Silkroad Online

[DeeBye]

http://www.silkroadonline.net/

I've been playing this for the last couple of days, and it's pretty nice. The graphics are good (on-par with Guild Wars), the system requirements are slim, and the combat system is a breeze. Skill and spell effects are great.

Silkroad Online is in beta right now which means it's completely free to play, but from what I gather it is going to have no monthly fee when it actually launches. Unlike Guild Wars, combat areas are not instanced. This is a MMORPG in the purest sense of the word.

You can browse screenshots here. Check out some of the gameplay videos.

Please be advised that due to this being a Korean-made game, there is a heavy use of Engrish. The translation really sucks at this point, but is often hilarious.

Questing is pretty straightfoward. You talk to NPCs, pick up a quest, and slay 40 of this type of enemy or slay another type of enemy repeatedly until you get a specific quest drop. Return for your reward. I'm not very far into the game at all, so I'm sure the quests get more varied as you go along.

The interface is typical of most MMORPGs. It's quite similar to Lineage II, and easy to pick up.

One feature of Silkroad Online that I've yet to experience is one that is very important to the game. Trading. One can set up caravans to move goods from town to town and accumulate wealth, but you have to be wary about doing so. Thieves and bandits will target you, and well as other players. Apparently you can acquire a vast amount of wealth by moving trade goods along the most dangerous routes, assuming you have a good party to defend your goods.

For more information, read Wikipedia's article about Silkroad Online. It does a better job of explaining this game than I could.

Oh, the game client is about a 500MB download and the servers were very fast for me.

[Occhidiangela]

SRO

"Players can also equip 2 magical rings, 1 magical necklace and 1 pair of magical earrings (these however do not change the appearance of the character). "

I like. This has potential, though its design seems to be built with satisfying griefers in mind.

Occhi

[DeeBye]

I like.  This has potential, though its design seems to be built with satisfying griefers in mind.

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There is PVP in Silkroad, and I don't think it's limited. I was ganked trying to go to an Exorcist's house outside of the main city, but it didn't really bug me. I just respawned at the major city and continued.

Players that continually kill other players without provocation get a "murderer" tag and are dealt with by the community.

[ima_nerd]

Looks cool, downloading now. I'll edit once it gets installed and I play it a bit.

Edit: I have too little patience. The lag was hell, the pathing was seriously messed up but ... it did look like it had potential. Perhaps if they make some North American side servers by the time it goes gold I'll look into it. And by the way, the Engrish was classic :D Direct quote:

Who the hell is spreading such groundless rumors! If I catch him, I'll break his legs! Uh...I'm...I'm...ha ha ha. Hm, I am just a cute and peaceful girl...heh.heh.er... I want to reward you with that ring. Plus it's used anyways. Ho ho.

:blink:

[NiteFox]

Downloading, but only because FreeBye sez so. I just need something to tide me over 'til the GW: Factions beta event late March.

Almost there, dammit.

[Wyrm]

Anyone know what the sys reqs are?

[DeeBye]

Anyone know what the sys reqs are?
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Click the link > Game Guide > System Requirements > beware the Engrish



It runs silky smooth for me (when I can login that is). AMD Athlon 1700+, 512MB RAM, ATI Radeon 9600XT 256MB.

[NiteFox]

Well, downloaded. First character create (Mousewalk - GAH!), and have been unable to reconnect since due to "server traffic."

It's also pretty annoying that it forces a complete program close once you've failed to connect for a certain number of times.

[Ashock]

Click the link > Game Guide > System Requirements > beware the Engrish



It runs silky smooth for me (when I can login that is).  AMD Athlon 1700+, 512MB RAM, ATI Radeon 9600XT 256MB.
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Interesting requirements. The question is: If the required spec is higher than minimum, why bother with minimum since it does not meet the "required" specs and therefore is invalid........ right? I guess they meant "recommended".



-A

[ima_nerd]

I guess they meant "recommended".

The Engrish makes an appearance once again!

The specs are lower than I expected. The graphics were good, in my opinion. Like DeeBye said, on-par with Guild Wars.

[bigeyedbug]

Whoa... :ph34r:



I knew there was a reason I've always been suspicious of artichokes.

[GenericKen]

So, is there any good stratics-style reference on the differences between the skillsets? The engrish info on the website isn't very useful (not that info on game websites about skillsets are ever useful).

This is the lurkerlounge after all.

[Wyrm]

Well, I was going to sign up, but then I came across this little snicket of information in the ToS:

3. JOYMAX can use the personal information that is provided by the user during the application to use the service for service operation and other business marketing, PR, and advertisement of JOYMAX.

Thanks, but no thanks. Using my personal information for profit is pretty much the exact reason I stopped going to GameFAQs.

To be slightly fair, there was also this:

However, if the user clearly refuses to allow his/her personal information to be used, JOYMAX cannot use the user's personal information.

However, I saw no option to not allow them to use personal data for profit. If someone else sees it, let me know and I'll think about signing up. However, I'm guessing that it just refers to this:

2. The user shall give consent to share the user's personal information such as ID and contact number with JOYMAX for satisfactory service operation through the application to use the service as prescribed in paragraph 1. However, information to be shared at the application to use the service must be the user's actual information. If not, the user will not receive legal protection.

Which is basically saying they want us to enter our real names, and have a workaround if we don't. Doesn't say anything about their collecting personal information from our computers, which is what they use to make money.

I skimmed through the rest of the ToS but a lot of it was just more of the same.

[Crusader]

I'm playing it. the engrish is a major bummer. It's virtually impossible to figure out what each skill/spell exactly does until you try it out. other then that I feel the positioning engine is vastly outdated (I feel like walking on a 3d grid, somewhat like diablo 1 gone 3d). Other then that, the endless grind is... an endless grind. In other words, if yer bored with diablo 2, this may be a nice next step.

WoW > Silkroad by a factor of a thousand.

[GenericKen]

I'm playing it. the engrish is a major bummer. It's virtually impossible to figure out what each skill/spell exactly does until you try it out. other then that I feel the positioning engine is vastly outdated (I feel like walking on a 3d grid, somewhat like diablo 1 gone 3d). Other then that, the endless grind is... an endless grind. In other words, if yer bored with diablo 2, this may be a nice next step.

WoW > Silkroad by a factor of a thousand.
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Gotta agree. Got to lvl 12, and the grind is just ridiculous. 300 whites to level at such a low level, and the controls are much less responsive than d2 ever was.

[DeeBye]

I'm playing it. the engrish is a major bummer.

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Yes I pointed that out in my first post.

It's virtually impossible to figure out what each skill/spell exactly does until you try it out.

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This really doesn't differ too much from other games with unlockable skills.

other then that I feel the positioning engine is vastly outdated (I feel like walking on a 3d grid, somewhat like diablo 1 gone 3d).

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There is NO pathfinding in Silkroad. If you want to go somewhere, you have to click yourself there. This bothered me a lot at first, until I found out that you can kinda sorta use the arrow keys to run around. Click somewhere above the horizon, and you'll autorun in that direction. Use the arrow keys to get where you want to go. If you want to micromanage your position, scroll out to a long view of your character and choose a high vantage point for the camera. It's really easy to adjust to after playing for awhile.

Other then that, the endless grind is... an endless grind. In other words, if yer bored with diablo 2, this may be a nice next step.

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Yep, there is a grind in Silkroad. But it's a customizable grind. You can choose to grind for experience, skill points, or a balanced combination of them. The experience/skill point distribution in Silkroad is another topic altogether, and would appeal to lots of LL gamers. Intentionally limiting your skill point expenditure is a benefit to you down the road, at the cost of immediate gains.

WoW > Silkroad by a factor of a thousand.

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Silkroad is still in beta :)

Anyhow, I'm having a lot of fun playing Silkroad. It runs silky-smooth and is very pretty. The quests are entertaining and the battle system is fun. Plus, it has Berzerker Mode.

Here are some screenshots. Click the thumbnails for a bigger image.

[Xiuhcoatl]

SRO has a few issues that need to be addressed, but for a beta it is quite good and fun. It is not a game for everyone and it involves some heavy grinding. The quests are just icing on the cake, imo.

SRO is all about character development (acquiring skill points), not about questing, grinding for materialistic gains or power leveling. You can easily solo or play with friends and the characters have so many options that are open ended. You don't have to decide how to spec your character's skills from the start, nor do you have to maintain a static build. The only thing that should be static is how you distribute attribute points; it is best to make a pure strength or pure intellect character and not a hybrid.

This is an action game with the feel of classic diablo for me. The kill stealing can be very annoying but it can be amusing when it goes bad. I was laughing for a long time last night after a fire-glaiver successfully stole my giant (boss) mob and died as he attempted to finish off fhe adds and claim the new giant that spawned right next to us after the first one died. My character is a L18 cloth-wearing tank (blade/shield) with L9 skill mastery in blades and L5 mastery in cold who has low damage but fast attacks. I use cold for slowing/freezing mobs and can survive multiple adds easily (I did not use cold attacks after the glaiver arrived since it would help him more and adds very little damage). Anyone can easily outdamage me and steal my kill (even when I am berserking) over time and usually it doesn't take long =P.

The glaiver didn't have a chance to grab the loot he stole from me (loot is tagged for 1 minute) by taking my kill and got nothing but an xp penalty for dying. Well, that is not entirely correct since a character does not lose sp's at death so he kept what few he earned. I leisurely cleared the area and collected all the loot.

SRO has a lot of potential and the skill trees seem balanced. Party tactics are different from other games I've played and will be a fun challenge to master.