Talisman Online Interview: Going In-Depth on Features
Questions by Mohammed Abubakr, OnRPG Journalist
Answered by Terry Jin from Miracle Castle
Talisman Online is a free 3D MMORPG that focuses around an ancient Chinese legend. All players have talismans which are united with their soul and these can be anything from a sword to a bow. We have managed to get Terry Jin from Miracle Castle to answer some of our questions. The responses were very thorough. I am sure you will enjoy reading through this interview!
If you are interested in learning all about this game, please read the full written review.
Onrpg: Hello! Thank you for taking some time to answer our questions. First of all, can you introduce yourself?
Hi Abubakr, thanks for the great opportunity provided. I come from Miracle Castle product operation team. Members in our team usually know a little bit more about Talisman Online (referred as TO), the game’s history and its future, that’s why I am here. Personally I am also a big fan of various games, and always fascinated about sharing the experiences among every friend.
Character Creation Screen in Talisman Online
Onrpg: Before we start getting into the game and its features, can you please explain the story behind Talisman Online?
Upon first glance the story is quite straight forward – Evil Master Blood will break out from the sacred seal after 500 years, and a righteous fellowship formed by Monk, Wizard, Fairy, Tamer and Assassin, they will take the lead and fight the evil lord with their own talents. If we look deeper into the background storyline, there are more to discover. There is a well-known ancient Chinese legend – we call it Shu Mountains. In the world of Shu Mountains, every normal people will be able to gain supernatural power, but they need to be lucky enough to meet the mysterious and knowledgeable masters, and then practice really hard. To achieve perfection in the practice, each apprentices will also have their own weapons, it’s called Talisman. Talisman might be a sword, dagger or bow, or any other stuff with magic power. To really “own” a Talisman, apprentices will need to “forge” it with their own soul and heart. And a well “forged” Talisman will be a great plus to its masters’ supernatural power. I guess now you will know more about the name Talisman Online.
Just like the Greek Mythology, the legend is so deep into many Chinese people’s mind, and there are still quite a few folks believe the existence of supernatural power, as well as the way to retrieve that. If you have ever watched the movie Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, some fighting scenes there were demonstrations of the Talisman spirit and power. And the whole movie was started with a sword (or say Talisman) which was abandoned by its original master…
Onrpg: First of all, why should players stop and take a look at your game when there are many other MMOs out there. What makes Talisman Online stand out? What are some of its unique features?
Thanks for asking my favourite questionJ. We always ask ourselves why a player would choose a specific MMORPG. Is it a game with fascinating visual and audio effects? Or is the game a great place to know people and play together? Or is the game providing a combined experience that brings many emotions to the players? TO is a combination of all above and we do feel there are more about this game.
– l Let’s start with high performance and low criteria – TO is a 3D MMORPG with perfect visual effects. In the meantime, TO is a game has minimum client end software (253MB), moreover, TO has the minimum requirement on a player’s PC or laptop.
– l New Player Friendly -TO is a game that you can learn to play in 10 minutes. I am not saying you will become an expert after 10 minutes, but 10 minutes will make sure you have good understanding of the game terms and logics, thus would enable a player to easily dig further. Also, there is more consideration on rules in the game, to ensure a nice environment for newbies.
– l TO community – We have so many players, and they are coming from every corner of the world. In our latest survey, most of our players are taking great pleasure in meeting and making friends from all over the world. Many kinds of online and offline friendship were formed.
Guild Setup in Talisman Online
Onrpg: What kind of audience does your game appeal to? (Kids, Adults, Hardcore, Casual)
I would say everyone. We have a good coverage of all ages among players. And there are some interesting in-game teams formed by couples, mother and son, grandmother and grandson… Also, we have expert level players who are able to give us consultation and advices on game features, and we have casual players who just enjoy the pure interactive.
Onrpg: You are able to customize your character when starting the game. There are quite a few classes and options to choose between. However some classes are gender locked. What is the idea behind this?
Glad that you noticed that. Some classes are gender locked, such as Monk. And some are not, like Wizard. And there is a plan to release the other gender for certain class in the future.
Onrpg: Why does the interface look very similar to World of Warcraft? Is it true this game was the first WoW Clone? I am not saying this is a bad thing.
I don’t think TO is that much a WoW clone. First of all, I agree your observation on the user interface. I would say WoW has originated the design of a very convenient user operation panel, which provides an integrated function for users to operate and inquire the game info. I think any game with the respect of the user’s experience will naturally adopt the best practice. In the meantime, I believe any player who has experience on both games will be able to tell the difference. TO has the unique essence and the game philosophy. Maybe the best way to illustrate that is our TO slogan, Talisman to Survival, Teamwork to Victory. Perfect talismans and trustworthy friends, that’s what one would dream for in the game.
Follow the Philosophies of the Talismans
Finally, I think everyone would agree that pure cloning won’t make a great game. To make TO a really outstanding game, our game designers and developers are working collaboratively, to keep TO’s unique experience and balance. Moreover, we regard ourselves more as a host instead of a simple game company; we hope to offer full experience with all kinds of emotions, both online and offline.
Onrpg: Classes in Talisman Online use different weapons than the usual ones. For example mages wield swords. Why did you choose this peculiar setup, so different from the ‘normal’ MMO weaponry?
I really like your observation, as it’s TO’s specific feature. You know the game is based on the story of the Shu Mountains; people in the world are really tied up with their own talisman. It’s not only a weapon, but also a carrier of the owner’s soul essence. Players should practice their own attributes, as well as forge the talisman all the time. These efforts would return with unlimited advantage, both on character’s skills and power. With the current 5 classes available to choose, players will also see many varieties of the ways to upgrade their own character.
Onrpg: Unlike most games where you either level up and gain skill points or buy them from NPCs you get skills from weapons in Talisman Online. Weapons can also be enhanced to unlock more skills. Can you explain how this system of skills and enhancing works and why you decided to make the game like this?
I would say similar answer as the above question. Talisman is all about the weapons. Chinese philosophy believes the perfect balance between heaven and man, as well as the master and talisman tightly in one. TO weaponry philosophy provides more alternatives for players to pursue the ultimate power, the more time and efforts you spend on forging the talisman, the more powerful weapon you get, and you will be able to add much extra attributes to your own character. Also players are able to develop duel magic skills. This would enable a player to practice 2 different magic in the same time, isn’t that cool?
New Content: Popular Phoenix Mount
Onrpg: Players will get bored just training all day. What else is there to do other than training?
Well, there is a lot to do. We have multiple scenarios for users to explore. I know many players just enjoy forming a team and exploring the various scenarios. Some are for the experience and rare items, some are for the challenges for difficulty, some are enjoying working it out with different friends. Guild is also an important factor for the player experience. Joining a guild would mean more interaction and help. Forming a guild would request a good personality and some management skills. Players are fond of the guild settings in TO, they really got a lot more from the guild activities. If a player would enjoy competition, there are abundant choices of PVP, PVE and Duel systems. They will always experience equal fun even after reaching level cap. And there are reputation tasks, which will bring reputation points. Good reputation records bring not only good friends, but also nice equipments.
Onrpg: There is an interesting activity players can take party in called Group Arena. From what I understand you and your friends have to protect and NPC from waves of monsters. How does this exactly work? Do monsters get more powerful the higher level your team is?
Actually Group Arena now refers to the mode of PVP competition in the game. We can explore that in the next question. The one you referred to is exactly called Protect Master Ku, a PVE competition. It was designed for the Tower Defence games lovers. In that mode, we have set up 100 waves of different monsters. Each wave is stronger than the previous. And there will be a few bosses under special intervals, also there will be sneak attacks. Teams of players would try their best to fight and survive the monster attacks.
And of course not only the monsters are strengthened, special items that won’t appear in any other place of the game will be dropped, and there will be special aids to the players to fight the monsters. In terms of the result, nice ranking will bring bonus to your character. Apart from the normal experiences, you can get more than normal tasks. And it’s the only source for gaining soul power in the game. To make sure most players could enjoy the group arena, the difficulty of monsters will be determined by the level of the top guy in the player team.
Onrpg: How exactly does the PvP system work in this game? What kind of penalties (if any) does a player receive by killing others?
TO is not a game encouraging random PK. We have PK value, along with red/yellow name mechanism. 1 random kill will make a player name yellow; 2 consecutives would turn his name red. As a punishment, everyone else in the game is free to kill yellow name players without any punishment, and the yellow name character will suffer further loss of experience, energy and gold. Same thing would apply to red name character, and the loss would be doubled. Also a character with red name would be forbidden to use the skills, as well as being kept out in certain scenarios and arenas.
For players who request for fair PK, we have dedicated PVP arena. Also, a player could request for a duel with others, if the request was accepted, a “friendly match” would take place between players without anyone being punished. For active players, there are also group PK, City Wars though organized ways. Guilds and player teams will be able to combat through set timelines and with restricted arenas. Everyone will get what they have been seeking for.
Close-knit communities band together in City Wars
Onrpg: Like most F2P games there is a form of micro transaction. From what I understand T-Points can be used to purchase items. What kind of items can be purchased and do they give CS users a clear advantage over others?
In TO, even if you spend nothing, there is good chance to get decent items. Using T-Points would not bring clear advantages to users, but they would save much time. In the current trading system, our T-Points could be exchanged with in-game gold. That means as long as you collect enough in-game gold through tasks and scenarios, you will be able to purchase anything you like. So any player will get as much fun, you can expect monsters to drop most items that you can buy from the mall, and there are many precious items that could not be purchased. Players should be lucky enough to get them from scenarios and other tasks.
Onrpg: In the character info window there is a tab called Reputation. Can you please explain how reputation works and what players can do with it?
I would suggest our players to cherish the reputation points, as it’s a great way to get nice and rare equipments. Upon finishing the reputation tasks, players will obtain reputation points that can exchange the top Purple Sets in the game. Reputation also links up to the apprentice mechanism, the more you’ve done to train up newbie, the more reputation points you will be accumulated. That’s another reason that newbie are really popular in the game.
Onrpg: Are there any new major updates such as new classes planned for release?
Our principle is to maximize the player experience without changing the in-game balance. I would just list a few things in our plan: new scenarios are underway, new PVP updates will secure private room for PVP players. Our Christmas task is going to be released soon. It’s not only a patch to simply fix problem, new stuff will be introduced, such as new mount. And also to be fair enough to the monsters and bosses in the game, some of them will be having new skills to protect themselves better.
Onrpg: Do you have any games planned for release? If so can we please get a little information? 🙂
How come you know we have such a plan! : ) Yes, we do have something ready for our players. But I have to apologize that not much information is allowed at this moment, please stay tuned for more updates from our website www.mcgameland.com.
Onrpg: Thank you very much for answering our questions!
Thank you too! And thank Onrpg! Appreciate your interest on Talisman Online!
Creativity by Talisman Players in the Christmas Mood
