People get hooked to online games for three reasons: he got a lot of time and money to waste; he’s a total looser who’s having a hard time socializing in real life; or he wants to prove something and stays on until he finishes the job. In my case, all three applies. I started playing Tantra cause I have the dough to spend and my job does not always demand my presence then I found it more comfortable to make connections with total strangers and then I stayed on cause I have to prove to myself that I’m better than this veteran player and made it my mission to top him off. I think every gamer, aside from those who have connections with the game administrators share my story. Thus I believe a game which boasts of it’s vengeance system will undoubtedly be a hit specially in the this country where everybody feels oppressed and deem it as a right to get back at someone for something.

Rohan Online, an old game brought recently to Philippine shores by Level Up!, caught the attention of the so called “hard-core gamers” (mostly comprised of internet cafe care-takers) and those who are already fed-up of all the other online games which penalizes PK or player killing. Keeping the gaming world peaceful is now for those sissies who should be playing Second Life than a Hack ‘n Slash. In a civilized society where rules rule life, it is no wonder why a lot would pay big bucks just to escape to a barbaric realm where vengeance and survival are the only order of the day (that and the cardinal rule of not using 3^rd party applications or cheats, in layman’s term).

VENGEANCE SYSTEM Starting Level 30, players have the option to attack other players for (guess what?) experience as well as game currency. This makes everyone a potential target similar to mobs and to top it off, PK is not limited to one-on-one killing, you can gang up against an enemy or gang up against a party or two. (Reminds me of Tantra’s Pamir Plains when they turned off the penalty for PK. Totaly cool!) I’m not sure if there is, but I hope they have an option just like Ninja Gaiden where you could enjoy the game in it’s bloody glory.

They have this auto-populating “Hit List,” where the last 50 of your opponents as well as the outcome of each battle is recorded. If you are loose, you gain the one-time opportunity to warp to the player who killed you for your chance to serve your vengeance. You may also bring along your gang in case you feel like you need some help in toppling down a higher level enemy. Teleporting your gang may cost a bit though.

If that much action does not excite you, they also offer township battles, more like Perfect World’s version of territorial wars where the ruling guild gets to control the taxes for services availed in the controlled town.

RACES AND CLASSES There are six available races to choose from and two distinct classes per race. Each has it’s own weaknesses and corresponding strengths.

To start with, we have HUMANS with Strength and Agility as primary stats. They are melee-based and enjoys the highest defense rate among all other characters. Come level 50, they have the option to be Defenders or Guardians, which is focused on offense.

ELVES are the indispensable support race, healing and buffing parties using Intelligence and Psyche as their primary stats. They can either further their careers by being Priests, specializing in healing, magical attacks, regeneration and buffs, or Templars, with magic and healing skills and can also serve melee damage.

HALF-ELVES are the archery bunch utilizing Dexterity as main stat. They could specialize in range attacks by following the path of Rangers or be Scouts which can deal melee damage by the use of daggers.

DARK ELVES utilizes Intelligence and Psyche as main stats just like their garden variety couterparts. They are more on the offensive side and specializes in area skills. They can be Warlocks with added debuff skills or Wizard who packs more damaging spells in their arsenal.

DHANS specializes in assasination. They gain extra points for assassination and they don’t get marked on player’s Hit Lists. However, Dhans cannot join parties when they are on assassination mode. Dhan Avengers can drain opponents stats as well as increase their own and can substitute mana with health points. On the other hand, Predators are adept in setting traps and can locate treasures easier than others and have skills that allow them to wear higher level items. They can also cast invisibility spells to a party member.

STATS Knowing this game is stat based instead of stance is a great deal. I’m personally sick of stance based games. There are a total of six stats affecting the different aspects of the character’s abilities.

STRENGTH affects melee damage, wight limit, and physical defense.

VITALITY affects physical defence and weight limit as well as health regeneration rate.

INTELLIGENCE deals with magical damage and defense as well as weight limit.

PSYCHE affects mana and mana regeneration as well as decrease weight limit.

AGILITY also decrease weight limit and increase attack avoidance.

OTHER FEATURES The era of inter-player buying and selling off in-game items in PHP is nearing it’s sunset. With Rohan’s pioneering effort to minimize scamming brought about by the underground market, all other games would definitely follow suit.

Details are yet to be rolled out but as of recent developments, the online marketplace for selling and buying in-game items is ready for implementation. No info yet on the mode of payment but for sure, Paypal, eon as well as G Cash will definitely be a major player. They may also impose taxes for the service but hell that’s a-ok for top dogs from the Metro Manila area.

Pets and mounts are also available, giving added excitement to game play.

THE JUICY PART No info yet on cheats and hacks, for the moment but I’m pretty sure it’s easy to crack just like other games from LU! Hell, if GameGuard can be bypassed, what won’t?

You may leave comments if you wanna share something we don’t know yet. ; )