huyan Saga is a game I came across and didn't expect to play. But it looked intriguing with its focus on Ancient Chinese culture, it was short coming in at 3 hours, and off the back of my visual novel run it fit the bill for what I was playing. The art style is very good and captures ancient China very well, from my limited knowledge anyway. The game itself is still images depicting scenes with a variety voiced characters, often giving you a choice that doesn't really lead to much other than you can occasionally choose who lives or dies, which also has little bearing on the game. The transition is a bit abrupt but eventually you get sucked in the slideshow as the phenomenal artwork wins you over.
The gameplay feels very PS2 era to begin with, as you awkwardly move your character around the arena and fight groups of enemies from a top down perspective. The animations are slow and clumsy and the buttons are very non-responsive. Like the artwork the gameplay turns around when the fighting shifts from multiple enemies to one-on-one. The game feels more like God Hand with a surprising amount of depth. There's a block parry system with intricate timing. As you fight you build up your QI which can let you do a powerful combo or later can buff you. Then there's your gong, a more peaceful path and the Way of the Phoenix. It involves dodge and counter attacking, eventually let you perform moves such as a flurry of blows striking pressurise points similar to Neji or adopting a water flow stance where you move with your enemy and use their movements against them. All this becomes more evident as you go up in difficulty and enemies require more combinations. My end game was dodge, counter, repeat until I fill up my gong. Then as the enemy takes a defensive stance I'll get a punch, punch, kick, kick, punch combo in. Before they can attack I trigger the gong I've built up and unleash a flurry of blows. Then repeat. Sometimes it can feel a bit jank though, either blocks or dodges are non-responsive, or enemies stun lock you in a combo with no escape or ability to dodge/block follow up strikes. The animations close up look fantastic, and really give a feeling of Kung Fu with all the different stances and strikes.
Music is great, repetitive but doesn't become annoying. Voices range from okay to very horrible. Shuyan sounds like a city girl, Long your mentor sounds like he'd rather be anywhere else. It doesn't achieve the illusion of "Chinese" accents that a movie like Mulan does. Thankfully (yet again) this turns around once you leave the city and reach the temple in act 2. All the students and master have Jackie Chan cartoon vibes. Very enjoyable. The final act was a little short and the Guer boss Ganbaatar, master of the Red Dragon was an easy QTE and over way too soon, fairly disappointing. Then there's Jade's temple adventure. This is pointless. Little cutscenes with terrible puzzles and arena combat, the worst part of the game. This should have been part of Chapter 3. The story is pretty much Mulan. The Mongols take China and you must take back your kingdom. The spiritual aspect on the other hand is pretty awesome. I love the idea that each kingdom has a guardian spirit which a champion can summon, usually the King as their nobility was blessed by the heavens. Through training, meditation and fining inner piece they can remove locks to the gate and unleash the Phoenix, White Tiger, Yellow Dragon and much more. There are also evil spirits like Ganbaatar's Red Dragon, or the Viper which takes a hold of the vengeful Jade. The master who trains you and his students gives a great feeling of become a monk learning martial arts; very reminiscent of The Last Air Bender. Shuyan Saga was a nice short adventure into a story about Ancient Chinese mythology and culture.
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