鸿源战纪 - Tales of Hongyuan

Hours played at review time, across 49 reviews with recorded playtime.

positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up

If I had to compare this game to any western game, it would probably have to be the first Baldurs Gate. Which may be too high praise, but nonetheless... Still, it isn't a straight comparison, because the two games have quite a few differences. For example, there isn't a list of classes to pick for your character, no diverging skill trees to fill out for the PC or the rest of the party. And the list of companions in this game is, unlike that game, fixed, which is also unlike many games in the same genre which offers several characters you can recruit and/or romance. I would also compare this a bit to Pillars of Eternity, if only because you get a base in the game with something akin to the Endless Paths of Od Nua that game had as well. And of course, said base can be upgraded and whatnot. It's a wuxia or at least wuxia-like game that offers plenty of quests to solve, monsters to fight, secrets to find and so on. If that kind of thing is your thing, and you don't mind that the game is linear save for the outcome of a few quests, this is a game that you should find enjoyable. That said, there are things to complain about regarding the game: - The quest log - well, more like quest bar really - feels rather impractical as it is... Though you can click it away, at least. - The map is often a bit confusing and not as helpful as it should be - espeially when the same map has two levels... - I am not sure if they were trying to make use of the 'wake-up call boss' trope or not, but it feels a bit inconsistent when for the most part the mooks are on a reasonable level with at most about 3000 HP - and then suddenly out of the blue, there comes one or two bosses with like, 30000-40000 HP... - The jumping-option is kinda neat, but I feel it would have benefited from more work, because oftentimes it is troublesome to find a spot you can jump to. Because of this, this option to get around faster sometimes takes more time than just following the normal, if longer, path... - Sometimes, the questlog is rather unclear about what one should do next. This is partly because of the translation being what it is, but the questlog could have been made a bit better, IMO. - You level up rather swiftly in this game - fast enough that you'll probably be max level halfway through the game. This isn't exactly a big problem per se, because there are still ways of making your party grow in strenght, such as finding stonger and rarer weapons to upgrade (and boy, you'll be killing lots of mobs to upgrade them) and outfit them with, as well as finding stronger 'pokemons' for them. Nonetheless, maybe the level celling should've been a bit higher... But let us not leave out the elephant in the room regarding this game: the english translation. The translation is... Okay-ish at best. Maybe not godawful, but it's easy to see why many have complaints about it. True, for the most part, you get what the dialogue, the decriptions and whatnot are trying to tell you, but you will probably often be lost and/or confused because of the translation for the most part. Because of this, you will probably have to consult the walkthrough that comes with the game... But the translation of the walkthrough isn't much better than the game itself -_-. All in all: the translation is one that should've received more attention, work and polish. As it is, the translation will probably be the most annoying aspect of the game for anyone playing it, and it is the biggest demerit of the game... So all in all: a good game that I'd recommend to fans of turn-based RPGs and wuxia-like stories, but it's a recommendation marred by the at best so-so translation...