What IS AdventureQuest?
"The wicked undead rise with the Moon
Ready your blade
and hunt them soon"
-E the Master Vampire Slayer of AdventureQuest
I went out traveling this morning, yearning for some adventure and excitement. I
walked silently through the dark woods in my leather armor and deer-skin shoes. I came upon a
clearing and a gentle
breeze was blowing the tall golden colored grass from side to side.
Out of nowhere a monstrous creature appeared. It was about
six feet tall with ten heads protruding from what seemed to be its back. It
walked on four legs, slouched over to allow its heads to see forward. In addition
to the heads, there seemed to be faces embedded into its
skin. These tortured souls were screaming trying to escape from inside this creature.
The creature's skin was a
horrible mix of putrid purple and baby-shit brown. As I watched it move into the
clearing, I suddenly realized that it
was the dreaded Goagg.
The Goagg had been roaming our woods for a few months and whenever hunters went out to catch deer they
ran into
this...thing. They came back in one piece alright, but they never look alive. Their eyes
would go dull, their faces would be blank, and during the night they would
scream of demons and monsters.
As I watched the beast cross the meadow, I was scared to go up against it, but I
knew I had to because all of its heads were looking straight at me. I walked into the
clearing and raised my sword to eye level, prepared to slay the Goagg, or
die trying. I didn't flinch or break my gaze, didn't show the absolutely
paralyzing fear that I felt welling up inside me..
The Goagg seemed to move very slowly at first, raising itself
up on its hind legs and pointing its multiple heads upwards. A black mist trickled out of
its mouths and onto the ground, ten streams of shadow. The shadows reformed into
vaporous mouths, then they charged.
I blocked a few of the snarling heads
trying to bite me, but couldn't fend
off all of them. The pain I felt when the shadows bit me caused my very soul to
twist into a knot and beg in mercy. It felt like
my heart was trying to get out of my body, trying to pull itself out through my
chest plate. The Goagg wanted my beating heart. I tried to fight back, but I found that it was completely
useless. I was overpowered and the last thing my eyes saw before I died was the
Goagg galloping over to assimilate my dead corpse.
Perhaps it wasn't wise to go up against a monster
50 levels higher than my character especially when my health points were low to
begin with. Clicking my mouse on the "Next" button under the failure
sign. I took my character back to the home town of BattleOn, where I could try
another AdventureQuest.
Summary:
Adventure
Quest (AQ) is an online animated Role Playing Game. However, this RPG is...different (to say the
least) from the others. Traditional (non-video game or online) RPGs are
text-based affairs where players post actions to a group
forum and then other members post replies to that action, moving the story
forward. AdventureQuest, on the other hand, lets you enter into an animated world
as an avatar or (animated character) with an iron sword and
a suit of steel armor. This world is not extremely realistic as far as animation
goes, but for an online game it's pretty credible. The buildings have shading,
depth and respectable detail, with a sunny blue sky in the
background. After being released into the AQ metaverse you can
battle monsters of extreme power and strength (of course, at level zero, if you
feel like winning you'll fight pinché little monsters who don't know their
front from their back).
AQ is very good about giving beginners a hand. It
initially sets you against monsters of very low level, it gives you quests that can help
you get experience points quickly, and it makes the weapons that you need first very cheap. So, it should be very easy for you to get to a
level where you can enjoy the game more, rather than dying from trying to take on a
dragon with 10,000 health points (Ultra Akriloth is one of the
hardest monsters
in the game). You begin the game (with a small furry creature, Twilly, to assist
you).
As you enter the AQ world, you see in front of you, BattleOn, a town and a tree with some signs on it.
Your virtual sidekick Twilly waits by your side. The Town consists of four
virtual hotstops.
- The Yulgar's Inn, where you can
rest, shop (the shopping part was lost on me at first, so the game lost its
appeal quickly until I found out that I could go SHOPPING!), or travel (if
you're a Guardian, but I'll get to that later)
- Warlic's Magic, where you can get your face changed (no, this has nothing to do with plastic
surgery or Botox, it's just magic)
- Aria's Pet Shop. I hope I
don't have to tell you what you would buy here
- The Guardian
tower. The tower is a special feature that only Guardians can get any benefits
from (though the characters in the tower are glad to TELL you the features that
you can get from becoming a Guardian, because it's the only feature of the game
that costs money).
The two signs on the tree
are special. The upper sign sends you on a random adventure to fight enemies of a similar level to you, this is aptly named "Go Adventuring".
The
bottom sign tells you the daily news (which usually consists of more
advertisements for Guardians and a quest that anyone can take).
That's the
basic layout and, where you go from there is your choice. In
order to save your time and your eyesight I have jumped over the very longwinded
and detailed version of the summary above, and gone onto the more interesting
part of the game; how the program works. In the next section I will be going
through a detailed description of how the program behind this dangerously
addictive game.
Dedicated to the Geeks and Nerds of the World
(The Blood and Guts of AQ)
How the Game Actually Works
As a very simple program, AdventureQuest is run by a large number of simple
equations. These equations produce number using different variables, which are
part of every character and then, by comparing these numbers to other numbers,
the outcome of different events is produced. For example, during a battle a
character and a monster are fighting. When the character attacks, an equation is
run using his Strength, Dexterity, Luck, and the weapon's "Bonus to
Hit". This equation produces a number. Then the monster's blocking ability
is calculated using its Dexterity and Luck. This equation produces a number
also. Then, the two numbers are compared and if the character's number is bigger
than the monster's then the attack is successful. However, if the monster's
number is bigger than the character's then the monster blocks the attack.
The Nitty Gritty:
As I said before, everything in AQ is run by equations, from attacking and
blocking, to the amount of health and mana you have. Now I warn you, the part
before this was the SIMPLE version of the explanation. Unless you are a die-hard
geek then please turn back (I have nothing against geeks. Actually, you probably
couldn't tell, but I am a very prominent geek within my community. But I
just need to accentuate that after this point there is a large amount of
confusing equations explaining how AdventureQuest works on the inside). Now to
begin, I will first include a short abbreviation (hehe) chart so that I do not
have to explain as I go along.
-
Dexterity = DEX
-
Intelligence = INT
-
Strength = STR
-
Charisma = CHR
-
Luck = LUK
-
Endurance = END
Now, to move on to the amount of health and mana a character has is
calculated through two slightly similar equations.
Health Points:
(Character Level * 5 + 100) * (1 + (END / 100)
Mana Points:
(Character Level * 5 + 100) * (1 + (INT / 100)
Now, in order to use these equations first let me explain them. First, you
multiply your character's level by five and add 100 to it. Then , saving that
number, you divide either your intellect or your endurance by one-hundred and
add one. Then you multiply the two numbers together and get your final health or
mana points. To use this in actions, I will use my character's stats to figure
out my health points.
(77 * 5 + 100) * (1 + (65 / 100)
(385 + 100) * (1 + .65)
485 * 1.65 = 800.25
My current health is 800 when fully healed. Now, I will talk about the bonus to
hit equation. This equation produces a number which will define the outcome of a
certain attack. There are three different equations for each of the different
types of attacks, melee, magic, and ranged:
Melee Attack Equation:
(DEX / 16) + (STR / 16) + (LUK / 20)
Ranged Attack Equation:
(DEX / 8) + (LUK / 20)
Magic Attack Equation:
(DEX / 16) + (INT / 16) + (LUK / 20)
I believe that these equations are pretty clear so I will go into using them.
Notice that in the melee attacks your character's strength is the key factor,
while in magic attacks your character's intellect is the stat that really
matters. Using my character's stats again, I will determine my bonus to hit for
the three different attack types.
Melee Bonus to Hit:
(55 / 16) + (90 / 16) + (0 / 20)
3.5 + 5.5 + 0 = 9% bonus to chance of hitting melee attacks
Ranged Bonus to Hit:
(55 / 8) + (0 / 20)
(7) + (0) = 7% bonus to chance of hitting ranged attacks
Magic Bonus to Hit:
(55 / 16) + (65 / 16) + (0 / 20)
(3.5) + (4) + (0) = 7.5% bonus to chance of hitting ranged attacks
Now that I have established my bonus to the different attacks I am going to
introduce the equations for the attacker role and for the defender role for the
three attack types. These are the guts of the game, these are the equations that
predict the outcome of the battle. In fact, with these equations you could play
the game on your own as long as you had a 100-sided die, a calculator, and a lot
of paper.
Attacking Role:
(Number on a 100-sided die) + Weapon Bonus to Hit + Stat Bonus to Hit + Armor
Mod
This equation is rather complicated. First the computer roles a virtual
100-sided die. The number from that is saved. Then the weapon bonus is added to
it (this is a bonus to hit that comes with the weapon you are using, you can
find this by looking at the description of the weapon) along with the attack
bonus for the type of attack you are attempting (we calculated this above). Then
you add the armor mod, which depends on the armor you are wearing. Most armor
has no mod, but for example the Golden Plate's first attack is 80% chance of
hitting and the second is 50% chance of hitting or for the Martial Artist Form
the first attack is 50% chance of hitting and the second is 125% chance of
hitting. Now, to put this into an example I will pretend that I am attack with
the Big 100K, which has a weapon attack bonus of 10% and I am not wearing any
special armor. So first I role a 100-sided die (I did not have one on hand so
asked a random person on the street and they said 27):
27 + 10 + 9 + 0 = 46% chance of hitting
If the monster's defense number is higher than my number then they block the
attack, so now let's look at the defense equation. I am not going to the defense
equation with a monster, because I do not know the proper stats for the
monsters, so I will do it with my character instead.
Armor defense for the attack type + (DEX / 10) + (LUK/20)
By "Armor Defense for the Attack Type" I mean the defense that a
character has for the type of attack that the opponent is trying to hit them
with. Now, let's try it with my character, so let's pretend that I am being
attack by a Narrviz, which has a magic attack. I am wearing my vampire form and
using the logos shield (which protects against magic). Total I have a 58 percent
defense against magic.
58 + (55 / 10) + (0/20)
58 + 5.5 + 0 = 63.5% chance of blocking the attack
Now that we have covering attacking and defending let's get to the more
interesting part of the formula's, the damage. The amount of pain you are going
to cause a horrible monster that wants to eat your brains. I must warn you
again, this equation is REALLY complicated and contains a lot of variables which
need explaining. So I'll do that first:
Base Damage - the base amount of damage for a weapon (on a weapon with the range
5 to 10 the base is 5)
Random Number - a random number which either adds 1 or no damage to the final
number
Random Damage - a number between the top and bottom number of the range (on a
weapon that has a range between 5 and 10 the random damage would be 1 to 5
damage)
Armor Modifier - the modifier on a piece of armor, if the armor has a modifier
of 125 percent, then you multiply by 1.25
Stat Bonus - a random damage bonus that varies for the three different types of
attacks
Melee Attacks: STR / 8
Ranged Attacks: (STR / 16) + (LUK / 20)
Magic Attacks: INT / 8
Element Modifier: The opponent defense to different elements (if you are
attacking with light and the monster had a defense of 120% to light, then you
would multiply the number by 1.2).
(Base Damage + Random Number * ((Random Damage * Armor Modifier) + Stat Bonus for
Type of Attack)) * Elemental Modifier
Okay, now
I will use this with my stats. I am attacking a monster with 100% defense
against Earth. I am attacking it with an earth melee weapon that has a damage
range of 5 to 10. I am wearing armor with no modifier. My random number is 0 and
my random damage is 3.
(5 + 0 * (( 3 * 1) + 11)) * 1
(5 * (7 + 11)) * 1
5 * 14 = 70 damage
Closing
Notes and Good Sources:
I would just like to say that I hope that you join AQ and become a long-lasting
member of it. I have found it a great way to procrastinate and consume the time
that I have nothing to do with. I would also try and get your kids hooked on it,
then they would get out of your face for a couple of seconds, so that you can
breathe. If you have no kids, then get yourself completely immersed in AQ and
revile in the thought that you are doing absolutely nothing of importance as you
are playing this small and rather pointless game for hours on end. Now, if any
of you feel that I might have a slight bias against this monotonous and very repetitive
game, I must beg to differ. This online RPG is actually really fun to play when
you have nothing else to do and I must admit that I am still a very active and
contributing member to both the game, my clan, and the forum. As a parting word,
I would like to offer to (for anyone who wants to try out the game, through the
eyes of a successful and high level character, but not have to create your own
account, or those who feel sad by the fact you are getting gold 25 gold at a
time) let people use my account. If you would like to take me up on this offer,
then please message me and we can set up the time where you can play. If you are
still interested about the game go to www.ultimateaq.com
for a good AQ information website. Now yee geeks, go forth and save little
animated maidens from LARGE animated creatures and yee will be rewarded...