Sword and Fairy 3

Sword and Fairy 3
Developer	Softstar Technology (Shanghai)
Publisher	Softstar Entertainment
Platforms	Windows
Released	Taiwan: July 31, 2003 China: August 4, 2003 Worldwide (Steam): April 14, 2021
Added to Museum	Windows: December 5, 2024

Sword and Fairy 3 (劍與仙女3), also known as The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3 (仙劍奇俠傳3), Chinese Paladin 3, or simply PAL 3 due to its default directory name, is a role-playing video game. It was the first game in the Sword and Fairy series that was not developed by the Crazy Boys Production Group as it was developed by the Shanghai subsidiary of Softstar Entertainment.

Development

After the success of The Legend of Sword and Fairy, the producer of the game, Yao Zhuangxian became the manager of the Shanghai subsidiary of Softstar Entertainment. At the time it pitched a sequel to the aforementioned game, the Shanghai subsidiary had only developed the Han Dynasty and Rome (汉朝与罗马) real-time strategy video game.

Softstar Entertainment had assigned The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2 to the development team of the first game, the Crazy Boys Production Group. Thus, Yao Zhuangxian's pitch was approved as The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3.

During the development of The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2, much of the development team, including the project leader, left the Crazy Boys Production Group midway through production. Softstar Entertainment brought Yao Zhuangxian back to Taiwan from China to finish the project within a tight deadline.

The game was completed by the remaining members of the Crazy Boys along with members from the DOMO Team, the latter of whom developed the Yuan-Yuan Sword series. The Crazy Boys Development Group disbanded after the game was completed, and Yao Zhuangxian returned to Shanghai to finish development of The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3.

Sword and Fairy 3 used the GameBox engine, which allowed it to have three-dimensional characters on two-dimensional backgrounds. The engine was also used in the New Legend of Sword and Fairy remake of the first game in the series, which was released in 2001, and the Sword and Fairy 3 Extra Story: Quest for Love, which was released in 2004.

Releases

The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3 was released for Windows in Taiwan on July 31, 2003 and in China on August 4, 2003. It was released worldwide as Sword and Fairy 3 on Windows via Steam on April 14, 2021, however the in-game text was still only available in Chinese.