Friday, July 24, 2015

Metal Reaper Online (Part Three)

Gameplay
As far as gameplay is concerned, Metal Reaper Online actually doesn't stray too far off from typical shooters or even (for that matter) MMO games in general.
There's your usual assortment of quests, instanced dungeons and crafting of items.
Apart from that, nothing too out of the ordinary or noteworthy to speak of. And for a mere client filesize of 1.1 GB, it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise anyway.

Quests
Metal Reaper Online - Quests
Quests found in the game mostly comes in two forms. There's the main storyline (in green) and there's the side quests (in yellow).

And just like all others, the general questing flow still revolves around following the main storyline plot (from sector to sector) and clearing the side quests (in each sector) while your at it.

However, putting the side quests aside (which mostly involves killing X of X or something similar), I somehow felt that the main storyline quest kind of lacked a sense of "coherence" to it.
Metal Reaper Online - Simple CutsceneMetal Reaper Online - Tutorial Luce Boot Camp
Initially, the game kicked you off with a simple cutscene addressing on the issues surrounding the game's world and about the overall theme of the game.

Upon finishing with that, the story then leads you on into the "Tutorial" scene where your just another "rookie" in a boot camp...trying to get the hang of things.

Suddenly, the enemy nation, "Nix", mounts a massive attack upon the boot camp, puts everything into disarray and you find yourself in a messy situation where you either fight or die.
Metal Reaper Online - Dying Commander
Being swarmed and eventually overwhelmed, your dying commander sends you off...fleeing...towards the nearest friendly base of operations, "Falorn Outpost".

Nice storyline? Yea...that's what I thought too. It even had a nice sense of urgency to it as well.

But sadly, that's as far as it goes.

Ever since reaching Falorn Outpost, that very sense of urgency vanished all of a sudden. Maybe the enemy nation's massive army ceased their invasion, got killed by aliens, got spirited away or perhaps I've missed something vital, who knows?
The point is that I was no longer getting that feeling where I'm having a ton of enemies hot on my heels.
Anyway, after getting to that point, everything just sort of wound down and things even got to a point where I found myself leisurely chasing after a bunch of kidnappers instead.
Apart from that, not much else to complain about, I guess.

Missions
Quite like Kingdom Under Fire II (that I've just recently went over), the instanced dungeons found in Metal Reaper Online also comes in the form of "Missions".
Metal Reaper Online - Mission NPCMetal Reaper Online - Mission Interface
Spread throughout the various sectors lies NPCs (such as that shown above) marked with a "target board" icon (on the mini map). Through these, you will be able to access some sort of an interface that allows you to enter "instanced dungeons" related to that sector.
Metal Reaper Online - Mission BossMetal Reaper Online - Mission Results
Once in, you will be served with the usual assortment of "small fry" and a final "boss"...which upon killing, given a grade and some appropriate reward.

The important thing to note here though...is that apart from having to meet the mission's pollution resistance requirement (to enter), you will also need to spend a certain amount of "mission points" as well.
The number of mission points that you have can be found at the bottom right corner of your game interface, has a capacity of twice your character's level and refreshes itself daily and/or whenever you level up.

Bounty Quests
Metal Reaper Online - Bounty Bulletin Board
Also lying around in the sectors are interactable billboards such as the one shown above.
However, access to them will only be granted to you at character level 19 though.
Metal Reaper Online - Bounty Hunt BoardMetal Reaper Online - Bounty Hunt Accept
Upon accessing them, you will be shown the billboard with a list of bounties and their individual short descriptions (if you hover your cursor over them).

From that point forth, all you need is to accept any one of the bounties...to start the chase (provided that you've cleared its level requirement that is).
Metal Reaper Online - Bounty Black Flag
Once accepted, head on over to the sector indicated and search for a black flag (like as shown above). The location of this flag will be indicated on your mini-map as well...in the form of a "wanted poster-like" icon.
Metal Reaper Online - Bounty CriminalMetal Reaper Online - Bounty Reward
Interact with the flag to spawn the NPC criminal and then proceed to either capture or kill it.
To capture, drop the criminal to low HP and press the associated "key" on your keyboard as instructed (most probably "E", if I'm not wrong).
After completing the task, return to any of the billboards to claim your reward. Its as simple as that.


Previous: MRO (Part Two)Next: MRO (Part Four)

Friday, July 10, 2015

Metal Reaper Online (Part Two)

Game World
Metal Reaper Online - Region Map
Quite like typical browser MMOs, Metal Reaper Online's game world is made up of individual "sectors" that are strung up together like as shown above.
Metal Reaper Online - PortalMetal Reaper Online - Driver Pilot Extraction
Progress through the sectors is done by physically running your character there (for the first time) through portals much like that shown above.

But once you've unlocked them, subsequent journeys (to these places) can then be made easily by teleporting through a "driver" or a "pilot" stationed in each sector.
Metal Reaper Online - Teleport Cost
However, the costs of getting you there is "proportional" to the distance between your present location and the place that you intend to get to. The further you are from it, the more costly it becomes.
Instanced dungeons are named in red, towns with its major facilities (like storage, crafting and auction) are named in green while orange ones are regular monster-filled maps.

Life Check, Region Pollution and Pollution Resistance
Now before you go on a rampaging charge through the sectors, there is something in particular (about the sectors) that you need to know first. Something called a "Life Check".
Metal Reaper Online - Life Checker
Towards the top right corner of your in-game screen, if you hover your mouse over the bar that shows the sector your in, you should find yourself presented with some sort of a "Life Checker" info board.
In it, you will find details regarding your character's "Pollution Resistance" and the sector's "Pollution Rating" (also known as its "Region Pollution").
Basically, what constitutes as a "Life Check" is then just a simple arithmetic subtraction between your character's "Pollution Resistance" and the sector's "Pollution Rating".
The resulting value is something called your "Life Checker Point" or "LcP".
If its a "positive" value, your character is deemed "safe" and no penalty is applied. Everything functions at full strength and your SD (shield) regenerates as per normal.
Metal Reaper Online - Contamination Debuff Level 2Metal Reaper Online - Contamination Debuff Level 4
However, if this value turns out to be "negative", then depending on the severity (how negative that value is), your character will be hit with varying degrees of a "Contamination Debuff" as well as a cessation of your natural SD regen (for as long as you stay in that sector).
LcPSafety Level
0 or above

Safe

SD regens
-25 to -1

Caution

Contamination Lvl. 2
SD does not regen
-33 to -26

Warning

Contamination Lvl. 3
SD does not regen
-34 or below

Danger

Contamination Lvl. 4
SD does not regen
A Level 2 Contamination Debuff reduces your ATK and DEF values by 20%, a Level 3 Contamination Debuff reduces your ATK and DEF values by 30% while a Level 4 reduces them by 40%.
So how do you increase your character's pollution resistance?
Metal Reaper Online - Pollution Resistance
Well, this is actually just a value that is derived from the equipment that your character uses. The armor that you put on, the weapons that you carry and the accessories that you wear.
And in turn, the pollution resistance of an equipment is highly dependent upon its level requirement and rarity. The higher the level requirement and rarity, the higher its pollution resistance.
Finally, when you sum up all of these individual "pollution resistance" values, you will get your character's overall final "pollution resistance" (which will be used to carry out the life check).

Simply put, its just a means to keep you within your level appropriate areas...so that you don't venture too far out of your safety zone.
Or at least makes it harder and more challenging for you to do so.


Previous: MRO (Part One)Next: MRO (Part Three)