Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Yeah I get that error on Xbox loads

Watched ElAnalistaDeBits' video on this. Apparently both Series X and PS5's resolution modes AND performance modes top out at 1440p60fps, with the exact same level of detail, draw distances, shadows etc. The differentiator in the modes is that performance modes have a dynamic resolution that slightly dips to try to retain the 60fps lock, where resolution mode sticks to the 1440p ceiling with slight dips in framerate here and there.

Resolution mode feels good to me, but there's not much between them either way.

I think the big thing is that difference between what you properly parry and what you deflect, e.g. combos from larger enemies. It feels unsatisfying to get the timing on the first hit right and then get mullered by the next four; I think that learning what you block and what you parry is going to be important. The red flash has properly got me into a Pavlov's dog situation from Nioh 2 though, you can tell they want you do hit more of those big counters.

Really looking forward to this one. Not decided whether I'll buy on Steam or jut get a few months of Game Pass though; the engine for this runs so poorly on the Steam Deck in general, which is a shame as Nioh 2 was a game I was looking forward to getting back into. To be clear, the Deck's clearly powerful enough to run it, it's just a weird inefficient engine; Team Ninja are decent with it but (for example) Gust games top out at about 60% GPU use in the 20s fps, not because it's jammed on the CPU doing work, but because the renderer's so badly programmed it just randomly stalls fduring rames multiple times for no reason.

I'd really like a crouch button. Trying to walk quietly with the stick alone was just too fiddly so in the end I'd just try and find a wall to bounce up and try and do a plunging attack. Again, I think they've realised how satisfying those are and with the more vertical area design they're letting you do that more often, especially with the ridiculous amount of distance they let you cover in midair and still hit them..

I wonder if it's them trying to find a place to put it - since they moved sprint to LS rather than having three functions on one button. I don't think I'd mind having to hold B to dodge/deflect into a run if that means I can crouch though.

Might be old news, but this just popped up in the Gamepass app under „coming soon“ (well, spring).

Hadn’t expected this to be on GP.

New demo's out on all systems. Briefly tried on PC - it's as rough as you think but the new parry window makes it much easier to play.

Tried on PC. It's stutter town, and probably not just the shader compiling kind, because it seems to happen very much at random. By the way, it's unplayable with mouse and keyboard, unlike Elden Ring. I despair that games nowadays seem to have a gazillion different commands. I'd prefer they kept things a bit simpler.

It runs better on Series S, though it doesn't look very sharp.

Gameplay is at least a bit less complicated than Nioh (there's no different poses for one), and the deflect window is fairly generous, but I don't like having to double tap to dodge. Still not sure about the skill trees, distributing your points among obscure stats, cutscenes between boss phases, etc.

Well, I dunno. Maybe someday, if they fix the technical issues, I'll be willing to face all this needless complication.

Yeah, the vast amount of commands bothered me. It's like, here's your light attack and heavy attack, and your parry and dodge. Oh, you want powered melee attacks too? Got you covered, several kinds. Magic? You get four spells at once. Super magic? Just press the same buttons as in Ninja Gaiden. Why, you have some other kind of super magic if you press the other two buttons!

I don't know, there must be lots of people who lap this stuff up, given that Nioh was successful and Team Ninja has apparently turned into Fromsoftware Hardcore Edition. But I think I'd like to see a no-frills, Ninja Gaiden-like game again from them.

Thanks for the heads-up, that's my weekend sorted

Set the PS5 to download the demo so I could play over lunch and it’s got the old one and won’t let me start it. Bloody space age.

Edit: make sure you get the version with the very slightly different thumbnail…..

As someone who is shit at parrying I'm digging the big fat window it gives you.

You will never be a student of the blade

You will never be a student of the hamburger