

I refuse to adjust my parameters and will still include my description as a "37-year-old happily married man" in the form. Now, if you don't mind, I have not yet found a partner in-game, and that bothers me. When it makes its way here, it will have already been adjusted and tweaked. This means that our new content is the older, refined content of the Japanese playerbase. As I mentioned above, the Western version of the game is around two years behind the Japanese version. Do not trust the auto-walking feature it is handy, but if you go AFK while running to a destination, you just might find a dead body when you come back. I have found that combat is, as Mark explains in the video, pretty tough if you just run into it.

Luckily the game is free, so it resides on my hard drive for me to explore. I think I died four times before we decided to call it a day.Įven after meeting with an official representative from Gamania and having the game explained to me some more, I am aware that I am still missing a lot. Of course, once Mark and I went inside, even all of his god-like GM powers could not save me from my very own my Leroy Jenkins moment. Depending on which gems were used, the monsters inside can be from dozens of varieties. Once those gems are placed, an imposing door rises from the ground, beckoning players inside. A player can obtain differently colored gems that fit into one of three different slots at what looks like a dungeon-o-matic inside the town. A player gains levels and abilities in fairly standard ways, but dungeon-crawling is a sort of customizable experience.

Until then, though, games like Lucent Heart are embracing the social aspect of MMOs more than most, and I can truly appreciate that.Ĭombat is not something that is just tossed into the game, however. Yes, one day we will surely laugh at the current technology, just like we laugh at computers that were once the size of entire rooms. Seeing those players in Lucent Heart made me envious of someone who is growing up or first discovering MMO gaming in these amazing times. We were fascinated with the fact that you could chat with people from all over the world, and so we did, often for hours at a time while hanging out under the Atlas statue in City of Heroes or in front of the bank in Ultima Online. No, not that kind.Īs I played along with my character and watched the other players bound around, chat, and generally have a good time in the middle of the city I was in, I was taken back to when I first started playing MMOs, around '99. There are benefits for all parties involved, and the system would be perfect for roleplay. Lucent Heart is the first one that seems to combine all of the possible uses of a social system into one. I've seen match-making systems in games before, but they were generally centered around grouping for combat. It's good to note that the team is handcrafting same-sex animations for players who want them. The slow dance animation in particular is lovely. The relationship animations are kept pretty much PG and are quite beautiful to watch. This means that Billy can snuggle with his virtual significant other and be more combat-ready afterwards. For example, a couple that has reached a certain level together can earn particular animations that, once used, give a combat buff to both players. The Cupid system makes meeting other players fun but also gives real combat (and other) benefits to the participants. Yes, some of the players do use it as a virtual dating service, but in my experience, gamers who want that sort of connection will find it any way they can. Mark wanted to show me the Cupid system, a cool social tool that allows players to meet each other by filling out a small yet thorough set of questions. I've said it before, but my character in Lucent Heart would make an amazing hobbit in Lord of the Rings Online.
LUCENT HEARTS FREE
I think our gamer eyes have really started to take for granted the amazing graphics that come bundled with these free bits of entertainment, so I try to stop and notice when I can. After a while, it starts to look like you are playing within an animated movie.
