great online game for all ages, creeds and locations!!
INTRODUCTION
silkroad is a game in which you try to recreat the mythical journey of a chineze esplorer. you will start in the busstling town of jangan, first exploring the city and then farther and farther outwards. in your very own story you will discover many strange beasts to slay, loads of quests to do and friends to play with. also you will not only have great fun playing it, but you will also find out what it was like to work on the silkroad. as well as learning of myths, fears and joys of the original people who walked this epic road.
THE GAME ITSELF
silkroad is a third person RPG. which means your character will earn experience for everything you do (except for trading regular items, more will be explained later). as you level up you can decide where to alot your newly gained points (magic or health) and at any time you can alot your skill points (there are 3 weapons classes: bow, sword and lance, as well as 4 magical classes: fire, electrisity, ice and force, the last dealing with healing, etc.)
like you every player and monster is assigned a level as well, deciding how strong they are. this means you cant go out there right away and expect to kill each and evert monster/player. so you will have to start in the direckt vicinity of jangan and working your way outwards from there, untill you reach the next town offcourse. each level brings new quests to do, but theyre completely optional (allthough it is advisable to do them all) so you wont be held up by them if you dont want to do them, or do them at a later time. more weapons/shields/items will become available when you level up, so it will be easier to kill the monsters out there. YOUR CHARACTER
to begin silkroad you have to register, but it is all free of charge. after this, you can start up the game. the first thing you will have to do (after you choose your name) is decide which character will represent you (theres 8 pre-designed i believe).
each of these characters will have its own characteristics, the soldiers have greater strength for example, the monks greater magic and the outcasts have a good balance between the two. also you will choice things like your outfit and your weapon, choose carefully, as these also decide your strength and magic balance. clicking confirm will let you start in the world of silkroad, while walking around you will be givin a quick show around of how to move around and how the basics work.
from here on you will choose your own way, go to the general at the west gate to start your first quest, go out any one of the 3 gates and start fighting, or stick in the central square and make friends.
WEAPONS, ARMOUR & ITEMS
you will get your first basic armour (or at least the type you choose at creation) for free. this offcourse offers limited resources later in the game, but will serve you quite nicely to start with. you can go to the general and complete the quest, this will give you several items (like a ring and some potions) which will be very usefull as well.
first things first though: when you enter, say, the armour shop, you will see you can buy various armours, there are 3 levels to start with. each one is better then the last and also more expensive, also for each progressive level of armour you need a higher level, which is also slightly different per item. the same goes for weapons and items like rings, necklasses and horses.
its a good idea to choose the weapon and outfit that suits you best at creation, but you can always change once your in the game, or even mix 2 or even all 3 different outfits.
once you start hunting monsters, theyll drop money and items. keep a close eye on these, as they are usually superior to those you can find in the shop, also you can use magical tablets and alchamy items to upgrade your weapons/armour yourself.
JOBS
when you reach level 20 you can choose to perform any (or all) of three jobs.
theres traders, thiefs and hunters.
traders will buy one product in one town and sell it in another for profit, while trying to stay alive during the trip.
hunters are there to defend the trades from monsters and thiefs who try to steal the traders goods.
thiefs can kill any player and can even take the goods of traders, to sell off for a decent profit.
hunters usually make the most profit, as they gain some money from the monsters/thiefs they killed. as well as a fee (decided upon by the players themselves) for taking them from one place to the other.
you do have to pay about 10k for each suite so be carefull about your choice if your a little short on money.
QEUSTS
quests are used to elaborate the story of silkroad. you will learn how the potion maker gets his medicine, how certain monsters came to be and why they are what they are.
besides that, it will also give you an indication (read, just because your quests says you should go kill a certain monster, dont assume you kill it on your own right away!!) of which monsters you can handle. and offcourse, quests provide a little extra income, experience and occasionally it will provide you with weapons, armour and items too!!
as i said before though, if you dont like a quest, or it is too hard, you can always leave it be, at least for the time being. GRAPHICS/SOUND
the graphics are extremely good, especially considaring it is a free game.
the world, monsters and players all like very detailed.
this does mean you need a bit of a fast connection and computer to play.
but it is well worth your time (and to all those WoW fans, silkroads pwns your asses xD).
the sounds can be a bit repetitive, but theyve got the music worked out very well. for each area there is a sound that really fits it. and when you enter in a combat, the music will also become a bit more agitated if you like, but in such a way that it doesnt become opressive.
FINAL CONCLUSION
silkroad is a very good game overall to play and i certainly will recomend it to everyone and anyone. not only because it is such a massive gaming experience with vast amounts of things to do, but also because the learning curve is extremely low. within ten minutes, you will know what to do and how to do it.
calling names/racism/etc. are phrohibitat and most words are filtered out.
repetitve abuse of the system is extremly well dealt with. so it is also playable by young children as a learning tool for example (as it contains alot of information about the silkroad).
the only drawback is that the servers are sometimes full, but oftenly after a few goes you get in. it is a free game after all!!