Rakion: Chaos Force/Gameplay

Rakion is a free, three-dimensional, fantasy action online game developed by the South Korean company softnyx. It was in a free "closed" beta testing from August 11 - 25 2005, in a limited group of countries (which included the United States, the UAE and at a later date, Europe).

It switched from development to open beta testing on October 13, 2005, which ended on December 1, 2005. At this point, the game began to follow a similar model to softnyx's other MMOG, GunBound. Users may purchase "softnyx Cash" with real-world currency and spend it on "Power User" status (which offers various benefits and unlocks further ingame purchases) or items that are often very powerful and not available to the non-paying public.

Story
Very little story has been released for Rakion, however what has been released indicates that the battles in the game are part of a wider series of conflicts over "cell" - a substance that can summon new life, focus energy and several other things. Rakion takes place after a large war - many of the ingame texts reference how things used to be in that war, or that an item is a remnant from that war. There is also Alcon (a place, person, or substance), a great evil which is mentioned as poisoning one map and distorting the normal properties of another creature.

Gameplay
There are three main types of games in Rakion.

In Stage games, one or more players race through a map and complete given objectives whilst fighting against enemy creatures - more gold and experience is given for faster completion of the stage.

Deathmatch games (either team or solo) revolve around slaying other players. Each player has only 65% of the health they would normally have on a Stage map or in a Golem War to allow faster kills. The default kill cap is 20, and if a team reaches this the game ends in a victory for said team. Team deathmatches are not rewarding in experience, but provide a decent amount of gold. In Solo Deathmatch games, the first player with 13 kills wins the round. Dead players respawn after seven seconds.

A Boss War is a type of team deathmatch, but instead of reaching a certain amount of kills, the aim is to kill the boss. The boss is the highest level player on the other team, and when you kill another team's boss, you win the round. Like normal deathmatch games, players only get 65% of their normal health and slain players respawn, though the boss does not.

Golem Wars are similar to capture-the-flag, and can only be played on certain maps. These maps have a base for each team, and in each team's base, there is a golem. The objective of this game is to kill the other team's golem. However one can only damage the other tean's golem if they have the Golden Sword; otherwise they only do 1% the damage they would normally do to it. To obtain the Golden Sword the Golden Golem in the center of the map must be destroyed. The round ends when either all of a team's players are eliminated or when one of the two master golems die.

The gameplay of Rakion is similar to a lot of third or first-person shooter games. One uses the WASD keys to move the character around, and the default camera is FPS style, though the character can be seen. A secondary camera is available, and it is a console control camera. Characters have a variety of combos and attacks, and all characters have a ranged weapon that can be switched on or off by pressing "Q". All ranged attacks require charging except for the Ninja's throwing stars. Camera is rotated by the mouse, and the attack buttons are the left mouse button (C1) and the right mouse button (C2, used most commonly for special attacks and special combos).

Classes
In Rakion, a player is a member of any of the five classes. The choices are Swordsman (sometimes called Warrior), Archer, Blacksmith, Ninja, and Mage. Each class has a melee and a ranged attack, and, under certain conditions, can transform into a mode called "Chaos mode". Players who transform into chaos mode have a blue glow around their body as a warning to others. While in chaos mode, players have more armor, cannot be knocked down, and do a lot more damage. Most of a chaos player's attacks do damage to someone that is guarding.

Swordsman
The swordsman is a male knight wearing light plate armor. Quick in both attacking and movement, softnyx recommends this class for beginners. Its major weakness is a lack of an accurate ranged attack, but it excels in both close range and speed.


 * Melee: A longsword with a decent speed and good attack damage. It can do a basic three-hit combo, or can charge for a devastating three-slash special attack. A grip from a powerful swordsman is also a devastating experience, and most players try to either outplay them or range them.


 * Ranged: A small but heavy dagger with a good range and excellent damage. It can be very powerful if the ranged attack of a warrior is maxed. However, it flies very strangely through the air and its path usuallly somewhat veers from the designated target, making it hard for anyone but the skilled people to aim well with it.


 * Chaos: The swordsman transforms into a blue, humanoid being wearing heavy armor wielding a double-sided sword-spear cross. It can be used for a combo, but is more commony and more well adapted for a lightning-fast attack that spins and hurls the victim into the air. It can also be charged for a crippling running slash that rips apart large targets and other chaos beings.

Archer
Archers are female characters that are armored lightly. They wield a longbow as their ranged weapon and carry a shortsword. Archers have an intensly slow runspeed, but make up for it with their fast rate of arrow fire and quick weapon switching.


 * Melee: The archer has a small gladius-like sword and uses this for a basic 2-hit combo. They can also charge for a special attack with three strikes, although it is tough to land the third strike. Although this is selected as the default weapon, most archers prefer to use their bow and switch immediately after the round starts.


 * Ranged: As can be expected, the archer uses a bow as its ranged weapon. Arrows have an infinite range, travel extremely fast, and are deadly even at lower levels. The major drawback is that they have to charge, and have a delay time when they are flying through the air. This makes arrows difficult to aim properly. However, even at close range, the archer still fires the arrows quite fast, making it difficult to escape from them. The arrows also temporarily stun an enemy, as most attacks do.


 * Chaos: With a burst of energy the archer transforms into an angelic-looking being with a white aura. Their primary weapon is now their bow, and can shoot up to two arrows per second at maximum speed. The arrows also travel considerably faster than the arrows of a normal archer. Judge is also a favorite skill among chaos archers; after a long charge time five powerful, unguardable arrows are shot. However, the drawbacks to this attack are that it travels slowly and creates visible "streaks" so it is more noticeable than other arrows and that it has a finite range. The archer also has a spinning attack where she spins with her arrow and does damage to anyone nearby. All the ranged attacks knock the enemy far back, and the spin twirls the enemy around for a few seconds.

Blacksmith
Blacksmiths are large, heavyset male characters who wear full plate armor, complete with a helmet. Though they are humanoid, their true race is unknown but they are thought to be related to golems. They can deal out a lot of damage, and sustain incredible amounts themselves.


 * Melee: A large warhammer is swung in a horizontal arc against enemies. It can also charge for a powerful special attack that sends out a strong shockwave of damage. The Blacksmith also has the strongest jumping attack of all the classes. However, even though his attacks are very powerful they come with an equally large amount of delay, leaving him open to grips.


 * Ranged: The throwing axes of Blacksmiths are similar to the throwing knives of the Swordsmen. They are of a much more predictable and accurate nature, have shorter range, and bypass enemy armor bonuses (still does damage to armor). It is the most powerful ranged attack in the game, but is hard to hit with due to it's slow flight through the air.


 * Chaos: The Blacksmith now looks more like a golem, and is heavily armored, with blue skin. He carries a large flail, and his face is painted. The ground shockwaves created by the flail are about twice the size of the normal ones. He can also charge up for a running pummel attack, or swing his flail around in a wide arc, decimating weaker foes.

Ninja
A minimally-armored female human character who wield a split blade, shurikens and explosives. Ninjas are the fastest characters in the game, and particularly excel at "grip" (grabbing) attacks and special attacks. They have very weak basic attacks, and the lowest health of any class initially. However they are the top when it comes to running and attack speed.


 * Melee: A thin blade that looks like a sai split down the middle. Their attacks are weak but extraordinarily fast. They are the only class that has a 4-strike combo, though this is weak. They can "glide" for a few moments and become invincible. The ninja's true power lies in its deadly grips, which can blow off an entire health bar.


 * Ranged: The ninja takes out shurikens ("dart-knives") and throws them in groups of either three or nine. Although weak, shurikens in groups of three can be thrown without a charging period. However, these do not stun the enemy. Shurikens in groups of nine require the ninja to charge, but do far more damage and stun like all other attacks. Groups of three fan out in a cone-like formation, while groups of nine fall in a short-range shotgun pattern.


 * Chaos: The ninja transforms into a demonic-looking woman with a red glow. The half-sai turns into a short, thin, curved blade and is now wielded underhand. She can now dash forwards while slashing, and the combo attack finishes with an explosion that has the largest area of effect in the game. She can also spin around in a "phoenix"; this attack bypasses armor and attacks health directly. Also, the ninja can now throw stars in groups of 18, and, like the Phoenix, these bypass armor and directly damage health.

Mage
A humanoid character with an undefined gender (Softnyx states that they are both male and female). They are designed to be support and long-range bombardment characters, and they are the only class that can heal. They have three immensely powerful ranged attacks. However, at the cost of this extra power, they are the slowest moving class in Rakion, and their attack speed is second slowest to the Blacksmith.


 * Melee: A staff or cane that can be used for a weak whack attack. It can also be used for casting a row of magical ice pillars at an enemy, and although they are unguardable they come with a huge delay. Their front grip is also unique in the sense that it can freeze victims in a block of ice, leaving them open to any attack, and does not knock down. Other than that, it can cast a hurricane that pushes all enemies away from it, and it can cast healing orbs.


 * Ranged: The mage takes out a mace or a wand and uses it to cast a fireball attack and a homing meteor attack. The fireballs are thrown at a target, but must be charged first. They explode after 1.5 seconds, comparable to grenades. The meteors are more powerful than the fireballs, but require the mage to "lock on" to a target for 3 seconds. They are easier to avoid than the fireball because they are larger and more obvious.


 * Chaos: A larger and more powerful mage which looks like a puppet is summoned and the smaller mage controls it by sitting on its back . This larger mage can cast a far more powerful version of the ice attack, sending out three lines at 10 degree intervals. It can also cast a faster (both in lock-on time and travel speed) version of the mage's meteor, which can be guarded/avoided with precision timing. The Chaos Mage can heal all allied players in an area of effect. Contrary to popular belief, the Chaos Mage jump attack does deal damage, but very little.

Advancement
Although Rakion is primarily an action game, it still allows character customisation and has an EXP points system like an RPG. No new techniques or moves are ever unlocked for a character. EXP is awarded at the end of rounds depending on performance in that round, and at the end of Stage games (which award far more EXP). After every level up, the player may go into the inventory screen and may assign three stat points to various categories (more with Power User status). Stat points can be stored and not spent, and will stay 'free' until spent. Character levels also serve as a basic ranking system, and characters with too disparate levels cannot face each other in most circumstances. Equipment and creatures can also be bought using ingame gold or Cash. Equipment brings further stat bonuses and special effects, though in a few cases some equipment actually lowers some stats. Equipment and creatures are also level-limited, meaning that only characters of at least certain level may purchase a particular item. The inventory is account-wide, meaning that any item not equipped by a character on that account is available for use by all characters on that account.

Equipment falls into a few basic categories:
 * Helmets: It is necessary to protect a character's head area. Not only does this equipment grant bonus armor, but also may provide bonus cell points (for summoning) or bonus hit points. Helmets generally cost the most Gold out of all pieces of armor, but this is because they upgrade several favorable attributes; the higher-leveled helmets upgrade Attack Speed and the number of Cell points you can carry.
 * Shoulders: Shoulder pads generally upgrade a mediocre amount of armor and life, but cell destruction will receive a higher bonus.
 * Arms: Arm armor have a very large Health boost, but they don't boost any attack attributes.
 * Body Armor: The most crucial armor, the body armor provides unmatched protection for your character, and has a chance of granting other benefits as well.
 * Primary Weapon: Every warrior needs weapons, and many types of class-specific weapons are available to them. Weapons are very diverse and have a variety of effects, most granting damage to normal, special, and grip attack modes. Some weapons even deal bonus damage to creatures, while others have the disadvantage of being slow.
 * Ranged Weapon: Each character in Rakion is armed with two weapons, the second being a ranged weapon. These weapons grant bonus damage to ranged attack and sometimes normal attack, which stacks with the bonuses received from your primary weapon, thus boosting your damage significantly.
 * Rings: Characters can wear up to three rings, each providing a special bonus. The bonuses provided range from simple speed increases to damage increase. Some(pain of cell) even decreases the cell points needed to summon a cell. (~4% of cell)
 * Amulets: An amulet or locket can be worn around the character's neck. Similar to rings, amulets also provide nice bonuses, except amulets generally have a greater range of effects since only one can be worn at a time. Some even increases chaos time. (two moons/extreme)

Creatures
There are several different creatures in Rakion. All of them appear in Stage Mode, and they can all be bought in the shop. Like other items, creatures have level requirements. Creatures gain experience and level too; a higher level creature costs more cell points to summon, but it has higher stats, and should one wish to re-sell it, it will fetch a higher price.
 * Nak: A spider-like creature, it is weak and slow-moving. Naks spit poison at their enemies to attack at close range. Since it is so weak, it tends to appear in enormous swarms in Stage mode. However, in PvP modes, it has little to no use. Even at higher levels Naks are easily destroyed by a few (or even one) attacks. Newcomers to Rakion get a single Nak for free, but they must buy all of their other cells.
 * Blood Nak: A normal Nak that has been corrupted by Alcon. These Naks have less health but do a lot more damage. They also attack twice as fast as an ordinary Nak, but due to their low health are also killed faster. These creatures are seldom bought by players, but appear in several stages.
 * Panzer: An armored knight. Panzers can take a lot more abuse than Naks, and their Halberds do more damage. However, they are not nearly as stealthy and make a lot of noise when they move and attack. Also, they move very slowly and take a long time to get up after they have fallen. Since they are so durable, they are the most commonly chosen creature by players.
 * Assault Panzer: A Panzer that does a lot more damage but has less a lot less health. Assault Panzers also run much faster than their uncorrupt counterparts, and attack faster. Comparable to a Blood Nak with a lot more health and dealing a lot more damage, these creatures are devastating at higher levels.
 * Crossbow: A small dwarf wielding a crossbow, they move and attack quite slowly. They fire two bolts from their crossbow at close range, and even though they are quite powerful they are slow and inaccurate. They also kick you if you get too close. Due to the long time it takes for them to get up, you can attack them when they are "fallen".
 * Blazer: A mage wearing red robes that hovers slightly above the ground. Although immobile, they have a decent amount of health. They shoot large purple blasts of energy at long range, dealing massive splashing damage. However, they have an immense cooldown time and are vulnerable to attack.
 *  Sky Blazer: A Blazer that hovers high above the ground, they both have more health and do more damage. They can only be destroyed by ranged attacks, but since they attack faster they are much harder to kill than a regular Blazer.
 * Soul Cannon: A golem-like creature that has a cannon attached to its right arm. It shoots cannonballs at long range, but is unable to hit air targets. The cannonballs explode violently and do heavy splash damage. It also has a melee attack where it swings its thick right arm and whacks the player when he/she gets too close. When a Soul Cannon is destroyed, after about five seconds' counting it self-destructs, creating a huge blast that deals tremendous damage.
 * Longbow: Elvish creatures, it is not known if it is male or female. As their name implies, they wield longbows and shoot powerful arrows that decimate the enemy at long range. Their arrows follow you, and can even curve up if you try to jump out of their way. However they are slow and have no close range attack. Like the Crossbow, you can also hit them when they have "fallen down".
 * Golem: A bipedal giant creature, it is made out of stone and clay. It can punch powerfully at close range and hurls large boulders of earth at longer range. However, it is a very large target and easy prey for all attacks. It also moves and attacks agonizingly slowly, and is very expensive to summon by players. This creature is the main focus of Golem Wars.
 * Iron Golem: A Golem made of iron. It is darker colored than a regular Golem, and it also has much more health. Its damage is also increased powerfully.
 * Taurus: A minotaur-like creature resembling a bull, it has a variety of different attacks. It has a double-gore attack with its horn that is very powerful to the unsuspecting. It can also do a running dash, though this is inaccurate. They walk faster than most other creatures and cannot be knocked down. Taurus have less health than the Golem, but have the potential to do more damage.
 * Dragon: The ultimate juggernauts of destruction, the dragons soar high above the playing field. They have an immense firepower, but relatively low endurance. They can spit a large fire blast at long range that deals titanic damage, and also have a flamethrower-like attack. If a target has low health, the Dragon flies close and hooks it with its claws. Dragons are expensive, but their firepower is well worth the high cost.
 * Ice Wind: A winged creature, They shoot large Ice blasts at long range, Freezing the enemy for a short time. Unlike Blazers, they're able to move. Available only until the end of the Christmas event 2006 (for free) but after it you will have to buy the creature in order to use it.

Game modes
Excluding Stage mode, which puts players on the same team, all of the game modes are PvP-based. A game can consist of anywhere from 1 to 21 rounds, and a round can last between five and twenty minutes. There are four types of PvP games in Rakion. The game will automatically try to balance teams after a round by swapping higher-levelled players to the losing team. In most types of deathmatch dead players respawn after a 7-second period and have four seconds of invincibilty when they respawn. The Deathmatch modes have healing capsules and books that provide cell points; the other modes do not.

Solo Deathmatch: A battle royale between all of the players. By default, a player needs to get 13 kills to win a round. As no gold and not much experience is offered, and because it is biased mostly towards experienced and higher-levelled players, Solo Deathmatches are rarely seen in Rakion.

Team Deathmatch: Almost the same as Solo Deathmatches, except that there are teams. By default, twenty kill points are needed to win a round. People who play this game generally modify it to have more rounds and require more kills to get the most gold and experience. Not an overall rewarding type of game in terms of experience, but it is easy for newcomers and a good source of Gold.

Golem War: Players are assigned to a team in this mode. Each team has a Master Golem (with a red or blue aura, depending on the team), and in the center of the map there is a Golden Golem. The objective is to destroy the opponent's Master Golem, but there is a catch: Only the person that kills the Gold Golem can do any damage to the other team's Master Golem; all other players do 1% of the damage they would normally do. To prevent teams "stealing" the Gold Golem from each other, it has separate health for each team. Unlike the other PvP modes, slain players do not respawn, and a team can also lose when everyone is slaughtered. If the time runs out and both Master Golems are still alive, the team with the Golem with more health wins the round. Golem War is generally accepted as the best way to make Gold and Experience in Rakion, aside from Stage mode.

Boss War: A recently added mode, it is a team-based headhunter fight. Each team has a boss that they must protect at all costs; if the boss dies the team loses the game. The boss is the highest level person on a team. It is not notable for giving experience, but the cash outcome is good. This mode does not have healing pickups, but Mages can still heal other team members (generally the boss).

Profanity filter
The in-game chat system automatically replaces most profanity with the word "LOVE", as in "You mother LOVEing LOVEer!" The filter isn't limited to whole words, so typing the word "class" will appear as "clLOVE". In the past, the filter could be bypassed by typing a ' in the middle of the word as an escape sequence. Although this bypass was patched, you can still bypass the filter by typing a Ctrl-backspace somewhere in the word.