Filed under: The Chronicles of Spellborn

One Shots: High House Silver

by Krystalle Voecks Jul 11th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, The Chronicles of Spellborn, One Shots

With the recent news that The Chronicles of Spellborn is going to be going from a Freemium to a fully free-to-play game, emotions are torn. Those who have been subscribing feel like they're about to lose the game they've been enjoying. Those who have wanted to try it out but have been unable to do more than the first several levels are glad as it will give them a chance to play more. Either way you slice it though, it means change for the Spellborn community. With that said, we have a lovely screenshot from within The Chronicles of Spellborn that was sent to us by Terrivad of the Deiquonril server. He writes in: This is a screen shot of the interior of High House Silver in the city of Hawksmouth. House Silver being one of the five High Houses of the Enclave. They keep the economy in order and the day to day activities such as transportation, taxing and trade. (They're also obviously the richest House.)

One Shots runs on reader submissions, so we need to hear from you! Just snap a quick screenshot from your favorite MMO and send it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and the game/location it was taken in. We'll do the rest from there and give you the credit for sending it in.

Gallery: One Shots

The Chronicles of Spellborn to be re-developed as free to play, bankruptcy issues loom

by James Egan Jun 30th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, The Chronicles of Spellborn, News items, Free-to-play, Chronicles of Spellborn

The Chronicles of Spellborn only launched a few months ago, but they've already announced that they're going to "re-develop" the game as a free-to-play title. Acclaim Games stated on Monday: "The development is planned to carry into 2010 and will include several enhancements and changes to the current game. The enhancements and development of the new model will be carried through a joint venture between Spellborn NV and the development studio of Frogster Asia Co. Ltd based in Seoul, the Korean studio bringing its expertise in the field of free-to-play and micro-transactions."

Once this re-development is complete The Chronicles of Spellborn will cease to be a subscription game and will switch over to the free-to-play model. We're not sure if there will be any further development on TCOS as it exists now, but a post on the game's EU forums by community manager Kelas stated, "For now, the servers and system (subscription) will remain the way it is. There are still people available for running the daily work and systems."

One Shots: From the front lines

by Krystalle Voecks Jun 19th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, The Chronicles of Spellborn, One Shots

We don't often get to look in on The Chronicles of Spellborn, so it's great to get a report back from a Spellborn player for One Shots. Today's beautiful-yet-almost-psychadelic screenshot comes in to us from Eric who writes in: Looking down at the docks as I venture, for the first time, to The Vaults. The first thing that drew me into the The Chronicles of Spellborn was the atmospheric scenery. The area I'm traveling to is used to further the lore of the game, and the long trek up to the top of the mountain really gave me a perspective much like a pilgrim. Really well done!

If your MMO travels have taken you to a world we don't often see, why not send in some screenshots and share your journeys! Email them to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post them here and give you the credit.

Gallery: One Shots

The Chronicles of Spellborn art book now available as free PDF

by James Egan Apr 28th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, The Chronicles of Spellborn, Chronicles of Spellborn

The newly launched fantasy game The Chronicles of Spellborn is a (air quote) freemium massively multiplayer online title from Acclaim, where three areas of the game are available for free, while subscriptions truly open the game up for its players. Those gamers in the EU who jump into The Chronicles of Spellborn are able to buy the title as a boxed product and thus get the art book which accompanies the box release, but no such luck for North American players. That is, until now.

Acclaim has opted to release the art book as a free PDF file, which you can find over at MMORPG.com. It's a nice, in-depth look at the game spanning 151 pages of art content and lore. The High Houses, the game's myriad Inhabitants, and of course weapons and armor are all included in The Chronicles of Spellborn art book. If you're already into TCoS or are just curious about it, be sure to grab your free download at MMORPG.com.

The Chronicles of Spellborn interview explains game's unique aspects

by James Egan Mar 1st 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Classes, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, PvP, The Chronicles of Spellborn, PvE, Races

The Chronicles of Spellborn is a game we've been hearing more about lately. We recently noticed an interview by Nolvadex at the Italian gaming site Gamesource with The Chronicles of Spellborn's lead community manager Pierre-Yves "Mirage" Deslandes.

Mirage discusses a relatively smooth European launch for the title and some of the complexities of their publishing deals, insofar as they affect the European market. The challenges of balancing PvE and PvP content in the game comes up, and Mirage also addresses why The Chronicles of Spellborn shipped without an auction house, stressing that a marketplace is indeed on the way. In terms of building upon the game's combat systems, Netherlands-based developer Spellborn NV doesn't plan to make any major changes to the game's combat system, which Mirage states is the trademark and backbone of The Chronicles of Spellborn. Adding greater depth to what's presently offered instead of simply adding more races and classes to the game is clearly a priority for the developers.

What does Spellborn still need for a successful US/UK launch?

by Shawn Schuster Jan 5th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, The Chronicles of Spellborn, Free-to-play

Here we are a month after the European launch of The Chronicles of Spellborn, and we find ourselves gearing up for the US and UK launches very soon. What has changed since the EU launch and what have the developers learned throughout the month after launch? MMORPG.com's Patrick S. Marshall takes a look and gives us his opinions on what the game still needs to make it in this hard-knock era for start-up MMOs.

"The bottom line is that the game could use some more players, especially on the international servers, which are considerably less populated than the French or German servers," Marshall says in the article. "The UK is separated from Europe publisher-wise by a territorial IP-ban (Acclaim is publishing TCoS in the US and the UK - Frogster does the rest of Europe and Asia)." For more information on The Chronicles of Spellborn and their upcoming US/UK launch, check out their main website.

The Chronicles of Spellborn scores 8/10 in an early review

by William Dobson Dec 8th 2008 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, New titles, Reviews, The Chronicles of Spellborn

Although a great deal of the world is still playing the beta version of The Chronicles of Spellborn, continental Europe has had access to the retail copy since the 27th of November. Since Eurogamer has had a couple of weeks to put the game through its paces, they've posted a review. Now, we're sure you know the various problems with MMO reviews in general -- the two biggest being that most (good) MMOs are updated frequently post-launch, and that there's usually too much content to get through to provide accurate insight to all levels and areas of a game -- but it's worth nothing that this one comes with a rather healthy eight-out-of-ten score at the end.

The art style and environments get an approving nod in the review, and so do the action-based combat mechanics. The "Skill Deck", which is the replacement for the traditional action bar you might be used to from a huge number of other MMOs, is both praised and knocked for its complexity. The primary criticisms that the review levels against TCoS are that it can be a bit generic at times, and that it lacks the glossy polish that you see in big-budget titles. Obviously these complaints were not significant enough to stop the reviewer from enjoying the game, and we look forward to seeing how it shapes up by the time it's released to the rest of the world in January.

The Chronicles of Spellborn close in on a North American Publisher

by Shawn Schuster Jun 3rd 2008 at 4:30PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Business models, Forums, Game mechanics, Interviews, New titles, The Chronicles of Spellborn

In a recent interview over at Ten Ton Hammer, Pierre-Yves Deslandes, the Public Relations Manager for The Chronicles of Spellborn answered some interesting questions about the upcoming fantasy MMO. One of the first questions on the minds of those at TTH and the minds of most players is why the game's launch has been post-poned another six months until autumn of 2008.

Of course, as with most game-launch delays, the development team is still working out some bugs. Plus, to complicate matters, the game is still without a North American publisher. But in addition to this news, we get treated to some wonderful information regarding the unique features of the game, including the "Dress to Impress" gear system.

Head on over to TTH to read the complete interview.