I'll say first that I wish more devs did stuff like this. Providing a demo that lets you experience the early game and then carry over your progress for the release version is both a consumer-friendly thing to do, and also just good marketing/advertising IMO. I suspect I'd buy more games if I got to try them first.
Though as it happens, the last time this was done for a Team Ninja game--last year's Stranger of Paradise--it turned me away from the game rather than toward it. That final demo made the game seem like more of a hot mess than the earlier E3 demo had been, at least for me. I did eventually pick up SoP on sale, but just about every aspect of it aside from the core combat seemed pretty poor. Was the problem just catering to the license? I'm not sure. I'm a big Nioh fan, but I couldn't help but wonder if the same thing would happen this time.
But as it turns out, I still like Wo Long pretty well after having spent about four hours putting the game through its paces. It took me about 2.5 hours to clear the two stages on offer, and I've been repeating runs since.
My main complaint is an interface one. Like Nioh and Stranger of Paradise, this game throws an awful lot of loot at you, but doesn't give you good ways to sort through it all. You can mark "favorites," but not in the equipment menu itself--only in the "item" menu. And in the item menu, they don't even give you separate tabs for helmets versus gloves, etc., it just all gets thrown in together, making it tough to compare items when you're figuring out what you want to keep versus sell. All in all, I don't think any of these Team Ninja games has ever done loot particularly well.
I'm also slightly annoyed, though I understand why they do it, that player level is capped at 20 for the demo, and other basic systems like dismantling unwanted equipment aren't allowed... they're trying to keep the player from becoming too overpowered heading into the main game. C'est la vie, I suppose.
But the core combat seems good, and they've got an interesting set of systems going, especially with the spirit thing and how the magic works. I'm less persuaded that the morale system is adding anything, but I don't hate it.
Anyway, I've gone ahead and pre-ordered the thing, as I'm ready for more Team Ninja action RPG nonsense, SoP aside. FWIW the demo will remain available until late March if anyone else is inclined to give it a shot, with the full release coming on March 3.
Anyone else have thoughts on this thing?
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