Webzine

News about the new ‘League of Legends’ mode, which was hidden in mystery, was released on the official League of Legends YouTube on the 9th. It has been revealed that the new mode that will succeed the auto-battler genre, Team Battle Tactics (TFT), is the bullet hell survival PvE genre, the so-called Snake Papers.

Information such as the exact name, system, and release date of the new mode was not disclosed on this day. However, the mod team Serena Riou and Eduardo introduced the new mode today, providing general information such as the fact that it is a survival PvE game mode, that it can be enjoyed alone or with friends, and how to fight against hordes of enemies. It was passed down through the mouth of Cortehoso.

Meanwhile, screenshots under development were released for the first time as a surprise gift for users waiting for the new mode. In the released screenshot, Jinx is located in the center, and you can see that numerous enemies are approaching Jinx. As it is a screenshot from the development stage, it may be different from the actual game, but in many ways, it is reminiscent of the snake genre that ‘Vampire Survivors’ is considered to have established.

Detailed news about the new mode was not released on this day, but it does not seem to take long until it is released. As he finished explaining the new mode, Eduardo Cortejoso said, “We will share new information about the new mode through future development updates,” and added, “It is scheduled to be released in time for an event to be held in the middle of this year.”

Meanwhile, ‘League of Legends’ has captured the attention of users through spectacular updates every summer. Starting with Star Guardian in 2017, we have held various summer events such as Soul Flower in 2020 and Soul Fighter in 2023, so this summer is expected to welcome users with just as spectacular summer events as last summer.

Capcom’s new game ‘Dragon’s Dogma 2’, which had a lot of controversy and controversy, was reported to have sold 2.5 million copies in just 10 days after its release.

Capcom announced today (2nd) that its new open world action game ‘Dragon’s Dogma 2’ has surpassed 2.5 million copies in global sales. The reason why we separately introduced the 2.5 million copies record, which may be a somewhat ambiguous number to celebrate since it has not been a month since the release date, is because with the addition of this sales figure, the series has achieved a record of ‘exceeding 10 million copies sold’. Because.

‘Dragon’s Dogma’, first released in 2012, is an open world action RPG where you can enjoy a variety of actions and adventures. It is a work characterized by the unique experience of going on an adventure with NPC companions ‘Pawn’, who the player can directly give instructions to. . The sequel, ‘Dragon’s Dogma 2’, released 10 years later, was expected to be a royal fantasy work carefully constructed based on realistic visuals, physical calculations, and AI created with the RE engine and the latest hardware technology.

However, the expectations that continued to grow until the release were short-lived. After the official release, controversy arose due to optimization issues, ‘Dragon Down’ system issues, and paid DLC sales issues. When Steam user reviews were ‘generally negative’, Capcom officially He ended up issuing an apology.

Afterwards, Capcom added several fixes mentioned in the apology to the game in the form of an update. Although not all areas that users complained about have been fixed, the most pressing fire appears to have been extinguished through content updates. The update specifications added to Steam on March 29th are as follows.

・Change so that you can select ‘Start game from beginning’ even during play
・Changed the sales limit of ‘Secret Art of the Whole Body’ to 99 in the in-game phone guild.
・Change the conditions so that the quest to obtain a ‘private room’ where you can stay and save occurs earlier.
・Quality improvement when DLSS SUPER RESOLUTION is enabled
・Fixed an issue where modeling looked rough in some settings environments
・Correction of some text display issues and correction of detailed errors
Capcom said, “Thanks to the love of users, we were able to achieve the record of selling 10 million copies of the series in total,” adding, “Updates on additions and changes to some specifications of Dragon’s Dogma 2 are continuously being made, and updates will continue to be implemented in the future.” He sent a message of encouragement, saying, “Please take care of it.”

Meanwhile, the Steam user evaluation of ‘Dragon’s Dogma 2’ increased by nearly 20,000 in one week, reaching a total of 50,490 as of April 2. The majority of positive reviews were 58%, showing room for improvement, but the ‘mixed’ evaluation is still maintained.

The official release date of ‘Nine Sols’, a new game from Red Candle Games, the developer of the horror games ‘Anti-Kyo’ and ‘Return’, has been confirmed as May 29th. It has been about two years since March 2022, when news of crowdfunding was announced.

On the 28th, Red Candle Games announced on its official SNS that the release date of the Steam version of ‘Nine Souls’ was confirmed to be May 29th, and thanked the fans for their continued support and patience. As of now, two years later, Nine Souls’ crowdfunding has raised a total of 13,619,398 Taiwanese dollars (about 573.78 million won) from 8,902 backers. This figure achieved 454% of the target amount.

Along with the release date announcement, a new trailer for Nine Souls was also released. In the new trailer, you can see Nine Souls’ unique visuals, ‘TAO PUNK’ style world view, and action-oriented gameplay that sets it apart from previous works.

Red Candle Games introduced that Nine Souls was inspired by From Software’s action game ‘Sekiro’ and will be a Taoist punk-style 2D action platformer with hand-drawn graphics. As with the previous work ‘Return’, the story centered on ethnic religions, but the game style is said to be inspired by Sekiro, Hollow Knight, and Katana Zero, so it will be completely different from the previous works. You can currently experience the demo build of Nine Souls on Steam.

Meanwhile, Red Candle Games is a game developer established in Taiwan in 2015. It is the developer of the psychological horror games ‘Anti-Cyo’ and ‘Return’, and has experienced various hardships, including being attacked by Chinese users for including a caricature of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the game, and having the game pulled from Steam. ‘Reduction’ is still not available for purchase on Steam.

Yang Si-wei, co-founder of Red Candle Games, said, “Nine Souls has a more special goal than previous works,” and added, “With intuitive and enjoyable gameplay, the fun and potential can be enjoyed by users all over the world, even without an understanding of the language.” “I hope it will appeal to many people. I hope that this intuitive work we are creating will be another opportunity to spread the name Red Candle Games overseas,” he said.

AMD X ASRock Meet up AI 2024

Recently, the days are slowly getting warmer and offline events are becoming more frequent. Accordingly, many hardware companies are also preparing opportunities to introduce new products and functions. In particular, in the case of hardware events, it can be seen that from last year to this year, there has been a sharp increase in the number of events introducing AI hardware and AI functions, which are receiving high interest not only from consumers but also from companies.

In line with this, the AMD At this event, AMD Radeon’s high gaming performance and excellent AI processing performance, Asrock’s AI Quickset function, and the latest driver updates were introduced. In addition, a demo demonstration was held where users could directly check and use the product and its functions.

▲ AMD
At the site, AMD’s Adam and ASRock Korea’s Kim Seong-hyun gave a presentation, and media reporters and domestic partners participated.

The event started with a welcome speech from ASRock Korea Director Seong-Hyeon Kim, followed by AMD’s Adam representative explaining the Radeon product line and AMD’s AI processing performance, and ASRock Korea Director Seong-Hyun Kim introduced ASRock’s AI Quickset function. Afterwards, it ended with a question-and-answer session and a demonstration.

At a time when AI is emerging as a hot potato, what kind of AI technology and performance have AMD and Asrock captured the hearts of consumers with?

Introduction of Radeon

Starting with the Radeon 7900GRE, which was recently unveiled at this event, AMD is offering the performance and gaming performance of several products, including the 7900 Accelerators and AI accelerators were introduced.

In it, the frames were shown before and after using features of recently released games such as Pal World and Hell Divers 2, as well as popular AAA games, and this clearly shows a big difference, including FSR3, which has been transformed with a new look and high performance, and various other functions. I was able to check the advantages of . For reference, FSR3 is AMD’s upscaling function provided as open source.

In addition, AMD’s exclusive software, AMD Adrenalin, was also explained. The software consists of a single software packaging, so it has the advantage of being able to be easily used as one without having to download various elements one by one. In addition, since it is provided as open source, it can be used without logging in, and it is easy to check information related to various functions and performance.

▲ AMD HYPR-RX allows you to easily set complex graphics settings with one click.
New features were introduced at the event. This is the AMD HYPR-RX function. This function was added based on data showing that users do not easily enter the control panel, and it was created with a user-friendly design so that complex graphic settings, etc. can be easily used with one click.

AMD AI Ready

▲ AMD’s Adam representative is explaining AMD AI
First, AMD’s AI accelerator is twice as fast as the previous generation, and it supports up to 24GB of memory, which accounts for a high percentage of AI hardware. In this presentation, AI was focused on four areas, including gaming and streaming, generative AI, content production apps, and AMD ROCm™ for developers.

In addition, AMD ROCm™ software was explained in detail. The software, which is an extensive programming model for developing AI and HPC solutions on AMD GPUs, can be viewed as an open software stack that includes tools, compilers, libraries, and runtime, and is said to have further improved AI performance.

▲ Adobe Photoshop AI performance improvement effect by driver

ASRock AI Quickset

▲ Asrock Manager Kim Seong-hyun explains the AI ​​Quickset function
First, the presentation began with content related to AI. He continued his talk about the recently popular generative AI and explained ASRock’s AI Quickset function in detail. ASRock’s AI Quickset function makes it easy to install a generative AI program, and when the software is updated, you can just leave it in without having to check the version individually. Other advantages include easy configuration and user-friendliness.

The installation method is simple. Double-click the AI ​​Quickset, select the application you want to install, and install the AI ​​software registered in the installation shortcut. When actually running it with the RX 7900XTX, we were able to confirm that the image creation time took a short time of about 2.2 seconds.

▲ Easy and simple installation and use method

Product demo demonstration

In fact, it is the time I have been waiting for the most. This is because the most enjoyable experience at an event is experiencing it with your own hands and seeing it with your own eyes rather than hearing an explanation with your eyes and ears. I confirmed this by testing a desktop equipped with Asrock’s motherboard and AMD products.

▲ Let’s take a look at AMDxASRock’s demonstration zone.
▲ Banners containing product descriptions can be seen here and there.

▲ And you can check the Radeon graphics card and Asrock motherboard at the front.
▲ As expected, we cannot give up the white sensibility.
▲ It is not a motherboard with a heavy and rigid design, it is an Asrock B650 board with a white sensibility.
▲ Systems for demonstration are installed here and there.
▲ Pal World runs comfortably without any lag.

▲ I was also able to experience ASRock’s AI Quickset function.
▲ The advantage is intuitive and quick installation and work time.

‘Sword of Konvalaria’, a new SRPG being developed by XD, was held in Korea CBT from February 29th to March 8th. This work, which was first revealed at the 2021 Tap Tap game presentation, was inspired by classic RPGs, and was well-known in Korea at the time of its release for its graphics and gameplay that captured the sensibility of classic games.

Accordingly, the company has been actively making moves to advance into the domestic market by participating in an offline event in October 2023 and G-Star 2023 as an experience zone at the Inven booth. However, in order to improve quality, the schedule was postponed from winter 2023 to spring 2024 through an official community announcement. As such, this CBT was a final check to see if ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ would be implemented as predicted.

Graphics and gameplay that take advantage of classic SRPG sensibilities

The first thing that catches your eye in ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ is the graphics with its unique dot sensibility. Although it does not have complete dot graphics like many recent classic-style games, didn’t those games capture the classic feel well by combining 2D dot graphics and 3D rendering graphics? In particular, these methods are easy to incorporate various effects, such as real-time changes in light sources, which were difficult to use in the past, and based on this, they made possible natural productions that were previously difficult to achieve.

Of course, compared to the techniques of Japanese developers who have been honing this technique for a long time, ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ felt a bit clunky. In particular, when looking at the PC screen, I felt that the outline was somewhat rough. Nevertheless, details such as the characteristics of each character and changes in facial expressions were not missed, giving the effect of capturing the sensibility of the old days before techniques developed.

▲ The graphics, which combine dot style and 3D to create a classic feel, are impressive.
In terms of skill directing, it was impressive to see the dynamic movements of in-game characters and simple directing containing only the key points rather than CG. This is because early JRPGs sought to save resources as much as possible and maximize effectiveness in order to contain a vast story within an extremely limited capacity. Of course, things have changed in modern times, so the overall effect used 3D and other techniques rather than dots, but it was impressive that it was harmoniously solved in a way that focused only on key points and was simple instead of flashy effects.

The battlefield you face afterwards is heavily influenced by the ‘Ogre Battle Saga’ series, as the developers mentioned at the time of its initial release. If you have recently played the remake version of ‘Tactics Ogre: Reborn,’ you will feel familiar with the quarter-view battlefield, which has clear elevation differences in the terrain in a stepped manner.

‘Sword of Konvalaria’ did not adopt this structure simply to show a differentiated appearance on the outside. In ‘Ogre Battle Saga’, the unique quarter-view battlefield was a way to strategically express the terrain of the battle map, and its core was clearly revealed in ‘Sword of Konvalaria’. This is because from the relatively early stages, strategic elements that utilized the terrain stood out, such as reducing damage depending on the difference in terrain or pushing the enemy off a waterway or cliff.

▲ It is not a monotonous structure where you exchange attacks each turn.
▲ Roll the rock to snipe the enemy boss or
▲ There is a taste of using objects tactically to attack enemies, such as exploding explosives to eliminate all enemies at once.
These elements were not just presented as a preview during the tutorial phase. If you look at the overall stage of ‘Sword of Konvalaria’, there are quite a lot of terrains that can fall or have severe elevation differences. Except for some classes such as ‘Intruder’, which is a class similar to the thief in other games, terrain with severe elevation differences is difficult to overcome. Therefore, the attack route is quite limited, and the advantage of occupying the high ground is great.

Moreover, unlike recent SRPGs that mainly adopted a method in which friendly turns and enemy turns were divided into phases, ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ had a method in which the order in which turns came varied depending on the speed of each character. In other words, when moving the character, it was necessary to think about who would move in the next turn. In particular, there were various variables such as special terrain, elevation differences, and objects, so if you made a wrong move, there was a possibility that the battle situation could deteriorate rapidly, such as having to go round or being isolated.

▲ This Is Spar Town… It is also possible to make someone fall off a cliff, so make good use of it when using a character with knockback.
▲ When rolling an object, keep in mind that it goes in the direction you hit it and cannot roll back to higher terrain.
On the contrary, as there were so many different restrictions and strategic elements, it was fun to use them to effectively defeat the enemy. This is because it was possible to roll a rock to exterminate the enemy under the hill, roll an oil drum and set fire to the entrance road to inflict burn damage on the enemy, and snipe explosives from a distance or push the enemy towards them to wipe them out all at once. Since rolling or pushing an object is also affected by elevation differences, it was necessary to aim carefully, taking into account the enemy’s direction and terrain features along the path.

▲ Enemies hiding behind a barrier cannot be hit with a direct attack.
▲ Strategic movements that take into account terrain and objects are required, such as aiming with a howitzer skill.

Design that juxtaposes classic and modern times

Although this structure was temporary, ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ also could not completely break away from its roots as a mobile RPG. As mentioned above, the battlefield that you experience when entering the stage is as faithful as possible to the classic SRPG, but in the end, the routine represented by daily quests and training dungeon runs is intact.

Although not all of BM’s paid products have been released, it can be confirmed that it is based on the framework recently shown by ‘Genshin Shin’ and ‘Star Rail’. The season pass adopts a weekly quest-based season pass rather than a daily quest-based season pass, and as the character grades range from N grade to SSR, the character draw and equipment draw are separated.

In addition, there is an asynchronous PVP ‘Glory Battle’ where you compete against other players, so users who missed the classic feel may feel a sense of betrayal. XD’s choice to be considerate of such users was to incorporate the classic method into another major content, ‘Vortex of Destiny’.

To explain this, it is necessary to first understand the story and worldview of Sword of Konvalaria. The main setting of ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ is a small country called ‘Kingdom of Ilia’, which is a strategic location where a large amount of ‘crystal stone’, a major resource whose use has recently been highlighted, is deposited. While various forces, including the Knights’ Alliance and the Papal Rodinia, are secretly keeping a check on this interest, a riot suddenly breaks out in Turin Castle, a major port in the west, and Princess Inanna, who came to inspect the place, is executed by the mob. As a result, a civil war breaks out in the Kingdom of Ilia, and as foreign powers seeking Ilia’s interests intervene, the entire continent becomes engulfed in war.

▲ When I opened my eyes, I was in a prison. I didn’t know what it was, but I was in danger of dying.
▲ He escapes with the help of Konvalaria’s sword mercenaries who came looking for the client.
▲ Caught in the middle of a whirlwind of war.
▲ The protagonist, who fell into paradise amidst the chaos, goes on an adventure that transcends time and space to save everyone.
In the story, the main character, the user’s alter ego, appears trapped in a dungeon without any memory and no understanding of the story. While mysterious forces disguised as royal troops are killing prisoners in the dungeon to destroy evidence, Konvalaria’s sword mercenaries rush in to find the client imprisoned in the dungeon, rescue the protagonist, and escape the castle. struggling. However, in a situation where the entire Turret Castle becomes a battlefield where royal troops and rioters are intertwined, they ultimately fail to escape.

I thought it would end like that, but the story goes on again when a mysterious cat suddenly appears and guides the protagonist and a group of Konvalaria’s sword mercenaries to a different space called ‘Paradise’. The main story of ‘Sword of Convalaria’ is that they, who have been revived, go on a journey across time and space to look back on what has happened on the continent while searching for the culprit who has twisted the fate of a peaceful world.

Since the story structure of gathering all the party members at first and then resetting and starting again is a story structure that has been common in mobile RPGs, users who expected a classic RPG style may not like this part. Moreover, since the story of Sword of Konvalaria is a story that only highlights the main sections of each junction in a staged manner rather than explaining the overall context, there is room for a story that users do not know to be shared only between characters.

The ‘Vortex of Fate’ content, which was designed to overcome this problem, excludes ‘Paradise’ among the turning points at the beginning of the play and focuses on the content after the point where Konvalaria’s sword mercenaries hide in the dungeon until the Turmoil Rebellion ends and survive. I drew a story. The sword mercenary group of Konvalaria, who escaped from the castle, returns to Konvalaria Village, where they are stationed, and there they raise the mercenary group again and continue their long journey to maintain peace not only around the village, but also in the kingdom and on the continent. This is the core of ‘vortex’.

▲ Another content, ‘Vortex of Fate’
▲ Starting from the junction where the mercenaries safely escaped from the castle.
▲ As you return to your home base, Konvalaria Village, and grow your mercenary group, the upcoming story unfolds sequentially.
Rather than clearing stages step by step, this method adopts a method of completing essential episodes and requests as time passes on a weekly basis, like a console package game. In addition, as the village stabilized, various facilities such as blacksmith shops, inns, and training grounds were secured, and a console package game-like structure was introduced, in which players could craft equipment using resources obtained through requests or recruit and train characters. It’s not that you can’t use the characters you already got through the lottery in the game, but because the level and equipment are reset when you start the Vortex of Fate, you had to develop them step by step like other recruited characters.

As the concept of running a mercenary group was adopted, simulation elements for managing mercenary members were also seen. First of all, the fatigue of the members who participated in the battle is consumed, and when all the fatigue is exhausted, they cannot be deployed to the next battle, so it is important to manage the fatigue of key members. Because skill training cannot be completed immediately and requires at least one week, a member cannot perform multiple actions simultaneously within a week. Therefore, it was important to check the physical condition, training status, and episode difficulty of each unit and distribute the schedule accordingly.

▲ When you first enter, you enter with some of your characters.


▲ Equipment and training must be done from the beginning.
▲ Rest and equipment production also require appropriate distribution as slots are limited.

‘Sword of Konvalaria’ showed a cross-section of new classics even in the CBT stage

Even in the CBT stage, ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ was enough to say that it was a work that faithfully captured the sensibilities of SRPGs of the time. This is because, in addition to graphics and combat methods, the content also focused on preserving the classic taste by paralleling the grammar of modern mobile RPGs and the method of single-player package games.

Of course, there were no regrets while playing. The first thing that catches your eye is the poor localization that Chinese games have been experiencing lately. The first half was okay, but from the mid to late half, a mixture of formal and informal language was standard, and the script and dubbed lines often did not match, so I felt a sense of disconnect. In particular, since this happened in a classic SRPG where it is important to depict the conflict between each faction, the dust was bound to be highlighted even more.

Also, the parallel structure between the mobile RPG and the single RPG was good, but the focus on the big picture in the story felt like the build-up of the main characters was a bit abrupt. Although the screen was staged like a play and the character’s situation was explained clearly through a monologue, it was so dependent on it that the feeling of glancing at and interacting with the character was a bit ambiguous compared to other collectible RPGs.

However, excluding these details, it is clear that ‘Sword of Konvalaria’ is a work that clearly shows its potential in terms of a modern interpretation of a classic SRPG. As a new collectible RPG, there are some parts that are somewhat out of sync with the modern tempo, but this is because it has solidified its status as a ‘new classic’ by adding content that matches that atmosphere along with classic graphics. It will be necessary to watch whether ‘Sword of Konvalaria’, which was announced to be released this spring, will be able to meet the expectations of classic SRPG fans on mobile and PC through feedback after this CBT.

Arc System Works Asia branch announced that it has decided to produce a Korean version of Furyu Co., Ltd.’s new original action RPG, ‘Renatis’, and released game information.

Furyu Co., Ltd.’s new work ‘Renatis’ is a magical action RPG that unfolds from the perspective of two main characters who are in opposite positions of ‘light’ and ‘darkness’, set in Shibuya, Tokyo, where all kinds of ideologies and cultures are mixed.

The streets of Shibuya, where the work is set, are realistically recreated, with commercial facilities and stores that exist in reality, such as the SHIBUYA109 building, sometimes appearing with their actual names. In terms of the game system, the ‘HOODIE SYSTEM’, which can switch between two modes, ‘oppression’ and ‘liberation’, is characterized by allowing players to perform cheerful and colorful actions with simple operations.

The Korean version of the magic action RPG ‘Renatis’, which has been translated into Korean by Arc System Works’ Asian branch and produced as a package and download specification on the Nintendo Switch, PS5, and PS4 platforms, is scheduled to be released in 2024. The specific release date and reservation schedule will be announced later.

In this world, there are people who can use magic and people who cannot. Wizards, a minority group, are feared and considered dangerous by the general public. Wizards are forced to live quietly, hiding their true nature and personality.

In Shibuya, Tokyo in 2024, there is a request to refrain from going out at night based on the Anti-Magic Law. However, it has already become famous and not many people keep it. Marin Kirizumi is a magician, and she has lived her life ‘oppressed’. Following her father’s will, “If she becomes the strongest, she can be ‘liberated,’” and sets out on the streets of Shibuya at night to obtain her freedom.

When Nishijima Sari discovered magic, he decided to use that power for order. To protect Shibuya from forces with illegal drugs and dangerous ideas that turn people into monsters, he enforces his own justice.

Marin wants to ‘liberate’ her mind. Sari considers the ‘oppression’ of the wizard as justice. The moment two people meet in Shibuya, where all kinds of ideologies and cultures mix, the story begins to move.

The game realistically reproduces the streets of Shibuya that exist in reality. In the game, you can see Shibuya’s landmark places such as ‘Scramble Intersection’, ‘Miyashita Park’, and ‘Spain Zaka’, as well as famous places such as the SHIBUYA109 building. You can see commercial facilities and restaurants that only people in the know know about.

At the same time, beyond the ‘fog’, the entrance to the other world floating in the village, there is another world where magical power flows. The depths of the field, which consists of forests and wilderness as well as factories and art galleries, are shrouded in mystery.

Meanwhile, players can switch between ‘oppression’ mode and ‘liberation’ mode with one button. When in ‘suppression’ mode during battle, you cannot attack at all, but you can brilliantly evade all enemy attacks with one button.

Conversely, in ‘liberation’ mode, you can attack at once, but you are left defenseless, so replacement timing becomes a key point.

During exploration, you can hide your true nature and act in ‘suppression’ mode. If you do not reveal your identity as a wizard, you can chat or use the store as a normal citizen. When in ‘liberation’ mode, there are many advantages, such as being able to use magic to search and move quickly, but there are also disadvantages, such as the increased risk of having to fight against enemies who control magic if you are caught by a citizen’s report.

Marin Kirizumi heads to the deepest part of Another World to gain the greatest power. Sari Nishijima, who takes action to protect the security of Shibuya. There is also a third force, ‘Guild’, that appears as the two stories intersect and unfold.