The website for Perfect World (Beijing)’s latest MMORPG, Swordman Online, has just opened. Along with the new website, which was designed ala Forsaken World’s website style, came the first batch of official information about the game. What can players expect from this game with the seemingly saturated Asian MMORPG market? Let’s take a first peek!
1. A real world brought to life right infront of players. Some small examples will be birds flying away when humans startle them, plants which wither and grow along with the seasons, and of course the ever changing environment according to temperature, weather and seasons. Just like in the martial arts world, there will be top pugilists found wandering in random parts of the world. At night, the towns will not be safe with sketchy looking people walking around… They might be robbers! All these coupled with advanced NPC AI, Swordman Online will bring a new breath of air into the martial arts MMO genre. Talk about a “living” world!
2. Players will be able to create and customize their own skills. You have seen many martial arts skill sets in various Chinese shows, now its time to create your own! There will be skills which will knock back opponents, knock down opponents, skills which will cause a huge impact and send opponents flying. Next, you might have seen this special effect in several martial arts movies, where a sword “aura” will actually hit an opponent first before the sword actually stabs. This “lag time” will actually allow players to dodge the attack entirely! This upcoming feature is rather intriguing. If a player who is wielding a sword is being backstabbed or assassinated by darts, the sword will change form into a broad sword to block them. Will be looking forward to see how this feature works out!
3. Dynamic weapon system. How dynamic is it? For example, a player might be wielding 2 swords in both hands. In order to cover a wider area of attack, the player can combine the 2 swords on the spot, turning it into a long weapon with the sword blades at both ends. There will be other weapons with the same ability too! There will be 10 main weapon types in Swordman Online. Shown below are 4 of the 10 main weapon types.
4. Players will be able to start their own sects. This is like the guild system in many games, but sects can be expanded to do trading, bodyguard missions or even protect some valuable items from one place to another as their job. The local county can even hire sects to help destroy invading bandits! Almost everything you see from classic Chinese martial arts movies/dramas will be found in the game!
After briefly reading through the game’s basic features, any thoughts? If you missed my previous posts about the game, there will be a movie being produced alongside with the game. Expect both to be launch within a similar time frame next year.
Embedded in this post are a few of the latest trailers and videos found on the game. I absolutely love the official theme song of the game which is found in the last video. I grew up watching the various different drama and movie versions of the novel, I can’t wait for the new movie to hit the screens!
