Date: 07/09/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: technology, asp

Sword of the New World: Granado Espada
(English localized open beta version)

Genre: MMORPG
Tested time: Approximately 10 hours over 4 days

I haven't seen many game discussions in this forum so I'd thought I cook up one from the one I played over the last week.

There is a new MMORPG that's seldom discussed yet in my opinion is worthy of checking out. The game is Sword of the New World, a Korean title that has been translated into an English localized version. The reason that this game can stand out from the host of other MMORPGs out there today is its style and unique gameplay. So before groaning with "Not another MMO", read on.

Background

The story of the game is set in the backdrop of a world that is somewhat modeled after the age of European exploration of the new world. After a period of warfare, colonists from one of the embattered countries were sent in exploration. You belong to one of the colonial families sent by your Queen, the mission: Explore and subdue the new continent. However, instead of human natives the "locals" in the wilderness compose of various monsters that you would have to survive from in your various quests.

Graphics and Sound

The designs in SOTNW are done in a Baroque style, featuring fancy costumes and buildings, most of which could be seen in the town that the explorers start out with. The music composes of mostly melodies done mostly in a classical orchestral style, with occassional techno-dance mixed in for certain locations. Even though in terms of graphics technology SOTNW in no way outdoes the newest generation titles out there the style more than makes up the difference in my opinion. The ambience given by the visuals and sound is a big selling point.


Zoomed-out view outside one of the dungeons. A spectacular 360-degree waterfall surrounds a bridge (click thumbnail for full size)

The Multiple Character Play System

Unlike most other MMORPGs, each player in the game is offered the freedom of creating and simultaneously fielding up to three characters in a sort of "mini party" right from the start of the game (excluding the training map in the very beginning). The result is a sort of combination between console RPG games and traditional MMORPG. This gives a lot of freedom in choosing the style of play that one can be involved in. There is the choice of either still going at it alone, which does get kind of boring and lonely after a while and somewhat defeats the purpose of the system, fielding multiple characters and going through the game like a console RPG while treating all other players like NPCs, or banding together with other players' "families" (all of your characters carry the same family surname which you specify at the beginning) to form "squads" that share exp points as well as other squad-specific abilities. The different classes offered are scout, fighter, musketeer, wizard, and elementalist. The player has the option to switch between controlling each character individually or as a group. The AI takes care of most of the combat, and you would only need to step in to provide movement and special ability activations. Make no mistake, this doesn't make the game any less challenging when it comes to fighting high level opponents. One would be advised to keep the members of their party together in the dungeons. Should your characters die, they lay in place with a countdown timer shown above them and revive only after the time is up.


Zoomed-in view at the same location, showing elementalist in the foreground, with scout on the left and fighter on the right (click thumbnail for full size)

Stances and Finishing Moves

Another unique aspect of the game is in it's stance system. Each class comes with its own array of fighting techniques depending on character armament as well as knowledge, and the techniques open up to subcategories of special finishing moves that progressively get more spectacular and damaging as the skills progress. It would almost look like a fighting game if you zoom in close while doing one of the special moves. The variety of those moves are large for every class, and I was only able to test out a few. It was quite satisfying to watch the elementalist throw a fireball and the fighter do one of the earth shaker moves.

Translation

The localized English version does a good job overall with the translation. The English was correct, though on some explanation screens for menus the screenshots shown remained Korean while the explanation was English. This is understandable since the game was still under test. Even in those cases, the menus (i.e. buy and sell) were easy enough to figure out even without those screens because they are in English. The English version is supposedly a different program rather than a straight port of the Korean original, featuring more content and options (Dressing up your characters at the beginning of character creation is much more limited in the Korean version) touted as improvements.

Conclusion

I had a great time playing the game. The eye candy was good to look at and the music is pleasant and at times appropriately fast-paced. My significant other clamored to get on the computer and play after she saw me playing. She wasn't that great at the game but still had a lot of fun. Besides the mouse much of the controls are hot-key based (one row of QWERTY keys for each of your three characters) and might frustrate newbies. However, once gotten a hang of I think it is an effective system of control considering the variety and complexity. Sword of the New World is a stylish game with a new twist that distinguish it from the rest of the hack n' slash crowd, and deserves a look.

Graphics 8/10
Sound 8/10
Gameplay 8/10
Overall Experience: 9/10

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1087006.html