God Wars The Complete Legend Full Review
God Wars is a fun tactical RPG with a rich story. The Nintendo Switch version of the Complete Legend is the complete version of the game. It includes all content from the entire game and DLC from God Wars: Future Past and adds a brand new character and dungeon. Keep reading to discover a few things that will help you jump into this beautiful world of God Wars.
Table of Contents
Story
The story is based on Japanese folk tales and mythology, particularly of the Kojiki collection. God Wars tells the story of princess Kaguya, born at the foot of Mount Fuji, destined to be sacrificed to appease the raging gods. However, her destiny changes when the young Kintaro and his buddy Kuma release her from imprisonment in her village’s shrine.
From then on, she has to build her destiny with the help of her friends, surrounded by popular characters that come straight from the deepest layers of Japanese folklore.
This is one of the charming elements of God Wars: its roots in local legends and lore are powerful, which makes the game unique, even for fans of Japanese games. The atmosphere of the game is the result of its creators’ love, and it manifests itself in almost all aspects of the game, including the story, characters, and gameplay.
Gameplay
The gameplay is a turn-based strategy game. Who and in what order will move depends on their speed. Most of the requirements to win are to defeat all enemies, but for some, you only need to defeat the boss. Death in this game triggers a fatal countdown of about five turns.
If you revive them with an item or ability, they won’t vanish. There is no perpetual death in this game, so short of missions where some allies can’t die or die at a disadvantage doesn’t matter. AI is an option for any of your units, but using it is a bad idea.
In its turn, a unit can move and act in any order. Actions attack, use skills, search the basket or defend. Skills use MP and are usually more helpful than regular attacks. Some skills aren’t designed for combat, such as units that can search sparkling areas for herbs or other items. Attacking from the sides or back of an enemy will deal additional damage. Height also plays a role in this, as the higher ground gives more damage and the lower less. There are points in the game where the enemies have a considerable height advantage and are very deadly.
The impurity system defines which unit is more likely to be targeted. It can be intentionally raised to protect others using skills or lowered using other skills. Quite a few different status effects come in two levels of severity. Being afflicted with the outcome while already under it, you can get an upgraded version, but some enemies can cause a more severe effect right away. The most annoying are Amnesia and Rattled.
Spiritual Content
God Wars is teeming with spiritual content, especially the classic Shinto belief system. Everything is mentioned in the game, from the human sacrifice that suppresses the fury of the gods to evil spirits that represent gods, elemental demons, as well as famous kami (principal deities) like Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, Susanoo, the god of storms, and Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon.
Just like the Norse pantheon in God of War, it’s exciting to immerse yourself in another culture’s mythology and learn the story of creation through the eyes of their faith.
Violence
God Wars has animated violence. These scenes show blood, but there is no gore or viscera to worry. When the characters are defeated, they fall to the ground or disappear from the playing field.
Positive Themes
Some characters pursue goals for the good of their homeland. Others will finish the job because it’s the right thing to do. Efforts for peace and freedom are the main themes.
Difficulty Levels
God Wars has three difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, and Hard.
It would be best if you weren’t afraid to play on Easy. You will get the same story and battles, but it will be slightly easier than the standard difficulty. It’s also better if you’re only interested in the story. Easy gives the best rewards for completing battles, so you can quickly get through it and enjoy the folklore.
If you want to experience difficulty, then choose Normal or Hard difficulty.
Character Stats and Jobs
Each character you encounter that joins your party has different base stats, which correlate with their primary job. For example, one person will be a healer, while another will be a speedy ninja. Their main jobs determine the growth of their stats.
If a character is best suited as a spell caster, they have a much higher increase in magical attack and defense while having weak physical attack and defense. A strong character in physical attack and defense is best suited as a fighter type rather than someone who casts spells before heals. As they level up, their stats improve in certain areas, while others may not or even stay the same for some levels.
Eventually, you will unlock new job classes that are offshoots of the main ones, and some of them require leveling up multiple jobs to obtain. Every character can have three jobs: Main, Sub, and Unique.
Main determines their equipable items, stat distribution, skills, and growth. Sub-jobs means that the character can only use the acquired skills from a job that isn’t assigned as the main one. The same applies to Unique, except that this can never be changed.
Always keep an eye on characters’ base stats when you get them, as it will help you figure out what kind of job to give them.
Combat
The combat takes place on a traditional tactical map, with the number of participants varying in each battle. Job classes will be grouped into the typical front, middle, and back-row combat classes. However, in addition to each character having two classification slots, their unique skill set adds depth to their combat builds.
While you won’t have the level of customization as in Final Fantasy Tactics, the number of individual classes makes up for it. God Wars has base difficulty selections, which can be changed anytime if you’re in combat. If you’re determined to progress through the story, you can turn the difficulty down and revert it if you want to make it more challenging again.
At the beginning of the battle, the map will revolve around your enemies, and you will be able to place a certain number of characters for the skirmish. Team composition and enemy placement are essential, as factors such as higher ground and unit makeup can significantly affect combat. While you start the battle with full HP, your MP will be charged per turn, causing your characters to lose their more powerful attacks.
Combat Abilities
What you will like the most is the number of skills that could be used. Each class has a full range of abilities to maintain your play style.
Throughout the battle, you’ll have a gauge that is charged by combat actions, and when charging, the characters can perform secret skills. When leveled up, these skills can damage the enemy and show some of the best animations in the game. Unfortunately, these animations are victims of being essentially copied across multiple skills in individual trees.
The final criticism of the combat is the time investment they require. With fast movement, battles can advance by the 1-hour mark, which is just a little too long. Excess units seem to be used to prolong battles, and many times the main boss or final units won’t even move until you’re in their general area, which can happen as early as round 20.
During your travels, some cities will have shops and shrines. With shrines, you can donate cash to strengthen you for the next battle. It’s good practice, as each donation gives a combat buff and goes towards leveling up the shrines themselves. Instead of random battles in other games, shrines have “combat requests” that allow you to participate in optional battles and score rare loot.
Terrain Advantages
Paying attention to the enemies and terrain around you is always essential. The terrain can provide many benefits at different stages if you know what to look for. Some spots can be higher than others. For example, having one of your units up higher means it’s harder for enemies to hit them, giving them an advantage in combat, especially if you are using bows.
If there is an enemy, you will need to find the best way to get them, as you may have poor accuracy because of their height. Some enemies can attack with ranged skills or weapons, so you should know enemies before engaging.
Watch What Direction Your Units Face on Standby
After you’ve moved your units and taken action, you should put them into Standby before ending the turn. During Standby, you will need to choose the direction for the unit to face. This is important because enemies can deal more damage depending on whether they are attacking in front of your units, from the sides, or behind.
If an attack is directly in front of you, there is a high chance it could miss because the unit can dodge the hit. The sides mean moderate damage, and the back dishes out the most.
In an ideal world, you would always face your enemy before engaging in combat. But it’s not always possible, so try to position them so that you don’t always get stabbed in the back.
Look for Herbs and Open Chests
One of your starting characters, Kintaro, has an ability that allows him to search for herbs
on shiny grass squares. It would help if you took advantage of this ability. It can get you free herbs you can use to heal or make potions.
Other characters can use the “Search” action to find hidden items in adjacent squares. It would help if you used it when you can’t attack since you never know what you might find. However, be careful; sometimes, chests contain nasty traps!
Another thing you should check is treasure chests when they appear on a map. They can contain valuable items or equipment, which you can use to upgrade your team’s gear or heal if you are in a bind. Make sure you search the stage for all available items and treasures before completing the challenge. Because as soon as the goal is reached, like defeating all enemies, the level is considered passed, and you move forward.
Conclusion
God Wars The Complete Legend is a delightful classic JRPG stimulation and a small look at how the genre can evolve without abandoning its turn-based structure. It has an exciting story and fun gameplay mechanics and makes an excellent addition to any game collection. If you are a fan of Japanese folklore and love challenges, you should try God Wars. It will surely satisfy your need for an SRPG for a while.
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