Pocket Kingdom FAQ

Pocket Kingdom: 0wn the w0rld is an MMOG for the N-Gage developed by Sega. It's not your typical RPG - it's really closer to a kingdom-building strategy game. As the ruler of your own pocket kingdom, you'll build your army and battle thousands of others online in a competition to truly 0wn the w0rld.

To play Pocket Kingdom, you need an N-Gage (either original or QD), a copy of PK, and an N-Gage Arena account. N-Gage Arena accounts are used to keep track of your online rankings, and available for registration at the N-Gage Arena website.

No. Online play does not involve a monthly fee, though you will need to have your N-Gage activated and under a service plan with a cellphone provider before you can use it online. Depending on your plan, there may be additional fees for accessing the internet.

Yes, if you want to. PK has a complete offline game mode that you can use to develop your armies and hone your strategy before going online. The game is really meant to be played online though, the battles offline follow preset strategies, and given enough playtime players will eventually figure out all of them.

PK follows very much in the tradition of console strategy RPGs, with a twist. If there was any game it matched closest to, it would probably be Ogre Battle. It also has similarities or influences from such games as Shining Force, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and even Pokèmon.

To "0wn the w0rld" of course. In the case of PK, literally. Each online player is ranked based on their loot, their army, their victory points (VP), and other such info. If you reach number 1, you 0wn the w0rld, and everyone will know your name.

There's several aspects to the gameplay in Pocket Kingdom. To succeed, you'll need to gather and develop your units, create equipment, and organize them both strategically into groups playing to their strengths.

It sounds complicated, but it's also easy to pick up and play without getting into the finest details. Don't be fooled though - the graphics are cartoony, and the dialogue and story are hilarious, but there's a very deep game hidden underneath.

At the most basic level, building your army involves training the units you hire from redshirt Soldier-types into highly trained killing machines. Each time a unit is in a battle, they gain a Level. Once the unit has gained some levels, you can rank them up using an Emblem - if you have the right combination of unit, level, and emblem they'll turn into a different, more powerful unit. Check out the Unit Database for more information.

Yes, sort of. As you crush your enemies and see them driven before you, you will find piles and piles of loot. This takes the form of both Loot - the official currency of PK - and raw materials. By combining these materials in your lab, you create equipment for your units to carry into battle.

Some combinations will result in very powerful items with multiple special effects, and there's even supposedly some very specific double secret combinations hidden away for the most l33t to uncover. In all, there's something in the neighborhood of 50,000 different possible combinations, which will probably keep people experimenting for a very long time. Check out the Item Builder for some examples of item combining.

Although you are the high and mighty leader of your pocket kingdom, you don't actually go out and engage in combat directly. That's beneath you. Instead, you organize parties of up to 4 units and their equipment, give them their strategic orders, and sent them out into the world to accomplish different goals. For example, you might send a unit out to search the area for castles or dungeons to plunder, scout out an uncovered location, or attack.

The strategy part comes in when you organize your aprties. Each character will be standing in order when battle begins - combat takes place in a linear area. Some characters will perform better in certain positions - for example, you don't want your Thief in the front (he'll get 0wned), but if you put him all the way in the rear that backstab won't see much use.

You also need to decide on the tactics of the units, as well as the item they are carrying. Singular. As in one item. This is very important, as any item will be a significant boost to abilities. Tactics relate to who the unit will attack - the closest enemy, weakest enemy, strongest enemy, and so forth. These orders can't be changed while the party is out, so choosing carefully is key.

Combat is completely controlled by the AI, based on the troops, positions, equipment, and tactics of the two opposing armies. The outcome is determined at the start of the battle - once combat begins you're just along for the ride.

Is there PvP? Of course! The game is built upon it. If you're not fighting another player, you're simply PvPing against a pre-built AI team. PvP in Pocket Kingdoms works the exact same way fighting against an AI castle does - you find their kingdom online, scout it out to learn about their defenses, send a party to attack it, and watch the battle go down. If you can break through, you'll score some loot and a de facto ego boost.

In the World of Ulgress one must 0wn, or be 0wned. The Orcs are l33t, the elves are roleplayahs, and dragons just want to pwn. But the ruler of it all, Griefer Ulgress, has been banned - and war has broken out amongst the pocket kingdoms for control of it all. A friend of yours decided to cancel, and left you a lowbie kingdom, some basic units, and a little bit of loot. From these humble beginnings, you must try to 0wn the w0rld.

No, seriously. That's the premise. It's irreverant, it's funny, and it's a lot of fun. The offline campaign follows in the same manner, guiding you through each of the different areas of the world and the basic gameplay mechanics. Even the unit names reflect this setting - you can't help but laugh when you end up with a Soldier named Leetgolas.

The story and fiction behind the game was created with online play in mind. Even when you're online, you're still very much in the World of Ulgress. The game is played on the same map area, with the same general locations available. What the online play mode does is make other player kingdoms accessible to battle.

Think of it this way. When you're playing Pocket Kingdom, you're playing as someone playing a game that has both an online and offline mode of play. In essence, your character is yourself.

No! Well, maybe. It depends. If you're just looking for a phone, there's plenty of other devices that would be better suited for chatting. If you're looking for something to send text messages, you're probably better off getting a Blackberry. But if you want something inbetween that can also play an increasing number of very cool games, then you want to go with the N-Gage.

The N-Gage QD is a new 'revision' of the original N-Gage with a new body, a slightly better screen, and some missing features. The good thing is that it's much more useful as a phone, has a much better design for gaming, is smaller, lighter, and has a longer batery life. You can change games without removing the battery. Oh, and you don't need to talk into the side like it's a big taco.

The downside is that the QD doesn't have a USB port (Bluetooth only), and the FM Radio and MP3 player were removed. A more than fair trade, really.

In the US, there are only three cell phone carriers with the N-Gage - AT&T, Cingular, and T-Mobile. At the time of this writing, the N-Gage is selling for about $99 USD if you sign up for a service contract at the same time ($199 if you don't). You need a cellular service plan to play games online, though you can still play the games offline without one.

Other than Pocket Kingdom? Yes! Nokia keeps a full list of games on the Official Site, but you might be more interested in the rankings section over at GameRankings.com. The official site is good for gathering info on upcoming games though - now that the hardware has matured a bit, there are a lot more high-quality games being released.

In addition to its unique gaming capabilities, the N-Gage is also a full-color Symbian mobile device. It includes all the abilities you'd expect to find in a high-end cellphone - a contact manager, a calendar, task lists, SMS messaging, and mobile internet access. Mobile java applications, including games, can be downloaded to the phone as well, to further expand the N-Gage's capabilities.