dSOFTSTAR’s developer Sword and Fairy series is one that isn’t as well known in the West, and for good reason. Most games in the franchise have limited accessibility as they are only available in Chinese, but that changes with Sword and Fairy: Together Forever. It is a console release off Sword and Fairy 7 released on PC last year, and while this version doesn’t rewrite the playbook, it has some noticeable improvements that should make this package more appealing to a western audience. That being said, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever doesn’t solve all the problems with the original, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and analyze every aspect of the game one by one.
The biggest deal breaker in the case of Sword and Fairy 7 is the fact that the game has no English voice acting. You get the option to choose from English, Chinese and Japanese in terms of subtitles, but voice acting is limited to the original. The lack of additional voice dubs is a bit of a disappointment considering this is supposed to be a worldwide release, even though the voice acting itself is quite expressive and mostly well done. That said, I found a lot of grammatical errors in the English translation, which can also sometimes distract a bit from the immersion. In addition, some parts of the menus are still in Chinese, which is a clear sign of shoddy execution on this front.
“It’s a fairly played-out prospect of good versus evil, but that formulaic story is made enjoyable by some well-written characters. “
While Sword and fairy is a long-running franchise with many entries under its belt, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever is a standalone story that requires no prior experience to fully understand – making it a perfect candidate for newcomers to the series. The game takes place in a mystical world of the Six Realms inhabited by both humans and demons. The story itself revolves around your party trying to save the world from the wrath of Vicious Beasts who have escaped from Heaven Prison, leading you down a rabbit hole of discovery and conjuring evil conspiracies that could very well lead to the end of the world. It’s a fairly played-out prospect of good versus evil, but that formulaic story is made enjoyable by some well-written characters.
You begin the game by playing as Xiu Wu, who is sent on a mission to eradicate evil. We are then greeted by Yue Quingshu, the sole disciple of a crumbling Mingshu sect who becomes symbiotically attached to Xiu Wu in the human realm, making staying together essential to the Diety’s survival in this realm. There are also Bai Moqing and Sang Yo, a pair of young lovers who also join Yue and Xiu in this perilous quest. While the story itself has quite a few twists and reveals that keep the plot interesting, the biggest draw is undoubtedly the journey these characters take. With the exception of Que Yingshu, the remaining trio of protagonists seem very far removed from you when they start, as they seem to fit all too well into the stereotypical RPG character box – but as revelations about their past open up, they start to become more relatable to be and sympathetic. These beats of the story proved to be essential as they kept me going through this expansive adventure which isn’t at the best pace as the story tends to go off on a lot of inconsistent tangents.
“Sword and Fairy 7 Closing down the turn-based roots of past entries, it features a dynamic real-time combat system that emphasizes unleashing a series of hard-hitting combos on your enemies. “
Sword and Fairy 7 Closing down the turn-based roots of past entries, it features a dynamic real-time combat system that emphasizes unleashing a series of hard-hitting combos on your enemies. Each character has his or her assortment of light and heavy attacks, which can be chained together to create different combos. With the right trigger, you can switch to your special moves, which consume magic and are linked to a cooldown timer. The skills themselves are plentiful and you get more as you progress through the game.
You can switch between group members at any time during combat, which opens up a lot of tactical options during combat. Xiu Wu is a master swordsman, Yue Quingshu is a Spirit Controller and team healer, and the two specialize in close-range combat, while Sang Yo and Bai Moqing excel at dealing damage from a distance. Some characters are more effective than others, but they all serve a clear purpose in the combat procedures.
Overall, it’s a simple yet effective combat system, but it’s also pretty light on feedback. Enemies rarely react to your hits and telegraphing can be a bull’s eye. There are times when the game makes clever use of the PS5’s DualSense capabilities to gauge the timing of the boss’ attack, but these cases are more exceptions than the norm. Most enemies don’t react to your hits at all, as they take tons and tons of damage without looking. Particle effects also tend to fill the screen during tense combat, making it difficult to see enemy attack telegraphs.
“There are times when the game makes clever use of the PS5’s DualSense capabilities to gauge the timing of the boss’ attack, but these cases are more exceptions than the norm.“
The game starts out pretty easy, but there are some really annoying difficulty spikes throughout the experience. This was an issue we raised during our review of the original version, and there doesn’t seem to be any change in that aspect. Many boss fights are ultimately a test of your stamina rather than skill, which can make chopping through those giant health bars a frustrating experience. Like any other RPG, the game puts a lot of emphasis on progression – but Sword and Fairy 7 does very little to explain to players how it all works. You’ll constantly need to upgrade your weapons, swap weapons for stronger merchant variants, equip armor sets that provide different buffs, upgrade spirits, and cook different foods that provide different status effects to your party – and many of these mechanics are poorly explained or left out entirely to make your own. to discover. Fortunately, the crafting materials and combat rewards are generous – and excessive grinding is not necessary to keep up with the growing enemy power levels.
While Sword and Fairy is not an open world game, it is split into multiple open sections and dungeons for you to explore at will. In addition to the general range of merchants and loot supplies, you can also participate in NPC side missions. These usually come down to picking up quests, and while the rewards can be generous, thankfully they’re not required to get through the main story, so you’re free to skip them if you like.
“Side quests come down to picking up quests, and while the rewards can be generous, thankfully they aren’t required to get through the main story, so you’re free to skip them if you like. “
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever looks and performs really well on the PlayStation 5. The character models and materials are of high quality textures, and the lighting and reflection can also be combined to make certain areas absolutely breathtaking. Comparing it briefly to the PC version, I don’t think the PS5 version has ray-traced shadows, as they are clearly fainter than the maxed-out PC counterpart. I should also mention here that there are no performance profiles to choose from, which is also a bit of a disappointment.
Satisfying, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever also offers a lot of variation between the environments, which range from icy peaks to tropical beaches to hellish landscapes and all. Many of these are an absolute treat to explore, thanks to the beautiful statues. Performance was mostly solid in my experience, which was a big problem with the original, but the game suffers from poor draw distance. I saw multiple instances of characters jumping in and out of frame during introductory shots of new maps, distracting from the otherwise impressive technical make-up. Load times are also pretty snappy, thanks to the PS5’s ultra-fast SSD.
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever is a good enough package from this intriguing RPG, and while Softstar didn’t add much content or drastically change the gameplay mechanics, it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a solid experience worth watching to the very end. The lack of an English voice dub is a downer, as is the lack of a proper explanation of the mechanics of the character progression and uneven difficulty. Those who have played the game before may be tempted to skip this version, but if you haven’t and are even slightly intrigued by the concept or gameplay, you might just start to like this version .
This game has been reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
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