Ubisoft recently released a collectibles blockchain game as part of a charity, donating all profits to UNICEF. The game is called "Rabbits" and I posted a review of the game a month ago (link). I didn't know they were planning to release another blockchain game, although I was certain that Rabbits was probably some sort of test for future development.
I love RPG's (and point 'n click adventure games of the 90s). My favorite RPGs are Planescape Torment, Baldurs GATE II, Fallout 2, Oblivion & Skyrim, and a few more as Diablo I&II, . I've played many MMORPG as well like Lineage II, Final Fantasy XIV, and Archeage. My favorite MMORPG was Tera Online though. The combat-system of Tera was action-packed, unlike anything I've ever seen so far.
Ubisoft in partnership with Planetarium (a Korean game developer) is ready to launch a new MMORPG, called "Nine Chronicles" that would be running exclusively on a blockchain. It will be a decentralized RPG where the users will be in complete control. The mainnet will be officially released in September and the mobile version of the game in 2021.
Image Source One concern I have with online games is that almost nothing is owned by the player. A while ago I posted an article about my thoughts on the future of gaming ("Evolution of Gaming"). The future will certainly be similar to the movie "Ready Player One" and players will be able to earn a decent wage by becoming skilled players and selling items and online utility tokens for real-life money. Some gamers managed to do that all this time but had to rely on black markets and risking losing their accounts (and all the time and effort put on their characters).
The model of this game seems to be moving towards the direction of giving the users freedom over the items and tokens they collect. It is a blockchain game but not in the model I described as Play to Earn. The players have complete freedom over their items and the in-game token (NCG), still, it seems that this token might not be directly profiting players or allow them to sell for Ethereum or other tokens. Perhaps there will be a system available that will allow something like that.
Nine Chronicles is a fantasy MMORPG that runs on blockchain and is powered by its users. Every action in the game is permanently recorded on a blockchain and there is no central server or admins to shut the game down. The game will be running as long as there are players available.
Bellow is the game's teaser for Steam:
Steam Teaser
This is not exactly a typical RPG. It certainly looks like a mix of platform/strategy with RPG elements. RPG's offer some sort of freedom to move around maps, interact with everything you can find and perform many different functions. Real RPG's are the real magic but we can't deny that MMORPG's are extremely fun and addictive.
The story is also quite important along with the dialogue options and the freedom to choose the course the game will take. Judging from what I've seen I can't consider this game RPG still it is looking great. The story of Nine Chronicles invites us to:
..aid the goddess Freya in her eternal struggle against an evil ravaging the land
Image Source Nine Chronicles Gold (NCG) & Activation Key
The game has an in-game utility token NCG which is used to buy items, trade items in the public market, craft items and potions, challenging other players in PVP combat and growth acceleration. NCG's can also be staked to earn additional items and potions. The developing company Planetarium will also be staking their share of tokens.
Distribution of NCG tokens (link)
Nine Chronicles is not free to play, although it is marketed as such. Players will need to activate their account using an "Activation Key" which will be given to the participants of the NCG presale and other current active members. More keys will be added and given to partners of Planetarium. Perhaps I'm missing something but from what I've read so far players without an activation key won't be able to play the game. There are plans for airdrops though, so it might be wise to occasionally take a look, in case you don't want to pay.
Source: link The presale begins tomorrow and the company claims there are 60,000 people on their waitlist so far! The minimum is $50 which we can buy using Ethereum. The maximum is $10,000 and I don't know if any sane person will ever spend this much money for a game.
Since Ethereum is dominating DApps, blockchain games, and DeFi we would expect the game to be running on the Ethereum chain, and the NCG token being an ERC20. I was surprised to find out that Planetarium developed a completely new blockchain that can be used by other games as well and Nine Chronicles is just the first game to be launched on it. The name of this blockchain is libplanet (GitHub) and the game will be running 100% on it, without any centralized server or superuser involved.
Graphics are cartoonish and reminded me of other MMORPG's especially the Korean style of drawing. Sadly I haven't played the game and from the looks of it the gameplay has to be great. The game when finished will allow progressively exploring the Nine Realms and participate in PVP Arena duels with other players. There is some mining feature that has to do with providing CPU or GPU resources for NCG tokens.
Image Source Another feature that caught my attention is the ability to design new dungeons and features. There is a whole design UI with various properties and features to select from and create unique mods. The game is also open source so modding is encouraged.
Nine Chronicles is featured on Steam and right now we can only add it to our wishlist as it still in development. Presale of NCG tokens will begin on July 15th.
From the few videos and information I found it seems that Nine Chronicles has a good chance to become a popular blockchain game. Perhaps it won't be as popular as current blockchain collectible games and I don't think it will be as popular as mainstream MMORPG's, yet it is one of the first efforts by a big gaming corporation (Ubisoft) to create a decentralized game running on blockchain. I expect this game to be the beginning of blockchain adoption in the gaming industry and I am certain we will begin watching more similar games being developed soon.
Image Source Presales of NCG tokens: https://presale.nine-chronicles.com/ More information:
http://nine-chronicles.com/ https://planetariumhq.com/ discord: https://bit.ly/planetarium-discord twitter: https://twitter.com/NineChronicles
