You’d be forgiven for not being too familiar with the Sword and Fairy series. This JRPG franchise that has developed a loyal fan base in the East since its initial release in 1995 has enjoyed little fanfare or mainstream attention on the western shores; despite Sword and Fairy 6 and 7 have received worldwide releases on PC in recent years.
Developer Softstar brings us now Sword and Fairy: Together Forever for PS4 and PS5 – basically a console port of Sword and Fairy 7 released for PC last year. Considering this is the first installment to not only come to console, but also feature real-time action-RPG combat rather than turn-based, it seems like the perfect opportunity for Softstar to reach a wider audience. Let’s see if Sword and Fairy: Together Forever keeps its console landing.
Telling dense and epic stories
I’m going to make one thing clear right away: if you’re not a fan of lore-heavy games or extremely dense stories, then Sword and Fairy: Together Forever maybe not for you. Rooted in Chinese mythology, prepare yourself for an experience where the source material is held in high esteem. The story centers on Qingshu, a member of the Mingshu sect whose job it is to help protect her village from the monsters that lurk outside. While on a field trip outside the village one afternoon, Qingshu spots a young boy being kidnapped by a bird-like monstrosity, and she quickly gives chase. After rescuing the boy, the would-be kidnappers return to the village later that night and, when the battle seems lost, steps in Xiu Wu, a humanoid deity sworn to protect the young boy. It turns out that the child is actually being used as a vessel to house another deity, also called “Your Divinity”, who is the central target in an ancient conflict that has been going on for some time between humans, gods and demons .
I’ll stop there, but as you probably already understood, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever story is sometimes a lot. I’ve only scratched the surface of how close and out-of-the-way things get, but at the same time I can attest that they’re poignant things, with twists and turns around every corner. There are bound to be times when the exposition and lore dumps can get a little overwhelming, especially in the opening hours where you barely get a few minutes of gameplay at a time before being swept up in another twenty minutes of narrative sections. Stick to it, and things will get a lot less presumptuous, and you’ll be rewarded with one of the more compelling video game stories in recent memory.
Flashy yet deep
It’s also worth getting through those opening hours because, simply put, Sword and fairy: together forever is really great to play once it loosens the reins a bit. While there are no doubt traditionalists propagating the move to real-time action combat, it’s a combat system that manages to be both accessible and provide depth for those who want to dig a little deeper. If I compared it to something from recent memory, it would probably be fantastic from last year Stories of origin. Combos can be made with a combination of light and heavy attacks assigned to the face buttons, while pressing the right trigger gives access to a variety of elemental and special moves which are then mapped to the face buttons as well.
The developers should also be commended for how quickly they give players access to fun tools and awesome destruction kits. Within a few hours, I was able to spawn elemental birds out of nowhere that would rain down devastating lightning strikes, before switching to another party member who could conjure up spectral swords that could spear enemies from across the screen. Adding more party members just opens up more options as you progress and before long you’ll be switching party members during combat, identifying the enemy’s weaknesses and figuring out which attacks are best suited to which enemies. It all looks great in action too. While this isn’t the most visually impressive game out there, the art direction combined with fantastic lighting and particle effects really help to make the fights pop as you fire spells and wield all sorts of impressive weapons.
sidetracked
When you’re not into combat, chances are you’ll be exploring the impressively varied environments, looking for crafting materials and cooking ingredients that can both be used in their respective systems to enhance your combat abilities. we don’t talk Monster Hunter levels of depth when it comes to pre-fight preparation, but the systems are captivating enough and the rewards favorable enough to feel like time well spent, especially in the late game when the difficulty can increase dramatically.
There’s also a wealth of side quests to take on, though these are largely a low point for Sword and Fair: together forever. While the main story writing is generally excellent, the same can’t be said for the side missions unfortunately. Expect a lot of fetch assignments, which in itself isn’t a bad thing if you go about it right. The problem here is that the story around the vast majority of these quests is so uninspired that I had to force myself to engage in it, and I really only did this out of a desire to get more experience in my group and experience more of the excellent combat system.
It is unfortunately true during these side missions Sword and Fairy: Together Forever The biggest problem that crops up most often – and that’s localization. It’s inconsistent at best and downright awful at worst. While most of the time, when doing the main missions, it’s pretty easy to overlook some localization issues, as they’re mostly minor grammatical errors, the side missions are much worse. It’s a shame this is an issue at all, and to be honest it’s mind-boggling that this console release wasn’t used as an opportunity to clean up an issue obviously carried over from last year’s PC release. . It’s the kind of complaint that can probably be fixed with patches, but since this appears to be a legacy issue from the original global release, it’s hard to see any effort being made to address it now.
A well-treated gate
Presentation wise, as mentioned earlier in the review, the game often looks great, especially in combat when things are hectic, and there’s no downtime to explore too much. The cracks start to appear somewhat during the more serene moments of exploration, although the fantastic environmental design and art direction distracts a lot from the frequent pop-in and sometimes elemental texturing work. Sound design is also a frequent highlight, with the Eastern-inspired tracks swell at just the right moments during dramatic story beats or pivotal boss fights, while also managing to quiet down and bubbling softly in the background as you explore and collect. of materials.
The performance is thankfully solid throughout and compliments the already great presentation, with the target appearing to be a stable 60fps, which is credit to the developers Sword and fairy: together forever lingers for the most part, with the only notable drops coming during particularly taxing boss fights with the particle effects up to eleven. It’s worth noting that I haven’t come across any significant bugs other than a few visual quirks here and there, which are always worth praising at a time when large-scale RPGs are often released in a half-baked state.
Conclusion
I really hope that Sword and Fairy: Together Forever is finally released on consoles, giving the series the boost it needs to more widespread recognition worldwide. It’s a fantastic title with some of the deepest knowledge to enrich the genre in a while, which also manages to back up the compelling story with combat that is a joy to deal with. In a summer where epic RPGs for genre enthusiasts were sorely lacking, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever not only helps fill that void, but does so with a level of style and heart that begs to be experienced.
Final verdict: 4/5
Available on: PS4, PS5; Publisher: eastasiasoft; Developer: Softstar; Players: 1; Released: August 4, 2022; MSRP: $39.99: ESRB:T for Teen
Full disclosure: The publisher has provided a review copy.
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