Where Winds Meet is an bold train in maximalism. It’s sprawling world is a vibrant Wuxia love letter stuffed with excessive characters with infectious charisma who can run up partitions and virtually fly by means of the air, grand odes to the great thing about the pure world, and the inescapable violence and darkish political sorcery that threaten all of that each day. Fight is a gradual, pleasing ebb and circulation that is filled with fashion and substance, however at a slower and extra tactical tempo than you may assume from simply watching it. The collage of tales it tells, each the primary saga and the innumerable smaller fables and aspect affairs, is a turbulent gust of ups and downs each thematically and in high quality. However sadly, the journey to expertise all of it is pocked by the steep cliffs of jarring late recreation development pacing and rocky valleys jagged with dizzying quantities of micromanagement that turns the very concept of interacting with its RPG methods into stone.
For those who’ve seen films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Kung Fu Hustle, you’ve skilled Wuxia fiction earlier than. It’s a style that’s heavy on operatic and exaggerated fantasy, often that includes a younger and masterless wanderer seeking to discover their place in a world the place martial arts are akin to magic, and the strongest practitioners are superheroes who wield the weather like a weapon and virtually fly. Naturally, all of this makes for the proper constructing blocks of a online game, and Where Winds Meet actually does nail the vibes fairly constantly, a minimum of.
The fictional model of tenth-century China it’s set in is a politically damaged place, the place highly effective clans combat to divvy up the area each with open warfare and subterfuge. It is the proper backdrop in your character, an orphan raised by a working class, effectively-sufficient-to-do wine maker that is simply itching to go away the standard life behind in the hunt for journey and function. The story that sends you to lavish palaces, haunted caves, and dank dungeons is an uneventful one with a handful of memorable moments that would be shifting, however they’re usually undone by some fairly terrible English localization that makes exchanges between characters dense with redundant sentences and turns of phrase that do not actually make any sense.
It is also tormented by bizarre technical points like voice strains operating over each other, subtitles not matching the phrases coming from characters mouths, or voices going lacking solely. A dramatic final stand the place two frenemies unite to beat again an incredible evil is totally undermined when their voices instantly cease talking and by no means sit back in. Later in chapter two, you and an ally should don disguises to sneak into a celebration, Honey Bee Inn-fashion – however even after altering, your mannequin appears no totally different, which may be very jarring when occasion guards deal with you such as you’re mixing in. The primary marketing campaign is simply two chapters however they’re lengthy. With some diversions into aspect quests and mini recreation dabbling, they took me roughly 30-40 hours to finish, and whereas every button up their very own remoted tales effectively, it leaves the journey of your wanderer on a slightly unsatisfying cliffhanger.
The assorted aspect tales have the identical uneven high quality. On the entire, one of the best of them are higher written and have much more fascinating plots than the primary marketing campaign, in addition to a larger dramatic vary. One story had me main ghosts to the afterlife by serving to them by means of the bodily and emotional trauma of the violent fall of their Buddhist commune. One other begins solely while you be part of some half-bare martial arts faculty trainees in what looks as if a kind of hazing ritual. There is a spontaneity to those tales that you simply don’t actually see in different RPGs like this, however they’re additionally sullied with far more of the technical blemishes that undercut the primary story.
True to its inspiration, the fight in Where Winds Meet is flashy and energetic as you’d hope. Every of the seven weapons really feel distinct and harmful, and a few of these have totally different kinds to find that change the patterns of your regular and heavy assaults, in addition to the weapon abilities you’ll be able to unleash in your enemies. You’ll be able to equip two at a time, offering entry to totally different sorts of offense which may give your package some a lot wanted flexibility – however weapon kinds are classed into assist, DPS, and tank varieties, and I discovered I used to be a lot better off sticking to weapon pairs that matched their distinctions since switching between them supplied larger synergies. I spent virtually all of my playthrough as a tank, with a spear and glaive that might truly buff one another once I used particular skills in sure combos. I’d begin with the spear to taunt my foes and lift my protection, which might flip the self-protect potential on my glaive right into a powered up model that additionally raised its harm if I switched to it in a brief window of time.
You begin with a sword and get a spear and a chance to decide on a 3rd weapon fairly early, nevertheless it’s an actual ache within the ass to seek out anymore after that. That’s largely since you may discover a rope dart or bladed umbrella in your travels, however they’re unusable till you additionally be taught a fight fashion to wield them with. I in all probability went a stable 10 hours earlier than I discovered a mode for an umbrella I had picked up, and that is with out even addressing the truth that the umbrella was underleveled, and that I’d now have to spend assets to degree up each it and the fashion that used it to get them on par with the enemies round me – a activity that was actually not definitely worth the effort simply to see if I preferred it or not.
All of this potential chaining and buff administration made Where Winds Meet really feel rather more like an MMO than an motion recreation. It’s quicker paced than the style may sometimes be recognized for, however this fight doesn’t share any of the sensibilities of a Ninja Gaiden or Satan Could Cry. There’s no bouncing enemies or air juggles. Nary an air combo or wall splat. Simply numerous stun meter administration and weaving assaults and talents into a selected sequence to take advantage of out of your alternatives to do harm. I can’t converse for a way different lessons felt, however the tank was proper at residence to me as a lapsed MMO man. Managing when to defend and when to go all out felt virtually similar to a Darkish Knight in Last Fantasy XIV, besides with an lively block, parry, and dodge.
These instruments do assist break up the kind of autopilot syndrome of many MMO battles. Particularly the parry, which is commonly the very important distinction maker between capitalizing on a giant assault to be able to creat a gap that wouldn’t come by merely shifting out of the best way, and getting overwhelmed by a bevy of stamina and well being draining barrages as a substitute. Parries turn into so necessary that there’s even an auto-parry system you’ll be able to toggle on and off that provides you regenerating assets referred to as perception factors to spend as “get out of jail free playing cards” when an incoming assault is about to land. This was an incredible system for me to mess around with early on, and I nonetheless respect it as a intelligent approach to blunt among the problem spikes for individuals who want it.
The MMO-however-rowdier fight shined essentially the most in opposition to teams of normal enemies. I’d nonetheless get to use my beat-em-up circulation chart of discovering and eliminating the scariest enemy of the group – a healer, buffer, sturdy ranged assault, and many others. – whereas navigating the threats of all the decrease tier henchmen, however preserving my assault loop going and buffs topped off whereas doing so added an additional layer of techniques that actually created a circulation state I don’t often get from video games like this. In fact, these enemies aren’t very various, largely the identical forms of guys in numerous faction garb with a particular gang-particular unit to spice it up.
Sarcastically, I believe the failings of this amalgam is most evident in opposition to bosses, the place issues actually simply get decreased all the way down to a rinse-repeat cycle of parrying and dodging assaults, counter attacking, avoiding massive telegraphed blows, and so forth. Most bosses are simply tremendous thugs with larger well being and harm than the fellows like them that you simply’ve encountered within the area. The occasional massive spectacle boss can shake issues up, however even that tier of baddies is hit and miss. Chinese language dragon dancers in a full related costume that hops on beams and shoots fireworks at you? Hit. A late chapter one boss that appears to be trying to recall Sekiro’s Girl Butterfly combat from reminiscence? Miss.
The huge open world is overflowing with issues to seek out and do when your journey begins. Particularly early on, I used to be fairly recurrently stunned by among the largely foolish issues I stumbled throughout, like a bear training tai chi. However, as is true with the smarter moments in Where Winds Meet, that is not merely there for a chuckle. You’ll be able to truly spy on it and, by means of cautious examine (a timing minigame the place it is advisable press a button whereas a hoop closes), you can also be taught tai chi. This, and lots of different so-referred to as mystic arts, are learnable on this method and have many makes use of. With tai chi, I might truly channel the facility of the wind to yeet this exact same bear into close by rocks. I might use it to fire up shallow our bodies of water and shake wildlife onto land, and even gracefully rip a protect out of the arms of dangerous guys throughout fight. Of the various, many issues Where Winds Meet tries to tug your consideration to in its world, this was by far essentially the most intelligent. When time permitted, I at all times stepped apart to attempt to use my mystic arts to unravel puzzles or assist (or harass) individuals within the wild.
Where Winds Meet’s massive downside, although, is that it’s crammed wall to wall with different actions that come nowhere near this kind of ingenuity. There are some jobs you’ll be able to decide up that make a very good first impression, like a therapeutic minigame that turns curing ailments or setting damaged bones right into a card battler. However that doesn’t evolve a lot previous a primary Slay The Spire-fashion backwards and forwards and doesn’t actually reward you meaningfully as you progress up the ranks. Most all the things else are variations of the types of belongings you’ll see in any open world RPG like this, from fishing to crafting to duels to scavenger hunts – none of those modified the effectively worn components of those distractions in a method that made checking each out greater than a few occasions really feel definitely worth the journey.
And that’s even though all of them dump a bunch of loot on you each time you succeed. Nearly all the things you do on this recreation does, however little or no of what you might be given is value even opening your stock to take a second take a look at. It isn’t that it is all nugatory, likelihood is its going to be potions or meals gadgets that shall be auto-used when essential, or the assorted crafting and improve supplies that can wait patiently deep in your pockets for while you often want them. My solely relationship to any of these things is hoping I’ve sufficient when its time to degree up.
Similar with gear, which I simply slot in when its time to make my general energy degree rise. Weapons, armor, and equipment all have little nuances to extend issues like crit price and harm by small percentages, together with set bonuses in case you match pairs of things with comparable set symbols, however this wall of textual content method to tools administration is off placing and never even very impactful till method into the endgame. Where Winds Meet in some way finds methods to take the micromanagement even additional overboard, permitting you to spend assets to improve the gear slots themselves to offer micro bonuses, finally letting you equip extra full units of armor that add a small share to your general energy on high of all the things else. I’ve to think about that the quantity of people who find themselves excited to wring each single quantity out of this recreation in such a neurotic method is measurable on fingers and toes. Most individuals, me included, will in all probability simply click on the tremendous helpful “Fast Advance” button within the backside nook that spends your whole assets to improve all the things it could actually in a fashion it deems match, an choice whose mere existence kind of makes a extra damning argument in opposition to these overstuffed methods than I ever might.
There are milestones that freeze your potential to proceed leveling up at sure factors till you cross what’s referred to as a Breakthrough Check, pitting you in opposition to waves of enemies that you should slay in a sure time-frame to be able to transfer on. While you cross, not solely does your max degree rise, however so do the collective strengths of your whole enemies, which feels prefer it undermines the progress you’ve made to be able to full it within the first place. After the primary 4 of those worldwide degree-ups, the Breakthrough Checks begin to get powerful. Essentially the most I needed to retry any combat in Where Winds Meet was possibly my breakthrough check to get to degree seven, as I simply couldn’t kill the fiery calvary boss it threw at me quick sufficient.
Pushback from a reliable problem was not likely the annoying a part of this ordeal, although. Its that predominant story quests begin to turn into degree gated as you method the tip, which means you don’t have any choice however to spend time merely grinding expertise to be able to finally cross these literal DPS checks. However even then, your Breakthrough Check may require you to attend actual life hours earlier than you’ll be able to transfer to the subsequent tier, because it did for me on two events by gating my progress behind every day server updates. Making me leap by means of a bunch of hoops to progress solely to then inform me that I am truly shifting quicker than supposed is ridiculous. Don’t inform me how you can waste my life!
Gliding throughout the windy shores, rolling hills, craggy mountains, and bustling cities of the jianghu is a breezy expertise when your beneficiant triple leap and wall operating skills truly work. However throughout each play session, at inexplicable intervals of time, these options would inevitably cease working solely, solely to be mounted once I log off and log again into the shopper. This doesn’t simply make navigating all the combined terrain an issue, however some hidden chests or actions that require these additional motion choices are quickly taken off the desk for causes that by no means really feel good.
Navigating menus to type out your gear, test the map, or degree up your skills generally is a chore as effectively. The complete predominant menu at all times lags while you open it, and will get buggier each subsequent time you do. Button presses really feel unresponsive on controllers, and fumbling by means of sub-menus to click on a software tip so I might learn an additional merchandise description or discover out the place on the map I can discover extra of a factor was at all times a draining expertise, particularly when a few of these hyperlinks and shortcuts result in clean screens or have been simply damaged all collectively. The world of Where Winds Meet might have carried out with a pair dozen fewer of its random, 5-minute mini-quests if it meant spending extra time making the method of flipping by means of all of those spreadsheets much less painful.
You’ll be able to play numerous Where Winds Meet co-op, however servers have been fairly scarce pre-launch and discovering individuals to run multiplayer-centered occasions like clearing a set playlist of Murderer’s Creed-esque outposts or massive raid fashion bosses with a number of phases and mechanical gimmicks wasn’t attainable. I did a minimum of get to tackle the latter occasions because of a full CPU occasion that might tackle the required roles. These automated occasion members have been competent sufficient to do the Simon Says required to attenuate harm when essential, but when they weren’t mainly immortal, I am unsure they’d have had the chops to kill any of those scary enemies. I am positive my expertise right here is just not consultant of the design intention of those massive co-op romps, however I am nonetheless glad I might get entry to the novel gadgets they drop with out having to seek out 5 of my very own buddies to take action.