AdventureQuest Worlds
AdventureQuest Worlds, often shortened to AQWorlds or simply AQW, is a browser-based MMORPG or massively multiplayer online role playing game developed by Artix Entertainment in 2008. Unlike most massively multiplayer role playing games, AdventureQuest Worlds was developed entirely in Adobe Flash. It currently has over 16 million registered accounts,[1][2] reaching 6 million in May[3] and 9 million in July 2009.[4] On 10 October 2010, the game celebrated its second birthday.[5]
Events
AdventureQuest Worlds has special events on special occasions, usually lasting afterwards to a week. Some are unique to the day (one time only), while others are presumed to be annual events. There were also live events with guest stars like Voltaire, One-Eyed Doll, George Lowe, Paul and Storm, Jonathan Coulton, the cast of Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ayi Jihu, ArcAttack, They Might Be Giants, and Michael Sinterniklaas as the voice of Deady.
Plot synopsis
The setting of the game is in the same universe as AdventureQuest, DragonFable, and MechQuest. The universe of AdventureQuest Worlds came into being when the Dragon of Time was defeated by Galanoth leading all the stray storylines of the previous games to come together into one.
The plot centers on the player hunting down the 13 Lords of Chaos, a group controlled by the antagonist Drakath.[6] The player may also choose to side with two other factions known as Good (led by King Alteon) or Evil (led by Gravelyn) who have teamed up to fight Drakath and his 13 Lords of Chaos, each of which can summon a deadly Chaos Beast.
- The First Lord of Chaos is Escherion, a battle mage who is a homage to M.C. Escher. Escherion arrived in Mobius with his army of Fire Imps, Chaos Sp-Eyes, Cyclops Raiders, Chainsaw Sneevils, and Gargoyles. and used his Staff of Inversion to invert everything there including it's Guardian Tower which he uses as a base. His henchmen are Slugfit, Cyclops Warlord, and Head Gargoyle. He sent his armies throughout Chiral Valley to look for the Runix Cube. The players had to go to the locations to retrieve the pieces of the Runix Cube first in Mobius, the Faerie Woods, and Cornelis. Upon recovering all three pieces, the players forge the disguise of a pizza delivery guy to infiltrate his tower and fight through the soldiers there. After besting Head Gargoyle, the players finally confront Escherion. They throw the Runix Cube at him not knowing what it does. He takes the opportunity to grab the Cube and eject the character from the tower, then awakening the Lake Hydra (the first of the "Chaos Beasts" that accompany each Chaos Lord) under orders by Drakath. When the Lake Hydra is defeated, the character then goes back to Escherion. After taking out the Staff of Inversion and Escherion, the character demands that Escherion leave Chiral Valley and never return. When Escherion retaliates, the character uses a Mirror Shield found in Cornelis to deflect Escherion's spells. When he tries to polymorph the character, he ends up turning himself into a toad which undoes the effects of his inversion spells. Drakath gets word of this and prepares his next Lord of Chaos after stating that Escherion has served his purpose.
- The Second Lord(s) of Chaos are the twins Xing and Xang. They haven't been fought yet, but have enticed Maximilian Lionfang and Nythera to their side. Xing and Xang were then seen taking interest in the Void. Xing and Xang also appear in the Bloodtusk Ravine where they are summoned by the player to answer five questions. They also pair the Trolls and Horcs against each other in order to help Drakath determine who will become the Ninth Lord of Chaos.
- The Third Lord of Chaos is Vath, a Drow Dragonlord. He enslaved Dwarfhold with his army of Drow Soldiers, Drow Assassins, and Chaotic Draconians. The Chaos Beast hatched by him is the Rock Roc using the Chaos Gemeralds.
- The Fourth Lord of Chaos is Kitsune, an anthropomorphic fox. Upon being Chaorrupted by Drakath, he persuaded the Blue Kappa Ninja, Green Kappa Ninja, Ninja Noppera-bōs, Samurai Noppera-bō, Tanukis, Tsukumo-gamis, and Funa-Yureis to join his cause into claiming Yōkai Island for the Yōkai. His henchmen are Dai Tengu, SoulTaker, Onibaba, Nure-Onna, and Neko Mata. He uses the stolen Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade to summon the Forbidden O-Dokuro from the Rift of Time as his Chaos Beast.
- The Fifth Lord of Chaos is Wolfwing, a Werepyre (part werewolf, part vampire) that was Chaorrupted by Drakath. Chaos Wolfwing created an army of Chaos Lycan Knights, Chaos Vampire Knights, and Werepyres. He bites a dragon on the Mystic Wolf Moon to turn it into the Dracowerepyre (a combination of a dragon, a vampire and a werewolf) as his Chaos Beast.
- The Sixth Lord of Chaos is a Chaorrupted Kimberly Freeman of One-Eyed Doll who was Chaorrupted by a song done by Drakath. She used Discordia (a parody of Erik from The Phantom of the Opera) as her proxy. Kimberly and Discordia used mesmerizing music to hypnotize the Beatles, Tune-A-Fish, Grateful Undeads, Rock Lobsters, Stingers, Pachelbells Cannons, Music Pirates, and Flying Music Pirates to disrupt Lorestockapalooza (a homage to Woodstock). She sent the players back in time to fight her Chaos Beast Pony Gary Yellow (a Triceratops/Dragon-like creature).[7]
- The Seventh Lord of Chaos is Ledgermayne, a bunch of raw mana that gained shape upon exposure to Drakath's chaos magic making him a "living magic." He bewitched the Seed Spitters, Gorillaphants (part gorilla, part elephant creatures), Acornents (which were created from acorns), Karasus (which were created from ravens), Swamp Frogdrakes, Swamp Lurkers, Anglerfish, Merdraconians (half Draconian, half fish), Earth Elementals, Water Elementals, Wind Elementals, Fire Elementals, Volcanic Maggots, Scoria Serpents, Living Fires, Mana Imps, and Mana Falcons. He frees the Mana Golem from it's prison to be his Chaos Beast.
- The Eighth Lord of Chaos is Tibicenas, a Chaos Jinn who used the hedge-mage Zahart as his master in a plot to conquer the Sandsea. He used the Heart of the Sphinx to animate the Chaos Sphinx as his Chaos Beast. When the genie ring that Zahart was wielding was destroyed by Zhoom, Tibicenas turned against Zahart and began his plans to take revenge on the Efreet.
- The Ninth Lord of Chaos is Krellenos, a Troll prophet who assists Xing and Xang into pitting the Orcs and Trolls of Bloodtusk Ravine against each other. He even managed to Chaorrupt his brother Antiphuus into a Chaotic Troll. His army consisted of Chaotic Chinchilizards, Chaotic Horcboars, Chaotic Koalions, Chaotic Lemurphants, Chaotic Rhisons, Chaos Tigriffs, Chaotic Vultures, Chaorrupted Good Soldiers, Chaorrupted Evil Soldiers, Chaorrupted Good Lieutenants, Chaorrupted Evil Lieutenants, Chaos Horc Spirits, and Chaos Troll Spirits. He later transforms a Serpentress into the Gruaige Baas (an undead Gorgon) to be his Chaos Beast. Krellenos is killed by his sister Khasaanda (who is a homage to Cassandra) who steals his Chaos Powers, usurps his position, and plans to defeat Drakath. Upon being defeated in a forced battle against the players, Khasaanda plans to use her Chaos powers to track down Drakath and use her Chaos powers to defeat Drakath.
Payment
The main form of payment is membership, a monthly, three-monthly, six-monthly or yearly fee required to access additional game content. However AQ Worlds can be played for free without this additional game content. Like Artix Entertainment's other games, microtransactions, known in AdventureQuest Worlds as AdventureCoins, can be used to buy exclusive ingame items. Most Artix Entertainment merchandise can also be redeemed for ingame items.
Adventure Coins may be bought on the website or via Battleon Points. (Used only if the account on AQ Worlds has been linked with the Master Account) They can be used in many shops on the game such as Yulgar's Suggestion Shop. The coins can be used to buy some of the best items in the game in terms of art quality. There is a variety of methods you can use to purchase coins. This includes Cell Phone, Home phone, Credit Card and Cards that you can redeem online (bought in a shop) These are only a few methods.
Reception
Carolyn Koh, from MMORPG.com, stated that "AdventureQuest Worlds is a fun little casual MMO".[8] Kotaku's Mike Fahey praised the idea of using advertisements when the player died.[9] Pete Davison, from GamePro, also noted the advertisements at death, calling it an "interesting" idea.[10]
See also
References
External links