Perfect World International brings high-quality massively multiplayer online gaming, in a completely free package.
In Perfect World International, you create your character by choosing from three unique races, each with their own specialized classes, and begin exploring, questing, and battling in Pangu. Perfect World International is based more on Chinese myths and mythologies, and fans of other online role-playing games will be impressed at the sheer volume of content on display in Perfect World International, whose setting seamlessly connects a bunch of wildly different-looking types of places and makes them appear as if they all belong to a living world.
Perfect World International is similar to other pay-to-play games that came before it, and it draws inspiration from some of them. The fundamentals are all here, such as fighting dangerous creatures (optionally including other players), exploring the countryside either alone or in the company of other players, undertaking various quests, gaining experience levels and new abilities, and acquiring powerful items. However, directly comparing Perfect World International with any of its free-to-play predecessors would be almost like pitting a Monster Truck against a Minivan. With all due respect to the other free-to-play online role-playing games out there, Perfect World International is in a league of its own. The game clearly benefits from taking itself seriously, as the quality and design issues that plagued previous free-to-play and pay-to-play online role-playing games are handled extremely well in Perfect World International. In addition, the game's own subtle innovations turn out to have a dramatic impact on the flow of the action from minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day, and beyond. So the particulars of the game's design--along with its incredibly vast, beautiful, majestic world--translate into a one-of-a-kind experience that seems fresh and original in its own right.
Fortunately, the game is very approachable, although if you're very familiar with other online games such as World of Warcraft, you may find yourself having a tougher time adjusting. Perfect World International is a complex game whose complexity is carefully disguised by a simple, highly legible, uncluttered interface and an impressive 3D graphics engine, which delivers high performance on a wide range of systems while not skimping on the visuals. The game's interface is easy to learn and understand, and the game play intuitive. There isn't a tutorial to wade through; there are just some helpful, optional pop-up tool tips, as well as a guide on the website that goes into specific detail about most of the various aspects of play. It's also important to point out that Perfect World International runs fast and smooth. You can go from your desktop to being in-game in just seconds, and it is one great, big, seamless world. Loading times are as rare as they are brief. They only crop up when entering some specific instanced areas, which guarantee you a fresh challenge.
So Perfect World International is painless to get into-except for those players that are accustomed to a different game's interface, as well as initially deciding on which sort of character to play, since so many of the options seem like they could be interesting. And it turns out they are. So why not try them all? The game lets you create multiple characters on the different available servers, each of which is a unique instance of the gameworld that is capable of hosting thousands of simultaneous players. Some of the servers cater to non-player-versus-player fans that prefer to have an experience without the player killing surprises, while other servers are custom-tailored for player-versus-player action. Regardless, Perfect World International's servers are nicely (if not densely) populated already, with extremely limited downtime and great server performance. The game just has a solid feel to it that's uncharacteristic of the genre, and for an online RPG, Perfect World International is surprisingly responsive. Perfect World International boasts the tight control and polished presentation that's desirable in any kind of game.
After countless hours spent playing, the great first impression doesn't wear off. This style of gaming is notorious for being a time sink and for effectively forcing players to engage in repetitive, monotonous gameplay for hours on end in order to make progress. But in contrast, Perfect World International will keep throwing variety at you, and the combat system at the heart of it features fast, visceral, action-packed battles that are fun and intense, whether you're fighting alone or in a group. Furthermore, Perfect World International achieves that long-sought-after goal of many massively multiplayer games, which is to make the player feel rewarded regardless of how much time he or she invests in a single sitting.
This is due to several key reasons. For one, Perfect World International has a nice, brisk pace to it, and the fast-loading, seamless world obviously has a lot to do with this. But, in addition, recovery times between battles are minimal, as even those characters without healing spells can still easily recover from their wounds by using charms, potions, or just from meditation. The battles themselves are quick, too, and they scale nicely so that higher-level encounters don't just seem to drag on. Yet the pacing of the combat seems to strike a perfect balance, because it's not so hectic that those unaccustomed to fast-paced action games will feel overwhelmed. You can also look forward to facing some fairly intelligent foes that will do such things as flee when injured, tag-team with their comrades, and use some devastating special abilities against you. Another innovative feature that Perfect World International implements is keeping monster encounters different every time, even if you're fighting the same creatures for hours. Some monsters will have added effects such as Increased Defense, Sacrificial Assault, Increased Magic Defense, and Increased Movement Speed. This helps to keep the experience fresh and exciting, as well as help you plan a strategy when encountering such monsters.
Much of Perfect World International is structured around questing, so there's always something to do or somewhere to go, even if you don't have a lot of time. Whenever you enter a major new location for the first time, you'll feel almost overwhelmed by the number of quests available, which you'll be able to clearly spot since quest-giving characters helpfully stand there with a big, noticeable golden shield over their heads. Luckily, the game's more-than-five-thousand quests are made quite manageable by only being offered to you when you're qualified to complete them, and you can have no more than 20 quests pending at a time. So you'll eventually be forced to pick and choose, but this is for the best. The quests will always be there waiting for you until you accomplish them. The quest log also allows you to find a quest if you seem to run out by giving you coordinates, which can then be entered into the Coordinate Assistant directing you to the quest giver similar to a GPS Device.
Though you may venture out into the wilderness and spend hours hunting monsters for the sake of it if you so choose, you'll always be able to undertake quests that help give a bit more meaning and context to your actions, flesh out the game's interesting lore, and, perhaps most importantly, frequently yield useful items and a good chunk of money, experience, and spirit for your trouble. Some quests are highly involved, multipart affairs that naturally entice you to broaden your horizons and venture forth into previously unexplored territory. Other quests challenge you to venture deep into enemy territory. It's here where grouping with other players seems most natural, because it gives you an edge in battle and because some quests can seem a bit too popular for their own good. This is maybe one of the only apparent design issues in the game: Sometimes you'll effectively have to wait your turn for a certain enemy or quest object to respawn, while at other times, foes will keep spawning in so quickly that you'll barely have a moment to catch your breath. Both types of cases can seem slightly frustrating, but since the underlying action and exploration is so good, "slightly frustrating" is about as bad as it gets. Other rough edges, such as player "corpses," which occasionally can be seen standing upright and looking very much alive, could probably be counted on one hand. For what it's worth, I also encountered a few specific, minor issues with a few quests, though none of this really affected my progress or enjoyment of the game, and as with any online RPG, it's all subject to improvement.
Though the world of the game is very large, you can still effectively travel on foot, taking in the often breathtaking sights of Pangu in between key points. As you explore, you'll also discover a variety of means of rapid transit. For instance, depending on your starting race, you'll be able to fly on race specific mounts upon reaching level 30. You'll also be able to quickly and conveniently cover large distances by visiting Teleport Masters, which can instantly transport you from point to point for a small fee. But before you can begin teleporting, you'll need to reach some destinations by foot, which means there's definitely going to be a lot of legwork. Luckily, the sights and sounds of Pangu, the network of roads, and the presence of a very helpful onscreen minimap as well as a full map, collaborate to make the simple act of running from point to point surprisingly pleasurable. It also helps that you can simply run away from most aggressive foes, as most will lose interest in you and go back to their business if you keep moving.
Of course, player death is inevitable in a game such as this, but luckily death isn't something to get bent out of shape about. More-recent online RPGs have doled out more-lenient penalties in the interest of appealing to more players, where as World of Warcraft all but eliminates the sense of penalty altogether-Perfect World International gives you options. In the case of a normal death, you'll lose 5% of your experience and will appear at the nearest city; alternatively, a healer-type character can resurrect you with a minimal exp penalty depending on their skill, or you can choose to come back to life with a resurrection scroll. Another alternative is to purchase Guardian Angels, which prevent the loss of any experience upon death. When you die, your items' endurance will also degrade slightly, though this isn't permanent in the long run or harmful in the short run. You'll simply need to pay to get them repaired by certain types of non-player characters before their endurance ratings drop to zero and they're rendered useless. In all, the game's death penalty feels just right, in that it's consequential without being frustrating and gives you options in how to accept your fate.
These types of smart design choices would mean little if the actual act of playing as one of Perfect World International's various combinations of races and classes wasn't enjoyable in and of itself. Fortunately, you pretty much can't go wrong with whichever type of character you opt for. The character creation system features some of the most in-depth options of any online gaming experience, but as far as character selections go there's a few to choose from: three different races and six different classes, though not every class is available to every race. In contrast to some other such games, each of the classes feels very well developed. That is, there's no real sense of "class envy" in Perfect World International (except maybe in player-versus-player combat). In Perfect World International, many beginning players will feel like they made a mistake in their choice of character stats and character class after a while, and will become acutely aware of their character's limitations and other characters' apparent strengths. Of course, those other characters have limitations of their own, but with the flexibility of stats and embedding elemental shards into equipment, every character will be custom tailored to the player. Whatever your choices though, each character class feels powerful and self-reliant from the get-go. No matter which type of character you choose to play, from a Barbarian to a Wizard, you'll be able to hold your own against the game's variety of monsters while also contributing significantly to a group of players.
Each of the character classes is quite deep. The Venomancer is a ranged attack specialist who gets to fight alongside pets that can help deal damage and distract foes. The Barbarian and Blademaster are multitalented fighters, capable of drawing their enemies' wrath from their more-fragile, magic-using allies, and temporarily bolstering their own abilities while crippling their opponents. The Cleric, Wizard, and Archer learn a variety of different spells and skills that make them quite a bit more versatile than what's conventional. The classes feel distinct right from the start, though they start to get really interesting at the 9th level when each one experiences Spiritual Cultivation for the first time. But it's not like you need to trudge through a bunch of experience levels waiting for the game to entertain you. From the get-go, even as you encounter lots of new quests and areas to explore, you'll also find tons of new equipment and gain lots of new or improved abilities.
The benefit of having a limited selection of character classes to choose from is that each one gets to be viable and interesting. The potential problem of this, though, is that you can end up with a gameworld populated by a whole bunch of cookie-cutter characters. Fortunately, the variety of different character appearances and equipment help to keep things diverse, and the presence of the stat allocation, skill tree, and profession systems keep things diverse from a gameplay standpoint, too. The skill tree really shows its potential at the 9th level, when it's expanded and they lets marginally improve your character's core abilities. You get spirit points each time you kill a creature, complete a quest, or harvest, and certain more-significant skills become unlocked once you spend enough points completing their prerequisites. Whereas the new abilities you unlock from leveling up tend to be instantly gratifying to obtain, the skill tree is more about planning and differentiating your character over the long haul, and it works great in this regard. Since you can see all the potential skills available to your character, it can be fun to plan out how you'll be spending your next 60 or 70 levels' worth of points (even though it'll probably take you months to actually accomplish that plan). But should you ever decide you made a mistake, it's impossible to reset your skills and redistribute them.
Meanwhile, the game's crafting system is a way for characters to lead productive lives outside of all the ugly, dirty business of questing and fighting. Crafting consists of two parts: harvesting and crafting skills. You may choose to specialize in every craft if you wish, but if you wish to be self-sufficient, then you'll opt for specializing in one particular craft and harvesting those materials. For instance, a combination of harvesting herbs and using apothecary, you'll be able to brew them into a variety of useful powders and pills. Blacksmithing, Craftsman, and Tailoring are some of the other options, and again it's possible to specialize in whichever professions you wish. Regardless of what you decide, the goods you gather or make will be in demand. If they're not immediately useful to you or your friends, you can auction them off to the highest bidder, which you can do by going through one of the game's auction houses located in the main cities of the world. Perfect World International's crafting system is streamlined and easy to get into, much like the rest of the game. More importantly, it lets you quickly make useful things or some good money. Incidentally, one great way to put your handmade goods into the right hands is via the cat-like player shops, which lets you setup shops anywhere in the world to vender off your wares. Part of Pangu's charm is that, despite the predominantly ancient Chinese flavor, it features many types of relatively modern touches.
Another one of Perfect World International's great successes is how it makes your choice of character race have a noticeable impact on the gameplay. Like any online RPG, the game lets you choose from a variety of different-looking types of characters, from the hulking Untamed to the limber Winged Elves. But unlike most games of this type, the difference between the characters cuts below the surface. For one thing, each race has certain unique traits, like the Winged Elves having the ability to fly at level 1, since they are the clerics and archers of the world, it helps them keep at a safe distance away from monsters. But what really distinguishes the races is that, depending on your choice, your allegiance and starting location will change--and your flying mount will differ.
There are three completely different starting points, as well as three corresponding major cities, plus countless little towns, outposts, caves, shrines, and so forth. Depending on your starting point, you'll get to undertake different quests, explore different territory, and so on. There are class-specific quests, too, so if you stick with a single character in Perfect World International, you won't nearly see the breadth of the game's variations during the early levels from 1 to 20. Even though the questing and creatures is roughly equivalent regardless of the race you choose, you'll definitely get a different sort of experience with each one. Nevertheless, in the simplest of terms, most of the quests either charge you with killing some stuff or transporting something somewhere, and all the quests descriptions are written out with specific directions, so be prepared for a fair bit of reading.
As mentioned, player-versus-player combat is available in Perfect World International in a few flavors. In some of the servers, PVP is required after your character reaches level 30. In these PVP servers, attacks may happen indiscriminately, much to your surprise if you're just minding your own business and questing alone. For other servers, PVP is an option you can toggle on and off after level 30. When PVP is enabled regardless of the server, you do have a slim chance to drop items that are not bound to you. If you aren't interested in that sort of chance, you can always have a friendly duel. At any point, two characters may choose to engage in a nonlethal duel. But there's also some faction warfare to partake in if you so choose. The world is divided into territories, 44 states that can be controlled by player run factions. For every territory that is controlled, the controlling faction will get a paid ransom from the states every week. The benefits of owning territories are an hour of increased experience gain for each state owned, free teleports within the territories, and of course money. Each week, Territory Wars take place in which factions bid on who will fight the owner of a specific state. Once the winners are slotted, an 80 versus 80 instanced war with bases, arrow towers, catapults and more take place. The winners will then take over the land, and reap be benefits. With the prospect of taking on some epic encounters (suitable for massive raiding parties comprising dozens of players) and the ability to purchase and ride a variety of fast-moving mounts, the PVP combat is presumably what will keep many players coming back after they've already invested the thousands of hours necessary to max out their character's experience. Your choice of server is obviously important, but fundamentally, the PVP combat is fun and exciting like the rest of the combat.
No small part of the pleasure of playing Perfect World International comes from admiring its richly detailed, visually inspired gameworld. The game sports its own cohesive, highly stylized look that's influenced by Chinese mythology and art, so it's far less "vanilla" than the look of most games. Most of these players will probably think Perfect World International looks fantastic, while a few of them might not like the characters and animations. At any rate, from an artistic standpoint, it's hard to deny that Perfect World International is impressive. Not only is the game filled with tons of imaginative characters and creatures, but the topography of the world itself seems vibrant, larger than life, and incredible in scope, yet somehow believable.
You'll spot some excellent little details as you play, such as birds fluttering high up in the sky or horses and chickens around city areas. The various weather effects are also outstanding, and the game also displays an impressive day and night cycle (and Pangu is quite a sight to behold regardless of the time of day). But the best part about the game's visual presentation is how everything blends together: how one distinctive-looking area can somehow subtly transition into a new type of terrain that looks completely different.
Perfect World International also sounds excellent for an online RPG. Subtle ambient effects work wonderfully in concert with the visuals, making the world seem that much more alive. Excellent audio cues highlight key moments, such as when you level up. Beautifully composed symphonic music punctuates your travels, perfectly synchronizing with the sense of wonder you will likely experience as you set foot into the game's different, colorful regions. The music truly is outstanding, but by default it plays rather softly, mostly just for an extra bit of ambience. Many of the enemies you'll face also make some rather memorable noises when you manage to draw their wrath. Although, some Eastern Inspired MMO fans will recognize some creature sound effects that were represented in other games such as Ragnarok Online. Also, the game attempts stereo effects as well as other audio tricks within cavern environments, but most of the time the combat sounds just cut out and leaves an eerie silence.
The worst and best thing about Perfect World International is the Item Mall. This is probably everyone's' immediate dislike about free-to-play games, as they usually require you to spend real money to play the game as intended. And if you do want to spend money on free-to-play game Cash Shops, there's usually a 30-day time limit on items, or even more constraints on experience scrolls and other more crucial items. Not in Perfect World International though, as everything in the game including expansion packs and updates is available and completely free. Again, Perfect World International breaks away from the constraints and pitfalls of other free-to-play mmorpgs and shows off its biggest innovation. Every item in the Item Mall is tradable, and most (save for one or two) are permanent upon purchase. That's right, no time limits or trading limitations on your purchases. Upon reaching level 10 on one of your characters, you have the ability to log onto the Perfect World International website and charge Zen to your account. The conversion is $1.00USD equals 1,000Zen, and when it's placed into the game that 1,000Zen becomes 1Gold which equals roughly 100,000coin. The auction houses allow players to participate in Gold Trading, which allows players to buy and sell gold for in-game coin. The big picture here, is that you can obtain Gold and Item Mall items without spending any money on the game, making Perfect World International a true free-to-play experience. And for the items you do purchase, (assuming the aren't one time use like EXP Scrolls) you're able to sell them when you're done with them to make back the money you spent.
Again, part of what makes this game so remarkable is it doesn't assume that all you have to do in your busy life is play this one game, and so it delivers a high-quality experience regardless of how much or how little time you're able to invest. But then again, it can become the last game you'd need to play for weeks, months...who knows? The point is, Perfect World International features an overall level of quality that's typically reserved for the best pay-to-play games and offline experience, which have always had a leg up on online games in their ability to present tightly-woven, story-driven settings. But Perfect World International achieves this in the context of a massive, evolving world populated by thousands of other players who you may choose to interact with, which makes the proceedings seem that much more meaningful. This is a stunning achievement that will make you feel privileged to be a game player.