Shaiya Light and Darkness

Right. I'm going to give a short rundown of what I've seen so far and try and explain exactly what this is. What I know for sure is it's another Korean title - most info on the game has come from its official website and is only an approximation based on what could be translated, so some details may be incorrect...

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Storyline: -
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Shaiya is an MMORPG which is heavy on PvP/PvE combat, and seems to revolve around a civil conflict between the Alliance of Light and the Union of Fury. The lands of the regions were dominated by two families; while one protected and nurture the lands using elemental energy and magics, the other used an opposite force of the same energy and strive to control the power over life and death.

Both of these forces pursue these ends to fulfil their interpretation of the will of Etain, an ancient Goddess that their civilisation worships.

The local seer of the region, Shaiya, uses her gift of sight to search the future for what befalls their realm should the events escalate, and instead encounters the image of a powerful, evil woman gazing back at her. But this unsettling woman is more than someone she recognises... in fact, she appears to be a dark reflection of herself and the powers she wields.

In the pursuit of this contnued ferverence over many months, an eventual war breaks out between the two families and in outrage Etain unleashes her power onto the populace of the realm below. Shaiya tries to minimise Etain's wrath upon mortal beings, but instead she feels the brunt of Etain's attack and is knocked unconscious. When she awakens, she is grateful to those who tend to her, though she strangely does not feel quite herself when she tried to fight Etain's power. A few weeks later, rumours spread of a new leader rising in the ranks of the Union of Fury - one that bears a striking resemblance to that of Shaiya, yet like others in her faction has little respect for their enemy and imbues an almost ruthless pleasure in killing those who challenge her will.

Shaiya also feels she and this doppleganger are connected. While she has lost nearly all desires of greed and lust for the dark, her counterpart seems to possess only a small amount of love and kindless towards their lands and peoples. Somehow, Etain's power has managed to fracture Shaiya; break her into two equal parts where each one either supports the ideals of light, or darkness.

Rather than turn her back on this omen, Shaiya remains loyal to the Alliance of Light that has now formed between the remaining Elves and Humanity, to fight against the Union of Fury. The skirmishes between the two sides rage every day. Shaiya in her resolve believes that she must prove her loyalty more than standing by the Alliance, and as the war intensifies, she decides to take action by fighting side-by-side during a battle in one of the outlying towns. Intelligence from the Alliance forces stationed there suggest that her doppleganger is due to make an appearance, and the only way to put an end to this is for her to slay her shadowry reflection, as a sign of strength. In her overconfidence, however, many among the Union surmise that their leader has turned against them and Shaiya is impaled with a sword before she is able to strike.

She dies almost moments later, bleeding to death from her injuries.

After the Union's victory, her broken shell is brought to the main encampment under a sheet, and in surprise by both the Union's troops and "Shaiya Darkness" (the name the Union have come to call their dark figurehead), she is struck by a horror to see a twin of her dead body brought into the tent. Yet, Shaiya Light is not dead as she was before. She breathes as if in a deep sleep, and the wound in her chest where the sword pierced her is gone.

In consultation with her most trusted sorcerers, Shaiya Darkness is told that a strange mark of Etain is branded on this imposter's skin like one on her own, and that an unbreakable stream of energy seems to be flowing between the two of them. Seemingly they are bound together by Etains's will; neither one can die as long as the other lives on. Her forces suggest that her Light-companion should accompany them as their prisoner, though their forces are falling behind and it is only a matter of time before the Alliance amasses an army on them they cannot defeat. Uncharacteristically, Shaiya Darkess musters her forces to continue on but orders to leave her "sister" behind; stating their fight is over, only if for today.

When an Alliance relief force enter the area days later to find wounded, they are amazed that "Shaiya Light" is still alive, with many claiming they had seen her fall in battle. But they are not alone.

Shaiya's doppleganger has left a message addressed exclusively to her: they stay out of each other's way for now, and whichever side wins the war, winner takes all. As for their own private battle, there is plenty of time for that.

So the war continues to this day till one side is victorious... but what of its end? Will the sides of Shaiya's Light and Darkness ever be made whole again.
Only time will tell...

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Ok I might have exagerrated some of the last parts, but I think that's the general gist of the story, and without them it's no fun

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Gameplay: -
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Ok, character types have been divided into four parts - two for the Alliance (Elves and Humans), and two for the Union (Deatheaters and Vails). There are also a male and female sub-type for each of these classes, and to make it easy very little "in-depth" character customisation has been added, so players can just dive on into the action. Players can also choose to be the conventional soldier, someone who deals in magics or a combination of both.

I'll be going over this a bit more as I continue to investigate the game.

Like most MMORPGs, there is obviously a continuing storyline and players can either choose to follow this through quests or missions, or they can just go on to do PvP stuff. There are also a number of indigenous creatures in the game like dragons, so I'm assuming there are some forms of mounts as well, and NPCs you can kill to gain XP for. Game details consist of over 80 monster-types and 10 NPC variants.

There is a strange setting in the game; one that could almost be excused as a "difficulty" bar based on how many points you earn against an enemy, how much damage you take, and what inventory you lose. On the "Ultimate" setting, players who die lose all their inventory and character data - forcing people to start over - though I think the benefits would be worth it, otherwise such a mode wouldn't exist in an online game.

The items are typical for what you would find for trading and making spells, so I don't think crafters will be disappointed. Their is also a whole host of armour types, cloaks and shields (some enchanted), as well as one/two-handed weapons and the ability to carry a weapon in each hand.

The game is in beta at the moment so there are currently 9 standard game maps and 18 dungeon-types.
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Holy Relic Struggle: -
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This is a wildcard that is based in the storyline. Every so often, an important relic in the war will be sought by both sides, and whoever's side wins it for their empire gains the "Reward of Etain" for a certain amount of time (probably a day or 12 hours of game time). When a player gets one these, they have to take it to an allied temple in the combat area and the empire must defend it for a specific period to recieve the reward, whatever it might be at the time.

The more relics this temple gains the more power or grandeur it earns for doing so, providing better support to the empire.

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Reqs: -
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Environments are typical to the ideas of lodge-houses in both WoW and DAoC, though I think you can switch between first and third-person view so navigation
isn't much different from the latter.

There is also a lot of detail on the surroundings, including real-time reflections and lighting consistent with day/night cycles.

The game requires DirectX 9.0b or above to run, atleast 1GB of HDD space and it looks as if they ask for a DXDiag file as well when dealing with Technical Support. Specific system requirements will follow in my next post.

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The official site can be found at the address below, while those of you wanting to see trailers of the game should go here:

http://www.shaiya.com

I have also taken the liberty of getting some CG wallpapers for the game. If anybody wants those just PM me and I'll send all 15 of them to you in a zipfile

 

At last, Shaiya comes to the English-speaking world:

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/mmoclub/Shaiya.aspx

The story has also been elaborated on here; for us poor souls who can't speak Korean:

http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/info/intro