Elsword (game)

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Elsword
Developer
KOG Studios
Publishers
Nexon
Gamania (TIC)
Giant Network (ZT Game)
KOG Games
Gameforge
Asiasoft (PlayPark)
Netmarble
Level UP! Games
Garena
Furizen Solutions (Gamemela)
Platform
Microsoft Windows
Release Dates
December 27, 2007
October 23, 2009
November 9, 2009
March 17, 2010
December 8, 2010[1]
May 4, 2011
September 21, 2011
November 11, 2011
December 7, 2011
February 15, 2012
April 11, 2012
October 11, 2012
December 4, 2012
July 10, 2013
July 17, 2013
October 9, 2013
April 2, 2014
Ratings
GRAC (South Korea): All ?
GSRR (Taiwan): 12
CERO (Japan): ?
CADPA (China): 16
ERSB (North America): T ?
USK (Germany): 12
PEGI (Europe): 12
OK (Thailand): 13
ClassInd (Brazil): L
Genres
MMORPG, Action-Adventure, Fighting, Platformer, Side-scroller
Mode
Multiplayer
Play Your Manga!

Elsword (Korean: 엘소드 Elsword) is a free-to-play, action-oriented massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by KOG Studios. It was first released at the end of 2007 in South Korea and later localized and made available to play in other regions. The game was originally developed as a spiritual successor to KOG Studios' other game, Grand Chase, specifically evolving the graphics from 2D to 3D. This MMORPG boasts a 2.5D side-scrolling gameplay with beat'em up combat, manga-inspired visuals, and an immersive fantasy world. The story of the game follows the title protagonist Elsword and the El Search Party as they travel across the world of Elrios to protect the El from the encroaching demonic forces.

Story

See also: Lore and Story

In the land of Elrios, the world is given life thanks to the power of the El, a mystical gem that radiates energy. However, the harmony of Elrios was disrupted by one of the masters of the El, Solace, when he kidnapped the El Lady, the one chosen by the goddess Ishmael to watch over the El. This caused the El to become unstable and explode, leading to its current existence as numerous crystal shards of energy scattered across the continent. While the Nasod and human civilizations began to disappear, survivors could only prosper where larger El Shards were, as those shards hold great enough power to sustain the nature and civilization around it. Towns and villages were rebuilt around these large shards with the remaining El Masters protecting them to restore power to the El. But with the disruption came the rise of wicked beings who seek the power of the El for their own.


Our story begins with Elsword, a young boy continuing his knight training in the village of Ruben. He discovers the great, blue demon Berthe trying to take away the El Shard in Ruben, which is vital in maintaining life for the village and the surrounding forest. Elsword unleashes his anger and manages to force Berthe to retreat, with the help of the wandering magician, Aisha, who happened upon the battle. Meanwhile, the elven ranger Rena overhears a group of bandits also planning to steal Ruben's El Shard. She engages the leader, Banthus, but he is able to escape with the El Shard. Rena, Elsword, and Aisha resolve to work together to retrieve the stolen El Shard from Banthus and the bandits, thus forming the El Search Party. This would begin their adventure as the members of the El Search Party travel across the continent to track down the El, make new allies and friends, stop powerful and cunning foes, solve the mysteries surrounding the El and the El Lady, and protect Elrios from the growing evil that threatens to destroy it.

Gameplay

Elsword's three first-job paths.

Players can choose to play as one of fifteen playable characters, each with their own unique characteristics, abilities, and backstories. Players will traverse through diverse areas and villages, where they can talk to NPCs and accept quests or access the game's various shops and facilities. Players can venture into dungeons and fields, where they can defeat enemies and tough bosses using attack commands and special skills to string together powerful combos. Doing so will allow players to complete Epic Quests, which unfold the story though dialogue cutscenes and sometimes rendered videos. Defeating monsters and completing quests can reward items, equipment, and ED, the main in-game currency. ED can be used to purchase various items, equipment, and services. The game servers also generally have limited-time in-game events that players can participate in to earn special rewards and benefits. Players can choose to use real cash currency to purchase exclusive goods from the Item Mall. Some of the main types of items available in the Item Mall are costume pieces and customizations, which can be purchased to dress up and customize characters to make them personalized.

Players earn experience from defeating enemies, clearing dungeons, and completing quests to level up and advance their characters. Upon reaching level 15, players can upgrade their character along a specialized job path, each with their own fighting style and personality, which gives access to new skills and abilities. The player is then able to advance their characters further at level 35 and unlock more powers for their class with the Transcendence system at level 70. The final advancement sits at the current level cap of level 99, unlocking the Force Skill system and more abilities, as well as granting access to the Master Class system upon progressing far enough into the story.

Upon reaching the level cap of 99 and completing a certain quest, players can continue to earn experience to earn points in the El Resonance system, which can be invested in various stat increases to specialize characters and make them even stronger.

Players can collect and use a variety of items found throughout their journey. Quests can reward items upon completions, and NPCs can sell some items to players. Dungeons and bosses can drop rare equipment and items as well. Equipment can be dismantled into materials, which can be used to craft even stronger equipment. Equipment can also be enhanced at blacksmiths to power up its main stats, socketed to give additional stats, or attributed at an alchemist to gain additional elemental effects. Special dungeons available at higher levels drop special materials and equipment that is needed to craft the strongest, endgame weapons and armor. Other items such as consumables and elixirs can be crafted as well. Players can also own pet companions who can accompany them on their journey, as well as mounts to provide swift transportation.

Players can interact with each other by communicating via the chat window, forming parties either manually, through automatic matchmaking, or with the party list, playing in the fields or dungeons together (PvE), sparring or dueling in player versus player (PvP) matches, becoming part of a guild, trading with one another and selling items on the market board, and combining forces to tackle giant Raid Bosses.

Characters

Characters

In-Depth

General Guides
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Story
Gameplay
Character Progression
Systems
Items
Equipment
Cash
Miscellaneous
Other Media
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Media

Elsword has expanded across various other mediums over the years since its release, covering many aspects of the Elsword story and universe.

Comics

Elsword saw the release of many manhwas and comics. One of the first is ElType, an official series of online magazines containing stories with the Elsword characters, gag comics, and promotional content. The first volume was released in May 2009, and the fourth volume was released in April 2010 before the series went on hiatus. ElType returned in December 2012 with the first volume Season 2, helping promote the release of Ara. The fourth and final volume of Season 2 released in June 2013. Season 3 began in July 2014, but only had 2 volumes. The second volume, released in December 2014, promoted the release of Luciel. The latest season, Season 4, has two volumes. The first came out in December 2015, which promoted Elysion and Rose. The second volume and the last in the ElType series released February 2016.

There is also a manhwa series simply named Elsword, written by Kim Eun Jong and with art done by Harim.[2] The series began with its first volume released in March 25, 2008 and continued up to Vol. 26, released in January 25, 2017. Its story seems to be loosely based on the game's story up through Sander. One notable feature of this manhwa series is its depiction of the characters and how they job-change.

KOG officially released some special promotion comics for the release of new content. The Cartoon Book series promoted various new releases, like Chung, Hamel, and Velder's Hallucination. The Transform to the Max series shared the backstory of the Transform paths of first six playable characters. The Elesis Red-Haired Swordsman comic promoted Elesis's release, while the Together with You series promoted Luciel's release.

Currently, KOG is releasing a series of voiced webtoons that explore and expand on a specific playable character and their backstory. Starting near the end of June 2016, the first series was Lu & Ciel's Tea Time, where Ciel shares with Lu how he learned to cook, and why he learned how to fight. The second series was Quantum Leap, focusing on Edward Grenore and what led him to become the troubled Add today. Next is Raven's Double Crow, exploring Raven's past and the important promise he made. Incident Log of Strongest High Magician in the World followed, featuring Aisha and the strange incident she experienced while searching for certain information. Crossroads of the Wind teaches more about Rena and her connection to the spirits, especially to one in particular. Shadow of the Silver Moon details Ara's encounter after the fall of her village with an unexpected source of information about her brother. The voiced webtoon series about Chung's resolve and glimpses of his and Helputt's past is titled Blue Dawn. The latest webcomic, CODE: REFACTORING, details Eve's initial awakening after the decline of her race and her meeting with a special individual who teaches her what it means to be the Queen of the Nasod.

In 2014, Elsword Brazil released its own webcomics series, written by Fábio Yabu.[3] It contains 13 volumes.

Light Novel

Mobile Games

Animation

Staff

Main

Role Name Notes
Director 이동신 (Lee Dong Shin) 2016~Current
이승헌 (Lee Seung Heon) 2015~2016
권오당 (Kwon Oh Dang) 2011~2015
김창호 (Kim Chang Ho) 2007~2011
Voice Director Michael Sorich Directed KOG Games' Voice Over Project for NA server
Character Modeler Sylpie Remodeled Aisha's, Rena's, and Raven's face in a model update patch.

Artists

Name Notes
RESS Main Concept Designer, Illustrator (2006-2010)

- Character Concepts: Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Raven, and Eve (base and first/second path 1st and 2nd jobs)
- Original Portraits: Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Raven, and Eve (base and first/second path 1st and 2nd jobs)
- Skill Cut-ins: Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Raven, and Eve (base, first/second path 2nd jobs, and 10th anniversary)
- Promo Artwork: main illustrations[4]
- NPC Concept: Oberon, Ophelia

흑주돈 Concept Artist, Illustrator

- Character Concept: Chung (base and first/second path 1st and 2nd jobs)
- Original Portraits: Aisha, Rena, Raven, and Eve (first/second path 1st jobs); Chung (base and first/second path 1st and 2nd jobs); Battle Magician; Weapon Taker; and Code: Electra
- Skill Cut-ins: Aisha, Rena, Raven, and Eve (base); Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Raven, and Eve (first/second path 2nd jobs); and Chung (base, first/second path 2nd jobs, and 10th anniversary)
- NPC Concept: monsters from Feita, Velder, and Hamel

문어인간 (OCTOMAN/Takoman) Concept Artist, Illustrator

- Character Concept: Sheath Knight, Trapping Ranger, Shelling Guardian, Infinity Sword, and Dimension Witch
- Original Portraits: Sheath Knight, Trapping Ranger, Shelling Guardian, Infinity Sword, and Dimension Witch
- Skill Cut-ins: Infinity Sword and Dimension Witch (old)
- Cash Skill Cut-ins: Elsword, Aisha, Raven, and Eve [5]
- Cutscene Art: two of the Halted Sun's Memory scenes [6]
- NPC Concept: Hamel monsters [7]
- Promo Artwork: Way of the Sword poster
- Promo Comic Art: Cartoon Book series, Transform the Max series, Together with You series
- Light Novel Art: Time Trouble series

광견샤프트 Concept Artist, Illustrator

- Original Portraits: Veteran Commander and Saber Knight [8]
- Skill Cut-ins: Veteran Commander (old)
- NPC Portraits: Eltrion, Sander Village NPCs, Karis, Lexter[9], and Drabaki[10]
- NPC Concept: Lexter

Sando Concept Artist, Illustrator

- Character Concept: Infinity Sword, Ara, Little Hsien, Sakra Devanam, Elesis, Pyro Knight, Arc Tracer, Little Specter, Crimson Rose, and Freyja
- Original Portraits: Ara, Little Hsien, Sakra Devanam, Elesis, Pyro Knight, Arc Tracer, and Little Specter
- Skill Cut-ins: Ara and Elesis (base and 10th anniversary), and Sakra Devanam

즉흥환상 (hwansang) Concept Artist, Official Illustrator (2013-2015, 2017-2018); Freelance Illustrator (2016~)

- Character Concept: Little Devil, Blazing Heart, Add (base and all 1st and 2nd jobs except for Arc Tracer), Lu/Ciel, Code: Ultimate, Catastrophe, and Code: Esencia
- Original Portraits: Little Devil, Blazing Heart, Add (base and all 1st and 2nd jobs except for Arc Tracer), Lu/Ciel, Royal Guard, Noblesse, Storm Trooper, Optimus, Code: Ultimate, Catastrophe, and Code: Esencia
- New Portraits: Arc Tracer (current)
- Skill Cut-ins: Blazing Heart, Add (base, all 2nd jobs, April Fools' genderbent and maid[11], and 10th anniversary), Lu/Ciel (10th anniversary), Noblesse, Tactical Trooper (current), Storm Trooper, and Eve (April Fools' butler)
- Cash Skill Cut-ins: Lord Knight, Rune Slayer, Reckless Fist, Veteran Commander, Code: Battle Seraph, Tactical Trooper, Sakra Devanam, Crimson Avenger, Diabolic Esper, Dreadlord, Noblesse, and Demonio
- Promo Artwork: Elpheus (Ain)[12]
- NPC Portraits: Durahan Knight, Teach the Tyrant, Amethyst, Dryad Kenta, Sdeing, Helputt, Luto, Edel, Sebastian, Ryota, Ignia (Lanox), Artea (Lanox), Harnier/Hernia, and Perrihart/Fenriart
- NPC Concept: Ferdinand
- Chibi Artwork: Add, Lunatic Psyker, and Lu/Ciel
- Prologue/Tutorial Artwork: Add and Lu/Ciel

Sylpi Concept Artist, Illustrator

- Character Concept: Yama Raja and Grand Master
- Original Portraits: Yama Raja and Grand Master
- Skill Cut-ins: Yama Raja and Grand Master
- Cash Skill Cut-ins: Elemental Master, Grand Archer, and Blade Master
- Promo Artwork: Memorize System poster
- NPC Concept: Incubus

초코마카롱 / KYH Concept Artist, Illustrator

- Character Concept: Lofty: Executor and Aether Sage
- Original Portraits: Wind Sneaker (Transcendent), Night Watcher (Transcendent), Code: Empress (Transcendent), Asura (Transcendent), Chiliarch (Transcendent), Noblesse (Transcendent), Diabla (Transcendent), Crimson Rose (Transcendent), Freyja (Transcendent), Lofty: Executor, Erbluhen Emotion (Transcendent), and Shakti
- Skill Cut-ins: Chacha Buch (April Fools' 2016), Demonio (Madness state), Apostasia, Aisha (April Fools' butler), Rose (10th Anniversary) and Ain (10th Anniversary)
- Chibi Artwork: Aether Sage, Anemos and Apsara

Pixel UI/UX Designer, Calligraphy and Icon Artist , Motion Graphics Designer (2013-2015)
PiKA Artist

- Cash Skill Cut-ins: ELS Office Wear cut-ins, Royal/Majestic Butterfly cut-ins
- Costume Design: ELS Office Wear set
- Promo Artwork: Evil Tracer 2 (Aisha)
- Webtoon Art: Double Crow series

Hanbyul Artist

- Webtoon Art: Incident Log series[13]
- Website Art: Harmony Festival 2017[14], Elsword Cafe[15][16]

Voice Cast

Character
Elsword 정유미 (Jeong Yu Mi) 鈴村 健一 (Kenichi Suzumura) Nicolas Roye
Aisha 이지영 (Yi Ji Yong) 釘宮 理恵 (Kugimiya Rie) Sandy Fox
Rena 정미숙 (Jeong Mi Sok) 堀江 由衣 (Horie Yui) Cristina Vee
Raven 박성태 (Bak Seong Tae) 宮野 真守 (Miyano Mamoru) Brian Beacock
Eve 우정신 (Woo Jeong Shin) 能登 麻美子 (Noto Mamiko) Brianna Knickerbocker
Chung 양정화 (Yang Jeong Hwa) 沢城 みゆき (Sawashiro Miyuki) ???
Ara 여민정 (Yeo Min Jeong) 佐藤 聡美 (Satomi Satō) Dina Sherman
Elesis 윤여진 (Yoon Yuh Jin) 井上 麻里奈 (Inoue Marina) Erin Fitzgerald
Add 정재헌 (Jeong Jae-heon) 釘宮 理恵 (Kugimiya Rie) Bryce Papenbrook
Lu 김현지 (Kim Hyeonji) 井口 裕香 (Yuka Iguchi) ???
Ciel 김영선 (Kim Yeongson) 杉山 紀彰 (Noriaki Sugiyama) JC Hyke
Rose 이용신 (Lee Yong Shin) 小清水 亜美 (Ami Koshimizu) Erica Lindbeck
Ain 김승준 (Kim Seung Jun) 武内 駿輔 (Takeuchi Shunsuke) ???
Laby 장예나 (Jang Ye-na) 加藤 英美里 (Katō Emiri) Faye Mata
Noah 이새아 (Yi Sae-ah) 堀江瞬 (Horie Shun) Brandon Winckler


Trailers

Pre-release Trailer 1 (2007)

Beginners Site Movie

NA Promo Trailer (2015)

NA Promo Trailer (2017)
Animated Trailer (2007)

JP Promo Trailer (2014)

EU Promo Trailer "Playing with Fire"


Gallery


Trivia

  • The game has seen 3 original plot arcs over the course of it lifespan. The current arc is even directly referenced as being the beginning of a new story by the final Elysion cutscene having Elsword speak the words "That was the beginning of everything" upon restoring the El.
    • The first arc involved retrieving the El that was stolen by bandits, covering the events from Ruben to Altera. Being the first arc, it is the least elaborate and has received the most adjustments to add foreshadowing for later events.
    • The second arc deals with the threat of a demon invasion and a mysterious prophecy involving the El Lady, covering the events from Feita to Elysion.
    • The third and currently ongoing arc takes place after the restoration of the El, and involves the Henir Order and the Dark El, detailing the events of Elrianode and beyond.
  • The game originally featured the ability to charge MP up to a certain amount to trigger specific tier skills, much like in Grand Chase. The skill tiers that still exist today are a remnant of said feature, as it was replaced with Mana Break instead.
  • Being a spiritual successor to Grand Chase, many skills and early characters have similar attacks or concepts to those of Grand Chase, such as Arme and Aisha.
    • However, most skills that share a name between the two games have no relation to one another, and the names are often rather generic, making the shared names more coincidental than anything.
  • Starting with Add, trailers for new characters have been primarily animated rather than CG.
  • The original mascot for the game was the Phoru enemy present early in the game. They have been overshadowed by the Baby Hedgehog pet in recent days however.
  • Between the end of Atlas Station region and the recent Pruinaum Outskirts region, almost all of the music is instead licensed stock music, potentially as a means to reduce production costs.


Alternative Names

Server Name Translation
South Korea 엘소드 Elsword
Japan エルソード Elsword
Taiwan (Traditional Chinese) 艾爾之光 El's Light
China (Simplified Chinese) 艾尔之光 El's Light


External Links

Server Publisher Official Link Restrictions
South Korea Nexon Elsword KR Only Korean players
(as of 03/01/2019)
Japan KOG Games Elsword JP
Steam Store Page
Only Japan players (has its own Steam version)
Taiwan Gamania (TIC) Elsword TW Only Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan players
China Giant Interactive
(ZT Game)
Elsword CN
WeGame Store Page
No IP block
North America KOG Games Elsword NA & International
Steam Store Page
Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean players excluded
(as of 01/13/2021)

Steam versions are not available in South Korea, Europe (Russia included), Greater China and Japan. (as of 08/29/2022)

International English
Brazilian Portuguese
KOG Games and Level UP! Games
KOG Games
Thai
KOG Games and Asiasoft (PlayPark)
KOG Games
Elsword TH
Europe Germany Gameforge
Steam Store Page
Elsword DE No IP Block
Spain Elsword ES
France Elsword FR
Italy Elsword IT
Poland Elsword PL
United Kingdom Elsword UK


References