Date: 6/16/2009

Time: 8:51:16 AM

Comments: You would have thought a show with a sadomasochism theme the series would be raunchy and edgy, but this is not the case here.  

Sorcerer Hunters TV series is a paint-by-numbers fantasy show.  It’s an episodic “save the villager from evil sorcerer” storytelling.  The main characters do not develop pass their stereotypical roles (Strongman, Mage, Village Idiot and Two Lovers). 

The series unfortunately has been censored because the two sisters do not wear their sadomasochism outfits found in the manga.  Instead they wear something that resembles swimsuits.

The last episodes do get interesting but it’s too late.  By the time it peek my interest the series has ended.  It feels like a lot of episodes have been wasted on bland writing.  The ending also disappointed me.  The good guys let the villain go even though he tried to destroy the world!

The writers did realize the fans were not too pleased with the watered down interpretation of the manga. The OVA series was created that was more faithful to the ecchi parody manga. The OVA feels like more compensation then an addition to the series.

At the end Sorcerer Hunters is a rental then a buy for me.

Date: 6/16/2009

Time: 8:45:26 AM

Comments: While Nexon is in the process of putting together Dungeon Fighter Online, there’s already a beat-up MMORPG called Lunia.

Installation and Setup:

Ijji’s website provides various sources to download the game. The site offers a direct download or a torrent. Interesting enough one of the torrent link leads to Mininova, an infamous pirate website.

After downloading and installing the game, the patch still has to download another 19,000 files. That took about an hour to do. It would have been faster if an up-to-date patch was posted on the website.

Server:

In most MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Mabinogi, and Flyff the login window is integrated into the game. In Lunia the Ijji website opens up, a plugin has to be downloaded and the login is done through the website. I don’t understand why the login has to be separate from the game. There are one server but multiple channels to choose from.

Character:

Once you login, you can create your character. 4 of 10 classes are available to you. The rest have to be unlocked through quest or cash shop. The character designs are well done and unique. But you cannot change the facial appearance of your character, so it is easy to run into your twin in the game. There are different clothes and weapons you can buy in-game and from the cash shop, but that is the extent of the customization.


World:

Lunia lacks any sort of continuous world like World of Warcraft. There are three main places you can choose.

1) Square: The only town where you can buy your items from. There are no dialogues from the town NPCs. They are just there to service you.

2) Stages: The levels were you fight the mobs.

3) War room: PvP room where you can battle people in team matches


Gameplay:

Lunia operates like a typical beat-up game. There are normal and special attacks. As you level up you earn skill points that you can put into a skill tree.

Storyline:

There is a storyline when you play through the stages. The optional storyline are told through static comic-style cut scenes. The story is about Sieg, so it has nothing to do with your character.

Graphics:

The world takes place on a 2.5 isometric field with 3D models. You can zoom in on your character, but you cannot rotate the camera. The textures look a little on the bury side when you zoom in. The more advance attacks perform by your characters look impressive.

I encountered a technical issue where if I set the game resolution to 1280x1024 full the mouse arrows do not line up properly with the menu buttons. The GUI works ok in window.

Pros:
- Unique character designs
- Good beat-up gameplay

Cons:
- Cannot change your character facial appearance
- Lacks any cohesive world

Conclusion: Lunia is a good action game to play in short bust, but it not a full-fledge MMORPG like World of Warcraft or Mabinogi. For now I will stick with Mabinogi for my main MMORPG fix.

I am going to wait and see what Dungeon Fighter Online has to offer once it is released.

Date: 6/7/2009

Time: 10:03:59 AM

Comments: I have playing a Nexon game for about a year (Mabinogi).

I wanted a game with more action and I installed Combat Arms.

The menu and setup is easy to use. When you first setup your character there is no way to change the uniform or weapon. But as you play more rounds, you gain GP to buy clothes and weapons.

I played two matches:

By this point and time it was obvious it was a cheater killing us off. The cheater did reply mocking at us. In disgust I quit the game.

Nexon has in-game cheat/hack reporting, but the developers should prevent cheating in the first place.