It’s all about EXP Boost this Lenten Season. Boom, baby.

Regardless of other people’s opinions, there are some indubitable facts which the local gaming industry MUST acknowledge: GONG! and Dekaron started the trend that got the competition scrambling for new titles, much like MU Philippines did years ago.

Thanks to GONG!, local game publishers have started to offer “mmo casual games” for the “gamer in everyone”. Casual gamers, unlike hardcore gamers, are a unique set of audience which have their own needs, attention span, and interests. Apps in Facebook, and downloaded apps from iTunes, prove that the gaming industry CAN tap just about anyone and everyone. From middle-aged housewives to 13-year old babydaddies, from college professors to part-time chefs, from the occasional lover to the lonely poet.

mobiusgames(DME) took a risk when it brought GONG! to the local scene. At that time, no one else thought of offering a game title which wouldn’t be time consuming, wouldn’t be financially demanding. GONG! came, open the field, and offered people a game which you can play for short periods of time without diminishing the enjoyment you can derive from it.

Now, a casual survey of local game publishers will tell you that for them to stay relevant, they’re now offering casual gaming titles in their line-ups.From kart racing, to side-scrolling action, “casual games” seem to be everyone’s sudden genre of choice.

Then came Dekaron.

Dekaron was the first and only adult-oriented MMORPG game for the Southeast Asia region of the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia. Behind the scenes, team mobiusgames actually spent a lot of time deliberating and arguing amongst ourselves over some content and themes which may not be suitable for very young audiences. In the end, without compromising the unique mature angle of the game, the game was released as it is, with very minimal censorship and restrictions, but with its now infamous warning to players logging in: players below 17 years of age ARE NOT supposed to play this game.

Soon after the release of Dekaron, other local publishers have jumped into the adult-oriented MMORPG bandwagon.

Yes, business is business, but let’s take a break from the cut-throat industry of gaming, and give credit where credit is due: Dekaron started it all.

And it keeps getting better and better.

Team mobiusgames has recently announced several exciting events and promos for Dekarians. Check out their website.

My main concern back when I was working for mobiusgames was that I felt like they were too concerned with the “game balance” to consider what the players really want. My standpoint was from a layman’s POV, and theirs was from their positions as “expert gamers”. And we all know, not everyone is an expert gamer. Dekaron, I think, is most appealing to veterans of the mmorpg genre, players who have spent 5 years jumping from Ragnarok, to MU, to Ran Online.

But now, analysing their current offerings of events and promos, I think someone inside is actually making BRILLIANT changes in policies.

For a long time, Dekaron has been offering a MEASLY 20% EXP rate bonus for special, scheduled hours. IT WAS STUPID. No one would bother marking their calendar for that. Especially when other games are offering 100% EXP Bonus on the weekends. NOW, Dekaron is offering 60% Bonus EXP, which is the PERFECT balance between having a flood of players playing on a limited time, and rewarding those who would actually, religiously, play during these special hours.

And as I’ve mentioned before, I’m quite concerned with the pricing range of items in Dekaron. They’re OK, they’re reasonable, but as we all know, AFFORDABLE trumps REASONABLE every-fucking-time. If you’re selling a cellphone for a “reasonable” price, I’d still look for an “affordable” alternative.

HOWEVER, in a very, very shocking turn of events, Dekaron has not only lowered the prices of some of its items, but they’ve BUNDLED SOME PREMIUM ITEMS WITH OTHER BESTSELLING ITEMS. This is, of course, classic marketing strategy-and by ‘classic’, I mean timelessly effective. In essence, they’ve bundled slow moving items with fast selling ones, giving customers a free trial of items they’re not familiar with. THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR PLAYERS. With ABSOLUTELY NO STRINGS ATTACHED, you get a FREE PREMIUM ITEM everytime you buy your favorite stuff!!! If you think about it, this is a 2-point advantage for the players, considering Dekaron is ALREADY not financially demanding to enjoy (what with it being free to play).

Let me clear some things. I’m no longer working with mobiusgames. I am not in any obligation to praise their work.

But I’m a fair man. I believe in appreciating people when they’ve done a good job. In my opinion, team mobiusgames is finally doing an amazing job at paying more attention to what the popular opinion is over what they think their game should be. Really, really impressive.

From the Yahoo! Videogames article:

[Researchers] exposed volunteers to traumatic experiences, then made some of them play Tetris half an hour later.

I wonder if said induced trauma includes sodomy via an upright Z-block while Russian instrumental music plays in the background.

Can you imagine walking into a testing facility and there’s this researcher dude telling you, “Welcome, and thank you for participating in our experiment. We’ll be shooting bullets through your vital organs. Probably, we’d even dip your balls in barbecue sauce and let a rabid grizzly bear loose in this room to gore your genitals out with its huge, eviscerating paws. You have the option of going to the next room instead, where we’ll also coat you in barbecue sauce, but instead of a rabid bear, we’d let loose a horny, 250-pound biker to tenderize your sweet ass. That’s just for starters. We have devised several traumatic experiences tailored to fit your individual profiles. Have a great day!”

And then afterwards, while you’re still bleeding, you crawl towards one of the researchers, begging for some medical attention, for some help, or for him to just end it all with a clean shot to your brains,  he kneels in front of you, and says, “Here, have a brick game.”

In the near future, in an emergency room somewhere:

Resident: What happened here?

Paramedics: Trauma victim. A scaffolding collapsed, and an iron bar flew right into this little boy’s stomach, skewering him.

Resident: Any family members with him at the time?

Paramedics: (checks his notes) His father was with him, but another iron bar dropped on his head. The boy witnessed it all. That’s actually bits of his own father’s brains on his chin right now, doctor. (pointing)

Resident: My god! How traumatic. (To her interns) We need a brick game here STAT!

Honestly, I’m sort of torn on this news. On one hand, I think it’s great that the industry is reaching out beyond its core demographics of pre-, post-, and pubescent male teens. The more diverse the community, the more dynamic the scene will be. With the coming and the eventual rise to domination of the Wii, Nintendo has prove that by minimizing the learning curve, everyone’s inner gamer will be unleashed. More and more moms are playing Wii Sports with their teenagers, and there’s a steady increase in number of “girl gamers”.

On the other, we all know that Nintendo’s only doing this to sell more. Expand your target market, expect more revenues. Maybe that’s not so bad. Maybe decentralizing the expertise on gaming will be ultimately good for the industry, or maybe, by trying to appeal to wider demographics, the gaming experience will be compromised. With game developers targeting a more basic, neutral, common ground in order to attract 40-yo housewives and their 13-yo sons, we can expect a “popularization” of game play, narrative, and–gasp!– even visuals!

What do you think?

Sorry, guys, no gold for Bush Shoe-throwing Game. Maybe next year?

And this is just plain retarded:

Anyway, I’ve been noticing a lot of search results that’s been generating traffic to this site is related to Dekaron Commissioned Quests. It’s funny coz I never posted any comprehensive guide to Dekaron Commisssioned Quests here, except, well, a mention in passing. See, when I used to work for mobiusgames, blogging those kind of stuff was actually part of my job. Now that I’m focusing on a different career path (for the time), I’ve taken it slow when it comes to writing guides and tips.

But since you insist, I guess I can afford to spare some time and write a little something about Dekaron Commissioned Quests.

What are Dekaron Commissioned Quests?

Dekaron Commissioned Quests are side-jobs you can take to earn (or lose) extra DIL (the in-game currency for Dekaron). They are not part of the main Dekaron storyline (which is all about defeating the bad guy named “Karon”/”Abaddon”).

Where can I get these quests?

Go to Parca Temple. At the center, a couple of strides behind the priestess Kata, there’s a bulletin board of sorts. Once you’ve reached a certain level, you’ll be able to accept particular commissioned quests. You can only accept quests once you’ve unlocked them through your level.

How do I accept these quests?

Commissioned quests, as I’ve said before, aren’t part fo the main story. Imagine these quests as side-jobs ordered by private individuals. Kinda like outsourced jobs for you to take.

Go to the bulletin board and check out which ones are available to you. Select the one you like, and pay the fee. There’s a fee for accepting these jobs as retainer. The private individual commissioning you for the job, of course, wants to hold on to something to be ensured that you’ll deliver the goods that’s being asked you to. Once you accept the commission, the appropriate DIL (as fee) will be deducted from you.

Upon completion of the commission, you NEED to go back to the bulletin board and claim your payment. Unlike some quests, you won’t automatically receive your rewards. You will receive a notification once you’ve collected all the necessary items for the commissioned quest. Go back to the bulletin board, review the commissioned quest you’ve taken, and click on “Accept Rewards”. The bond/retainer you paid earlier WON’T BE RETURNED TO YOU on top of the reward you’ll get. You’ll only get the reward.

What can I get from the commissioned quests?

That depends on the quest you’ve taken.

Each quest has 4 possible rewards ranked from what I’d like to think of as “That Fuckin Sucks”, “Break Even”, “Yeah, It’s OK”, and “Awesome”.

That Fuckin Sucks basically means that the reward you get is less than the retainer/bond you paid to accept the commission. That Fuckin Sucks is appropriately named because this is the reward bracket with the highest rate of probability. You’ll most often get That Fuckin Sucks kind of rewards of all the types of rewards.

Break Even is the sort of reward that, well, is barely higher than the bond/retainer you paid to accept the commission. However, all is not lost. Although you only broke even, your time doing the quest wasn’t really wasted considering you gained experience and dil and items while accomplishing the commission. This comes out often too, but not as often as That Fuckin Sucks.

Yeah, It’s OK is the sort of reward that will hook you up on getting more commissioned quests. It ranges from 3x to 5x the bond/retainer fee. This doesn’t come out as often as That Fuckin Sucks and Break Even, but it comes often enough to encourage you regularly take on commissioned quests.

Awesome is the highest possible reward that the commissioned quests offer. My former boss and I used to inform each other whenever one of us would get an Awesome reward. It’s like winning the Dekaron lottery. Winning an Awesome reward makes it all worthwhile. It actually instills in you a sense of hope that everything will be all right in the world. Although Awesome rewards are rare, they’re not unfairly so.

Higher Level, Harder Commission, Better Prizes?

This monster totally has major phallic issues.

Not necessarily so. Personally, based on my experience, I think it’s better to take on a commission that’s EASY for you to accomplish over one that’s hard to do but offers a chance of getting bigger rewards.

For example: The Rock Pressure commission is accessible earlier than the Valkyries commission. The Rock Pressure commission’s range of possible rewards (RPR) is lower than the ones being offered for the Valkyries commission, BUT if you’re strong enough to take on Valkyries, I guess that means you’ll find hunting down Rock Pressures relatively easy.

What I’m saying is that you can take on two–one at a time, of course– Rock Pressure commissions in the span of time that you’re accomplishing your Valkyries commission. And since That Fuckin Sucks are in general most often the kind of reward you’ll get, it’s best if you go for MORE CHANCES than BIGGER CHANCES. It’s like in the casinos (I am of legal age, and rest assured that I don’t go to casinos often; only when my friends and I are bored of drugs, gun smuggling, and prostitutes.)– unless you’re a fuckin high roller, stick with the slot machines.

Of course, there will come a time when doing low level commissioned quests is too easy, it’s borderline retarded. You have to consider that Commissioned Quests are just side-jobs that you take on while you’re moving up through the level ladder. Move up the Commissioned Quests ladder once the quests start to feel dull and repetitious.

UNLESS you’re farming for DIL, of course. If you’re farming for DIL, then the best strategy really is to take EASY commissions as often as possible.

If we can lose money on commissioned quests, why should we still take one?

What are you, a pussy? Are you a wet pussy shivering in the cold, hard snow of Crespo? Are you a motherfuckin pussyassboy who’s afraid to lose a little, die a little, bleed a motherfuckin bit? Then you have no fuckin right to play Dekaron, you wet, shivering, pathetic, hunchbacked pussy. Go play Nostale, motherfucktard.

YES, there IS  a chance of losing money when taking a commissioned quest, but you won’t lose the experience points, the DIL you picked up from monsters, and the items they dropped while you were hunting them.

Besides, it’s all about the chances! You lose some, you win some AWESOME prizes too.

Stay tuned: Next time, I’ll give you a run through of where the monsters for commissioned quests are located, and other important bits!

Comment: Please leave your questions and requests in the comment section of this post, if you have any. I’ll gladly answer them (when I have the time) if I can.

Thanks!

"This is one of those shit why people say we're gay, guys."

Ok, let me be clear about this. I’m not claiming you should download my saved file because it’s the best, it’s the most awesome, it totally pwns. It’s not. My gameplay’s pretty mediocre, pwnage wise. I’m sharing it with you guys simply in the spirit of generosity and for the sake of discussion. It’s not an awesome gameplay.

However, there are pretty neat stuff I’ve acquired through the process of exploring this FFVII prequel for the PSP. For one thing, I’ve managed to unlock the Genji Armor (so, that means the DMW’s complete as well). The HP booster I’ve fused with a Curaga materia’s not bad either at 7++%, and Zack’s at LVL 8+, and the Mission Mode’s 87% complete. There’s still A LOT OF ROOM for exploring before you finish the story mode (which I finished back when I was level 40-something. Genesis –the final boss, duh– is a pushover, so there’s no snag in unlocking the New Game+ mode).

Besides, it’s THE gameplay of, eherm, THE Siege Malvar. That amounts to something, I hope. It’s worth checking out, at least.

And over at Jam Online, Jerome Ancheta has posted the trailers for two new Final Fantasy installments: Final Fantasy versus XIII and Final Fantasy agito XIII.

The Final Fantasy versus XIII trailer looks pretty awesome, innit?  It’ll be out on the PS3 soon. Well, it looks awesome because it’s a cinematic trailer. Can’t wait to see the gameplay trailer, though. The trailer offers no clue as to the new gameplay, whether they’re going to implement a new system, or a hybrid of the old ones (the DMW, the ATB, etc). FFversusXIII looks like it’s set on a futuristic world with elements of fantasy in the undercurrent. So far, the FFVII series of games is the only installment in the franchise that plays with the neo-gothic feel of a science-fictional millieu, and I don’t know if you agree with me, but the FFVIII was an all-out cowboy romance to be categorized in any coherent genre.

But the Final Fantasy agito XIII trailer looks… blah. And did anyone really watch that trailer and go “Hmm… I can’t fuckin wait to play that on MY MOBILE” ? There are bits of gameplay thrown in, and what we can gather is that the gameplay graphics look like a stepback from Crisis Core. Let’s hope this is just the gameplay texture for mobile phones. I will seriously be disappointed if that’s the PSP gameplay they were showing. We do know that Tarot cards are going to play a significant role in the battle system, and it’s a combination of the Crisis Core battle system with elements of the ATB mixed in. Maybe the Tarot cards will replace the DMW reels? And it looks like players can shift between characters in a party (like in Valhalla Knights). There’s a very Balamb, very Hogwarts feel to the story, and it feels more rooted in fantasy than in sci-fi unlike it’s contemporary, the Versus 13.

The main character (with the FF games, it’s hard to assume the playable characters are the “main” characters, because sometimes, the main story arch doesn’t revolve around them; case in point: Crisis Core’s Genesis-Sephiroth-Angeal threesome) looks effin’ smexy, if I must say. I’m seriously considering having my hair treated that way, and colored in that khaki-silver-black hot mess that he has. Hair-wise, FFversusXIII got my vote for most awesome. Now, I may be a total n00b with games, and you can call me out for my noobish ways, but if there’s one thing YOU CAN’T ARGUE WITH ME ABOUT… it’s hair. Because, boy, do I know hair. And Noct‘s hair is awesome. He has that Trese look going. I know I’ve called cosplayers “costards’ before, but if there’s one character that can change my position on the matter, it would be FFversusXII’s Noct.

Meanwhile, the fuckin dweeb on the right is FFagitoXIII’s main/playable character. As you can see, he has Noct’s hairdo on his fuckface, but it’s not working, honey. He is baiting for girlcosplayers to crossdress as him. And by the way he’s looking at his Tarot cards tell us that fortune says he’s going to get his ass raped with the buster sword soon. Like, in 7 minutes. We all thought Harry Potter was gay until this guy came along. Can anyone really look at this kid and go “Hmm… I’ll definitely get me some chicks looking like THIS dude”? He reminds me of Gundam Wing’s “Quatre Reberba Winner”, whose initials also stand for Queen of the Rebel Whores, and we all know the other Gundam pilots are hittin’ his sweet, juicy ass behind the scenes, under the tarp. Even Relena hits it with her strap-on.

Anyway, there. Download my saved file while we all wait for our next cream-filled fix of Final Fantasy.

You may also want to read up my interview with TechPinas.com’s webmaster.