In my over my 10 years of online gaming, I have seen my fair share of “cute” MMOs, the earliest 2 I can remember being Ragnarok Online (2002) and R.O.S.E Online (2005). Subsequently, there have been many, many anime styled online games released in the market, including the most recent Soul Captor Online. But KnightAge really caught my eyes at first glance. Also known as Carpe Diem 2, the sequel took a 360 degrees turn from its predecessor by using an awesome chibi style of design. The Japanese and world’s first server for the game is currently hosted by Aeria Games Japan. KnightAge ended its first Closed Technical Test (CTT) last week, and let’s take a look at it. All information are merged and translated from various different sources.
The storyline is about the Demon King and his 72 Demon Generals, where 4 heroes stood u against them and hence, the 4 basic classes – Knight, Magician, Huntress and Warrior. Do note that the classes are gender-locked.
There are not many options for customizing during the CTT phase, hopefully more will be added during Closed Beta Test (CBT). Only the skin color, hairstyle and hair color are changeable. Even though classes can use each other’s weapons and learn different weapon skills, it is not advisable as the armor pieces are class specific. Imagine tanking using a magician class wearing thin robes but wielding a sword and using Knight skills!
In the beginning, there are a few starter and tutorial quests to get players familiarized with the controls, how to interact with NPCs and obtain/ complete quests.
The next feature to be introduced to new players will be the Pupa. This is the pet system for KnightAge, and the pets are known as… Pupas. The starting Pupa during CTT is apparently all the same, but players can get more varieties later on from quests, events and perhaps the bosses.
Next, the mount system. One of the core features which was the main star in Carpe Diem, players will be given a quest to slay a mini-boss mob before getting their first mount. And yes, it is a donkey… Looks oddly familiar to a certain animated movie’s =__=”’ More mounts can be seen here in my previous post.
Riding into town, GMs are seen holding events giving out exclusive Pupas of various shapes and sizes. And many players are in town as well!
The starter mount does give players a minor movement speed boost, and there will be mounted combat as well. What is a Carpe Diem game without mounted battles anyway?
As stated in my previous post, there will be a 50 Vs 50 feature, but it is not available during CTT. Let me start first by re-explaining the party system. 5 players may form a training squad, while 10 training squads can form a legion. For both case, the leader will be issuing commands and different formations, just like a strategist. The leader can change formations as well, choosing form either assault, defensive or concentric mode (ranged strategy). These tactics can also be used during normal PvE.
While the Japanese server is on schedule for more test phases, I have not seen a Korean server or official website anywhere despite being developed by a Korean studio and having various screenshots and footages online. For overseas services, only the Taiwanese and Hong Kong servers are confirmed. Quite a number of features are missing during CTT, while others available are not really fascinating to the lazy writer posting this up. Will Aeria Games (North America) get this game? Well, let’s hope they still have an empty slot in its already-packed 2011 release schedule.
