Elsword: A Character-Base side scrolling Action MMORPG
(Pc Browser/Via Steam)
Elsword is a fast paced side-scrolling action RPG that offers characters rather than classes as way to role play. This gives it an in depth personal story and each character has there own quest, personality and motivation to hunt the El shards.
Overview
- A very different emphasis on characters, not class but people
- Tailored story line for each character, however its told through the same missions/set up which limits re-play-ability and context of the story.
- A massive combo counter. The highest I reached was 200, and was labelled as evil.
- Area dungeons with multiple difficulties. The higher levels introduce tough sub bosses which good drops.
- Lots of item set for you to find for collectors and bonus stats.
- I had a few technical problems getting the game to run. The forum on the site suggests other are experiencing similar problems but offers no solutions. 🙁
- Promotion system with each class, which gives you a lot of options on how to develop the character.
- Stylish moves and combat abilities.
- Colorful cut scenes to tell the story.
- Comic style dialogue and animation. It felt like watching Anime.
Technical Difficulties
For some reason Elsword creates an error, on a large number of systems, with Windows error reporting system. I experienced a message that the memory couldn’t be recovered over a thousand times whilst playing the game. There are a number of player complaining about the reporting error but there doesn’t seem to be any solution to the probably as yet.
I also used the in-game recorder as my recording system wouldn’t run at all – an unfortunately all the game has recorded is audio… Meaning my screen shots are sparse and the videos I want to insert are non-existent. Definitely not a game to twitch or stream.
Character Creation
Elswords character creation is a little different from the other titles MMORPG we’ve explored in this section. Usually you choose a class, such as swordsman, mage or archer but with Elsword you actually choose a fully formed character with behavioral traits and personal history. I’d normally give you a video overview but unfortunately Elsword would not let me record this section.
There are eleven characters to choose from. Each character tends to corresponded to the class system above for example:-
Elsword: An overconfident sword-wielding midget who is sensitive about his height and is the youngest member of a knight order. He is looking for his lost sister. (Who you can also choose to play)
Aishia: A twelve year old female mage who is on a quest to recover her lost ring.
Rena: A female elven archer who is on a quest to protect the El Shards to stop her homeland from vanishing.
This is an example of the character selection screen, which gives you a break down of the characters strengths and provides a video of how they play in the game.
These are the three earliest characters that appear in all the cut-scenes, and for full story immersion I suggest you start with one of them.
Each character has a different style of play, abilities, weapons (which include a cannon!) and comes with optional promotional trees once you achieve certain levels. These promotions will give you more skills in battle and make your character more specialized.
I choose an emo cyborg called Raven who has a big kick-ass metal claw and sword.
Story
This was a little confusing at first due to my choice of character. Raven is a boss character that is defeated by Elsword and the three initial heroes outlined above around chapter 4 of the saga. In his initial chapter he talks about how he was defeated by Elsword who freed him from his cyborg programming.
All cut scenes experience featured the three main characters above and had no hint of my character in them. I followed the story of Raven until the third chapter and despite him being the main character in dialogues and interaction it didn’t seem to fit the context of Elsword defeating him and the quest he talked about in the introduction – and he was still excluded from all cut scenes.
I decided to play a little as Elsword to see if I was missing something from the story-line and discovered that the two characters start at exactly the same place, doing exactly the same missions but with customized dialogues. So the problem may have came from the fact I was play missions from before Raven was made playable.
So despite having an in-depth story about them and being created as characters not classes, all characters will have the same origin and go over the same quests.
The story-line is good – there are a group of bandits that are stealing the El shard crystals and you journey to retrieve them. It also introduces villains and re-occurring bosses that have their own unique personalities, even when in battle which is a nice added layer of characterization.
This is an example of the dialogue art.
The story has propelled me forward in a very linear fashion – through a series of dungeons I have to conqueror and once I have, the next town or area.
Game-play
On the field map you attack foes by unleashing a flurry of combos and special abilities. The highest I got was a massive 200 hit combo, which is designated as evil. Which is fun and makes me feel like an absolute beast. Each map has a nice variety of enemies, smaller easier enemies, bigger tougher ones and even some sub-bosses. All enemies have power attacks, and will flash red before using them to give you a chance to dodge – so all battles are a little tactical too.
Here is a quick example of game-play, courtesy of You-tube.
On the dungeon screen you are given a basic map layout of to follow, and each area has various enemies for you to fight – some are even tough sub-bosses. There was some amazing sub-bosses and boss footage – including my killer 200 hit combo but unfortunately I don’t have it :(.
All dungeons come with three difficulty settings. With an increase in difficulty you get additional bosses scattered through out the map that add an extra challenge to the dungeon. These boss also serve as quest criteria for promoting your character to the next class.
The dungeon joining screen automatically takes you into a party queuing system to enable you to find friends. Although I could solo the dungeons on the hardest level at the point where I stopped playing – although the bosses were starting to get tough.
All special abilities can be upgraded at certain levels with two traits that have various effects such as less its power but increasing the number of hits or reducing cool down times.
There are also a lot of challenges to keep you playing – like event dungeons, difficulty settings, invites to heroic mode, armor collections to find, and daily quests that yield rewards.
The game also includes a title system – so by completing certain achievements in game you earn titles. The game also introduces a pet based system early on. You can feed your pet which will change its temperament and stats in battle.
It has a very easy user interface to master, and you are taken through everything you need to know at a slow pace – so is a great game for a beginner.
There is a PVP arena element too were your skills change for one on one combat. Seems I am pulling stuff off youtube for this article here is an example of a PVP battle.
Graphics
Are very good. The characters are well designed with there own unique style. Even the enemies and bosses have signature moves that reflect there characters. There was a video of a boss whose movements and characterizations I loved, a Phoru named William. He was fear and dislike of fighting was evident in his move set as he would crouch down and swing his sword blindly.
This player is crazy good, so you don’t see the move but gives you an idea of the graphics and a boss battle.
Important points in the story are told through cut scenes that are very cartoon-like. Your own special skills are animated amazingly too.
The backgrounds are wide and have interesting details. In a sewer dungeon you have spiders moving up and down the wall in the background which I was trying to kill before I realized it was was a background detail.
Community
The town had a vibrant community, and the world chat was very busy. The game actively encourages you to join a guild and find friends every step of the way, even creating challenges and rewards for you to do so.
The party-wizard system would quickly team you up with players doing the same dungeon and recommends you to team up from an early point in the game.
Over-All
A very good game that is fun and easy to play. Has great characters and a good story to follow. Can be a little linear with the story pressing you onward whilst there are no side quests to make you linger or revisit areas.
Overall 7/10
Story 6 /10 – tailored dialogue depending on who you choose to play as but will have you repeating the same quests. I think more could have been done with this.
Freedom – 5/10 – there is a lot of freedom in character choice, but dungeons tend to be linear. No freedom to explore side-wards.
Game-play – 8 – Very easy to fast paced fun combos, with an epic scoring system.
Graphics – 7- Unique the graphics, so of the in game character attacks, like the sheep one shown above made me chuckle.
Community – 5 – very active, lots of players but didn’t really talk to anyone or form a party.
