Sword of the New World is the North American title for a popular Korean MMORPG originally titled Granado Espada. When players first launch the game they’ll be asked to type in a family name which acts as a last name for all future characters on that server. After creating their first character players begin the game aboard a ship. After talking to the nearest NPC players are escorted to a tutorial port. At this time, the game’s amazing graphics and music will make themselves apparent. I don’t think I was ever compelled to stand still and just listen to the music in a MMO before playing Sword of the New World. We’re talking professionally composed music here.

Unfortunately, the tutorial experience isn’t anywhere near as well done as the music or graphics. Most of the tutorial NPCs have worthless dialogue and the few tutorial missions require you to run from one NPC to the next in order to get a certificate, a license, and then a signature to make the documents official. I guess if the designers were trying to emulate the bureaucratic mess that goes along with a new colony they did a good job. Unlike most Korean or foreign games, the translations in SotNW are accurate but are still not worth reading. Once you’re through with your paperwork quests, it is best to ignore any further NPC conversations and just head out the Queen’s Gate into the beginner hunting grounds.

It is best to have all three characters be different classes in order to reap the rewards of their varied strengths and to minimize their weaknesses. To clarify, the scout class in Sword of the New World acts as the healer. It is important to have a fighter to act as a tank, a healer isn’t required until later in the game where monsters are difficult. Players can create multiple characters and swap them in and out of thier parties freely so don’t worry too much about the innitial set up.