Author: Aiden
Game console fans, have fun every day!
Unexpected start, unexpected surprise
Sitting in front of the computer at this moment, I am really grateful to me who inadvertently clicked on the invitation of "Samurai Shodown" a week ago, because it was a flash of inspiration that I received this invitation to have the opportunity to see a different Roguelite game, a new possibility of meat pigeon games. It is no exaggeration to say that this game really refreshes the author's inherent understanding of roguelite, an already very mature game type. It made me suddenly realize that Rogue can not only cleverly increase the richness of game content through random mechanics, but also really can stuff rich content into Rogue.
Pixel Version Sengoku Matchless? It's not that simple
A: Find a game where the enemy is a warrior leading a group of creeps, and then the player can quack and kill in the game...
B: Oh... It must be some matchless game of light (dark) glory (shame) home...
A: The warriors are all famous generals of the Sengoku period in Japan, and players can choose different warriors to fight and kill the enemy...
B: Oh... "Warring States Peerless" series, the latest are out of "Warring States Peerless 5", the character of the male handsome woman in it, hehehehe...
A: No, no, no, the game characters are similar to the square head in Minecraft, the kind that creeps can fly around the world when they hit...
B: The creeps have been beaten all over the world, and the unparalleled mowing of grass is not like this. But the shape of this square head person is very suspicious... Could it be someone else's world?
The above is all the associations that the author had when he first started playing this game, and what he was thinking about at that time was not whether the game was fun or not, but the question of whether the developer would be accused, because the amount of glory in this game was a bit too excessive. In the author's opinion, even if it is made into a pixel version of the art style, it is still a warring states matchless. However, as the game progressed, the author found that things were not simple after learning more and more about the game mechanics of the game. The "Sengoku Unmatched" element is only an external manifestation of the game's gameplay, and even the least important part of all the gameplay mechanics of this game. The highlight of this game is the scary richness of detail and playable content, not so much a simple tribute to the peerless gameplay, but rather to show its team's deep skills in gameplay design through the peerless shell. It is no exaggeration to say that the Warring States Matchless is really not necessarily comparable to the playability of this work.
Compared to Peerless Mowing, this game is first and foremost an action game with a Roguelite mechanic, and the randomly generated game world is a clear difference between this game and Sengoku Peerless. More importantly, the equipment system with combat skills and weapons as the support point is the real core gameplay of this game, and the difference in the addition of an attribute point, the equipment order of a combat technique, and the equipment type of a main weapon are all vividly expressed by the developer through the difference in attack effect. It can be said that this game really plays out the fitting system.
1. Roguelite's basic game flow
From the perspective of external form of expression, as a Roguelite game, Samurai Shodown maintains Rogue's consistent flow mode in terms of the basic gameplay design of the game. That is, the player fights and explores in the game map that is completely randomly generated by the system and becomes stronger, and then advances layer by layer and challenges the final boss. Victory completes a round of the game, while failure retains some of the acquired stats to grow and start a new round until you level the level. In the game, the environment, terrain, and the strength, number and location distribution of the warrior enemy troops in the map level, as well as the treasure chest resources, are completely random, so whether a round of the game can be carried out smoothly, like other games of the same type, the game experience still depends on luck more. Sometimes you can meet the yellow warrior at the beginning of the game, defeat him to get the weapon of the high-quality entry, and then fight all the way smoother and smoother and more efficiently and push backwards smoothly and efficiently. Sometimes, however, you'll get a few chests at the beginning but don't have a key in your hand, and the next few levels will become more and more unable to defeat enemies over time.
From the perspective of internal drivers, the basic process of Roguelite is driven by two parts: the dynamic difficulty curve and the yin and yang world map.
First, the dynamic difficulty curve is regulated by the dimension of time. In this game, the difficulty of the game is determined by the time the player spends in the game, and every time the game passes, the strength of the enemies and the number of enemies in the game will change, and the difficulty curve of the game will gradually become more and more difficult from simple. Therefore, if players want a more secure level, they need to plan the route as much as possible to save time and reduce the difficulty of the game.
Second, the setting of the two worlds of yin and yang cleverly uses the settings of the Japanese mythology of the tsuneha and the present world, corresponding to the two exits of yin and yang on each map on the game level. The present world is a normal level, theoretically there are countless, as long as the player wants to play can continue to fight, and defeating the martial arts in this world will drop scrolls and weapons. That is to say, the present world is the window and means that the game provides to the player to become stronger, but it is not where the pass route is. If the player feels that they are not strong enough, they can continue to level up in the current world until they are full of treasures and strong enough to challenge the ordinary world. The Tokishi is an elite level, with only 8 in each round of the game, but the enemies here are stronger and more, in addition to the enhanced warriors and enemies, there are many Japanese legendary nocturnal youkai. In the Changshi level, the warriors and monsters do not drop scrolls and weapons, which means that the Changshi level does not make the player stronger and playing the normal level requires a certain numerical foundation and operational ability. But the Changshi level is the right way to clear the level.
To sum up, the present world is responsible for becoming stronger, the permanent world is responsible for the degree of promotion, and if you want to promote, you need to be stronger, and you must push after becoming stronger. Therefore, the player's playthrough strategy and push map route in the game has become very worth studying, players can choose to run directly naked, only need 9 levels to fight to the end, you can also play the basic process of at least 18 levels steadily, and even a little slower, Changshi can not fight but can also run away halfway... The addition of yin and yang worlds makes the player's choice space and playthrough strategy in the game more free, and it is easier to accommodate players with different needs.
These two-part settings are largely compatible with the gaming needs of both light casual and heavy hardcore players. At the same time, this makes the player need to better balance the choice between difficulty and push map route in the game's strategy process, making the whole game experience more challenging and strategic, and the game rhythm is more compact.
2. Strong collection in the level to promote character growth
In my opinion, the reason why Rogue games are fascinating is because although players are always struggling in a cycle, after each reincarnation, players can see their own growth, whether it is a little improvement in value, a little improvement in game operation, or a deeper understanding of the game mechanics. These visible changes have allowed me to remain interested in the next journey after death. At present, the common way for roguelite games to grow characters is through in-game collection and out-of-game unlocking or in-game enhancement of character attributes through random drops of equipment and points. The most representative "Dead Cell" is that both ways are available. The game "Samurai Chaos" shows some differences, there are many ways in which the characters grow in this game, but in the final analysis, they are all strong collections. Through strong collection, players can get more enhancements in the game again and again, so as to achieve the purpose of character growth.
In this game, the player's means of enhancing the attributes of the character are mainly achieved by collecting various items, the main items that can be collected are martial generals, weapons, battle scrolls and goku jade, in addition to the weapons are re-randomized in each game, the other three are permanently effective once dropped. Samurai can be seen as a template with different skins and different combat skills, and the game provides players with a total of 142 different character outfits, corresponding to the warlords of different stages of the Sengoku period in Japan.
On the one hand, the collection of martial artists promotes the enrichment of players' gameplay, and on the other hand, it can better inspire players to explore new outfit ideas. Weapons are more like passive entries that are re-randomized in each round of the game, and different terms provide players with different buffs, such as attack, defense, state resistance, attribute enhancement, etc. Moreover, after the overlap of different terms, the character attributes will become very impressive, for example, the author focuses on superimposing attack power, so after stacking 6 pieces of weapon with attack power, you can easily kill the warrior in seconds. The Battle Skills Scroll is the most important means of making the game more fun, and it can be seen as part of a skill chain of combos, so only by getting more scrolls can you match more powerful, fancy, and practical combos. Gokudama is a resource scattered around after the protagonist Susanoo is defeated, and when collected, it can increase HP, increase SP, increase the length of battle skill slots, and the number of battle skill slots.
In terms of how resources are collected, this game combines the flow of collectibles and games very well. Let players naturally complete the collection and growth in the game flow. Warlords are mainly unlocked by defeating takeshi that is refreshed on the map, while individual powerful generals need to be defeated many times before they can be unlocked, such as Oda Nobunaga, Shibata Katsuya, etc. Weapons can be obtained by defeating the Yellow Warrior or by opening the treasure chest, which requires a key, and the key has a chance to fall when defeating the warrior, which forms a small closed loop that makes the player's behavior meaningful. The Skill Scroll has a chance to drop when defeating all enemies. Gokuta can be obtained by completing shrine puzzle quests or redeeming them at Jizo by completing battle feats. On the one hand, the above design reduces the boring feeling of repeated spawning in the game through more diversified gameplay, which increases the fun of the game, on the other hand, the part with a strong purpose like the battle merit system can also provide the player with additional goals, making the game process more dynamic.
3. Elaborate to the scalp-tingling outfit gameplay
The core gameplay of "Samurai Shodown" and the author's favorite game system is the elaborate and scalp-tingling outfit system in this game. If Roguelite's random gameplay and a large number of collectible elements in the game fill the entire game process from the outside, so that players can feel a very saturated game experience in the middle of the game, then the equipped gameplay is to make the entire combat technology system come alive inside, so that the exploration and research of the combat technology system becomes a science full of depth, so that the entire game process cycle can remain fresh and vibrant. It even gives the game a lot of potential to support the poles of Roguelite gameplay.
The costume gameplay of this work mainly includes two parts: combat technique equipment and martial arts equipment. Among them, the armor configuration is relatively simple, and the weapon accessories can be exploded from the body of the yellow martial artist randomly refreshed in the game or obtained directly from the treasure chest. Weapons do not limit the position of equipment, mounted on the body is armor, mounted on the hand is a weapon.
Factors such as weapon type, size, weight, etc. will directly affect the player's feel when using this weapon. In addition, in addition to providing basic appearance changes, some weapons also come with special entries (passive attribute entries), which provide the player with corresponding buff bonuses.
The terms between the various weapons may also have mutual gain, and even the terms of weapons will indirectly affect the actual effect of combat equipment. For example, the author has developed a lightning storm skill chain, the specific effect is a strong damage and a wide range of paralysis effect. Of course, the effect on the enemy is very good, but unfortunately, this skill with elemental attribute damage in the setting of this game is not immune to itself, that is to say, this set of skills is actually a seven-wounded fist, at this time equipped with lightning resistance weapons can be directly immune to lightning damage, so that it is possible to kill seven in and seven out of the enemy formation.
On the one hand, this game provides a super rich selection of characters and outfits, a total of 142 unlockable characters, each character has a name and surname, are designed according to historical prototypes, even if some of the duplicate characters are excluded, the breadth of its DIY is still very amazing. The 142 characters will happily spend at least a dozen hours of time even if the player simply uses it to play a game, without feeling repetitive and tedious.
The details of the combat skill combo itself are even more numerous and deeper, and this part really plays the word "detail crazy" to the fullest. In the game, the player has 5 basic combat equipment bits, each of which is variable in length and number of tiles, and can become longer and more through the collection of in-game Gou Jade. Players can design and refine their favorite combat effects and combos through these 5 basic combat equipment slots.
It is worth noting that the basic abilities of jumping and dodging are also counted in the combat skills. In other words, even simple jumps and dodges can be played with a different feeling. For example, the same equipment slot equipped with 4 tile 1 length dodge and equipped 1 tile 4 length dodge are completely different in terms of performance effect, the former is that the player can dodge 4 times in a row, while the latter is a dodge that is farther away than the original. Even the player can choose not to use jumping and dodging, and the two equipment slots are also modified into skill chains, and the initiative is completely in the hands of the player himself, which is extremely free. The rich equipment and the combination of combat skills do not even need to consider the problem of button settings, because how to set it completely depends on the player's personal preferences.
On the other hand, the successive combinations of different combat techniques will produce different changes in the effect of attack moves, which fully reflects the process from quantitative change to qualitative change. For example, the most basic "sweeping" combat technique, equipped with the use of 1 is an ordinary sweep, the use of two is to sweep 360 °, and add a "wave" passive effect, it will release another sword qi wave after sweeping 360 °, and if multiple "Lan attributes" are superimposed, it will release a whirlwind at the same time as releasing the sword qi wave at 360 °. Moreover, if the outfit is superimposed with more other passive effects, then unleashing a normal sweep will become a "magic" superimposed with various buff/Debuffs. In this way, a small change in the combat technology chain can even make the effect released by the entire skill chain be very different, and even a perfect skill chain, changing a weapon may be abolished, and may also show different combat effects. Therefore, in fact, 20 minutes before the start of each game, I first try the best skill effect in the battle skills editor, and then go to the battle to push the map.
4. There is a problem, the details of the mad devil horse lost its front hoof?
Although the extremely elaborate fitting system of this game really surprised and surprised the author, I found some problems at the first time I entered the game. For the author who has played various games in the 21st century, some of the problems are not even understandable, because it is so retro that it has moved all the problems of the past together.
The first is the problem of camera perspective. Ben, as the pursuit of the retro feeling when 3D games were just emerging, fired the good right stick. That is to say, the operation of the right stick controlling the rotation perspective in the player's intuition does not exist in this game, but it needs to be cumbersomely controlled by the left and right shoulder keys. In addition, because the camera is locked between the top view and the 135° top view, the player's field of view is very uncomfortable, especially when encountering large enemies, almost the whole picture is not visible. This problem is very obvious when you first start, and although you will slowly adapt to it over time, it is not a good choice.
Second, the game bootstrap part is not functional. The game design of this game refers to the complexity and depth of the old-fashioned JRPG to a certain extent, but also inherits its cumbersome disadvantages. Complex systems and a lot of detail require players to spend a lot of time familiar with the game mechanics, so a reasonable and intuitive tutorial becomes very necessary. But the game is still not good enough, although the entire first round of the game is a beginner tutorial level, but it only shows the basic game features and the role of important NPC workshops, which is far from enough for the player. Apparently, the production team was aware of this problem, so they built an NPC into each scene in the game to promote the tutorial, but it was still far from enough.
In addition, many of the problems that Roguelite games have are still not avoided in this game. That's the problem of the collapse of the economic system in the middle and late stages of the game's flow. In this game, if the player starts well and can quickly assemble the right weapon, and then be able to fight the Constant Quest Line, then the currency in the game will become invalid, because at this time the player has no way to consume it, and it cannot be brought out of the game.
Finally, there is a clichéd problem, that is, the optimization problem of peerless games. On the one hand, this game only supports a maximum 120FPS refresh rate of 1080P graphics, although it is a pixel game, it still seems to be very low today. On the other hand, the reason for the game's unparalleled mechanism, the creeps in the map in the late game are a large piece of the Uyang Uyang, occupying almost every inch of the map, the battle at this time will become very stuck, often a lightning storm down the creeps flying all over the sky, and then the game frame rate directly drops below 20 frames for a long time.
Susanoo and yagi snake in the joke
The story of Susanoo's slaying of the Yagi serpent is one of the most popular stories in ancient Japanese legends, and the Sengoku period is the most heart-wrenching conquest in Japan's real history. And one day the two collided with each other and there was a prototype of the story of this work. The protagonist of this game is Susanoo, who has been demoted to Takamahara, and unlike expected, the beginning of the story is the defeat of Susanoo. At the beginning of the game, the player controls Susanoo in order to save his sister against the Yagi Great Snake, but he is completely defeated by him, and even his own divine power is divided by many yokai. The god Amaterasu came forward to save him and gave him a chance to experience revenge, so the protagonist began to fight monsters and upgrade to become stronger and take revenge on the sister, and the objects of his training were many Warring States warriors and youkai in the Hundred Ghosts Night.
The above is almost all the plot story of this game, simple and clear is a good start to the whole game, but also gives the player a simple ultimate goal. In my opinion, this is actually enough for a meat pigeon game. Especially when the whole story is full of a sand sculpture atmosphere, the sense of joyful atmosphere is there and the story itself is not so important.
An unpleasant but highly restored picture
Pixel graphics, square-headed character images, blurry and rough game scenes, all of the above things shown on the screen are straightforward to show passers-by players the fact that the developer's funds are tight. Even some players have no enthusiasm for playing when they see this kind of screen, and it can be said that this unpleasant game screen has closed the doors of many players from the beginning. However, once you accept this setting, you can find that this game has done a very meticulous restoration of traditional Japanese cultural elements such as warriors, demons, and ukiyo-e, as well as classic elements in some ancient games.
There is a strong Lego box flavor on the character design, and at the same time, it also designs the artistic characteristics of the Japanese Sengoku period very well, and at the same time ensures that the character image sand sculpture is cute and restores the humanistic style in the historical background at that time. For example, Sanada Yukimura's classic red armor and eye-catching horn helmet, and then the Oda Nobunaga camp in the game scene can be seen everywhere in the World Bubu flag. Such elements are very rich and highly restorative in the game, and even let the author ignore the characteristics of pixel wind for a while.
In terms of game design, this game also achieves retro game design, with a purity of up to 99%. Rough pixel particles, X-bit electronic synthesis music, the transition methods commonly used in old games and NPC interaction logic are well reproduced in this work, such as in-game stores: inns, equipment shops, scroll shops, forging shops, jizo and other locations, and even after the player enters the store, THE NPC comes to receive them is full of age.
Solid game content, conscientious game pricing
After nearly 27 hours of game experience for nearly a week, the author carefully played most of the game content of this game, but until now, the author will still find a lot of new mechanisms and new settings that have not been discovered before in the process of the game, which can always give the author some small surprises. Especially in the part of the fitting system, the rich and detailed skill chain outfit really amazed me, and the detail change from quantitative change to qualitative change made the whole game more systematic and deeper, and it was more worth the player's careful study, which was worth the player's time to play the experience. In addition, the first price of this work is only 37 yuan, and the volume of the rich content of this work is simply cheap to grandma's house, and it is absolutely worth the money. What are you waiting for, buy it!