BX#19
Fantasy action-RPG in a chinese historical / mythical setting
- The combat system in this game is immaculate: skill-based, deep, fast and responsive. The spirit bar, which is basically stamina + mana/magic + Sekiro's posture, dictates the rhythm of the fights and you constantly need to manage yours and try to break / consume the enemy ones especially by spirit attacks (= heavy / slower attacks) and by deflects. In fact, in Wo Long dodging is deflecting, and every single attack is deflectable. Once you get the hang of it, the fights start to be rhythmic and methodic; add to it unique movesets per weapon category, critical blows, tons of spells, elemental weaknesses and strenghts,weapon martial arts, beasts to summon, bows and throwables. Heavily inspired by their Nioh(s) and Fromsoft's Sekiro but unique in its own way;
- The RPG system is based on the chinese philosophy of the 5 elements, and even if seems complex and has tons of different stats and numbers, it's extremely rewarding and satisfying: this game has a giant build construction potential;
- The bosses are cool in design, and big, and hit hard: each one has its own mechanics, movesets, weaknesses and strenghts;
- The art direction is fine; the ancient China in which you fight your battles shows passion and love for the historical period, and the fantasy element (spells, demons and magic in general) mixed with it works oddly well. Music is also good and helps the immersion;
- The historical / mythical figures are very cool in design;
BUT
- There are tons of technical issues (especially the 1.02 / day one version, but still present after updates): flickering, frame drops, freezes, crashes;
- The mechanics feel overwhelming at first glance and, such as in Nioh, the one-time tutorials and the (useless) descriptive tips in the menus do not help. Team Ninja can't get a proper way to ease the learning curve of the complex mechanics of their own games;
- The missions system even if it's not a cons per se, I can't get over it; it feels old, uninspired and ruins immersion. The morale (and fortitude) system serves only to give the player a sense of progression even in a already beaten mission. There are tons of other way to make areas replayable (dynamic events and quests, ng+, new enemies and mobs), this is just not as fun;
- The companions (and the AI of the enemies) are totally dumb and completely useless; their only purpose is to fish wrong bosses attacks and to drop their own sets and weapons when friendship with them is maxed out;
- The PVP / invasion mechanic is laughable as it seems more like a tribute to Fromsoft than an actual part of the game. There is a game currency that's used as reward for invading / defeating opponents with which you can roll new random weapons and gears but, since the game is filled with loot, it's basically useless;
- The story feels like an excuse (bad old guy in search for the immortality elixir, you are the hero to defeat it), and the writing feels anime-y in the worst possible way. I had to mute the voice volume since they keep talking all the time during missions and are extremely annoying.
Fantasy action-RPG in a chinese historical / mythical setting
- The combat system in this game is immaculate: skill-based, deep, fast and responsive. The spirit bar, which is basically stamina + mana/magic + Sekiro's posture, dictates the rhythm of the fights and you constantly need to manage yours and try to break / consume the enemy ones especially by spirit attacks (= heavy / slower attacks) and by deflects. In fact, in Wo Long dodging is deflecting, and every single attack is deflectable. Once you get the hang of it, the fights start to be rhythmic and methodic; add to it unique movesets per weapon category, critical blows, tons of spells, elemental weaknesses and strenghts,
- The RPG system is based on the chinese philosophy of the 5 elements, and even if seems complex and has tons of different stats and numbers, it's extremely rewarding and satisfying: this game has a giant build construction potential;
- The bosses are cool in design, and big, and hit hard: each one has its own mechanics, movesets, weaknesses and strenghts;
- The art direction is fine; the ancient China in which you fight your battles shows passion and love for the historical period, and the fantasy element (spells, demons and magic in general) mixed with it works oddly well. Music is also good and helps the immersion;
- The historical / mythical figures are very cool in design;
BUT
- There are tons of technical issues (especially the 1.02 / day one version, but still present after updates): flickering, frame drops, freezes, crashes;
- The mechanics feel overwhelming at first glance and, such as in Nioh, the one-time tutorials and the (useless) descriptive tips in the menus do not help. Team Ninja can't get a proper way to ease the learning curve of the complex mechanics of their own games;
- The missions system even if it's not a cons per se, I can't get over it; it feels old, uninspired and ruins immersion. The morale (and fortitude) system serves only to give the player a sense of progression even in a already beaten mission. There are tons of other way to make areas replayable (dynamic events and quests, ng+, new enemies and mobs), this is just not as fun;
- The companions (and the AI of the enemies) are totally dumb and completely useless; their only purpose is to fish wrong bosses attacks and to drop their own sets and weapons when friendship with them is maxed out;
- The PVP / invasion mechanic is laughable as it seems more like a tribute to Fromsoft than an actual part of the game. There is a game currency that's used as reward for invading / defeating opponents with which you can roll new random weapons and gears but, since the game is filled with loot, it's basically useless;
- The story feels like an excuse (bad old guy in search for the immortality elixir, you are the hero to defeat it), and the writing feels anime-y in the worst possible way. I had to mute the voice volume since they keep talking all the time during missions and are extremely annoying.