Wo Long : Fallen Dynasty is similar to Nioh but a piece more flowing and not as complex .
After reviewingNioh 2I swore I ’d never reexamine anotherSouls - care again . Yet here we are . While I rule a lot to like about that plot , some of its quirks royally got on my nerves . Most of these issues , thankfully , arenotpresent inWo Long : fall Dynasty , which still has exciting fight , fun weapons , and offers some entertaining spins onRomance of the Three Kingdomsand its ( jolly ) historic characters . But it also offers significantly less combat deepness thanNiohwhile forcing players to defend the same handful of enemies over and over again .
To set out , it is with great delight I tell you that the invariant stamina management , Ki Pulses , and the red ink of most of your persistent healing every clock time you move to a newfangled domain , are all gone . alternatively there ’s a new stamina system urge bySekiroas well as standard - issue healing items . Combat is now based around parries and carefully balance offense and defense via the Spirit organisation . Basic attack , running , and jump do n’t expend any of your Spirit , but using strong attack , martial art skills , spells , block , dodging , and ward off do .
This conduct to a push and pull feeling with armed combat . By default , your Spirit amount is in the gauge ’s dead center . If you hit an enemy with your basic onset or successfully sidestep an enemy , you gain Spirit . If you do any of the matter listed as using Spirit in the former paragraph , you lose it . If you have a surplusage , the blue part of the gauge fills . A shortfall will fulfill the red part . If you get bump off while the red part is replete all the room up , you enter Spirit perturbation , which is fundamentally just being stunned . This go to you using basic attacks and counter to keep Spirit mellow before you habituate attainment and spells on foes .
We’ve got Spirit, yes we do
But the same goes for foe ; it ’s standardised to the posture gauge inSekiro . You want to attack foe until they enter Spirit disruption , at which compass point they ’ll show a red pane and you may dispatch them for an animation where you do a large amount of damage ( again , likeSekiro ) . This extends to political boss engagement , where you ’ll often be doing most of your damage by read advantage of this , as you ’ll only chip away at their health with any other attacks .
The combat , as is usual for Team Ninja secret plan , isWo Long : Fallen Dynasty‘s strongest element . But whereNiohhad multiple stances and obtuse accomplishment trees that offered an enormous amount of depth to the proceeding , Wo Longinstead throws this away . Now weapon system have accomplishment , called martial arts , attached to them that ca n’t be removed or applied , unlike any traits the gear may have ( extra damage , less Spirit consumption , etc ) . This stand for you ’re completely at the mercifulness of RNG to determine if you have a weapon with the acquirement you require .
On one hand , this means you ’re free to switch between artillery as you choose . you’re able to have two equipped and cycle between them and , since they ’re so enjoyable to use , I can infer why this was done . But the depth ofNioh‘s combat was the independent matter that kept the game compelling . Wo Long : FallenDynasty‘s fix staler far before . Of naturally , for every five time you level up , you advance five skill full stop to allocate to each of the five elementary types . A wad of these patch are interchangeable though and , depending on how into conjuring trick you are , you may not want to get that much exercise out of them . But since they ’re the only path to exchange thing up , you may find yourself try them out regardless .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
Not you again
Wo Long : Fallen Dynastyis divided into levels just as theNiohgames were . You foot from a mission to travel to and then you ’re cast at the starting compass point . The floor design here is very similar to those games . Levels themselves are n’t always clearly memorable , but they get the job done and have enough in the way of geographic expedition that the fight is n’t the lonesome star of the show .
That ’s not to say they do n’t get tautologic , however . You ’ll reach certain levels and wonder if you ’ve been there before , as several of them can look familiar due to some asset reuse , although it ’ll take a while before you comment . But the tangible issue is the enemy . During the early hours ofWo Long , levels are more exciting as you ’ll match new foes and learn how to deal with them . It does n’t take long before raw foeman stop seem and you ’re forced to confront the same ones time and again . Again , Niohis just as guilty of this , so it ’s not that surprising .
But the lesser profundity of the armed combat means that you ’ll be dispatching said enemy in the same way regardless of if you ’re in your 10th or fortieth time of day . Because of this , Wo Longcan become notably less interesting after a while . And that ’s not the only thing that makes the game less compelling . It ’s clear that Team Ninja need the secret plan to be a more reachable risky venture , but this is n’t always the case . The difficulty bender rachet between shockingly easy to being like toNiohat the drop of a lid , which makes for a more uneven experience .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
The art of unbalance
Most level inWo Longstrap you with one or two AI teammates directly out ofRomance of the Three Kingdoms . Lu Bei , Zhao Yun , Cao , Cao , and more will fight by your side throughout the course of the game . But the plot does n’t really compensate for their presence , as you ’ll often be pule on enemies that are attack your teammate . grade are often secure and not all that intriguing since your compatriots pull so much aggro . merge this with the miserable enemy variety and boredom can lead . But it ’s all so inconsistent . Sometimes levels will have you on your lonesome , which make things more interesting , but it also slaughters any kind of difficulty curve .
Even gaffer can be well beaten in one or two attempt due to your helpers . But then there are boss that can be fiendishly unmanageable . The game ’s first step level is mostly akin to a tutorial , but the 2d phase angle of the first boss is a giant difficultness spike . I figured that this wasWo Longannouncing that the glove were off and that thing were going to be as tough as you ’d have a bun in the oven from Team Ninja , but then the next couple of degree were mostly on the easy side .
The game ratchets back and away between soft floor with well-fixed party boss to moderately challenge point with super rugged bosses . During the crusade , one boss took me a lot of exercise to flap and then the ensue bosses were similarly hard . But then it was right back to beating bosses in one or two go . Some of the tough bosses are n’t even all that good , either . One boss tasks you with struggle an enemy who muster a horde of clones . The game uses a similar camera system to other Team Ninja games , so you have to be lock on to attack enemies , which means you ’re go to be fill a ton of damage from projectile and firm enemy attacks with little recourse .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
The fight compensates by have these attacks do small damage , but you ’ll still be watching as you get stunlocked repeatedly as if no one think to ameliorate this with a more practical muddle . While fighting multiple enemies in the levels , you ’ll find yourself deflect one you ’re not locked onto who then enters Spirit interruption . You then have to manually switch targets to strike them with your strong attack , which is awkward .
Can’t see the forest
There are other gaffer that are mostly prosperous to portion out with , keep open for the fact that Team Ninja trots out one of its pet pieces of stilted trouble : the instakill grab move . One political boss took me a while to beat exclusively because he kept spamming an instakill grab while he was right in front of me . It ’s mostly easy to parry these when foeman have to charge at you , but when they ’re right in front of you it can feel borderline out of the question to dodge . The knob in question used it over and over again too , which I ground incense . You’resupposedto get right in their face , so this feels like an inadvertence .
So does the wonkiness of the television camera . I had to stave off crusade bosses near walls , as the tv camera would just make it impossible to see . This was once in a while a problem inNioh 2as well , but I ’m just kind of flabbergast that it still lingers . Another honcho had a horse that ran around the arena in circles . On occasion , he ’d get in the way of the camera at the regretful times .
I do delight theSekiro - style additions , at least , but they do n’t always fit . On the good side , you ’ve scram the fact that strong enemy attack , called critical blows , can all be parried , which is extremely satisfying when you take out it off .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
Parrying them will fill up a chunk of the red part of their Spirit standard of measurement . But there ’s also jumping now . The jump feels fine , but navigating does n’t feel all that smooth and is a number clumsy . There ’s “ stealth ” too , which is unfortunately just the same as in mostSoulsgames andnot Sekiro . Enemies have bizarrely awful eyesight and ca n’t see you when you ’re mere feet from them . you could put point into an attribute that makes them detect you more easy , but if you just hold the closure release to keep yourself dull and then jump to move , they wo n’t be aware of you at all if their back is work .
Grinded up
Other than that , it ’s the same game anatomical structure asNioh . you may do side military mission and replay main missions to grow for reinforcement to upgrade your gear , but I mostly never felt like I needed to kick upstairs anything . I also did n’t experience like the stats I was level up really built to much of anything , nor did the game punish me for apportion them based on whim . There ’s also a passably off-the-wall morale system which push you to plant flags around a level to become as strong as your foes . I like that this incentivizes exploration , but it does feel like it exists just to add a layer of unnecessary artificial difficultness .
The game does n’t look peculiarly proficient either , with a passel of pop - in and some fairly bland environments . Some area are very prone to frame drops for no salutary cause . The optimisation just is n’t all that good even though the game ’s visuals are fairly dated . However , despite all of my result with it , I do likeWo Long : Fallen Dynasty . Waiting for opening and duck foe strikes head to lively battles and there ’s a deal to do , but the awry difficultness curve , deficiency of overall deepness , and blatant repeat do n’t do the game any favour .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
