Sho Online
| Developer(s) | Lizard Interactive |
|---|---|
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Windows 95/Windows 98/Windows Me/Windows 2000/Windows XP/Windows Vista |
| Release date(s) | 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Massively multiplayer online game |
Introduction
Sho Online is a free-to-play MMORPG game developed by Lizard Interactive that is based on one of the four Chinese tales, 'Fengshen Yanyi'.
'Fengshen Yanyi', is a story that is created based on real historical events. It merges the conflicts between the Yin and Zhou era to the imaginary world of Taoism. Players must choose to play either on the Zhou or Yin faction and each player's avatar is positioned within the nation that they choose to be in. Players must sometimes fight other players avatars that are on the opposing faction and help each other to progress their avatar and gain War Fame(determines avatars War title and ranking).
Players complete quests and kill NPC monsters to gain experience, Mun (Sho Online's form of in-game currency), and gear. While this is how the game is played for the beginning of an avatar's journey, later quests become scarce and players must grind to obtain experience. There are also NPC monster bosses that have higher HP and do higher damage to players than average NPC monsters. These bosses provide more Mun, gear, and experience than normal NPC monsters and some drop Pets.
At any level players may choose to participate in the War System. This is the substance of Sho Online's PvP game play.
Currently, there is only one server to play on, for Korean Sho Online(1000do.com). In 2012, the global server for Sho Online was permanently shutdown.
Unique Features
War System
One of Sho's most unusual features is its war system. Every 8 hours, a general from one of the dynasties spawns. A group of people from the opposite dynasty must try and assassinate this general. When this has happened, the war countdown begins. All players are warned that the war will start in 5 minutes, so they can prepare and create "war parties" to increase experience. Any player may join the war, as long as they have a way to get to the war zone (war zone portals can be bought for a low price from the war shop). When the war starts, one dynasty is given an objective and a timer (usually 15 minutes), while the other dynasty attempts to stop them. If the objective is met within the time, the attacking dynasty advances to the next territory and is given a new objective. If not, the attacking dynasty retreats back a territory, and the other dynasty becomes the attackers. After an hour, the war ends and everybody goes back to normal gameplay. Everybody who participated gets extra experience and fame points depending on how they did in the war, and even more bonuses are given to those in the winning dynasty (whichever dynasty gained more territory).
Pet System
Pets are player controlled NPCs that fight alongside players. Pets deal damage, and cause NPC monsters to attack them instead of a player's character. Players can obtain a pet at level 35 by doing a quest, and pets can also drop as loot from bosses. Pets gain levels quicker than player characters, and change size and shape once they reach certain levels. After reaching a certain level, pets may be mounted to increase player character movement speed.