Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, created in the style of classic TRPGs, enjoys well-deserved success with the old-timers of the genre. We have played a novelty from Friv2Online and are ready to share our impressions.
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga is a lyrical take on classic TRPGs like Battle for Wesnoth, Langrisser (Warsong) and The Fire Emblem Series. Although at first glance, especially in the beginning, the friv game is more reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics: a group of heroes, on duty drawn into the local conflict of the empire, becomes a bargaining chip in the undercover game of fanatics and those in power. New wars flare up, heroes and villains change roles, an ancient evil is gaining strength, threatening to split the world of Tanra to the ground.
The plot scenes between battles are also reminiscent of scenes from Final Fantasy Tactics - not only in content, but also in similar animations. Even the local music is somewhat similar to the work of Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, in general mood for sure. And somehow it's a shame, after other cut-scenes, to return to the unsightly battlefield of the game. And meanwhile, it is there that all the magic of Symphony of War takes place.
The fights in the game take place on spacious, square-striped maps, on which the user and his AI opponents move not heroes, but small detachments of troops led by a leader. The presence of a leader is a prerequisite for the formation of a detachment, but it does not have to be some kind of plot character.
The leader system is closely intertwined with the mechanics of team formation and morale - the fighting spirit of the squad. High morale increases the chance of landing additional hits on the enemy, while low morale reduces outgoing damage and increases the likelihood that AI- controlled fighters will surrender without a fight. Morale rises if the squad defeats the enemy (completely or by total damage points) and drops in case of defeat - especially if the leader falls in battle.
Squads the player forms independently. The composition can vary from one to nine units and depends on the capacity parameter, which, again, is determined by the parameters of the leader. Each unit in the friv game requires a certain number of capacity points, some (for example, mercenaries ) ask for an increased price, and some modifiers, like the personal qualities of the leader, on the contrary, lower the requirements for certain types of units.
Symphony of War features over thirty different and unique classes, many of which can be upgraded. So, an ordinary fighter can become a robber, archer, mage, scout or soldier, from which a guardian, champion or mounted knight can later grow. And a warrior girl - to retrain as a priestess, swordswoman or, for example, an acolyte, in order to later become a Valkyrie or a paladin.
All units during the battles receive levels, class points and develop characteristics. Weapons and armor are most often determined by class or modifiers, while Strength, Agility, Leadership, and Spell Potential increase in random proportions with each experience gain. Hence the uniqueness of each ward - from an ordinary archer hired in an inn, over time, you can get an excellent archer leader, who is not sorry to hand over the leadership trait of the archer captain.
In addition to the skills that can be learned, there are also innate talents that you get along with the fighters: someone may cost less, someone's talents fit certain classes better than others. Moreover, each inhabitant of Tanra is born with a connection with one of the elements of nature: earth, water, lightning, fire, darkness or light, which affects their characteristics, gives bonuses and penalties in certain weather.
All this together will make you spend more than one hour in the army organization section and at fairs, where, among other things, there are curious artifacts that can be tied to units for even greater individualization. By the way, there is also a threat level - the parameter of each unit, which in total determines the danger of the units. If you have a serious overweight, the enemy is more likely to capitulate, and he himself will most likely target the army with the lowest indicator.
Within a squad, wars are assigned to squares or set up between squares. As a rule, in mixed squads, heavy units with a high level of cover go in the vanguard, they take the hit and reduce outgoing damage to allies in the flank. The formation, coupled with luck and the special skills of the units, determines how exactly the damage is distributed throughout the squad.
The rock-paper-scissors scheme is implemented here in a specific way. Conventionally, we can assume that weapons with armor penetration, heavy and light armor participate in it, everything else is at the mercy of the features of specific types of weapons. So, spears, swords and clubs do "normal" damage to armored units, but spears are strong against mounted units, bows and crossbows against heavy units, and magic ignores armor altogether.
On the tactical map, in addition to enemies, there are various objects and landscape elements with special features. For example, hills and forests give obvious advantages to archers and fighters who want to take cover from arrows respectively, forts provide two advantages at once, and roads increase the range.
In addition, during the mission, the player can visit bazaars with rarities, restore fighters in temples, capture stables, settlements, mines and bases, find treasures in order to gain faction experience and resources: gems, metals, horses, gold. Faction experience affects prices and technological progress, and resources are needed to improve units: in order to change a class, you need to not only earn specialization points and develop a certain characteristic, but also invest some amount of resources that will return if you change your mind and want to change profession fighter.
Finally, a technology tree is available to players, consisting of three branches. For each level of the faction, the player is given scrolls that he can spend in the War Academy, Tactics and Command or Craft sections. The first focuses on magical disciplines, the second on tactics, and the third on improvements to the troops. In the tree, among other things, new types of units and skills are unlocked. For example, an order to focus the attack on the leader of the enemy squad.
With all the potential of Symphony of War, I can't help but scold the developers for the sluggish AI. Unfortunately, it acts based on the squad's threat parameter and traits for aggression, completely ignoring the characteristics of the fighters, the landscape, and other subtleties. So, AI mounted troops can smash squad after squad into your small unit with spearmen in the vanguard, and its archers break into the environment of melee fighters. The AI "trades" units with frightening indifference and is unable to take advantage of the size and composition of the troops.
Symphony of War has only three difficulty levels, and on medium the game still feels very easy due to the stupid behavior of the enemy, and high difficulty only increases outgoing damage, which, of course, adds trouble, but does not make the computer smarter. In my opinion, a project with such surprisingly high tactical potential loses a lot if the AI cannot implement it properly. Each fight as a result is a puzzle when there could be a chess game.
Another problem of the friv game is uninformative interfaces. If your units enter the fort or go uphill, no modifier is displayed in the unit status. The same with the weather and its effect on the inherited properties of fighters, and so on. To understand what position the unit is in, what bonuses and negative effects affect it, you have to keep in mind the hints from the tutorial or constantly refer to the advice book.
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga is, in its own way, a charming homage to a genre that's so rare on PC that it can be forgiven for a lot. If you missed Shining Force or Langrisser, and always dreamed of feeling something close in spirit to portable Fire Emblem exclusives, be sure to join, but with knowledge of English and exclusively on hard difficulty.