Shifu-The New Browser Game Worth Trying

Since westernization has become a globalizing trend in the world, now many online games tend to be designed in a Western way. However, with the rise of Asian culture in recent years, onlines games themed with what has been called "the mysterious Oriental culture" have been growing more and more popular. So this time let's try some different stuffs. Let's take a look at this traditional Chinese culturally designed browser game, Shifu. 

Background of the Game

As the game is based on three traditional Chinese Kung fu stories, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre and The Condor Heroes Return, written by the famous Chinese Kung fu novelist, Louis Cha Leung-yung, widely known as Jin Yong. So if anyone has already read his books previously, he or she would be more familiar with the storyline and the roles of the game. Of course, all the places that have been described in Jin Yong's books will be presented in the game, such as Zhongnan Mountain, Passionless Valley and Taohua Island, etc. We, players, will be completing a series of main quests that are based on the original story. 

Characters in Game

Male and female characters are available for player to choose in Shifu. Actually both of these two gender also represent two kinds of class in game. According to the different use of weapon for both characters, male might be the broadsword master and female is sword master. The appearance of both gender is designed on the basis of traditional Chinese Kung fu novels and movies, in which men are more likely to be more domineering and ladies look more elegant and resplendent. This design of characters would allow players to strengthen their sense of identification and immersion in game. 

I would like to give a brief introduction of the characteristics of both classes. The male character seems to be better at defence and physical skills, which is defined as "external power" by Chinese Kung fu practisers. He would more probably be a "tank" as he has more bonus on health points and armour compared to the female one. The range of male's attack is pretty wide based on his skills and weapon, a broadsword. On the other hand, the female character is more likely to play magic skills, called "internal power" in many traditional Chinese Kung fu stories. Sword is mainly used as the principal weapon by the female in game. However, compared to the male one, using sword to attack would reduce the range of skills but can do more damage on one target and the female's viability in game would be relatively lower than the male. 

UI and Music

                      

The feature of Chinese legends, such as Chinese fairy culture and the concept of Chinese god, is well represented by the UI and the music in game. In terms of the UI, compared to other games of the same type, it looks rather bright-coloured and simply clear that players would experience the graphic and visual pleasure. For its music, although there are not a lot of background soundtracks, the quality of each soundtrack is not bad at all. The music in game is play mostly by traditional Chinese instruments such as flute, Dizi and Guqin, which strengthens the Chinese feature of the game. 

The Difficulty of the Game

Like some other online ARPGs, it is quite easy and fast for fresh players to level above 20 by following the guidance for novice players. If you are a fan of this type of game and have a lot of experience of playing, there shouldn't be any problems at the beginning. After achieving the level 30, a new system in game will be unlocked. It is like a "raid" system. The content and scene of each scenario are based on the plots of Chinese Kung fu stories. It's something featured in the game. Of course each scenario can be entered over and over again but just don't forget to reset them after finishing a raid. Actually, when players go beyond the level 30, it might not be sufficient for gaining more experience points simply completing quests. So the system of "on-hook". This function allows players to kill monsters without having to sit in front of their computer. This system is quite humanised. Players can modify the setting according to the level of their characters. It is recommended to choose a place where the monsters have 3 or 5 levels higher than our character but it should be based on our items. Players who have better items would better improve themselves by killing more powerful monsters in order to gain more experience.

Conclusion

To sum up, there are still a lot of featured systems in Shifu, such as adventure mode, lucky wheel, disciple system and mount. For those who like challenging themselves in game, there are some powerful bosses to be killed and which provide a large amount of reward. However, practicing would tell how all these features are played out so let's play Shifu now!