As an "outlier" being in the game world, Miyazaki Hidetaka's soul game gives people no more than the impression of using energy bars to control moves and battle rhythms, cleverly designed maps and enemy configurations, a sense of achievement that is more and more frustrated and courageous in difficulty setbacks, and RPG elements and a fascinating world view.
Compared, you will find that the soul system game pays attention to position observation and calm rhythm, coupled with the non-fancy but practical move and counterattack design, with a large number of equipment character attributes and other RPG elements, which is obviously far from the fast-paced combat move pure slashing ACT in the past. In such a situation, a popular Warring States samurai theme of "Only Wolf" was made, which was very unexpected at the beginning, because these elements were not so easy to grasp. So, to be fair, is "Only Wolves" really fun? This time, we will talk about this unique soul work.
The knife-fighting system of the Divine Pen
Although the system gameplay is originally inconclusive, everyone is using their own subjective preferences to go down to see, if in my personal opinion, or hope that the fast pace of the active attack is better, apply the endurance value system down you a knife I a knife to talk about walking position standing back and counterattack, personally will feel that the rhythm is relatively slow and the attack is more simple.
The torso value system used in the "Only Wolf" knife fight, so that the rhythm and intensity of the battle have been played, there is no endurance value restrictions, players can try to attack and the knife in order to break the enemy posture, through a certain degree of fighting knife after breaking the defense, you can launch a ninja kill to directly take away a piece of enemy blood, and the soul game successful counterattack and the sense of achievement obtained after a long battle, and has a visual experience comparable to the movie. However, strictly speaking, there is still some slight constraint, because the efficiency and practicality of simple attack blood consumption are relatively secondary and contained, and most of the enemies and bosses above the medium level are still through knife fighting and ninja killing.
The gameplay of encouraging attack based on torso value has an impact on the rhythm of battle, focusing on the reduction of the number of moves of the life and death fighting knife for the soul game, which has played a certain degree of disguise effect, and the sound and light effect of the knife fighting system is also stimulating beyond words, and the fast-paced battle pace has formed a wonderful combination. At the same time, "Only Wolf" itself already has the experience of the previous works (just like the Dark Souls III began to have a combat technology system), and it is no longer so simple and restrictive in the choice of moves, and the player has the following two major means to choose from:
Ninja Hand
There are many derivatives and gameplay of ninja hands, including firecracker systems, umbrella systems, shurikens, blow arrows, dodges, etc., and as the game progresses, each can be upgraded and strengthened all the way to the end, allowing players to freely choose the means to deal with enemies and bosses. Although considering the balance requires consuming paper people, most of the ninja tools that provide the freedom of combination and choice of moves, most of the ninja tools also have their own applications that are not completely useless, making the combat fun to a higher level.
Moves such as light and heavy attacks and gymnastics
L1 and L2 light and heavy attacks are the ARPG trend brought up by games such as soul systems in the past decade, unlike the past slashing ACT, which is mostly used to use the front button of the joystick to do a large number of combination moves. L1 and L2 light and heavy attack ARPG occasions, often designed as light and heavy attack each set of actions, players can mostly do a few light attacks followed by a heavy attack (such as "Assassin's Creed: Origin"), which is also this kind of ARPG trend in the action and operation of the direction and thinking is more special place, unless the additional ranged attack or skill must be killed enough, otherwise it will appear a little monotonous.
Although "Only Wolf" generally adheres to this design and idea, it replaces the common heavy attack due to the design of the ninja hand. Then the number and richness of the general attack is no longer the primary focus under the knife fighting system, basically there is a four-click action cycle or so, because the focus of fighting and defeating the enemy in "Only Wolf" is to fight the knife rather than the combination of moves. At the same time, like the ninja hand, the old thief designed a genre move to increase the richness of the battle, although the same has the same conditions such as consuming paper man or hard straight, but from the initial whirlwind chop to the later Upanishads undead chop or xianfeng foot or knock down a large range of juju chops that are bent on getting, etc., so that players who intend to combine moves will not feel constrained, and the ninja hand together perfectly constitutes the main knife fighting system.
Clever maps and gameplay
Map design has always been one of the strengths of soul games, and one of the reasons for the decline of pure ACT in the slash-and-slash genre, "Only Wolf" has become a model of map design in personal minds through its interconnected and contextual and hierarchical map design. At the beginning of the game, the outer periphery of the main city of Reed is mainly used to familiarize players with exploration, and as the game progresses, players will find that Reed City is only the initial focus, not only the surrounding terrain and derivative maps provide enough space for exploration, but also the main city dungeon castle tower and so on. Later in the game, there are also misty forests, Gennomiya Aquatic Village, etc., and even map status changes such as hirata mansions and invaded Reed Castles in the past, which greatly increase the player's freshness and desire to explore and play the game.
The above map design allows players not only to have a variety of choices when the game is in progress, to explore and collect or add or subtract some money and experience, but also to consider the difficulty balance of the overall battle, but also specially designed a regeneration system that can be revived twice in a single game (but each resurrection needs to be re-killed once or eat props, can not be revived continuously), as well as the rewards collected to increase the player's willingness to explore and fight. The map of "Only Wolves" allows the human body to experience the mystery and importance of map design through the close connection of spatial and directional layers, which I personally feel is still stuck in linear progress but the map design level is relatively mediocre (such as dmc5's poor map performance), a very important and worthy reference indicator.
A calm and captivating worldview
Fictional historical sengoku and samurai themes have been popular for a long time, but they are still challenging for a completely new work. "Only Wolf" is built under the virtual Warring States time and space, losing the theme and play of both historical figures, but through the fusion of such as the immortal circulation, sengoku castle, samurai ninjas and the main characters of the clear motivation and action, the structure of a calm and attractive main story. Whether it is the unrelenting ambition of the righteous father, the bold and generous strong Reina Yixin, the worried country and the people, or the master-servant friendship between the wolf and the miko, the story of Ba and Zhang, the sorrow of the Gennogu hidden in the pursuit of immortality, or the heavy feeling of the break and the intertwined will felt in the second round of a certain route, people are deeply impressed by the immortality of the core theme of the play and the charm of various characters.
All kinds of bosses are challenging
Soul games are never short of challenges, such as testing the player's patience and prudence through limited system operation resources, or requiring the player to be familiar with the map configuration and enemy moves. Although "Only Wolf" is exempt from the restriction of endurance value, through the design of torso value, multiple blood kills and boss multi-stage rich changes, the game's combat fun and challenge are greatly improved and integrated. At the beginning of the game, the player is challenged, the Red Ghost Fire Bull or the Ghost Punishment Department needs the player to be familiar with the rhythm and system operation of the knife, the overall acceptance of the middle string Ichiro, and then to the double lion ape, the righteous father and the ring-breaking monk after three years, and even the final boss three stages of the reed and the ghost of the hidden boss grievance, each of which is enough to make the player deeply frustrated when he first encounters it, but the sense of achievement after successfully conquering it is also unparalleled, like I still can't forget the fatigue of the double lion ape when I first fought the double lion ape. But it also comes with a great sense of accomplishment.
Picture music
As one of the game's most direct and first-hand sensory experiences, the graphics of "Only Wolves" are speechless. From the Japanese Castle in Rei Castle to the various topographical scenery to the Heian period style of Gennogu, it is enough to make people linger. But the music is really more general, until the clearance is not too impressive want to collect the track, the only soft sword is too short, it is a personal feeling that this work is more ordinary.
conclusion
"Only Wolf" won the 2019 game of the year GOTY with its own all-round excellent quality, and the game itself later added a BOSS challenge mode to allow players who love challenges to enjoy it. Although "Only Wolf" itself is already complete enough, it is still full of imagination for the story of Ba He Yixin or the possibility of the dragon's return to the hometown hinting at the westward journey.
We don't know how Miyazaki's old thief considered the sequel to "Only Wolf", after all, there is a "Eldon Law Ring" stuck in the middle. But personal selfish hope that such a fun-filled ACT-based + a little RPG work can have follow-up works and influence the market, so that the long-overwhelmed pure slash-and-slash ACT can learn from and regain life, which is enough to be pleased.