Asura Online - New Chinese Diablo Style MMO

I've taken a liking to playing foreign MMOs before they get out in the US for a change of pace. I don't post about many of them because a lot of them suck, but this one at least looks cool. It is called Asura Online and it is only released in China. It started beta earlier in the year and was just released a few months ago. Because the press coverage of MMOs is so poor in China (compared to Korea at least), there is a chance that a good game could fly under the radar for a while. I have this game installed, I logged in and messed around with it a while and it seems at least worth the effort. The game is free to play and U.S. residents are able to join without any hitches (kinda, see below).

Trailer & Classes



Below is a short video showing the 6 classes (in order, Mage, Ranger, Paladin, Monk, Rogue, Warrior) and the nice graphics:



Gameplay (Instance & World Map)

I'm told the the game has both a full MMO style overworld where players share the space. The overworld is generally PvP focused. Also, there is a lot of instanced, Diablo style content. Below are twp rogue style class (i.e. Akali from LoL) gameplay videos showing: (1) the introduction sequence (you start higher lvl with more skills for a movie style sequence, then flash back to a more standard MMO setting, and (2) the starter solo instance for the rogue.





Below is the Monk class gameplay (i.e. Wukong from LoL) playing through the world map:



The above should give you a feel for what the game plays like.

Installation Instructions

(All instructions are for Windows 7)

Step 1: Set System Locale to China (this doesn't affect your Windows UI and any version of Windows can do it.)

Start -> Control Panel -> Region and Language -> Administrative Tab -> Change system locale... button as follows:



Select the option that says China PRC. You will be asked to restart.

Step 2: Download the Client

Download from the official webpage here:?????????-?????-DZS-??????-??????-??????????



Step 3: Create and Verify a Tencent QQ Account

Follow the instructions here:Tencent (QQ) Account Identity Verification Guide - Blade and Soul Fansite - Feature, News, Articles, Comments, Downloads, Videos, Gallery - MMOsite.com


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That should get you started. I'll post full installation instructions throughout the day as I have more time if anyone is interested. Its a bit tricky but nothing undoable. Special thanks to the folks in this thread that helped me get through a few sticking points:Does Anyone Read Chinese?

Played it for a few hours last night. It's pretty decent. Movement isnt all that bad. Abilities are fun. Its hard to see exactly what is going on if you don't read chinese, but they have the "auto quest walk" feature which really helps a ton. Overall, its a pretty good newbie experience. I am still in the introduction sequence, I think. There were tons of poeple in town and it seems that the game is heavily instanced. I can't tell if the open world is really open like WoW or EQ or if its more like DragonNest (a series of instances). I'll play it more, particularly the PvP, and update the post.