The game went into Open Beta just a few hours ago, and I was lucky enough to get into a server before all 20+ of them went into overload mode. TianXia 2 is one of the typical oriental fantasy MMORPG churned out from China, but its the really refined graphics, questing and simplicity which really captivated me. The game was actually in Beta a few years back, but I suppose the company, Netease, had to do some financial shifting to acquire the rights for WoW China, hence the long delay for this game. In case you are wondering, WoW China’s chaos is soon to end in the coming weeks. Here’s my short journey so far as one of the 8 clans available, the pure magic damage clan.
The game started with tons of quests all chained together, and of course breath-taking cut-scenes while explaining the storyline. The storyline is narrated out, not just plain words for players to read.
First actual screenshot I took (with UI).
There are some interesting quests, with this changing you into a ghost in order to interact with a dead NPC. Still looks awesome without the colors eh.
Some NPCs are located at rather strange locations (for me). A tree house, where the lift is in real time… meaning you will have to wait for the poor NPC to pull it down… And yeah, players will have a chance to experience the grim reaper if they attempt to jump down from the top… 🙁
Other than the teleportation stones to travel across the vast world, flying is also a popular transportation tool… at a cost.
A Open Beta special quest got me a transformation stone… into one of the mob bosses. The other quest changed me into a kid.
Deep inside the first town… Beautiful, no?
This should be a boss… found it loitering outside town… Ain’t silly enough to test my spells on him…
2 random screenshots… just so pretty 😀
First impression verdict:
Its actually the 2nd time I have tried the game, the first being the beta test around 2years ago. Not much has actually changed, but everything is much more polished, from the graphics and quests. It has almost everything from modern MMOs, including tons of ranking charts for tons of achievements and even instanced dungeons. Players can even switch between WASD mode and keyboard mode with one click of a key.
If only other free MMOs follow the example of TianXia 2 and actually polish the game before releasing it as a Open Beta. Most Open Betas now are rubbish and riddled with bugs and whatnot. However, with its heavy Asian orient background and settings, I don’t really think it will be brought over to English shores. We shall see.
Here are some of the other features listed on the website.
1. Open field PK and PvP/Team PvP arena. Open field PK will no doubt bring tons of penalties to the players, but still, lots of rowdy players will do it. Team PvP will be similar to the one in Guild Wars, with a few different modes.
2. Character transformation. Players will be able to transform into various ingame bosses and mobs.
3. Pet + Mount system. These are just some of the pets/mounts available. Some are from quests, some from cash shop while others are event only. Most do have different stages of growth and will change their outlook.
4. Guild wars and city siege. What MMORPG is a MMORPG without these 2 fundamental features?
5. Unique finishing skills for each of the 8 clans. All 8 clans have different skills~!!! Here’s a video of some of the skills.
Ok, that’s all for this post. Below are 2 promotional posters for the game, with the female model being one of the “4 Modern Flowers” of the China entertainment industry. Gorgeous eh? Alright, time for me to continue playing. Need to enter a guild war soon 😀
