Devilian: Placing Flowers On The Grave

 
Sunday night I hit level 50 in Devilian, and it seemed like a good place to quit. I really enjoyed this game. Whenever it was dull, new surprises, game modes, or pretty landscapes kept the interest level going.

The many dungeons were fun and well-tuned.

I chalked up Leonore on my Hall of Fame (characters) page. I went back to Hearthstone last night, still with a return to WoW on my mind. The action RPG genre isn’t a world I want to live in.

Hearthstone has a simpler, gentler enjoyment. There are no Brazilians calling me a stupid whore. There are no evil clown guild masters telling me to either get on Discord, or I’m kicked.

Devilian swept me into a beautiful dark world, and just as quickly to the cliff of looking down my elf nose at the human-kind, and just wanting to leave it all behind.

I’m sure Devilian’s social schemes work better in Asia.

So I don’t have too much to say, but I wanted to write a post-mortem. Syp also wrote a progress report today. I tried to friend Syp in-game (I think, unless someone took his name), but I couldn’t because the chat box drop-down bugged out.

The dropdown disappeared every time I tried to scroll down and click to add friend. The bugs really weren’t a killer. Everything is good and recommendable for what it is.

Like Syp, I really liked the floppy-ear pet that picks up loot for you. I could see myself wanting to pay for that service full time.

The most memorable bug was when I left the game running on the start screen for three or four hours, and the devil-girl’s breasts started heaving at some point with machine-like 10 x speed.

This was the nature of most bugs I saw – they only occurred after hours of playing.

I wish Trion the best of luck with success and profitability on Devilian. I’ve noticed a significant uptick of Rift guide traffic since Devilian launched, maybe showing that Trion’s ecosystem (Glyph) is also working well for them.

Devilian Headstart: Of Horns And Heroes (Mini-Review)

Devilian headstart was yesterday. Another doomsday has come to a devastated land (and to a bunch of overworked game developers at Trion). So it’s time to become a half-succubus and save everyone.

I’ve had a lot of fun leveling so far to 25. I got the same names as my characters in Rift (Leonore and Leonora), which is nice since character names are region-wide (NA or EU), not server-based. I bought the cheap $20 intro pack for head start access.

Today the game has been disrupted a few times for maintenance issues. Yesterday I saw three or four minor display issues that cleared when I restarted. Most of the typos and grammar issues have been cleaned up since beta.

The intro movie is now translated into English. It’s pretty good, and even delivered a few chills of anticipation. Part of the impact is the excellent Devilian soundtrack.

The game has a lot of quirky, unique characters with sometimes endearing and sometimes goofy voice-overs. The story is understandable and keeps you going.

You’re a half-devil, and the devils are the enemies to the humans, so some don’t like you. They still need you.

Devilian focuses a little more than normal on the player character and ego-stroking, and tries to make the non-player characters memorable by giving them unique roles or making them quirky. This economical strategy is delivered very well.

The anti-heroic stature of the “big bad” looks a little questionable at first glance. He isn’t a dragon though, which is refreshing, at least not yet.

The fun, smooth gameplay, combined with the interesting art and landscapes, added to the music, plus the mostly-nice UI and unique grouping features, are a formula that makes the game feel fresh enough and not like you’re doing the same old thing over again.

Since I’m happy enough with the limited but equal-opportunity character options (two male, two female classes, more are supposedly coming), the only things turning me off are too many currencies (although the local zone currencies are used very well), and the middle-screen alerts when another player gets a legendary/relic item.

I’m also not thrilled about the legions of animals that you have to slaughter, like the “Blood-Drinker Bear”. I didn’t like killing bunches of bears and boars, even while they converged to attack.

How would a bear feel if he watched humans play-slaughtering bears? I’m trying to think of a human equivalent in games to this racial conflict, and I can’t really. I haven’t played Postal.

I don’t enjoy killing animals, so maybe I’m making progress in being more like a real-life elf. Devilian is supposed to launch free-to-play for all today, and it’s well worth checking out.

Weekly Wyrm: Trion Livestream, Devilian Etc.

This week I finished part one of Life is Strange, got halfway through Act 2 of Diablo 3, went from level 35 to 55 in Guild Wars 2, and played some Devilian Beta.

I’m not motivated to advance past level 30 in Devilian. The beta characters will be wiped before launch, which is expected by the end of the year. So I focused on watching the Friday official livestream.

Drewcifer (producer for Devilian NA/EU) mentioned not wanting to launch against Star Wars, and also implied a reluctance to go against all the current big releases this month in November.

Since Star Wars ep. 7 is December 18, and Battlefront is this coming week on the heels of Fallout 4 and Black Ops, this kitty guesses Devilian in 3-4 weeks after Thanksgiving.

Drewcifer said a new super-momentous producer letter will be released in the coming days, to be discussed next Friday on the next livestream. So I’d guess we get a release date.

Trion also mentioned some new team members on Devilian. I’ve started working on a newbie guide, but I’m just trying to learn the game myself at this point. So we’ll see.

Anyone can supposedly join the beta this weekend by buying the $20 starter pack.

Victoria Voss said if you’re interested in streaming Devilian, please contact them via the forums, and they will help you get set up.

Drewcifer said there was nothing they can do about the gender-locked classes, which is the most criticized feature at this point. The devs said there is no chance of doing opposite genders for each class, but they mentioned a possibility of adding variations of classes with the opposite gender.

More classes are coming to Devilian in the coming months, which is more than Elder Scrolls Online can say 18 months after launch. One new class was previewed recently, and it’s a great addition to the female selection.

The two current female options are cute and cuter, so the bad girl theme is a really good idea, as is melee. For the sake of the game, a wizard or ranger type for the guys seems even better.

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Rift

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In the Rift livestream, the devs mentioned they are bringing the Sparkle Quest back, along with Rift patch 3.5, which will include Fae Yule. Last year’s Sparkle Quest was a weekly where you did all sorts of Rift content, and you could get a random piece of tier gear.

This time will not be a weekly that turns all players magically into insane hamsters. You can only do it once for a tier 3 piece. You’ll be able to choose if you want DPS/heal or tank gear. It’s still random between those two types. No weapons this time. Only armor and accessories.

Patch 3.5 will also bring upgrades to PvP gears, PvP convenience improvements, and a button on the crafting panel that lets you jump directly to the correct component to buy in the store. Now that’s some seasonal joy!

Also, all mounts can now be made amphibious, but they still need to be unlocked. The devs went to great efforts to do this, and they need fat paychecks for their NorCal rent. Trion is also hiring, but they apparently need lots of senior and director people.

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Personal

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This week I was also reading and uploading new versions of my books to stamp out typos. It’s depressing that I made so many mistakes in my final attempt to be perfect. The editor has been flogged.

At least two succubus-focused reviewers may be looking at my books soon, so I’m also marketing more towards the succubus theme at this point. I’m advertising for that on a super-secret bad girl blog.

It’s secret, but I have 750 followers on that blog. How does that happen? Believe it or not, video games are not the most popular online topic.

Today I tried to make sushi. I made the rolls ok, but the rice tasted horrible. I’m still burping up that fake crab leg crud. The sweet potato roll was more promising. I’ll try to do better next time, senpai.

Happy Friday, and happy gaming.

Devilian: Trion Livestream 07/31

Yesterday I watched the Trion livestream for a few hours, which attracted a crowd of about 500. Trion showed off their new Warfront for Rift, which looks fun and different.

You’re attacking and defending back and forth, trying to beat the other team’s time and use nasty environmental traps to your advantage. I took a few casual notes on the Devilian part of the livestream, and here they are:

• No really, Devilian is an MMO more than a Torchlight or a Diablo.
• Trion is still planning on a Q4 2015 release.
• Devilian has great writing with humor, and that’s part of what made it a great game overseas. Trion just hired a well-known writer (who the Trion devs didn’t want to name yet) to tweak and work the translation to English from Korean (among other things?) I really want to see this. Claims of great writing put a lock on playing this game.
• This is an M-rated game.
• A big game change from the Korean is making sure PvP is skill-based and not gear based. (Pay-to-win gear-based power in PvP is common is Asia.)
• They also showed a cosmetic Corgi that seemed to have storage, and clarified that Ginno Games (maker of Devilian) actually had the Corgis before their Trion alliance.
• There is a polar bear mount, tiger, and some sort of floating wind serpent mount.
• All character classes sit on mounts differently and have different dances.
• The character classes will be staying gender locked, despite a lot of debate. It’s just as easy to make an entire new class (which is currently happening) as to make a new gender for one of the existing classes.
• Trion’s F2P design goal in general: When a player buys something, they should want to buy. They shouldn’t feel forced to buy. The golden rule is shortcuts, cosmetics, and convenience.

This month is Blaugust, which means some bloggers will be writing every day this month. This kitty is a Nanowrimo veteran, so I’ll stick with novelist snobbery. I’m looking forward to reading a lot more blogging, though.

Sympathy For The Devil: A Look At Devilian

Today I signed up for the Devilian beta (I think), navigating a number of broken buttons and website errors.

Trion’s ship looks creaky, with lots of hate in recent Devilian commentary. Devilian is Trion’s new effort to bring another Asian MMO to the west.

A lot of gamers will never play another Trion game after the bitter free-to-play experience in Archeage. I’ve always thought the best of Trion, but they’ve fallen.

Like angels.

I spent some hours watching videos and reading articles on Devilian. This Korean action RPG seemed random at first, maybe a gap-filler in Trion’s game stable. This is far from reality. Scott Hartsman has a plan.

(And so does Celestrata aka Sara Brennan from Turbine, who apparently now is a Trion employee. Congrats!)

As Trion’s spokesperson said in the Gamespot interview with Trion, the “hook” for the game is the social content. The dungeons, raids, guilds are very robust, along with world bosses, guild alliances. There is an aggressive gift-giving system. It pays to be popular.

MMORPG mentioned an Abyssal Tower Tournament. This massive tower has 100 floors, and each level of it gets progressively harder. The farther you go within, the more loot and rewards you get. It’s competitive PVE, with the people who get the farthest and the fastest getting the most rewards on the leaderboards.

I love public dungeons like this. There are also Rift-type events that spawn landscape monsters.

MassivelyOP reported that Scott Hartsman was deeply impressed with Devilian’s social features. So it seems Devilian plans to succeed with the same formula that helped Rift succeed: a heavy emphasis on grouping up both planned and unplanned.

Scientific studies show that grouping up releases pleasure chemicals in the brain, which is devilish in itself, Manugo-esque. It’s no accident that the Trion team identified these strengths of Devilian and chose to publish the game. I hope it’s successful. (And I hope I can get a beta invitation so maybe I can write a new guide.)

Here are some more features of Devilian, gleaned from the above linked sources as well as an excellent post by DMKano in the MMORPG forums.

• Similar to Diablo 3, but is first and foremost an MMO.
• Quest driven game with a story-line.
• You can spec many ways to customize your character.
• End game has alternate advancement.
• Your equipment can also level up later on.
• You can break down loot and use it to craft.
• You’re a devilian–a half-human, half-devil shifter.
• Guilds can level up and bestow perks on their members.
• Guilds can form alliances to fight world bosses or defend against enemy guilds.
• Yes, there are guild wars, completely consensual.
• Rift-style instant adventures called eternal hunting grounds.
• You are surrounded by 100s of players everywhere.
• Mounts and pets.
• Socketed gear is similar to Diablo.
• Collectible card deck system that gives passive bonuses.
• Can be played casually (i.e. 15 minute popcorn) to hardcore.
• 4 classes – Berserker, Elementalist, Assassin and Gunner
• Each one has three specialization trees.
• PvP 20v20 and 3v3 matches.

This game might appeal to me. I liked Aion for quite a while. It doesn’t take much to ruin a game for me though. I quit playing Guild Wars 2 when I found out my main (Guardian) was destined to become a ‘Dragonslayer’ (the new advanced class.)

Imagine if every western game featured giant pandas because EVERYONE loves pandas. Pandas sell games. Everyone wants to fight huge evil pandas, right?! That’s how I feel about dragons.

Devilian has only four gender locked classes, and apparently it puts a hundred players on the screen at once, to underscore how generic you are.

This is concerning, but maybe it’s par for the course for today’s action RPG players. I wouldn’t know. The release of Devilian is planned before end of 2015. We’ll have to wait and see.

I’m still cheering for Hartsman and Trion, in any case.

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More Reading

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Devilian Official Website
MMORPG Player Write-Up On The Korean Beta (Recommended)
MMORPG Article