The game that has been clamoring in the gaming circle for more than half a year, Sword Star, which has been launched as the orthodox sequel to “Greasy Senior Sister” from the beginning, is finally online. How many hours have you guys been playing?
However, it was overshadowed by the brilliance of Sword Star, so that not many people probably paid attention to another news – (I don't know if it was due to the popularity) Sword and Soul Classic Server was launched on April 25, the day before Sword Star.
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You read that right, this Sword Spirit is the Sword Spirit that the current Sword Star producer “Jin Hengtai” made when he was the art director more than ten years ago.
According to common sense, there is nothing to talk about in the retro servers of each game. They are mainly for old players. Those who really want to play this game, like Xiaofa, have played it several years ago.
The reason why I want to talk about this game today is mainly because the game Blade and Soul is so unique, so unique that even if you have never played this game, it still has an impact on many people.
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Just like many players have heard of the term “greasy senior sister” that was born from junk web game advertisements, but perhaps not many people noticed that the picture in the advertisement is actually that of Blade and Soul.
It’s okay to say that Sword Spirit is the originator of “greasy senior sister”. . .
After contributing this indelible meme to the gaming industry, Blade and Soul, a living fossil of the Internet, was reincarnated in the form of a nostalgic server. There are also many players who come to remember their lost youth.
In addition to the rapidly scrolling messages about team formation, small group recruitment, and liver-level training messages in the chat window, the most obvious proof of the large number of people is probably the fact that half of the servers were full as soon as the server opened.
Of course, the possibility of hidden soldiers cannot be ruled out.
There are a total of six servers in the Blade & Soul Classic Server, and three of them have been on strike since then, directly restricting players from creating accounts in these three servers.
Fortunately, the remaining three servers were marked as crowded, but we could still go in and play, otherwise the players would have scolded them.
So, what are the differences between this nostalgic server version of Sword Spirit and the original version, which is similar to the ghost server?
Xiaofa went up to experience it himself. On the character creation page, the classic server is the same as the original version. Players can still choose from four races: human, dragon, spirit, and sky. At the same time, different races can unlock different professions.
For example, if the Eldar is as small as a little fox, if you ask him to carry a big knife and fight for his life, Newton will have to get up from the coffin and punch you.
However, unlike the original version, which has 15 professions to choose from, the Classic version only has 7 professions to choose from.
Since it is said to be a nostalgic server, the current version of the game is actually the “Water Moon Plain” version that players experienced in 2013-2014.
Old players may have almost forgotten what the Water Moon Plains version is, but they should still remember the boss of the Sea Snake Supply Base copy in the Water Moon Plains, Cannon Orchid.
In the first picture at the beginning, there is a trailer poster for the Sword and Soul Classic Server. On the right is Qin Yijue, the villain who runs through the plot, and on the left is the loli Cannon Lan carrying a Gatling drum. You can imagine this poster. How ridiculously popular you are.
In 2014, the game had a special topic on Cannon Orchid, and also released a virtual singer model of Cannon Orchid, which is absolutely treated like a biological daughter.
As for the plot of the game, it is really too long. A guy from Station B talked about the plot for twelve episodes, which adds up to more than three hours.
You can simply understand that the protagonist returns to the sect after training one day, only to find that there is a mole in the sect, causing the villain Qin Yijue to invade with his two younger brothers and a group of monsters.
A bunch of brothers and sisters died in the battle, and the master died trying to save the protagonist. The protagonist was knocked off the mountain gate and fell into the sea, but thanks to a boating uncle who passed by, he rescued him.
Taking this as an opportunity, players begin to come into contact with many characters and slowly understand this martial arts world full of imperial intrigues and martial arts disputes.
Although the nostalgic server is a fried rice, it does not mean that it cannot be eaten if it is fried well.
It didn't make any changes to the plot, but made some improvements in other aspects.
For example, in the original version, player skills are divided into three factions, and different factions have different combat methods by adding points.
In the nostalgic server, skill points are three systems integrated into one. Skills are closely related to the character's equipment. If you like the bonus of any skill, just buy the corresponding equipment.
In addition to skills, Blade and Soul Classic Server probably also stole the gameplay from a wave of friends and implemented a season system to adapt to the times.
Giving players a sense of freshness is one thing, but more importantly, another official statement said: “After the iteration of the season system, the equipment that Ganoderma has already obtained will not be discarded, but equipment with higher ability values will appear in the new season. equipment.”
My personal understanding is that it will probably be like DNF in the end, and the numerical gap between players will expand to an extremely high level at the end of each version.
At this time, the update of the new version and new equipment allows everyone to start making new equipment, which is equivalent to narrowing the gap between players until the next version (season) arrives and the next cycle begins.
The changes are not limited to the above, but also include UI optimization, accelerated growth, etc.
But you know, in the horse server, the most noteworthy thing is the economic system.
Many players have already analyzed the economic system of Blade and Soul Classic Server. If you are interested, you can click on the picture below to have a look. I will not go into details here.
Otherwise, Xiaofa will write a stinky and long paper, and you will have to doze off and ask me if I want to take the postgraduate entrance examination.
To summarize briefly, in the Blade and Soul Classic Server, RMB can be exchanged for all materials, but materials cannot be exchanged for RMB. The businessman has finally sent it, and the gangsters can go to sleep.
Whether the above changes are good or not, you won’t be able to tell for a while. After all, the server has just been launched, and players are still relatively new to it. I guess everyone’s focus is just to look at the screen.
The graphics of Blade & Soul Classic Server are pretty good, after all, the Unreal Engine 4 engine is used directly to replace the original Unreal Engine 3 engine.
The mountains, the water, the fourth senior sister who died at the beginning of the plot, everything was so clear that I began to wonder if the Blade and Soul I played more than ten years ago was not 720p.
While the graphics have been upgraded, the game has also been optimized a lot.
At least my laptop has an AMD Ryzen7 4800H CPU and an RTX 2060 graphics card. In the full 4k quality mode, the frame rate is basically stable at 30 frames.
Although comparing it to stand-alone games is a bit bullying, my computer is running the next-generation version of The Witcher 3 with 4k resolution. Let alone PPT, it can freeze when entering the game and crash immediately.
Of course, the game is not without incredible optimizations.
For example, in the original Blade and Soul, if you encounter this kind of rune door that represents the boundary of the map, even if you are entering and exiting the house, even if you can see what the other side is doing, there will be obvious lags due to loading game resources.
In the classic server, this “feature”, which is probably caused by the underlying code, has been successfully retained.
To be honest, I can understand the above. What I can't understand is that there is no full screen option in the game. I searched over and over but couldn't find it.
Yes, this is a game from 2024, no! able! Complete! Screen!
Gamers should all know that not being able to go full screen means that your frame rate when playing games will be low because your computer has to consume resources to render other desktop programs besides games.
Can this problem be solved? able. You can spend some money to upgrade the hardware or simply buy a new computer, but I guess you won't be happy.
So, having said all that, is this game fun?
This is actually not a question. Is it fun or not? The development of Sword Spirit in the past ten years has already told everyone the answer.
At the beginning, Blade & Soul was the hottest new star in the gaming circle at that time. It was regarded as the successor of DNF and the absolute overlord who stepped onto the altar of League of Legends.
But as time went by, it seemed that before the players could recover, the Sword Spirit disappeared from sight. No one praised or scolded it, even though it was still alive and well.
A few years ago, a mobile game called Blade and Soul: Revolution was released, and now, a few years later, reservations for Blade and Soul 2 have also been opened.
But just like the Sword and Soul Classic Server, many people may not know these things even if Xiaofa doesn’t tell them.
This IP is quietly hidden, and every once in a while, someone comes forward and asks why it is out of date.
Just like JJ Lin's senior brother Adu in the music industry, he is always active, but people are always asking him why he doesn't release new songs.
Back to the question, is Blade & Soul Classic Server fun?
Ten years ago, the answer was yes. A third-test account of Sword and Soul could be sold for 1,500 on Taobao. Even so, the supply was still in short supply.
But in 2024, new players will most say that Blade & Soul is a big IP. As for whether it is fun or not, that is another matter.
History is constantly moving forward. How can a primitive man who thawed out from the polar regions use the skills of hunting mammoths to type on the keyboard?
No matter what game it is, the retro server follows the same path as its predecessors, and its ending has been framed.
However, for old players, the symbolic meaning of Blade and Soul Classic Server may be more important than its playability.
Who would have thought at the time that a Hongmen disciple's sword of cultivation could be so sharp that it could cut youth from the beginning to the end.
The past time has disappeared forever, but at least in the game, we can start again.