E-Games Adds Runes of Magic To Their Gaming Roster

Philippines' premier online game publisher E-Games has yet again acquired a new game that is sure to spark the interest of all gamers and make non-gamers try their hand out at their new MMORPG, Runes of Magic.





Runes of Magic a classic-styled MMORPG which features a gameplay that is familiar to hardcore gamers while at the same time easy enough to pick up for those who want to try out their luck in the world of gaming.







Short Introduction to Runes of Magic


In Runes of Magic players explore and discover a magical realm full of wonders and ancient riddles. On their way from simple novice to famous hero, they will always be accompanied by magical runes and potent oracles which are fragments of the divine book Taborea. In Runes of Magic players should use the rune stone wisely, for they might also lure them to a path of destruction. But legend has it, that he, who embraces the oracle and acquires its might, will gain absolute power over the future. It is now up to the player, to write on the history of the world.








Features


1. Free2play: no monthly fees, free to download
2. Regular updates with new content, e.g. classes, races, game modes and much more
3. Extensive dual class system with six primary classes and a selectable secondary class.
4. Versatile spell and attack combinations
5. Over 1000 quests and comprehensive quest series with continuous storyline
6. Integrated into an enthralling background story
7. Freely accessible game world in atmospheric 3D
8. Instanced and persistent dungeons
9. Individually developed skills and spells
10. Armor sets with special bonuses
11. Dynamic item system: Upgrades with hundreds of runes
12. Activatable PvP system (Player vs. Player duels) with arena battles and guild wars
13. Server vs. server PvP
14. Ranking system: ranking lists
15. Mounts: various unique mounts
16. Epic crafting system with the chance to improve existing items
17. Housing from the beginning: personalization of houses through individual furnishing
18. Guild houses in special zones
19. Reputation system
20. Scalable user interface based on the users preference (development of ones own add-ons possible)
21. In-game map and radar system to find dealers, resources and quests easily
22. Auction house: auction off and purchase in-Game items
23. Controlling with mouse (point & click) and/or keyboard (WASD or arrow keys) is possible


Character Classes


Six classes stand ready to face the challenges of Taborea. Brave warriors, skillful scouts, agile rogues, wise magicians, noble knights and holy clerics investigate myths and legends in the shadows of ancient rune magic. In later stages of game-play every class can learn a second class.



Wild beasts in battle

Warriors feel comfortable in the thick of things - be it tavern or battle. Most of the time one leads to the other anyway. They meet every challenge with courage and a loyal blade.



Wanderers of the vast continents

Scouts treasure the silence and the vastness of the wild, where their tracking and sniping skills turn them into dangerous hunters. Many a prey realizes this too late.



The agile weasels

Rogues feel at ease in the cities with their narrow alleys. Only in the cities they find the life and drive they seek. It is there where badly watched over purses can be found and a dagger is the weapon of choice.



Masters of elements

Normally magicians only grudgingly leave their teaching parlors, but on their quest to perfect understanding of the elements they are drawn again and again to ancient places in the hope to recover long-forgotten knowledge.



Medium of wonders

Clerics are sent out by their god to help the faithful and spread the glory of the religion. Heretics and other enemies of the faith on the other hand will get to know their darker side.



The steel wall

To maintain the holy law is the first priority for every knight. That is the reason they travel through the world ever ready to protect the weak and to defeat all threats they encounter.



Master of Plants

The Wardens serve as guardians of nature. In times of peace it is their responsibility to ensure that the rules are abided to which in turn preserve the forests of Taborea, the Elves’ natural habitat.



Dominator over Natures Might

Druids take on the function of priests in Elven society. They are the custodians of the knowledge which the Elves have gathered about the forces of nature.





Getting Started


Before you begin your epic adventure; you must first choose a class. The six available classes include the Knight, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Scout, and Warrior. Because I like bludgeoning people to death with melee weapons, the Warrior class and his tanking skills suited me perfectly. Those that like casting offensive magic would do well picking the Mage. Those that prefer using defensive magic and healing spells will probably fancy the Priest. Players that favor the speediest and most accurate fighters will find a lot to like with the Rogue class. Those that enjoy shooting down their opponents from a distance with bows and arrows should pick the Scout class. Finally, the Knight class is great if you want access to exclusive equipment and heavy armor.

What Runes of Magic offers is a huge variety of quests. Sometimes you will encounter a short mission where a non-playable character will simply ask you to deliver a message to a person on the other side of town or sometimes NPCs will ask you to take down multiple monsters in a distant cave. This variance in quest length breaks up the monotony of doing the same things over and over again. However, players looking for innovative or meaningful story-driven quests all of the time might want to look elsewhere as the quests in Runes of Magic aren't always intricate and are, for the most part, pretty light-hearted. One NPC had me killing 10 beetles so that I could use their eyes to make delicious soup; "a delicacy," he called it.





The world in Runes of Magic, Taborea, isn't terribly original and, for the most part, relies on conventional high-fantasy concepts to create a cohesive setting. Throughout the vast landscapes, you've got forests, mines, castles, windmills, small rural villages, and more. One aspect of Taborea I liked is that each area looks quite distinct. The terrain might be filled with rolling hills, small valleys, rivers, snow-covered mountains, and more. Each layout is different, and so the regions do stick out from one another. The deeper you go in Taborea, the more dangerous monsters you will encounter. Discovering new baddies for the first time in an unknown environment adds to the effect that you're entering a new part of the world.

The combat in Runes of Magic is pretty standard. You can initiate your standard melee attacks via a double click on the enemy. In addition, you can set your classes' specialized skills to hotkeys. Picking the Warrior, I was able to use special slash attacks, steroid-like buffs, and more. These moves come with differing levels of cool down times. I enjoyed lining these moves up in an effective order so that my chains would do the most damage in the least amount of time possible. As you level up, you will earn new skills that you can add to your arsenal. You can level up through pure grinding, but I found that the most efficient way to gain experience is by doing quests. Luckily, there are tons of quests out there, including daily quests which allow you to tackle quests you've already completed.





While the challenge level in Runes of Magic is pretty balanced, there are some monsters that are impossible to take down by your lonesome. Some bosses will require a small army of brave soldiers to overcome. While I had plenty of fun playing by myself, I found hooking up with others wasn't all that difficult. With the simple click of the right mouse button, you can ask others to join your party or become your friends. From my experience playing Runes of Magic, most people are generally doing their own things, so if you want to go around questing with other people, you should probably join a guild.

When you fight in a party, the experience gained is shared. This means that a low level noob can team up with a higher level player and quickly gain levels as the more experienced one does all of the handy work. You can accept quests together or one player can simply help out the other player complete his personal quest. To do this effectively, players will need to communicate with each other. They can do that easily through the game's built-in party chat system. In addition, locating your ally is also easy as the game's mini-map shows you their whereabouts. When fighting together as a party, you can increase the team's synergy by casting defensive spells on them or trade items with them to keep their equipment from going dull.






Runes of Magic allows players to choose a secondary character class. This option opens up at level 10. Because my Warrior took a lot of shots to the head, I decided to go with the Priest as my secondary class so I could heal myself. What makes the sub-class feature interesting is that you need to level up each class individually. Players can strengthen their secondary class by switching it to their primary class. While the game allows you to duel wield classes, you won't be able to use all of your primary and secondary class skills at the same time. Rather, each class has exclusive skills, which can only be used when they are set to the primary class, and general skills, from which players can draw on as a secondary class. Because I like to bash things constantly, I largely ignored my Priest side, and therefore my heal ability was pretty weak. But, however you want to level your character is up to you.

Another thing that players can open up after level 10 is the Arcane Transmutor. This optional ability allows players to combine magical stones together to form rarer stones which you can embed into your gear and armor. This device won't appeal to everyone because it does require some serious, specific loot searching and online FAQ reading, but it will definitely interest hardcore RPG players who will do anything to acquire the best equipment.







Rounding out the things you need in an MMO nowadays is a player vs. player system. In North America, Runes of Magic currently features one open PvP server. While you can still participate in the regular NPC quests on this server, defeating human players does not level you up. Rather, the game features an interesting reputation system for PvP. At level 15, you will be able to become a player killer. If you constantly pick fights and kill other players, you will receive a low reputation. Conversely, making this system more complex, slaying players with bad reputation earns you good reputation. Players can identify each other's reputation through a color-coding system. This dynamic aspect is welcome and infuses a morality system into a nonlinear online RPG. Players with low reputation can become neutral or good again if they simply avoid picking fights over long periods of time. They can also earn good reputation by fighting monsters five levels above their own. Being on either side of the moral coin has its advantages / disadvantages. For instance, a low-reputation character will hit harder, but has a greater chance of dropping more loot upon death. However, in an attempt to not discourage microtransactions, items purchased with real money will not be lost upon death.







Visually, the graphics in Runes of Magic aren't terribly spectacular but they more than do their job. The game features bloom lighting so the colors are bright and cheery. One downside to the visuals is that its artistic style is generic. Enemy designs are pretty varied, albeit also uninspired. Through your adventure you will fight bats, spiders, wolves, beetles, and more. While the game has a pleasant color palette and runs pretty well, the textures and polygonal count isn't anything to really get too excited about.

On the auditory front, the game's a mixed bag. While the music is actually pretty good, for whatever reason, it's not always there. In addition, the game also lacks a large number of sound effects like walking, horse riding, woodcutting, and more. What you're left with sometimes is awkward silence. When the music is in action, you will hear orchestrated strings and harps. It's actually really sweeping at times, although not particularly memorable.

While the game has a lot going for it, it does have a couple of problems worth noting. I encountered several times where the game had trouble finding the servers. Another quandary I had with the game was that since the world is pretty large, some regions didn't seem very fleshed-out and the higher level areas were a little devoid of life in terms of NPCs and real-life players. However, it is important to note that this MMO is still in its baby stages, and Runewaker Entertainment is promising free updates later on down the road, so the game could very well age like a fine wine over time.

Another slight problem I had with the game is with its interface. While the interface is completely functional and extremely customizable, if you are new to MMOs, it will probably overwhelm you. Although Runes of Magic isn't a bad game for beginners, you can tell that Runewaker Entertainment already assumed you've played an MMO before. The cluttered layout does give you plenty of control and information, but it is very unintuitive. In addition, if you were looking for an interesting and immersive narrative, you will be disappointed here. While there is some attempt at creating a cohesive, overarching story, the text is largely filler copy used as excuses for NPCs to give you missions.

While Runes of Magic isn't the most polished or original MMO on the market, it does a lot of things right. The game is deep enough to appeal to hardcore veterans, yet is also flexible and addictive enough to appeal to more casual fans. If you're seeking a game to scratch your primitive level grinding and loot hording itch, Runes of Magic is precisely what the doctor ordered. In addition, the game offers a wide breadth of options to the player who desires to seek it out. At its worst, Runes of Magic is a solid, by-the-books affair. At its best, Runes of Magic is a surprisingly deep game and is a great showcase for what a free-to-play MMO can be. Check it out; what do you have to lose?





Minimum System Requirements

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 512MB
Required Hard disk space: 3.8GB
Graphics card: DirectX 9.0c compatible with 128MB RAM


Credits: Runes of Magic, IGN.com and MMOsite