Jade Dynasty Amazing
As an avid MMORPG fan myself, Jade Dynasty has brought out some of the best experiences and rewards any game has to offer. This game is absolutely free and it puts some pay to play games to shame. It was created by Perfect World Entertainment and is the English version of the popular Chinese MMORPG Zhu Xian which over 30 million people play. Zhu Xian was originally based on a popular Internet novel in China with the same name.
-Story-
The Story of Jade Dynasty stems from the goal to uncover immortality. Five factions battled it out many centuries ago to walk the true path to enlightenment. Two factions: Jadeon and Skysong were good, and three: Vim, Modo, and Lupin were evil. Nevertheless their goals were the same and through many years of research and studying, they learned to channel their chi and control magic. History is repeating itself again and you'll be torn to choose between the five factions and walk the path to immortality. 9/10
-Graphics-
Flashy AoE moves, ritzy fashion and flying Gothic vampires, Jade Dynasty has it all; and with style. Compared to some of the other MMORPG games, Jade Dynasty's graphics are on another league. Though still in open beta, the amount of "glowing" and "flashing" already in the game is incomprehensible. Think fireworks on the fourth of July flashy with high level AoE moves. And as you might know, coming from PWE, you can expect fiery, demonic swords and some of the best 3D animated mounts you can find. The animation itself is top-notch. It successfully mimics real life movements and combat animations are realistic to a certain degree. More effects can be added by tinkering with the in game settings like resolution, which can go up to 1680x1050 for those with big monitors. Texture, rendering, and gamma level can all be set in the options interface. 9.5/10
-Gameplay-
This is where Jade Dynasty dominates other MMORPG's with several unique features. Skill Tiers, Espers, Alliance Wars, Marriages, Invigorate, Auto-Navigation, Meditation, Dreaming and many, many more! First off the battle system. It's pretty similar to other MMO's. HP, MP, Skills, Stats, and Pet. But there are some new and fun stuff. For example: Skill Tiers. Every newcomer starts off as an initiate and at level 15 they will have to choose a faction. Each faction has different skills of course, but every 30 levels they will be able to do a quest that lets them advance their skill tier, allowing them access to more powerful skills as they progress in the game. This is how Jade Dynasty entices you to want to play more so you can see what the next Tier skills are like.
Espers are another one of Jade Dynasty's addition to the MMO world. They are like pets except they can't attack and they boost your stats and let you use more skills. The more you use their skills, the more proficiency points your Esper gets and after you acquire a certain amount you can upgrade your Esper.
Marriage is another special feature of JD's. You can do quests with someone of the opposite sex and get romance points which enable you to get romance skills. You can also marry someone of the opposite sex for a nice title above your head.
Grindy or questy? Jade Dynasty is very grind-based but it's not the only way to level and doing quests can be fun. The quests are nowhere near boring, some you have to fight a lot of monsters, others you have to investigate areas, collect items and fight bosses which are a really good way to kill time.
Alliance wars. This defines Jade Dynasty at higher levels. I think this comes from Perfect World's Territory Wars and let me just tell you, it's a whole lot of fun and action. Clans can challenge other clans to an alliance war where they duke it out for honour, fame and money.
Now for the awesome features of the game:
Invigorate is literally a legal bot built inside the game which allows you to auto-fight an indefinite amount of monsters with specific settings that you can choose. This is an excellent tool and it also deters hackers to make bots for the game because there's already a bot! Now you might think, why would a game make a bot for players, won't it ruin the fun? Well this is just another clever new design from JD that will allow a lot more people to level up even if they don't have all the time in the world to play. Maximizing your invigorate potential will help you immensely. Invigorate can be used if you have an Esper.
Jade Dynasty even has its very own Auto-Navigation for any NPC's. This is what separates JD from the rest of the MMO's. Ever start a quest and it took you a hell of a long time to complete it because you can't find the NPC or monster? Fear no more, Jade Dynasty's Auto-Navigation will take you there with just a click of a button. And the Auto-Navigating is not too shabby itself. You don't run into walls or trees, you actually go through doors, go up bridges and 99.99% of the time takes you to where you want to go. This is one of the most useful tools ever invented by PWE and it will save you lots of time when doing quests.
Meditation and dreaming is kind of the same thing. Meditation is a skill anybody can use. You slowly gain exp through meditation depending on what level you are, but for this you have to be logged on your account. Dreaming, you have to buy a dream scroll and when you log out, there's a dream option that you can select. Dreaming you also get exp over a period of time depending on your level but you can be logged off to do that and the exp rates are generally higher than meditating.
Overall the game play is very interesting and unique, not many MMO's can compare to JD's style of gaming. 10/10
-Characters-
There are 5 factions: Jadeon, Skysong, Vim, Modo, and Lupin.
Each are different in their own way and special.
Jadeon is the primary farmer. He has tons of strong AoE moves and lots of defensive buffs that would make AoE'ing a breeze. If you wanna be rich, choose Jadeon.
Skysong is the healer and buffer. Pretty straightforward stuff here, they help parties fight bosses and are in big demand for dungeons.
If you wanna PvP, Jadeon and Skysong are NOT the way to go.
Vim is the balanced class. They're decent in everything.
Lupin is the best overall PvPing class out there with strong close combat skills.
Modo is the vampire like humans and another great PvPer with the craziest and best lvl 139 move.
Overall the characters are fairy interesting and bring more style to the game. 8/10
-Sounds-
If you are into medieval Chinese era tunes you are in luck! Other than that there are the occasional classical beats and groovy tunes to listen to while grinding.
-Lifespan Value-
This just means how long the game generally lasts for. If you're aiming to achieve a level in the 100+ then it'll probably take around a month and a half, maybe two if you're slow. Then of course there are side quests and events that will take up your time as well so if you really do enjoy the game you'll end up playing more than a few months. The higher level you reach the more rewards you get, so the only way to quench that curiosity of yours is to keep playing.
Conclusion: Overall Jade Dynasty is a very strong and unique MMORPG with nifty features to check out. If you're a mmorpg fan you should definitely check this game out and have a go. Everything an mmorpg should have is in Jade Dynasty and it has a great community too! I recommend everyone to give it a go.