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Sword of the New World

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Area: North America,Europe
Official Site: Sword of the New World
Publisher: K2 Networks
Developer: IMC Games
Platform: Microsoft Windows

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Overview

"Sword of the New World" is a 3D fantasy MMORPG with amazing graphics and a mind-blowing soundtrack that allows you to control three characters, and create your own family.

Features

Can control 3 characters
Great graphics
Simple game play
Beautiful music

Area: North America,Europe
Official Site: Sword of the New World
Publisher: K2 Networks
Developer: IMC Games
Platform: Microsoft Windows

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Review

Reviewed by Mister White

Sword of the New World is the North American title for a popular Korean MMORPG originally titled Granado Espada. When players first launch the game they'll be asked to type in a family name which acts as a last name for all future characters on that server. After creating their first character players begin the game aboard a ship. After talking to the nearest NPC players are escorted to a tutorial port. At this time, the game's amazing graphics and music will make themselves apparent. I don't think I was ever compelled to stand still and just listen to the music in a MMO before playing Sword of the New World. We're talking professionally composed music here. Unfortunately, the tutorial experience isn't anywhere near as well done as the music or graphics. Most of the tutorial NPCs have worthless dialogue and the few tutorial missions require you to run from one NPC to the next in order to get a certificate, a license, and then a signature to make the documents official.

I guess if the designers were trying to emulate the bureaucratic mess that goes along with a new colony they did a good job. Unlike most Korean or foreign games, the translations in SotNW are accurate but are still not worth reading. Once you're through with your paperwork quests, it is best to ignore any further NPC conversations and just head out the Queen's Gate into the beginner hunting grounds. It is best to have all three characters be different classes in order to reap the rewards of their varied strengths and to minimize their weaknesses. To clarify, the scout class in Sword of the New World acts as the healer. It is important to have a fighter to act as a tank, a healer isn't required until later in the game where monsters are difficult. Players can create multiple characters and swap them in and out of thier parties freely so don't worry too much about the innitial set up. Combat in Sword of the New World consists of the standard point and click interface. It is important to have characters in group formation so orders can be issued to all of them at once. Players can click their charaacters individually to issue separate commands for actions such as looting. Recently the game was patched to remove a key feature: auto attack. This feature was removed to prevent AFK leveling but it makes playing honestly much more difficult. Players can still command their group to auto attack by clicking an icon but the icon must be reclicked every time the party moves. Must of the character customization was also removed. Each class and gender used to have dozens of clothing and dress options which were varied and looked great.

Now, each class has one set of clothing and no customization. In order to change character appearance, players must now either craft clothing or buy it at the cash shop. Even with these small gripes, the graphics, music, and family system make Sword of the New World one of the best free to play MMORPGs available. If the developers can be persuaded to reintroduce the key features they removed, I would consider Sword of the New World a must play.