On January 3, 2024, "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" ushered in the first technical interoperability joint research test. The majority of players have shown high expectations for this game, and the number of pre-orders on the official website has reached 7.21 million. And this is only two months since "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" passed the version review and was officially named.
Sword Network 3 is an old IP with a history of nearly fifteen years, but the growth of the operation cycle has not dissipated the enthusiasm of players. At the same time, Xishanju has also been making new attempts to explore and explore more possibilities of the game. In 2018 and 2023, "Sword Network 3" has successively remade the picture and replaced with a new engine.
And this "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" is an important step taken by Xishanju for mobile, but this is by no means a simple mobile game transplant. PC engine change + mobile phone interoperability is what developers hope players can experience from it.
Let's follow the author's footsteps and take a look at the real appearance of "Sword Network 3: Unbounded".
What is "unbounded"?
Xishanju has tried mobile works before, and in a strict sense, the first "Sword Network 3" mobile game is actually "Sword Network 3: Fingertip Rivers and Lakes" released a few years ago. Although it has a lot of similarities with the original PC gameplay, the differences in art style and overall temperament still make many players feel uncomfortable.
And "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" captures what players really want - fifteen years of memory of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, this work finally appeared in the form of interoperable mobile terminals, and retained various elements of the original terminal game, the so-called "unbounded" is to erase the boundaries between different client platforms.
Although the screen has become smaller, that gorgeous martial arts world still exists. You can feel the happiness and enmity of the chic knights, and you can also realize the treacherous clouds in the secret, the confrontation between the Haoqi Alliance and the Valley of the Wicked has lasted for more than ten years, but will you still remember the tranquility of Daoxiang Village when you dream back at midnight?
In the familiar game environment of Sword Net 3: Unbounded, veteran players do not need to change their original game habits. Whether it's doing daily life, passing through secret realm dungeons, exploring adventures, or operating the home system, through the reproduction of the gameplay functions of these terminals, "Sword Net 3: Unbounded" frees players from the shackles of the device itself.
The creators hope to provide everyone with a multiverse that inherits data and is interconnected anytime and anywhere, and players can travel back to Datang at any time during their commute and short breaks. Of course, this alone is far from enough, and only the "internal and external cultivation" can be accomplished.
Keeping the original flavor can still be innovative?
This time, the technical interoperability and joint research test of "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" opened 10 schools, including Chengdu, Yangzhou, Luoyang, Chang'an, Taiyuan and other places. PVP and PVE elements are readily available, and the main quest exploration, secret realm battles, daily tasks and other contents have all shown a good degree of completion. Due to the enthusiasm of the players, the original seven-day beta period could be extended.
Regarding the operating system of the mobile game version, I believe it is the highest priority concern of everyone. Because compared to the PC side, which mainly relies on the keyboard and mouse for operation, the space of the mobile game version is limited after all. As a result, the creators have refactored the skill interface, and the use of the light power system has also been optimized.
The martial arts system of the mobile game version has been streamlined, and moves such as skill acupoints have been subdivided into four categories: body moves (choose one of two), stunt moves (choose one of two from the fourth acupoint), confrontation moves (four out of eight) and light power moves (four). With the ability to streamline, there are only 9 buttons on the final screen, including the basic attack button.
The streamlining of skills does not affect the player's normal game rhythm. Using a joystick to operate is sometimes even more convenient than PC games. Skills are still familiar skills, but the final effect is different. If you want to make it easier to get through the Uncharted Dungeon and increase your win rate in PvP challenges, players need to explore a little more.
In order to make it easier for everyone to experience as much content as possible, the initial level of this test is level 100. Even if you are a newcomer, you can quickly reach level 120 challenges while only pushing the main story. Each player's initial spawn point will be randomly assigned to the Nine Heavens Xuantian Palace or the Tomb of the Great Hero, followed by the plot of Daoxiang Village.
Yes, Daoxiang Village is still the place where dreams begin, and the scenes and characters are full of familiarity. However, on the basis of the original, the creators have carried out more detailed novice guidance work, and the background stories of the characters are more detailed and smooth. At the same time, the image of some characters has also changed slightly, I don't know if you still know old friends?
As the plot progresses, players will enter the process of choosing a sect. Whether you stay at the mountain gate or go out to practice, you can eventually reach the full level, and the two lines do not interfere with each other. When you reach level 120, all kinds of daily gameplay (pets, homes) will be unlocked.
Seeing this, I believe many people have already been moved, but the real attraction of "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" is more than that.
What can the mobile game version really bring to players?
The biggest convenience of the mobile platform is that it is not limited by space, and those fragmented time can also be used. For old fans of the game, the emergence of "Sword Net 3: Unbounded" can make daily tasks and idle gameplay faster and more convenient. At the same time, the mobile game version also has functions that terminal games such as portable warehouses and messengers do not have, and there is a certain complementary relationship between the two.
As the main experience content of players in the later stage, the Uncharted Challenge has also ushered in optimization in "Sword Net 3: Unbounded". To this end, the creators have added a new "plot mode". In addition to allowing players to slow down and understand the content of the story, the most important thing in the "Story Mode" is the setting of AI teammates.
With the help of three assistants, each player can challenge the dungeon solo (exclusive to lone wolf and social fear). If you have to say, there are still some fly in the ointment that the player income in "Story Mode" is lower than that of Standard Mode, and you need to make a trade-off. Overall, though, this feature provides players with a lot of options.
The material comes from the main Ji Zisheng of station B UP
In addition, like the one-click macro in the original terminal game, appeared in "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" as a "martial arts assistant". Both the PC side and the mobile game side can achieve the effect of automatically attacking the target object by pressing a button.
But what is more surprising is that in the process of PVP matchups, there are often situations where more than a dozen skills on the PC side cannot beat the four skills (versus moves) of the mobile game version. The damage balance of both ends of "Sword Net 3: Unbounded" still has some room for improvement in the future.
Overall, Sword Net 3: Unbounded has taken into account the pain points of players in many aspects, and has been improved and optimized. Although there are many differences between the two ends in all aspects, after the common sense deconstruction and optimization changes, the mobile game version does not give people a sense of abruptness, which is a great test of the skills of the creators, and I look forward to Xishanju doing better and better in the future.
Write at the end
After a week of experience, the author was amazed by the maturity shown in "Sword Net 3: Unbounded". It is true that some players have reported that there are occasional lags and slow loading of NPCs during the game, but the main creator has been working overtime to optimize, and has made a guarantee that "the final form will not affect the experience of the original PC".
For a game that is only being tested for the first time, this is actually within acceptable limits.
2024 is the fifteenth year since the banner of "Sword Network 3" was erected, and Xishanju still puts meeting the demands of players and improving the game experience first. As described in the words of the developer of "Sword Network 3: Unbounded": "I hope that knights can freely switch between PC and mobile phones, and they will no longer be limited by time and space." ”
At present, "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" is playing a supporting role in the terminal game, but the future development of this game is still unknown. Maybe the IP of "Sword Network 3" can be mastered for the next fifteen years. And in the end, I look forward to seeing a better "Sword Network 3: Unbounded" after it is officially launched in April this year.