Starting Out

If you are familiar with online gaming, the setup is very simple. First of all, you need to have the Seven Swords App. Chances are good that if you are reading this, you already have the app, so I won't linger on this step beyond mentioning that searching "7swords" or "sevenswords" in the App Store. I think they have better search tags than they had in the past, but when I originally downloaded Prologue and gave it a try for the first time, I had to try several search angles to come up with the game I was looking for. So that's enough app lessons, if you've had an iPod for longer than an hour, you know how to
get apps.

Next, you create an account and set-up your character. I may discuss the character roles in another post, but they essentially follow the archetypal dynamic of swordsman, shooter, mage, and healer. Seven Swords calls them the Gladiator, Scout, Sorcerer(?), and Cleric. Since they are explained in the game itself, I'll reduce text here by letting the player learn by doing. My first character was a gladiator, but I understand that the scout might be easier for clever beginners, since terrain can offer distinct advantages to ranged attacks against monsters.

Anyway, part of character creation is the selection of the nation you wish to belong to. There is no advantage or disadvantage to the nation you choose; it's primarily a matter of aesthetics on the part of the player. The game does a good job of showing the type of country each nation represents in the choosing screen, where the background will shift to the climate of the nation selected. When I began, I chose Nox, since it was not available in the beta or in Prologue. I will also note here that you are limited to the territory of your nation during regular play. So if you like the look of one land more than the others, that's the one you should choose, since most of your time leveling in your home field. The villages, (or capitols) on the other hand, are freely accessible to everyone and it is there that one will find the shops, quest counter, and lots of other players wandering around.

Once character creation is complete, you log-in and the game presents a map screen. The first load of this map takes a considerable amount of time, but it loads much faster subsequently as long as you're logged-in.
I'll note here that the maps and shops are the same on both servers (Japan's Initium) and (USA's Secondium) and you can log onto either one any time you play. However, the course of the game may be very different between the two parallel worlds. Different wars, arrangement of territories, and players may be found on either server. Some find this redundant or confusing, but since free movement between servers is as easy as logging in, I find that it increases variety and the opportunity for finding profitable wars in progress. (More on that later).

Now that you're in the game, you may select any one of your country's fields, which are denoted by icons of your nation's color. Sometimes, successful wars can allow access to other nations' territories, but you're usually stuck within your country's borders while experience grinding.

Before I close this post, I would like to also mention that in-game combat has an in-game tutorial care of the quest counter girl (Quest Manager), whose shiny armor and delightfully fluid bust will undoubtedly attract the attention of new players.


Take it slow and you'll be leveling-up in no time!