Under normal circumstances, this would be my least favorite part of the Christmas holidays – having to watch those holidays wind down and make way for second semester. However, for reasons that sound an awful lot like first-graders bickering in a sandbox at recess, my teachers are on strike, the school’s been locked up, and 50,000 students have been stuck at home for nearly two months with little to do other than do readings and work on assignments and essays that may never be marked.
Granted, there’s only so much of that you can do before either you run out of things to do or your brain starts to leak from your ears. So, now that getting to bed at a sensible time has fallen a bit on my list of priorities thanks to being able to wake up at 10AM, I’ve been taking the opportunity to flex my long-inactive gaming muscle.
I started Perfect World International some time in November. An MMORPG that originated in Southeast Asia, Perfect World is based heavily on Chinese mythology and places the player, as a member of one of three warring races – the airborne “elder race” of the Elves, the neutral anthropomorphic Untamed, and the “upstart” Humans – in the heart of a conflict that requires each race to put aside their own issues with each other and unite against a force far larger and more dangerous than themselves.
As MMOs go, Perfect World doesn’t have anything particularly stunning in terms of game dynamics. You’ve got your quests, your stats and skill sets, your multiplayer territory-defending/team-attacking endeavors, and all the other elements of the average RPG – none in any eye-popping, jaw-dropping, show-stopping brilliance. PW, however, has a particularly fine aesthetic sense, especially for a free game. This is most prominent in the character customization system, which boasts endless possibilities for your hero’s appearance, from facial features to coloring to makeup (except if your hero is a Barbarian, in which case you’re stuck as a tiger-dude, a wolf-dude, or a panda-dude who is honestly far too cute to be wielding such large and spiky implements of destruction). If your character doesn’t feel like wandering the world of Pangu in their armor (which, by the way, is quite nicely designed), you have the option of purchasing or crafting customizable clothing, affording you all the protection of your armor of choice with style. The backdrop against which PW’s cosmic drama unfolds is also particularly beautiful and wonderfully detailed, from the buildings in each city to the terrain crossed in-between. At the very least, having something pretty to look at makes flying from city to city a bit less of a drudgery for Elf characters.
Taking a departure from my usual MMORPG habits, I’ve decided to try all of the classes – even the ones I usually can’t stand playing. Normally, I hate playing spellcasters. Especially cleric-type spellcasters. My usual modus operandi in solo and group play situations is to tank the party while dishing out tons of damage. I used to play Ragnarok Online on a free server with some friends, and because they’d all chosen their classes before I got there, I got screwed into being the acolyte, and would usually somehow get myself killed before I could get a single Heal off. This was usually because I was somewhat new to the idea of supporting a party and thus kept forgetting that as a particularly weak and squishy support character, I have no business running up to the monsters and trying to smack them silly. Later on I was able to start up a Paladin, but by the time I hit the grinding levels (if I remember correctly, I didn’t make it past level 25 or so), two things had happened: school began, and I had become quite bored with the game. Due to constraints on time and technology, that was the last MMO I played for a good long while.
And then I got a laptop. And then we went on strike.
When I first started PWI, I ran right to the Blademaster – and ran right into the same problem of getting bored before the game could really get going. I deleted her and, for a challenge, started up three of those pesky spellcasting classes I really hate. At around the same time, I discovered the skill tree (and also discovered that that’s where I’d gone wrong with my Blademaster and with game dynamics in general – of course you’d be learning your skills from a Master and not just making them up as you go along!). Put the two together, and stand amazed as baddies explode before getting close enough to smack you silly.
I discovered the above using my Wizard. PW’s Wizards master a variety of fire-, water-, and earth-elemental spells that do damage, afflict status effects, and affect the Wizard’s physical and magical defense. The Wizard was lots of fun – fire was my element of choice, most of the time – but statistically I was far too spread-out, with skill points in places I’d never need them (honestly, when is a Wizard ever going to need Strength?) and too much money and Spirit points (gathered from killing monsters and completing quests) invested in skills I would likely never need past level 1 (since fire was my element of choice, levelling up water spells was superfluous). As a result, things weren’t exploding fast enough, and poor Jerith did a lot more running than casting.
The Venomancer was just ridiculous. Venomous Scarab, her starting skill, has a wicked-fast cast and cooldown time even at level 1, and on top of that most of the monsters I’d run into with my Veno didn’t have Wood resistance. Throw in an attacking pet, and I could stand there, spam VS to my heart’s content while my wolf keeps the baddies at bay, and come out completely unscathed. If I’m feeling a little melee action for my Veno, I can switch to her Fox Form and kick butt up close with a nice boost to physical strength. To top it all off, I made her a catgirl. Baka Neko for the win. \o/
Surprisingly, my highest-leveled character is Sivaya, my level 17… wait for it… Cleric. (“Reenie, you bloody hypocrite, you!”)
Sivaya was the product of several things coming into play. First off, after working with the two aforementioned classes, the spellcaster’s code of “You are too squishy to hit things up close” finally sunk in. Secondly, I started reading class guides so I wouldn’t waste my stat points, Spirit, and money on abilities I wouldn’t need. Thirdly, the PW Cleric differs from typical healer-type classes in that he (or she) possesses offensive magic that doesn’t suck. For example, FF’s White Mage characters only reach their offensive potential in the Holy/Pearl spell series, which are powerful but magically costly and usually unavailable until later levels. Traditional healers have the option of Heal-bombing Dark-aligned and undead monsters, and in the case of Ragnarok Online the Priest and High Priest classes possess devastating magic that could rip the zombie hordes a new one or two. Unfortunately, the very obvious drawback here is that unless you feel like explaining to your party just why you felt the need to Heal the boss they’ve been hacking at for half an hour, you will be limited to brandishing your shiny holy powers on the undead.
In contrast, PW’s basis on Chinese mythology means that we’re dealing with the five Chinese elements as opposed to the Western four – fire, water, and earth compose the Wizard’s skill set, the Venomancer’s spells are all Wood-aligned, and this leaves the Cleric with the element of Metal. In PW, this translates into two things: light, which doesn’t hurt, and lightning, which very obviously does. This is illustrated in the Cleric’s two available starting skills – Blessing Of The Purehearted, a quick-fix healing spell that is rendered obsolete by a far more potent healing skill just a few levels later, and Plume Shot, a Metal-elemental magic arrow that becomes the Cleric’s offensive bread-and-butter (and, admittedly, looks pretty damn cool). A high MAG stat and loads of MP allow Clerics at the earliest levels to use their innate MP-dependent flight ability to their heart’s content, as the speedy MP regen rate outruns the MP drain on Elf wings. Travel might be a little slow at first, but at least it’s free.
On top of that, I have found that in-game Clerics tend not to be jerks. Those that I’ve run into while on the daily grind or quest track like to buff me even though I’m perfectly capable of doing so myself (if only at a much lower capacity). It’s nice to know that not everyone out there’s a self-absorbed jackass. ^^
I find that I’m a little bit underwhelmed by PW’s physical classes – the Blademaster, Archer and Barbarian. I’ve only recently restarted my Blademaster, and so far she’s doing a lovely job of cutting things to little bits and not getting hurt. My only complaint is that her skills still require MP and I run out of that just a little too fast. Perhaps a reassessment of my skill spamming is in order.
I wasn’t happy with the Archer at all. I’m dealing negligible damage and getting skewered right and left. It’s quite sad. This will most likely clear up in a few levels’ time, but I don’t know if I have that kind of patience. My Barbarian’s about the same; stuff is dying, I’m not getting hurt, but my hit rate is absolutely atrocious no matter how many points I pump into DEX. An increased damage output isn’t worth having to watch that annoying little “Miss!” bubble pop up every other hit. Once again, my Barb’s at a very low level, and these problems will most likely clear up in a few levels’ time, but again, I don’t know if I have that kind of patience.
Overall, if you’re looking for some light MMO fare without the soul-sucking tendencies of the big players in the RPG genre, a foray into the Perfect World may be just what you need.
