I first saw people playing the earliest Chinese-language 95 version of *Xianjian* at someone else’s home, and afterward I bought the just-released 98 “Romantic Edition” myself. *Xianjian* is the only RPG I’ve played no fewer than three times (I can’t remember exactly how many times), and even now I’m still willing to play through it again.
The most recent time I replayed *Xianjian* was when the TV drama adaptation aired and I simply couldn’t stand it anymore, so I played it again. Let me stress once more: absolutely do not watch the *Xianjian* TV drama, or if you do, do not connect it with *The Legend of Sword and Fairy*……
*Xianjian* is a legend. It is said that at the time, from planning to development to post-production, it was completed almost entirely by one person’s efforts. Clearly, a game like that could no longer be made today. For today’s RPGs, just the 3D production of a single scene would probably require an entire team. But gorgeous interfaces and rich side quests cannot conceal the poverty of the content. Even the orthodox sequels to *Xianjian*—*Xianjian III*, *Wenqing Pian*, and *Xianjian IV*, which I’m playing now—can hardly bring back that old feeling. I even feel that *Xianjian IV* is inferior to III; the newer 3D engine is not good, the controls are very awkward, and whenever you encounter monsters the game has to stutter twice (my machine meets the recommended specifications), which gets in the way of smoothness. The plot also seems really rather ordinary.
Compared with that, I still prefer domestic RPGs—more specifically, the *Xianjian* series and the *Xuanyuanjian* series, the 98 Romantic Edition of *Xianjian*, and *The Far Ends of Clouds and Mountains* from *Xuanyuanjian III*. “Wuxia” is a Chinese specialty; in Western RPGs, it is very hard to find a Li Xiaoyao.
The music of *Xianjian* has become a classic, especially “Die Lian,” which everyone knows—even though many people do not know where it comes from. But the longer one plays a game, the impression most deeply etched in the mind always seems to be the battle music when fighting monsters. “Die Lian” is everywhere online, so I’ll just post a battle track~ I should be heading into battle too~~
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- UNIC
2007-08-26 22:01:00 Anonymous 222.82.67.242
The other day some classmates got together and we drank as well.
One boy was drunk for the first time, and especially flustered and excited.
Suddenly he jumped up from his seat and shouted, “I am Li Xiaoyao!” and so on……….
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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