So I decided to try out this game because its named after one of the famous Wuxia (martial art) novels by Jin Yong (most famous for Condor Heroes). This game has absolutely nothing to do with the series of the same name and is instead based on the 10 martial arts sects. Unfortunately, I realized I played this game before except it was under a different name and I think it was run by a Malaysian company rather than Changyou Europe. The only thing that I recognized was the giant eagles that some people can ride, but that would be Legend of the Condor Heroes and not Tian Long Ba Bu. This game is very similar to the JX2 style.

Story:

N/A

Graphics:

The graphics are dated. There are very limited options in terms of looks. You can choose between 3 hairstyles and something like 4 faces. You can choose a character portrait, but it has no effect on anything other than the image you see when you view a person's profile. The background and enemies are rather plain. The effects on skills look decent at least. However, everything else looks bad and it feels like it was a game that came out back in 2000.

Gameplay:

When you begin, you will gradually be given some extremely powerful equipment over a short period of time. The first 10 levels are just the tutorial and the real game does not begin until level 10 when you finally get to join a clan. Clans are basically the same as classes. There are a bunch of them, but the differences are very small. They make a difference still. Each clan has a different focus, but it can either be divided into melee or range focus. There are some skills and abilities unique to each clan, but most are similar to one another. Stats are automatically distributed. Each clan has a unique mount.

The game relies on an exp storage system. When you get enough exp, you can choose to level up. You can choose not to level up and instead use your exp to power up your skills. Your max skill level is tied to your character level and some skills are not unlocked unless you have a high enough discipline rating. Compared to other games however, exp is actually very easy to come by. You can do up to 10 daily quests for your clan that gives a lot of money and exp. After that, the rewards decline. There are events and even standard enemies give a lot of experience up until at least level 40. After that, spamming area skills will level you faster, but it starts taking a long time to gain each level.

The daily events is what keeps the game interesting and fairly easy. They provide a fair amount of exp and for a small bit of work, its eas to get a long way towards your next level without grinding too much. The problem is that there is a huge gap of wealth. At the low levels, the rewards are small, but the dorp rate seems to change exponentially so that they are horrible at high lvls and odds are you will grind quests in order to obtain better equipment.

One of the best features of the game is that every class is independent. No one really needs to party unless they want to attempt bosses or something. The game encourages partying through a disciple system that rewards high level players for helping low level players. The only problem with this is that new players miss out on a lot of content and learning to actually playing the game.

One of the problems with the game is having a small inventory. While you can obtain bags that increase the size of your inventory, the number of drops you find makes it hard to hold onto everything you find.

Guilds:

There are benefits for the guild for helping new players as well.

Overall:

If you were a fan of the actual books or TV shows, you won't like this as it has nothing to do with the series at all. If you like stuff like Conquer Online and JX2, you will probably like this game. Just don't expect something that's completely difference.

Final Score:

6/10 - Its not bad, but it has nothing that makes it stand out. The graphics are also dated.