Seal of Evil Preview
Seal of Evil Preview
Codex Preview - posted by Exitium on Mon 27 October 2003, 14:27:50
Tags: Object Software; Seal of EvilThis article covers the history, story and features in Seal of Evil, Object Software's latest Chinese themed RPG, and prequel to Prince of Qin. Here's a preview:
The story is set in the last few years of the Warring States period in ancient China more than 2,200 years ago, i.e. about 15 years before Prince of Qin. At that time, Qin gradually became the most powerful state in China and began making an overall plan to conquer the other six states. Meanwhile, Qin troops kept attacking the Baiyue people living in the southwest of China. As a result of these repeated invasions the whole race of West Baiyue led by Yan Bo was annihilated. The people of East Baiyue, under the leadership of Lan Xiong, then fought a desperate war against the Qin army.
The story is set in the last few years of the Warring States period in ancient China more than 2,200 years ago, i.e. about 15 years before Prince of Qin. At that time, Qin gradually became the most powerful state in China and began making an overall plan to conquer the other six states. Meanwhile, Qin troops kept attacking the Baiyue people living in the southwest of China. As a result of these repeated invasions the whole race of West Baiyue led by Yan Bo was annihilated. The people of East Baiyue, under the leadership of Lan Xiong, then fought a desperate war against the Qin army.
This article covers the history, story and features in Seal of Evil, Object Software's latest RPG, and prequel to the award winning Prince of Qin. This title adopts an entirely new engine and the game system is greatly improved as compared with POQ. Read on to find out what Object Software has in store for us.
HISTORY
Thousands of years ago, as the result of a betrayal by the Baiyue race, Chi You was defeated by the Yellow Emperor. During the war, the people from the Central Plains and the Beast Man race both supported the Yellow Emperor. After his defeat, the soul of Chi You was sealed by a magic slate made by the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor then broke the slate into five pieces and scattered them. Meanwhile, the Yellow Emperor destroyed the body of Mei, Chi You?s loyal follower, the only god whose soul could leave his body and attach itself to another?s body.
Although Chi You lost the war, he ordered Mei to sow the seeds of greed in the souls of human beings. Now those seeds had grown and could not be eradicated. Thus human beings had lost the potential power to surpass the gods.
In the following hundreds of years, different races of human beings lived together peacefully, but disaster was slowly but surely approaching. At last, Mei evoked greed in the souls of human beings and suborned the Baiyue people to wage a war against the people from the Central Plains. This war lasted for hundreds of years and ended up with the utter defeat of the Baiyue race. Mei then successfully made the Baiyue people believe that the failure of the war resulted from their betrayal of Chi You. As a result, the Baiyue race once again worshipped Chi You as its God of War. Since then, deep hatred had taken root between the people from the Central Plains and the Baiyue race. At around this time, the Beast Man race left the Central Plains and settled down beside Kunlun Mountain in the North-west.
Thousands of years later, the Qin state, in the Central Plains, became more and more powerful. The King of Qin, Ying Zheng, often sent troops to invade Baiyue. As a result of these repeated invasions the whole race of West Baiyue lead by Yan Bo was annihilated. The people of East Baiyue, under the leadership of Lan Xiong, then fought a desperate war against the Qin army. Several years later, Lan Xiong and the Chief Sacrifice Wizard, Chi Huan, died mysteriously one after the other. What or who was behind their deaths? Lan Wei, Lan Xiong?s daughter, began her dangerous adventure into the Central Plains to find out the truth and make her father live again?
THE PLOT UNFOLDS
Lan Xiong, the leader of East Baiyue, died mysteriously. His daughter, Lan Wei, believed that people from the Central Plains, represented by the Qin people, had hatched a vicious plot and killed her father in order to invade Baiyue. To help her father come back to the living world, she began her quest to search for the so called Five Slates along with her boyfriend, Yan Hong, and a Beast Man friend, Liang Hu.
During the adventure, Lan Wei changed her attitude towards the people of the Central Plains. She realized that they were also longing for a peaceful life just like her.
After experiencing numerous hardships, they finally found the last of the Five States in the territory of Beast Man, the race that had the appearance of being half man and half beast, at Kunlun Mountain. When Lan Wei was putting all the Five Slates together hoping and praying to the gods to bring her father back to the world of the living, the leader of Beast Man told them that these pieces of slate were the magic seal which fettered the soul of Chi You. Once they pieced them together, Chi You?s soul would be freed and he would bring the world untold disaster. Moreover, the man who was brought back to life through the piecing together of the slates would be an unknowing puppet of Chi You.
Lan Wei and her companions felt dubious about this story and went back to Baiyue. At that time, Yan Hong?s uncle, Yan Peng, was killed by Qin troops. Intense hatred then welled up in Yan Hong?s heart and caused him to become mentally unbalanced. Chi You then took this opportunity to enter the body of Yan Hong. As Chi You came back to life in the body of Yan Hong, a large number of demons returned to the human world. Chi You?s loyal follower, Xing Tian, woke up as if from a deep sleep and Mei received a new body. Although Lan Wei?s father came back to life, he became an unknowing puppet of Chi You just as the leader of Beast Man had foretold.
The Yellow Emperor, who had battled with Chi You in ancient times, had said that human beings should have the potential power to surpass the gods. But to bring this dream to reality, human beings must discard greed from their souls. At that moment, Lan Wei and her friends realized death and disaster were near at hand. They decided to join forces to fight back and prevent Chi You from dominating the human race.
FEATURES
1. New graphics engine
Seal of Evil adopts an entirely new graphics engine GFX3D2.0 which makes the system much more effective. This engine greatly optimizes network transmission and can meet the strict requirements for operational effectiveness for MMORPGs. The engine also supports 3D hardware acceleration and 3D light-shade special effects. This improves the image display efficiency and makes the special effects of skills more brilliant. In order to run games on computers of low configuration, the engine also provides 2D display mode.
2. Striking 2D Graphics
Players will pass through hundreds of regions in the game such as mysterious Baiyue villages, magnificent cities in the Central Plains, clumsy Beast Man residences, bizarre ancient palaces, cloud-capped mountains and meandering brooks. Each region has distinct landform where players won?t feel bored during their adventures.
3. Interesting game play
This title is an A-RPG game and players will command a small party to fight against their enemies. Cooperation amongst the party members plays a critical role in battles.
The Five-element system exists everywhere in the game. Different five-element attributes will bring about completely different outcomes. This gives players more possibilities to cultivate their characters.
Players have many skill choices and can learn skills by many means. When confronting a tough enemy whose size may be several times bigger, players can try and cast Unique Skills to turn defeat into victory.
4. Making-things system
Players can make the same kind of item through different methods. Each method requires different materials and Five-element attributes. To achieve the best outcome, players should choose a method according to the particular conditions. Players can obtain these methods via persistent exploration.
The main equipment can be upgraded in the game. Players can also upgrade equipment through making-things skills. The upgraded equipment will have greatly improved properties.
In the game, players can make medicine, refine gems and create any items at random. Players may obtain almost every item from each kind of enemies.
5. Multiple endings
There are many side quests in the game for players to explore. These side quests will influence the ending of the game together with the main quests. Players can talk with NPCs in the way they like. But different conversations will lead to different endings. Some unexpected endings are there for players to explore.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Pentium II 300MHz or equivalent
128MB RAM
1 GB disk space
DirectDraw 8.1 Compatible 16 bit Video Card with 4MB RAM
DirectSound 8.1 Compatible sound card
Keyboard
Mouse
4x CD-ROM
Windows 98/me/2000+SP2/XP
DirectX 8.1 or above
HISTORY
Thousands of years ago, as the result of a betrayal by the Baiyue race, Chi You was defeated by the Yellow Emperor. During the war, the people from the Central Plains and the Beast Man race both supported the Yellow Emperor. After his defeat, the soul of Chi You was sealed by a magic slate made by the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor then broke the slate into five pieces and scattered them. Meanwhile, the Yellow Emperor destroyed the body of Mei, Chi You?s loyal follower, the only god whose soul could leave his body and attach itself to another?s body.
Although Chi You lost the war, he ordered Mei to sow the seeds of greed in the souls of human beings. Now those seeds had grown and could not be eradicated. Thus human beings had lost the potential power to surpass the gods.
In the following hundreds of years, different races of human beings lived together peacefully, but disaster was slowly but surely approaching. At last, Mei evoked greed in the souls of human beings and suborned the Baiyue people to wage a war against the people from the Central Plains. This war lasted for hundreds of years and ended up with the utter defeat of the Baiyue race. Mei then successfully made the Baiyue people believe that the failure of the war resulted from their betrayal of Chi You. As a result, the Baiyue race once again worshipped Chi You as its God of War. Since then, deep hatred had taken root between the people from the Central Plains and the Baiyue race. At around this time, the Beast Man race left the Central Plains and settled down beside Kunlun Mountain in the North-west.
Thousands of years later, the Qin state, in the Central Plains, became more and more powerful. The King of Qin, Ying Zheng, often sent troops to invade Baiyue. As a result of these repeated invasions the whole race of West Baiyue lead by Yan Bo was annihilated. The people of East Baiyue, under the leadership of Lan Xiong, then fought a desperate war against the Qin army. Several years later, Lan Xiong and the Chief Sacrifice Wizard, Chi Huan, died mysteriously one after the other. What or who was behind their deaths? Lan Wei, Lan Xiong?s daughter, began her dangerous adventure into the Central Plains to find out the truth and make her father live again?
THE PLOT UNFOLDS
Lan Xiong, the leader of East Baiyue, died mysteriously. His daughter, Lan Wei, believed that people from the Central Plains, represented by the Qin people, had hatched a vicious plot and killed her father in order to invade Baiyue. To help her father come back to the living world, she began her quest to search for the so called Five Slates along with her boyfriend, Yan Hong, and a Beast Man friend, Liang Hu.
During the adventure, Lan Wei changed her attitude towards the people of the Central Plains. She realized that they were also longing for a peaceful life just like her.
After experiencing numerous hardships, they finally found the last of the Five States in the territory of Beast Man, the race that had the appearance of being half man and half beast, at Kunlun Mountain. When Lan Wei was putting all the Five Slates together hoping and praying to the gods to bring her father back to the world of the living, the leader of Beast Man told them that these pieces of slate were the magic seal which fettered the soul of Chi You. Once they pieced them together, Chi You?s soul would be freed and he would bring the world untold disaster. Moreover, the man who was brought back to life through the piecing together of the slates would be an unknowing puppet of Chi You.
Lan Wei and her companions felt dubious about this story and went back to Baiyue. At that time, Yan Hong?s uncle, Yan Peng, was killed by Qin troops. Intense hatred then welled up in Yan Hong?s heart and caused him to become mentally unbalanced. Chi You then took this opportunity to enter the body of Yan Hong. As Chi You came back to life in the body of Yan Hong, a large number of demons returned to the human world. Chi You?s loyal follower, Xing Tian, woke up as if from a deep sleep and Mei received a new body. Although Lan Wei?s father came back to life, he became an unknowing puppet of Chi You just as the leader of Beast Man had foretold.
The Yellow Emperor, who had battled with Chi You in ancient times, had said that human beings should have the potential power to surpass the gods. But to bring this dream to reality, human beings must discard greed from their souls. At that moment, Lan Wei and her friends realized death and disaster were near at hand. They decided to join forces to fight back and prevent Chi You from dominating the human race.
FEATURES
1. New graphics engine
Seal of Evil adopts an entirely new graphics engine GFX3D2.0 which makes the system much more effective. This engine greatly optimizes network transmission and can meet the strict requirements for operational effectiveness for MMORPGs. The engine also supports 3D hardware acceleration and 3D light-shade special effects. This improves the image display efficiency and makes the special effects of skills more brilliant. In order to run games on computers of low configuration, the engine also provides 2D display mode.
2. Striking 2D Graphics
Players will pass through hundreds of regions in the game such as mysterious Baiyue villages, magnificent cities in the Central Plains, clumsy Beast Man residences, bizarre ancient palaces, cloud-capped mountains and meandering brooks. Each region has distinct landform where players won?t feel bored during their adventures.
3. Interesting game play
This title is an A-RPG game and players will command a small party to fight against their enemies. Cooperation amongst the party members plays a critical role in battles.
The Five-element system exists everywhere in the game. Different five-element attributes will bring about completely different outcomes. This gives players more possibilities to cultivate their characters.
Players have many skill choices and can learn skills by many means. When confronting a tough enemy whose size may be several times bigger, players can try and cast Unique Skills to turn defeat into victory.
4. Making-things system
Players can make the same kind of item through different methods. Each method requires different materials and Five-element attributes. To achieve the best outcome, players should choose a method according to the particular conditions. Players can obtain these methods via persistent exploration.
The main equipment can be upgraded in the game. Players can also upgrade equipment through making-things skills. The upgraded equipment will have greatly improved properties.
In the game, players can make medicine, refine gems and create any items at random. Players may obtain almost every item from each kind of enemies.
5. Multiple endings
There are many side quests in the game for players to explore. These side quests will influence the ending of the game together with the main quests. Players can talk with NPCs in the way they like. But different conversations will lead to different endings. Some unexpected endings are there for players to explore.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Pentium II 300MHz or equivalent
128MB RAM
1 GB disk space
DirectDraw 8.1 Compatible 16 bit Video Card with 4MB RAM
DirectSound 8.1 Compatible sound card
Keyboard
Mouse
4x CD-ROM
Windows 98/me/2000+SP2/XP
DirectX 8.1 or above
