Dragon Quest VIII :Journey of the Cursed King: features, reviews

Dragon Quest (ドラゴンクエスト, Doragon Kuesuto?), published as Dragon Warrior in North America until the 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, is a series of role-playing gmaes produced by Enix (now Square Enix). Installments of the series have appeared on MSX computers, Famicom/NES, Super Famicom/Super NES, Game Boy Color, gmaes Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and Wii video game consoles, as well as on several models of mobile phone. As of December 19, 2007, the Dragon Quest series has sold over 43 million units worldwide. It is Square Enix's most successful franchise after Final Fantasy; although, Dragon Quest is arguably the most popular video gmaes franchise in Japan.

Dragon Quest's North American name was changed due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing gmaes DragonQuest, which was published by veteran war game publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons & Dragons until 1987. In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the US, signaling the end of the Dragon Warrior moniker.

Overview
During the mid-1980s, Dragon Quest was created by Yuji Horii, who has been the scenario director since. The series monster and character designs, as well as box art, were by famed Dragon Ball manga artist, Akira Toriyama. All of the music for the Dragon Quest series has been composed by Koichi Sugiyama. When Horii first created Dragon Quest, most people doubted that a fantasy series with swords and dungeons instead of science fiction would become popular in Japan, but the series has become a phenomenon there.

The first six Dragon Quest games' stories are divided into two trilogies. The first three games of the series tell the story of the legendary hero known as Roto (also known as Erdrick or Loto in the American NES and GBC versions, respectively). Dragon Quest IV-VI are based around a castle in the sky called Zenithia, and are referred to as the Tenku in Japan, meaning Heaven. The main series from Dragon Quest VII on are independent of each other and stand alone.

The games themselves feature a number of religious overtones--saving the gmaes (in later gmaes ) and reviving characters who have died is performed by clergy in churches. Bishops are often seen wandering around the overworld of Dragon Warrior Monsters and have the ability to heal. The final enemy in some of the Dragon Quest games is known as the Demon Lord. For instance, in Dragon Warrior VII, the Demon Lord, known as Orgodemir in that particular game, is the final boss, and there is also a sidequest to battle God himself.

Dragon Quest is such a cultural phenomenon in Japan that there are live-action ballets, musical concerts, and audio CDs based on the Dragon Quest universe. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has performed for several Dragon Quest music albums. It was the first video game series to have its music performed live by an orchestra. Since 1987, music from Dragon Quest has been performed annually in Japan in concert halls. In Japan, due to complaints of mass absenteeism from schools and places of work, Enix changed its policy of releasing new Dragon Quest gmaes on weekdays.


Outside Japan
Dragon Quest is not nearly as successful outside Japan, having been eclipsed by Final Fantasy and other RPG series. Because of Enix America Corporation's closure in the mid 1990's, Dragon Quest V and Dragon Quest VI were never officially released in North America. In Europe, none of the gmaes except Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King and Dragon Warrior Monsters have seen release. The lack of official localizations for Dragon Quest games has inspired many fan translation projects. The legal status of these translations, while untested in court, are considered to be illegal. The completed fan translation projects include Dragon Quest V and the Super Famicom remake of Dragon Quest I & II.

The first four Dragon Warrior titles suffered from substantial censorship in their North American localizations, largely in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines at the time, which placed severe restrictions on religious iconography and mature content. Both graphics and text were edited, replacing coffins with ghosts, crucifixes with five-point stars, and "Priest" with "Healer," to name but a few. The "puff-puff massage" scenario was also taken out of the first two games. However, the graphics, sound and menus of Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior II were given an upgrade for American release. When these games were remade for the Game Boy Color, many of these censorships were taken out. Since Dragon Warrior VII, the gmaes have been kept similar to their original versions when going through localization.

Only two titles in the series have been released in Europe. The first was Dragon Warrior Monsters published by Eidos Interactive; the second was Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, but the gmaes was marketed as Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King. However, the series is one of Square Enix's flagship titles, and it is currently planning to release at least four upcoming installments in the series outside Japan. With the Square Enix merge in 2003, the number of places that Dragon Quest gmaes are released has greatly increased.


Common elements

Gameplay

Typical battle from Dragon Warrior IIIThe Dragon Quest system is similar to the basis of the Ultima and Wizardry video gmaes systems, as well as gmaes like Final Fantasy, which came later. The game player's party walks into a town and buys weapons, armor, and items in order to defeat monsters easily. When the player's party is out of the town, the party is vulnerable to random monster attacks. When players encounter monsters, they have several options from which to choose through menus. The player can attack and defeat the enemy with weapons, magic, or items. The player can also attempt to run away from the fight. However, this option is not available during a boss battle. After a player wins a battle by defeating all the monsters, the player's party members gain experience points (EXP) in order to gain new levels. When a certain character gains a new level, the stats of the character are upgraded.

When the player's party dies in battle, the group will lose half of their gold and the leader of the party warps back to the nearest church. The leader then needs to pay a priest to revive his/her party members. More recent gmaes in the series have banks in many towns that allow the player to store gold, which prevents it from being lost when the party dies.

To save one's progress, the player must visit a Church (also known as a House of Healing in early North American versions) and talk to a priest or nun. In early versions of Dragon Quest, the player must visit a king in order to save his or her progress (this does not include the first two Dragon Quest titles for the Famicom, which use a password system).

Dragon Warrior III, Dragon Quest VI, and Dragon Warrior VII feature several classes to choose for the party members. Typical classes include the fighter, paladin, and mage. Each installment possesses its own particular set of classes.

The typical Dragon Quest plot involves a certain villain to be defeated at the end of the gmaes , usually one who threatens the world in some way. However, the plotline often consists of smaller stories involving different NPC's the player meets as the adventure goes on.


Monsters

Rocket, a slime starring in Dragon Quest Heroes.The series features several recurring monsters, such as Slimes, Drackies, Shadows, Mummies, Trick Bags, and Dragons. Many of the monsters have been designed by Akira Toriyama. Many of the Dragon Quest monsters have been featured in the Dragon Quest Monsters series of gmaes , which allows the player to catch monsters and use them in battle. This idea is also used in Dragon Quest V, although humans fight in battle as well.

The official mascot of the Dragon Quest series is the Slime. A Slime is a small blob with a face, shaped like an onion or Hershey's Kiss. It has appeared in every Dragon Quest game and it is usually one of the first monsters the player encounters. The Slime's popularity has netted it two spinoffs: Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. They also make a significant showing in the Japanese manga and two-episode anime Dragon Half.

In 1989, a manga was published by Enix called Dragon Quest Monster Story, which had nothing to do with Dragon Quest Monsters. This book featured short stories about various Dragon Quest monsters and came with a poster that featured the "families" of monsters.


Recurring Themes

Loto
Loto, also known as Roto or Erdrick (in the NES localizations) (Japanese: ロト), is a legendary hero from the Dragon Quest series. The first three Dragon Quest games make up the "Loto trilogy," which are all connected to the legend of Loto. He is known in the game as the hero who freed Alefgard from darkness. The name Erdrick was first mentioned in the English localization, Dragon Warrior in which the player is referred to as Erdrick's descendent. Erdrick’s legend was completed with the 1991 release of Dragon Warrior III.

In Dragon Warrior, Loto was the ancestor of the Hero. The Hero follows in the footsteps of Loto to ultimately reach the Dragonlord's Castle and confront the Dragonlord. In Dragon Warrior II, the heroes are descendants of Loto, and also of the Hero from Dragon Warrior. At the end of Dragon Warrior III, the King of Alefgard bestows upon the Hero “the Order of Loto”, the country’s highest honor reserved only for true heroes. While this implies Loto is merely a title, it is possible to name the Hero Loto at the beginning of Dragon Warrior III. In Dragon Warrior III, the origins of the hero Loto are revealed; therefore, the chronological order of the first three games is III, I, II.

The Hero, originally known as Erdrick to many English-speaking players, is also known by two other names. In the original Japanese language games (Dragon Quest), Erdrick is known exclusively by the name Roto, which is also used by some import gamers. Another romanization of the name is Loto, which was used in place of Erdrick when Enix America, Inc. re-released Dragon Warrior I, II, and III on the Game Boy Color. This was most likely used because the Japanese language does not distinguish between L and R.

In the original Final Fantasy, Square parodies Dragon Quest by displaying a grave for Erdrick in the town of Elfland. In retaliation, Enix hid a Cid grave in Dragon Quest III. A parody of Erdrick's sword is wielded by Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy XII: it is referred to as the "Wyrmhero Blade" (In the Japanese version, it is called "Tolo Sword").


Zenithia
Zenithia, also called Zenith Castle or simply Zenith, is the name of a fictional sky castle from the series. The first appearance is in Dragon Warrior IV, and the castle is one of several elements from Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI which suggest the three games are linked as a trilogy; this group is often called the Tenkū (Japanese for Heaven), or the Tenkū no Shiro (Castle in the Sky) trilogy. A castle in the Dragon Warrior III remakes for Super Famicom/Game Boy Color is also called Zenith, though the layout differs from the castle from the Tenku series.

In Dragon Warrior IV, Zenithia can be accessed by climbing the Tower near Gottside, which goes as far up to the sky. It is directly above the entrance to the world of darkness. In Dragon Quest V, Zenithia has fallen into a lake south of Elheaven. This happened when the Golden Orb, half of a set of magical orbs that supported the castle in the sky, fell from its place. Once recovered and returned to Master Dragon, Zenithia will rise again. This time, the castle can move freely around the sky. In Dragon Quest VI, Zenith Castle is sealed away by Demon Lord Durran, and a giant hole is left behind in its place in the Dream World. After the Dream World returns to its natural state, Zenith Castle is the only part of it that can still be seen floating above the real world.

Square Enix has released the Celestial Sword (the Zenithian Sword) and Sword of Ramias as part of their Dragon Quest Legend Items series - miniature collectible toy replicas of artifacts from the Dragon Quest universe.


gmaes

Main series
Dragon Warrior — NES & MSX (1986) (As Dragon Warrior (1989) in North America)
Originally released in Japan as Dragon Quest
Remade for the Super Famicom in Japan 1993 as Dragon Quest I & II and for Game Boy Color in Japan in 1999 and in 2000 in North America as Dragon Warrior I & II (Dragon Quest I & II in Japan).
Released for Satellaview (1998) and as a cellular phone game (2004) in Japan.
Dragon Warrior II — NES & MSX (1987) (1990 in North America)
Originally released in Japan as Dragon Quest II Akuryo no Kamigami which translates to "Dragon Quest II Pantheon of Evil Spirits."
Remade for the Super Famicom in Japan 1993 as Dragon Quest I & II and for Game Boy Color in Japan in 1999 and in 2000 in North America as Dragon Warrior I & II (Dragon Quest I & II in Japan).
Dragon Warrior III — NES (1988) (1991 in North America)
Originally released in Japan as Dragon Quest III Soshite Densetsu e... which translates to "Dragon Quest III And Into the Legend..."
Remade for the Super Famicom (1996) and the Game Boy Color (2000).
Dragon Warrior IV — NES (1990) (1992 in North America)
Originally released in Japan as Dragon Quest IV Michibikareshi Monotachi which translates to "Dragon Quest IV The Guided Ones"
Remade for the PlayStation in Japan (2001).
Remade for the Nintendo DS. Released in Japan on November 22, 2007.
Dragon Quest V Tenkū no Hanayome — Super Famicom (1992)
Subtitle translates to "Bride of Heaven"
Never released outside of Japan.
Remade for the PlayStation 2 (2004) in Japan.
Remade for the Nintendo DS. Planned release in Japan on July 17, 2008.
Dragon Quest VI Maboroshi no Daichi — Super Famicom (1995)
Subtitle translates to "Land of Illusion"
Never released outside of Japan.
Remake for the Nintendo DS in development.
Dragon Warrior VII — PlayStation (2000) (2001 in North America)
Originally released in Japan as Dragon Quest VII Eden no Senshi-tachi which translates to "Dragon Quest VII Warriors of Eden"
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King — PlayStation 2 (2004) (2005 in North America, 2006 in Europe)
Originally released in Japan as Dragon Quest VIII Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi which translates to "Dragon Quest VIII The Sky, the Ocean, the Earth, and the Cursed Princess"
Released in PAL regions as Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King.
Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito
Subtitle translates to "Defenders of the Starry Sky"
In development for the Nintendo DS handheld system.
At a press conference in Japan celebrating the 20th anniversary of Dragon Quest, Square Enix announced that Dragon Quest IX is in development for the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system. The full title is reported to be Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Sky (or Protectors of the Starry Sky, depending on translation), and is the next main installment in the series by Level-5, not a spin-off or side quest. This will be the first installment of the series that will be exclusive to a handheld system rather than a home console. Notably, this would have also been the first installment to feature real-time combat as well as four player co-op over wi-fi, but it was later reported that the system had been changed back to a turn based format.

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It is considered a discountedgame since the price has dropped from $19.99 to $11.74. Click discountedgame astore for details.

Spinoffs
The franchise also includes several spin-off series, including Dragon Quest Monsters and Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest, as well as arcade games like the Japanese game Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road.

In 1993, Chunsoft created a Super Famicom game for Torneko Taloon, also known as simply Taloon to American gamers, a fictional character first appearing in Dragon Warrior IV. The game, titled Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon which loosely translates to Torneko's Great Adventure: Mysterious Dungeon, was a roguelike which continued Torneko's story from Dragon Quest IV, where he wished to make his store grow even further by venturing into mysterious dungeons and getting more items for stock. It was very successful, both on namesake and quality.


The Torneko gmaes use a roguelike battle system.A direct sequel to Torneko no Daibouken came out in Japan and the United States in 2000 called Torneko: The Last Hope. This game was very similar to the first, but it is considered much easier by comparison. It was received well enough in Japan to warrant a third direct sequel, on the PlayStation 2, titled Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon 3. Both the second and third Torneko games have been ported to the gmaes Boy Advance.

Following the success of Torneko, many other Fushigi no Dungeon games were published by various companies (most of which developed by Chunsoft), among the best known are Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon and Nightmare of Druaga: Mysterious Dungeon. The most recent additions to the genre are Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and Dragon Quest Yangus.

A card-based arcade game, known as Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road and developed by Level-5, was released exclusively in Japan.

Finally, two spinoffs are played by physically swinging a controller using it as a sword to slash enemies among other things. Kenshin Dragon Quest is a stand alone gmaes which comes with the a toy sword as the controller, and a toy shield containing the gmaes 's hardware. Dragon Quest Swords is an exclusive Wii title which uses the motion sensing abilities of the Wii Remote similarly.


Development
Yuji Horii, Akira Toriyama, and Koichi Sugiyama are the three most well known creators of the Dragon Quest series. Each of them has worked on each of the main games and are treated almost as celebrities in Japan.

In 1982, Enix sponsored a national video game programming contest, which brought much of the Dragon Quest team together, including Yuji Horii. The prize of the competition was a trip to America, and a visit to AppleFest '83 in San Francisco, where Horii discovered Wizardry. Koichi Nakamura and Yukinobu Chida, two other winners of the contest, along with Horii, released The Portopia Serial Murder Case for the Famicom for Enix. Sugiyama, already famous for jingles and pop songs, impressed with the group's work, sent a postcard to Enix, commenting on the software. In response, Enix asked him to write music for some of their gmaes . The group then decided to make a console role-playing game, using a combination of Wizardry and Ultima. Akira Toriyama, who knew Horii through Shonen Jump, was commissioned to illustrate the characters and monsters to separate the game from other RPGs of the time and the Dragon Quest "team" was born.

Dragon Quest gmaes have been developed by Chunsoft, Heartbeat, Artepiazza, and starting with Dragon Quest VIII, Level-5. Horii's own company, Armor Project, is in charge of the Dragon Quest gmaes, which were published by Enix and now Square Enix. While Toriyama is the series' character designer, the primary designs are first conceived by Horii, before being handed to Toriyama to re-draw under Horii's supervision.


Reception
Dragon Quest is often regarded as the most popular video gmaes series in Japan. Most of the gmaes in the main series as well as the spinoff games have sold over a million copies, some even selling over four million, and sell very quickly. For instance, the remake of Dragon Quest V sold 1.3 million copies in Japan in its first two days, which is a very high number for a remake. In 2006, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu readers voted on the hundred best video games of all time. Dragon Quest III came in third, Dragon Quest VIII came in fourth, Dragon Quest VII came in ninth, Dragon Quest V came in eleventh, Dragon Quest IV came in fourteenth, Dragon Quest II came in seventeenth, Dragon Quest came in thirtieth, and Dragon Quest VI came in thirty-fourth.

Although the game is a phenomenon in Japan, the game never garnered as much attention in North America. Although the first four gmaes to come to America generally received good reviews, it was not until Dragon Warrior VII was released did Dragon Quest become critically acclaimed there. One of the main aspects of the series that critics point out, either positively or negatively, is that the series "never strays from its classic roots". Unlike other modern, complex RPGs, Dragon Quest retains the simple gameplay from the first game, which many critics find refreshing and nostalgic. Other critics feel differently about the series, however, and claim that the story, characters, and gameplay have become boring and redundant over the years.

The original Dragon Quest gmaes is often claimed to be the birth of the console role-playing gmaes , despite the fact that many others consider Final Fantasy "more important." Dragon Warrior was listed on GameSpot's list of the 15 most influential gmaes of all time, calling it the "most influential role-playing game of all time" and stated that nearly all RPGs today have roots in its gameplay

Halo- A Legend for the gameplay | discountedgame 3

games
Box art for Halo: Combat Evolved There are several games that comprise the Halo series, which centers around the story of a trilogy of games . The three main games in the series were released in chronological order, with each new installment following the events of the previous installment. There are also several sequels planned to continue the series.


Main trilogy
The series began with Halo: Combat Evolved, the first Halo video games in the trilogy. It was released as an exclusive Xbox title on November 15, 2001. The games introduced many of the common themes in the series. Players battle various aliens on foot and in vehicles as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo. A PC port was developed by Gearbox Software and released on September 30, 2003. A Mac OS X version was released on December 11, 2003. A stand-alone expansion, entitled Halo: Custom Edition, was released solely for the PC and allowed players to create custom content for the games.

Halo 2, the sequel to Combat Evolved, was released on the Xbox on November 9, 2004 in two different editions. The standard Halo 2 edition has traditional Xbox packaging and a single disc with the single-player and multi-player components. The Collector's Edition has a specially designed aluminum case, along with an additional bonus DVD, extra booklet and slightly different user manual. Unlike its predecessor, the games fully supports online multi-player via Xbox Live and held the top spot for the most played games on Xbox Live for two years until the release of Gears of War It also still holds the record for the longest streak as the number one game on Xbox Live. A PC port for the Windows Vista operating system was later released by an internal team composed of both Microsoft games Studios and Bungie Studios called "Hired Gun".

Halo 3 is the third games in the Halo series and ends the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved. The games was released on the Xbox 360 on September 25, 2007 in North America and Oceania, September 26, 2007 in Europe, and September 27, 2007 in Japan. The games features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, the Forge map editor (which allows the player to perform modifications to levels), and file sharing.


Spin-offs and sequels
The success of the main trilogy has spurred the creation of sequels, as well as spin-offs. Halo Wars is a real time strategy games being developed by Ensemble Studios for the Xbox 360 that takes place before Halo: Combat Evolved in the year 2531. Ensemble claims that particular effort has been put into a control scheme that is simple and does not have the control issues many other titles had when porting real time strategy games from PC to consoles. The games was announced at X06, where a pre-rendered trailer was shown. At E3 2007, a montage of gameplay clips featuring many aspects of Halo Wars was shown, followed by a demonstration video on the official site.

Halo: Chronicles, originally announced on September 27, 2006 at X06 as an untitled project, will be a 'new trilogy' of Halo games. These titles are to be co-written, co-designed and co-produced by Peter Jackson, with his recently formed Wingnut Interactive. The series has been confirmed to be episodic. A Halo-based character, Nicole Spartan-458, has also appeared in fighting game Dead or Alive 4 as the result of collaboration between Tecmo's Team Ninja and Microsoft's Bungie Studios.

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Halo 3 is considered a discountedgame since the price has dropped from $59.99 to $28.95. Click discountedgame astore for details.
Halo 2 is considered a discountedgame since the price has dropped from $19.99 to $8.48. Click discountedgame astore for details.
Halo Combat Evolved is considered a discountedgame since the price has dropped from $14.99 to $9.99 to $4.39. Click discountedgame astore for details.

Music
Three soundtracks, composed by Martin O'Donnell, have been released based on the Halo game series. The Halo Original Soundtrack contains most of the music found in the game. Due to the varying nature of gameplay, the music present was designed to use the game's dynamic audio playback engine. The engine allows for the mood, theme, and duration of music played to change according to gameplay. To afford a more enjoyable listening experience, O'Donnell rearranged some of the music of Halo into standalone suites, which follow the narrative course of the gmaes. The soundtrack also contains music that was never in the gmaes, including a variation on the Halo theme that was first played at Halo's debut at Macworld 1999.

For Halo 2's soundtrack, producer Nile Rodgers and O’Donnell decided to split the music into two separate volumes. The first, Volume One, was released on November 9, 2004 and contained all the themes as well as the “inspired-by” music present in the game (featuring Incubus, Hoobastank, and Breaking Benjamin). The second release, Volume 2, contained the rest of the music, much of which was incomplete or not included in the first soundtrack, as the first soundtrack was shipped before the game was released; the second volume was released on April 25, 2006. Halo 2, unlike its predecessor, was mixed to take full advantage of Dolby 5.1 Digital Surround Sound.

The soundtrack for Halo 3 was released on November 20, 2007. O'Donnell noted he wanted to bring back the themes from the original game in order to help tie together the end of the trilogy. The tracks are presented, similarly to the previous soundtrack for Halo 2, in a suite form. Unlike previous soundtracks, where much of the music had been synthesized on computer, the soundtrack for Halo 3 was recorded using a 60-piece orchestra, along with a 24 voice chorus and was recorded by the Northwest Sinfonia at Studio X in Seattle, Washington.


Development

History
The first Halo game was announced on July 21, 1999, during the Macworld Conference & Expo.It was originally planned to be a real-time strategy games for the Mac and Windows operating systems, but later changed into a third person action gmaes . On June 19, 2000, Microsoft acquired Bungie Studios and Halo: Combat Evolved became an exclusive title for the Xbox video games console.After receiving Xbox development kits, Bungie Studios rewrote the game's engine, heavily altered its presentation, and turned it into a first-person shooter. Though the first Halo was meant to include an online multiplayer mode, it was excluded because Xbox Live was not yet available.The success of the game led to a sequel, Halo 2, which was announced on August 8, 2002 at the Microsoft's New York X02 press event. It featured improved graphics, new weapons, and a multiplayer mode on Xbox Live.Halo 3 was announced at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo.The initial conception for the third game was done before Halo 2 was released in 2004. It utilized a proprietary, in-house graphics engine, and employed advanced graphics technologies.

Age of Conan

Age of Conan
(commonly abbreviated as AoC) is an upcoming fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) developed by Funcom for PC and the Xbox 360. Funcom has stated the release date is to be May 20, 2008, for the PC version
with the Xbox 360 version to follow later in 2009. Age of Conan began internal beta testing in Summer 2006, and opened the beta registration process on April 3, 2007.

Hyborian Adventures is the first installment in the planned Age of Conan series that will include expansion packs hinted at on the official forums. The Age of Conan series is set in the Hyborian Age, a fantasy setting created by Robert E. Howard in 1932. Age of Conan itself takes place within the continent of the Hyborian kingdoms, a year after the events depicted in Howard's sole Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon. Hyborian Adventures' release will celebrate the 76th anniversary of the Conan franchise.

Like other MMO games, there will be a subscription fee. The official site states that you can play all the way up to level 20 out of a possible 80 level cap (levels 1-20 being the single player portion of the game) completely free of charge. Each player gets 30 days free when they start out, and that free-trial period does not start until the player chooses to enter the MMO portion of the games. The price of an 'Age of Conan Playtime Card' is $29.99 for two months (or $14.99 a month) proving that the speculation that the fee is the 'MMO standard' was correct. There is no life-time subscription availible, except to the 1st place winner of a recent contest that includes a prize package including a autographed Collector's Edition copy of the game and a life-time subscription fee to the game. Everyone else will need to pay the standard $15 a month in order to play online.

There is also a slated Age of Conan Fantasy Battle gmaes in development by Mongoose Publishing and an Age of Conan Strategy Board games published by Nexus Editrice.

games Overview
In development since 2003, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an upcoming online action role-playing games based on the Conan the Cimmerian stories written by Robert E. Howard in the early 1930s. The game is being developed for the PC and the Xbox 360 by Funcom, the creators of the science fiction MMORPG Anarchy Online and the adventure gmaes The Longest Journey. While the games appears to be a semi-traditional (Only semi because some of the ways the gmaes actually work, for example it does not have the traditional "click and hotkey" combat system or general exploration system) MMORPG, Funcom prefers using the term "online action RPG" instead.

When first entering the world of Hyboria, the games is divided into two sections: In the first section you can choose if you want to play alone or with other players. At night, the gmaes is a single-player-experience, while at day it is a multiplayer-experience. Switching between the two is done by sleeping in an inn. This whole first part is done on an island called Tortage. When you reach level 20, you are allowed to leave the island and thus the second section takes the character created during the first portion to a whole new environment. The online world promises to be dynamic, as players may form guilds (player organizations), conquer territories and erect cities which are vulnerable to attacks by humanoid NPCs.

Originally the Tortage-part was going to be a full single-player-experience, but that has now been changed.
One of the primary attractions of Age of Conan is the "Real Combat" system, which promises greater player interaction during combat than previously seen in online role-playing games . The player is able to direct the swings of their character's weapon during combat to attack six separate target zones. Funcom has stated that this system will be easy to learn even for veteran MMORPG players who are used to "click and wait" combat; however, the specific details of this system have yet to be unveiled. In order to utilize the combat mechanics, the player will use 5 keys; 1, 2, 3, Q, and E. Other features will include battle formations, which impart bonuses to the group using them, and mounted combat, which will also use the "Real Combat" engine.

Funcom is focusing on developing content for the "end games," the time at which characters have reached maximum advancement, rather than the "grind" and promises a fast levelling process. Funcom has also promised the graphic nature of Robert E. Howard's short stories will not be toned down for the game.

Age of Conan has also recently been given a Mature 17+ rating. This can be seen on their latest video of a new region in games.

gamaes Characters
Characters in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures are created via a user account on an online server. Characters created on one server are not usable on another; however, Funcom is planning to have a server transfer process for characters after the game is launched. Players create characters which function as their virtual avatars in the online world of Hyboria. When creating a character in Age of Conan, the player may choose from three playable races. The character is one of four archetypes (in bold) and one of three class selections for each archetype. There have been hints of more playable races with expansions.

A screenshot of the character creation and extensive customization featured in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.Aquilonian Cimmerian Stygian
Rogue
Assassin
Ranger
Barbarian
Rogue
Ranger
Barbarian
Rogue
Assassin
Ranger

Priest
Priest of Mitra
Priest
Bear Shaman
Priest
Tempest of Set

Soldier
Guardian
Dark Templar
Conqueror
Soldier
Guardian
Dark Templar
Conqueror
Mage
Necromancer
Herald of Xotli
Demonologist


On January 18th, 2008, Ten Ton Hammer announced that the Lich and Scion of Set classes would be merged into other existing classes. While specific details are not yet available, the general announcement can be found here.

games Combat

A helmeted warrior attired in Aquilonian armor, with Picts riding mammoths in the background.From an IGN interview with game director Gaute Godager of Funcom:

“ We call the engine Real Combat, and it is based on six directions, or ways, of attacking an opponent with a sword. First, you can hack down against the head. Second, you can slash diagonally down from the right, while the third is slashing the same way from the left. Fourth, you can thrust against the torso. Fifth, you can slash diagonally up from the left, and sixth, you can slash diagonally up from the right. The point here is that these directions lend themselves naturally to being strung together in combinations. These combos unlock additional damage and faster combat, if done well.”

More than any other feature, combat is the prime attraction of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Funcom is determined to make the traditional Dungeons & Dragons-inspired "round-based" system of combat that is the current standard in RPGs obsolete. Instead Age of Conan will feature what Funcom has termed the "Real Combat" system. This system is a first-person melee approach in which every enemy starts with three different areas that players can swing at, with eventually five areas at the later levels. Players choose where they wish to swing along with which weapons. Spells, or techniques they wish to use are started by activating the combo via a button and then you must string together certain directions of successful attacks and then watch as their avatar completes the action. As players become better at using the system, they will find combinations of abilities, swing styles and target points that string together to make more devastating attack combos. While player stats and items bonuses will play a role in this system, the idea of "Real Combat" is to bring more player skill into MMO fighting.

Players will also have more fighting options than they may be used to in older MMOs. While the "Real Combat" system is the basis for one-on-one weapon battle, players will also use the system for spell-casting, ranged combat and even battling on horseback, mammoth-back, rhino-back, and camel-back (mounted combat). In some situations, however, players will choose to band together and unite their skills to face other bands of players or AI controlled armies or uber-mobs; in essence, "formations." While formations as originally intended are no longer in play, (no-one likes to lose control over their characters), it is now more location based effects for some classes (Stand in line with a Conqueror when he is running his formation, and you will have a great deal of resistance vs knockbacks for instance...)

Players will also take part in massive siege operations(confirmed). Adventurers can cooperate with one another to build massive cities with walls, towers and catapults that can protect player-owned taverns and merchant facilities. The world will respond appropriately to the rise of player cities, though, even AI controlled enemies will build their own cities, ensuring a constant stream of brutal city-vs.-city combat as players try to knock down enemy walls or defend their homes.

games Community
Player mounts in Age of Conan include horses, mammoths and rhinos.Due to the game being in rumored development since 2003, an online virtual community had steadily clustered around various fan websites regarding Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. By February 2005, this informal community was still going strong despite no true public announcement concerning the rumored game. Finally, Funcom and Conan Properties LLC jointly confirmed the in-development status of Age of Conan in an official press release on April 20, 2005. Shortly thereafter, a primitive game website debuted and thousands of Conan enthusiasts migrated from their fan sites to the new official forums hosted by Funcom. Many Anarchy Online fans also followed the development of the product due to the involvement of Funcom, who created the Anarchy Online PC series.

Between March 2005 and January 2006, Funcom periodically revealed concept art and screenshots from Age of Conan. The Art Director for the Conan project is Didrik Tollefsen, known for such classics as The Longest Journey and Anarchy Online - Shadowlands, which won the Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction award at RPG Vault in 2003.

On January 24, 2006, Funcom unveiled the community portal for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. By this time, much of the pre-launch community had gathered around the forums and IRC chat of the official Age of Conan website. There were informal events such as IRC chats with the developers and, in summer 2006, community contests.

In April 2006, Funcom created a Guild Hall for its pre-launch community and, within hours, forum members began organizing their "player guilds." These guilds consist of individuals who typically share the same playing styles and gmaes play opinions. In January 2007, several important updates were announced regarding class merges and the expected launch window for the games. On January 12th, Funcom announced the original twenty-three classes had been merged down to fourteen classes due to beta feedback.

On April 3, 2007, Funcom began its Beta Sign-Up program which attracted more than 100,000 gamers over the Easter holiday. Shortly thereafter, the "technical beta" phase began on April 27, 2007, and several hundred individuals from the Age of Conan online community began formal testing.

On January 14, 2008, despite earlier comments to the contrary, Pharamond posted on the official forums that there will be an Open Beta, with more details to be announced closer to release date.

On February 7, 2008, Funcom and Eidos announced that over 500,000 people had signed up for the Beta Testing of Age of Conan.

games Setting

An Aquilonian character in Age of Conan gazing at the snowy mountains of northern Cimmeria.From an OGaming interview with game director Gaute Godager of Funcom:

“ The [Hyborian Age] is like a dark, decadent, twisted and corrupt version of Euro-Asian history. Mix a bit of the Roman Empire, Mongolian culture and Babylonian mysticism with '30s-era myths of undiscovered Africa... ”

Age of Conan is set in a low fantasy, pseudo-historical ancient world called the Hyborian Age created by Robert E. Howard. In this world filled with cruel gods, mythical creatures, lost civilizations and a struggling human race, the mighty warlord Conan has finally seized the throne as king of Aquilonia. Yet King Conan's grip on the Aquilonian throne has become tenuous, with ancient evils threatening to throw the realm into chaos. In this twisted fantasy world, dark magic and brutal combat lurks around every corner, and each man and woman must carve their own unique destiny under Conan's reign. In the true vision of Robert E. Howard's dark universe, the time is ripe for those with the strength and will to carve out their own destinies.

The primitive brutality and decadent bacchanalia of the Hyborian Age is one of the unique attractions of Age of Conan due to its stark contrast to the high fantasy settings that typify the majority of contemporary MMOs such as EverQuest II, The Lord of the Rings Online and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. In Age of Conan, there are few of the elements that are common in high fantasy, such as elves, halflings, or Arthurian courtliness. Though one can have a fantasy setting with elves and the like and still be "Low Fantasy" as the defining factor is lack of moral dichotomy of altruistic good, and pure unredeemable evil, this is rarely, if ever, the case.

Instead, Hyboria is a land of neither good nor evil, but "moral shades of gray" in which Conan, himself, is a barbaric anti-hero and his enemies are, upon occasion, rightful princes or altruistic minstrels revolting against his militaristic autocracy. As such, this moral ambiguity and bloodthirsty atavism of R.E. Howard's Hyborian Age sometimes disconcerts newcomers to the lore who are accustomed to the classicist fantasy of authors like C.S. Lewis.

games Music
There are three principal individuals overseeing the music and audio for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The Audio Director is Morten Sørlie, who created the widely hailed soundtrack for Anarchy Online - Shadowlands. Sørlie is accompanied by sound designer Tord D. Nikolaisen, and composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen who is writing the musical score for the game. To create a fitting musical score for the Hyborian universe, composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen turned to many different sources. For the music of the different ethnic groups, Haugen studied traditional music from relevant parts of the world. For the overall theme of the Hyborian Age, Haugen researched its musical history, primarily Basil Poledouris' orchestral soundtrack to the Conan the Barbarian (1982) film, while avoiding conventions that connect too closely to specific historical periods.

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Technology
Funcom

Tortage City, the backwater capital of the Barrachan Isles, as seen in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. DreamWorld Engine
The DreamWorld graphics engine was developed by Funcom circa 2000. Other computer gmaes powered by DreamWorld technology include Anarchy Online and its various expansion packs. When Funcom began developing Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, the company reviewed its existing technology base and decided to focus on the further evolution of their proprietary DreamWorld engine as opposed to licensing a third-party engine like many online RPG companies do. As such, Funcom began to retool their engine with the overall design, pipeline and implementation process was taken into account. In light of these changes, the DreamWorld engine has been rebuilt for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures with new features, special effects and optimizations.


"Real Combat"
"Real Combat" is being touted by Funcom as a revolutionary approach to combat in online RPGs where the player is in direct control of the character's weapon strikes in real time. This multi-point melee and ranged combat system is purportedly easy-to-learn and is one of the prime attractions of the title. Allegedly, the "Real Combat" system will take the ritualized combat experience previously found in online RPGs in a new direction. For this system, Funcom has also added aspects such as formation combat, mounted combat, siege combat and hive combat.


games Cheetah
Cheetah is a shader-oriented proprietary render engine re-written from scratch by Funcom featuring a phong per pixel lighting system. This engine allows for improved graphics and ambience. This is coupled with a trapezoidal shadow system, an in-house system developed by Funcom that allows all objects to cast shadows onto everything.


Perlin noise-based cloud generating system
Perlin noise-based cloud generating system is a five-layered procedural system that enables multiple layers of dynamic clouds; thus, visually-realistic cloud behavior.

SpeedTree
SpeedTree is a programming package produced by Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. (IDV) that aims to produce high-quality virtual foliage in real time, suitable especially for video games but also aimed to a lesser extent at some other kinds of simulations. It has so far been licensed to a substantial number of video games developers, including developers of the Unreal engine series. SpeedTree is currently being used in several games, one of which is a MMO action gmaes World War II Online, and the renowned RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.


games DirectX 10
"Funcom is proud to be one of the few developers who is tapping into this technology, and we look forward to showing you even more of DirectX 10. Some of the improvements visible in the videos and the screenshots are improved parallax mapping, better lighting and more advanced shadows technology. DirectX 10 will also make it possible to have sharper textures, more details in every scene, longer view distances and much more."