Hunter Blade, a Chinese MMORPG, went into Public Beta just a few hours ago. As I am currently in office, I could only do the first dungeon run without getting kicked by… the power above. Touted by many as a Monster Hunter Frontier Online clone, my initial impression of the game wasn’t that bad looking at the screenshots and videos from Closed Beta. Did the game, a non-target action MMO, impressed me further? Let’s find out.
Some extra ramblings, if you did not know, Blogger came to a rule a few months back where they will determine the number of posts a user can show on the front page. For example, I currently set it at 5, but if there is a post with too many images, the system will automatically shrink it to 4 until the post has been moved to the 2nd page. So do pardon me as I have to pick only a handful of screenshots I have.
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| There is no exact class in the game, you will have to choose your initial weapon. This will be the dual swords. |
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| Staff user. Do note that this is the only ranged class now, the other 3 boxes on the right are still in question marks. |
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| Long sword user, which I chose for this short preview. |
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| The heavy sword. It is much slower than long sword but, of course, deals more damage. |
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| Finally, we have the single sword + shield combo. |
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| A small introduction video to get players into the mood. |
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| NPC slays one example for players to see. |
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| And yes, my turn. The right panel shows the control and keys need to perform specific actions. Of course, some of them will not be available from the start. |
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| First view of the starting town. |
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| Quest log. And yes, there is auto-tracking for the various NPCs involved in the quest. |
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| The very first instance. Players can also choose to join or form groups in this window. |
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| Awesome scenery, really. And, prey insight! |
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| As I said previously, there are not many mobs, but some of them have high AI and skills which will, in this instance, knock players down with almost every charge attack. |
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| My turn to capsize this oversized piece of meat! |
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| Looting in this game is more like scavenging the fallen monsters’ corpses. You can find raw materials etc to craft. And in case you have not played Monster Hunter games, crafting is actually the most important function in the game. |
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| 2nd area in the instance. A small area only though. |
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| To be honest, the thrill of killing monsters in this game is still not comparable to that of Dragon Nest. i would really prefer faster action, even if I am using a 2-handed long sword. |
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| The 3rd area. Only 2 mobs here, but again, the environment looks amazing. |
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| And before I forget, a screenshot of the inventory (right) and character stats window (left). |
Some final words for this small 10 minutes odd preview. As mentioned, the action and thrill of killing monsters is still far from that of Dragon Nest’s, and also Vindictus’. The fatigue system, which is used upon entering each dungeon, might not be favorable to players too (Dragon Nest has instances which do not consume fatigue points now). The game is too realistic for its own good, with the attack speed reflected by the choice of weapons. From what a friend told me (he is a hardcore China gamer), mid-level instances are impossible to survive without a good party. Having said all these, it is true I have not tried the main crafting feature. Will this game be a hit in the English market? Well, I have no clue 🙂
