Blade and Sword has a deep storyline that will take you from the Human Realm to the Demon and Beast Realms. You will hone your Kung Fu skills, gain new abilities and collect various items along your journey.
B and S takes place about three thousand years ago when the Country Shan was destroyed and its emperor, Jo, was killed. The Emperor's grand wizard, Wen, granted Jo's last hate-filled wish. The land was covered in beasts and demons, all waiting for the dead Jo to return to his throne.
You play as an up and coming hero. Mind you, this land is not short on rising heroes, but most of them fall before they become very well known. For this role, you can play as a Long Swordsman, a Twin-Bladed Heroine or a Great Blade Warrior. The difference between these characters (besides just their looks) are their abilities and styles in battle, as well as the special moves they will be able to learn along the way.
The Long Swordsman is a quick and strong fighter. He is the one that most new players should pick. The other two specialize in either speed (the Heroine) or strength (the Warrior). When you have a better grasp of the game and its controls, it might be wise to start over on one of these two. I found my personal style allowed me to use the quick Heroine better than the Warrior.
As you progress through this 140-hour game, your character will learn various special moves that he or she can use in battle. These abilities reflect on the character's traits (speed, power, etc.) and can make for very different tactics when you are on the battlefield.
Also available for use in Blade and Sword are items that can be placed on the character's belt (up to 12 in all). On one side of the belt are your health and Chi potions (which is used to perform your magic abilities). The other side holds your projectile weapons (throwing stars and knives).
As your character learns more skills, you can sort them and arrange them in a Combo Attack window. This allows you to perform complicated and devastating combinations quickly. This is an easy to use tool that will help you greatly as you progress through the game.
The structure of Blade and Sword has you completing missions in order to advance the story. These are missions like 'go find this guy' or other tasks. There are also a variety of missions that don't need to be done in order to complete the game -- but some good might come out of it in the long run. As you travel the countryside helping people, you will run into a wide assortment of enemies. You will face everything from corpses, to ghosts, to demons and beasts. You may even find yourself facing the Grand Wizard Wen and Emperor Jo themselves.
