Monday 18 August 2008

Pic of the day: As I'm not yet sure how to take pictures in the game, I "borrowed" a part from one of Gamespot's pics. Not sure if they took it themselves or if it was a promo from the gaming company. It looks awfully similar to their promo pictures, but it could well be taken in the actual game.

Zu Online (and Immortals)

In this amazing new world where we live, it is possible to play large role playing games online for free. A company called IGG has a number of them, all of them somewhat cheaper looking than the expensive subscription games like City of Heroes or Age of Conan. But the value for money is obviously excellent, and rarely more so than with Zu Online.

As you may see from the picture, the artwork in this game is drawn in an oriental style where the landscape is somewhat watercolor-like, while the character are more painted-like. There are also aura effects, which have surprisingly little slowdown effect on the game. I can play it easily on a laptop, though I suppose older machines may have problems. It certainly requires less expensive hardware than the expensive games, and is quite pretty if you prefer the artwork over photorealism.

The Oriental style in much of the art is typical of the entire game. It is developed by Chinese and translated (reasonably well) into English. (You can see that it is translated from some Asian language because of certain typical phrasing differences, but it is understandable.) But more importantly, it is based on Taoist mythos rather than the elves and dwarves of most western RPGs.

Like other religions, Taoism has a "pure" philosophy that can be understood fairly rationally, and a mythology that is fantastical and tends to grow over time. A fairly central part of the mythology is the belief in "Immortals", which are somewhat similar to angels in the Abramic religions, but which are probably seen as former humans who have transcended their humanity. To become immortal is the goal for a certain subset of Taoists, but as far as I know this does not happen while skeptics are watching. There are still many stories about people who became immortal in the past, though I am not sure how official these stories are. I have read however that it was about the Immortals Lao-Tzu famously spoke in the Tao Te Ching: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

The Immortals are generally seen as saintly, but not necessarily. By adhering to the rules one can become immortal through technique rather than grace, so to speak, and so there will naturally be factions among the Immortals. Even so, I believe the game is rather out of bounds with its focus on combat between groups of Immortals. After all, Lao-Tzu says: "The sages are invincible, because they do not compete."

The Immortals are basically people who have refined their souls and in that way achieved superpowers, only one of which is the actual immortality, although it is probably the most coveted. Another is flight: Zu Online is the only game other than City of Heroes that I know of to have aerial combat.

The duality of spiritual progress and manifested powers runs though the game. While the actual fighting is very similar to western RPGs (kill X number of mostly harmless animals, move on to harder enemies over time), it is all placed in a different context. The quests focus on chivalry, beauty and modesty. Rather than lash out in anger, you kill the enemies to release their spirit. As expected by the religion that made the yin-yang symbol, a chaste interplay between men and women are also part of the mix.

This also extends to the players: There are two classes for female players and three for male. They are quite distincts, and the greatest works require men and women to work together to achieve a "trap break" (probably what we know elsewhere as "limit break".) Actual quote: Lovable and outgoing girls tend to want to help other people and bring joy to people around them. Similarly, the Bead Fairy were designed to be the go-to girls for help in group combat. Whether this involves increasing defense and attack power, healing or their thrilling “Trap- Break Strategy” they are indispensable. In addition, with their cute, pretty looks, a Bead Fairy could turn the head of any Swordsman or Sun Warrior.

Yes, like any Asian game, "cute" is an important part of this game. It is not the cutest game I have seen, but I heartily agree with the description of Bead Fairies. The painting-like art does nothing to reduce their cuteness. The pets are also super cute, especially when young. They grow more powerful over time (although I have a problem with making mine grow) and become more manly as their powers grow. But when young, they are small and very cute.

The game is also commendable because of the auto-travel. You can select a quest location or quest person, or simply a point on the map, and your character will run or fly there on his own. This works fine in the newbie zone, where you are not attacked. I assume you will need to be more alert in other zones. In any case, you can stop the auto-travel at any point if you see something you want to deal with. But I used it to sort through the loot.

Things you find can be "vendor trash", things only suited to sell for coin. Or they can be raw materials for crafting (the game has a complete crafting system). Finally, you may find weapons and armor. These can only be used by one of the five classes each, and can have any number of magical properties. I was lucky to find fairly early a sword with a heap of extras: It had a long list of small "chance to" do extra damage of various sorts, and a couple more dramatic effects that happen every time. Even though I have later found other swords with more basic damage, they don't have the many bonus effects and are not as valuable.

As a swordsman, I expected to hack and slash at arm's length, but not so. The sword you see is not the real sword. It is merely a focus for your will. Swordsmen attack at range, letting their spirit sword fly out from their will to deal damage at a distance. Like all Immortals, they also have access to various other magic spells, although these are gradually unlocked over time. Spells are also upgraded over your lifetime, which covers 240 levels at this time. In addition to upgrading your spells, you gain talents, and of course new and better items.

All of this is free, but IGG has a shop that sells you various ingame benefits, like double leveling speed, for real cash. So you play for free, get hooked and pay to make the most out of the game. I don't have a problem with that.

I don't have the time to play this game as much as I would like. My gaming time is already full, so I had to take some of my Sims 2 time to test it. But I recommend it, especially if you have a slightly older machine or if you have an interest in Asian culture. And of course if you have more time than money. ^^ Get it for free at Zu.IGG.com.

As for the Immortals, I now have the inspiration for yet another novel. Needless to say, chances are very small of it ever getting written, much less published. Which may be a bit of a loss. The world need more tales about people who transcend their humanity. Of course, even better if the tales were true. But that is another story for another day.