Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Continuing on deeper into Gamania Game Show the second game I took a look at was Langrisser Schwarz. From the brief game descriptions we received prior to the game show, this one sounded like one that could really hit a chord with North American audiences. Having gotten some hands-on time with the game, I was able to establish my thoughts and opinions of the game.

The game is a spiritual descendent of the console series of ’91, Langrisser. Although I hadn’t tried out the console games earlier, I was told that it holds true to the spirit and feel of the original, and that was a focus area for the developers at Gamania.
To determine which class and faction you will be playing as, the Goddess Lushiris will ask you a series of questions at the beginning of the game. Based upon your answers, you will end up as one of six classes in one of the three factions of light, dark, and empire.  After the class and faction are decided, players will begin the game and choose their specializations which will lead to one of 72 available sub classes, or jobs. That’s a lot of variety. The boon here, too, is that players can switch between these classes if they decide they don’t enjoy the playstyle.

Getting into the game, players earn mercenaries that will aid them in battle. Which type of mercenary is up to the player. This becomes a bit of a tactical mini game as with three types of units available, it becomes sort of a mini-game of rock, paper, and scissors as each unit type can only defeat one of the other two types, and be defeated by the other one. The units’ behaviour can be controlled in game and switched between various modes, such as follow and passive modes.

Finally, players can unlock hundreds of “cards” which grant the players special powers in combat.
For the demo, we sat down and played through the Marsh of Despair map in the mission “Ominous Eyes.” The idea was to work our way through the instance and destroy an altar and all the demons inside the Magic Portal. This consisted of five stages, each with their own mini-boss climaxing at the end with a battle against the “Evil Gaze,” which, as I’m sure you guessed, was a giant monster with many eyes and tentacles.

Langrisser Schwarz is set up as a hub style instance-based MMOG, meaning there is a central zone where you can gather your party to go do an instance. The concept is simple enough and familiar.
Getting into the instance, I immediately noticed an advantage while playing with a controller instead of the mouse and keyboard. The basic controls were simple enough to master, but things started becoming a little more complicated when I wanted to switch abilities or use cards. The D-pad controlled my mercs behaviours while the R1 and R2 cycled through my different abilities. The select button chose my card, and the start button executed the card. The left analog was movement and the right was the camera controls. Standard and special attacks were assigned to the X and Y buttons.

Sounds simple enough, but in reality I found the whole set up a bit complex. I enjoyed the ease of the controller movement and basic attacks but I started getting confused while trying to cycle through my various abilities or playing my cards, or selecting my mercenaries' actions. It was a lot to keep track of.
The game looked fantastic. The visuals were very crisp and detailed with wonderful coloring and animations. There’s no shortage of eye candy in Langrisser Schwarz and I have to tip my hat to the art team for creating such a vivid world.

So it comes down to the question once again: “Can Langrisser Schwarz make it in North America?” If the game were available on a console system for download I think it would make a much larger impact than PC-only. It just has that console feel to it, and that’s not just attributed to the controller support. It’s much more action oriented and has quick play sessions that would make it a joy to play with feet kicked up on the sofa, playing on the big screen.

That’s not to say it’s not enjoyable on the PC. But as far as PC MMOG audiences go, I’m not sure where they’d place Langrisser Schwarz in their gaming schedule. It plays well and smooth, but I stick by my thoughts that the larger audience could likely be found on the console through DLC than on the PC itself.

More information about Langrisser Schwarz can be found on the official site at lgsonline.net.