Astonia III was released in 2002 by a German company called
Intent Software. Although it is from 2002, and it runs off of a 2D engine it is still a great game.
How To Get Started:
1. Go to www.Astonia.com
2. Click on “Account Management”
3. Then “Create New Account”
4. Enter your e-mail address.
5. Check your e-mail for your login ID and Password.
6. Go back to “Account Management” and login.
7. Create a character, and download the game
After you have downloaded and installed the game, open the client and put in your username and password (You can change your password in account management by clicking edit), selecting a server below the password area, Primary, Backup, or Backup 2, it doesn’t matter which one you use your character will be on all of them at any time.
Now About The Game Itself:
Graphics:
So here is what the game looks like (The picture is a little blurry):
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You don’t need an amazing custom built gaming pc to play this as you can tell, but it is still a good game.
So why is it a good game?
Character Stats
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This game has a great skill system, where all Mages start with the same spells, and all warriors the same. You raise the base of the skill, but it’s the mod that counts. The ‘modified value is the one that adds the effect of your other skills and equipment, but base is used to tell if you can use a certain item or how high your modified skill can be.
Levels and Quests
There are 200 levels in the game, and you will always have at least one quest to keep you busy. (The record is 6 months to hit level 200 I believe). The one thing that stands out about this game is the Pentagram Quest; also known as The Pents They start at level 7-8 and go all the way up to around level 200 (not sure if it goes over, I think its level 220). The pents are an area where a player can go, that is basically filled with certain level demons in an area, the player touches a “pentagram” and... Well demons come out. You gain exp for each pentagram you touch, and when the pent quest is ‘solved’ you get the total EXP from all the pents you touched. Directly after a solve (The solve pentagram is random) is also the only chance to fight the Demon Lords in each section. In the early levels, from level 10 to about level 25 – 30 you will have the opportunity to complete something called ‘The Labyrinth’. The labs are a series of tests, and when you complete all of them you have the option to either further yourself in your class (Mages become Arch-Mages, Warriors become Arch-Warriors, and both classes have the chance to become a Seyan) Arch Mages receive a new skill called “Duration” which adds to the length that certain spells will last, Arch Warriors receive Rage which will raise a players Attack and Parry stats the longer they fight. The Seyan however, starts over at level 2. The seyan class is a combination of mage and warrior. They have every skill of the mage and warrior, however they do not get the same extent of the spells that mages do. They don’t gain any armor from spells like mages do. When seyans complete the labs they have the opportunity to Arch. Arch seyans get hidden duration, which is not as strong as an arch mages and you can’t raise it but it is there. (Oh yea, and Arched characters also get capes to show on their actual avatar)
Equipment, Inventory, and Storage, Etc…
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On the left where the skills and stats would normally be is now the ‘depot ’, the depot is a place to store items that you aren’t currently using but want to keep. Although your inventory holds 80 items, that space will quickly fill up as you progress in the game, and many players have many characters, even separate accounts just to stash items. Items can have up to 3 modifiers on them, (although there are a few special items in the game that have 4 modifiers, but they are either unusable or timed). For example a good warrior item may have Attack, Parry, and Immunity. The modifier on an item can range from +1 up to +20, with minimum levels to use each level. The modifiers on the item add to the modifier of your skills, up to the max mod you can have for that base of the skill. One way to increase the mod on an item is by using Silver or Gold units. If an item is ‘unenchanted’ it must first be used with Silver, then Gold; Each adding +1. So an item that is unenchanted and is +10 attack parry and immunity, when silvered would become +11, then when gilded becomes +12. This may work for adding a couple modifiers to the item, but another way to increase items is with ‘orbs’. Orbs add +1 (with a few +5 orbs in the game) to only one skill on the item. So for example using an attack orb on our +10 attack, parry, immunity item, would make it +10 parry immunity, and +11 attack.
Fighting:
To start out, a player can choose to be a warrior or a mage. Warriors will be dependent on Hit points and a strong weapon such as a Sword, Dagger, or even their hands if they choose. They use brute strength with high armor value, along with “War cry” which is the warrior’s only skill. Activated by pressing ALT + X, or ALT + 8, the war cry, depending on its skill level, will stun and slow your opponent and also give you a shield as long as you remain active. While your war cry is active your health may not decrease depending on the strength of your enemy. Some of the warrior’s stats are; Attack, how hard you hit. Parry is the ability to block an attack. Tactics, how you use your Attack and Parry together. Speed Skill, How fast you attack. Surround Hit, Increases damage to enemies to your left and right as you attack.
If you choose to be a mage your path will be much different. You start out with nothing but a dagger. Mages can choose either dagger, staff, or use their hands. Mages focus on magic power and defense. Mages have two main attack spells, Fire or Lightning. They may either use a Fire ring, or a Fireball, or with lightning a small lightning storm that circles their head, or a lightning ball that hits anything within its range with a jolt of electricity. Other skills that help mages are; Bless, Raises most of your other stats. Freeze, the ability to slow an enemy down. Heal, Being able to heal yourself and others more efficiently. And one of the most important skills is their Magic Shield. This is the mages defense. Since mages are less dependent on strong armor, they need something to protect them. This is a shield that can sustain a lot of damage before it breaks, and can also be healed using the players Mana.
A few other things
The game is also controlled a lot differently than most other games. To move is simple, just click on the ground where you want to go. In order to open doors, you need just to click on the other side of it if it is not blocked, or hold SHIFT and click on it. Holding the SHIFT key is how you open most things, Doors, Chests, Use Teleports. In order to give someone an item, or to attack them if you are outside of safe zones, you just hold CONTROL and click on them with an item in hand to give them an item, or with nothing to attack them. CONTROL may also be used by mages to heal another player or cast an aimed Fireball or Lightning ball. Finally, to cast spells generally. (or on yourself) You use the ALT key. For mages, when they press ALT they will have an array of spells across the top of the chat screen, while warriors only need to worry about one, ALT + X (war cry).
Another great part of this game is the Clan system. In order to survive, a clan must pay a fee of ‘clan jewels’. In order to get these jewels, you must either fight for them in Clan Spawners, or buy them from another clan who has won them and doesn’t want it. The clan spawns are where you find the pure characters, and gets really interesting at higher levels. Clan spawners however have a Max level for each one. They are placed throughout the game world; some are very easy to get to others very hard. They may confine 30+ players into a tiny space making it chaotic at times. This is where many of the higher level players spend most of their time raising and making these characters perfect.
Chat
Since it hasn’t ever been a huge gaming community, the people are mostly nice. There are a lot of different channels to talk about basically anything. Some of them are; Info, Gossip, Games, Trivia, Clan, Auction. To talk in the channels all you have to do is hit Enter to change to the chat system, and type in /join #. To find out the numbers just type /channel and they will be listed. Then to chat in that channel you would type the channel name (some of them can be abbreviated) and what you want to say. Like /Gossip Hiya Everyone!, Which can be abbreviated as /g by the way. You can also use /c# using the channel numbers from before. You can find almost anything you need on the auction, and find out what’s going on with the clan fights in the clan channels.
Well, I think I covered most of the game. There is a 28 day free trial, and the game client is small so why not give it a try see if you like it. If you have any more questions just head on over to the forums, Here and register there. I am currently not able to play the game but I’m sure many people in game would be willing to help also.
Tell your friends :p
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Topic: Astonia III (Read 2542 times)