Bloodymare Online Only PC Intermediate GRAVITY Co., Ltd. GRAVITY Co., Ltd. Rated M for MATURE 17+ by the ESRB

A Bloody Good Time

By: Ryan A. Allen
GiN Product Reviewer

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Grinding is when you repeatedly kill the same creatures to obtain experience points (XP). And no where else can you find this in abundance than in today's massively multiplayer online role-playing games (a mouthful that could simply be abbreviated into MMORPG, or MMO for short). For more than ten-years grinding XP has become the paradigm for leveling up your avatar. However what separates a fun MMO from a boring is how well grinding is mitigated.

When Blizzard's World of Warcraft entered the market it changed this. It gave players a way to greatly mitigate grinding by obtaining large amounts of experience points within a short amount of time from quests. Fairly innovative this method, it has now become standard in most MMORPGs developed within the United States and Europe in recent years. Unfortunately this concept, in large part, continues to elude our Asian friends.

That was until Requiem: Bloodymare entered the western scene. Developed and published by Korea's GRAVITY, Requiem: Bloodymare is actually a fun Asian MMORPG.

Requiem: Bloodymare is a blend between Heavy Metal, Anarchy Online, and WOW. If that combination sounds unusual it is for good reasons.

First and foremost this game definitely earns its M-Rating.

The loading screen shows an image of arm with stitches. As the game loads the stitches are broken showing the grisly slash underneath splintering open to reveal muscles and tendons. The final scene is some sort of stamped REQUIEM in the muscles.

All character models look incredibly beautiful. Another example of Bloodymare's M-rating specifically deals with female models. They're partially nude and really leave nothing to the imagination. When you have players purchasing bunny-like outfits from the Item Mall it makes you wonder if this game was crafted specifically for the male demographic. This is not to say half-nude bunny-wearing warrior women is bad in any way but by putting this in the game it seems like GRAVITY tried hard to earn the M-rating. But this is not the reason Requiem: Bloodymare is fun.

Combat is one aspect of Requiem: Bloodymare that's quite fun. It's brutal and violent. When you attack mobs power swings can determine how a target will die, sometimes via decapitation or severed limbs. The fact that this doesn't happen all the time is a nice bonus.

Class types, skills, and abilities are blended into one of six available jobs. The human-like Turan have access to Templars and Defenders jobs. The steroid, human-like Bartuk can choose between Warriors or Shamans. Finally the vampire-like Kruxena can select Rogue or Soul Hunter. I honestly did not have the time to investigate all jobs choices. My review is based on a Kruxena Rogue (female, of course).

Where the macabre combat and nearly nude models are eye candy, the landscapes at times seemed plain for my taste. Yet they are filled with interesting locations, architecture, and creatures. Many of the towns and villages have cool otherworldly features. Those familiar with Anarchy Online will see many architectural characteristics from that game in Requiem: Bloodymare.

Another aspect that separates Requiem: Bloodymare from many Asian MMOs are the quests. This part shines in its delivery of an almost verbatim World of Warcraft style questing system that's actually fun to play. There are PLENTY of quests to do. Each town and village is filled with half-dozen or more, and they're intelligently designed too. By the time you near the end of a string of quests in one town you'll pick up new quests that direct you to visit another area. That other area happens to be town with a new set of quests to keep you briskly leveling.

Requiem: Bloodymare features a very interesting component related to the day-night cycle. While other games have basic day-night cycles Requiem: Bloodymare has made this a major part of gameplay. During the daytime most of the monsters are normal mobs you can fight. During the nighttime cycle, which lasts for about three hours, creatures called nightmare monsters come out and it is here where the game can get crazy. These nightmare creatures have hallmarks of classic horror such as Nephas (some sort of demon doll), Sabnack (like something from Doom 3), and Siamese (appears to use its intestines as some sort of ball-and-chain weapon)" and there are many others grotesque varieties. To kill these nightmarish mobs you need to group with eight players. They spawn in certain areas of the game. Unfortunately if you happen to run through one of these areas as the game transitions from day to night" well, let's just say it will be a bloody mess.

There are two other features in Requiem: Bloodymare worth mentioning. One is called a Possession Beast System that allows you to create spells which give your avatar the ability to transform into a nightmarish monster. The other is DNA that allows you to modify your character's strengths and abilities. Unfortunately learning how to use either of these is going to require an intermediate amount of knowledge. Should you decide to play Requiem: Bloodymare expect to visit Bloodymare's forums, peruse various fan-sites, and possibly even ask in-game for assistance.

Requiem: Bloodymare is free to play meaning there is no charge to download the software or monthly fees. It does, however, have a premium component called the Item Mall; a staple in most Asian MMOs. The premium items offered in Requiem: Bloodymare range from trivial outfits (the afore mentioned bunny outfit) to decent stuff like riding mounts, a 30 percent XP boost, and master skill resets. Unfortunately these are not permanent keeps. They expire after a set number of days and you need to repurchase them. New stuff to the Item Mall happens frequently so there's always something new to acquire. I personally found the 30 percent XP boosts to be most beneficial as well as the riding mounts.

Requiem: Bloodymare is relatively new to the United States. There are numerous guilds in Bloodymare. The guild I joined had around 75 members, which, for a newer MMO, is really good. The fact that the starter area had a couple gold farmers hawking their websites for in-game currency shows a growing player base.

There is a PVP component to Requiem: Bloodymare which shares more in common with World of Warcraft's battlegrounds. You can choose between an 8-vs-8, 16-vs-16, 24-vs-24, and a colossal 96-vs-96 battlefield. Occasionally when you are stuck in PVP mode, NPCs won't respond. A fix for this requires being killed by another player. This could be a bug but it's not entirely known.

Speaking of bugs, there are random few. A male Kruxena skull was missing. A Turan head was missing. Alt-tabbing can cause the client to crash. Changing resolutions, and switching between full and windowed, can cause the interface to lock up where you cannot interact with anything on-screen. None of these seems to kill gameplay, but rather felt like annoyances.

The most annoying part of Requiem: Bloodymare is the login screen. A convoluted mess of protocol designed to safeguard a subscriber's account. First you register an account with a username, password, and e-mail. Before playing you need to verify the e-mail address. After you login you can create your avatar. But before you can jump into the game you need to create and enter a PIN on a keypad with numbers that change random positions. And you can't use a keyboard. Nope, you must use your mouse, and you must do this every time you log in. What else can I say? Convoluted"

In the end Requiem: Bloodymare offers decent graphics, gritty combat, hot character models, lots of blood and macabre, decent classes, totally free gameplay (provided you don't use the Item Mall), and a questing system that's actually fun. If you are able to play M-rated titles then I recommend Requiem: Bloodymare.

If you would like to see the bloody gameplay yourself, reviewer Ryan Allen has made a mature-rated video and placed it right here for your viewing pleasure. Warning, those of you in the front row will get soaked!

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