RWBYverse Online: Grimm Rising

"In RWBYverse Online, you play as a student of Beacon from Initiation to the Battle of Beacon. You start at Volume One, and from there you would make your way through it to get to Volume Two and Three. RWBYverse Online introduces a host of new characters, elements, locations, weapons, Grimm types, and a lot more goodies straight from designs and items approved by Rooster Teeth for you to unlock in RWBYverse Online!"

- Official RWBYverse Online description.

RWBYverse Online was an MMORPG developed and published by Morningwood Industries with Rooster Teeth Games assisting in development, and released on July 24th, 2017 for the Xbox One, Xbox One S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Neo and Windows PC. RWBYverse Online is meant to be played with four players in the same party.

Later after Microsoft's release of the Xbox One X—the most powerful console in the world—RWBYverse Online was updated and fixed by Morningwood Studios and Morningwood Industries re-released the game as an Xbox One X Enhanced title and renamed it to RWBYverse Online: Grimm Rising, which also added a series of missions regarding the Creatures of Grimm.

With this release, it was a separate product than RWBYverse Online and allowed players to import their original characters to the Grimm Rising game and servers, keeping all of their progression with them. Reason to this was because initially RWBYverse Online had a lot of issues and bugs within the game such as crashing constantly, and was eventually shut down. RWBYverse Online: Grimm Rising was also re-released for the PlayStation 4 Neo and Steam users.

Student name
How the game works is that once players finish the Beacon Initiation, they are given an option to start a team with up to three friends and since the game keeps up with the colour naming rule of the show, the team name is made up automatically by each of the four players' Student's first letter, if they are based on a colour. One such example is Team FDRL (Federal) whose team name is based on federal blue.

The game also has mechanics within its system to detect non-colour names such as Anakin, and prevents players from creating names for their Student until the name is detected by the system as a variation of a colour.

Transition between Volumes
After its announcement and confirmed development, many wondered how the game was going to transition from Volume to Volume, and how the developers—Morningwood Industries and Rooster Teeth Games—were going to incorporate the transition between Volumes. Many had thought and speculated on how it was going to be done.

Once the game was released, players who had gotten through the first Volume were shown the opening for RWBY Volume Two and were introduced into new servers that rendered and hosted on a slightly different sandbox world than the first Volume. The same is done with the transition between Volume Two to Three.

Missions
There are three mission types in RWBYverse Online, the first type are Story Quests which progresses the Student forward in the story. The second are Side-quests which are given by various mission givers around and in Beacon Academy, including within city limits of Vale. The third and last are Relations Quests which allows the Student to increase the friendship meter of those who give these missions, fill up the meter high enough and these NPCs offer the Student a number of benefits, including discounts at various weapon mod vendors, food/health dispensers, as well as various other vendors around the school.

Activities
There are available activities in Beacon Academy for players to take part in. These include the combat professors Tara and Port who both host dueling for 1v1 PvPs for players, and dueling against Grimm in their classrooms, respectively. Other activities include creating weapon parts for Vendors to unlock new weapon modifications as well as delivering supplies, and resources to various parts of the school.

Types of Bosses
In RWBYverse Online, there are four types of bosses introduced. One of which was introduced in the re-release of the game.


 * Boss - Regular bosses with normalized boss health and strength
 * Major Boss - More stronger bosses
 * Final Boss - More powerful bosses. A Goliath serves as a final boss
 * Final Eclipse Boss - The strongest boss in the game. Only known boss of this type is X-1

Plot
The game follows a new Student who has enrolled themselves into Beacon Academy to become a Huntsmen. They are taken through initiation and successfully complete it, and is placed within a team based on who they were with and which relic pieces they brought back.

Settled in with their team, the Student then begins their training at the academy and goes through a series of missions with their teammates and learning to become a Huntsmen. Taking classes with their teammates, the Student meets new friends and trains with other teams and students while being supervised by Academy professors. However, after discovering that an all-girl Beacon team has uncovered a White Fang plot to steal Dust, the Student and their team follow them without being spotted. They are then spotted by and face three criminals; Neopolitan, Maple, and Coco. After a while of fighting the three girls, they retreat after their boss, Roman Torchwick, tells them too.

After the summer, the Student and their team returns to Beacon and begin their fall season training. As the Vytal Festival gets closer, students from the other three kingdoms join their Beacon counterparts in preparation of the tournament.

After taking part in the tournament, the White Fang and Grimm attack Beacon Academy and the city of Vale, unleashing a Grimm dragon at the same time. The Student and their team helps defend the school alongside an unidentified Professor however, the defense of Vale and Beacon is overrun and many of the students and professors evacuate from the city, leaving Beacon to the Grimm. The Student then remains close to their teammates.

Characters
There are a host of characters within RWBYverse Online, including some characters who were mentioned or never saw screen time in the show such as Professor Peach. New characters are introduced as well, including Academy professors, students and citizens of Vale. Each of these new characters offer a series of missions, items, and information.

Protagonist

 * Student - The protagonist of the game who is highly customizable, including voice, name, nickname, race, appearance, weapons, gender, complexion, height, hair colour, and eye colour (Silver is excluded due to RWBY Canon).

Supporting characters
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Supporting

 * Beacon Academy Staff
 * Ozpin
 * Glynda Goodwitch (Uniform Vendor)
 * Peter Port (Combat Professor, Grimm Duels)
 * Bartholomew Oobleck (History Professor)
 * Peach (Substances Professor)
 * Tara (Combat Professor, Dueling)
 * Sill (History Professor, information gathering)
 * Dan (History Professor)
 * Berry (Combat Professor, weapons)
 * Unidentified Professor (Mission only)
 * Beacon Academy Students
 * Charlie (Mission giver, side-quests)
 * Pinkie (Mission giver, side-quests)
 * Dandee (Mission giver, relations quests)
 * Ceila (Mission giver, side-quests)
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Antagonists

 * Maple
 * Coco
 * Cinder's faction
 * Roman Torchwick (Voice only)
 * Neopolitan
 * White Fang
 * White Fang Lieutenant
 * Faunus
 * }

Minor characters

 * Team RWBY
 * Ruby Rose (Mission giver, one mission only)
 * Weiss Schnee (Voice only)
 * Blake Belladonna (Voice only)
 * Yang Xiao Long (Voice only)
 * Minor
 * Jaune Arc (Mission giver, 2 missions only)
 * Zwei (Mission only)
 * Penny Polendina (Voice only)
 * Shopkeep (Mission giver, one mission only)

Development
The game was announced at RTX 2016 and was revealed to be developed by Morningwood Arts' subsidiary, Morningwood Industries. Morningwood Arts had stated that Morningwood Industries was both a publisher and developer.

During RTX Sydney 2017, Morningwood Industries had given the fans of RWBY a chance to play the game in its "beta" status before it was released, this was called RWBYverse Online: Prologue, allowing players to play the Beacon Initiation as the Student. During RTX 2017 in Austin, Texas, Morningwood Industries had given out several copies of the game, but wasn't playable until July 24th, 2017 which was when the servers for the game would become active.

After its release, many players complained about the game's issues and bugs such as constantly crashing and having some textures missing from certain areas as well as NPCs talking randomly and character models glitching out in different positions and poses which prompted Morningwood Industries to shut down the game's servers and rework the game. During this time, the company announced that the game would be re-released as an Xbox One X Enhanced title and that Morningwood Studios—subsidiary of Morningwood Arts—were assisting in its development. The game's title was revealed as RWBYverse Online: Grimm Rising and also adding in new story missions revolving around the Grimm.

RWBYverse Online
The original game was titled RWBYverse Online but was shut down due to major issues and bugs within the game.

RWBYverse Online: Grimm Rising
After the release of the Xbox One X, Morningwood Industries released RWBYverse Online: Grimm Rising, developed by Morningwood Industries and Rooster Teeth Games. This game was a reworked version of the original game which had a lot of bugs and issues, leading to it being shut down. Morningwood Studios assisted Morningwood Industries and Rooster Teeth Games on getting it updated and fixed for the Xbox One X.

This version added in a series of missions—which triggers after completing the last quest in the Volume Two arc—which centered around the Creatures of Grimm as well as adding in a new Grimm character and having Ruby Rose—team leader of Team RWBY—helping the Student and their team in uncovering the truth of increased Grimm aggression and presence on Remnant. The storyline of Grimm Rising is set three weeks after RWBY: Grimm Eclipse and ends just before the start of Volume Three, however this storyline was considered non-canon by Rooster Teeth and Morningwood Industries after an agreement.

Main characters

 * Student
 * Ruby Rose
 * Ozpin (Mission giver, Grimm Rising story quests)

Antagonist

 * X-1 - (Main antagonist of the Grimm Rising storyline)

Supporting characters

 * Qrow Branwen (Weapons vendor)
 * Glynda Goodwitch (Mission giver, 8 missions only)

Minor characters

 * Summer Rose (Video recording only)
 * Dr. Merlot (Video recording only)
 * Team RWBY
 * Weiss Schnee (Cutscene only)
 * Blake Belladonna (Cutscene only)
 * Yang Xiao Long (Cutscene only)
 * Team JNPR (Cutscene only)

Story
Discovering an increase of Grimm population and aggression throughout Remnant, Headmaster Ozpin assigns the Student's team and Ruby Rose to uncover the truth behind the Grimm's increased aggression. While searching for answers, the Student's team and Ruby come across a mutated Beowolf which Ruby then remembers her team's encounter with the Grimm and tells the team their next location for uncovering the truth; the island of Dr. Merlot.

After being dropped off by a Bullhead transport on the beach of the Island, the team find destroyed android parts laying around—left by when Team RWBY were on the island—and continued into the Island towards the structure where Dr. Merlot was located. While on their way there, the team encounter waves of both unaffected and mutated Grimm as well as remaining androids that were left active. Once getting to the structure, they find it to be destroyed but still standing and are told to be careful before they entered it to find the answers they needed.

While inside, recordings of Dr. Merlot seem to be still playing on various monitors in the halls and rooms. These recordings show Dr. Merlot with a mutated Beowolf named X-1 with silver eyes, and that it seemed to have been generating an Aura. Other recordings include when he was taunting Team RWBY as well as his "grand tour" of the facility.

Once entering an area of the laboratory that Ruby didn't recognize, they find intact recordings and scrolls of unidentified Hunters and Huntresses being interrogated and tortured by Dr. Merlot to somehow extract their Aura from their bodies, despite knowing that Aura is part of the soul. They then discover how Merlot created X-1 when they found a video recording titled as "success!" and after viewing it, Ruby Rose learns the truth of her mother's disappearance and that she was used by Dr. Merlot to create X-1.

Ruby Rose and the Student's team then set out to find X-1—whom they discovered to be increasing the Grimm's aggression and population throughout Remnant. After days of searching and battling through Grimm as well as receiving assistance from others, the team finds that X-1 has been using undiscovered parts of the Forever Fall as his location of headquarters. They begin to battle through waves of Grimm in order to reach X-1 and fight against Creeps, Beowolves, Boarbatusks, Ursas, Beringels, and facing a Goliath before facing X-1.

After a long fight with X-1 and his forces of Grimm, the team eventually defeats him in combat but before Ruby Rose could finish off X-1, she sees her mother in its silver eyes. Preventing her from killing the Beowolf and instead tells the Student to do it themselves because she didn't want to do it herself knowing her mother's Aura was within the defeated X-1. After a brief moment, the Student finishes off X-1 and Ruby enters a state of depression. Returning to Beacon, Ozpin, Glynda and Team RWBY ask about their mission to the Forever Fall and about X-1. The Student tells them about X-1 and its fate but told them to let Ruby be for a while.

The story ends with the Student continuing their training at Beacon Academy.

Content updates
RWBYverse Online was confirmed to have two expansion packs based on Volumes Four and Five of RWBY. While these were created by Morningwood Industries and Rooster Teeth Games, these were not released as paid-content and instead were released as free content updates.

RWBYverse Online: Volume Four
RWBYverse Online: Volume Four is the first expansion released for RWBYverse Online. It introduces characters, new items, weapon modifications, story missions, Grimm types, locations, and elements into the game themed after RWBY Volume Four.

RWBYverse Online: Volume Five
RWBYverse Online: Volume Five is the second and last expansion released for RWBYverse Online. It introduces characters, new items, weapon modifications, story missions, Grimm types, locations and elements from RWBY Volume Five.

General

 * The reason as to why players couldn't choose a silver eye colour for the Student was due to RWBY canon to prevent the multiplicity of Silver-Eyed Warriors as the game itself is considered canon.
 * In RWBYverse Online: Prologue, the Student had less customizable traits than in the full game which include playing as a pre-customized and pre-named Student based on a class along with a pre-made weapon which they could rename.
 * Despite being an MMORPG, the Student maintains the last name Violet and if in a party with three others, the host would maintain the last name Violet while the others would maintain the last names; Tachibana, Dahlia, and Lavender, respectively.
 * There is a bug with Pinkie—who is located just outside of the assembly hall—that involves her repeating her scripted introduction to the Student, even after the assembly scene is finished. However the 2.0 Patch later fixed this.
 * After the assembly scene is finished, players are able to start a small conversation between the Student and Ozpin. However, this was secret and was discovered by players after the release of RWBYverse Online: Volume Four.
 * Tara—a combat professor located outside of her classroom—sometimes will not spawn in her location. This was due to an issue within the game as once a player leaves an area with no one else there, NPCs would despawn until a new player would enter it and a bug occurred making her not spawn at all. The release of the 2.10 Patch fixed this, making every NPC stay permanently spawned even if an area is not populated with players.
 * Ruby Rose originally was just an NPC who only gave one mission and would not be seen in-game ever again and only in cutscenes. However with the release of Grimm Rising for the Xbox One X, she was made a main character within the expansion's story.

Grimm Rising

 * When players first meet Ruby Rose, there is a scripted introduction between her and the Student who both introduce each other. If the player has their Team with them, the Student will also introduce their team as well.
 * Although introduced as a uniform vendor, Glynda Goodwitch also offers side-quests which will assist players in the Grimm Rising story, including finding parts for stronger weapon modifications as the androids and mutated Grimm that appeared in Grimm Eclipse reappear in the expansion, only stronger and more powerful.
 * In the Grimm Rising version of the game, the explanation of how Dr. Merlot successfully extracted Summer Rose's Aura from her body to create X-1 remains unexplained.