Sword and Fairy: Together Forever is a simple motion RPG based mostly on Chinese mythology. It’s the most recent instalment in Taiwan-based developer Softstar’s lengthy working Sword and Fairy collection, and when it comes to presentation and total tone, there’s lots to love concerning the recreation. But with regards to really enjoying via this 30-hour or so journey, style fanatics could also be left feeling unfulfilled.
The title’s very linear in construction because the plot whisks you from one remoted location to the subsequent. Some bigger environments enable for exploration, however there’s little to find outdoors of by-the-numbers facet quests and additional fight encounters. And it is a little bit of an issue, since you’ll spend most of your time in Together Forever both watching cutscenes or listening to prolonged conversations between characters. Indeed, the gameplay (that’s, the fight and exploration) to non-interactive scene ratio is closely weighted in direction of the latter, generally to the purpose the place it virtually feels such as you’re watching a film.
To be honest, among the cutscenes are somewhat spectacular. It’s clear that loads of effort and time has been put into telling a cinematic story, full with some glorious choreography and spectacular path. It’s only a disgrace that such flamboyance seemingly comes on the expense of longer gameplay situations. One early portion of the title is a main instance, by which you are introduced with a boss battle that lasts round 30 seconds, and it is bookended by cutscenes that stretch over 5 minutes every manner.
It’s a pacing situation that begins to grate, as a result of Sword and Fairy’s fight system is fairly enjoyable — fundamental, however fulfilling. It’s constructed round your commonplace mild and heavy assaults, tied to a beneficiant dodge button and particular strategies. Character animations are elegant, motion is responsive, and the enemy designs are usually unbelievable — however should you’re an motion aficionado, you will in all probability discover all of it a contact too straightforward, even on the sport’s hardest issue setting.
As talked about, that dodge button is very evasive, and you will see your foe’s assaults coming from a mile away. There had been solely a few encounters all through all the recreation that gave us bother, and even then, we had been so stocked on therapeutic gadgets that any incoming injury was of little consequence. Now, we’re not saying that simpler fight methods are unhealthy, however given the title’s gameplay imbalance, we expect that extra demanding encounters may have gone a good distance.
Having stated that, unlocking new strikes and watching your heroes lay waste to monsters continues to be a spotlight of the expertise. Each get together member has their very own preventing model — which helps maintain issues recent — and determining the most effective methods to utilise your skills provides you one thing to consider when the enemies themselves do not pose a lot of a risk.
Because Sword and Fairy’s largely enjoyable fight is pressured to take a backseat, you’ll hope that the sport’s story goes above and past — nevertheless it’s annoyingly hit or miss. There’s little question that its greatest moments come from its predominant characters, and the relationships that they forge. In specific, the romantically-tinged interactions between outgoing teenage spirit maiden Yue and aloof deity warrior Xiu Wu are endearing from starting to finish. There’s good character chemistry right here, and it is typically explored in charmingly comedic vogue.
It’s admittedly harder to care concerning the total plot, despite the fact that its origins are rooted in intriguing fantasy and legend. Things aren’t fairly proper within the human realm, with highly effective demons making an attempt to upset the peace, and it is all the way down to Yue and the gang to kind the whole lot out. It’s predictable stuff, each in premise and execution, though there are a few plot factors that had us surprisingly hooked in direction of the tip.
There is one huge drawback with Together Forever’s storytelling, although — and it is not essentially the sport’s fault. Indeed, the English localisation is not good. The translated script is usually awkwardly written, with damaged English and odd phrases making dialogue troublesome to learn and perceive (the sport’s voiced in Chinese, it must be famous). Even menu textual content might be poorly put collectively, creating a wierd state of affairs the place you are studying English, however the that means does not actually register. To be clear, a lot of the script is serviceable, however such a text-heavy title, full with likeable characters, deserves lots higher than this.
Conclusion
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever will not fulfill everybody. Action fanatics shall be disillusioned in how underutilised the fight system is, and people in search of a lovingly crafted story should abdomen an particularly poor English localisation. But even with its apparent flaws, Together Forever has plain attraction in its endearing characters and chic presentation. An enjoyably breezy RPG, should you can maintain your expectations in test.
