Selecting From Multiple Installed Skills

It came to my attention in talking to a friend of mine that it is not readily apparent how one is to select skills from weapons possessing multiple skills.

I suppose most of the mainstream players are probably still using weapons with single skills attached, so the idea of shifting skills might never have crossed their minds. However, I'm sure that many of the more experienced players have already discovered the need for being able to shift skills at will according to whatever situation they may encounter.

Assuming you have a weapon with a skill other than the original attached, switching between them is relatively easy. Basically, all you do is touch the skill (with gladiators, the primary skill for the beginner's weapon is Counter) and slide your finger a little to the left. A string of skills will slide out, showing any skills you have installed on your weapon. If you want a certain skill, touch it on the list and it will occupy your skill icon beneath the attack icon. Pretty simple, and really handy if you feel the need to toggle between equally useful skills on the fly.

Installing New Skills

Installing a skill on a weapon is relatively easy, but the method is not readily apparent, or exceedingly intuitive.

It's important to remember that many of the skills in the game are connected with the weapons your character wields. Skills installed on a given weapon are there for good and replacement skills are actually quite expensive using in-game currency.

To install a skill to a weapon, one must first access the "bag" and find the weapon in the inventory list. Touch the weapon to view its stats. When the stat window appears on the right, you should see a very small set of icons "Set, Build, Fix" Fix allows you to restore durability points using repair hammers (I hope to cover this in a later entry). Build allows you to increase the potency of a weapon using build hammers (I may talk about this in another post, but I haven't toyed with this feature very much, since it costs so much gran). Finally, "set" allows you to add skills. In order for Set to work, you must have free slots on your weapon (indicated in the stats) and you must have an unassigned skill 'item' in your inventory.

Touch the tiny Set icon to access the skill installation dialog box. There you will see your available skills on the left and your available slots on the right. Select the skill you want to install and confirm it. Done! You now should be able to use your new skill in the field. Congrats!

The Seven Store

One of the best and worst things about free-to-play MMORPG's is the ability to use real-world money to make your characters superior to those of the penniless bums out there trying to hack out a living with purely in-game equipment and resources. I have played the online games on both sides of that fence, which is why I say it's the best/worst part of the genre. On the one side, it supports the publisher and keeps updates and events coming, on the other side, it let's rich noobz buy stuff that's vastly superior to the junk that took you 100 game hours to earn, just because they have more money or less self-control than you do. If that kind of thing irritates you, then know that I'm right there with you- like I said, I've played both sides of that argument.

Seven Swords uses an old, but effective method to keep this in check, so if you're thinking of winning the next war single-handedly by dropping some coins on some high-end gear for your new character, keep reading. All the gear in the game is leveled, meaning you need to be a certain level to equip it. You can save yourself some headache by checking the level (and gender) of any gear you find by looking at the item's stats. This is pretty straightforward in shops, but you can also check item stats in your inventory "bag" by selecting your bag, then touching the item in your inventory list. The stats will show everything about the item, including a little bow, sword, staff, or mace in red or blue. Red indicators mean that the item is for the females of a given character class, while blue means it's for the boys. If a bit of equipment can be equipped by either gender, both red and blue will be present side-by-side.

It's important to keep classes, genders, and your personal level in mind when shopping for gear (especially in the Seven Store), otherwise you might waste time and money. Even techniques have class assignments and are usually unique to a single class.


So, to recap; a level 10 gladiator could hypothetically buy a level 20 Viking Sword, but would not be able to use it until he got to level 20. However, a level 20 scout would not be able use it. It would be cool if one could change classes or switch weapons, but it's just an iPod game, so Seven Swords deserves a little slack for simplicity. Furthermore, foolish purchases a the seven store can't be redeemed and if you try to sell a useless Seven Store mistake-purchase to the item shop, you'll quickly find that it's not worth much. (usually nothing) So, be an informed shopper.

Moving right along, the Seven Store uses coins, rather than the in-game currency (Gran). Coins cost real money, which comes from your iTunes account, so whatever you use to pay for apps and mp3 files, you will be using to pay for coins. Now, I'm a world-traveller (which is why I play games and write articles on an iPod instead of a PC in my office) and if you happen to be playing this game from a country other than the continental USA or the beautiful Japanese archipelago, you may find that your coin purchases are declined. I first noticed this when traveling in Asia. But don't lose heart! The fix for this is actually pretty simple. Just dial into a US or Japanese VPN with your iPhone or iPod, then give it a try. It works for me. I use a pay-service VPN for various things while I do my thing abroad, but there are lots of free VPN's out there to try. Here's a search link for your convenience. VPN Search (hopefully you're using Firefox. If not, for shame! Download it for free and start using the Internet the way it was intended.


Ahem... well anyway, once you have coins to buy and a purchase in mind, the Seven Store works just like any in-game item shop. Choose your item and buy. The similarity ends once the purchase is made, since purchased items do not go directly into your inventory. They go to the My Delivery girl next to the Seven Store girl. So you'll have to exit the Seven Store once you have made a purchase and redeem it at the girl next door. Why is it arranged like this? Simple, so you never encounter full-inventory issues and so you can by items for your alternate characters and pick them up when you log in and one of them. It's a pretty solid system.

Naturally, Asobimo wants you to buy items, since that goes to funding the game, but don't be frivolous and take your time. A new player should not be shopping the Seven Store for anything but repair hammers until about level 20. But once you get closer to your level cap, you may decide that some of the mods available at the Seven Store are just what you need to own the enemy. I think some of the items like the level cap modifier and the inventory increaser are actually pretty awesome items. 

Lastly, the Seven Store also has "event items" that are displayed on the official website. If you have money in the real world and your characters are at a high enough level, some of these costumes and weapons can be pretty cool. For my own part, however, I generally avoid spending real-world money in games; the effects can be addictive.

War!

This was initially an aspect of MMORPG gameplay that I would usually try to avoid. I always hated to get greased by a level 80 veteran player within the first 30 seconds of my first player-vs.-player sortie. Seven Swords manages this well, even compared to some full-featured PC MMORPG games, so there is a lot more for newbies to do on the battlefield than fight and get pwned. In fact, wars are probably the most rewarding pursuit in the game and can payoff whether you win or lose, provided that you make an effort.



Before I go any further, I should note that there is an in-game tutorial for surviving Seven Swords' real-time warfare. I would encourage the reader to check that out at the quest counter, if you haven't already. Two reasons why it's a good idea to run through that before engaging in wars - first, it explains what's going on with hands-on examples, which is more than I can do in this iPod game blog (most of which I have actually written from my iPod, thus limiting content to some extent by default); second, I'm taking it for granted that you're going to check it out, so I'm not going to take time to discuss the stuff a player can learn from the tutorial, so you might miss out by just reading this or just going on gamer instinct. Besides, the in-game tutorial "quest" is only like a minute long - and if you're an MMORPG gamer, you probably have more spare time than most anyway. ^^

Anyway, why is war significant? In the world of Seven Swords, it is a primary dynamic of the game itself. Monster hunting is fun, but rarely yields lucrative loot, and can be a little tedious when trying to get to higher and higher levels. Anyone who has played Halo, Call of Duty, or even Bomberman DS knows that online play with (and against) other human players is where the real challenge lies. That aspect aside, Seven Swords encourages players to wage war by offering several unique perks for warlike nations and players.

First, winning a war earns your country territory. That means bragging rights, but more importantly, it means a chance to hunt and exp-grind in previously inaccessible areas.

Second, you get bonus experience and money regardless of whether your side wins or loses (but much more if you win). It is hands-down the fastest way to earn money in the game- and the game world is just like the real world, everyone wants money and the stuff it can buy; the more, the better.

Third, your participation is ranked according to that of every player in the battle. Win or lose, your contribution to the battle counts for something and the top three or four ranking players in a given category get seals which can be used to brand your character with a title. If you see other players with titles like "Killmaster" or "Dead Expert" under their names, that's where they got them - fighting in a war somewhere. Ah, and a quick caveat to the seal deal, if you don't want to use a seal you've earned, you can sell them at the item shop for about 1,000 gran a piece. Few bits of loot can earn so much in one sale, so seals indirectly refer back to the second benefit I mentioned: war = money. (kinda like real life) ^^;;

Another interesting facet of the wars system is the frequency with which they occur. This refers back to another post where I noted the usefulness of having two parallel sever universes to log into. The host countries (in the real world) are on opposite sides of the planet, so there is always someone playing somewhere and wars rate almost constantly during the weekends. Once you're hooked on the iPhone's 7Swords PVP goodness, the frequent chances to participate in wars (even wars between countries other than your own) will help to satisfy your appetite and fill your pockets.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, you don't lose any experience when you get PK'd (props if you caught the Hack.Sign reference), or killed by another player in wars, so feel free to go all out. You can even get a seal if you were killed more than anyone else in a battle! ^^ 

So get out there and die for your country - or make the other poor fools die for theirs!

Leveling-Up

There are numerous strategies for raising a balanced character, and just as many for creating characters with extreme stats in one or two areas. I tend to just push for raw strength or magic until I get into upper levels, since items can supplement defense - but to each his own. Leveling in Seven Swords is as easy as gathering experience, which is as simple as defeating monsters (you can gain huge experience and money in successful wars, but I'll cover that in the war post). The areas closest to your Capitol city are the mildest, growing tougher as you move toward the center of the map. In Nox, the easiest monster is a blue Slime. Take one out for about 38exp. No money, but experience. Get enough and you level up.

Most people should be thinking, "Well, duh - it's an MMORPG, fool! Everyone knows how to grind experience," verily, thou speakest truly~ however, there is a snag that some players miss when leveling for first time. It's called the "Status-up button" and it appears in your Status menu each time you achieve a higher level. It is by assigning your status points that you develop your character. Without using that, you can level up all you want and you'll stay about the same in combat.

So, beginners: remember to check your status when you earn a Level Up; assigning stat points is where the real power comes from.

To elaborate for those who may not initially find the indicators to be obvious, touching the status up button in your status menu opens a simple dialog box that allows you to assign your newly earned stat point(s) to one of three principal attributes governing your character's in-game fighting ability. It's basically Strength, Defense, and Magic. Choose wisely, as I do not believe you can get the points back once your choice is confirmed. Naturally, the two physical fighters (gladiator and scout) will benefit greatly from strength increases, while the mages (sorcerer and cleric) benefit from magic boosts. Both can benefit from defense, but this is more dependent upon your fighting style than anything else (like I said, there are a lot of strategies). The gladiator and the cleric are the two ends of the spectrum, but both tend to benefit from defense more than the other two. The scout and sorcerer will rarely enter melée combat if they are played normally, so defense is not such a big deal, but gladiators will always be on the front lines and clerics are always targets because of their weak combat skills and their ability to keep aggressive allies fighting with their healing abilities. That is not to say that gladiators have no need of magic- some prefer to fight with a ranged attack. That grows more powerful the higher your magic level grows. Meanwhile, a cleric with a decent strength stat can be a potent threat to unprepared enemies. How you choose to boost your stats is up to you, I'm just here to remind newbies that it is there, so they don't get discouraged or give up while status-up points sit unused in their status menus.

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!

Introduction

This is the first post of the new blog dedicated to Seven Swords (aka 7swords) the original first-person fantasy style  MMORPG for iPod and iPhone. As the first post, it seems only right that I introduce the game here as a precursor to all the other information I hope to add as time goes on.

First, this is not the official website for the game, nor is it the official blog. The game website can be found here (Official Site) there is an English page and is useful for event announcements, etc. The whole site is top polish, as would be expected for a Japanese game publisher like Asobimo.

There is a link to the game's official blog on he site as well, but I'll save you some time: (Official Blog). I'm sure it's an awesome game-blog, but not too useful for me, since I don't get too far in the Japanese written language.

Lastly, the Seven Swords support staff has an Email address for system and server questions: (Support Page). I have Emailed them a couple of times and they reply remarkably fast. Certainly better customer service than one might expect online.

As you can see above, Seven Swords also has a You Tube Channel (in Japanese), where you can take a look at certain modes of gameplay. I might post photos from time to time, but I can't compete with the pros for quality. ^^

If you have not played this game yet, or if the whole idea that MMORPG is possible with a non-jailbroken iPod or iPhone, I highly recommend you download Seven Swords from the App Store and get started. It's awesome and free to play - so why not? Maybe I'll see you online! ^^