E3 2010: Massively's look at Forsaken World gameplay

We've heard bits and pieces of information regarding Perfect World Entertainment's upcoming title, Forsaken World. The game has gotten a fair amount of attention thanks to the unusual classes offered and the vampire element.

Those two small details are just the start, however -- there is much more that distinguishes Forsaken World and makes it one to watch. We've been anxious to get a closer look at the game, and this week at E3 the PWE staff was happy to oblige. Follow along after the jump for a rundown of some of the features of Forsaken World.

Forsaken World is the story of the land of Eyrda, a prosperous, happy land inhabited by five races, all coexisting peacefully. Of course, we've got the big brewing evil lurking in the background in the form of a malevolent god bent on raining destruction on the community. Your job is to prepare for this coming war by leveling up and getting into fighting shape in order to take on this god.

Five races? Yes, this isn't solely a vampire game, as cool as they are. You can choose to play as a human, elf, dwarf, stoneman, or kindred (vampire). Each race has unique strengths and abilities, making a few professions class-specific. For example, dwarves are the only race that can use the marksman profession, and stonemen are the only race with the ability to play a protector/tank class.

There will be 10 professions upon release, and you'll find unusual ones mixed in with the standard marksmen and protectors. The socialite has the ability to talk to NPCs and convince them to hand out better quests -- a useful skill to have in a guild setting. Merchants are another useful class from a social standpoint. Merchants are able to sell items that other players can't, so it's another handy profession to have around.

Each race has a unique starting zone where you'll begin your tutorial. It's pretty standard: it gives you an overview of how the game works, gives you a few starter skills, some gear, and so on. Once you've reached level 20, the standard skill-tree-style path opens before you, allowing you to choose your path as you progress. Rather than stat points, you gain "resistance," a measure of how much damage you deal and take. (Your base stats will increase as you level, of course.)

The game requires you to provide your birth month and day upon character creation as part of Forsaken World's in-game zodiac system. The game cycles through the zodiac calendar, and when the current zodiac matches yours, your character can show his or her devotion in exchange for the ability to use special skills, and gifts of gear. This has a secondary effect of changing the server world over time. You'll see a small meter in the game, and each time a player interacts with his or her specific zodiac, the meter fills a bit more. When it's completely full, the server enters a new "age," bringing new content and features.

Forsaken World has the interesting ability to react and respond to what each player is doing, encouraging people to expand their gameplay style in a sense. If you focus on a specific aspect of the game, such as guild-related quests or battlegrounds play, you'll find that the game offers more quests of another style in an effort to show you something new.

As players begin exploring this game, they'll become familiar with its unusual dual-currency system. As you actively play, you'll acquire soul currency from killing mobs. Soul currency is used for purchasing in-game items such as potions, armor, and so on. The unusual thing about soul currency is that it's bound to your character and cannot be traded to other players. This is in place as a deterrent to gold farming, but so as not to completely rule out a player-driven economy, there is a secondary currency. The normal coins, which are tradeable, can be gained by running instances, doing daily events, and doing quests. "If you want to farm our game, you have to play our game," says Product Manager Andrew Brown.

The question of gold farming brings to mind several other issues that MMO players typically feel strongly about, so we took a quick look at some of those. Forsaken World is currently in Chinese beta with plans for international release, so PWE made an effort to adapt the game with that in mind. Movement options are a mix that we became familiar with in Battle of the Immortals; WASD and click-to-move are both an option, and the game also offers auto-navigation: click the green text in your quest log and you'll automatically be taken to your objective. There is no bot in the game -- a decision that presumably came easily after players protested at the bot briefly included in BoI.

Grind is largely avoided thanks to questing, dungeons, and daily events. The current Chinese beta has 36 daily events offering everything from fishing to treasure hunting to group adventures. In addition to the events, the game offers a reputation system, in which players can do quests for particular factions to earn mounts and other items.

Guild housing is another aspect of the game that we looked at. Guilds have the ability to add extra buildings to their guild housing. For example, a merchant building could be added to create unique items that can then be traded with other guilds. The guild as a whole will level in response to members' adventures, and "contribution stats" given to individual players who help other members in questing or leveling encourage everyone to play together.

In all, this upcoming title looks to be a mix of exciting new features, systems, and professions, and elements that are familiar to us through previous PWE titles.

Thanks to Andrew Brown for your time!