Friday, June 26, 2009

4th Friday Posting


1) Scratchy Card Thoughts


Kodomo no Jikan ftw~
On Pangya US, the majority of players has disapproved the new Scratchy Card system. Rather than buying the cards in the store, you have to spend points to receive the cards for free. Calling it "free" is a very misleading word, especially since you are forced to spend all of your points to get as much cards as you can. Trying 2-4 tickets at a time is not recommended for this lottery, you will need all the scratchy cards you can get for a higher chance to win.

I do feel bad for all the Pangya US players for having to experience this unfortunate event. You all deserve the same treatment as people get from other sucessful Pangya servers like Thai, Japan, and Korea. Scratchy Card system is not to be taken lightly, and Ntreev USA should take that into consideration. Scratchy rares contains some of the most strongest and best items in the game. They cannot be compared to cash items in the shop either, and I'm afraid that's what Ntreev USA did not foretold.

I hate to say this, but the chances for them to change the Scartchy card system is very slim. The system is set in stone by the developers from Korea. So I cannot see how Ntreev US will have permission to mess with the mechanics. So rather than changing the system around, let's make it where scratchy cards can be obtained from other methods besides spending points only.

Here are some suggestions that I'll randomly list that could lighten up the negatives from this system:

1) On Season 4, allow players to win Scratchy tickets or cards from Papel Shop, and Treasure Boxes (see more on my KR Pangya guide for details).

2) When I say Scratchy ticket, it's a ticket that you can transform 10 of them into 1 Scratchy card on Cadie's Cauldron.

3) GM host tournament events often, and prizes will be one scratchy card for participation.

4) If GMs did confirm the winning rates are the same as OGP, then those numbers need to be a bit higher for compensation. Especially if the cards cannot be sold or purchased from other people.

5) A Scratchy trading system. It has been mentioned that it's possible from a GM, but this will most likely be considered a rumor until it has been approved by the main officials first. If it's like A18's trading event, then it's a good step in the right direction at least.

6) Sell or buy Scratchy rares. Wait... nevermind. Pang hackers.

7) Change from spending points to receive cards to purchasing points to receive cards. Most people would rather wait and conserve their points for future cash shop items to come out. Not many people would want to spend their points on auto calipers and time boosters alone.

This may be hard to say this to a lot of disappointed players, but I'd say give them time. Give them a chance to redeem themselves to try and work with the developer. They just launched this system this week so it's still time for improvements.



2) New SLGaming Banner


I figured I need a new banner so I asked my friend Fresca to make me a new one. I didn't know what to put on the banner at the time. I explained that I wanted something where I multitask playing both console games and Pangya. So that's pretty much exactly what it shows on my banner. So thank you Fresca for making me a new banner.



3) Fantasy Golf Pangya LIVE


I've played though Fantasy Golf Pangya a little bit. I have not finished the Korean version so I am more encouraged to play through the story mode completely on the English version. I would have broadcasted the game last night, but as I said earlier, my video card is almost dead. At certain times, it'll show strange colors and static lines all over the screen. I need that video card to be able to broadcast my PSP perfectly the way I want it. I know there are softwares out there to record what's shown on your screen, but I do not want to mess with that.

I am expected to get my video card tomorrow. So if you do not own a PSP that likes to see the game, then this is your lucky chance. I'll be playing through the entire story mode to learn more about each Character's background and personality better. I may even do dialog commentary even though I've never tested the limits of my voice acting role. I suppose we'll find that out shortly won't we? I'll be sure to have a water bottle right beside me before my throat gets parched. I don't know how the heck I'll do the girl's voice. I've lost my high pitch voice a long time ago.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Pangya US Spoilers (6-24-09)



KR Update (6-25-09)


Pangya Season 4 Delight on Korea will be having server maintenance on June 25th from 7:00 ~ 10:00 AM. Eastern time converts to 6:00 ~ 9:00 PM on June 24th. A total of 3 hours of server downtime. Servers will officially open at 10:00 AM (9:00 PM EDT).




1) Card Vial Extractions


On Cadie's Magic Box, you can combine one lily flower and one testing vial to make one of three level vials: Low level, Medium level, or High level extractions.



Low level extraction: This vial is the most common vial you'll find, and it has a very low success rate to extract cards from Character's outfits. You will be lucky if the vial works.

Medium level extraction:
This vial is uncommon to find, and it has a moderate success rate to extract the cards. Think of it as flipping a coin that will decide whether it'll be successful or not.

High level extraction: This vial is the rarest of all. There is no way the extraction will fail so this vial is highly dependable, and possibility the most sought out of all the vials.

- Testing vial costs 500 pang each in the shop
- Lily flower can be obtained from a green box that may pop up randomly from each hole
- You may sell or buy the lily and the vials from player's shop




2) Card Restrictions


Since the card extraction system is enabled, there will be a new ruling that will take effect now. You cannot sell outfits with cards attached to them anymore. However, you can sell outfits with no cards on it, or sell the cards itself. The cards that has been extracted by the vials can still be sold or purchased from player's shops.

Watch as all the card prices will drop tremendously, excluding the special cards of course.




3) Card Extraction Demo


On Cadie's Magic Box, I will tribute 1x lily flower and 1x testing vial for one random vial. There will be a high chance to receive a vial that has low success rate, and a low chance to receive a vial that has a higher rate, and so forth.


Go to your inventory and select the vial you want to use. On the image above, a list to the left is your entire collection that has cards equipped on it. I will select the western dress for Lucia. On the right, it will show all the cards that are equipped on that selected outfit. It has two curve +1 cards, and one Cadie (low) card.


You will get a message reminding that the vial could fail. Once you agree to this, the vial will do its magic as you see on the image above. Once the liquid inside that vial empties...


Oh no, the card extraction has failed! It's expected since I choose the low level extraction vial. Let's try again!


Alright, this time I'll use the medium extraction vial. I hope this works...


Success! The vial worked and all the cards in that outfit has been removed and placed back in your inventory.


You may use the cards again on a different outfit, or sell it to someone.




4) Thoughts on Card Extraction

This is what Korea needed. I was very tired of using my same Characters with the same outfits because I have my most powerful cards setup on them. Thanks to this system, I can freely move my best cards to something different without having to worry about being stuck with it.

This system will also boost sales on cookie outfits now. People only purchased scratch card outfits (like me) because you cannot sell cookie items to other people. This system basically changes everything. The cost on outfits, the low demand on cards, the variety of players with different outfits, and you can enjoy playing with different Characters or outfits that you couldn't afford purchasing more cards for the setup.

Thanks to this new system, I may want to purchase Kooh's waitress set now. Just before, I did not want to buy Kooh's cookie dress because of cards, but now I don't have to worry about that anymore. Good business thinking there Ntreev.

I already have plenty of control cards, Titanboo, Cadie, and Quma cards. I can say that I have no need to gamble on card packs anymore. I even have secret Cadie card too. So basically, I'm all set. Now I just need to play and get those lily flowers! Remember, if you have the motion items equipped, you receive two of them instead of one.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Name Changes


I don't know about you, but some of us (even myself) need to get into the habit of using the new names that Pangya US created. I can generally accept most of the new names since those are the original names from Korea. However there are some names that I wished were left alone.

Here's a short example that I listed out. I know there are more than this, but this is to show the difference from Albatross18 to Pangya US.

Albatross18 | Pangya US
Scout | Nuri
Uncle Bob | Azer
Pipin | Pippin
Lola | Lolo
Brie | Cadie
Aristo | Lemmy
Boo | Puff
Doom | Cocoa
Hugo | Billy
Air Lance | Air Knight
Phoenix Ball | Comet Ball
Mr. eCard | Scratchy Card
Astros | Points
PSquare | ??

I'll go through some of them from the top of my head about some of the new changes here.

- The mascot names are the one where I'll never remember. Hell, I had to look up the mascot's name from Albatross18 because it's way to different from Korea. The only acceptable name change is from Hugo to Billy since that's the same name from Korea. Lemmy is Rami, and the two mochi mascots are white and black jerry. It's going to be hard for me to use Pangya US names on these mascots.

- No more Mr. eCard! Even though it can be pronouced as "Mystery Card." Anyhow, I would much prefer the new name without the "y."

- There is Bob to Azer now. You know what, I grow quite a liking to the old A18 name. I'm serious. I can type out Azer in text no problem, but when it comes to spoken words, I'll end up saying Bob because he's well.. Bob!

- I really want to avoid calling it PSQ or PSquare. Actually, I have no clue what its called on Pangya US now. Pangya world?

- Oh and you know what else is going to confuse even more? It's when new players that has played Pangya PSP will wonder why the names are different from the PSP to the PC game. I bet you after that game has been out for awhile, a new player will post on the forums about that.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Limits of Suggestions


This is something that I've been holding it in for a long time that I want to say it and be done with it. But before I begin, I am not trying to discourage people to make suggestions on the Pangya USA forum.

People who has posted suggestions on Pangya US forum will most likely have their topic washed away like the majority of threads. It's not that people's suggestions are not taken seriously, but some people need to understand the difference between what the publisher (Ntreev US) can or cannot do unlike the developer (Ntreev KR).

Before you are about to make a suggestion, you have to think whether your idea is something Ntreev US will take into consideration. You can try and see what will happen, but I would not recommend taking more than thirty minutes of your time to post a suggestion that may or may not be worth their time. Back on OGPlanet when Pangya was still around, there was a popular thread about someone creating a new Character design that should be implemented into the game. The thread activity lasted long and it was getting popular, but no matter how many people approves your ideas, it doesn't make your idea possible due to the publisher's limitations. The publisher could request the idea to the Korean developers, but it really depends whether it's worth their time or not. In most cases, it's not something both the publisher and developer will want to deal with either.

Like I said, I'm not discouraging anyone to post their suggestions on the forum. I'm just giving you something to think about if this thought has not occurred to any of you. I would hate to see someone plan an idea that wants to see it through to the end, but it ends up being forgotten within a week or less.

If the suggestion is something that the GMs can do without having to edit the game, then it might be worth posting. If you are suggesting an idea to implement into the game, the chances for that to happen are slim.

Some people have to remember that Ntreev US does not have complete control to make new changes within the game. Rather than trying to change the game, try changing your ways to deal with it. I cannot say that any easier without sounding negative to that. Anything that are released from older Pangya servers are probably the only clues to look forward to on your server.

One more thing, Happy Father's Day to all of the Dads out there~

Friday, June 19, 2009

Thursday, June 18, 2009

KR: June Pangya Event


This month's event will contain mission objectives that you must complete to receive prizes. There will be a special content to remove cards on your outfits that will be fully implemented soon. And lastly, everyone can change their nicknames for free, but for one time only. This event will last until July 7th.


There are two different missions to complete. One is a simple mission that you can receive a small prize per day. The second mission is a little tense, but the reward is bigger.


Pangya Mission #1

Mission 1: Play 3 VS games
Mission 2: Play 2 Tournament games

Once completed both missions, you will receive one random prize per day. If you exceed the number of times played for today's prize, the remaining numbers will not carry over to the next day. You can also win duplicate prizes.

Prizes:
1x Dolfini Headset
1x Mission Coupon
5x Duostar PS
5x Duostar SS
5x Duostar LS


Pangya Mission #2

Mission 1: Play 30 VS games
Mission 2: Achieve a long putt of 30 yards or greater
Mission 3: Achieve a new course record
Mission 4: Achieve an Eagle 30 times
Mission 5: Play a full 18 hole round on every course

Once completed all five missions, you will receive one random prize. This mission can only be done one time only during the event.

Prizes:
1x Golden Spike Hammer Clubs
1x Umbrella Clubs
1x Air Knight 3 Clubs
1x Magical Clubs
1x Piko Hammer
1x Dolfini Headset

* Finishing at least one hole in VS mode will count as a full game if all your opponents leave the room.
* You may use a scroll to leave the tournament room early. The mission will not be updated until the round ends.
* Over 30 yd putt mission must score at least a par or better to count.
* Dolfini Headset have the same effect as the feathers.
* Mission prizes will be sent to your gift box

* Hole-in-One on a par 3 does not count as an Eagle on the missions.


250 Prize Drawings

Mission coupons received from missions will be your raffle ticket. The more coupons you collect, the higher chances of your coupon being picked for a prize. The drawings and the winners will be announced July 7th.


New Nickname Change

As soon as you log in, you will need to create a new nickname. Once created, you will be stuck with that name forever. Remember, this is your nickname so you will still need to use your normal user name when you log in. Choose your new nickname wisely.


Card Vail Removals

Coming soon, there will be a new content on the way to extract cards on outfits. You will need the necessary materials to create three different kinds of card vials in the magic box. The vials that are created will determine what will be done for the card system. There are 18 days to collect the lilies that will pop out from the hole randomly until the magic box system becomes available to create some vials. The lily is part of the ingredients you need to make the vials so start collecting.

Monday, June 15, 2009

KR Update (6-16-09)


Pangya Season 4 Delight on Korea will be having server maintenance on June 16th from 4:00 ~ 8:00 AM. Eastern time converts to 3:00 ~ 7:00 PM on June 15th. A total of 4 hours of server downtime. Servers will officially open at 8:00 AM (7:00 PM EDT).




There is a bug on the downgrade system. If you try to downgrade either your Character's outfit or clubs, it will not go down. They will check back this Thursday to hopefully fix the problem.

While they are at it, they might as well bring an update this Thursday as well am I rite? :D

Saturday, June 13, 2009

New Course Part Three

The GMs from Japan has received more information from Ntreev company. So to get to the point, here are more sneak peek pictures for you.




On Pangya island, a new course will be coming soon in the oriental region. The course is still under development so it's still not ready yet. From all these pictures, this looks like a very vast course.




Here are three illustrations of NPCs seen in the new oriental course. You can tell by the outfits and hats on them to match with the course's theme.

Backtrack: New Course 1 | New Course 2

Thursday, June 11, 2009

US Update Impression (6-11-09)

Oh my god I'm talking about Pangya USA now?! I figured I take the time to share my viewpoints about their new update today since they rarely bring content out to get their servers situated. Plus you guys might need some concrete information about these new contents that you may not know about from other servers.


Well I'll get started as soon as I get into the server first.


Tiki Report Scroll
It costs 300 pangs to purchase each scroll. The scroll can only be used in Tournament Mode, and it will automatically work upon purchase. When you finish the tournament before the time limit is up, you may freely exit the game by using 1 scroll with no penalty towards your quit rate. You will receive your earned pang, and be sent back into the lobby. Once the tournament ends for everybody in that room, the result scroll will be sent to your inventory. When you click on it, it will show the result screen where you got placed in. You will receive a trophy if you placed in the top ranking, and you will receive your experience points. You also need to be a Beginner E level or higher to use the scroll.

The scrolls on Korea came out on July 3th, 2007 during their Season 3 time. So you guys are like two years late... You can win several scrolls in Black Papel Shop easily, but it doesn't look like USA will be doing that. I've tried 100 times today and I didn't see anything. Usually 100 tries will get you around 30-35 scrolls on Korea.


New Revamp Tournament Mode
The new Tournament mode has been refined to make playing this mode more flexible. The host can start the game up if there are at least ten people or more in the room. Afterward, the room will still be available for players to enter late. There is a time limit if the room has not filled up after it has started. If the tournament is 18 holes long, there are 10 minutes before it closes regardless if the room is full or not. If it's 9 holes long, there are only 5 minutes left.

If someone quits in a full room, that person cannot go back into that same room until the round is over. Also when people quit the game, someone else can take their spot. When top or low level players come in and out, the trophey level indicator will let everyone know what level the room is going for. The level will change constantly until the room closes from people entering late.

And yes, this new mode also came out two years ago during their Season 3 time on Korea. This mode makes it so much easier to start tournament rooms with enough players for a chance to get a trophy without having to worry about people quitting. But also, this does not give you control of the room when people join in the game that has already started. Most importantly, do not forget to equip your items before you head into the room late. Because once you go in, you will automatically be started on the first hole to get underway.

The scrolls and the revamp tournament mode is possibility the greatest update by itself. It really changes the way people play Pangya now, and you'll love it.


This is highway robbery. Fantasy Golf Pangya will be arriving the end of this month for the PSP. So to promote the game, players can buy overpriced PSP signature outfits that Characters wear in the PSP game. I got all of these outfit for... free when I purchased the PSP game from Korea. I inserted the code and it gifted every single one of them to my Korean account. It looks great at first, but it won't appeal to you much longer. I honestly don't see the hype over these outfits. It's very glossy to me, and the biggest problem is that the transparency is bugged on several outfits. Whether that part will be fixed in the near future, who knows. So! Do you feel like spending $13-17 on an outfit set that you will probably wear for a week, and switch back to the appealing scratch rare outfits again? It doesn't appear to be a limited time sale either unless it's a typo on their part. Do not think I'm discouraging you to not buy the sets either, I'm just stating my opinions.


A clubset that looks more violent than the Spike Hammer Clubset. This club requires you to be Beginner D level or higher to use it. It doesn't do anything special except that it makes your Characters look like they are set off to kill someone with blood stains rusting on the blade. Nonsense! That blood could be coming from a phoen... I mean Azte... I mean comet balls right? This clubset will be available on sale until July 8th.


I'll get to the point here. This is not the clubset that widens your Pangya zone! So this club doesn't do anything special either. Actually, I don't understand why it's a dollar cheaper than the other PSP club that has one control more. To be exact, when you use the code from the PSP game, this club was gifted for free toward any new players that are just starting on Pangya KR. Japan didn't follow this pattern, but at least they were thoughtful enough to give this club a full 12 control stat boost. This clubset will be available on sale until July 8th.


Here's another PSP content, two new phoe... az.. COMET balls. I seriously won't get used to that name change. I'm surprised the price are the same as the exclusive earth balls. These new comet balls might be worth to get for collection purposes, or use it for good or evil on Pangya island. Which side are you on? The az.. comet balls will be available on sale until July 8th.


Runner's Package eh? From the looks of it, I thought it was for a limited time, but apparently not. Maybe the Auto Caliper sales are obviously not going so well, so they figured they will add more items in the same package with it to make it look like it's a great deal or whatever. Well let's see how much it saves to buy this package rather than individually.

Runner's Package = 7,000 Points
Includes Auto Caliper set, Time Booster set, Pang Mastery set, Silent Wind set

Time Booster set = 1,200 Points
Silent Wind set = 1,300 Points
Pang Mastery set = 2,300 Points
Auto Calipers set = 3,000 Points
= 7,800 Points

So you only save .80 cents. It's a nice package no doubt, but I can live without Silent Wind and Time Boosters. Because I have plenty of Silent Winds from doing previous scratch card lotteries, and plenty of Time Boosters from Cadie's Magic Box. So really, it doesn't look encouraging to buy this package at all.


This event runs very similar to Korea's promise box event with a few exceptions.

So you have to play the game to receive points. It's a pretty generic event that most Pangya event runs. Plus if you play even longer, you receive an extra boost of points so you are encouraged to grab plenty of coffee and adult diapers to play your heart out.

Most prizes are given out in limited quantities that could be gone forever, or refill once per hour. And there are two prizes that can be redeemed endlessly. There doesn't seem to be a restriction on getting the prizes unlike Korea. On Korea, you could only choose one of the one hour prizes per day, but it doesn't say anything on Pangya USA about that.

As for Pang Ramyon, it's a caddy that gives the same stats as Cadie, Control +2 & Accuracy +2. Ramyon is spelled correctly since that's how it's pronounced in Korea. But if you want to call it Ramen instead, then go for it. This caddy appears on Korea if you have PC Bang enabled and it's basically forever to keep. However, Pang Ramyon on USA, it will only last for 30 days and then expires. Thankfully, all prizes are gifted instead so you can choose when to use it. But honestly why waste 1,500 points for it. If it was Sporty Pipin with +1 stats on everything, then that might be ok.




Now let's take this news across the ocean, Nippon! It's pretty straightforward update. Last year's Vocaloid outfits will be making a comeback in the shop for a limited time. Outfits for Ken, Erika, and Kooh. I'm still curious to see why Korea put those content on their server, and if they plan to release it.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

KR Update (6-11-09)


Pangya Season 4 Delight on Korea will be having server maintenance on June 11th from 7:00 ~ 10:00 AM. Eastern time converts to 6:00 ~ 9:00 PM on June 10th. A total of 3 hours of server downtime. Servers will officially open at 10:00 AM (9:00 PM EDT).



Content Updates
1) 34th Scratch Rare
Punky Waiter Set - Nuri, Azer, Max, Kaz

2) New Clothing Package Sales
Funky Waitress Set - Hana, Cecilia, Kooh, Arin, Lucia
92 Cookie sale in shop

Limited Edition Package Sales - Kooh, Kaz, Lucia
520k Pang sale in shop

Banner picture here

Content Fixes
1) Auto caliper not consumed properly
2) Ring error in Cadie's magic box
3) Experience value earned in game
4) Lucia "Pangya" voice has been fixed on Miracle Clubset



Arin





Cecilia



Kooh




Hana




Lucia


Well this is different. You cannot buy each piece separately, you have to buy the entire package. Each funky waitress set costs 92 cookies. You will receive the Character plus the waitress set. If you already own the Character, you will receive pang on the amount the Character cost. This move is a good strategy to make money for Ntreev. Then again, who wouldn't buy the entire set to begin with? The price for the entire set is reasonable if you look at each cookie items separately and tally it up to see the difference.

I am glad that the scratch card lineup is not going to follow with Japan so I think the negatives can be pushed away. So while Japan will receive next month's Gachapon waiter/waitress sets to finish it up, Korea will be looking forward to something new in the next scratch rare. Do not forget that Lucia is missing some scratch rares herself on Japan. Outfits such as the Gothic, and the Pirate sets. Japan isn't really far ahead than Korea, they both are updating their servers in their separate way.

So do you think this is wise for players to have to purchase the entire outfit instead of individually?



Kaz




Kooh




Lucia



This is the same thing as the waitress set. You have to buy the package to receive the entire set. Each package costs 520,000 pang. Luckily, the level restriction is available for everyone to purchase. Save up those pang. Is the price to steep for these limited edition outfits, or is it just right. What do you think?




Vocaloid coming to Pangya KR?

Here is a sudden surprise that I can't believe. Inside today's content, they have included all the Vocaloid sets for Nuri, Hana, and Kooh. There's also Miku's leek clubset in there too. However, Arin's Vocaloid outfit does not appear in the list. So I have no clue why they put those contents on today's update. Will it be available to purchase in the shop? If so, that would be fantastic! But, I do wonder if this have anything to do with the 200 tournament event? I'm just speculating a possibility here.