Yulgang

Infobox VG
title = Yulgang Online


caption =
developer = mGame
publisher = CDC Games, flagicon|IndonesiaGemscool
distributor =
designer =
license =
series =
engine =
version =
released =
genre = MMORPG
modes = Massively multiplayer online
ratings =
platforms = PC
media =
requirements =
input =

"Yulgang" (also known in the USA as "Scions of Fate") is a Korean MMORPG. Developed by mGame, it is based on a Korean martial arts comic which shares its name. [http://www.pacificepoch.com/newsstories/47079_0_5_0_M/] . The title of the game, "Yulgang" is an abbreviated form of the full title "Yul-Hyul-Gang-Ho" (热血江湖) which means "hot-blooded-steaming-tiger." The subtitle "Balance of Power" refers to the two factions that are presented in the game: "The Order" and "Chaos." In China, the game is licensed to Beijing 17game Network, a subsidiary of CDC Games. This MMORPG charges no fee to play the game, but creates revenue through sale of virtual merchandise. As of February 14, 2007, the game is popular in China and Korea, with over 60 million registered players [ [http://www.cdccorporation.net/newsroom/news/000647.shtml CDC News Room] ] with servers active in Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and America

Introduction

In 2005 , "Yulgang" was awarded the national President Award (given by the Korean Government) in the MMORPG category. In the same year, the game was awarded with seven game awards in China. "Yulgang" currently has servers active in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, United States, and Thailand. Since its opening until now, it has logged more than 70 million users and more than 300,000 concurrent online users.Fact|date=April 2008

Setting and story

The story of Yulgang takes place in a mythical realm of martial arts. In this realm there is a place called Central Valley where martial artists from all over the world gather to practice special combat tactics and skills to improve their strength of mind, body, and spirit. In this land there existed clans created to more effectively spread the knowledge of martial arts.

But as the clans grew more and more numerous, a faction arose that called itself The Order. It ruled the clans, with the best martial artists administering to the factions needs. The Order was also created for fighters who wished to not only learn new skills and improve their abilities but also to gain spiritual enlightenment. However they became tyrants.

Soon, another faction, called Chaos was created to be set in opposition to The Order. Those who allied themselves with this faction saw fighting and learning skills to be the priority and spiritual enlightenment as a frivolous endeavor. The Order seeking to destroy the Chaos destroyed many places soon pushing the Chaos into hiding.

As time passed, these two factions were plunged into conflict and the original hope of solely developing martial artists through training and discipline was lost and The Order and Chaos basically became two political entities.

In Yulgang, players become martial artists and begin their journey through Central Valley learning martial arts, completing tasks, and mastering skills. As they progress, players will be able to pick which faction to choose.

Factions

There are two factions in Yulgang (Scions of Fate) The Order, and Chaos. Both factions have their own stories and backgrounds along with unique character looks to tell the factions apart. They also have different styles of clothing as well as weapons. There is not really to say a 'good faction' and an 'evil faction' as the GM's say, the people who value rules are 'The Order' and the people who live freely and get away from the rules 'Chaos' or Rebels. Anyone can choose which faction they wish to enter at level 35 after doing the '2nd Promotion Quest' by talking to Lady Tae.

E

E symbolizes EARTH or server. In Scions of Fate there are 5 main servers titled like this earth-1 [IIII ] earth-2 [IIIIII] earth-3 [IIIII ] earth-4 [II ] earth-5 [MAINTENANCE] In each Earth there are levels. Usually bars are used. The more bars you see indicate how many people are in that earth. Also if an earth has a lot of bars then the game would lag on you the most. In the example above you see [MAINT] which means that server is under construction or GMs are currently working on it. More than likely all servers would be down but if not then its ok to play on the other servers.

The House

"Yulgang" has its own embedded guild system, called The House (a term from martial arts society). Players are able to start creating their own houses once they reach the level 35 (the same level where they decide their factions). There are also official houses for the two factions. A fee must also be paid. The real amount (in the website it gives you a wrong amount) is 1 million gold. Currently mentioned by the GM'S at one of their boss events that uniforms will be issued and available for the houses to purchase. Please note that the gm's said this over 6 months ago in 2007.

Character class

The Swordsman is a warrior that has relatively weaker health and defense ability compared to the Bladesman. He also has weaker attack power compared to a spearman, however the attack precision, dodge and faster attack rate are his main strength.

The Bladesman is a warrior that has strong health and defense which provides the ability to withstand a lot of damage. He has low attack power, and his precision is low. Bladesman are the only characters in the game with AoE (Area of Effect, or the ability to attack several enemies; however it only affects enemies that are attacking you).

The Archer is slow attacking warrior that uses arrows to attack from far distances. He has relatively low health and defense ability however he has a very high dodging ability and attack power.

The Healer is a magic-using character in this game that has relatively low health and defense ability. He has the ability to heal other players and execute ranged magic attacks. At level 60 and higher, he is considered a damage dealer due to his overwhelming base skill damage.

The Spearman is a character that uses spears as his main weapon. He has relatively weaker health and defense, however his attacking power is the strongest of all characters.

Rage mode

Rage mode is a mode that players will reach when their rage gauge reaches full. As players fight against monsters, their rage gauge level will increase as they receive hits from monsters. Once this gauge is full, players enter into rage mode which increases the attack power,presicion,defense, and dodge. This mode lasts for a certain period of time which varies due to the player's level, character specification, etc.

note: Healers do not have rage.

Abilities and skills

Abilities are specific to each type of character, with ability points being rewarded with each level up. It allows players to improve certain specifications of their characters such as accuracy, damage, or the duration of rage mode. Players must be careful when they use ability points because those are the main factor that determines what type of characters they are going to raise. For example, a healer character has abilities for improving the amount of HP heal, increasing damage, and the duration of buff skills. Upgrading the first ability will help their ability of healing, the second will help them become an attack-oriented healer, and the third will help them become a better buff-skill provider.

Skills are specific moves that are performed by pressing a certain hot keys after a setting. Players can train skills when they reach their requirements of Ki points, level, and class. Ki points are rewarded with the kills of each monster by player themselves or a member of their parties. There are two different types of skills. Combat Skills deals with the damage to monsters using moves that become flashier and stronger at higher levels. Support Skills are any skill that does not involve directly with the attack damage to monsters such as wind-drifting, healing and buffing (healing and buffing are only for the Healer class and the Archer class can also buff once there reach lvl 45+).

Authority Clash

The Authority Clash is when both The Order and Chaos fight each other in a specific arena.When you reach level 35 you are able to join the AC(Authority Clash). You join by asking ladies that are at Hill Valley or Riverside Plains. The lady from Riverside Plains a.k.a Lady Jolie is the lady you ask for if you are in Order and Lady Gwen from Hill Valley is the lady you ask to join if you are in Chaos. During the battle, you kill enemies that are either Order or Chaos. Each person you kill gives you a ticket that can be sold to NPC stores. Points for the AC are if you attack the other groups statue your faction will get 2 points and every enemy you kill gives you 1 point. Points are added up and in the end they compare the points from Order and Chaos and whoever has the most points wins. The winning faction gets to face Iron Kirins which are animals that when killed drop Emeralds, Sapphires, Rubies, etc. When the AC ends you must teleport back to your town by speaking to the NPC thats at the arena.These battles are held every Saturday.2ND PROMO levels 35 above3RD PROMO levels 60 above4TH PROMO levels 80 above

The party system

A party request system is provided which players can use to request parties to join. Players will then be able to see the lists of players who are also looking for parties. A party can have up to eight members. Compared to the amount of experience gained in solo play, experience will be accrued much more slowly when you are in a party. The game also includes a party experience penalty that changes with the monster’s level in relation to the players’ levels.

Premium Store

The only part of Scions Of Fate that will require you to pay (optional) is the premium store. The store can be accessed either by netgame or in the game. Players would have to change their money for coins. 1 United States dollar would equal to 1000 coins (or NCASH as the game calls it)and so forth. In the premium store a variety of things can be bought such as clothing and pot(potions). One very common item bought at the store would be a pet. Which vary in prices. A mouse would cost 10 dollars and same for a hawk. While a Tiger and a Leopard would cost you 15 dollars.

Apprentice training

This system was created so beginners and low-level players would be able to receive help from a higher level player at his own discretion.A beginner can get acclimated to the game quickly through the help of an experienced player and a low-level player will be able to advance through the latter parts of the game through the relationship with the master. Creating a master/apprentice relationship with another player is relatively easy once all the requirements are satisfied. Of course, both players must agree to start this relationship in order for it to work. The apprentice training system allows new players to advance much faster than is usually the case. It allows the master to teach three skills and give items to the apprentice. The master gains experience from his apprentice’s gains in level and allows the master to receive items from the apprentice’s quests. While the in-game individual user experience is important, there is an interest in the growth of the Yulgang online community as a whole.

Pets

In Yulgang, pets are creatures that help you hunt and raise your own character’s level. In order to receive a pet, you must either buy the pet from the Premium Shop or buy/trade a pet from other players. To use a pet, you must visit Heather in Central Valley to initiate Quest 1/5. Quest 1/5 will increase your pet's loyalty to you before you may summon it. Once you complete the quest, you are able to turn the egg to a Summoning Charm by right-clicking on the egg. Summoning Charms are used to summon pets and each character may hold up to 2 of them. The first time you summon your pet, you will be prompted to name it. Once it is named, you will be able to raise your pet and level it along with your own character. Pets are able to wear clothes and accessories just like other characters, with the exception of weapons due to the nature of the animals.

There are six different types of pets that you can choose from: mice, hawks, leopards, tigers, pandas, phoenix, panthers, and white tigers.

Pets are similar to regular characters in terms of statistics, but they are not given primary statistics (spirit, strength, stamina, and agility) but they are only given secondary stats (attack, defense, accuracy, and dodge). Pets also have a system of loyalty. Based on the level of the pet’s loyalty, its statistics, its experience gain, and your ability to summon the pet will change. There are 9 levels of loyalty. At the lowest level the pet may even refuse to be summoned. You can raise your pet's loyalty by feeding it certain foods that it likes. Pets may also be promoted in the game. After a pet receives its first promotion, it may learn skills. Characters earn Ki points and spend them to learn skills but pets learn their skills through skill books that are obtained through quests or shops. Mountable pets may also learn wind-drifting skills for even faster movement speed as well.

Item crafting

There are three different components to Yulgang's crafting system: enchantment, enhancement and essence. All three systems have different success rates based on the craft level of the item.

Enchantment allows a player to take a sapphire or emerald gem and transfer the gem's abilities to a piece of equipment. Sapphires are used for weapons and Emeralds are used to enchant defensive equipment. Enchantment costs gold for each time an item is enchanted, whether it succeeds or fails. When an enchantment attempt fails, the gem is lost but the item is retained, along with its previous enchantment it had (if any). If the enchantment attempt succeeds, the item name turns blue and the options that were embedded in the gem are transferred over to the item. Equipment and weapons may be successfully enchanted up to four times. Armor can be enchanted up to two times. Accessories cannot be enchanted. A player can apply as many gems to enchant a weapon until all four lines are maxed. The rate of success after the second enchant is very low. Optional luck charms that increase enchanting success by a percentage are sold by the NPCs.

In the enhancement system, a player uses a Ruby to upgrade the item. For every successful enhancement, it increase a weapon’s attack by +6 or a piece of defensive equipment’s defense by +3. Once an item is enhanced, it cannot be enchanted. There is a cost for every enhancement try. The number of rubies used to enhance an item depends on how many enchantments it has. For a clean item, it costs one ruby to enhance. An item with two enchantments will cost two rubies. And items with three or more enchantments will cost three rubies. You may enhance an item up to 10 times, however success rates are greatly reduced after the 5th enhance. The enhancement level is displayed to the right of the item name in brackets. A failed enhancement attempt results not only in the loss of the gem, but also the loss of the item as well. Optional charms sold in the Premium Shop (nCash) can prevent an item from breaking if the enhancement fails. Luck charms that increase enchanting success by a percentage are sold by the NPCs and in the Premium Cash Shop.

Applying essence uses amethyst gems. Amethysts give a weapon a special glow and embeds a property ranging from increased attack, defense, rage, accuracy, poison-ability. There are six different types of amethysts: water (blue-white), fire (red), wind (green), poison (purple-white with skulls), inner energy (pale red/pink), and physical energy (orange). Each essence has different effects on equipment, and their effects also differ when used on a weapon or on defensive equipment (among defensive equipment, essence may only be applied to robes). The same essence may be applied on an item up to 10 times. A failed attempt will result in the loss of the gem and in an initialization of essence statistics of the item. Amethyst gems must be bought from Holly in Central Valley town. There is no other way to obtain an amethyst except from Holly or a player selling it from their personal shop.

Types of attacks

"Yulgang's" combat system includes a combo attack and skill combo attack. Ability points that are obtained at each increase in level can be invested in certain abilities that raise the power or procreation rate of these combo moves.

The combo attack is a move where the character does three choreographed attacks for slightly greater damage at a faster rate. Investing ability points in flowing blade will increase the procreation rate of combo attacks. Healer characters expel energy balls as their form of attack and do not have combo attacks.

Skill combo attacks use chi points to perform a powerful skill. In "Yulgang", consecutively activating different skills will not cause the character to perform those skills consecutively. Instead, skill combo attacks are used. A player may register at least three different skills in a skill combo which will cause the character to consecutively use the registered skills in a combination attack. A player will use more chi points than usual with combo attacks, and the skill combo is not repeated like other skills.

Other forms of attack in "Yulgang" include regular attacks, skill attacks, critical attacks, critical skills, armor crushing attacks, attack reflections, triple arrow attacks, and chi arrow attacks.

References

Official Game Website

* [http://yulgang.mgame.com/ Yul-Hyul-Gang-Ho Online (Korean Yulgang)]
* [http://fate.netgame.com/ Netgame in USA. Scion of Fate]
* [http://www.rxjh.com.cn/ Chinese Yulgang]
* [http://www.yulgang.co.id/ Yulgang Online Indonesia]
* [http://www.cdcgames.net/ CDC Games company web site]

External links

* [http://www.yulgang-online.web.id/ Indonesia Yulgang Online Fansite]