ArchLord
Encyclopedia
ArchLord is a 3D
fantasy MMORPG
developed by NHN Games and Codemasters Online Gaming
(COG). The game was released in March 2005 in South Korea
and October 2006 in North America
and Europe
, receiving poor reviews from the gaming press. In August 2007, ArchLord became free-to-play to coincide with the release of the first episodic expansion pack, Season of Siege. The second expansion, Spirits Awakening, was released in August 2008. From August 2009, Webzen publishes Archlord in additional countries where Codemasters do not have rights to distribute the game. From October 3, 2009, Webzen maintains Archlord globally, is currently playing the seventh expansion, called Heaven & Hell.
There is an advanced market system employed in this game for ease of trading between players.
One of the features of ArchLord is the ability to compete to become the ArchLord, the supreme ruler of the game world. Only one ArchLord can exist on each server, reigning for four weeks before he/she is challenged by other players for the position. The ArchLord has access to a castle, a magnificent dragon mount, control of the weather, huge damage and other great features.
The Humans first appeared in Chantra 1000 years after the Orcs had settled. Following the dramatic sinking of their land, key pioneers in Human society initially established a foothold in the Western part of the continent known as Chantra. History suggests they were able to do so due to their ability to handle fire. In the early stages, Humans lived in relative peace. However, they soon began to realize that Orcs had landed on the Eastern part of the continent and before long tensions were raised as the Humans became protective of their territory. Humans have a relatively short lifespan, with 80 years considered to be long. Humans also have an inferior breeding capacity when compared to Orcs, with the average number of offspring being three.
Humans can be Archers, Knights, and Mages.
The Orcs have occupied the land of Chantra for a 1000 years longer than the Humans. For this reason, the Orcs held themselves in higher regard than their Human counterparts and enslaved them for 500 years. Over time the Humans rebelled against their Orc masters and eventually won their freedom. 500 years later the continent was struck by a huge earthquake, which caused much of it to sink into the ocean. Humans and Orcs were forced to flee the western continent of Chantra. Under the leadership of Ugdrasil, the Orcs colonized a small part of the continent where they began the re-building process.
Orcs can be Berserkers, Sorcerers and Hunters.
The Moon Elves are a race that were once considered Elves, but different. Once one of three of the great elf races that inhabited the Nordenland during the 2nd period, they were the first race to fall in the Great War. As a result of this devastating conflict most of the male population was annihilated. A few males were able to escape together with the women; they hid themselves in the shadows from those in the outside world. As time went on, the women took it upon themselves to replace the male roles in their society, and thus learned to master the fine arts of hunting and craftsmanship. The few remaining men were forbidden to enter combat, as they were too precious a commodity. Through a cruel twist of fate the remaining men only seemed capable of producing more women. This forced the Moon Elves to step from their shadowy world and start exploring for additional breeding options; this is how they came to be known by the Orcs and Humans. They were so ashamed of this action that they chose to hide themselves in the dark for centuries, only revealing themselves once their land was invaded by the Orcs and Humans.
Moon Elves can be Swashbucklers, Rangers, and Elementalists.
The Dragon Scion was the last of the 4 races to arrive at the continent of Chantra. They were created from the skin and bone of the great dragon 'Mightthesis' 2000 years ago, after their creation they roamed the world for 1000 years, searching for a place to settle down, finally reaching the continent of Chantra.
DragonScions can evolve to Slayers, Orbiters and Summoners.
criticized the repetitive and tedious gameplay, blurry graphics and lackluster audio, shallow quest and crafting system, and the hours of repetitive combat required to get to Player versus player
and high-level content. The reviewer's only positive comment was that ArchLord offered familiar role-playing gameplay of "kill, loot, buy stuff", overall awarding a "terrible" rating of 2.7 out of 10. Eurogamer awarded 4 out of 10, criticizing the lack of visual distinction between the power levels of monsters, with trial and error required to progress; a lack of other players, with those present not offering any legible dialogue; atrocious controls that caused the reviewer's character to get stuck on scenery; interesting-sounding features (castle sieges, for example) being restricted to higher levels; and a user interface that's "like using Windows 95 with a migraine."
created by Korean
author Park Jin-hwan goes by the same name. The ArchLord manhwa
was first released in South Korea
on September 30, 2005. Tokyopop
released an English version in 2007.
The manhwa follows the adventures of a human named Zian and his friend, a half-orc named Ugdrasil, who find themselves in the midst of a thousand year old conflict for control of five mysterious relics known as Archons.
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
fantasy MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
developed by NHN Games and Codemasters Online Gaming
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited, or Codemasters is a British video game developer founded by Richard and David Darling in 1986...
(COG). The game was released in March 2005 in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and October 2006 in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, receiving poor reviews from the gaming press. In August 2007, ArchLord became free-to-play to coincide with the release of the first episodic expansion pack, Season of Siege. The second expansion, Spirits Awakening, was released in August 2008. From August 2009, Webzen publishes Archlord in additional countries where Codemasters do not have rights to distribute the game. From October 3, 2009, Webzen maintains Archlord globally, is currently playing the seventh expansion, called Heaven & Hell.
Gameplay
ArchLord uses a crafting system, which allows players to upgrade items in a unique way as well as allows players to carve, skin and ransack any defeated monster. The materials achieved using carving, skinning and ransacking skills are used in Alchemy and Cooking to create powerup items. Alchemy creates metamorphosis potions which allows a player to transform into monsters, whereas cooking allows a player to create food which give statistic bonuses, e.g. defense buff.There is an advanced market system employed in this game for ease of trading between players.
One of the features of ArchLord is the ability to compete to become the ArchLord, the supreme ruler of the game world. Only one ArchLord can exist on each server, reigning for four weeks before he/she is challenged by other players for the position. The ArchLord has access to a castle, a magnificent dragon mount, control of the weather, huge damage and other great features.
Plot
ArchLord is set on the continent of Chantra and features four playable races; Orcs, Humans, Moon Elves and the new DragonScion. Orcs begin their quests in the Golunndo, Humans begin in Anchorville, Moon Elves begin in Norine, and DragonScions in Cien. They all have access to three classes except for the DragonScion that from level 20 evolves to one of the three races.The Humans first appeared in Chantra 1000 years after the Orcs had settled. Following the dramatic sinking of their land, key pioneers in Human society initially established a foothold in the Western part of the continent known as Chantra. History suggests they were able to do so due to their ability to handle fire. In the early stages, Humans lived in relative peace. However, they soon began to realize that Orcs had landed on the Eastern part of the continent and before long tensions were raised as the Humans became protective of their territory. Humans have a relatively short lifespan, with 80 years considered to be long. Humans also have an inferior breeding capacity when compared to Orcs, with the average number of offspring being three.
Humans can be Archers, Knights, and Mages.
The Orcs have occupied the land of Chantra for a 1000 years longer than the Humans. For this reason, the Orcs held themselves in higher regard than their Human counterparts and enslaved them for 500 years. Over time the Humans rebelled against their Orc masters and eventually won their freedom. 500 years later the continent was struck by a huge earthquake, which caused much of it to sink into the ocean. Humans and Orcs were forced to flee the western continent of Chantra. Under the leadership of Ugdrasil, the Orcs colonized a small part of the continent where they began the re-building process.
Orcs can be Berserkers, Sorcerers and Hunters.
The Moon Elves are a race that were once considered Elves, but different. Once one of three of the great elf races that inhabited the Nordenland during the 2nd period, they were the first race to fall in the Great War. As a result of this devastating conflict most of the male population was annihilated. A few males were able to escape together with the women; they hid themselves in the shadows from those in the outside world. As time went on, the women took it upon themselves to replace the male roles in their society, and thus learned to master the fine arts of hunting and craftsmanship. The few remaining men were forbidden to enter combat, as they were too precious a commodity. Through a cruel twist of fate the remaining men only seemed capable of producing more women. This forced the Moon Elves to step from their shadowy world and start exploring for additional breeding options; this is how they came to be known by the Orcs and Humans. They were so ashamed of this action that they chose to hide themselves in the dark for centuries, only revealing themselves once their land was invaded by the Orcs and Humans.
Moon Elves can be Swashbucklers, Rangers, and Elementalists.
The Dragon Scion was the last of the 4 races to arrive at the continent of Chantra. They were created from the skin and bone of the great dragon 'Mightthesis' 2000 years ago, after their creation they roamed the world for 1000 years, searching for a place to settle down, finally reaching the continent of Chantra.
DragonScions can evolve to Slayers, Orbiters and Summoners.
Service Transition
Due to failure to reach an agreement with NHN, Codemasters was unable to renew their license for ArchLord, no longer able to provide the game to European and North American customers. As of September 1, 2009, all credit purchases have been disabled, CM accounts transferred to the new provider and the game servers shut down on October 2, 2009. On October 3, 2009, the game was turned over to Webzen, a Korean publisher.Critical reception
ArchLord received poor ratings; GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
criticized the repetitive and tedious gameplay, blurry graphics and lackluster audio, shallow quest and crafting system, and the hours of repetitive combat required to get to Player versus player
Player versus player
Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between two or more live participants. This is in contrast to games where players compete against computer controlled opponents, which is correspondingly referred to as player versus environment...
and high-level content. The reviewer's only positive comment was that ArchLord offered familiar role-playing gameplay of "kill, loot, buy stuff", overall awarding a "terrible" rating of 2.7 out of 10. Eurogamer awarded 4 out of 10, criticizing the lack of visual distinction between the power levels of monsters, with trial and error required to progress; a lack of other players, with those present not offering any legible dialogue; atrocious controls that caused the reviewer's character to get stuck on scenery; interesting-sounding features (castle sieges, for example) being restricted to higher levels; and a user interface that's "like using Windows 95 with a migraine."
Manhwa
An ancillary manhwaManhwa
Manhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons . Outside of Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese manhua...
created by Korean
Korean people
The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...
author Park Jin-hwan goes by the same name. The ArchLord manhwa
Manhwa
Manhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons . Outside of Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese manhua...
was first released in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
on September 30, 2005. Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
released an English version in 2007.
The manhwa follows the adventures of a human named Zian and his friend, a half-orc named Ugdrasil, who find themselves in the midst of a thousand year old conflict for control of five mysterious relics known as Archons.