GOD WARS The Complete Legend

Review

The game starts with a procession of people making their way up the Mount Fuji. The creaking and squeaking of a norimono fills the air as they make their way to the top of Mount Fuji under the glow of a full moon. Upon reaching the top, Lady Tsukuyomi, the Queen of the Fuji Nation, with sadness upon her boat race (face) embraces her daughter, Sakuya asking “why does it have to be...?”. Lady Tsukuyomi is then informed that it’s time, it’s time to make an offering to the gods of Mount Fuji. The gods must be appeased, and their rage calmed but sadly, that offering is Tsukuyomi’s young daughter Sakuya!

Lady Tsukuyomi performs the ritual, Sakuya makes her way to the edge of the sacrificial ledge. With a big smile, Sakuya accepts her fate knowing that her sacrifice will protect her people from the wrath of the gods. As she nears the end of the ledge, huge plumes of molten lava erupt from the volcano. Lady Tsukuyomi tries to reach for her daughter but is held back. She turns away for a couple of seconds and as she looks back to her daughter, she’s gone. Lady Tsukuyomi is devastated her daughter is gone and screams out her name … SAKUYAAA...!!! This was thirteen years ago, and this is where your journey begins ….

After the sacrifice of her daughter, Lady Tsukuyomi disappeared, leaving her kingdom to be run by Lord Kitsune. His reign in her absence isn’t as peaceful as hers was, in fact he’s a tyrant, and the people suffer and starve. It’s at this point that the people have had enough and decide to revolt. The people attack the shrine and go to open the storage for the rice. Amongst them is one called Kintaro. Within the shrine is Princess Kaguya, the third daughter of Lady Tsukuyomi, and before she was held here, Kintaro had made her a promise.

Kaguya is being held at the shrine waiting for the time she will need to be sacrificed in order to appease the gods. After defeating the guards at the shrine and talking to the princess, you free her and escape, heading off away from the capital, unsure of what you’re going to do next. Although as Kaguya rests she has a dream, one which tells her to help mother. But where is she? She hasn’t been seen for thirteen years. With nothing else to do, you decide to find your mother and see where it leads you. You control Princess Kaguya and Kintaro, along with his companion, Kuma. Kuma is one of the many Myriad Gods that have lived in Mizuho since ancient times. Kuma is in the form of a bear and has a strong bond with Kintaro; he can’t speak human languages but communicates through mutual understanding.

From here you’ll enter the ancient world map of Mizuho (Japan); standing at the foot of Mount Fuji is your starting point. You’ll notice the next point of interest on the map and by selecting it you’ll be taken to that place. Each new place you encounter will have some icons above them, of which there are three types:  a Crossed Weapon means that you’ll encounter a battle here, Double Exclamation Marks is where you’ll have some conversations, and a Building means there’s a Shop or Shrine at that location.  Click on a location and you’ll see a small amount of information about it. Once you have finished in one location then another will appear on the map allowing you to proceed. However, sometimes locations don’t show on the map and you’ll only come across them as you move between your present location and your destination.

Upon entering a battle, you’ll find yourself on the battle map, which is divided into grids (you can turn these off if you wish in the options). On your first battle you’ll be given some information on the basics and you’ll also gain more information as you proceed in the game and come across something new. On the battle map the terrain consists of different elevations rather than just a plain flat area. You’ll be able to use the different terrain heights to your advantage, such as an archer who is standing on a square which is four blocks high will gain an extra square in distance when attacking. When entering a battle, you’ll have victory and loss conditions. To be victorious in battle you must complete the victory conditions; if you complete the loss conditions it probably means that all your characters have died and that you’ve failed.

Each turn you’ll be able to move a certain number of squares. Select Move and you’ll be shown where you can move to, indicated by blue squares.  Once you have your characters where you want them, accept and they’ll move to that square. Sometimes you may need to jump across an area to move forward. When jumping over one space it takes two jump stats and you’ll need enough moves to be able to make that jump. If you need to jump across two spaces, then you’ll need a jump stat of four. The order in which your characters move is determined by the character’s SPD.

Next you must decide on the type of action you’re going to take, whether it's to Attack, use a Skill, Item, Search or Defend. When attacking, the use of Direction and Elevation are going to work in your favour. The position of your character in relation to your enemy will determine your Aim and Damage. Attacking face on will give you regular damage, while attacking from the side will give you a medium damage bonus. Attacking from behind will give you a high damage bonus. Attacking from higher ground will also increase your Aim and Damage, while attacking from the lower ground will give less damage (this doesn’t affect magic attacks, but only physical attacks and skills). 

All characters will have some skills to start with, but you’ll be able to unlock more and customise your character as they grow. You’ll gain Job Points as your characters win battles and level up. These can be used to unlock new skills as well as upgrade any skills you currently have, with most skills being able to be upgraded to level ten. These skills can be used for increasing your attack power, defence, vitality, recovery of health or magic points, with a bunch of other options as well, depending on the jobs a character has. Skills require the use of Magic Points which, depending on the skill type, can range from three points and up. They also have varying ranges on the battlefield; if you use Recovering MP then each turn will recover some MP for the character that Recovering MP was used upon. Selecting Standby rather than Move will recover more MP.

Each character has a Main Job, a Unique Job and a Sub Job.  The Sub Job slot allows you to decide what that other job is. The job types are character classes, such as Archer, Magician, Priest, Warrior etcetera. The job points you gain are divided between the three job types of a character with the most going to the main job and the least going to the unique job. Not all jobs are available to you straight away but as you increase your job levels then new ones will be unlocked. For example, a level six priest unlocks the Monk and Shintoist jobs. So there are plenty of jobs and skills for you to be able to customise your team as you like. You can also have a total of three passive skills once you gain them, which add a bonus to your Aim, ATK Support, DEFF Support, Weapon Aim etcetera.

When it comes to Equipment, you’re able to either manually choose what equipment a character has, or you can select Recommended. This will choose the best equipment you currently own in your inventory for that character. You can equip two accessories but you’re unable to equip two of the same accessories. While at a shop you can buy and sell weapons, armour, etcetera as you would in most games. However, instead of scrolling down items and going back-n-forth checking the stats with each character, you can try on and equip any item, which can be done with all characters at once. When you go to leave the store, you can either put them all back or buy all the equipment at once. You can see how much all the items you’re buying will cost as you try them on.

 Scattered here and there on the battle screen you may notice some Wicker Baskets; these can be opened, and you’ll gain some random item. To open a wicker basket, you must be placed along one of the sides; you can then choose Search from Actions and the basket will open. There are two types of wicker baskets, a plain looking one and a flashier one. The flashier basket of the two may contain some rare items. However, be careful when opening a basket as some of them may contain traps where you could take damage or receive a status effect. You can open the baskets safely if you learn the Lock Picking skill.

You may also notice some grid squares which sparkle, these are Harvest Points. There are three types of Harvest Points: Herb (which can be found in grass), Gem (which can be found in rocks), and Fish (which can be found in water). Using the right skill will allow you to harvest them, like Kintaro can use his Gather Herbs skill on the sparkling grass to find herb types items.

If any of your companions fall in battle with their health at zero, they’ll be placed in the Death Condition. Above them will be a number, and if this number reaches zero then that character will retreat and can’t return to the battle. You can, however, use items or skills to revive them before the number hits zero. The number will decrease with each passing turn.

If you come across a shrine, you’ll be able to worship and accept requests. Requests are extra battles (side quests) you can participate in on stages which you’ve already completed. You worship at a shrine by buying an offering which will grant you an active effect in your next battle. The more you spend on an offering the greater the effect will be in your next battle. The currency in the lands of Mizuho are called Leaves, which is a unit of measurement for Jade Stones.

As you progress through the game, you’ll meet new characters, some of whom will join your group after having been defeated. You’ll be able to control these characters in battle etcetera, while some may tag along with your group while being controlled by the game.

The game has three difficulty levels: Easy for beginners of Tactical RPG’s, Normal for more experienced players of this type of game, and Hard for those who consider themselves masters of this type of game and who want a challenge. You can find information about any of the characters and places you visit, including the different nations etcetera, by visiting Picture Scroll from the menu. Here you’ll find Summary, Character, Glossary, BGM and Guides.

The voice-overs in the game are in Japanese with English subtitles.

In the options you’ll find Background Music, Sound Effects and Voice volume sliders, Remember Cursor Position, Message Speed, Bust Ups, Move Direction, Grid, HP Bar, Difficulty, Skip Scene, Fast-Forward, Resolution and Button Behaviour.

God Wars The Complete Legend is a fantastic game that I have really enjoyed playing so far. I’ve still got a long way to go in the game and I look forward to seeing what the game has in store for me in later chapters. The artwork and intros are awesome, the storyline is great and I love the history and myths of Muzuho. The voice-overs are in Japanese with English subtitles, but for me this just adds to characters of the game - I just love the voice overs. The game is challenging but very enjoyable to play. There are plenty of ways to customise your group of characters through multiple job types, skills and passive skills. Overall a fantastic and enjoyable game!

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com!