Recent reviews by Arte

Okay that Yo Dawg Meme needs to die but this game isn't the reason. You like old school, this is old school even for old school. The game captures exactly what makes AAA games problematic to develop... depth. This is a solid buy, you will be pulled into the world and do not underestimate your imagination; even with minimal images the world in my mind was quite vivid.

Give it a shot you'll likely not regret it and there is a proper English mod for it.

Okay, Scroll of Taiwu is not a... typical wuxia cultivation game. It is more Murim than Wuxia, so there are no realms to work through only that you get stronger as you train.

With that said it is in a sense rogue like - you get old and die, the sword stores your kungfu which is then transferred to the next Taiwu. Another thing is you cannot get all the games techniques without dying a few times since some are gender locked and so on.

Music is great, nothing wrong here.

Combat is... wonky later on but it is pretty simple.

City Development - This is cumbersome and you will have to pay painful attention and attempt city building multiple times to optimize this part of the game in any meaningful way.

Art - I only wish there was more, it's great.

Graphics - Pretty nifty, nothing crazy but it isn't bad.

Gameplay - There are some things that feel like aside from it being a grind, that it is taking up too much time. So for instance the some of the transition screens just feel longer than they need to be,.

Yo Dawg I heard you like crafting...

It's Magic the Gathering where you play as a Chinese Superhero. I can't simply say this is Wuxia because it is very clear about that you are in some version of China more so than other Wuxia, it comes across more nationalistic than fantasy.

I like this game, it just feels well... narrow. The events are spaced out too far, there are not enough of them, the world feels half empty and with all that open world you kind of are forced to play a specific role... alright let's get technical.

Graphics - Nothing amazing here it is as you see it a lot of drawn art with sub-decent particle effects. I mean the resolution could use some help as you get muddy art from time to time.

Art - The style of the game is appreciated, I am a fan, I do wish that techniques got more devastating visually but it is what it is.

Grind - I can't even call this as game play, the grind here is in Enlightenment of the crafter skills. You will naturally increase your base cultivation so don't worry about that. The grind is trying to make weapons and alchemy, there is very little hand holding here and you basically can kill yourself trying to figure things out so make sure to save before doing either.

Gameplay - It's a TCG in effect but with adventure and those wuxia tropes we want so bad. There are hidden minigames which frustrate me because they are actually good so why hide them?

Game Design - This is probably where the game suffers the most, the structure of the game comes across as amateur; after replaying it several time I can say there is content to be had here it's just that this content is skipable by just playing the game normally. You get locked out of certain things happening or meeting key characters because you simply did other thing.

Depth - I had to create this because this game... has a lot of things happening in the background. Alchemy and Crafting for example... becoming a sect elder and it just goes on. There must be at least 100 different turtle shells all doing different things and giving different results when you use them. If you like crafting games you can have that, that ain't even what I'm mad at.

Early Access - The game ends at Nascent which probably because of the translation gives off an awkward vibe when the head of the female sect is explaining about baby making and facing her inner demons. Regardless the actual power gap between major realms doesn't exist exactly - that is you can have golden cores that are as strong as some of the midling foundation.

Conclusion - It's a solid buy, I can say I got my moneys worth out of it for sure.

This is basically Dungeons and Dragons... do not misunderstand when I say that. I am saying this is Dungeons and Dragons and not one of those Wizards of the Coast cashed out knock offs. If you've ever played D&D table top and are looking for that experience but in a single player game, then this is it.

Do not let the art style fool you, this is Dungeons and Dragons.

My only grip is the XCOM BS hit chance: 81~91% Chance to hit and I miss the enemy 6 times in a row from 6 different characters. 90 is the new friggin 0.

Regardless the music is fine, the art grows on you and the characters plot and so on get you involved emotionally. Watch your heroes grow over time marrying and starting families as the reunite from time to time to defend the realm.

Alrighty then, enjoy.

I wrote this review twice so far, Steam seems to enjoy crashing as soon as I hit negative.
Word to the wise, write your reviews outside of Steam then just paste it in if it's going to be negative.

I initially reviewed this in a neutral but disappointed tone but still recommend it. After this long I can now give this review:

Graphics - 10/10: This game looks fantastic, it is a game made to endure graphically for the next decade.

Art Style - 9/10: This great to look at, though there isn't any jaw dropping moments it is still great.

Music - 8/10: Not bad, it isn't annoying or obnoxious but still it isn't memorable. I would have rated it lower if not for that compared to other games it is par for the course. This speaks more to the gaming industry
and the seeming lack of desire to invest time into engaging music.

Gameplay - 10/10: The camera can be wonky but considering the nature of this game and its combat system the that isn't even a thing. The game play is Sega's trade mark arcade approach to the games they make, sometimes it's a miss but this time it's a hit.

Content - 1/10: This game is essentially a demo right now at best for PSO 2 players it is an experiment in sadomasochism. There is nothing new happening for PSO 2 players that hasn't been done in PSO2.

Business Practice - 1/10: I would put this at a 0 out of 10 but companies like EA and 2k exist. 2k for example has you play a character that plays like it was both hamstrung and then took a 00 shot gun shell to the knee until you pay real cash to buy stats. Sega doesn't do that but they are nearly as coercive and it shows in the content update: The first general content update came after 15 other updates to the cash shop. This game is designed not only for people to buy from the cash shop but also to cater to people who buy from the cash shop to keep buying. So while Sega is not 2k and most of these things are indirectly game altering such as premium account perks, Sega has not entirely abandoned humanity and embraced monkey. You can't buy stat... oh wait...

So you can buy stats in the form of premium buffs from consuming foods with premium... And it's that kind of indirect coercive practice that is why I can't support this game; a game that takes advantage of the addictive natures in people, heck they even have loot crates in the form of AC Scratch.

Sadly I know really cool people who play the game and I pop on for them but I wont recommend this game because I sleep better knowing I didn't help sell some poor sod on this money sink, with them thinking there was at least some hope in the content.

Final - 3/10: It hurts to do this because I grew up with PSO, and well this is the turn it took. I tried to be fair and helpful in this review so here's hoping it wont randomly disappear again.

In Cultivation Simulator you control a sect and begin making that sect from one or a few cultivators. The starting system is similar to Kenshi in how desperate you want the situation to be. The goal of the game is to ultimately play in what is the Iron Man mode where decisions you make are final when made. You train your sect, send the members out on missions you can even explore using any one of them yourself. Eventually you invade other sects and become the king of them all. Or not and get obliterated by random elderly people that keep harassing your sect.

Graphics: Middling, there isn't anything special happening here - you are looking at something close to what we would have seen in 2006 maybe in some cases earlier. It's kind of like having someone buy you a new toaster versus a toaster put together with ad-hoc pieces: at the end of the day they both still toast. To be fair the lighting effects are well utilized, but I mean this is stuff we've seen again since 2002-ish.

Art Style: Very good, I enjoyed it and it did this very well - you get a lot of pleasing things to look at that really pulled me in to the world of mystical cultivation. The art work is consistently good and mostly energetic.

Music: Your typical fare from the orient, it definitely isn't bad but if you've heard the chord progression once you've heard it a thousand times before.

Gameplay: This is hard... it isn't that the game play is bad... just that this game is about 4 different games in one. I'm going to hold towards its benefit that it surprised me with how many and how well thought out each style of gameplay was. But I will hold against it how damn complex and counter intuitive some of them were. First off the primary mode of play is the easiest it is going to get, if you can understand what you are doing here then you are golden. It might take a play through to learn how you're supposed to grow your sect so your members are strong but once you understand the book mechanic you are good. However Shendao is like Chess to the rest of the games play styles Rock-Paper-Scissors. After 300 hours I still don't know if Shendao is worth the effort, it's like death by shnoo-shnoo.

This game is definitely worth a look at if you are curious about this world of cultivation, if you just like management games as well, and if you already know about Xianxia style games then know this stops a few stages before Apotheosis with Shendao being kind of what Apotheosis is but in a weird way.

Give it a go, you can't go wrong and if it's on sale definitely grab it.

This is exactly the game I was looking for.

Where Cultivation Simulator has you controlling an entire sect and does a very good job about simulating cultivation by comparison to this it is very shallow. The two things Cultivation Simulator has that this doesn't is Shendao and Body cultivation. With that said the Ki cultivator path includes some body cultivation methods and is true to that path of cultivation as per the stories of heaven and earth.

The game has a fan made English translation you can patch it with. The Discord leading to the download is talked about in the Discussion section. I would say about 90% is translated and the translation is pretty good.

Graphics: This is stuff from maybe 2001, this wont be impressing you on the graphical side at all but this is a small team doing fantastic work in other areas. The particle effects, shading and so on are nothing to really write home about but are still passable.

Art Style: Bringing this up right after graphics because I don't want these two confused, the art style is a mixed bag some places it seems bland and in other places its fantastic. There is no consistency to the quality of the arts direction but the direction is constant. Where the game is doing the art well it does it knowing it's doing it well.

Music: Pretty generic music from the orient, nothing to write home about here but it does match what you are looking at and I could ignore it and still enjoy the game.

Story Design: The way the story is told doesn't work well with the game design, that is you have a set amount of time to accomplish things but really it's like Skyrim in that you can pretty much explore and encounter things at your own pace... But the story can mislead you to odd dead ends. It's better to ignore the story and cultivate. Then go back and attempt the story. After a while it gets better about telling you that you can't accomplish things without being stronger. This might also be the fault of the translation or just my understanding.

Game Design: Amazing, we buy games to play games and while none of the other parts of this game are bad, in fact they are mostly mediocre, this is one of those weird moments where game play alone saves the day... a game that remembers it's a game. As mentioned above this is about cultivation so there is that, then it's also about creating your own cultivator and finally executing your build on the world. This does all of that and then includes those xianxia tropes we all love. Unlike path of Wuxia that forgets its about the main character and keeps throwing characters at you to learn about this game simply adds aging to the mix which then forces you to take a CK3 approach and at some point start making a family before trying to conquer Tainyu.

Graphics - 6/10 Being objective the graphics are not anywhere near AAA but that doesn't mean it isn't pretty and from a technical perspective a brilliantly innovative use the bare minimum. I say this not to speak to Art Style which can be independent of graphics.

Depth - 9/10 The game knows what it is, it checks all the boxes on being a survival builder game but in doing so it failed to accomplish any depth at all regarding it's multiplayer functions. It makes up for this I feel with just how well it does everything else but multiplayer.

Immersion - 7/10 The material design, the creature design, the character design, the music and so on all work. If you are woefully unprepared like a babe with wolves the first night really will put you on edge. Not because of some debuff saying your cold which helps, but because of the sounds from dark corners in the woods. Some things are normal sounding and then you kind of swear you heard someone say something. But you're the only one on the server.

Finally, this game is recommended but contingent on if you have someone to play with. This is not anywhere near fun by yourself and the game is bent on making sure there is no random grouping. You need to know people outside of the game which is tedious especially since most people will be doing school, work and so on. To be clear this is a function easily remedied but still opens other more complex problems; so I understand why they are so restrictive about grouping.

It isn't a bad game, first off the graphics are not going to blow your mind. The art style however is very much left me satisfied. This is a SRPG with turn based combat and none of the complexity more modern SRPGs use to make things more active. With that said the games focus oddly doesn't seem to be the combat but rather the story being told and interactions with other students, and in that way the game is less so an SRPG and more so a Novel.

This is an example of a still young genre that I think is inaccurately categorized as Martial Arts, this should instead be the Genre "Wuxia" in as much as we use "Fantasy" in the West and know what that's about.

So on the game itself; If you are looking for a story about school life but with some wuxia elements thrown in - this is the game for you. I have to say that it is honestly close to me saying it's a kind of dating simulation but again Romance is part of Wuxia.

There is a Discord community for the English translation which does a cracking job at it, but because of this I can't exactly say if the game does a good job of getting you interested in the drama of these npcs but the content here is certainly not lacking.

There is an unfortunate grind to the game and a time table it forces on to you, there are no classic wuxia hidden benefits found in places that allow the MC a unique body tempering technique or heavenly scrolls of the gods gate qi manipulations. Instead you grind it out seemingly like everyone else. But you are special because you can change your element mid fight.

This is pretty cool but a signal of the games only failure - the lack of content about the player themself. In Wuxia stories what engages people isn't the love interest or the friends but rather the Main Character and so far there is a problem here.

Music is great, controls are good, it support controller as well though barely. In the end this is an Early Access game so keep that in mind and be thankful that at least it is stable.

Enjoying it so far for the single player experience - I am unclear if this can be played offline though but if it can then this is definetly going to be worth it.

It has bugs, but the ease of saving makes up for that - graphics are great - music is nice - SFX are solid and voice acting while unfinished is great. I do wish there were more options during character creation for example: I think Sorcerer is missing replaced seemingly with Warlock and Eladrin isn't an option.

It would have been nice to see more races and how they are envisioned virtually. With that said this game is true to D&D 5e but actually a little bit more complex. It again has bugs but this is early access.