Girlie Gamer

Hello Kitty Online

2008-10-17T04:49:00.001-04:00

Hello Kitty Online is actually pretty good so far. It has a great community. People there are wonderful, for the most part. It's cute, it's got quests to do. It's a bit heavy on grinding at the moment-ish. Going out and hunting 30 of a monster's drop isn't terribl fun, especially when you do it all the time. Nor is sitting around in your farm waiting for your crops to grow, to be able to gather one of their drops for a quest. But if you've got friends, are in a guild or in a party (not yet implemented), you just chat the time away. Even the GMs are nice people.

HKO is all about the social aspect, making friends, talking, working with others. And it's not bad. Sure you don't get awesome 3D effects and blood doesn't spew from what you kill, but sometimes you don't need that.

What amazed me with this is that there actually is a storyline. Not just randomly throwing you in to the HKO world.

I can't say too much on the whole housing thing and character customization, as this is a closed beta, called the Founder's Beta. Much of the game isn't open yet. For example there's a level cap of 30, and only three towns are actually open at the moment. In regards to the level cap it's important to keep in mind Founder's Beta characters are not being wiped for the Open Beta. Don't want too much of a headstart.

Hello Kitty Online is good fun. Very addictive. Despite it's cuteness the general player community isn't children. It's actually mid twenties. It's not all women either, there are actually guys playing this. Most I've met were dragged in by a girlfriend, but most of them also started to love and play the game more than their girlfriend.

Basically if you're not overly fond of cuteness and Hello Kitty, well, it's your call. If you're on the fence about this one, just give it a shot. It's not as bad as it looks.

Mabinogi

2008-10-17T04:48:00.001-04:00

I played Mabinogi. Loved it to death.

Mabinogi was great. There's lots to do, several different ways to play the game. You can get married, have pets, have houses (okay, not sure the marriages and houses are there yet), learn to tailor, blacksmith, make potions, beat things with sticks, everything a MMO should have.

Oh and did I mention you can compose music? :] That was pretty awesome.

Anyway Mabinogi is following the story around the goddess Morhigan. I could tell you what happens, but that'd ruin the plot.

The downside of the game is it's difficult to play without premium services. You really need the "extra" bank space. Especially if you take up a crafting skill such as tailoring like me. And then if you want to play the main storyline, you have to have one of the premium services. Pets are a cash shop item too. Some clothes are age restricted and would require you to rebirth to wear them (more money!). You also need the Extra Storage service to be able to run a guild. You also need the ES service to open a shop. The bag you need to open that shop is about 30k gold & up depending on the size. The bag also acts as just extra storage. I personally spent like $200 on the three-four months I played. I would rather have just been on a pay to play basis...would have cost me less.

It's pretty fun and the community is great. You just really have to watch things if you don't want to spend money.

Asda Story

2008-09-27T16:51:00.004-04:00

First up for review is Asda Story, a fantasy MMORPG.

I found this game as an ad on the side of some webpage. The tagline? "Find your soulmate". You can guess what I walked into to. If that wasn't bad enough, the company is Games Campus.

The game is another cute anime-ish style MMORPG. I honestly can't tell you what the storyline is, because I did not read it, or it was so bland and boring I completely forgot it. If you really want to know, check for yourself.

Gameplay: Asda Story is 3D. Basic click and hit game. Skills are put on the quickbar and used from there. Potions and usable items can also be placed there. The camera is adjusted with the right mouse.

Character Customization & Classes: Not so much. There are plenty of ways to make your begining outfit, but you don't use that for long. All the faces look kind of like mentally challenged twelve year olds, and the hair, not so great. You can purchase other hairstyles from the cash shop, for far too much money in my opinion. You get three character slots per server. As you level there are usually two different equipment sets at each new equipment level. One is availble from NPCs and the other you have to scrounge around to find, or simply find it in the market, if anyone's selling. In Asda you do not start out with an assigned class. Instead once you reach level five or ten (my memory is failing me) you do a quest (simple run out and kill a monster) to obtain a class. There are only three classes to choose from, Warrior, Archer and Wizard (or whatever they call it). The magic class does have the option to heal, but healing is not a set route. You can have offensive magic, buffer spells, and healing in the same class.

Skills: The skills are alright, nothing terribly new or unique. The skill system is easy to use.

Quests & Leveling: The quests of course involve grinding, but not as much as other games. Asda also has those quests where you simply run around talking to other characters. Simply doing the quests is enough to keep you leveling. Since you're always doing a variety of quests to level, leveling goes by rather smoothly.

Dungeons: Now I have to admit, I gave up on this game before I got to see the second dungeon. I actually liked the first one. It's called Queen's Palace, and you defeat chess pieces, as well as a couple of odd mini bosses. The main boss of course is the Queen. Several quests involve having to go through the dungeon.

Community: The community isn't bad. Most players I ran into were rather courteous. Not once did I see anyone insulted for asking a newbish question, and there is a lovely guide for the newbie quests on the forums. Most player I met on Asda were around 17-27.

Soulmate System: The soulmate system is alright. Basically they intend for you to have a partner in the game. What I enjoyed was there were no gender restrictions. There could be same gender soulmates. Once you choose a soulmate all of your characters on that account and server are joined to your soulmate's characters. There is a leveling system. The more time you and your soulmate spend together in the game, the more soulmate experience you gain. The soulmate level is important for unlocking soulmate skills, such as being able to summon your mate to you, heal them, revive them, etc.

That's about all I can say on the game as I stopped playing after about two weeks, and I only hit level 23 or so, as I was on vacation for a week out of the two. Asda story is alright but nothing special in my opinion. If you're bored with nothing to play, give it a shot.

Sorry

2008-09-25T12:40:00.002-04:00

I haven't quite gotten around to posting any reviews yet for two reasons. Firstly being Spore. I finally got my hands on a copy and I've been addicted to playing for days. The second reason is job applications. Nothing more fun than job hunting!

Anyway I'll get around to some reviews very soon.

Welcome!

2008-09-18T08:11:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Girlie Gamer! I haven't posted any reviews yet, as I am a nighthawk and I was just going to bed. Suddenly the idea to create a blog where I'd review the many many games I play, from first-person shooters to those loveable games involving fluffy animals. So I there I lay awake with this idea, finding myself unable to relax until I bring it to fruition. So here it is.

So before I get to the reviews I guess I should give you a small background on myself. My name is Melanie, and I am nearly nineteen. I've been on a computer since I was born nearly, and since then I have been gaming. When I was a child I can recall playing games such as Warcraft II and Duke Nukem 3D with as much enthusiasm as the latest game from Barbie.

I tend to play a lot of massive online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and I always have little internal reviews of them. So I decided I'd start with them and work my way out.

So that's me. Once again, welcome to Girlie Gamer!