Gameplay
Clunky: I really don't like how we're constantly switching between cutscene/zoomed-in cutscene/normal play - and every such switch is accompanied by a second or two of black screen. Very jarring, and really interferes with immersion. Cutscenes drag out and dialog takes forever to move (and this is on a pretty powerful computer).
On the other hand, the text shown in yellow from the side, which just appears and disappears on its own and can't be paused or reviewed...
I know all "blockbusters" are like that. And I don't like it in them, either. I think it would have been better to just have this content as a normal quest line, especially since it's not nearly as grand as the Black Heaven blockbuster. It's more on the scale of Athanaeum stories.
Boring: All there is is dialog, "clear the map" kill quests, and "kill for 3 minutes" quests. No puzzles, no jumping, no evasion, not even fetch quests.
Story
Even if we ignore all existing lore, it's still full of holes. I mean, you go into Lukan's memories (similar to going into Orchid's, in Black Heaven), and the first scene you observe is something he was not witness to. What?
Minor nitpick: all maps are labeled "Phantom Forest", even when they're clearly Crimsonwood Mountain.
This makes even less sense in the past, because the "Phantom"ness of the forest didn't come to be until after Masteria's fall (per the Raven Ninja Clan's explanation of Phantom Trees).
And then there are the contradictions with existing content. I don't care so much about changes to what we thought we knew of the past, since our sources were NPCs who might have been mistaken or had fuzzy memories. But contradictions with "modern day NLC"?
Bottom line, though: not too bad. Depending on how tedious acts 3 and 4 are, I might do the whole thing on multiple chars for the "Future Warrior" medal (15 allstat, 8 att/m.att).
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