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[Preview] Swordsman: Can Perfect World Top Age of Wushu?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The North American closed beta for Perfect World’s Swordsman begins this week, and while we were in LA we sat down with the PWE team for a walkthrough of character creation, some background on the story, and then a brief hands-on demo.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Swordsman: Can Perfect World Top Age of Wushu?
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Comments
Been playing this since the start of the latest closed beta, mainly just for a look see.
Not a great fan of the auto-goto questing. Nothing to stop you going off to explore, but I'm not sure how much is there to see outside the programmed quest routes. I'll take a wander off-track later today.
Now onto the UI / keybinding:
The UI takes some getting used to, to say the least. I picked the control interface that was stated as being suitable for people familiar with Neverwinter. I had to go back and double check that I'd actually picked the right option, as it was nothing like NW so I've no idea where they got that from. In fact I found all three interface options to be pretty awful. Hopefully they can make the Action option more like NW before full launch (likely to be phrased as open beta if PWE's track record is anything to go by).
The Keybinding - didn't accept extra mouse buttons, which NW (and every other game I play) does quite happily. I also found keybinding couldn't be done with fairly common (for me) buttons. I like to use up/down/left/right keys for movement and keybind other keys around these. Wouldn't accept Numpad0-9, and wouldn't accept any of the extra function keys on my gaming keyboard.
I looked on the game's faq site about this. Their response was simply that if a button or key wasn't working then don't use it. Cannot fault the logic with that lol.
I'll carry on through this beta and see how things go. Hopefully some of these things will change before release.
Level 35 at the moment.
It's clear that Swordsman is a much more linear game than AoW. Autopathing is indeed a big problem that adds to that, your character will even automatically use teleport functions to get to his questgiver.
I was very unhappy with the game yesterday, however, in the last few hours it did start to open up. The turning point was getting the second combat style for my sect (Sun & Moon), which makes things a lot more interesting. I had some PvP happen already and the battles I fought were fun (though I'm suffering from stuttering and lag).
The game definitely doesn't focus on you "living" in the Jianghu like AoW however. So I'm wondering if it will keep me over in the next few days of the beta.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Had the same issue with the control scheme, it was very clunky no matter what control scheme I chose. This totally turned me off on the game.
Also it really doesn't appear to have any of the sandbox aspects of Age of Wushu which is a disappointment however I have to admit, I didn't get very far into things.
The answer to this article's question: , It depends on who you ask because they are two completely different types of games. Yes, they both are based on the same thing but the games gameplay itself is very different. Age of Wushu is more of a sandbox game and more open for the player whereas Swordsman is definitely a linear, themepark experience.
So basically it comes down to whether you prefer sandbox games or themepark games.
Smile
To be honest Swordsman is a better game in almost every way. Age of Wushu is more of a trade skiller game.
As far as being linear both games are the same. Age of wushu just gave you something to do on the side. The storyline is just as linear as SO. Might even be even more limiting. Because AOW does a bad job at story telling. This is where SO shines. It does a very good job at story telling and events.
Age of Wushu character customization sucks. And that's putting it nicely. SO has pretty good character customization. But bad defaults for it. So people who don't know how to make decent faces will struggle.
SO combat is far better than Wushu's. Wushu has weird sliding and placement problems in almost every skill. Basically Wushu the in thing is to"Spin to Win". Do that in SO people going to curb stomp you. SO problem again is default settings in this area. If you use 3D controls and cut on zone it. You now have traditional fluid combat. All of that isn't default. So unless you know you will end up with clunky hard to move fighting. With this set up I move just as easy, as I would in Dragon Nest or Kritika.
SO sound is better than Wushu's hands down. It has more dungeons than wushu. And so far better gear distribution. The only place Wushu wins is Jianghu living. Basically trade skills and those little minor things like rare events. That's basically it everything else wushu loses. And not to forget Snail games is a way worse cash shop company that PWE.
Conclusion SO>AOW by a huge margin
The big question is, is it pay to win? I was pretty excited for this game but then I got an email for some leveling pack even before the closed beta had started. Might give it a go though if someone of you can confirm it's not pay to win
Chinese P2W.
I've been trying out both Swordsman Online today and ArchLord 2. Both are in closed beta. Of the 2 so far I like ArchLord 2 a bit more. The controls on ArchLord 2 are intuitive to me. Swordsman Online controls are not like anything I'm familiar with.
SO's 3 control options all feel pretty odd to me. Even their "action" option doesn't feel as fluid as the controls in Tera or Neverwinter. I wish they had! That style of combat is my preferred option if it's available in a game and what I enjoy in playing those 2 games. The hybrid - what the game calls "classic" style - doesn't feel like GW2 either despite what the Massively guy reported.
Oh...when you see the screen that explains the 3 control options - Swordsman Online is always referring solely to other PW games. ESO does not refer to Elder Scrolls Online but rather is referencing PWI's Ether Saga Online (which I used to play way back in the day). JD = Jade Dynasty, FW = Forsaken World and of course PW = Perfect World (the game, not the company).
I liked Swordsman Online quite a bit but I'm absolutely LOVING ArchLord 2! Wow! Just Wow!
Playing Now: The Secret World, Guild Wars 2, Neverwinter
Playing soon: Landmark beta, Swordman beta
Swordsman Online probably will top Age of Wushu. Inasmuch as we're repeatedly told that sandbox play is the future, much of its appeal lies in how well the game pulls off its sandbox features. AoW remains unpolished, at times impenetrable, and suffers from one of the worst cash shops of any Chinese import. SO has all the polish that AoW lacks, along with better visuals, a more approachable story, better customization, and a world that's much easier to apprehend. Its questing is nothing to write home about, nor most of its environments, and there isn't nearly the depth of choice.
Still, for the target market-- wuxia lovers, MMO fans looking for a new world to play in, and PvPers looking to mix it up in the open world-- SO delivers enough and at a higher quality that I believe they will rather quickly outpace AoW. Not to mention the elephant in the room: AoW is a game where the older the game gets, the more disadvantaged new players are at the start, something that is less conducive to bringing in new blood.
Tried the beta. Game is so bad it should feel bad. Bad. AoW isn't great, but it's waaaay better than this PoS.