Ink Blot Ink blots of Morrigan Erinyes

RF Online Philippines commissioned veteran hard rockers Razorback to create a song based on the cyborg race, Accretia. Titled “Empire Accretia”, the song features heavy guitar riffs, pounding bass lines, furious drums and Kevin Roy’s trademarked voice.

The lyrics talks about the superiority and awesomeness of the Accretian Empire and its troops as seen from the eyes of its enemy. Being a certified RF Fanatic, Kevin Roy’s lyrics were true to the Accretian mythos and complements the game's overall experience.

The following is an interview with Kevin Roy, talking about the song and the new sound of Razorback featured on the song.

GM Gaea: In general, how did you prepare to write the song "Empire Accretia"?

Kevin Roy: I’ve actually been studying the Novus culture for over a year now. I got a hold of the RF Online presskit / history lesson in January 2006. From there I read up on the Cora culture and wrote a song (Birthright) with my other band, Loquy. After writing Birthright, I then moved on to write Empire Accretia.

GM Gaea: What did the others (the band) contribute to the song? Words or notes? Booze?

Kevin Roy: The band basically did the music because I can’t seem to play a musical instrument to save my life. They came up with the riff and we all pitched in with the arrangement. Tirso, one of our guitar players, came up with the line: “bastard sons of the techno demon!”. That was pretty much the kicker of the song. That did it for me. Oh yeah… Manuel, our other guitarist, came up with a kick-ass string arrangement for the song. I don’t think the song would be the same without it.

GM Gaea: What can you say about the song? What was your inspiration?

Kevin Roy: We tried to make the song “universal” in such a way that not only the players of RF Online would appreciate it. Pati na rin yung ibang listeners madadamay.
Basically, I remember being a noob in the game. Accretians would then come and trample us lowbies underfoot. I remember xipher and those other accretian bastards hurting me good. My lessons were taught in steel. “Fear” inspired this song. Halata naman sa lyrics yung “fear”. I hope the general public gets that feeling, too.

GM Gaea: Did you have to make adjustments on the overall sound of Razorback for this song? In what ways?

Kevin Roy: If at all there’s a difference in the Razorback sound, we’d have to attribute that to Manuel. Manuel is the guitar player of Wolfgang who recently joined us. He adds a different “metal” flavor to our generally blues-driven hard riffs. We didn’t really have to adjust with the sound, being that we’ve played together for the longest time. Kilala na namin si Manuel.

GM Gaea: You mentioned playing the game, how did your gaming experience influence you in writing this particular song?

Kevin Roy: My experience in Novus certainly helped me in getting the right feel for this song. I basically lived the part and it’s very evident that the perspective in which the song was written was that of a non-Accretian who lives in awe/fear of the machines.

GM Gaea: We heard you're a very loyal Corite. Did that make it hard for you to write a song for another race?

Kevin Roy: It was very hard for me to write a song for a race that basically wants to destroy me every time they see me. I respect that concept because it’s a game dynamic. Life wouldn’t be the same without those Bastards. =)

GM Gaea: Who else among the band play RF Online?

Kevin Roy: Currently none of my bandmates play. However I’ve been trying to corrupt others to play the game. It’s really not hard for people to get hooked on the game. All it takes is a few hours on it… and a few more hours…. And a few more hours… and a ….. cool.gif

Players will be able to enjoy the song when it’s applied to the game’s launcher early next month. Players can also tune in to NU 107 to listen to the song.

I know I haven't updated my blog for quite sometime.

Last Thursday was my first day in work. Ami introduced me to the team. Didn't do much. I just played games, meetings, had a tour at the floor and were introduced to people.

Then Saturday, we had another Dragoon-Blooded Campaign and Nuada got himself a new armor - Scourge of the Dragon bwahahaha!!!! Going home, Mike's car was stuck at Robinson's Pioneer where we parked because it's passed 12 and we can only get it 9am later... you know, mall's parking policy. We hitched a ride when Marc took Meloy home. At Edsa, a trailer truck fell on its side taking up 4 lanes which caused a major traffic. We later found out that the truck's wheel blew up and that the driver was dead.

Later will be the start of my regular shift.

Iba talaga pag maganda video card LOL

Currently I'm level 23 and leveling is pretty easy coz of the quests. I also noticed that the monsters with the same level are constantly giving 1% after killing them. I don't know if it's because of my level range or it will be hard when I get higher. Another thing, I noticed that there're no specialty armors - melee and magic. All armors have strength requirements of which I should be allocating to my INT instead.

While I was roaming near Near-Water Town, I found a small cat running really fast. With the help of my other pet, I managed to catch her. Meet my kitten - Boo. Don't be deceived by her size, she's uber kunat XD

Found at the heart of Archosaur City. It's a really huge city with almost maze like set-up. What I hate about this city is that there are quests that you have to go to another NPC of which are found on the other side of the town. There's no problem with searching for the NPCs because of the locator but they're too damn far! It's eating a lot of time >_<

This is what I like with a good video card - eye candy. I love the water. This is the bridge between Near-Water Town and the path going to Archosaur City.

This is an underwater view at the port in Archosaur city. It's like floating in mid-air when you're underwater. I hope they made it more foggier.

This is the beast mode of the beast race. Female avatars are fox and male avatars are tiger. And that's how they snuggle when in beast mode haha!

I'll put more screenshots later.

I borrowed a CBT account from a friend and fortunately I was able to play longer. At the top is a close up view on my character and at the bottom is with my pet (yes, that spine I'm holding is my staff). My race is Beast and class is Yao Jing. They are the summoner types - she can tame animals, put them in an incubator and summon them to join her in combat.

As far as I have played, PW has lots of NPCs. See those avatars behind me on the 2nd screenshots, those are NPCs. And that's not even the half of it. You have the crafters like ironsmiths (weapon), tailor (armor), artificers (accessories), etc. Then there are your npcs for each class for the skills. There are 2 classes for each race (there are 3 race) so that's 6 npcs. Also bank npcs, town elder, storage.... yeah madami nga talagang npcs. With all these NPCs, thank gawd there's npc tracker XD

Quests. Ah the quests. Hindi nauubusan ng quests ang PW. Quest is only good if you like reading though. Me and Mike bumped in to a player who just kill monsters and keeps on asking us where to level.

Bad part is the inventory. For now, you can store up to 32 items in your inventory and 8 items in storage -_-;

That's as far as I can tell I guess. Will post an update when I get in to higher level.

By the way, here's my ride XD