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[Preview] Swordsman: More 'Hack' Than Slash
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The "kung fu" aesthetic in the MMO genre typically acts as a deterrent for me when I'm searching for my next delicious timesink. Still, having given Age of Wushu and similar departures a try here and there, I felt that Swordsman Online could be the breath of fresh air I needed to cleanse my palate for a while of grittier, more frustrating affairs. And while it's certainly not perfect, completely polished, or even difficult (at least as far as the lower levels go so far) it's an interesting alternative to succumbing to games with subscription fees or steep entry costs.
Read more of Brittany Vincent's Swordsman: More "Hack" Than Slash.
Comments
I tried this last week, lasted about 20 mins. I couldn't get shake the feeling of 'been there done that', 'oh god not again'.
I will probably check it out again, knowing me and my impulsive desires and wild imagination that an MMO might be better the second time I try it.
My first impressions were pretty simple and shallow. Holy Asian, batman!
Originally posted by Arskaaa
"when players learned tacticks in dungeon/raids, its bread".
I think the feeling of "been there, done that" is going to become very familiar for a lot of MMO players soon. It seems that every week there's several new beta's announced on this site for various new MMO's, none of which offer anything significantly different from what we've seen in the previous weeks, months or years...
Perhaps there's some kind of "Moore's Law" that applies to MMO's ? Something like: "Every 6 months the amount of available MMO's will double, but the average quality will be halved" ?
Just a dumbed down version of Age of Wushu. If you played any Wushu you'll recognize this as it's stupid little brother. Don't get me wrong. Wushu wasn't built for geniuses either, but at least it felt a bit original as the first Martial Arts MMO I tried. Swordsman felt like a carbon copy with all potential for thought removed.
In 25 levels I've never been passed 3/4 life in PvE. The mobs aren't even aggro. You're literally spoon fed everything you'll ever need.
Its fun for about 30 minutes.
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
It isn't until the low to mid 30s that mobs actually start to hurt and meditation/potions/food become necessary.
Speaking as a level 47, you aren't missing terribly much. Dungeons are pretty good, but getting into them is a chore and a half. Some of the classes are quite fun and unique past 40 (like my own Wutang), but others feel one-dimensional (like the Zephyr). Everyone looks the same as everyone else in their 10-level range. Dungeon drops are identical to heroes' order drops are identical to mob drops are identical to quest drops with the only variation being barebones cash shop offerings.
I couldn't get past the fact that the jumping super high from building to building, and running across water and gliding across areas was all automated!!! You literally just went up to an area and pressed the "R" key and it did it all for you, so you can't ever jump super high or soar across building tops on your own.
The way they advertised it in videos made it seem like you could, super deceiving, not to mention utterly disappointing when I discovered the videos were lies.
Smile
Yes you can do "super" jumps and run on the water on your own.....after you did quests to get those "skills" or what they are called
And game seems nice but leveling gets damn slow from lvl 38 atleast for me
so far got only lvl 45 and wanting to try new class but i used all 3 character slots and thats just too little for my taste
and sorry for my bad english
You can perform those super high, multi-stages jumps like in the video by completing the quests which will then reward you with those jump skills. Play on to find out. Those are not just double-tap jumping. They are the actual skills that you must unlock.
you know the AAA mmos don't even do it for me anymore so ill definitely not waste my time loading this.
destiny will be good and last hope for a good mmo is EQN but massive multiplayer is boring to me now.
rather a good roleplaying game that feels almost single player and then you can join with others like the souls game or borderlands with 2-4 people sharing works, mmos don't work anymore.
Tried it, been there done that, uninstalled right away.
Big waste of bandwith that was.
Keep in mind that if you are under level 40, you are basically commenting on a tutorial. We can debate whether or not 40 levels is "reasonable" for a tutorial, but that's the reality in this game. It's cookie cutter, because you are being babied.
After 40, you'll get more involved with your guild / alliance. You gain "Jianghu Rumors" as you adventure in the world, whether through coercing/forcing connected informants to give them to you, or as you do a mini police investigation for your guild. The big ideas, while many of us have seen them before, are proven and generally solid concepts. What builds up to those concepts sometimes falls flat and becomes a repetitive.
The meditation freeze is an old artifact bug at this point. It's been gone for at least a few days. Collisions aren't very well tracked because mass PvP would become even more of a cluster than it already is. You put 100 people into a tiny area and let me know if you want hardcore collision detection.
What is lacking polish are translations. Especially for events where they stop teaching you anything. The guild Treasure Vault event? Good luck.
Overall, the game is pretty good. A different skin on many similar functions, but generally well put together. I like the PvP and duels are quite fun. The article is simply uninformed about the game.
....while the game does have autopathing, saying you can play it with one hand is a gross exaggeration - like all of your posts regarding this game.
You also clearly do not PvP, so this game really doesn't cater to what you look for.
I actually thought that it was pretty good by F2P standards. Granted, that's not saying much, but still.
It's got good combat and (on some classes) interesting skill design. That's more than I can say for some. It's just the bots, the dull open world, and the complete lack of attachment to my character (created by low visual variety and a poor story) that really holds it back for me.
I just began playing this game with a friend and I gotta say I'm impressed. I won't say it's groundbreaking as I'm a relatively low lvl (I just began my school) but I'm really hopeful for the future and I can't wait to get fixated with PVP and instance running. One issue I want to point out. is that the crafting system is incredibly boring, that's where age of wushu has the lead. But still very enjoyable!
I chose for the harmony school. On the Gauntlet server. Maybe we'll see each other on the battlefield, MMORPG members and staff!
"taking a page out of every modern samurai fantasy this side of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Am I really the only person that smacked his head when reading this?
So Chinese fantasy martial arts films are now "samurai" films...
Any game that is even remotely successful opens the flood gate for 100 as you put it "stupid little brother" clones. From the MMO production capital of the world. Not surprised.
Pvp has nothing to do with how lame this game is. Its just one part of the problem this game has and yeah you can play it with one hand because auto pathing and all you have to do when you get to your mob is click its name to auto attack it. all with one hand. Click its name and click your skills one handed. Its a joke. This game will fade out in 3 months time. No one will care.
you mean like this?
loong has both that uber jump/leap + walking on water skill, plus the pvp is awesome!
Did that guy in the video realy say its got 80 million players ? :P
Stopped the video after that.
Anyways been there done that,