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! ^^