On To Long, we meet the Illustrates Hero path of the romance of the three kingdoms (a Chinese historical novel where three main factions are fighting for their ideals and their vision of unified China).
We come across iron with some, we unit with otherwise like the famous cao (pronounce tsao-tsao please), Liu BEI, sun Jean and part of their most faithful allies or descendants, in short, enormous pleasure for fans.
For the others, do not worry: it is not important not to know them, because To Long’s history is independent, it only reuses the characters and certain elements of context and decorations.
The rewriting of certain emblematic characters is interesting.
Without revealing, you too much, the world is mysteriously invaded for an increasingly growing, demons argue everywhere, and some humans seem corrupt and hostile to everything that moves.
You quickly come across an old hostile Taoist who seems to have an immense power and who manipulates people for a goal that he alone knows;
It puts you sticks in your wheels.
Yes you, the protagonist, because you seem to be able to link yourself to divine spirits, totem animals, and to use their powers.
A threat, therefore.

It makes Dynasty Warriors think, but it’s not at all that

To Long is not a Beaten All, do not go into the fray!
It is much more prudent to desert to face the enemies one by one, because we are very quickly overwhelmed.
Normal attacks fill your mind bar (your energy).
But undergo damage, use skills, deal with attacks or dodge your Esprit gauge.
If the Esprit bar is completely negative (orange), at the slightest blow you will be immobilized and completely at the mercy of your enemies.
It is therefore necessary to balance attack and defense, without abusing skills under penalty of becoming very vulnerable.
You must be attentive to the enemy movements also, because the equipment only compensates for recklessness and there is no choice of difficulty in the game, it is up to you (and the first boss will give you the !).
Some enemies are more vulnerable to certain elements, others are extremely aggressive, and it is necessary to observe their sequences to wait for an opening.
You can also break the parts of the body/weapons of your opponents to take advantage of them and neutralize some of their attacks.
The bosses, on the other hand, are very uneven.
The difficulty is not linear, it is not always growing, some impressive bosses are disappointing, other seemingly more modest are much more tough than expected.
Some may force you to change Dame or your skills.
The best way to get out of the game is to deflect the blows.
The timing is quite precise, there is no right to Lorre, but it is much more useful to retaliate and above all, if it is a critical blow that you deviate, there is a good chance that it hurts the defense of
ENEMY: Its Esprit bar is a lot and very often you can in turn inflict a critical blow.
It is the biggest source of damage on bosses.
For your other victims, surprise attacks are also wreaking havoc.

Missions

The game takes place in instantiated missions, no people open therefore.
The main missions are quite long, with multiple shortcuts to unlock and small secrets like secondary quests (do not take you by hand for them: there is neither indicator on the radar nor when you come across people,
And no quest journal either) or small cute demons in the form of a panda which will escape a piece of deviation against another at random, but of the same quality (a bit like the small demons of Nigh 2).
The secondary missions are quite short or even sometimes boil down to a duel with an NPC, however they are not useless and sometimes give access to certain interesting equipment.
Some are even essential to unlock skills.

Death during a mission will not make you miss and start all over again, on the other hand, you will lose morale (we will come back on it further in the test) and especially points to climb level!
Suddenly, it may be better to rise as soon as possible (that is to say via the large flags that you plant here and there during the mission), but use a flag brings all enemies.
Very good for Farm, less to progress in the mission, especially when they are painful enemies.

Dynasty

Sometimes you still have to go to Evidence: just before a difficult step, when you have lots of points, but not yet enough for the next level, it is better to use the flag.
In addition, it puts the potions counter as much as possible.
Ah, yes, that is very typical of the Souls, potions are a resource to be used with sparing in since a maximum available which is quite low at the beginning (which can increase via specific resources).
We appreciated the diversity of bosses, the sometimes very gloomy bestiary and the rather nice level design.
You have to be an observer so as not to get lost because he has no card, just a fairly basic radar.
Some fights are really memorable and really make the characters honor.

The village

The little extra compared to Nigh 2 is that the central hub (Detroit where you go when you are not on a mission) is not that an interface, it is a village that can visit and which is filled with characters over the history.
The conversations are unfortunately quite poor, but not always without interest since some NPCs will ask you for services.
But again, have no turkey for these secondary quests or icon, although some NPCs will change dialogue according to your progress.
Strangely, he has no personalization.
One would have thought that, like its elder, To Long would offer a house to the protagonist with things to place and/or bonus, but no, none of that.
It is quite disappointing to see that ultimately, this village is not more practical than a simple interface since the trips between the parts of the village are sometimes a little laborious (these are islets linked by large Liana, and we can fall into the void, even if
we do not die).
You will find a forge there, but also a way to reshape your character at will.
No limitation for makeover, you will find the character creator of the very beginning of the game and can therefore modify everything, even the sex of the character.
We can therefore start laventure that is quiet when we know that we can change everything at will and free of charge.
We can save his character’s Papyrus, to alternate quickly between several appearances and even generate a code and share our creations or import those of others.
The character designer is really very close to that of Nigh 2 (up to hairstyles and tattoos) and really detailed.
It also has a random generator, let you be judged.

NPCs

They are quite numerous and sometimes we SY lose a little in their motivations and relationships, but if we have a doubt we have a Compendium in the menu with their history.
Regarding those who can recruit, they are useful!
We can even encourage them in combat to encourage them to use their skills (which are sometimes powerful).
They can be recruited via a large flag, with objects that have sufficient number to call them often.
They do not die too quickly and can be revived (the delay is quite short, however and be careful, you are vulnerable throughout Animation).

In NG+, their usefulness is more questionable, but it is normal.
The more you ask them, the more your affinity goes up with them.
There are also privileged links between some, raising Affinity more quickly.
When your link is at the maximum, you will receive the completeness of its armor (and its weapons), the objects are of fairly rare quality, it is useful especially in the first part of the game. But more interesting: when you get objects, you
Unlock the possibility of having other randomly among the equipment that you get regularly and sometimes of superior quality!
So do not neglect these affinities, some ensemble bonuses are really powerful.
Remember that you can change all the secondary bonuses to the forge (see below in this test).

Multi-more modes

You can play with 1 or 2 other players (you can decide in the online game settings if you don’t want to play around with players from the same geographic area or not for latency, under the somewhat vague translation of Zone de
encounter).
The group will therefore be limited to three characters at most.

The cooperative mode makes it possible to replay missions or to progress together (the missions available are limited to that which all players have in common, we cannot take a beginner to the last boss for example).
We can therefore perfectly do all the history with several.
On the other hand, no village: between two missions you will not have the right to an interface.
There is a system balancing the difference in levels between the characters, but we still feel a difference in the defense and the power of the critical blows of a much more advanced player.
This mode is still welcome, especially for certain bosses or certain missions with a lot of composters, because remember, it is very risky to have to manage several enemies at the same time on To Long.
The pandas that meet during the mission (these small demons that exchange your objects for rewards) are individual.
Each player can give an object and receive their own reward.
Death in multiplayer in cooperation resembles the management of that of allied NPCs: you have a limited time to raise a player who has fallen into battle.
Otherwise, you come back to the last checkpoint.
No limit to the number of resurrections or mission to start completely starting again.
The Invasion mode allows the mission of the mission or more players to be Denver.
If you don’t name PVP, you can completely deactivate this feature so as not to be invaded.
But invasions led by NPCs will always take place from time to time.

that makes Dark Souls think, but that’s not really that

We know the revenge systems in which we find Enemy who defeated us to recover experience or even lost objects.
Here, we also have one, but with a morale system: when you kill enemies, your morale gauge increases, but when you cash in critical blows or die, you lose morale.
If an enemy defeats you, he also earns morale, he will be stronger than the first time you have been washed.
Fortunately, you recover lost morale by avenging yourself, but very often if you had, it was already stronger.

The morale system

Do not neglect morale import: the higher it is, the more bonus you benefit to defeat your enemies or resist their blows (it is very likely that you will succumb in one or two enemy with a big difference in morale).
If a too powerful enemy bars your way from the start, it is likely that another path is possible to get around it.
It is likely that you met it again since throughout each mission, you unlock shortcuts over your progress.
This is a point that we appreciated despite the corridor type zones: you still have more or less risky choices of different paths.
It is even possible to go straight to the point, but sometimes it is better to undo more enemies to increase your morale.
There are levels for morale: the more flags you are, the more the minimum threshold of your morale (including during a defeat) is high.
So you will have to find as many flags as possible.
Small flags serve as a resurrection point, the big ones allow you in addition to damage your level, to buy objects, to recruit NPCs or players, etc.
Note that you can customize your flag.
It is a shame that he has no translation of ideograms, however.
Beware of your morale during the critical blows of your enemies: if you undergo them, you will also lose a point of morale.
So be careful!

Revenge

We had already mentioned the loss of morale during a dead, but there is also the loss experience.
If you take revenge on your executioner, you will recover everything.
Sometimes the monsters carry a symbol signifying that they have shot another player.
If you satisfy the revenge of a player, you win tokens that you can use in town to unlock emotes and equal.
You sometimes meet the grave of other players (a cross with purple flames), which can tell you a difficult place, whether it is an ambush or a powerful enemy.
Interaction with the grave, however, is limited to sacrificing one of your potions to give you a temporary moral boost.
No ghost as in some other games of the genre.

Little tip: if you have to treat yourself, dedicate a potion to the burial of a player will treat you anyway.
Also, do not beat yourself near the tombs, you may activate them by early, interrupting the fight in an unwanted way.

that makes Nigh 2 think, but it’s still not that

If you’ve already played Nigh 2, maybe you remember the famous RNG.
All the bonuses were randomly subject, even to the forge to try to optimize your equipment.
Forget all that: on To Long, you can change everything at the forge (or almost, because certain equipment still keep an irremovable property and the dense bonuses are also fixed).
With a little Argent, you can even choose directly from a very large list of properties, no RNG.
You can also reshape your equipment.
As soon as you get equipment, you unlock your appearance.

Small tip: No need to keep Deirdre parts for a aesthetic, he NY needs Argent to apply an appearance on another part of Decimation.
Does it seem too easy?
Wait for the NG+, where some exclusive bonuses and the rarest Dob jets are randomly subject.
But no need to stress if you just want to finish the game, it’s very comfortable and not very restrictive.
After all, the game is quite accessible.
It’s quite discreet, but there are three dark types so pay attention to the small icons at the top left, because in heavy armor you have more defense, but less spirit (therefore less designed/parade/magic) and you will be less discreet
So will succeed less antiques by surprise (which are really effective against most enemies).
But medium and light armor is sometimes a real handicap against powerful enemies who will cut you down.
Small tip regarding surprise attacks: to approach in silent mode, you can keep the parade button to be sure to walk without making any noise.
On the weapons side, you have no less than 13 Dares types (you can equip 2, to quickly alternate moon to the other): swords and sabers (several types), hast weapons (lances and halberds), hammer, ax Dares, stick, but also double weapons (double sabers, double Haller, etc.).
Each type has its own repertoire of movements, do not think that Levee and the saber share the same movements.
There are even several types of spears.
In short, a fairly wide range of combat styles!
Add to this the martial arts, which are weapon-related skills.
Each weapon has a fixed martial art and possibly a second (sometimes it depends on the rarity of tear).
The second is often at random, so you can have a saber with different skills.
These martial arts sometimes seem tedious, but in reality, well-used, they are formidable.
Some are only available on certain weapons.
There are also some weapons from a distance, but their use is very limited since it uses ammunition.
These are not main weapons.
Weapons at the heart of the combat system are all melee weapons.
On To Long, we mainly fight with hand and body (even magic is too expensive to use only that).

Elements and animal-totem

Each weapon or armor has its affinities with the elements, this is another really special point on To Long.
The elements have specific effects that can be triggered (one status at a time) on enemies.
These elements are also to be taken into account when choosing its totem animal.
Each totem animal grants passive bonuses, but also has two activated skills when the Danimal-Totem gauge is full.
We have a ultimate skill (invocation) with a more or less devastating or saving effect and a buff competence (resonance) which gives your animal delegate for a short period, but with the maximum effects (it
There is similar enchantments that can be learned, but they are less powerful than those of Totem animals).

magic

You can learn… Well, everything.
Nail fear on a skill lap, there is no bad choice, just priorities according to your desires.
If you change your mind, you can also reset the distribution of your points to the village.
Some skills are unlocked almost after carrying out certain missions.
The majority are unlocked with points, which is gaining in terms of level, quite simply.
Certain spells can only support if your corresponding legacy statistics are high enough, others can only be used from a certain level of morale, so keep in the first mission, your morale is always low, and your competence cannot necessarily be
available immediately.

The magic may seem fairly low at the start and the last spells do not seem powerful enough for their cost in mind and investment necessary in their element.
But even a small spell can neutralize an enemy (some effects consume their esprit mark and therefore create an opening for example) and certain support spells are very effective (for example a Dame enchantment accelerates the filling of the Danimal-Totem gauge).
You can use up to 4 different spells at most during a mission, so choose well.
You can modify them via large flags.
Please note, some powerful spells use your reserve of mind consequently: if you abuse it, you will no longer be able to adorn or dodge.
Worse still: if your mind bar is completely negative, and you take a blow, you will be breathless and motionless without being able to do anything for a few seconds, which can be fatal to you.
So you cannot afford to enchain magic without risking being very vulnerable.
You have to balance your actions well.

Small tip: the elements can be countered: an ice zone can be canceled with a fire zone for example.
Only the elementary effects of an animal-totem cannot be canceled.

Wool (NG): converted or not?

Technical question is stable about aging configurations that used (close to the recommended configuration), it is quite fluid with few performance drops and few planting.

Note: After some fluidity problems on the demo, the last drivers at Nvidia and limit the frame rate to 60 FPS have greatly improved our performance.
However, we regret that he has no really notable graphic leap compared to his predecessor (Nigh 2), some textures are blurred while hair and furs have a sometimes very old-fashioned modeling.
But the armor is generally successful as well as very detailed and certain faces are striking.
The soundtrack is beautiful and immersive.
English dubbing is not bad, but not exceptional either and the translation of texts in French is acceptable (some small blunders but nothing too annoying).
However, we regret having such long loads, it is a shame.
The difficulty sometimes has real peaks, but overall the game is rather accessible, the Challenge/frustration balance seemed good to us without being players dedicated to this type of game. It remains a game of Souls type, you have to farmer
And it is out of the question to rush into the heap.
Ambiance is dark, the game is not censored so addressed to an informed audience.
But it is a shame not to have pushed a little more Mister, both on the chaotic and gloomy side of the world than on the heroic side of our illustrious allies.
But above all, what is lacking in history is a real more lively and interactive and less passive protagonist.
It is always a shame that can be so much personalization, until the voice, to finish silent.
Side gameplay is successful.
It is violent, responsive, and pleasant.
The developers have been able to renew themselves, it is not a repetition of Nigh 2 despite many similarities.
We appreciate finding certain marks while having something new in our hands.
The lifespan is very correct (30-40h to finish history).
The NG+ Sadness to the most fierce and not sure that everyone appreciates invasions.
If the title of the game most certainly represents the authority of the protagonist (to = ascent, long = dragon), Level of another dragon at the very end will shudder any assiduous fan of the three kingdoms and will suggest something to the others.
For a new license, Experience is convincing and To Long will easily find a place alongside Senior and Nigh 2.
To Long: Fallen Dynasty is available this March 3 on PlayStation 5 / PlayStation 4 / Xbox Series X | S / Xbox One / Steam / Microsoft Store.
Are you ready for the adventure?
On which platform will you try this journey?
This test was carried out by JNH on a version provided by the publisher.