Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty The Battle Of Zhongyuan DLC
Well, hello again, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Didn't expect to see you again so soon, but like a surprise date from a love interest I've had my eyes on for months, we're back at it again as the "romancing" of the Three Kingdoms unfold. I think that little analogy is the perfect way to describe Wo Long considering how much I enjoyed the based game yet criticized it for its length. Unfortunately, The Bottle Of Zhongyuan is "more of the same" as there's a lot of promise, especially with a unique way to revisit old content, but the new content is sorely lacking.
Before I begin I want to give a quick thanks to Koei Tecmo for giving me the opportunity to review the Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty The Battle Of Zhongyuan DLC. Both Koei AND Tecmo have been two of my favorite video game developers and publishers. I've covered some games from Koei and Tecmo when they were separate entities, including Angel Eyes. So because these guys entrusted me with a key to cover their latest inclusion in the Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty saga, I'll be happy to oblige.
The Battle Of Zhongyuan takes place after the events of the base game in Wo Long. Very light story spoilers, but to catch people up to speed, Cao Cao has begun uniting areas following the defeat of the final boss, eventually leading to Zhongyuan. With traces of the Yellow Turban Rebellion still nestled in these mountainous peaks, the player will come across two exclusive partners that players familiar to Dynasty Warriors may recognize.
The first is Dian Wei, who immediately accompanies the player as one of Cao Cao's strongest soldiers. The second, upon defeating him over a misunderstanding, is Xu Zhu (spelled as Xu Chu in Wo Long but I've seen both spellings as interchangeable). Much like previous partners, raising their oath to the maximum level will earn you their armor set as well as unlocking them via enemy drops.
Alongside the new story DLC, there are also some quality of life changes including an increased level difficulty higher than Rising Dragon, effectively unlocking "New Game Plus Plus." With this, equipment levels are raised past nine, with Rank 10 and above requiring special materials as well as higher rarity levels that can only be unlocked in this new difficulty. I have yet to beat the base game in "Rising Dragon" yet although I'm aware I don't need to do every battlefield to complete the "map."
While there's more content for those who have already dissected all there was to the base game, the Battle of Zhongyuan DLC itself is surprisingly lackluster. There are a grand total of three main stages, with the first one being a good starting point in introducing Xu Chu and the second being way too short and unmemorable. It's the third and final level that makes the DLC worth it, from a level perspective, and I wish the rest of the DLC was like this level.
Ballistae are introduced in Battle of Zhongyuan in the final stage, greeting the player with a volley of fire arrows that will defeat the unaware warrior. Upon defeating the enemies guarding the ballistae, players can use one of them to shoot at other enemies, giving them a taste of their own medicine. However, each ballista has three arrows that are automatically reset after each death or main flag raised. There are also giant jars of oil that, upon striking them, will detonate and explode. Regular arrows won't do the trick but large flame coated arrows may be enough to defeat a large group of enemies effortlessly. They may even reveal shortcuts that makes venturing back to certain flags easier to deal with.
The final boss of this level is a demon version of Dian Wei which was one of the most difficult fights in Wo Long as it consisted of everything I hated from the base game. A flying boss that hurls projectiles at you with unpredictable attack patterns? Check. A useless partner in Xu Zhu, living up to the name of "Tiger Fool?" Check. Highly obnoxious Fatal Blows that require the player to parry at the right moment or risk losing their entire progress from the beginning? Of course.
While I loved fights like Lu Bu, especially in his demon form, it was because these fights were on even terms with the player. Whether it was his demon form or on his mare, Lu Bu always shot a fair one with the player. Xiaohou Dun and Liu Bei on the other hand? Hated it. So of course Dian Wei would fit all of the same checkmarks of the bosses I hated. I'm fairly certain fighting Cao Pi will all take place in the skies or something.
After defeating Dian Wei, that's it! Congratulations on finishing Battle of Zhongyuan! Dian Wei's fate is claimed, but this was where I was left confused because as a long time Dynasty Warriors fan, I was expecting the ending to be a tad bit different. Those who know the story of Dian Wei knows the importance of Wan Castle, which involved multiple people aside from those mentioned in the game. I don't even think Cao Cao's son, Cao Ang, was ever introduced in the entire DLC but the events of Wan Castle is mirrored in Wo Long, just a different location.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty was never meant to be a one-to-one recreation of the Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, as was revealed with the twist involving Lu Bu. Regardless I would have liked a little bit more to do content wise aside from some very passable sub missions that unlocked more weapons from the new cestus weapon type. The grand finale is a large battle royale, much like the ending of the base game. But, the cestus. The main reason why I gave the DLC a four star as opposed to a three star.
Easily the best addition to Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the cestus are similar to the fist weapon style in Nioh 2 minus the low, mid, and high stances. The cestus gives the player some gauntlet wraps around their hands and effectively turns them into Rock Lee from Naruto. As the player is using their limbs, these are obviously the shortest weapon range in the game. However its speed and cancel points more than make up for it, as each attack is easy to cancel into a parry should the player be skilled enough to weave attacks in between their opponents.
Equipping the weapons unlocks two bonus gauges, signifying the "Levels" a player can get. As they build more spirit by attacking, they will eventually reach Level 3, signified by the flaming aura surrounding the player. This not only increases the power of their attacks, but it also decreases the amount of damage they take at maximum level. Wo Long encourages a very "Attack, attack, attack!" playstyle and the cestus is the definition of going into an inferno yet the heat makes you stronger.
For my Final Fantasy 14 players, if this reminds you of what Monk's Greased Lightning used to be, then you'd be right. The Martial Arts accompanying the cestus are also really good.
Most can be done in the air, like a ki-blast-like attack as if I was Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z. There are also dive kicks, Spiral Arrows (yes, Cammy), and even a parry that's effectively a reversal. The critical blows while using the cestus references Bruce Lee's One Inch Punch, complete with the "feet on fire" taunt following the critical blow. Defeating 100 enemies even grants the achievement "Don't think, feel." Despite Bruce Lee's original message, "being like water" may not be the best advice as none of the cestus weapons scale with water.
The predominate elements for each of the three types I unlocked were Wood, Fire, and Metal. Fire element is a no-brainer as it increases how much spirit a player gains through normal attacks as well as decreasing the cost of spirit energy for using martial arts. As the cost of martial arts and spirit attacks are lowered as the player gains levels, spending less is always a good thing.
Wood increases the player's health as well as their spirit retention, meaning it takes a lot for the player's spirit to deteriorate. For a weapon that requires the player to be at close-to-high spirit as possible, this is also a good stat to increase. Finally, Metal is synonymous with Wizardry Spells and at first glance players would be confused how this would help with hand-to-hand combat.
Until the player realizes how absolutely chaotic the Poison debuff is in Wo Long. It's very easy to pile on status effects by simply augmenting debuffs upon attacking with a martial art here or a wizardry spell there. Plus, the cost of using said spells decreases as this stat is increased, so it all flows with each other.
Unfortunately there's not that many weapons to choose from, but there was a cool Meng Huo reference with the beast claws. They aren't as comically huge as the big guy himself, but it's still cool to have. Other than the cestus, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty The Battle Of Zhongyuan is okay. It's nothing that will make me say "run out and buy the DLC and the game now," as I've said in my main review. Whatever happens in the actual Three Kingdoms story may just be reserved for Wo Long 2 and the next two DLCs may be newer weapons and fights. So long as I can make my character look as cool as she can kick butt, I await for more Wo Long content!
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty The Battle Of Zhongyuan is available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.