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@@ssplif5415 true, but having both would really elevate the experience. After all, gameplay wise they are already at the peak of the industry in my opinion, so they might benefit from trying to add substance where they are lacking
its funny how the combat is top tier but everything else is subpar. team ninja needs to hire some diversity and new talent. strangers felt lie a weird low budget niche title.
I’m a long-term listener, but this is my first time ever commenting on any of your videos. You do an amazing job at giving your listeners The information that we want in the clearest way possible. I really appreciate you for that. Not to mention your build vids are top tier. So thank you for being you.
In their defense, to nail a good original story of the three kingdoms period is extremely difficult. The best adaptation of the period was published over 600 years ago as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and it was so good and popular that people often got confused with its stories and the actual story. Not to mention the author of the official historical document, Chen Shou, was hell of a storyteller himself. Even 《火鳳燎原》(the ravages of time), arguably one of the best adaptation in recent years, fell into mediocrity after Lü Bu dies and the battle of Guandu. As a fan of history and unwittingly being held hostage by Koei’s multiple installments based on this period, my expectation story-wise has set really low. Since given the unsurpassable previous works, any sparks of digression, regardless of quality, from historical document or Romance from Koei will inevitably pisses off a part of its fanbase. Might as well give up on the story and get hype up to fight/fight along our favorite heores.
Well I don't know if I necessarily think that's a good defense. I feel if they weren't confident in their ability to tell that type of story then they should have chosen a different story entirely. It's still on them that they weren't able to properly adapt and tell an interesting story
@@trailmixvids That’s not how things exactly works. Understandably ppl who watched the video are mostly fans of the Nioh series or other RPG franchises, but there is a huge fanbase in east Asia that are of the three kingdoms genre - people who would like to buy this game simply because of its background settings. Players with such background can form their own narrative/perspectives by reading the title of a chapter or the year the scene is set. They can indulge in their own fantasies as long as the gameplay is good, and any wacky crap Koei is telling is secondary.
@@Ameya890 You will still be supporting the game even if u play on GP. Not like you pirated the game. GP is quite cheap 1/7th cheap here so Ill be playing on GP .
No hate for Nioh and Wo Long, but so many times you can pause a gameplay video of these games and can't even tell where the player is, where the enemy is, what and who is attacking whom. The sheer visual noise on screen in these games, thanks to buffs+wep skills+shiny attacks of both player and enemies, is not even overwhelming; it's atrociously indiscernible. And the background textures are horrendous which mix in with all this noise ever so often. Team Ninja has created 3 really good games now but these issues still persist and although the combat is really good, an outsider looks at combat and all they see is noise. It keeps people away because people can't even see wth is going on at the screen.
After playing Elden Ring for 500 hours and getting sick of having to re explore everything when trying a new build this game is exactly what I want. Just a super streamlined action rpg with fun builds. I am here for the combat and the builds so I dont think I will be disappointed. I have already played the demo for like 15 hours trying different builds so I know the main game will be a blast. But good to know about the performance issues since I am on PC. I hope they patch it quickly.
Wo Long is set to be one of my faves of all time. The Souls-esque game play mixed with my unending nostalgia for Dynasty Warriors will probably have me putting more hours into it than Skyrim. Solid 9.5/10 in my book. It would've got a perfect rating if Lu Bu's theme screamed through my speakers as he made his entrance
Really happy to see this review. I trust fextra reviews and opinions. I was very curious about game length and replayability. I can tell I won't play this for as long as nioh. But still will happily support the studio and their work.
It’s nothing like nioh. Nioh is a very high quality game with a very deep combat system. This is significantly more shallow. Very arcade like. Slasher. And people with early copies already beat it. It’s not very hard either. It’s more a quick play. Nioh was a long term game
The combat feels good but the depth is just not there if you compare it to Nioh. It can be summed up to deflect, spam light attack and spend your gauge on strong attacks to stagger.
You're definitely someone I look to for an informed opinion on this sort of game (even though I've been excited for this since Nioh 2). Hopefully you'll be doing some build guides and help us dive into the complexity of the mechanics. Still really appreciate your Nioh 2 review which fully convinced me to buy one of my favorite games! I think Team Ninja set a very high bar with Nioh 2, so if Wo Long doesn't quite meet that height, while trying new things, it's not a bad thing.
I’m looking forward to FextraLife making tips and easy ways to help others with builds and on going strategies while facing challenging opponents. I thought Nioh and Nioh 2 were good, but not something I would replay all over again on the PlayStation 5. This game though, looks fantastic
Feel like it was really important to mention the xbox platform and how gamepass pretty much has the game for free besides needing the subscription for gamepass. Performs quite well on that
Idk the combat is good and some of the bosses are good but the levels are so god damn boring and most of the enemies are the same which is already making me bored.
I tried this demo and liked it. However this game is heavy geared towards parrying. I’m terrible at this. Lol. The parry window is fairly big. Best way I can put it is if you were good at parrying in Elden Ring you’ll be great at this game, if you were average at parrying in Elden Ring you’ll be good at this game. I have crappy timing so I was not that good. It was still fun though.
Just a small tip, when explaining about your PC experience, please let us know what specs your machines are. Makes it hard to know to gauge the game when you say you simply played at 4k on low... Low on what card exactly etc. Otherwise, great work as always.
@@Fextralife I heard it, but was curious along the lines of the specs. Just basic stuff like the ram, which rtx /amd card and the cpu is enough in most cases. The one pro has many configurations so I have no clue if its the gtx 1080 version, or RTX 2080 etc
Some simple research on google would tell you all you need to know man. Performance on high end PC's is abysmal. So don't expect any mid tier computer to run it unless they drop one hell of a day one patch.
@@Goaheadandstaymad21332 If I wanted to google stuff, then I wouldnt need to watch this video now would I? The review should cover that at minimum when highlighting that its covering PC as well. Its not an unreasonable comment, so no need to lead with the way you started your comment. I found the information I needed, and now I know NOT to expect any info outside of how it " feels" gameplay wise when Fextra says they played on pc.
@@Synkhan I agree with you. Something like, " Even using an RTX 3080,4070,4080 etc. I could not run the game on 4K low settings..." Would have answered any questions
And again, you nailed it. Again, indeep review with a ton of facts, great structure, short: again a MASTERPIECE. Thank you so much for this great piece of work.
@@User1273- thanks man already thought it's like Elden ring where you get invaded every 10min by some troll or dude with op build Now they just gotta fix the pc performance
Over the last couple years, I’ve been buying from soft, capcom and team ninja games on ps5 right on launch day, then 6-12 months later buy the pc versions so I can play with mods etc. has not failed me yet. It really feels like Japanese devs have an issue with pc optimization on launch of their games. sekiro is the only one I can remember that was pretty much flawless on pc at launch. Monster hunter rise too but my iPhone could play that game better than the switch does. Sucks but ps5 is generally safe to play games at 60 fps with a resolution downgrade, rather than things looking amazing, but with an abundance of issues that require moderate troubleshooting and effort to solve. Have wo long pre installed on ps5 and as well will get it on gamepass tomorrow and I’ll be able to see for myself how much of a difference there is. I have a feeling I’ll be doing my first playthrough on ps5 tho. Thanks for the heads up fextralife!
PS5 runs fine with some occasional slowdowns, the gamepass version is good on my rtx 3060ti, I only have stutters sometimes, but the steam demo was stuttering every new attack so idk what happened there.
As a huge N/N2 fan. I find the combat a step backwards. All the parts to move it forward are there, they're just not realized. I'm going to pass this one sadly.
Yeah sadly Wo Long just feels like a big downgrade compared to Nioh. What it should've been, is Wo Long should have came first, while Nioh should've been the successor
Playing on Series S and no issues which surprises me as the demo was rough. Older build I suppose. Also beat the first boss on 2nd try compared to endless tries in the demo. Seems much easier
I liked Nioh 2 a lot, and after hearing about this new game I was very hyped about it. Played it at day one, and honestly I'm disappointed, PC port is low quality, graphics are outdated, some visual glitches and crashes. Morale system is good idea in general, but I think they should allow raised flags to stay forever, like kodamas in Nioh 2, having to re enable them every time you replay a mission is a total pain. Also companions are very underwhelming, it's just feels wrong seeing great heroes like Zhao Yun or Guan Yu dying to some common mob.
If you are on pc or Xbox you can't go wrong with game pass. And if you don't have it they may give you the $1 deal. Absolute steal and worth a try either way with game pass
The combat system is not like nioh at all, if anything it’s stripped down casual approach This is a very safe review, no touching lack of enemy variety, lacking level design and combat is shallow
To be fair, while playing both Nioh games I didn't pay attention to the story ONCE. Same thing with the Souls games. All I care about when playing these games is the combat, art and ambiance.
Exactly man. People are too much. If they want a story, go watch a movie. Same with people so concerned with character creation. Are they spending their time staring at their character jerking pff or playing the game??
Honestly at this point I don't think any triple A pc games ARE released without optimization issues cause pc players are basically aftermarket for big game companies.
Am not the guy who loves to start console wars but it would be nice to get a review of some of these games on other platforms other than PS5 and PC am pretty sure some of your subcribers play on Xbox like me, plus the game is just there on gamepass for you to try out just a thought.
get it on gamepass to be safe guys, solid review even when I feel it's rated too high, the combat depth got lessened so much compared to nioh, removed the combo system, high-mid-low-stances, ki pulses, skills you can set, the whole skill tree and much more, although I'm thankful that they removed gear levels this could have been a much better game that it is, wasted potential unfortunately but I'll still play it on gamepass day 1.
Im playing it now and youre right about everything the story is so all over the place. Only gripebwith this game is the story . Nioh 2 had a much better cohesive story for koei techmo. Wo long you barely get back story with your AI companions.
Team Ninja literally can not make a better game than Nioh 2 and this will be their eternal curse, Nioh 2 set the bar so extremely high, this game is actually terrible compared to Nioh... Hope Rise of Ronin changes that
@@TheMaestro116 Ninja gaiden black aged like shit, thr Nioh series in the other hand is the game that ALL of Koei Tecmo's newest releases are based of off, Nioh 2, Wo Long and even Wild Hearts are all based of Nioh gameplay and combat
@crisiscoreffv2 Sounds more like a skill issue to me. Also, Wild Hearts borrowing from Nioh 2??? Unless you are talking about the character creator/game engine, it's called a MonHun clone/Toukiden successor, my guy.
@@TheMaestro116 Wtf are you even larping about? the fact that Ninja Gaiden died and Nioh being the standard that Koei Tecmo is following now is a testament to the quality and success Nioh was, skill issue? ... rofl, also, Wild Hearts straight up has carbon copy attacks and animations from Nioh, ranging from the straight sword to basically half of the flying monsters having the same animations as Nioh's
@crisiscoreffv2 Being successful isnt necessarily a testament of being a well thought out/well designed product. Fortnite is popular as hell yet the shooting feels like a crap and I couldn't care less about it. As far as souls like titles, Fromsoft's games are still easily the gold standard of the genre despite Nioh 2 having one or two aspects that it might have done better. On the other hand, Ninja Gaiden Black is arguably one of the best when it comes to pure character action games and stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of them such as DMC 3 and 5, Bayo 1 and MGR. And don't give me that "it aged like crap" argument, you sound like one of those pampered modern gamer who whines whenever a title doesnt hold your hand or give you shortcuts/crutches to help you go through it.
I really liked the first Nioh and when the second installment was announced I could not be more excited. However, despite the combat being great, I really could not dive into the story. Maybe I have grown fond of William and had hopes that a similar character would be the central one in the sequel. But the silent protagonist does not work in Koei Tecmo games. That's From Software territory and they know how to play with it. Anyway, I love the addicting looting system, so I will play no matter what. Many thanks for the review, Fextralife.
I'm convinced that Team Ninja can only write one story lmao. Purely evil for the sake of evil villain entices historical figures to use MacGuffins that turn them into bosses whom you fight.
Sad to hear you didn't really feel it. I tried the demo and I had and absolute BLAST! I think we are getting too picky for the graphics at this point, the overall look is actually pretty good. We always ask for more but then complain about the requirements.. Performance wise, 0 problems at all, 0 crashes fortunately. If I find something I'll update this. OPTIONAL invasions (god thank you I can actually PLAY a game) Difficulty felt pretty studied at least on Demo, beat it no problem in a single session with only 2 or 3 deaths in the whole run. This part, of course, is subjective and shouldn't be taken literally. I've heard other ppl found the bosses impossible which I can completely understand specially if you are not used to the formula. There seem to be enugh options to take an easier path, so another win for me. Upgrades and items - welp. Don't really **love** having tons of items of the same type in my inventory as happened in NioH. But I think this time it's mote reduced to those fan of min maxing. Giving the option to go simple or hard is just the good option. Haven't had the chance to go Coop, but back in the day I enjoyed playing NioH with some friends so expecting the same :) And story. Personally don't really mind that much about that era but I'll give it a try when it comes out. Ignored it on the Demo on purpose so I don't spoil myself Have a good day and hope you enjoy it if you get it!
I think a big issue that will affect sales is the simple fact that Chinese mythology just doesn't resonate much in the west. Some will buy it for the gameplay of course, but it's hard to have any interest in the story really.
I also agree with this. Thankfully tho I'm playing mostly for the gameplay alone, but I won't lie and say I'm a *fan* of the setting. It's cool but nothing something that excites me you know ?
@@666slateran666 I'm sorry but this is a selfish comment and is basically racism. Both the Chinese and the Japanese are APPARENTLY very interested in the Three Kingdom's setting, there are not one, but TWO ongoing series in this setting alone, both made by Japanese companies and both were targeted at the Japanese market. Are you saying that those who may be interested in this setting do not have a right to enjoy a game they like? They must make games that you are interested in? Eff off.
So Chinese mythology doesn’t resonate in the West but Japanese does? What does that mean? We are more interested in Japanese lore I’ve never heard of that.
@@gporr7004 because Japan and china have 2 VERY different cultures and societies and both have had very different impacts on the world culturally. There is a clear reason why Japanese culture and lore resonates with the west more than Chinese. Not even including politics at all actually. That's not a hit on Chinese lore whatsoever, it just simply not something people in the west are entirely interested in right now.
Decent review, but maybe you shouldn't use the other 2 games as a reference point so much. I'm sure there are other players like me who aren't familiar with those titles and will be lost in comparison.
I just made my way to lobu? I think that's his name. I'm absolutely loving wo long. I haven't looked forward to coming back and playing a game as much as this in a really long time. Great gameplay and combat is extremely satisfying, the story is whatever, but I'm really not worried about that at all. I'd rather play a really fun game with no story than a boring game with a good story
Is this a spoiler free video? I would love a review but I dont want a spolier. Thanks EDIT.......... I watched it any way and I'm glad I did, what a great review and it was exactly what I was looking for, Now I will wait for a patch before buying.
Good review. A tip, though: don't buy prebuilt PCs ever. Customize your own. If you don't want to physically build it yourself, choose the parts and have the store put it all together for you. I do highly recommend learning how to build yourself, though.
@@ironman-fg3jh Unless it's a lot of money, it wouldn't be worth it. And like I already said - if you really want - you can have a custom PC built for you. So, no issue of time.
@@googlewolly no you don't get it not everyone lives in America with microcenters and Newegg. I live in Singapore which is a small country and the people that sell computer parts sell them for quite a bit of a markup over their American pricing because they're small shops. So custom computer building companies build them for cheaper because they have access to discounts for buying parts in bulk.
@@ironman-fg3jh No, I do get it. That's why I said, "Unless it's a lot of money..." In other words, I'm acknowledging that there could be a significant money difference.
I really wanted to play this game, but it's not justifiable to pay for it on PC seeing the status of the demo (both Microsoft Store and Steam). A 13900k + 4090 couldn't get to 120 FPS on 1440, not to mention the massive stutter issues it had. It's just not playable and the game looks like Nioh, there's no reason it shouldn't perform the same.
Game pass my man !! Pc game pass! If you don't have it, they may give you the $1 offer. And even if not, you basically are only paying $15 for this game and 300+
Well you could argue these are made first and foremost for asians audience and romance of the three kingdoms novel and its characters are really well known there so explaining and oppening these characters besides the chances they made really wasn't any major point for them as its among the mosr influental novels of all time.
@@Bahamut998 You know the novel has like four Times more characters than Dynasty Warriors has playable characters. All of them are given pretty detailed character motivations and character build ups.
I'm going to be as reasonable as possible. For one, this game does not take 30 hours to beat. No where near. I finished the game with a friend within 13 hours as the playstation clocks how many hours you have. We aren't sweats and the only boss that destroyed was Lu Bu. Despite the various elements the game offers, there is no "building", in this game. Bo matter what virtue you choose, Wood, or Metal, it matters not. You need to deflect. You practically beat everything by deflecting. It's not easy in some cases but for the majority part deflecting is not incredibly difficult. The spells in the game will obviously help but one who can practically deflect literally needs no spells. It's easier to deflect in this game than it is to perfect dodge in any other souls like game. The game shouldn't take anyone to long to beat with the amount of things that are given to help the player making this the easiest game of all soul like games including Dark Souls Dark Souls II Dark Souls III BloodBorne The Surge The Surge 2 Nioh Nioh 2 Sekiro:Shadows Die Twice Elden Ring Code Vein Demons Souls And any other I may forget. But don't take me for a hater, the game is fun and me and my bud are going to go through ng plus, but compared to Nioh, Wo Long is nearly underwhelming in nearly every category. The simplification while is a nicer touch for the premise of the game, Nioh really wasn't that hard to understand. I understand the spells are what they are as it fits into what Wo Long is, however despite it, the magic is completely underwhelming compared to Nioh, and so is the weapons. The story is just not engaging unlike Nioh to me personally, and the only real thing they nailed for me is deflecting is just satisfying and fun. No question about that. Some QoL changes have also been removed from Wo Long that leaves me puzzled as well. This is definitely a more friendly user experience that is great for players looking into this. If you never played Nioh, play this before you play Nioh. I think you'll like it more that way. Compared to Nioh 2 being my favorite of team ninja, it feels heavily downgraded, but maybe the season pass can change that in the future.
@@JayTraversJT But also months I can still play Elden Ring and Hogwart's. Don't have alot of money at the moment so I have to make my choices wisely. Can save it for Resident Evil 4 remake at the end of March ;)
That’s what is funny about this. Nioh 2 was a mess and I still have no idea what the hell was going on in that game. It was fun, and I can ignore a weird story if the game is fun.
Nioh 2 weapons , onmyo and ninjutsu were really good , i rather have a stamina bar as in nioh than spirit bar in wo long. Nioh 2 had 14 types of weapons and and 3 stances for each weapon
This game looks nowhere near as fun as Nioh. I find the demo mediocre. It also has some of the most boring level design I've seen in a Team Ninja game.
For those complaining about the lack of story, it would be like if an American (or European dev) made a game loosely based on Greek myth…oh wait that already exists 😂 We don’t need Zeus or Ares backstory, so the game focuses mostly on Kratos. Similarly, Japanese and Chinese gamers do not need a backstory for Zhao Yun or Lu Bu so the game focuses purely on combat. It’s a shame because Three Kingdoms is super interesting. I recommend watching the 2010 Chinese TV series (all fan subbed on RU-vid). I also recommend playing Dynasty Warriors 8. I’m a history nerd with a Chinese wife so I can confirm DW8 is the best story-wise! They do sanitize it a lot for that T rating lol
I don't want to be mean, because I know Fextralife lives for their stories and lore, but I can't help it: *playing any soulslikes with the expectation of a "story" will result in disappointment, because these games' stories are nonsensical at best or simply trash at worst.* :3 Fextralife, now confronted with a three kingdoms story, seems a little challenged. He actually experiences the "usual trash souls experience", but doesn't realize it. :> The game running badly on PC is indeed a problem! :( Its story being weird isn't. :)
Wo long is not bad, but there were many poblem about combat system: no weapon combo skills, no stance. Only normal attack and strong attack include deflect. YOU MAY DEFLECT ALL WEAK OR STRONGEST ATTACK IF YOU PRESS BUTTON O AT RIGHT TIME. The 5 elementals magics is worse than Nioh’s magics and ninjitsu 😢 Nioh 2 is 10 and this game 6
Glad I pulled back on this one. I did not like Nioh and after playing the demo, I knew I wouldn't appreciate this one. The demo was a train wreck on PC for performance too, but I had hoped that would at least be cleared up for release.
This is more like a Nioh and Sekiro mix than just Nioh. Nioh 2 was a ton of fun, and this coming from someone who used to shy away from souls games and the like
@@georgen5882 I realized I had access to Wo Long via Game Pass on PC. I tried the retail release now. I sadly am not feeling it. I loved Sekiro, but I loathed Nioh. Team Ninja's style of a Souls-like just fails to grasp me. I might give it more shots since I have access to it.
@@magnaxilorius It's not going to be for everyone. At least it's free and you don't have to pay for it. I loved Nioh and Nioh 2, so if you didn't like those I'm not surprised. I am hoping and praying we get a Sekiro sequel of some type because that game was insanely good.
Fextralife is there any chance to play the game like an Astrologer in Elden Ring, I suck in Souls Games but like the setup, any way to make the game easier with magic, if you are not that skilled (and an old man)
How is the level design? I played Nioh and there the level design felt really good. It was satisfying to explore everything and there were different roads. How does Wo Long fare in that regard, considering that you now have jumping?
Level design is junk. Very small areas except a very few areas. Like in many levels in nioh you unlock short cuts, not here just a straight line to the boss
They do not have it easy. They made more than 20 games on the Three Kingdoms already. All pieces of history and characters have all been dug up. They cannot repeat themselves every game or it would be too boring for the fanbase. So if you never played the Dynasty Warriors series of course you wouldnt know about Zhao Yun , Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, the Battle of Chibi and whatnot. But for us we already know everything. If they told us the same old story we would just die on the spot. Plus The Three Kingdoms story in itself is a huge mess. Emperors are worth shit and even some low warlord can claim itself emperor only to die a dogs death 3 months later. Betrayals everywhere. Not really the kind of thing you learn in 1 game. I managed to pieced somewhat things with their dozens of games but only god knows if it is even accurate in the first place.
If the game is successful, this will probably be the new game to tell the story of the three kingdoms and koei will focus on this series more than dynasty warriors anymore. What annoys me is that y’all have such patience for convoluted story telling within elden ring but this game is far more confusing? That is confusing considering most of the info people latch on to in elden ring is merely speculation or theory off an item description.
