Legends of Xian Review: Ancient Chinese History is Just a Click Away

By Bryan King (Bryan), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Legends of Xian is adapted from Ming Dynasty, which is one of China’s most popular web games in 2010. Legends of Xian is a perfect combination of RPG, strategy, adventure and various styles. Based on history of China’s Ming Dynasty, the entire game features vintage character design, vast territories throughout ancient China, diversified game systems, and unique game setting. You’ll have fun in heroic adventure, affairs management, level upgrade, and unforgettable battles; you’ll find tons of in-game events, diversified equipment & a huge weapon refining system, an interesting slave system, and an exciting arena system.

 

A Dive into Chinese History (Character Creation):

Legends of Xian’s character creation allows you to choose between three states within the ancient Chinese Ming Dynasty:

 

Yongle State – Occupying the Central and northeastern areas, famous for its brave citizens and lionhearted warriors.

 

Wanli State – Located in the northwest, noted for its valiant heroes from successive wars against the northern invaders.

 

Hongwu State – Situated in the southern fertile lands, contains rich resources, and has an advanced economy and a powerful army.

 

 

The sense of nationalism instilled in the early character customization is quite an interesting way to spark up rivalry between new players. Once you choose one of these three factions, their appearance doesn’t mean much, however, because their map design and playing style plays the same.

 

Oooh…. Ahhh! (Graphics & Sound)

Upon logging in, I was greeted by rather impressive, authentic Chinese music as opposed to many Chinese dynasty browser games. The music just has a soulful, well-produced ambience about it that many oriental based games seem to lack. Sound was very responsive, with each menu having a stylized “click” or confirm tool that wasn’t an annoyance, and can easily be turned off within the game’s extensive options system.

 

The only annoyance I found within the game was within the combat sound’s confines. The repetitive slashing noises constantly droned on in all aspects of combat, including when my entire army consisted of… archers. I hope the LoX team addresses this.

 

The game’s UI and graphics are pretty standard for a F2P browser game, especially considering how much information has to be handled by the player at once, between Buildings, Technology, Units, Unit Equipment, and so on and so forth, the game does a decent job of handling a sensory visual overload in a somewhat sleek and easy to explain interface. The game’s models look crisp, but it’s nothing stunning or spectacular. If you’re looking for client-oriented graphics, you won’t find it here. However, if you want a well-represented expectation of Ancient Chinese combat and management, you’ll find it here.

 

I Win… Already? (Gameplay):

For the most part, Legend of Xian’s gameplay hovers around basic PvE and PvP combat, however, players will find that this system later branches out into an open PK mode, siege battles, state wars, and clan wars. Considering this is all set up in a browser-game is an impressive feat. The game’s introduction allows a smooth transition into the combat, and by smooth… I mean almost a slippery slope.

 

The first problem I encountered was how unchallenging the content was, for the first ten levels of my experience, I didn’t even see more than one move in battle, I killed all of my enemies in one shot, even when I was severely outnumbered in terms of population numbered. Every single time, I got “perfect victory”, returned to town, gave the NPC the quest item they wanted, and I was showered in EXP, resources, gold, and so on and so forth. The translation within the game is not perfect either, I often found myself stumped and confused at random NPC blurts (“I’VE WAITING BEEN!”) within the game, often getting in the way of me absorbing what I needed to do for the quest. This is a lukewarm aspect of the game, and the other features of the game are much more enticing than the game’s overall gameplay polish.

 

 

Farewell! (Conclusion):

Legends of Xian excels in the prospects of sound and has many enticing features that may just make it worth trying after a lazy day at work, or in short bursts of time. However, the gameplay does not make the game as worthwhile to play as more polished. If you’re a Chinese history nut, this game does provide some authentic information in an active environment for you to enjoy.

 

Pros:

+ Game’s music is very well done.

+ UI is streamlined for an accessible experience

+ Well done storyline.

 

Cons:

–  Boring and unchallenging gameplay

–  Quest and NPC translation are distracting and lackluster

–  Combat sounds repetitive

 

 

Graphics/Sound – 4/5
Gameplay – 2/5
Features  3/5