Hi people! I need help figuring out the name of this game. This request could prove a challenge for you guys due to the nature of this game but you guys might know better than me so here it goes:
I remember playing this game in a Windows XP PC and the last and only time I played it is around 2005-2009 (just ONE of those years; that's the range when I still have my XP PC). It's more likely that I played it in 2005-2007 but I'm not so sure. Publication date? No idea. I guess I could also say that the game is NOT MMORPG because the PC I'm playing this with doesn't have an internet connection at the time, and I'm not sure if it can be played in LAN-multiplayer, though it's unlikely (therefore, it's likely a single player game). Another thing I remember is I've played this along with the game Freelancer; if I get bored with one, I'll switch to the other (don't know if that's helpful ;D).
The game I'm looking for is a Chinese-style action RPG. The environment has an ancient Chinese era feel to it (like wuxia-themed) but I vaguely remember that I could read the game's text. The version of the game I've played might be part-Chinese part-English OR fan translated OR published in pure English language (don't exactly know which one it is) but I'm pretty sure it's NOT in pure Chinese language otherwise I wouldn't have played this game at all.
Something unique that I remember about this game is that the elemental component used is NOT the typical fire, lightning, and ice OR fire, earth, wind and water, but rather based on the principle of wu xing: fire melts metal chops wood parts earth dams water extinguishes fire and also fire creates earth bears metal enriches water nourishes wood feeds fire. In other words, it has 5 elements total. I can't remember if the skills used are elemental based but I'm sure that each weapon has an elemental affinity (maybe the armors too).
The battle style of this game is NOT turn-based (like most Chinese games I googled) and is more like a Diablo-esque layout. The characters move around like the characters in a Diablo game and they fight foes in real time (just like in Diablo). Though, I wouldn't say that this is a hack and slash game cause I remember there were 2 or 3 characters always shooting magic projectiles and magic/skills are also used (maybe more like Diablo 3?). Also, like I said, the environment is Chinese-like so the setting is generally in bright daylight with colorful things around like flowers, trees, grass, brown dirt path, etc. unlike Diablo which generally has a dark setting.
One thing this game is different from Diablo in gameplay is that you can control at least 3 characters simultaneously (if you have more than 3, I'm not sure if you can control all of them at the same time or just 3 at a time but I'm sure about the fact that there's at least 3 playable characters in my screen playing this game). The appearance of these characters is NOT JRPG/anime-like (not bug-eyed) but instead, like I mentioned multiple times, is Chinese-like (google 'Chinese RPG'). I'm not so sure about this but I kinda remember starting out as a female Chinese character (with long hair and long dress and all) with an age of late-teen to young-adult with a starting weapon of a staff with wood-elemental properties (maybe her armor too). As I go through the game, I remember other characters joining my party and the first character to join is a tall muscular man (like a brute body structure) with a beast-like head (I'm not sure about this but I kinda remember his face being lion/tiger-like or wolf-like or something along those lines). He started out with a pair of claws as a weapon and they're metal-elemental. Another character I remember joining is a guy about young-adult to middle-adult old (again, with long hair and long clothes and all) with a starting weapon that resembles bracelets or rings (not sure if they're big enough to fit his wrist or small enough to fit his fingers) and has an elemental affinity of water. I recall reading part of the name of one of the buyable bracelet/ring weapons as 'pacifying OR pacifier OR pacification' (something that starts with paci-) and this is one of the reasons why I believe the game is NOT in pure Chinese language, I can read some of the text!
Based on this information, I can say that there are 2 more characters who joined my party (one started with a fire-based weapon, the other with an earth-based one) but I can't clearly remember what they look like. All I remember about them is that the one who started with a fire-based weapon wields a sword OR dual swords. The earth-based weapon? No clue.
Also, please do note that each character merely started out with one of the 5 elements but that doesn't mean they cannot equip a weapon with other elementals. In short, you can buy a type of weapon suited for a character with a different element they started with (maybe armors too). For example, the female character can wield a fire staff, water staff, metal staff, or an earth staff, but she can only wield staves.
The type of enemies I faced in this game can differ from spiders to people to tigers. At the early stage of the game, when I only had the female and the beast-faced characters, I remember entering a dungeon-like cave (again more like Diablo but the spaces where I move are wider). Inside, I battle hordes of small spiders (if not spiders, maybe small insects that crawl like one) and at the end of that cave is the huge version of those spiders which I battled as a boss. In the middle-ish part of the game, I remember having a conversation with a group of soldiers in the middle of a brown dirt path and then suddenly being in a battle against them. Then later in the game (which is probably the last part of the game I played), I was exploring a forest where tigers seldom appear which then again I battled.
Another note: I never got to finish the game so I don't exactly know how it ended. I also forgot the objective of the adventuring of the characters and the main antagonist. So, yeah.
But what I do remember is that I can run errands for people/NPC in towns as side quests (and obviously they reward me with something) and they'll treat me friendly. But I can also react in side quests with a bad behaviour option. For example, if I'm tasked to deliver things/gold (not sure if that's the real currency) I can ignore them in the first place OR keep the item/gold to myself which in turn could make them angry towards me OR even attack me.
Another detail that I can remember about this game is that I can gather materials from my surroundings like from a bunch of rocks, a stump or a healthy tree, and from my foes, like poaching their hide or obtaining their weapons, etc. just like in the game Monster Hunter. From those materials, I can craft weapons or armors OR create other materials that craft those weapons or armors.
That's all I can remember about that game for now. Sorry for being very extensive on this post but that's all I can gather from my brain so I typed it. Ask me anything about this request and I might recall something else. Thank you very much in advance for those potential helpers!
PS. Before posting this, I DID research and google a lot of terms for a considerable amount of time (I can usually google something in a mere seconds if not split-second
but not this one). The game series: Xuan-Yuan Sword and Xianjian Qixia Zhuan (the most famous ones) did came out from that research and I doubt any games from those series matches the game description in my mind (though I could have missed one or two games or spin-offs so if you're sure that it fits the descriptions above then please, let me know!
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