Perfect World International

Perfect World International is an MMORPG that relies heavily on Chinese mythology and concepts. As such, it is set in the mythical world created by the first God of the universe, Pan Gu, after the created races were given free will and allowed to resolve their conflicts among themselves as they saw fit. However, such conflicts will have to be largely set aside as the race that was first created and thought to have been eradicated by Pan Gu through a great flood has returned, in a state between life and death, and is set on destroying all the others.

Not including anything added by subsequent expansions, the players can choose between three races and six classes. As each race has exactly two classes that are unique to it, one of them focusing on physical combat and the other on magic, your choice of class automatically determines your choice of race. Humans can be Blademasters or Wizards, Untamed can be Barbarians (only male) or Venomancers (only female) and Winged Elves can be Archers or Clerics. While each race has its own starting area, after level 20 the story becomes the same for all characters.

Levels are gained as expected, by earning experience from completing quests and killing, but a character's level only affects attributes. Developing skills is done by spending spirit instead, which is earned the same way but usually in much smaller amounts. The one exception are Spiritual Cultivation quests, which award a very large amount of spirit when completed, along with increasing the character's Spiritual Cultivation level, which determines which skills can be trained. Late in the game, Spiritual Cultivation quests will force players to choose between becoming a Sage or a Demon. Once made, the choice is permanent and will determine their path from that point forward.

To outline other aspects of the game, it has to be said that very extensive customization options are available when creating a character. A crafting system also exists, players being able to train in certain professions in order to create useful items. Trading is handled by both general auctions and a shop system, where players turn their characters into vendors while they're not actively using them. Players can join together in guilds, which can fight each other over the control of territories in scheduled events known as Territory Wars. Finally, both normal and flying mounts exist, to facilitate traveling. The flying mounts are usually gained after completing a quest obtained at level 30, though Winged Elves have a limited flying ability from level 1.

While the game is free-to-play, an item shop exists from which players can purchase items using ZEN, which is the currency used for all of Perfect World Entertainment's MMO games. In turn, ZEN is purchased with real money. A significant portion of the items available for purchase with ZEN are purely cosmetic in nature, yet many others offer significant improvements and advantages.

Perfect World International is, as the name suggests, the international version of the game Perfect World, which was previously launched on various Asian markets. According to the publisher, the differences between the two are a result of the attempt to make Perfect World International appealing to North American and European players.