Trickster (video game)

Infobox VG| title = Trickster Revolution


developer = Ntreev Soft
usa_developer = GameNGame
publisher = GCrest, Gamigo, ChineseGamer, NetMarble, and NTreevUSA
designer =
engine =
released =
genre = Fantasy MMORPG
modes = Multiplayer
ratings =
platforms = Microsoft Windows
media = Download/CD-ROM
requirements = Windows
* Windows 98/2000/XP
* Intel Pentium III 800 MHz or AMD equivalent
* 256 MB or more RAM
* 3D supported graphics card
* DirectX 8.1b or above.
* 2.7 GB free hard disk space
* Broadband internet connection
input = Keyboard and mouse

"Trickster Revolution" (formerly known as Trickster: Links to Fantasy) ( _ko. 트릭스터) is a free, 2D isometric 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. [http://trickster.ntreev.net/gameguide/cg_drill.aspx] 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 through real cash/credit charging.

Leveling Up

Leveling up in Trickster is quite unique in comparison to most other games; it has two leveling systems - base leveling and TM leveling. Base leveling percentage is shown at the very top of the screen as a long yellow bar. When one levels up, he/she attains four points that they can allocate into 12 different stats (see below) in the "MyView" window. Base level is not only important for becoming more skilled in the 12 different stats but also in acquiring more powerful items. TM level percentage is displayed near the top of the "Skills" window. When one levels up in this system, he/she gets one point that he/she can allocate into a skill, buy a skill with, master a skill, or simply save for later.

Party

There is a special party system that exists within the game. The main benefit of the partying system is to multiply the experience points you receive up to 2.5 times. There are five types of parties. A normal party with six people (the most people one party can have) is a negligible 1.5 times your normal EXP. A type party consists of one type of class (i.e power, magic, sense, charm) and maxes out at 2.0 times the normal experience attained. Another type is beginner party, which does not double EXP gain. The final two parties max out at a 2.5 EXP multiplier. The first of the two is a royal party. A royal party consists of only one of each class (i.e one power, one magic, one sense, one charm) with another character of any job. The final type of party is a special party which consists of all one gender (i.e male/female) with the exception of 2 opposite genders. Parties can only make their maximum EXP multiplier if everyone in the party is on the same map (ex. if there are six people in a royal party, it'd normally have a 2.5x multiplier, but if someone was on a different map, it'd only be a 2.0x multiplier until that person came back). The party leader can decide on the party settings how the EXP will be distributed and if items will be shared. (S)he can select if the EXP will not be shared, if it'll be equally shared, if higher leveled players will get more EXP, or if it'll be decided manually by the leader. (S)he can also decide if items can be picked up by anyone in the party if killed by anyone in the party or if people can pick up only the items they kill for. The latter of the two is much more popular, so there aren't any disputes over party members. There is a bulletin board in-game where people can ask for members to join their party or ask to join a party. Partying makes leveling up much easier.

Characters

There are 4 classes of characters [http://trickster.ntreev.net/guide/guide_character.aspx] 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. [http://trickster.ntreev.net/guide/guide_character.aspx] 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; finally, at the third advancement, the character may choose to focus on the type's skillset ('pure') or branch out ('hybrid')
* Power Type: This type of characters 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. The Buffalo will advance to the Warrior and focus on doing damage to multiple targets at once. For the third job, the Boxer may become a Champion or Duelist; the Buffalo may become a Gladiator or Mercenary.
* Magic Type: This type of characters 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 Bard and have access to elemental spells. The Dragon will become a Magician and will obtain magic spells that deal light or dark-based damage. The Sheep may further advance to become a Soul Master or Witch; the Dragon may become a Dark Lord, Priest or Wizard who focuses on dark, light and balanced attacks respectively.
* Sense Type: This type of characters uses long-range attacks, as well as having bonuses with drilling,and use guns. It includes Fox (female) and Lion (male) characters. On the second advancement, The Fox will become an Explorer, being able to throw certain items from afar and have skills which enable even more drilling bonuses. The Lion becomes an Inventor, who will have mostly skills associated with guns. For the third job, the Fox may become a Thief Master or Hunter Lord; the Lion may become a Scientist or Cyber Hunter.
* Charm Type: This type of characters gets special bonuses to evasion and defense. It includes Cat (female) and Raccoon (male) characters. The Cat will become an Entertainer after the second advancement, being even more specialized with skills that increase her endurance. The Raccoon will become a Card Master, and have several skills that deal damage with cards and others that help with evasion after the advancement. For the third job, the Cat may become a Primadonna or Diva; the Raccoon may become a Gambler or Duke.

tats

Character statistics and attributes in Trickster can be viewed through the "MyView" [http://trickster.ntreev.net/guide/guide_Interface.aspx] window during normal game play. 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 Power (AP): Determines the amount of physical damage done to enemies.
* Accuracy (AC): Determines the accuracy of physical attacks executed, gun damage, and critical rate of spells. Also determines critical damage for physical attacks and some skills.
* Attack Speed (DX): Time between normal attacks. The lower the number, the less time taken for a player to execute his attacks.

Magic
* Magic Points (MP): Total MP available for casting spells and using skills.
* Magic Attack (MA): Determines the damage done by spells.
* Magic Defense (MD): Increases resistance to enemy spells.

Sense
* Weight (WT): How much weight your character can carry (all items and cards have a certain weight).
* Perception (DA): Increases chance to verify item presence before digging. It is disputed whether Perception affects compound results. Also affects certain Sense skills such as Stone Strike.
* Luck (LK): Determines accuracy of spells, accuracy of gun and skill attacks, evasion of spells and gun attacks, critical rate of normal attacks, and block rate against physical attacks. It is disputed whether Luck affects compound results.

Charm
* Health Points (HP): The amount of total HP available to your character for taking damage.
* Defense (DP): Your character's resistance to physical attacks.
* Hit Evasion (HV): Avoidance of physical attacks/skills. Determines resistance against gun attacks. Also affects some Charm skills.

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 larger groups of statistics (Power, Magic, Sense and Charm) gain 1-4/4 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 under the respective headings on character creation) will gain 1/4 pips in all Power attributes, 2/4 in all Magic attributes, 3/4 in all Sense attributes and a full "level" 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 customization long after character creation, and giving players the ability to complement deficiencies in the original build. Once an attribute acquires 4/4 pips, it gains a level and the attribute improves.

kills

When TM levels up he/she can use the point earned in one of the skills bought. To buy a skill, the player must go to a skill shrine to buy a skill card from a skill master. There is one skill master for each of the four classes. Once a player has bought a skill card, he/she must use the card so that it may be learned. TM points must be used to learn the skill initially, and the person's TM level must also be high enough to learn the skill. Once a skill reaches a certain level by putting TM points into it, the skill can be mastered for it to be any further improved, This is also the final improvement and provides a more powerful boost to the skill than any other improvement. To master a skill, the player must go to a skill master who will then tell how much of an item the player needs to get, along with how many TM points needed to master the skill. When the player reaches base level 50, TM level 40, he/she can be promoted to the second job where he/she can access more skills. There are different skill builds for different characters on various websites.

Release

The English beta version of Trickster was originally meant to 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 its other SSO-based games. Trickster was, in fact, finally released on August 4th.

The English version of Trickster Online, after its complete release, (in late 2006) through its publisher Ntreev USA, has also contracted American illustrator, Aleister D D Gilgrim (author of the Cemeterians comic series published by SLG) to complete a weekly webcomic (titled Megalo Life, in reference to the in-game corporate organization Megalo Company) as well as other illustrations and as yet unreleased content. The webcomic was launched officially on the official English Trickster Online site on May 4th, 2007 after several preview and promotional strips that were released through their official MySpace and LiveJournal Blogs.On Dec. 31th 2007 Megalo Life has ended with issue number 34.

Trickster Online R.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N was released in August 22, 2007. It brings new improvements and changes such as better basic starter pets, upgraded newcomer quests, a new character creation process and more. According to Ntreev this is only the beginning of various changes the game will have.

As Feb. 1st Ntreev switched their address to Trickster.ntreev.net due to their new release - Grand Chase.

Issues and Criticism

There was use of Engrish (broken English) in the earlier English version. However the game is currently being translated and localized by the staff of Ntreev USA itself as part of its publishing arrangement.

The game itself is also riddled with multiple bugs such as increasingly slow logins even leading to a game "hanging", errors with opening MyShop causing the game to crash, constant lags even on high speed connections and even a game crash when opening banks. It is unknown whether Ntreev will address these issues.

The game has some bugs, in which sometime the monsters and the loots are shown but in fact they do not really exist there. This has caused much confusion to players to judge whether it is a "real" matter or not. Players cannot execute their attacks on the monster or pick the items shown on the platform.Also, there's a bug when you enter a portal and don't wait for your Pet to spawn, you might be unable to attack nor use items such as potions. This may also happen when talking to NPCs. One of the large bugs that seems to have appeared resently is the Hit Evasion (HV) broken bug, where HV no longer works logicaly, but more as of randomly, causing more unbalance betwean the character classess in game.Most of the bugs are due to lag issues. Others might be just due to codes edited by NtreevUSA that contradict other codes, therefore causing errors in events. It is unknown if that is true or not, but it is a possibility.

Finally, customer service on NTreev USA has decreased to the point where users wait up to (or often more than) one month to get an issue resolved, including even payment issues.

References

External links

* [http://trickster.ntreev.net/ ETO] - English Official Page.
* [http://www.trickster.co.kr/ KTO] - Korean Official Page.
* [http://game3.netmarble.net/cp_site/trickster/index.asp KTO] - 2nd Korean Official Page.
* [http://hk.chinesegamer.net/cabala/ CTO] - Chinese Official Page.
* [http://www.trickster.jp/trickster/ JTO] - Japanese Official Page.
* [http://www.mymmogames.net/wiki/index.php/Trickster_Online:Content Trickster Wiki]
* [http://www.tricksterwiki.info/h/ Japanese Trickster Wiki]