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Trickster Online

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Trickster Online
File:Tonline.JPG
Developer(s)Ntreev Soft
Publisher(s)GCrest, Gamigo, ChineseGamer, NetMarble, and Game&game
Platform(s)Windows (2K/XP)
ReleaseSouth Korea April 2003
Japan 2004
China 2004
Taiwan 2004
Hong Kong 2004
(Global) August 4, 2006(Closed Beta)
Mode(s)MMO

Trickster (also known as "Links to Fantasy: Trickster") (Korean: 트릭스터) (Chinese: 卡巴拉島 or 星钻物语) is a free, 3D, MMORPG developed by the Korean company Ntreev Soft.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Trickster is mostly point-and-click based; movement, combat, and many other commands are all controlled by mouse. Gameplay also includes a few non-combat "systems". First, there is the Drill System, in which a player drills in certain types of terrain for items and EXP. Second, there is the Card Battling System, which sets two characters against each other in a game of cards, played with card items found by various means during normal gameplay. The game is currently released under all its versions as a free-to-play MMORPG but with a Cash Shop feature, also known in game as MyShop, that allows purchase of in-game items (mostly for aesthetic purposes) through real cash/credit charging.

Party

There is a special party system that exists within the game. If you are of all the same type, like 'charm', then its a 'type' party. If all 4 players are different character types like power, charm, sense, and magic then it's a 'Royal' party. If a party is all of the same gender it's called a 'Special' Party. If it has less than 4 people it's a normal party. The different types of party within Trickster lead to better experience points being gained. For instance, the 'Royal' Party rewards the party members with a 2.5 times experiance boost for every experience point gained. Within the normal party, the experience share % is slightly higher for higher leveled members in the party; for example, if two players are partied, and both the same level, then the experience is shared 50% and 50%, however, if one is slightly higher leveled, then they gain a bit higher % in the experience share.

Characters

There are 4 classes of characters differentiated by their primary statistics. These classes are then divided into 8 playable characters, 2 under each type of statistic and one of each gender. Each character is associated with an animal and a profession, the former being reflected by a set of ears and a tail that are equipped by default on character creation. Male and female characters of the same type will have skills that are exactly alike. However, after the second advancement, the skills of the male and female character will branch off and differ from one another.

  • Power Type: This type focuses on physical combat. It includes Bunny (female) and Buffalo (male) characters. On the second advancement, the Bunny will become a Boxer and will have skills that do focused damage on one target. While the Buffalo will advance to the Soldier and focus on doing damage to multiple targets at once.
  • Magic Type: This type focuses on casting spells, both for combat and recovery. It includes Sheep (female) and Dragon (male) characters. On the second advancement, the Sheep will become a Minstrel and have access to elemental spells. The Dragon will become a Taoist and will obtain magic spells that deal light and dark-based damage.
  • Sense Type: This type uses long-range attacks, as well as having bonuses with drilling. It includes Fox (female) and Lion (male) characters. On the second advancement, The Fox will become an Adventurer, being able to throw certain items from afar and have skills wich enable even more drilling bonuses. The Lion becomes an Inventor, who will have most skills associated with guns.
  • Charm Type: This type gets special bonuses to evasion and defense. It includes Cat (female) and Raccoon (male) characters. The Cat will become an Idol after the second advancement, being even more specialized with skills that increases her endurance. The Racoon will become a Magician, and have several skills that deal with cards after the advancement.

Stats

Character statistics and attributes in Trickster can be viewed through the "MyView" window during normal gameplay. There are a total of 12 different attributes that are grouped, 3 each, under the 4 broader headings of Power, Magic, Sense and Charm. These attributes and a short explanation of each are as follows:

Power

  • Attack: Determines the amount of damage done to enemies.
  • Hit Rate: Determines accuracy of attacks. Determines gun damage for Sense Types.
  • Delay: Time between attacks. Lower delay means faster attack speed.

Magic

  • Max MP: Total MP available for casting spells and using skills.
  • Magic Attack: Determines the damage done by spells.
  • Magic Defense: Increases resistance to enemy spells.

Sense

  • Capacity: How much weight your character can carry.
  • Perception: Digging accuracy, customization success chance, and critical attack damage.
  • Luck: Affects spell, skill, and gun hit rate and critical attack rate.

Charm

  • Max HP: The amount of total HP available to your character for taking damage.
  • Defense: Your character's resistance to physical attacks.
  • Evasion: How swift your character is at dodging and blocking attacks.

Each attribute is assigned a level, indicating the proficiency of the character in that particular attribute. To gain a level in an attribute, the 4 "pips" under the respective attribute must be filled, only after which will you see an increase in the value for that attribute.

There are 2 ways to level attributes and stats. Firstly, upon gaining a character level, each of the 4 broader groups of statistics gain 1-4 pips automatically, depending on the stat build chosen during character creation. For example, a character with a Power, Magic, Sense, Charm distribution of 1234 upon creation (effectively representing a 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% distribution of pips under the respective headings) will gain 1 pip in all Power attributes, 2 in all Magic attributes, 3 in all Sense attributes and 4 in all Charm attributes each time he/she levels. Secondly, 4 pips are also gained upon each level for the character to distribute as "bonus points" in any chosen attribute, allowing a degree of customizability long after character creation and giving players the ability to complement deficiencies in the original build.

Release

The English beta version of Trickster was originally meant to be be released on July 10, 2006 at 12:00 AM EDT. However, due to problems with Game&game's SSO they had to delay the release until July 24, 2006 at 12:00 AM EDT. Again, problems with the SSO have meant further delays. The official "Final Delay" was for July 28, 2006 at 5:00 AM EDT, but was delayed yet again.

Game&game announced an SSO "server test" for Trickster beginning July 30th at 8:00PM, and ending July 31st at 1:00AM EST. During this test, they announced that Trickster service would begin "after August 1st."

After extensive testing, Game&game finally set a release date of 5:00 AM EST, August 4th for Trickster and a number of it's other SSO-based games. Trickster was, in fact, finally released on August 4th.

Closed Beta

Upon it's release, Trickster was announced to be a "closed" beta test. By this, they meant three things: first, that players from a country with it's own version of Trickster would not be allowed to participate. Second, that only select areas of the game would be available for play. Third, that only a certain number of players would be allowed to login to the game at the same time.

The latter restriction is the one that has caused the most problems for many players. While the servers were originally announced to have a 2500 player capacity, the game launched with a capacity of only 1000. Reportedly, only three minutes after launch, the servers were filled.[1] Later in the day, a Trickster GM announced that the servers had been adjusted to have a higher capacity[2]; however, it is unknown what the current player capacity is.

In order to compensate for the limited player capacity, Ntreev opened another channel on August 6, 2006.[3]

Issues and Criticism

Originally, the most common issue among players was the inability to log-in due to the servers being at full capacity. If the player limit was maxed upon attempting to log-in, the game gave no feedback to indicate what happened. Instead, the player would either be shown a "disconnected" message, or be left with a false "logging in" message that made buttons on the GUI unresponsive. Further adding to the problem was the large number of players who, upon being able to log-in, left their characters logged in to save their place on the server. However, the added channel has very much remedied this problem.

Another problem is the use of Engrish (broken English) in the English version. Haphazard translations from Korean to English with no apparent localizers have made understanding of the game's specifics perplexing, though not as confusing as most other MMORPG translations.

Another criticism is that the characters have animal traits evocative of a Yiff nature, leading to non-players often mocking the game and its players.

Official Websites

Informational Fansites

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