The one game that we here at Yakisoba have been waiting for a very very long time, is none other that Aion. Well sure Blade and Soul certainly stole our hearts a little from Aion, but we’re really looking forward to playing Aion.

And just recently, the official Aion webisite released a little tidbit regarding the Beta Tests for Aion.

“When will beta testing begin?

In lieu of beta testing, Aion fans will be given opportunities to participate in a small number of Preview events before the game’s release. In addition to soliciting player feedback, the Preview events will help prepare for Aion’s release, as well as provide a great gaming experience on launch day and beyond.

As with Aion’s release date, the schedule of these Preview events will be announced in coming months.”

The first Aion preview event will be held at Penny Arcade Expo, which sadly we’ll never be able to attend. But if you can, do sign up for it.

In my opinion, Atlantica Online is already perfect. Then the GMs had to fuck it all up by introducing the Stamina System, which has nothing to do with how much you can run, but how you can grind. You are limited to 100 battles a day, and gaining back Stamina Points is a pain in the ass to do so.

They have officially fucked the game for everyone. Korean Atlantica Online doesn’t even have this bullshit. Check out the forums. Even before it got implemented everyone knew it would totally kill the game.

The Stamina system is a new addition to Atlantica being tested during the second round of the closed beta.  Players are given a Stamina score when they start playing Atlantica each day, and that number declines with each battle players fight against monsters.  Having to watch over this score adds another element for players to manage, bringing more depth to the game.

It also encourages players to get more involved in the greater Atlantica Online community.  You can slow your Stamina loss by taking part in a Guild and the Town and Nation element of Atlantica.  Being a Mentor to other players will help you build points that can deter a flagging Stamina.  And being victorious in some player-versus-player battles will even replenish your Stamina.

Here are some other notable elements of the Stamina system:

• Every day at 6 a.m. Pacific Daylight Saving Time (PDT), your Stamina score will reset: to 100, for players at Level 50 and below; to 50, for players at Level 51 and above.
• Fighting a single battle reduces your Stamina by 1.
• When your Stamina runs out, you cannot gain any more Experience Points or Items.
• If fighting among a party, only the player who started the battle will lose Stamina by 1.
• Stamina is not affected during combat with Guilds or in Nation Dungeons, and therefore players can obtain Experience Points and Items even if their Stamina score is 0.
• A victory in a Free League battle will increase your Stamina by 3.
• Boost your score with a Stamina Drink, obtained from the NPC Pointry located in Rome using Mentor Points.

The EA Store (Singapore) is having 43% discounts on all its titles for a special National Day offer. Original games like Kane’s Wrath going as cheap as $25. No game is above $40. That’s insanely cheap.

Click here to check out the offers. Offer ends 10th of Oct, so hurry.

Also, for those who want to play in the beta test of Red Alert 3, I suggest you grab Kane’s Wrath now. It’s such a pity SPORE isn’t out yet, otherwise the 43% discount would be make really really happy.

Alright good news for new players who want to join Atlantica Online’s CBT2. The admins there has opened the flood gates for more players to join. The confirmed date and time for those in living in Singapore/Malaysia is 08/08/08 9am (GMT+8).

Details on how to get new CBT2 keys here. Be quick! Last we checked, 2k keys are left and they move really fast.

Looks like it’s going to be one full antagonizing day for us here as we decide which build to go with. I still haven decide what hero to start with, let alone my line up! UGH!

Also, I will be rushing my characters ASAP to level 20 to start Yakisoba. Expect to see Yakisoba up in 2-3hours from server launch?

Fresh from the lion’s mouth:

The wait is over.  Atlantica Online will be back up and running on Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. PDT. (That’s 08/08/08 9am Singapore Time)

All players who participated in the first phase of the closed beta can return at that time to the Atlantica world, which has been updated and modified in order to test new elements in the game.  Your help in identifying problems has been greatly appreciated, and we hope you will continue your diligent efforts for this second round of the closed beta, which is expected to run until Aug. 18.  This schedule, however, is not final, and any changes will be announced on the Atlantica website.

For this new phase, two new features have been added for testing: 1) Stamina; and 2) Challenge, which is a means for more player-versus-player combat.

Plus, there will be additional events for players who participate in the second round ? that means more Atlantica Online 2GB USB Flash drives up for grabs.

More details on these features and events will be available on the website soon, as well as information on how those of you who weren’t a part of the first round can play the game this second time around.  So please return to the Atlantica website regularly for more updates.

We hope your second trip to Atlantis is better than the first!

And it’s back. Looks like the Warcry sauce was reliable. However, this piece of information is as vague as hell. Firstly we don’t know whether our characters has been wiped already and whether or not it will be wiped again. Then we don’t know if newer players can partake in this CBT2.

Whatever it is, I’m not going to rush so much. Shall wait for OBT to insanely grind. Meanwhile, I’ll get to test my builds.

Atlanticrack is back. Let the addiction kick in!

Hi guys, there might be a possible Yakisoba gathering this Saturday 9th Aug 2008 if cara decides to come down to SG from Malaysia. Yeah I know it’s a little sudden, but hey blame cara for the surprise inspection. The Malaysian Yakisoba division needs to check with the Singapore division.

I’ll need to hear from you guys whether you will be able to make it or not. Discussion can be found here.

It’s 4 days into August and still no news from the GM team from Atlantica. This is by far the biggest stinker, comparatively to a certain company that kept promising and then pushing back the release of an important patch to one of the most over-hyped games, which eventually this particular game died on its on because everyone was shafted by the creator of the game. Including the company that owns the publishing rights to it.

But still, we have got sources pointing to a few dates. WarCry Network announces a August 7 release. And someone on the forums claims to have a “friend” working in nDoors saying that August 13 is the actual date.

Whatever the date is, the admins are still keeping tight lipped. Not exactly a good way to qwell fans of such an awesome game.

Ragnarok Online will perhaps be a game that I will forever remember. If it wasn’t for that game, I wouldn’t have met some of my most closest online friends. That would include my most abled right-hand man, Crimz.

What better way to revive it (aside from playing on imba Private Servers or playing that trashy excuse for a game, RO2) than to have it brought over to the Nintendo DS? Source from 1up.

After seven years and several million players, Ragnarok Online, the Korean online game that is still the most popular MMORPG in Japan in terms of registered players, is expanding from the PC to the Nintendo DS. GungHo Works, a new console-gaming division of GungHo Online Entertainment (the outfit that runs Ragnarok in Japan), unleashed this week the first details about Ragnarok Online DS, a fantasy role-playing game that retains a surprisingly large chunk of what makes the PC game so interesting in the first place.

Basic gameplay is exactly the same, although some concessions have been made to make the game’s largely offline story mode more approachable. The main game has you controlling Ares, a mild-mannered kid who wants to start up his own guild and be a great adventurer like his father; you make this happen by recruiting party members and carrying out quests in the realm of Rune Midgard, building up your gang to the point where they earn new jobs and more powerful skills.

This is the first time that Ragnarok has been released for a non-PC platform — which GungHo head Kazuki Morishita says is “something we had hoped for since before online service began [in Japan]” — and the publisher is doing everything it can to make the adventure accessible for new gamers. The Nintendo DS version runs largely off the stylus, which serves the same function as the mouse in the PC game. You tap the screen to attack enemies and retrieve items, and the game occasionally asks you to draw circles and other designs in order to pull off spells and skills. Ragnarok veterans have little to fear: Most of the jobs from the MMORPG are available, along with two brand-new jobs — Dark Knight, which lets you unleash special moves that sap your hit points, and Shaman, which puts magic from a wide variety of elements at your fingertips. The DS Ragnarok also has an extensive online component — up to three people can team up over a wireless or Wi-Fi connection and challenge the Tower of Mirages, a 50-floor randomly generated dungeon that’s home to untold treasure and decidedly mean-looking monsters.

Ragnarok Online DS is due out December 18 in Japan for 6,090 yen; no U.S. release plans have been announced.

Testa posted a picture on our forums giving us a reason why we should wait for Blade and Soul. And I certainly think he did it quite well under the belt.

And think the members are right to say that this game needs to be renamed to Swords and Boobs.

In Atlantica Online, you start off by choosing your hero character. You have the choice of either becoming a Sword, Spear, Axe, Gun, Bow, Cannon or Staff user. Once you choose your weapon speciality, you cannot change them anymore (unless you opt for cash item, which is still not implemented atm).

Fortunately, the weapons are not gender specific. You are free to choose the sex of your own hero, and we all know having a gunner chick beats a male gunner anytime. This however, is the only time you get to choose any gender. The mercenaries that you will have to hire to form your team are gender-locked to their roles.

Here’s a rundown on the classes:

• Sword

The Swordsman has the best survivability of all classes, which makes him the natural tank class. His attack is rather strong, but it can only affect a single non-flying target in the front row, so he should not be solely relied upon for offense. His magic skill is the Flame Sword, an attack that again only affects a single foe.

• Spear

The Spearman can attack a single non-flying foe in the front row. If there is another foe in the same column directly behind the target, that foe also receives damage, although less than the original target. His magic attack is a lightning spear which damages and slows down two foes in the same column. The Spearman has medium defense.

• Axe

The slow-moving Viking can attack a single target in the front row. If that target has one or two neighbors in the same row, then those also take some damage. This character has many hitpoints but low defense, especially versus magic. Its magic move can freeze foes for few turns.

• Bow

Despite bonuses to evasion, this character’s low health make it unsuitable for the front line. It is a potent counter for enemy spellcasters though, as the powerful single-target attack can reach every foe, regardless of its position in the enemy ranks. Its magic move is Silence, which prevents foes from using magic for a two turns.

• Gun

The Gunner wields a musket and carries rather low protection. This character can damage an entire column of foes, with foes in the front absorbing taking most of the damage. Its magic move is a stronger version of the regular attack.

• Cannon

The Artilleryman is armed with a hand-held cannon. Its standard attack covers a cross-shaped area, although with a rather low attack power. Its magic move damages foes and reveals their remaining hitpoints for a few turns.

• Staff

The Shaman has both healing and damaging skills to support the party. Due to low health and defense, this character is best placed away from the frontline.