Daydreaming about Jiang Hu, age of wushu game
the game I've been waiting for...
Maybe there's always been a little Huang Rong or Guo Xiang hiding inside of us, a sprout that grew out of a seed buried since who-knows-when by drama adaptations of Jin Yong or Gu Long. I can still remember those really old wuxia films and dramas that Andy Lao and Felix Wong stared in. Heck, I even have the theme songs on my mp3 (it's alright to feel a little adventurous on the road)
I recently finished reading 微微一笑很倾城 a cute modern novel about a girl and a guy who met in a game. I remember one of the weekly or daily incidents in the game was very amusing, a thief (boss) is reported to have been seen somewhere random, everyone goes there to try to catch him because he carries a rare item that differs every time. This thief's attack power depends on the attacker, if it's a girl, he get's very flirty and his AP drops to half, if it's a mixed party, his AP raises out of jealousy, it's like this boss has a personality? Also, there's a chance his drop is a prank. There is another couple quest in this fictional game that's based on the 16 years parting between Xiao Long Nu and Yang Guo of Return of the Condor Heroes. It was pretty amusing too. There was also a very messed up quest where an old lady Boss lives in a cave and regularly kidnaps male players to keep as pets. Wei Wei wears a fiery red robe and carries a large sword. Her Jiang Hu is almost exactly like the Jiang Hu I imagine out of wuxia dramas/novels. After reading this novel, I understand why games like this are so popular among Chinese gamers and it's very hard for foreign games to satisfy this strong desire to find Jiang Hu, because it doesn't exist in reality (kind of like how netizens screamed for Pandora after watching Avatar?) A large chunk of the story takes place inside the game, and instantly I went online to dig up if any games like the one Wei Wei played exists with english version. I wasn't disappointed - there was one. It wasn't even out yet! *cry*
So I've played a few games on and off, but only when I met Age of Wushu (the chinese ver is called 九阴真经) did I realize why all of the games that I did play, 2 only to count, they were Perfect World and Jade Dynasty. Maple Story too, we all played that. It's not completely because I adore the graphics, or because I love the clothes. I am more than happy to say bye bye to levels, classes, monster mobs, flying, magical pets, and all that comes with fantasy MMO games and jump into this game that claims it's going to deliver the most realistic and historically accurate Jiang Hu yet. Now it makes me wonder why a game like this wasn't brought over sooner for me to play! It's because I wanted to experience Jiang Hu which doesn't exist outside of novels and dramas, and can only be touched through characters that aren't me. This is a game that will not only pull in game lovers, but any young people who daydream of Jiang Hu and want to experience being one of the trees that make up the Wulin. No wonder 九阴真经 is enjoying it #1 spot in China. There's also headlines of a guy who spent 16K (RMB i think) on a virtual sword. Not that I am agreeing to this kind of money-wasting, I feel that Snail Games should be feeling pretty darn honored that this crazy guy chose their game to purchase this sword, not because of money, because I'm sure there's plenty of crazy people like that, but because players feel that this Jiang Hu is pretty legit. Atm 九阴真经 is in the safe phase where Cash Shop items do not carry any stats that would automatically make a player win a battle, but this is 屠龙刀, THE Dragon Sabre, even if it's just a vanity item, it's pretty awesome to be carrying around the legendary sword of Jin Yong's 倚天屠龙记 in any Jiang Hu.
If you've played MMO's at all, you will be familiar with the usual static ways of these games. There's levels, you level level and then level until you either get bored or reach endgame. Then there's the classes, you pick a class when you create your character and then your destiny is pretty much laid out mechanically and then you go through the motions, quest after quest, until you either get bored or reach endgame. If you care about skills, you'll make another character and repeat. 九阴真经 (Or Age of Wushu as it's coming out in North America) eliminates the need to make another character, because your hero or heroine can literally learn all of the skills existing in this game, just like Guo Jing learning from seven+ masters. You might even meet a beggar and it can turn out to be a powerful master, we all know who this is referring to. You can even choose to be evil, kidnap fellow players and sell them off, get labeled a villain and have the rest of wulin as well as guards on your tail, join a mob if you like. The non-linear gameplay is a big heap of unpredictable plotlines, each unique to each character. Food and crafting materials do not grow on trees, neither do they unrealistically drop from monsters. You can fly, no correction- it's gliding and triple-jumping through the air, and if your qinggong is good enough, you can sprint over water and run up walls like Jet Li. The combat system is actually pretty fun, and requires some brain activity aside from spamming the spacebar or mouse. It is based on paper rock scissors with all skills being either block, attack, or feint nature. One move can block or break the opponent's move and vice versa. I've been drinking up all this information from MMO sites since it's challenging for an ABC to play a chinese game in chinese, without copy paste and everything, but this game apparently has lots of innovation brownie points to give out to the expert gamer even. The english version is not out yet, the European version will be playable sometime next month, the North American one early next year. The Chinese one is out and has over a million players already, there is a NA server and I am currently playing there because I ran out of patience. If anyone is interested, my name there is 風停. I've joined the Scholar Hall. If anyone wants to play, feel free to contact me if need help. There's no copy-pasting into google translate, so it'll be very hard to play if not literate. I'm just barely hanging so will probably switch over once the english ver comes out.
See you in Jiang Hu!