Personally, this is “the” game to watch for me in ChinaJoy 2011. If you have read my pas posts about the game, you would have known why. An absent leveling system is not the main draw, but rather the abundance of features players can participate in and carve out their own legacy in the game. Without further a due, let’s start the small presentation. Please note that all details are NOT confirmed .
The follow videos are apparently leaked, as stated by Snail Game in an official press release. I am not very sure if this is just a PR move, but it is indeed effective in getting all the media’s attention. Let me summarize each video. Age of Wulin is slated for a release in Europe (English) published by gPotato EU (link) and also a localized server for Russia can be found here (link).
Training System – Players will gain training points in almost what ever they do, like exploring a place for the first time, mining for the 100th time (example) and even riding a horse. In the video, you can see players drawing and playing Chinese chess as well. These are all part of the Life Skills system, which including gathering, fortune-telling, crafting, fishing and more. There are currently 17 of such skills, and the most interesting system should be the beggar feature.
Life Skill: Beggar – Players will be able to obtain a life skill changing them into beggars. And no, I don’t think you can just AFK by the roadside and wait for others to toss you money. Maybe I am wrong, but a town full of AFK beggars is… Well, in beggar form, other normal players will not know who you are. Beggars will then proceed to NPCs and plead with them for items/ gold (possibility to be turned away).
Beggars may also approach normal players and ask them for a donation. If a player does not want to donate, he may reject and hence the shoving action you see in the video. As the video quality is not really clear, I am unable to confirm if Beggars are able to sell normal players items directly. Apparently, the normal player opened 2 different packages after donating and there is a chance one of them is a fake with normal misc items. More info to come when available.
Miracle System – In the actual world of wulin, there are many legendary pugilists who are trained in different ultimate martial arts. In Age of Wulin, if you are lucky enough, you may have the chance to kick-start a chain of miracle quests and eventually meet them, gain some strong items or even learn one of the ultimate martial arts skill. However, this will not be easy as a player’s affinity with various NPCs should be high before they will give you clues on how to proceed with the chain quests.
Guild System – This system in Age of Wulin is MASSIVE. As you can see from the trailer below, guilds are able to build their own territory, design their chambers and even have their own stage to hold internal PvP matches or invite outsiders for a tournament. These are still early days for the feature, but it is shaping up to be awesome.
Combat System – I don’t think I need to explain much, but the jumping and gliding etc looks really like Blade & Soul’s… *runs before getting stoned to death*
Below is a video showing how the action scenes in Age of Wulin is captured. I am lazy to translate, but I guess most people will have no troubles understanding by watching their actions.
