Quaere Verum

patronus922 . My CABAL Online character, a level 136 Force Shielder. Dual Transcender. Name is Latin for "guardian". Favorite skills: Shield Break, Shield Splinter, Blade of Judgement, Storm Crush. Just one of the diversions I turn to in my solitude.

nemesis922 . Level 14x POW Swordsman. My first character. Nemesis means "an opponent which cannot be beaten or overcome". Nemesis in Greek mythology is also the goddess of retributive justice or vengeance. Favorite skills: Vacuum Slash and Tornado Slash. amicus922 . Level 12x INT Swordsman. Amicus in Latin means "friend". Favorite skills: Tranquility, Lightning Strike and Crescent Slash. medicus922 . Level 13x Full Support Shaman. Medicus is Latin for "doctor" or "physician". Favorite skills: Gift of Life, Resurrection and Spear Guardian's Wrath. bellator922 . Level 13x INT Brawler. Bellator in Latin means "warrior". It also means "warlike" and "courageous". Favorite skills: Blood Lust, Force Roar and Force Push. vesta922 . Level 13x Attack Support Shaman. Named after Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and domestic life. Favorite skills: Petrify and Infernal Punishment. curio922 . Level 10x Attack Support Shaman. C...

I keep getting asked how to make guild badges in RAN Online , so I decided to just make a post to so I don't have to keep repeating myself over and over again. First of all what's a guild badge anyway? What's it for? A guild badge is just a small icon displayed over your character's name which identifies which guild that character belongs to. To the right of the guild badge is your guild nickname. In reality, that icon is nothing more than an ordinary bitmap (BMP) file 16 pixels wide by 11 pixels high (16x11). So how do you go about making your own badge? The simplest way is to open Microsoft Paint (in Windows XP, simply click the Start button, then scroll over to Accessories , then Paint ), then click on Image on the Paint toolbar, slide the cursor to Attributes (you can also press Ctrl-E instead), select pixels as your unit, enter 16 in the Width box and 11 in the Height box, then click OK . You'll get a 16x11 drawing area. Of course, the drawing area is a bi...

In the past I've posted a number of more or less scathing entries regarding e-Games ' support (or lack thereof) for the the popular local MMORPG RAN Online . It's been several months, but I have to hand it to them. The service has indeed improved a lot. It's still nowhere the level of service I would like to expect from them, but compared to the dismal performance they have been showing not so long ago, the playing experience has definitely changed for the better. Gone but not missed is the dreaded connection error dialogue box . It's been months since I last encountered a user's account is being connected error message. The number of disconnections that I have experienced lately has dropped significantly. "Server resets", that is, when everyone logged in is abruptly disconnected when the server is full to capacity, are things of the past. The missing EXP events seem to have disappeared as well. I'm not in a position to state whether or not all p...

So, how many times has this happened to you? e-Games announces a 2x or 3x EXP event. You're looking to level up your character, so you buy a training rosary, log-in your character and start looking for a party. After what seems like hours of trying to look for a party, so finally get to join one. Unfortunately, you're only a temporary member since one of the permanent members was disconnected (which is a normal thing when it comes to playing RAN Online nowadays). After a while the disconnected player doesn't seem to be returning, so you're told that you're now a permanent member. You put on your training rosary and lure for all your worth (or cast buffs if you're a support shaman). When the the mobs have all been killed, and as the dust fades from the battlefield... You get perhaps half a percent (or some other other amount which is significantly less than you expected). Maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. Half a percent? With a 3x/2x event? And with a trainin...

And the top ten reason to quit playing RAN Online , from 10 to 1, are: 10. Availability of newer and better online games. Frankly I don't have much experience with other MMORPGs, but I've heard and read lots of positive reviews over some newer online games, such as Perfect World , Lineage II , and Granado Espada . Yeah, it may be hard to give up RAN Online after all those months, but you never know. It may be about time to move on to some other MMORPG. And who knows? The service and support may even be better. 9. Poor return of investment. You play for hours on end, for months, perhaps even years, and eventually you get that high level character you've always wanted. Now what? You could try selling your account, but not only is that prohibited by e-Games , you'll only get a small fraction of the money you invested into making that character in the first place. Well, you do get bragging rights against lesser characters, but the satisfaction doesn't last. No matter ...

I guess I spoke too soon. Less than 24 hours after I was first able to log on RAN Online and the other e-Games websites, again I am plagued by the dreaded connection error dialogue box: Well, I knew it was too good to last. I don't know. The urge to quit playing is becoming so strong I'll probably succumb sooner or later. Actually I'm already what they call "semi-retired", that is, I only play when I get the itch to do so, and whenever time and opportunity permits. I was only compelled to go out of semi-retirement so that I could level my INT swordsman all the way to 127 and learn the newly launched 127 skill. Thankfully, during the brief period with which I was able to connect yesterday, I was able to succeed in achieving my goal. But now that I have accomplished what I set out to do, and with e-Games being plagued with connection errors, I wouldn't be surprised if I just disappeared from the RAN gaming community. Such a shame really. To be perfectly hone...

After almost five days, I was finally able to log in e-Games ' web servers. While I'm definitely relieved that I was able to access my e-Games accounts, the experience nonetheless has left a bad taste in my mouth. The bottom line is, the less than stellar service and support of e-Games to its customers still leaves me extremely disappointed. Apparently, a lot of other e-Gamers feel the same, as my posts relating to e-Games' troubles have seen higher than average traffic lately, indicating that dissatisfaction with e-Games' quality of service has grown beyond its internal forums and has spilled over into the internet at large. I'm taking this topic to heart for several reasons - firstly because of my personal stake as player of RAN Online , and secondly, the perpetual complaints against e-Games' services represent virgin territory as far as our local legal system is concerned. As an advocate of the legal profession and soon to be (hopefully) a member of the Bar,...

After talking a number of times with different e-Games support personnel and browsing a number of different forum sites (like this one ), it turns out that the reason why I couldn't log on RAN Online or any of e-Games' websites is because e-Games is having connection problems specifically with subscribers of PLDT's myDSL service. Apparently subscribers of different ISPs are not affected, as far as I know. So, the bottom line is, if you want to play RAN Online , or at the very least log in any e-Games website and your ISP is PLDT myDSL, tough luck. I've tried refreshing my connection so my router can obtain a new IP address, but it still doesn't work. Nothing does. And it's strange, because other than the fact that I can't seem to access e-Games' web servers, my internet connection is perfectly fine . If it weren't for the fact that I play RAN Online , I probably wouldn't have noticed. I can log on on virtually any website in the world, and yet...

For almost two days now, RAN Online , and the rest of the other e-Games titles, portals and forum pages remain down. Any attempt to log on RAN Online simply results in the following message being displayed: Logging on any e-Games website only generates a browser time out error and a blank page, as if e-Games simply did not exist on the web. What gives? I have always been critical of the shoddy service e-Games has been giving its customers lately (see previous posts here and here ), but this recent development takes the cake. Without any advisory or warning, e-Games' web presence has mysteriously disappeared, just like that. It reeks of unprofessionalism and incompetence, and to my mind, simply unacceptable and definitely a perfect example of the wrong way to run a business. I also find it a bit disturbing that most newspaper and magazine articles I read about local MMORPGs are filled with little more than hyperbole and unending praise, with nary a mention of the "dark side...

As promised, here's the text of my letter-complaint discussing the unscrupulous practices of certain online game proprietors. I have promptly sent copies of this letter to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). Now if only they stop sitting on their asses and see the letter for what it represents, that is, uncharted legal territory , as far as consumer rights is concerned. The undersigned would like to respectfully bring to your attention certain possible abuses and violations of consumer rights as well as possible abuses in the use of an information and communication infrastructure in a commercial field which does not seem to be regulated much if at all. I am referring to MMORPGs, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. A MMORPG is basically an online video game, a game played over the internet where the players are represented in a virtual world as characters of their own design and choosing. The typical scena...

Ever since broadband internet access became commonplace, the popularity of local online gaming has grown by leaps and bounds. Only a few short years ago, internet/gaming cafés offered mostly single player titles, as well as multiplayer games playable over a local area network (LAN), such as StarCraft , WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos , Command & Conquer: Generals , and the ubiquitous Counter-Strike . Nowadays, while most of these games still have a following, a lot of players have simply grown tired of playing with or against AI allies and opponents, or even with or against human opponents on a local network. They want to play with or against players from literally all over the place, not only with people located in a single establishment. That's precisely what massively multiplayer games are all about, and the proliferation of high speed internet access has made it all possible. In the Philippines, the rapid proliferation of online games is nothing short of phenomenal, with an es...

Found this video of the MMORPG RAN Online (see previous post here ) on YouTube . If you're into this game, you'll like the video. :-) Note: Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

As a computer gaming enthusiast, I have played and still continue to play a variety of games in different genres in my leisure time, such as first person shooters (FPS) and real-time strategy games (RTS). I have also played online games, multiplayer games, and role-playing games (RPG), but I must confess I haven't really played a game which combines the latter three catergories, that is, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). MMORPGs have been steadily increasing in popularity since the introduction of the internet, and with the increasing widespread availability of broadband internet access, have started to really hit their stride. Despite its growing prevalence however, I haven't really gotten into it. Well, that is, until now. Until I discovered this game. And the funny thing is, it was my son who introduced this game to me. He told me all about this MMORPG he had been playing, called RAN Online . I didn't really take heed at first, thinking it was p...