The Asian MMO market has provided many successful games to the worldwide gaming public. Included among those are the Lineage games, Final Fantasy XI and Ragnarok Online. Their next contribution, Khan: The Absolute Power, looks like it will be another successful addition to this group.
One of the most standout features of Khan would have to be the way guilds have been implemented. Guilds are not what many in the MMO world are familiar with. Sure, they do have leaders and members. Where they differ, though, is in how this leader is determined. In Khan, people are expected to join guilds that are being led by powerful characters. That leader can be ousted, however, if someone overpowers the current leader.
Guilds will be able to actually attack castles controlled by other players along with other forms of PvP. Being killed by others will cause you to drop all your gold and armor - it won't keep you from being able to function at all, though. You'll still be able to get starter equipment and go out and earn new stuff.
Of course, this current leader won't be overpowered via levels. Following the new trend of skill-based systems in MMOs, Khan is avoiding the use of levels as the primary measure of advancement. Instead, characters will gain statistics as they progress through the game with one of eight different classes. While there will still be levels, they won't be as important as they are in other MMOs.
Progression will be readily visible to other players, too. As you get more powerful, your character will sprout wings and their overall appearance will change. I thought this was a neat idea - allowing gamers to have their character look different without needing to go camp that uber piece of armor will be a welcome change.
There was not much more revealed on Khan, but it was announced that it will be translated for the American market and will go into beta here soon (to test the translation more than anything else). While the graphics may not be on par with the high-end upcoming American MMOs, they still serve their purpose. If the gameplay works out as planned, the graphics won't really matter. The game should be released in the USA by the end of 2005.
Hi. My name is Brian. I am a video game addict.
Of course, I actually do things other than game. Currently, I’m a full time college student at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke where I am majoring in Mass Communications with a Journalism focus.
I’ve served as Managing Editor on my school’s paper and also written various editorials. I pride myself on my academics and work hard towards earning good grades – a few years of hard work will be worth it in the long run.
I’ve been gaming ever since my parents bought me an NES in 1985 (I was born in 1981). My favorite game of all time is probably the original Legend of Zelda but my currently played favorite game is a tossup between Madden 2005 and MVP 2005.
While I play a lot of sports games (which happens when you live with two baseball players), I also enjoy RPGs and RTSes. The first I’m actually good at and the second I’m not. I am also known to play the occasional FPS but will rarely make it all the way through one.
I’m also not a competitive gamer. I definitely prefer games that include co-op modes along with the normal competitive modes. Some of my favorite games in that regard are Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for the Game Cube and Fianl Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.
