Perfect World

So we all know about WoW, Guild Wars, and SilkRoad, but not so many of us have heard about Perfect World. Well, PW is a 3D MMORPG that has everything you could possibly wish for in a P2P game, except that it's F2P! With charming graphics, copious quests, and a set of 6 various classes to choose from, this game will surely rank among the top MMORPGs that is, as soon as word spreads about this outstanding game!

Everybody likes options; it's a fact of life and PW definitely realizes that. They offer the choice between an East server and a West server to accommodate to players all around the world, with the exception of those who already have a PW available for their country. They also extend this offer by allowing the player to pick between a PvP (Player vs. Player) server or a PvE (Player vs. Environment) server.

When picking a class, we run into the first major flaw of the game. Though all 6 classes are VERY diverse and unique, the Venomancer and Barbarian class are only given one gender option. I know a handful of men who would like to play the Venomancer class, and are put down by the fact that only a female gender option is available. The Barbarian class, in turn, has only a male gender option available which puts ME down (and probably some other females out there too!). If there's one thing I have learned throughout playing other games, it's to make games as unsexist as possible. Another flaw regarding sexism is the "Embrace" function. Only men are allowed to carry women, which I don't think is fair. I do agree that it does look silly if a woman was carrying a man the way they carry women, but that doesn't mean they should get rid of that function for girls altogether!

After picking a class, you are brought to the character creation scene where it is pretty much an option-heaven. You can customize EVERYTHING about your player from its eyebrows to its leg width! It really does add another meaning to 'customization', and other MMORPGs should strive to have such a customization level as that of PW's.

During name picking, we run into the second major flaw of the game: capitalization. Though it may only be a Closed Beta bug, the naming system can work like this: player A would like to be called Naruto and therefore grabs the name before anyone else does; player B who comes later after player A also wants the name Naruto but sees that the name is taken. So, player B decides to make "nAruto" or even "NaRuTo" instead. This is obviously a flawed system, and it will hopefully be fixed by the time Open Beta comes out because players can get very confused with whether they are friends with "Naruto" or "NaRuTo".

So after I created my character, I decided to take a nap. I mean, with so MANY options thrown to me at once I obviously needed a break and... harhar just kidding; I decided to test the game out, OF COURSE. Now, I was fooled by the front page of the official website because that's what I believed our characters would look like, but of course it was a F2P game, and I abruptly realized that my elf did NOT resemble the gorgeous one on the website. Bummer, eh? Anyway, they provided a lot of quests in the game that would have pretty much leveled me straight up to 40, but what's the point in Closed Beta, right? And here I'll throw out how nice and option-full the game is: if you enjoy grinding, this game is for you! If you enjoy not-grinding and more questing, this game is for you! If you enjoy leveling different skills (4 to choose from to be exact: blacksmithing, crafting, potion making, and tailoring) then this game is for you! If you enjoy not-leveling and like role playing instead, this game is for you! See how this game will draw a lot of people towards it?

Included in the game are two different types of 'groups' of people you can join with. There are squads and factions more commonly known as parties and guilds. I honestly don't realize why they didn't just keep the normal names "party" or "guild", but it's not a huge problem. Now the party system is strange in the sense that there seems to be no 'system' when picking up drops (not including gold). I've noticed in FB (dungeon) parties that after the boss gets killed and all the drops are being picked up, there doesn't seem to be any order of who gets what. Say there are 3 players: player A picks up a drop and it goes to player C, player B picks up a drop and it goes to player C, player C picks up a drop and it goes to player B, player A picks up another drop and it goes to player A. What is this? The drops picked up should have SOME sort of order instead of randomization, or if it isn't random, I haven't figured the system out yet.

So that's pretty much it for my review on PW. I think it is a game worth checking out and something I will be playing during my next year of high school.

Edit// Apparently, the names have been fixed.

Perfect World International

Perfect World International (From here on out, PWI) is the USA based servers/translation for the hit Asian free-to-play MMORPG Perfect World II.  Perfect World Entertainment has been kind enough to host this version, and now that Closed Beta is winding down, it's time to reflect how good the game is so far.  Is this world truly perfect, or just a good world?  Due to so many things in the game, I will be breaking it up more than my usual reviews, we'll start with the usual stuff first.

Design:
Imagine a free MMO that not only allows you the freedom of true 3d flight, a huge, expansive world that is totally on one map (no load times to any zones outside or in towns) that has territories that can be owned by guilds, but also full freedom to your character.  Well PWI attempts to do these things and more, and it actually delivers.  The game nicely paced and has many, many features.

Graphics:
Let's get this out of the way, the graphics in this game are nothing short of spectacular in an MMO, free or otherwise.  The world is vibrant, colorful, and full of sharp textures.  The Armors, weapons and magic effects are crisp, clear and impressive to watch in action, and the water effects are almost exactly the same as the FPS Half-life 2, which is in no way a bad thing since HL2's water is basically only bested by Bioshock.  Character animations are fluid and look nice as well.  The world has many different looking locals, from the snowy North, to the plains around the city of Etherblade, to the forest home of the elves, the places in this game are great to go sight seeing.  Overall this game is a feast to the eyes all around in terms of animation and textures.  Also, you will NEVER run into a twin in the game world, thanks to PWI's deep character creation, which is as deep, if not more so than TES4: Oblivion's character creation.

Sound:
The sound in PWI can be broken into two categories, SE and Music, so we will look at each section here in parts.
Sound Effects: The sound effects in PWI get the job done, they are good by most accounts (things like weapon impacts are not as good as they could be, but magic and creature sounds more than make up for this) and never really get tiring.  Except however the footstep sound, it will eventually fade and you'll ignore it, but it needs a change, in variety mainly so it sounds different on different terrain types, this is NOT a game killer though, as the rest of the sound takes up the slack for this minor fault.  The ambient sounds, while a little quiet are immersive and really bring the game to life.
Music: A musical feast for the ears lie in this game's sound track.  The log-in screen tunes set a relaxing theme, as do the exploration songs, the songs for things like bosses and Territory Wars are tense and keep the adrenaline rushing.  For what's there, the Chinese sounding music is beautiful and really sets a great tone to the game.

Gameplay:
The game is simple to pick up and play, and works with the two main MMO control types, WASD, and Mouse control.  The game gives you a nice help system for those who need a little help learning the game and the entire first 30 levels of gameplay will be earned entirely in quests, no grinding, even in the later levels, grind stays reletively low, and the game never actually becomes a grind fest.  Flying becomes available to all players at LVL 30 (lvl 1 for elves) which opens up the skies for exploration, while ground mounts are available around lvl 40 for fast ground travel.  Guilds also play a big role in this game, in the form of the above mentioned Territory Wars, in which each week a guild can bid on a hunk of the game world, and duke it out with another guild, or the environment in battles that can reach up to 80 vs 80 (according to the product manager of PWE).  There is also a marriage system which gives a few perks, as well as the embrace system where a male character can carry a female character.  Battles are paced well, and the many skills you will learn are very nice, and easy to pull off in succession.

Cash-shop items:
As a free game, the company relies on a cash shop to turn in a profit.  Luckily, the cash shop is not needed to play the game and enjoy all the features, even the end game content.  The cash shop contains items like fashion items (clothes to make your character look unique in more than just the face), different mounts and flying objects, fireworks, and the wedding items.  Other items, used more for PVP are there and do give an advantage, but aren't truly necessary to have.  Pricing has not been announced for the cash shop as of yet, so I cannot say whether it will be cheap or expensive.

PVE:
PVE (Player vs Environment) is robust here, giving you plenty of mobs, bosses and dungeons to raid.  With over 100 levels to progress in the game, you will have a long way to go before you are "Maxed."  The Environment even makes a couple hazards, like drowning when you swim (though you need to stay underwater for like 10 minutes), and even become quests in themselves as double jumping and flying are required for some.  Now if only there was fishing... (if there is, I haven't seen it)

PVP:
PVP has a true heart for competition here, there are more ways to fight against another player here than some FPS games.  With the usual Duel system, two players agree to fight.  No one dies in a duel.  Then there's the Arena, and TW.  Flying combat is available too.  New players need not worry about this, as they must be lvl 30 to do anything more than duel.  If you aren't a fan of PVP, go to the PVE (in truth, Optional PVP) server and turn it off.

Translation:
The overall translation is mostly decent.  Most quest text is accurate and to the point, even if a little of it doesn't really feel natural.  Some minor text errors are here and there, but this is the first true localization attempt and in closed beta, so some minor tweaks will be needed. One example of a bad name that doesn't really fit with the game world flow is "Archosaur," which is a very large, dragon themed city that all characters visit around the 20s in levels.  Aside from the Philippines version, all versions I know of have something to the effect of "Ancient Dragon City," which fits the city's overall look and feel.  Some character names are kinda plain and
expected for Chinese names.  Otherwise the translation is actually one of the most decent Asian to English
translations out there, just has a few quirks to be worked out.

OVERALL:
If this world isn't perfect, it sure is darn near it.  This game just keeps reeling me back in for more, and I like every minute of it.  If you have some time, you need to check out this awesome free to play MMORPG when it enters open beta September 2nd.  If you are desperate to play now, sign up and get a beta key, just know a character wipe will occur before the Open beta.

OVERALL RATING: 9/10

I started playing perfect world international closed beta the second its servers were launched. After looking at the game info and reading up several threads on the forums, I decided to give it a go. To be honest I wasn’t very excited. I mean it’s a MMORPG. There are 100s of them out there and they all follow the same aspect. Comparing PW to other MMO’s, I found that the developers have cleverly bended the aspects of PW For example the character classes and the ability to fly and swim in game. Here is my review on some of the classes.

Venomancers they are cleverly designed characters with an array of magical attacks. What makes them so unique from any other class in PW is their ability to tame any normal mob in the game which can be used to aid a Venomancer in close combat since Venomancers have low physical defence. Their pets can even tank bosses leaving Barbarians without a job. They are also able to transform into foxes giving them added stats and skills making them one of the most stop and feared class in the entire game.
Barbarians can also transform like Venomancers. They transform into white tigers which also gives them added stat such as increased armour and movement speed which can be upgraded. Tiger form also gets its very own set of separate attack and buff skills. This trait makes them different from blade masters who cannot transform but have the highest melee attack than any other class in the game
During my career as a MMO game addict I have come across countless games and played every class possible. One of them is a White mage/Healer or in PW it is known as a Cleric. Usually healers are boring. They aren’t usually capable of soloing and can only survive high level training in parties, healing and buffing so what makes a PW cleric so different? Playing a Cleric was quite surprising in PW. Including the buffs and healing spells, they can also attack but not just weak spells, they are quite capable to solo mobs with the right character build making them quite fear full. For a close range fighter, it might get really hard for him/her to beat a cleric if played properly.

The character customization in the game is pretty intense. You can customize everything from the colour of eyes to the shape of your chin to the width of your arms and legs, almost anything really. In game, the graphics are just stunning. The music corresponds to the area and in a way that urges the character to play on which is one of the most important factors in a successful game. PW does not let the player get bored after 2 hours of playing like some MMOs do. The cities are beautifully designed where you don’t get bored running up and down the streets. Another reason for that is the ability to double jump. It gives the players freedom to do anything with their characters and makes them feel like a living part of the game. Another clever part of the game is the battle system underwater for pets that you actually need to have water based pet to fight underwater. The in game Co-ordination tracking system is pretty cool too. It helps the players find NPCs or friends through map coordinates. All you have to do is enter the coordinate, and you will get an arrow pointing you the way and mark the place on the map. Here is a small demo,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iB-Odkp6o8

Perfect world has a Territory War system. In some games you may recognise this as “castle siege” or simply war. In this guilds fight each other to gain territory in game. If no one owns a territory, a guild must bid on it then fight mobs and a boss. If they win, the territory is theirs. If the territory is owned by another guild then they must battle it out heads on for control.

I think this is probably one of the best games I have played and I just can’t wait for open beta to start. Watch out Kash because you will see him to be one of the top players in the ranking board.

Perfect World International

Game Title:  Perfect World
Genre:  Fantasy/Role Playing
Status:  Closed Beta
Developer:   Perfect World Co., Ltd.
Publisher:  Games Masters

Official Website:  www.PerfectWorld.com
Client Size: 1.1 Megabytes [1,061,857 bytes]

System Requirements

Minimum Requirement

Cpu:  800Mhz
Ram:  256MB
Video Card:  32 Megabyte 3D Graphics Card
Hard Disc Space:  2.5 Gigabytes

Suggested Requirement

Cpu:  Intel Penitium 4  1.5GHz
Ram:  512MB+
Video Card:  256 Megabyte 3D Graphics Card
Hard Disc Space:  3.0 Gigabytes

Comparison  [8.3]

I have played alot of Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games in my many years of gaming and I would defenity have to say that Perfect World International is one of the best ones out there. There are so many unique features about this game that would totally blow your mind, but I will get to those later. The Moderating and Admin system is fantastic, all of the Adimins and Moderators are very helpful and understanding to everyone.

Graphics  [7.0]

The graphics in this game are of very high quality for a free to play game.  All graphics are done in 3d and the spell graphics are some of the best I have seen throughout any game I have ever played.  The developers took their time in making all of the graphics special, you will not find any of the graphics repeated or reused over and over again. I personally think they lacked on the trees and hand textures. I am sorry to say, but the hand textures look like an old Playstation 1 game. The trees however, are lacking of quality too, not so bad as a Playstaion 1 game, but they aren't to shine like the rest of the Perfect World.

[img]http://i35.tinypic.com/21ci33b.jpg[/img]

Sound  [8.0]

The sound is unique in its own way. Everything in Perfect World has its own sound in a very spectacular way. The sound in this game is broken down into two main sections. Sound Effects and the Game Music.

The sound effects consist of  monster sounds, spell sounds, and even your character has their own sounds! There are things called emotes that you can use in the game that will make your character react with a sound with every different emote! Pretty cool, huh?

The rain, the water, and even the waterfalls have their own sounds which are all very realistic and really bring the game to life. You will feel like you are actually walking past that wataerfall and even walking in the rain feels more real then any other game. You can even hear your characters footsteps!

The game music in Pefect World is one of a kind. It mostly consists of chinese type music which is always cool in any game you play, right? The game music will consist of awesome battle music for those tough fun battles, all the way up to the ambient sounds for the quiet soothing times you have to listen to natures sounds while walking around the world of Perfect World.

Gameplay  [8.5]

The gameplay of Perfect World is one of a kind.  You have 3 races and 6 classes you can play.  You have the Winged Elves, Humans and the Untamed. The Winged Elves race consists of Archers and Clerics, which can both be either male or female. The Humans race consists of Wizards and Blademasters, which can alo be male or female.  The Untamed race consists of Venomancers and Barbarians, however this race is very sex specific. As to where the Venomancers can only be female and the Barbarians can only be male. 

Perfect World gives you the option of two different game control types. You can explore the world is WASD (W= forward. A= left. S = backwards. D= Right.)
Or you can simply click around with the touch of your mouse.

There are six major cities in the world of Perfect World, three of which are your beginning cities. For the Winged Elves, you start in Plume City. For the Humans, you start in EtherBlade City. For the Untamed you start in Lost City. The other three cities are the cities you will explore when you play the game, so do it!

PvE [Player-vs-Environment]

The PvE system of Perfect World is quite simple and like most other Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games to tell you the truth. The battle system is alot like WoW I think. There are plently of monsters to keep you busy for over 100 levels throughout the game, so you hardly get bored.

PvP [Player-vs-Player]

The PvP system in Pefect World is amazing and unlike anything I have seen before. You have the option to fight in a duel, like in most games a duel is an agreement of a fight where nobody "dies" just loses the duel. You have the ability to fight in the air aswell using your flying mounts, which I find very facinating and different then any other game out there.

You also have an area you can go to called the Arena. This is where many people gather together and have what we call a "Dueling Tournament" Usually guild vs guild battles happen here, more or less then 1v1.

There is also a function called Territory War. This is where a guild can bid on a certain territory to have as their own. If you are the first to bid on a territory your guild will fight against 201 monsters and a main boss, there is a 3 hour time limit to complete this. If your guild is bidding on a terriroty another guild already has, you then fight that guild and the winner gets to keep the territory, pretty cool, right?

Community  [8.0]

The community of Perfect World is an awesome one.  There are alo of active people and espically the GM's. This is the only game I have ever played where the GM's are as active as they are. They are so helpful and understand, you can ask them basically anything and they will be sure to have an answer for you. The Moderators are also very active. Some of the Moderators are players that the GM's have picked to help the community out even more. I guarentee you will make many friends and enemies in Perfect World. But hey, who doesn't like to make a few enemies here and there?

Value  [7.5]

I would put the value of this game at a pretty high standard. I have never found myself away from Perfect World for longer then a month without having to go back time after time again. I guarentee you that you won't be able to leave this game for very long before returining, thats if you leave the game at all.

Unique Features  [9.5]

Perfect World has many unique features.  Your characters can have flying mounts as well and riding mounts.  Your riding mounts can be leveled up just by riding them around the lands of Perfect World. The flying mount can be aquired at level 1 by the Winged Elves who use Elven Wings. The flying mount for the Untamed race can be aquired at level 30 which is an Animal, and the flying mount for the Human race can be aquired at level 30 which is a sword. The crafting system is one of the most unique systems in any game.  At higher levels, in order to get the best gear, you have to craft it.  While crafting is fun, it is a headache and helps pass time.  Perfect World also has "circulation" quests.  At any level, your guards in the areas you are questing or grinding in will give you quests to help build your Rep.  At level 30, an npc in Archosaur gives you a quest you can do once a day for exp, skill points and gold.  At level 60, you can buy quests from an npc to help you level along the way.  You can do one of these quests every hour. 

Perfect World also has teleporters in every main city and all small cities, with a little gold you can go pretty much anywhere as long as you have explored the city and talked to the Teleport Master there first. 

Perfect World also has dungeons also called FB's (First Boss) that you get quests for starting at level 19 and that you get for every 10 levels. ie: 19, 29, 39, 49, etc etc.  You dont have to do these only when you have the quests but you can also farm these dungeons whenever you want for armor or molders. 

Molders are in fact molds that produce powerful equipment if you are able to craft it and have the right materials.  There are also items that drop in dungeons that you can turn in for reputation.

Personal Rating  [7.5]

The overall rating I would give for Perfect World International would be a 7.5 due to lack of texture quality and ability to choose both sexes for all races. I would reccomend Pefect World International to anyone who loves to play a challenging game with a good grind.

After nearly eradicating his first chaotic creations, the God Pan Gu created Humans, Elves and Untamed with free will in order to create a Perfect World. As war erupted among his new children, Pan Gu's first creations return as the undead Wraith, able to possess other creatures in order to fulfill their desires to destroy their god-kin and corrupt the world. Now the three races must work together to defeat this menace, setting aside their differences to protect their Perfect World.

Enter an immersive 3d world with contemporary graphics as one of the 3 races: Humans, utilizing inner strength and hardiness as Blademasters, or delving deep into the mystic arts as Wizards; the Untamed, who through their connection to Nature complement their animal ancestry and physical prowess as Barbarians, or commune with their uncorrupted kin and tap into Nature's power as Venomancers; the Winged Elves, proud and ethereal guardians of the skies, include the agile Archers, fighting alongside their comrades using long ranged attacks, and the Clerics, able to assist their friends with healing and protection, or hind