If you want to say that domestic players are most familiar with the stand-alone game, then the "Legend of Sword and Fairy" series bore the brunt, and "Xuanyuan Sword" and "Swordsman Love" series were called "three major domestic swords". However, in terms of fame, the Sword and Fairy series is much higher than the other two, and even people who have never played the game have heard of the name of Sword and Fairy.
But it's such a stand-alone game that used to be a national level, but today's reputation is not as good as it was back then, and the latest "Legend of Sword and Fairy 7" is also very average among players. So when did this classic game series start to go downhill, and what is it that makes this game series so bleak today?
Personally, I think the Legend of Sword and Fairy series from the 1st to the 4th generation has its own characteristics, and it can be called a more classic game. In particular, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4" uses a 3D life-size scale model for the first time, which is much more comfortable than the Q version of the previous generation of characters in terms of graphics. And the plot and character creation of Sword and Fairy 4 are very good, which is why there are still a large number of players who are constantly nostalgic for this work after many years.
I think the real start of the decline began from "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5", first of all, in terms of the picture, as a sequel after 4 years, there is not much improvement in the picture. At that time, it was in a stage where the game screen was advancing by leaps and bounds, and the graphics of many foreign masterpieces in the new works of the same period were much better than the previous works. Although Fairy Sword 5 has also improved in terms of graphic performance, the magnitude of this improvement is quite small compared to many games in the same period, which also led to the dissatisfaction of many players back then.
The second is that there is no innovation in the gameplay.,The battle is still the old turn-based system of the previous work.,The main combat idea is still to rely on the high-level numerical crushing after the monster farming leveling.。 It's not even as interesting as Sword and Fairy 4 in terms of map exploration outside of combat, each character in Sword and Fairy 4 has a maze skill specially used to explore the map, for example, the protagonist Yun Tianhe can place a trap on the map to immobilize the enemy, and Han Lingsha's skills can help us quickly find the treasure chest on the map. And the maze exploration of Sword and Fairy 5 is more boring, it is nothing more than encountering monsters and fighting monsters to upgrade, and there is no additional maze exploration gameplay.
In terms of character design, the male and female protagonists Jiang Yunfan and Tang Yurou in Fairy Sword 5 are also very similar to Yun Tianhe and Liu Mengli in the previous work, which caused me to confuse the two generations of protagonists when I often played at that time. The plot is also the old traditional tragic route of the Sword and Fairy series, but the most unbearable thing for me is that in the later stages of the game, the heroine Tang Yurou will sacrifice herself without prompting and leave the team, and all the weapons and equipment on her body will not be returned when she leaves the team, resulting in the best equipment and talismans I gave her cannot be taken back to other teammates. On the contrary, it is another pair of characters, Long You and Xiaoman, who are not badly shaped, and are even more loved by players.
It is precisely because of various shortcomings that the reputation of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5" in the player group at that time was far inferior to that of the 4th generation, and its impact was so great that it even led to the sales of the subsequent "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 5 Prequel" was greatly affected. The prequel to Sword and Fairy 5 is much better than the 5th generation in all aspects, and it is also my personal favorite generation among the generations of Sword and Fairy after Sword and Fairy 4, but due to the word-of-mouth backlash of Sword and Fairy 5, this work did not get too good results, which is really a pity.
As for the subsequent Sword and Fairy 6, not to mention, it was ridiculed by players as "Titanfall 6" due to poor optimization problems, and the combat system and graphics would be completely outdated at that time. Although the plot of the game is okay, in addition to the plot, the all-round backwardness in other aspects also made Sword and Fairy 6 a laughing stock at that time, and the reputation of the Legend of Sword and Fairy series has basically plummeted in this generation. Even when the game was ported to the PS4 console, there was an outrageous prompt such as "press the spacebar quickly" during the cutscene, so you can imagine how perfunctory the attitude of the production team was.
The last game in the series, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 7", was also a bumpy road, due to the emergence of "Ancient Sword and Legend 3" that year, the game was redone, and the combat system was changed from turn-based to real-time. The final effect is actually okay, and the game's graphics are a huge improvement compared to the 6th generation because of the redo. However, the advantages of the original two games of the game, the plot has become a short board in this generation, and after the whole game, I can only use Mary Sue novels to describe the plot of this generation, and the overall quality is really not outstanding because it will be compared with the masterpieces of the same period in 2021, so it has led to a very average reputation and sales.
summary
It can be seen that the first few works of the Legend of Sword and Fairy series are not as good as the same kind of excellent games at the time, both in terms of graphics and gameplay, but the gap is not big, and the excellent plot and character creation also make up for the shortcomings in other aspects. But with the all-round stagnancy or even regression of the later works, the reputation of the Sword and Fairy series has gradually declined, so that it has reached the point where there may be no sequel to the point where there may be no more sequels. As a former fan, I still hope that the Sword and Fairy 4 remake can be developed well, and don't disappoint the old players again.