow players to make individual groups while in the battlefield. Lintra Server will be paired with Valdes to go against the Hammerine Server.

The Ancient Ruins will also follow the same point and contribution system as the other two available battlefields. These points can be used to buy new items such as EXP scrolls, transformation items, reinforcement xeon restoration items, and treasure dungeon keys.

So there you have it. What are you waiting for? Strap on those breastplates and rush headlong into battle!

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

The reason for this hiatus: Perfect World, despite all its features and allure, just doesn’t cut it anymore. The game has lost its appeal, to me and my wife, right after our resignation from the clan we helped build. Oh, yes, we formed a new clan, Illuminati, so that we could stay in touch with good online friends, but as soon as they left the clan in search of excitement via joining other, more powerful clans, we suddenly found ourselves alone again.

So my wife decided to pack up her virtual bags and move to another game, Florensia. Unfortunately, her stint as a diminutive Saint was short lived. I’ve had a similar experience trying to juggle a few online games, including Perfect World, Requiem: Bloodymare, Grand Chase, and Atlantica. My characters remain at low levels, stagnant for a few days to a week, or until I give them the attention they deserve.

About a month ago, a friend, Rovil, approached me in the game Perfect World and asked me to join the Guardians Extension, a clan in Perfect World Philippines’ Tiger Server. Since I couldn’t move my main character, Werefox or Yaojing Malystryx, from the main clan of Guardians, I gave Rovil my second character, Calumet, an Elven Priest or Yuling.

On my first day as an officer of the Guardians Extension, however, I got into a row with another officer over the recruitment of members. I won’t divulge anymore the details of the argument, only that it resulted in my resignation from the clan. Fortunately, another friend, Mabel, offered me a position in her clan, TheSaints.

It turned out that the offer was the start of something good.

After Level Up! Games and Perfect World Co. Ltd. wiped the ownership of territories (meaning those clans that held territories had become landless), TheSaints bid for a territory and won. That was two weeks ago. Just recently, TheSaints got its first taste of a massacre, courtesy of Tiger Server powerhouse, clan Exiled. It took Exiled all of, what, six or so minutes to eliminate our hold over Carefree Path, one of the territories on the Perfect World map.

Fortunately, TheSaints took over another territory, Dragon Slope, from another fledgling clan, DyNasty. The battle, which took about two and a half hours, was long-drawn and very tiring. It was also very expensive, since I bought a couple of amulets (which regenerate hitpoints when it falls below 50 percent), a few hierograms (which fill up a character’s mana when it plummets to 75 percent), and hundreds of potions. But the pain to both my body and my wallet was worth it.

The only thing we have to worry about now is Exiled taking our territory again. It seems I need to force myself into being active again.

Screenshot taken by Joel from the online game Perfect World, developed by Perfect World Co. Ltd. and operated 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

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

As you may have noticed, my wife also plays MMORPGs, and it’s been quite a while since she has taken a liking to any of the new games I’ve been laying my hands on these past four or five months.

First, we rekindled our passion for our first MMORPG, Ragnarok Online. It was shortlived. My wife decided to keep playing Perfect World, leaving me saddled with the responsibility of leveling our twin Tika Waylans on Ragnarok Online Philippines’ free-to-play server, Valkyrie.

Then I dipped my grubby hands in Rising Force Online. She hated it. Oh, yeah, my wife used to play the game with me back in 2006, but she didn’t like the gameplay this second time ’round. Fortunately, when RF Online came out with a patch, Crimson Dawn, the update bogged down, prompting me to seek an installer. I haven’t found a working installer. Sigh.

Next, I went for the internationally hosted MMORPG Requiem Bloodymare. She found it too bloody and gory. Scratch three for Joel and his MMORPGs. I still play Requiem, though. Leveling is tough.

Fly For Fun? Nah. The wife didn’t even lift a finger when I showed her old characters in all their glory. Dekaron and Granado Espada? Mere distractions, not enough to spark her interest.

When she saw me playing Florensia, however, her attitude changed … dramatically. Now, she couldn’t let go of the computer on which Florensia is installed. Double sigh.

Three days into the game, she’s still at it, while my character, Ginebra, named after a popular brand of gin in this little tropical paradise, is stuck at Level 10. Her character, Cesky, is now Level 14. Gawd!

Lost and confused

Screenshots taken by Joel from the online game Florensia, developed by NetTimeSoft and published by Burda:ic GmbH.

Post from: MMOtaku