There’s a lot of magic in a fantasy map.

Whether its a sprawling fantasy epic like The Wheel of Time or a multi-hundred hour RPG like Skyrim, world maps have a way of bringing an enchanting universe to life. The maps let us pinpoint our adventures and trace paths through sprawling continents, trekking through misty mountain highlands, tropical sunny coasts, and everything in between.

That same grand splendor is clearly evident in the atlas for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which depicts a vast fantasy world filled with kingdoms, magic, and faraway lands.

The Witcher 3’s world map is incredibly handsome, and reminds me of Morrowind’s beautifully crafted atlas.

To get the beautifully illustrated Witcher 3 map you’ll have to pre-order the game’s official collector’s edition strategy guide from GameStop, which is priced at a hefty $40. The guide also comes with a neat 90-page “grimoire” that has extra details about the monsters and peoples of the world.

CD Projekt RED has touted the massive scope of the The Witcher 3‘s open-world for quite some time.

According to the developers, the game will take over 200 hours to complete in its entirety, including all of the various quests, collectibles,  and side missions.

As far as size, the Witcher 3‘s in-game world is comparatively scaled to be 30 times bigger than the area in Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Put alongside other epic RPG’s we see that the game is 20% larger than the frosty continent of Skyrim.

Witcher 3 is full of beautiful scenic vistas with varying environments, from alpine mountainscapes to exotic islands and sprawling cities.

To traverse this incredible expanse, Geralt of Rivia will be able to ride on horseback across land and reach outlying island regions like Shelliar via sailboat. Players will also be able to explore full-scaled underwater regions by diving underwater and swimming in the wave-cresting seas.

The atlas maps out the Witcher 3‘s entire world, depicting every city, kingdom, river, and zone in the game.

From the Grassy Knoll and Gustfields in the north the Crow’s Perch and swampy Mire to the south, the map highlights every exotic location that players can visit in their journey.

Geralt can only reach certain areas by sailboat, and he’ll also be able to swim and dive to search for undersea treasures.

Three major continental zones include the wide expanse of the Northern Realm, the island chains of Shelliar that can only be reached by boat, and the faraway White Orchard that’s cut by a wide river.

All of these regions feature CD Projekt RED’s dynamic day-to-night transitions and real-time environmental effects including rain, storms, snow and more to deliver an authentic immersive feel.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is slated to release May 19, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

The post The Witcher 3 Map Showcases Colossal Fantasy World appeared first on VR World.

Bethesda has announced that the PS4 and Xbox One versions of The Elder Scrolls Online will release on June 9, 2015. The studio also revealed that the MMORPG will no longer require a paid subscription, and is taking the free-to-play route with microtransactions.

When Bethesda stopped selling the 6 month subscription plans for ESO, many gamers saw this as an impending sign of the game going free-to-play, so this news isn’t exactly a surprise.

But the way that the company chose to announce it is a surprise, and it’s a bit confusing. In preparation for the game’s console debut, Bethesda has re-branded the original release into The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. 

But don’t worry, if you already have the game you won’t have to buy anything: Bethesda affirms that all existing players and owners of the PC version will automatically be upgraded to the new edition for free.

ESO: Tamriel Unlimited is packed with “all of the gameplay from the original PC release, including all the new content and changes made over the past year”, including the smaller tweaks as well as the Justice and Champion systems.

The new changes take effect on March 17, 2015 for PC owners, where the game will go fully free-to-play. Unused paid subscription time will carry over into ESO Plus, the game’s new premium subscription model.

With ESO Plus you’ll be given a monthly allotment of Crowns (new microtransaction currency) to be spent in the Crown Store (the microtransaction store), as well as access to a host of exclusive items and gear.

So basically if you already own the game on PC you will now be able to play the game for free, but you’ll be tempted with a host of upgrades and “convenience items” sold in the new Crown Store. Xbox One and PS4 gamers will of course have to buy the game at $59.99 to get in, and they’ll need an active PS Plus or Xbox LIVE account (as per the usual for all online games).

Many gamers see microtransactions and certain free-to-play models as the death of traditional MMORPG games.

While it depends on how these models are set–whether or not gamers are encouraged by a pay-to-win model or if the bought items are all cosmetic like in Path of Exile–the general path of going F2P can be seen as a nail in the coffin.

F2P can be immensely lucrative, but usually it makes the most money in mobile-based environments, and isn’t a welcome inclusion for any MMO fan.

It’ll be interesting to see how much it costs to be an ESO Plus member, whether or not you’ll be paying more or less than the traditional subscription fee, or whether it’s actually worth it to subscribe. Only time will tell in this regard.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited edition will launch on March 17 for PC and June 9, 2015 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

The post Elder Scrolls Online Goes Free To Play, PS4 and Xbox One Launch Revealed appeared first on VR World.

Creating the ultimate dream-team party in Dragon Age: Inquisition is something that all players want to experience, and in BioWare games, mixing and matching party members is half of the fun.

Finding that perfect balance between Rogues, Mages and Warriors can be a long-winded process full of experimentation and testing. Sometimes you won’t know if a particular skill is worth getting, or if a passive is too good to be true.

In a sprawling RPG game like Dragon Age: Inquisition, it helps to know what you’re doing and be on the top of your game as soon as possible–otherwise you’ll feel the need to re-spec or even restart the game and lose your progress.

If you want to go toe-to-toe with towering dragons and take on the fiercest demons of the Fade, you’ll need to arm yourself with knowledge. Luckily we’ve come across an immensely handy guide courtesy of Reddit user Legacy_Raider, which reveals the dynamics of spell combos.

We’ve broken down the basics and fundamentals of combos, and tell you everything you need to know about status effects, detonators and the resulting bonus chaos so you can take on the biggest and baddest in Thedas.

Anatomy Of A Spell Combo

Certain skills in Inquisition are must-haves that can set up devastatingly powerful combos that wreak havoc on foes. Experimenting with class abilities can lead to some pretty surprising results (like Whirlwind with Static Cage) and decimate baddies with substantial damage bonuses.

But first we have to understand what status effects are, and how they work in tandem with “detonation” skills to pull off high damage.

Every class–Rogue, Mage and Warrior–has its own set of skills that inflict varying status effects as well as specific detonation skills. Combos essentially begin with incapacitating an enemy with a status effect followed up with a “detonator ability”.

Essentially combos are just a specific rotation of skills that deliver bonus damage and affects when properly executed, and keeping things simple is the key to understanding how they work.

Status Effects: Combo Starters

There are four basic status effects–Stun, Sleep, Freeze and Paralyze–and below we have a breakdown of the classes and skills that inflict them. Note that these abilities are also synonymous with “incapacitating” effects and the “disabled” status.

Incapacitating Effect –> Class –> Skill (Skill Tree)

• Stun –> Warrior –> Pommel Strike (Two-Handed Tree)

• Sleep –> Rogue –> Knockout Powder (Subterfuge Tree)

• Freeze –> Mage –> Winter’s Grasp // Flask of Frost (Tempest Rogue)

• Paralyze –> Mage –> Lightning Bolt (Storm Tree)

The above skills are essential abilities to pick up for all classes in some mixture or another. It’s advised that you spread out and vary your party members, but they’ll all need some form of combo starter skill. You can’t go wrong with any of the above, but the passives can get a bit tricky.

Let’s just stick with combos for right now.

Detonators: Combo Finishers

Now that we know how to start a combo, let’s explore some basic finishers.

Just like the status effects, detonators are typified by the class they belong to and are made up of three basic types: Impact, Precision and Eldritch. All of these lead to different combo outcomes and can afford tremendous strategic advantage.

Detonator –> Class –> Skill 

• Impact –> Warrior –>
  • Lunge and Slash
  • Shield Bash (Weapon & Shield Tree)
  • Mighty Blow, Whirlwind (Two-Handed Tree)
  • Spell Purge (Templar)

• Precision –> Rogue –>
  • Longshot (Archery),
  • Twin Fangs, Death Blow (Double Daggers Tree)
  • Shadow Strike (Subterfuge)

• Eldritch –> Mage –>
  • Mind Blast, Dispel (Spirit)
  • Energy Barrage (Storm)
  • Immolate (Inferno)
  • Spirit Blade (Knight-Enchanter)
  • Stonefist (doubles as Impact, Rift Mage)

Combos are all about strategy, and to effectively use them, you’ll need to hop into the freeze-frame tactical menu to plot your party’s actions. Having full step-by-step control over your party is essential to pulling off the combos, and the RTS-style tactical view is a fantastic way to learn the basics of this craft.

Learning the flow of battle is paramount to successful execution of spell synergies, but with time you’ll get the hang of it.

Now let’s move on to the advanced course in spell combos 101.

Combo Effects

Incapacitating skills set the bomb in place, detonators light the fuse and combo effects are the resulting explosion.

The most amazing thing about combos in Dragon Age: Inquisition is that status and detonator spells can be mixed and matched to deliver different explosive results. This is the advanced course, and we’ll be taking a look at the true dynamics of spell combos as tactical tools of destruction.

After successful detonation, certain combo sets will hit enemies with powerful afflictions that can weaken baddies, dish out huge elemental damage, or even send them in a crazed panic of fear. These debilitating statuses are the key to tackling strong bosses or playing on higher difficulties.

Essentially the formula is like this, along with a breakdown of each of the combo effects and what they do.

Incapacitating Spell + Detonator = Combo Effect

• Basic Combo –> Moderate bonus damage, no bonus status effect.

• Rupture –> High damage over time (DoT) that ignores armor, similar to a bleed effect.

• Shatter–> High cold elemental damage.

• Nightmare –> High damage, inflicts Panic effect (enemy stops attacking and moves randomly around the battlefield).

• Discharge –> High AoE lightning damage to enemies within range.

• Weakness –> High damage bonus and inflicts Weakness effect (target’s attacks do less damage)

Now that we know all the basics of the incapacitating spells, detonators and the combo effects, let’s go over some sample combos and their respective results in battle. Every detonator will trigger different outcomes, all of which can be the difference between life and death in those tough situations.

It’s best to start out with the simple combos like Pommel Strike + Lunge and Slash, then work your way to using Mage skills like Winter’s Grasp and Lightning Bolt to start off your combos.

One of the more effective starter synergies is just Winter’s Grasp + Shield Bash, which works incredibly well if the opponent is shielded or heavily armored. Varric or Cole’s Knockout Powder is an excellent combo starter as well, as it puts baddies to sleep and allows you to kick off the bleeding effects of Rupture or terrorizing them with Nightmare.

If you happen to unlock the Templar specialization, he can actually combo off of his own skills: the  Wrath of Heaven ability–which delivers a Stun AoE attack–can be detonated by the Spell Purge attack, dealing huge damage.

If we consult the table above, a Stun starter combined with an Eldritch detonator kicks off Weakness, and for an added bonus, Spell Purge also dispels and de-buffs baddies of all their bonuses.

Another amazing combo is using Knockout Powder on group of clustered enemies then rampaging in with a two-handed Warrior’s Whirlwind ability. This will combo off of the entire group, dealing impressive damage across the board.

Static Cage also works exceptionally well with Whirlwind.

The former is a spell from the Mage’s Storm tree, and essentially traps enemies and paralyzes them in a given space. Once paralyzed, two-handed Warriors can jump in and stir up a frenzy with Whirlwind, rending the poor hapless souls to bits.

To take full advantage of these synergies you’ll want to pay attention to enemy strengths and weaknesses. These can be seen at any time when you use the tactical menu, where you can hover over a demon or Red Templar and see their stats.

Should an enemy not have any weaknesses, well you can just fire up a recipe like Pommel Strike (Stun) + Mind Blast (Eldritch Detonator) and Weaken them yourself.

At their core combos are strategic advantages that can sway any battle in your favor. Using the right conjunction of spells at the right time can lead to an ultimate victory against the strongest foes of Thedas.

With the power of combos every party member has the capacity to be a huge asset for the entire team. Be sure to pick up all of the combo starters and check through the detonators to find which you like the most. But be careful as you’ll want to invest in passives to round out your characters.

Now that you know the basics of combos be sure to give them a try! At first it’ll be slow-going, but once you get all the rotations and Tactics down pat, battle will flow like a finely tuned machine.

We hope you’ve learned a thing or two with this guide, and be sure to let us know in the comments section below if you’ve found any other interesting character class skill combos!

The post Dragon Age: Inquisition Skill Combo Guide appeared first on VR World.

Ser Jaime Lannister has crossed over from the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros to the fantasy realm of Thedas.

Using Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s innovative character creator, Reddit user sigurd07 has re-created the Kingslayer from George R.R. Martin’s renown fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire.

Known for his dashing good looks and superlative swordplay, Jaime Lannister is one of the most feared and admired men in all of the Seven Kingdoms. The knight earned his namesake as Kingslayer after betraying and killing the ‘Mad King’ Aerys Targaryen during Robert’s Rebellion, and ever since Jaime has carried the dishonorable title like a weight throughout his life.

The Kingslayer is one of the main characters in HBO’s megahit Game of Thrones, portrayed by Danish actor Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, and is one of the most captivating personas in the fantasy drama.

If you want to make your own Kingslayer, YouTuber MarcusGarlick has a nice video tutorial on how to craft Jaime Lannister’s hard-planed and charming visage in Dragon Age: Inquisition, highlighting all the small facial tweaks you’ll need to make in order to match Coster-Waldau’s stern-yet-somehow-jocular expressions.

The trend of creating Game of Thrones characters in Dragon Age: Inquisition continues onward, and was originally started when a Reddit user spun a stunning recreation of one of the show’s principal heroines, Daenerys Targaryen.

The Mother of Dragons and Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea looks resplendent when rendered in Dragon Age’s graphical engine, and instantly steals the scene with her white-haired beauty. The creator, a Reddit user by the handle of killerewok, even goes as far as to show you how to create your very own Daenerys Stormborn with an Imgur tutorial gallery.

Inquisition‘s character creator is pretty dynamic, but it’s also tricky.

After fiddling with it for some time I can honestly say that these guys are pretty close to mastering their craft. All of my renditions turn out awkward, freakish or plain wrong, leaving me to start over from scratch.

We can only guess what other Game of Thrones worthies will be created next: maybe Tyrion Lannister will make an appearance as a Dwarf, or the sly, silver-tongued devil Littlefinger. It’d be neat to see Eddard Stark or Jon Snow in the mix, along with Stannis Baratheon and maybe even the stoic, honorable she-knight Brienne of Tarth.

The post Someone Made Jaime Lannister In Dragon Age: Inquisition appeared first on VR World.

Episode 3: Whispers over Steel, third major expansion pack for turn-based RPG Heroes of Steel is here.  This time heroes will be travelling to the City of the Dead a long forgotten place from the old world, lost in apocalypse for over 70 years where foul schemes and twisted sorceries lurk.

Travelling through the surface of this world and exploring the ancient ruins heroes will fight the undead hordes of necromancers, skeletal warriors and ancient spirits. They will be forced to adapt and change group roles  to overcome new monster intelligence system, challenging summoners and spirit point draining creatures.  

As our heroes continue their adventures through the non-linear storyline of Heroes of Steel they will constantly be challenged by foes more formidable than before. Getting closer to the mastermind will not bring closure but reveal new unexpected threats. Rising political situation, personal problems and (since Dragon Age must be included in every game) wangst.

This expansion adds 22 new dungeons, a level cap increase from 28 to 36, 20 new necromantic themed enemies, new High Speed and Auto Buff options and as hundreds of new weapons, armors and gear found in treasure chests, offered in shops or hidden in secret places.

The post Heroes of Steel Episode 3: Whispers over Steel appeared first on VR World.

The newly launched shooter Destiny has grossed more than $300 million in its first five days of availability, Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) has announced today.

Sales across the five-day period are estimated at $325 million, and include worldwide

According the publisher, this is just one of the numerous sales milestones and records that the popular MMO-esque shooter has smashed. Other noteworthy achievements pin Destiny as the best-selling new video game franchise of all time, and it even holds the prestige as the highest day-one digital console release in history.

Bungie has also stepped forward to deliver some pretty impressive statistics on Destiny‘s online play.

According to the developers, gamers have played over 100 million hours in the first week alone. Players have also taken part in over 137 million in-game activities over this same period, ranging from co-operative Strikes, Story missions and PvP-style Crucible matches.

That’s a lot of intergalactic firefighting.

“Destiny fans played more than 100 million hours [in the first week]. That’s on par with our Call of Duty games…” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing.

“…This is just the beginning. Destiny is a platform that will grow and evolve and we will continue to work closely with our partners at Bungie to bring a long line of new experiences and content to life in the game.”

These reports are curious when compared to last week’s announcement that Destiny hit over $500 million in day-one sales.

We may be able to assume that the current sales figure of $325 million is after the initial launch sales, and that Destiny has sold a combined estimated total of $825 million in worldwide purchases to date.

In any case, the online shooter-slash-RPG has received quite a bit of acclaim from gamers since its release, but has garnered mixed reception from critics. We’ll have out official Destiny review up on VR-World here soon, so be on the look out for that in the next few days.

Destiny is now available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 for $59.99. For more information be sure to drop by Bungie’s official website.

The post Destiny Gamers Log 100 Million Hours in First Week appeared first on VR World.

Developer: Larian Studios
Publisher: Larian Studios
Release Date: June 30, 2014
Platform: PC
Genre: Action RPG, Turn-based strategy
MSRP: $39.99

Of Swords and Sourcery

Divinity: Original Sin is one of the most ingenious and original games in recent years. It was crafted by Larian Studios, a Belgian dev team made up of just 40 souls that worked tirelessly to create their own dream game.

The passion that went into Divinity: Original Sin remains a shining example of the craftiness that can be achieved when shredding the bonds of big-name publishers.

To make this ambitious game, Larian turned to the fans instead of relying on publisher investments. The game’s Kickstarter was wildly successful, raking in almost $1 million in crowdfunding support. Everyone wanted to play Larian’s dream game–in many ways it was our dream game, too–and after a few delays, the Belgian studio finally delivered the finished product to our awaiting hands.

The release of Divinity: Original Sin proved that Larian has held true to their original vision, and in many ways they’ve even one-upped it. The game remains a true testament to the team’s devotion and stands as one of the most inspiring RPG’s in modern gaming.

This is the fruits of their resolute dedication.

Zapping water with lightning blasts is just one of the examples of original mechanics found nestled in DoS.

The Stuff Dreams are Made Of

Divinity: Original Sin harkens back to the old-school days of RPG’s, where players’ mettle was truly tested every time they played. At it’s core, the game is smart and witty, but you’ll have to look below the surface to see its true charm.

There’s no hand-holding here; to figure out the quests, for example, you’ll need to do some sleuthing. Things aren’t straightforward–there’s no clear-cut indicators on where to go–so players are prompted to actually explore and interact with their surroundings.

Remember when games had that?

Investigating certain locales and–more importantly–talking to NPC’s can give you helpful clues to lead you in the right direction. Sometimes you’ll feel like an amateur gumshoe trying to put the pieces together, and honestly I haven’t had more fun figuring out the quests than my lengthy adventures in Vvardenfell.

The quests are sort of linear in nature but the real beauty is the different ways you can tackle them. Many objectives are optional–for example, one man wants you to assassinate an innocent orc named Viktorhya to make her pay for the dastardly deeds of her tribe.

Zixxzaxx may look like a small fellow, but his ambitions are actually quite large; infinite, even.

But this brings up a dichotomy that jeopardizes your valor as a hero; should you mete death out to the pure soul, or would your powers best lay elsewhere? To settle these differences, players can argue both sides in one of the most interesting character development mechanics I’ve seen in any game.

Now to understand how the characters interact, we have to first be introduced to them. Divinity: Original Sin tells the unlikely tale of two famed Source Hunters (yes, that’s Sourcery, not sorcery) who get tied up in a journey to save space, time and reality from certain doom.

The town of Cyseal is quite vast, and is filled with a whole manner of quirky denizens and hidden quests.

Gamers control not one, but two protagonists throughout their endeavors, forging a unique duo that’s the heart of

The Source Hunters are male and female, and are fully customizable from head-to-toe in terms of battle proficiency, skills and appearance–but more on that later. Their personalities are also mold-able through dialog interactions, many of which can have actual bonus effects on the characters.

Choosing to relent on the orcess, for example, will tack on Forgiving points that translate to in-game buffs. But when views clash, the hunters settle it the old-fashioned way: in a game of Rock Paper Scissors. The victor gets their way, with the loser still getting their bonuses tacked onto their building personas.

The dynamism of the dual-character approach is readily apparent, and serves as a reminder of truly innovative–if not often humorous–originality.

Elemental synergies can often turn the tide of any battle. It’s important to be able to uses these combos in tandem with the skills of your party members.

A Blend of Everything Wonderful: Combat, Skills and More

At its heart, Divinity Original Sin is a hybrid of epic proportions. The best way to quantify the game’s approach is a superlative blend of Final Fantasy Tactics‘ strategic excellence with Diablo‘s point-and-click action role-playing sentiments, with a helping of the turn-based J-RPG combat to boot.

The result is an incredibly dynamic battlefield that brims over with potential. Players are free to choose their own tactical approaches to any skirmish with literally thousands of different outcomes, making it take on a sandbox-style element where anything can happen.

The game also marries the liberties of MMO-style freedom with character creation and progression. Gamers can shape and form their two heroes down to the tee with a huge level of swappable skills, proficiencies, traits and talents.

Combat is an intuitive mixture of turn-based and tactical, utilizing a structure akin to FInal Fantasy Tactics, Diablo, and a standard JRPG.

Mixing and matching classes is a fundamental aspect of the game as some classes will naturally compliment one another–such as the classic Mage-and-Warrior team–but Larian has brought this age-old adage to the next level.

Every class has its own specialized skillsets and tiered spells, but like any great RPG, players can cherry pick their favorite abilities to make their own uber-hero. Pretty much all of the stats–from innate traits to persuasion skills and strength for melee attacks–are useful in their own way, providing for an almost stifling number of possibilities.

Combat is fluid and rather entertaining largely due to the chaos that ensues when certain elements are mixed. These elemental affinities are naturally logical and really outline the original soul of the game. For example, tossing a bolt of crackling lightning at an enemy who’s been doused with water renders the unfortunate soul into a living conduit of electricity.

Similar bonuses incur with oil and fire. Oil is an area of effect spell that slows enemies, but it’s also highly flammable. Igniting it with the Flare spell leads to well-cooked baddies. But you’ll need to be careful with your aim, as friendly fire is a big danger throughout combat.

Taking advantage of these synergies is an immensely enjoyable and helpful way to conquer foes. Players are encouraged to actively experiment and rely on both strategy, intuition and chance to find out new recipes for disaster.

The combat proper is held in turns, and everything from moving to activating skills spends a resource known as AP. This is akin to the “move” counter in a lot of tactical-type RPG’s, and players can augment their AP with items and spells.

The game will take players to the heart of fantasy, taking on a whole manner of beasts and baddies–each of which pose a deadly challenge.

The heart of any conflict lies in a party, and players will get plenty of opportunities to recruit members to their team. Having a well-balanced group of casters, healers and fighters is essential to victory–but you’ll also need to know how to operate them in their designated roles.

Formations are a key mechanic that ensure the beefy tanks stay up front, while the weaker “glass cannon” mages–or the archers that fastidiously pluck their bowstrings–stay in the back out of harm’s way. You can even assign party members to their own partners, making a “split” party, reaping certain benefits along the way.

Combat in itself is challenging, and often you will die and fail–but the key is to learn why you failed and build from those mistakes. Divinity: Original Sin doesn’t hold your hand, but it doesn’t fully restrict you, either. It’s up to players to find their own niche, but the game gives you the tools you need to do so.

The two main Source Hunters can be heavily customized in terms of stat-focus and skillsets to form the perfect dynamic duo.

Loot and Crafting

Since Divinity: Original Sin mirrors an ARPG structure, loot is an essential commodity–although it seems less pronounced than strategic cunning. Players will come across a wild assortment of treasures, miscellaneous items, potions and immensely helpful skill books throughout their journeys.

Crafting is entertaining and further embraces that experimental attitude. Many times you’ll feel like a mad scientist, trying to mix raw materials like mushrooms and water-filled flasks to make mysterious concoctions. It’s possible to mix some pretty advantageous brews that boost stats like Strength and Intelligence, as well as resistance potions that shield against elemental attacks.

Every party member has an inventory, stats, and can be equipped with your average gear slots found in most ARPG’s.

Recipes are incredibly varied, but crafting leads to some pretty hefty practical advantages.

Drag and drop a branch on a knife, for example, and you’ll get some arrow shafts. You can even take empty buckets and cups to wells and streams and fill them up, and drink them while in battle to refill AP. Combining nine-inch nails with a hammer yields lockpicks, and dropping an iron sword into a furnace will smelt some iron bars.

These recipes often seem quite random, but you’d be surprised how much they make sense at times. The game actively encourages players to continually interact and discover new things, whether it’s making a quill pen or a powerful two-handed axe to smite down foes.

Conclusion

Divinity: Original Sin is a true love letter to enthusiasts of the RPG genre, and bridges so many different beloved mechanics while preserving a life of its own. While it does adapt a smattering of sentiments both classic and new, it retains its originality and stylish flair throughout.

The game is tailored to experienced players who don’t mind having to investigate and experiment with their characters. The heart of the game is freedom, but the mind of it is ingenuity and intuition–and players have the liberty to discover their own playstyles and explore the vast webwork of skill combinations.

Larian has preserved the hallmark staples of any great fantasy-based RPG while also seamlessly reinvigorating the entire genre, creating a brand new vision that won’t soon be forgotten.

The post Divinity Original Sin Review appeared first on VR World.

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Activision Publishing
Release Date: August 19, 2014
Platform: PS4 (Reviewed), Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360
Genre: Action RPG, Dungeon Crawler
MSRP: $59.99

Do Fear the Reaper

Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition is one of the best games available on the PlayStation 4. It’s jam-packed with some of the most exceptional console-based dungeon crawling you can find, and is bursting with infinitely replayable monster-slaying action. It pulls players into a world of never-ending ARPG chaos, and is a shining example that Blizzard are the masters of their craft.

The Ultimate Evil Edition comes with the original Diablo III game as well as its Reaper of Souls expansion–along with every game update that’s been released on PC so far (excluding patch 2.1).

These updates bring new weapons, the Crusader class (who’s a powerhouse of awesomeness), an Artisan that can re-roll mods on items, and a brand new act that continues the story across the previously unvisited region of Westmarch.

The franchise’s distinct action-RPG spirit has been furthered with this release, showing a dynamic evolution of the series while preserving its namesake mechanics, features and elements.  Blizzard has found a way to ingeniously craft a worthy successor to the hallmark dark fantasy series with patches and updates that bring a smorgasboard of new features to the series.

There’s a lot to explore in Blizzard’s newest entrant, so let’s start with the game mechanics.

Elite bosses in Diablo 3 can get quite tough, especially in the Torment difficulties where their mod combinations are enhanced.

Stay a While, and Listen: Adventure Mode, Paragon, Nephalem Rifts and more

The Ultimate Evil Edition keeps that same control scheme found in the previous console release. The in-game controls are fluid the point where it feels like Diablo was always meant to be a console game. Inventory and skill interfaces are comprised of radial menus that are a bit awkward to get used to, and can be navigated via the DS4’s touchpad.

From the start, the game takes on an epic scope that fully taps the co-operative demon-slaying grind of the Diablo series. The seamless matchmaking system ensures players can team up with three other players on a whim and tackle everything from story quests to the new Adventure Mode.

The Crusader is a flexible new character class added to the game who can easily perform multiple roles in battle. Their abilities are quite impressive and combined with the right gear they can be literal powerhouses on the field.

The newly added Crusader class is one of the most versatile heroes I’ve seen in quite some time. The best way to describe them is a cross between a Barbarian and a Paladin from Diablo 2.

Their skills are quite flexible; with Smite they can shoot long-ranged blasts of holy energy. With Blessed Hammer, they can be indomitable casters; and with Shield Bash and melee-based skills like Punish, they can dish out huge damage while becoming human shields.

Crusaders even have activated auras called Laws that deliver bonuses to nearby players. Every skill also has its own rune sets to customize and experiment for the optimum build that suits your tastes.

The Crusader’s passive traits are nothing short of amazing; Heavenly Strength allows them to equip a two-hander and a shield at the same time, and they have another called Indestructible that protects them from death. Crusaders are incredibly fun and serve as a breath of fresh air in all fronts.

One of the most amazing things about the Ultimate Evil Edition is that it literally never ends. It has staggering meta-game content. The limitless playability is largely due to new features like Adventure Mode, Paragon points, Nephalem Rifts,  and six new dementedly challenging Torment difficulties.

With Adventure Mode heroes can take on a series of randomized bounties that range from killing certain bosses to completing mini-events strewn throughout Sanctuary. The mode itself is completely separated from Story Mode and can be completed on all Acts, with every Act dropping its own cache of rewards.

Adventure Mode seems to be more for end-game users trying to rack up their Paragon points, and offers a significant change of pace outside of the usual run-of-the-mill story questing. The best part about the gametype is that it perfectly captures the soul of ARPG’s by providing perpetual monster-hunting, and it’s something that Diablo always kind of had, except the quests weren’t randomized.

The Torment modes are largely responsible for the never-ending content in the game, powering Adventure Mode,Nephalem Rifts and the more advanced key hunting activities.

The difficulty modes now affect gameplay even more. The Torment difficulties–which range from Torment I to the unbelivably sadistic Torment VI–are actually required to be able to find Legendaries on Level 70 characters.

Torment not only adds more EXP bonuses and makes monsters all the more beefy, it also boosts the chance to find better items you wouldn’t be able to find in, say, Normal or Hard. These difficulties can be chosen for all modes including Story and Adventure.

The advent of Torment and the accompanied modes brings a new important to co-operative play. Gamers now have to work together to tackle screenfuls of monsters in order to stay alive and continue their grind. You can even find gifts for your friends, which pretty much always translated to a leveled Legendary item.

When a legendary item drops sometimes you’ll find a random gift for your friends.

Gifts drop randomly, but often drop when you find a unique of your own, and ensures players share their identifying splendor with their friends. The gear itself is immensely varied, with a myriad of sets, legendaries and rares that fill up your chest in no time at all.

Gamers can also break the max level cap with Paragon points. Essentially Paragon is a separate leveling system beyond Level 70 that provides passive bonuses for characters rather than new skills.

There are four main attribute trees with bonuses that range from added Vitality, lowered resource cost rates, all resistances, and even movement speed. Paragon is infinite as well–I’ve personally seen some PC players hit 300 Paragon, so it doesn’t doesn’t stop until you do and has no ceiling.

Nephalem Rifts are jam-packed with powerful bosses, making it a great place to magic find and level up Paragon points.

Ontop of Adventure Mode we have Nephalem Rifts, which are portals to completely randomized areas with a single goal: annihilate every monster. These rifts contain a host of extremely powerful elites, some of which have devastating mods like Arcane Enchanted, Shielding, Extra Health and Vortex.

The Nephalem Rifts have a massive frequency of these bosses, which of course translates the chance to find amazing loot. Tackling a rift on Torment III can lead to some pretty hefty Legendary drops. Every rift is also punctuated with a final Rift Guardian who will often drop some interesting items.

All of these new modes guarantee that players will never have a dull moment in Sanctuary. There’s always something to do, always items to find and demons to slay–and you can always find a friend or ally to join up with. The Torment difficulties are perfectly designed to keep players moving forward, complimenting player progress with persistently challenging gameplay.

No matter how strong you get, no matter what amazing items you find or skill combos you use, you’ll always be humbled by hordes of seething monstrosities. It doesn’t matter if you do 400k damage, have 1500 all resistances or have 20k Armor, your character will be tested–and will often die.

This is the magic of this newly refined Diablo. Blizzard has tapped into an incredible equation that balances challenge and reward with seamless precision, and its mastery is evident the farther you venture into the heart of evil.

The Artisan allows players to re-roll a single mod on any item to form that perfect sword or gearset. There’s no limit to how times an item can be enchanted,

All That Glimmers is Gold: Rolling Perfect Items and the Gear Grind

In the Ultimate Evil Edition Players are empowered in a whole new way, but the game is very careful how it balances this power. Gear is largely responsible for any hero’s success in any ARPG, and once again Blizzard has one-upped itself by unleashing a new treasure-trove of shiny randomized goodies to the denizens of Sanctuary.

Even with the immensely powerful Legendaries with their unbelievable mods–one two-handed polearm can even summon cows to your aid (yes, cows!)–it’s hard to find that perfect piece of gear. Sometimes that shield will have strength and vitality, but that crucial all resis or block-rate is all-but missing.

With the Artisan gamers can use enchanting to re-roll stats on all items. Now it’s possible to make that already amazing piece of gear into something 1337, godly, and all-around mind-mindbogglingly good.

But there’s a catch: you can only re-roll a single stat on any given item, and there’s a chance you’ll get something you don’t want. Every stat is aligned in a series of pre-defined groups that differ from item-to-item. Some items, for example, can translate Life Per Kill into Strength or even Dexterity–raw stat boosts like these are crucial for any character–but others are limited.

The items are quite varied but players will find gear that suits their character; as a Crusader, you’ll find shields and other gear that’s tailored to Strength and Vitality.

Enchanting requires resources and gold, so you won’t be able to switch around the mods as often as you’d like. Rolling high-tier Level 70 Legendaries, for example, costs a pretty penny by requiring Forgotten Souls, which aren’t dropped to frequently. Resources like Forgotten Souls can be acquired by salvaging Legendary (and rare/magical) items at the Blacksmith.

Enchanting and crafting via the blacksmith adds in a new level of depth to the usual Diablo grind. Since there’s always a new difficulty mode to traverse and tough baddies to slay in Adventure Mode and Nephalem Rifts, gamers will always be searching for better equipment to fuel their quests.

Teaming up with other players is an essential part of any Diablo game, and is moreso important for this version as monsters can become quite bloodthirsty.

Now players are not only searching for top-tier gear, but to find resources to re-roll items and gems to slot into their helms, plates or titanic battle-axes. Gems have gotten a nice boost as well, with a host of new grades as well as the inclusion of the diamond. Diamonds give all resistances in shields and armor, which is undeniably crucial for modes like Torment.

The huge addition of content has significantly evolved Diablo‘s end-game structure. Endgame is now less about killing monsters but choosing the right kinds of items with certain stats.

This becomes the major turning point for all characters and stands as the major trial to progression. You’ll find items that are good, but they lack certain stats and must be scrapped for resources. Juggling gear is a tedious but interesting aspect of the game, as you’ll often experiment with new skills and abilities to keep things fresh.

Nephalem Rifts and Adventure Mode add in a massive amount of replay value for the game, as every single session can last for hours and only end when you call it quits.

Battle Royale: Key Running, Hellfire Rings, and the Infernal Machine

If you needed even more extra content, Blizzard has brought back the Ubers for some of the most challenging end-game content in any Diablo game. Players can open up special portals to battle royales that actually pit gamers against up to three bosses at once in an extremely tough, heart-pumping fight.

For the Realm of Fright, for example, a friend and I fought Magdha, Diablo and the Siegebreaker all at once–and Diablo even split himself into three different versions. It was intense and incredibly fun, serving as one of the more entertaining bits of semi-hidden content I’ve see in the entire game.

The Uber fights are intense and pit players up to three different bosses at the same time.

To get to these portals, you’ll need to find the plans to make an Infernal Machine, and the keys associated with each. There are four machines for four different boss battles. The keys and plans are dropped by Keywardens, which spawn randomly in specific areas.

At the end of the Uber bossfights, the player who opened the portal gets an organ–in this case the Heart of Evil–and all four organs are used to craft a Hellfire Rings and Amulets, one of the most prestigious and powerful items in the game.

This extra bit of content is extremely fun and enjoyable, and serves as a way to test your mettle. Be forewarned, though, it’s quite hard, so I’d recommend trying it out in the lesser Torment difficulties.

The game isn’t without it’s humorous charm, though: baddies like Cuddlebears and Twinkleroots can be randomly generated in the Rifts.

Conclusion: The Best Diablo Yet

The Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition is undoubtedly the definitive console port of the franchise. Blizzard has redeemed the series with an unprecedented level of action RPG mastery, proving that they’re on their game by reaffirming their commitment to the brand.

Despite some grievances like clumsy boss battle prompts and the tedium of constantly having to compare found items to equipped gear, the game outshines every other console dungeon crawler on the market.

Blizzard has created a game where there’s always something to do, always something to slay or make or find–they’ve built a never-ending adventure that only gets better with time and never gets stale. The in-game music is stupendous, and the graphics and environments really instill the unending war between good and evil in a superlative way.

The new content is so rich and expansive that it really feels like a brand new game, and Blizzard has confirmed that the console versions will be getting regular updates to match its PC counterpart. With that level of determination, Diablo III will continue to evolve and take on new shapes in the months to come, proving that it’s the ultimate choice in the ARPG realm.

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A new game to enliven your summer vacation developed by Cuve Games and put out by Phoenix Online Publishing is one month from delivery. Heroes and Legends: Conquerors of Kolhar blends combat and strategies with story-driven and randomly generated adventures in fantasy role playing game (RPG) fun.

Evil lurks in Kohlar

Gamers will custom make their own weapons and armor to be used by their warriors, wizards and assassins. Fire and ice complete the arsenal for battling more than 130 monsters in an attempt to overcome an ancient evil. Scenarios become more and more challenging to be met with collected mystical artifacts that enhance your ability to win.

Jerome Bodin, game designer and owner of Cuve Games claims: “Challenges will appeal to the older hardcore as much as to the newcomers.” Jerome, self-proclaimed tinkerer, says he and his partner Fred, the arts and graphics guy, work out of their “small independent studio somewhere in France.”

Silver Lining Cast

An initial offering from Phoenix Publishing Online, an independent video game publisher, grew out of the Kings Quest series from Sierra Entertainment. Originating in 1984, the series was the very beginnings of the graphic adventure game genre. The concept has continued in several episodes of The Silver Lining which debuted in 2010 from from Phoenix Publishing.

Erica Reed, FBI, stars in Cognition

Another early title, Cognition, features Erica Reed an FBI agent who can see into the past in a point and click game funded by Kickstarter in 2012 and developed cross platform for Windows, Mac, and iOS. There are 24 videos about the episodes on YouTube. TGN (Those Gaming Nerds) gave Episode One a good review while Adventure Gamers gave the fourth episode low marks saying “The Cain Killer, the fourth and final episode in the series, is best described as a strangely dull thud of a climax that generally abandons intuition and reasoning in favor of blunt melodrama.”

Finding the Lost Civilization

Lost Civilization released in early 2014 by Phoenix requires puzzle solving to rescue a kidnapped fiancé. This archaeological adventure that takes you into the Mayan civilization sells for $6.99 to GameHouse members. TouchArcade gave it three stars.

April 2014 saw the company’s paranormal mystery adventure game Moebius: Empire Rising written by Jane Jensen and releasedfor both PC and Mac. It was followed by Quest for Infamy, a humorous role playing game with customizable spells. Players must lie, cheat, and steal to win. You can get it for PC and Linux.

August 21 brings the latest offering, Heroes and Legends: Conquerors of Kolhar  to the marketplace for PC, MAC, and Linux. It will be available via Steam, the Phoenix Online Store, and the usual major online retailers.

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