Info about 鬼谷八荒 Tale of Immortal:

Official game description:
Premium Edition
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About the Game
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Tale of Immortal is an open-world sandbox game based on Chinese mythology and cultivation. You will grow to become immortal, conquer the beasts from the Classic of Mountains and Season, make your choices carefully and grasp your own destiny.  
Step into the enchanting world of the Tale of Immortal, where cultivation is an art that requires more than just financial means and help from fellow cultivators. To truly master it, one must possess a deep understanding of the craft and have access to the right cultivation venues. But that's not all—the journey is fraught with danger, as you'll face unpredictable monsters, crisis-ridden mystic realms, insurmountable barriers, and brilliant treasures waiting to be discovered.  
As a novice cultivator in the Qi Refining stage, you'll set out from Yukong Village to cultivate your inner strength, defy the odds, and overcome adversity. With each breakthrough, you'll be able to rewrite your destiny and cleave through the thorns on your journey. Cross continents, witness the wonders of the world, and then ascend to Tian Yuan Mountain, where the ultimate enlightenment of the Way awaits.  
Embrace a fully-realized NPC world, where each character is a unique entity with their own friends, family, and life trajectory— completely independent of your progress. However, if you choose to meddle, you certainly can!  
The game is yours to shape as you wish. Collaborate with your beloved to save the day, seek revenge alone, or even become the enemy of all. The choice is yours to make.  
Master martial arts, teach NPCs the Taoist Mind, learn from seasoned gurus, and accept eager disciples. You can also take on the NPCs in the auction house and follow it up by drawing your sword or claiming your hard-earned spoils.  
As part of a group of immortal cultivators, you can either shine bright or cultivate in secrecy. It's all up to you and the path you choose to take.  
Are you ready to embark on a thrilling adventure? One where you might become the hero who saves the day and wins the heart of the love of your life? Or maybe you're looking to stir up some jealousy in your crush and have them fight for your affection? How about fulfilling a fifty-year-old promise or getting caught up in the struggle of a mysterious organization? Perhaps you'll uncover a long-forgotten treasure, only to have it snatched away by a cunning adversary?  
The possibilities are endless!  
But that's just the beginning! As you journey through this immersive world, apart from interacting with a rich cast of NPCs, you'll encounter a plethora of random events and side tasks that will keep you on your toes. Some might leave you feeling frustrated or hurt, while others could be just the thing to save you or make you stronger after facing danger head-on. Every decision you make will shape the narrative, leading to a unique and unforgettable story that's yours alone.  
Do you want to take your sect to new heights of power and glory? We've got the ultimate sect management gameplay that lets you experience the full range of sect life: from humble disciple to mighty sect master. Join a massive sect and work your way up from the bottom, or take on the challenge of leading a fallen sect back to prominence.  
As a Disciple, you'll complete sect missions, compete in sect tournaments, and fight for glory and resources for your sect.  
As an Elder, you'll be responsible for teaching and guiding your disciples, assigning tasks, and accelerating the sect's growth.  
The real power and responsibility, however, lie with the Sect Leader. You'll need to keep order in the sect, plan strategic attacks and defenses, and fight for precious resources like Spirit Mines. If you're ambitious enough, you can even conquer other sects and seize their exclusive "Rewrite Destiny" and manuals.  
Achieve your wildest ambitions and unify the world, as long as you have the strength and the drive to make it happen.  
To embark on an epic adventure, you need to hone your skills and become a true warrior.  
Start by building a solid foundation of cultivation. Your mind skills are crucial to success, so focus on cultivating a powerful mindset. From there, you can delve into martial and spiritual skills to take your abilities to the next level. As you explore, keep an eye out for opportunities to create edges with your motion and special skills. And don't forget to tap into your ultimate skills to save the day when necessary.  
There are a dozen of manuals to choose from, each with its own unique characteristics. Will you specialize in one of the twelve Spiritual Roots, or master them all? What school of martial arts will you establish? The choice is yours.  
There are treasures to be found in every corner of this world. From the Manual Pavilion to the mystic realms and beyond, you never know what you might discover. And with hundreds of rare and exotic monsters, fellow cultivators, ghosts, demons, and immortals to test your strength against, you'll never be bored.  
If you're up for a challenge, why not try your luck at the Immortal Tournament or the Master Rankings? Can you break through the barriers of the Nether Mountains? Will your school rise to the occasion and prove its worth? As you journey through this perilous world, your school will be put to the test.  
Sharpen your skills and harness the power of tools!  
At the start, you get to choose from three formidable weapons, each offering a distinct cultivation system. The Bagua Jade grants you the ability to revive yourself and your chosen ally, the Eye of Providence allows you to steal Beast Skills and gain unparalleled insights into the world, and the Mythical Gourd empowers you to capture a Boss and enlist it as your loyal sidekick: command it to fight by your side or to search for treasure on your behalf.  
And that's not all. Refine your own Artifacts and summon Artifact Spirits to fight by your side. These Spirits not only offer you companionship but also trigger exclusive adventures and provide invaluable assistance.  
Moreover, hone your skills in practicing Alchemy and Talismans, mastering the art of Geomancy and Feng Shui, and crafting a plethora of items to assist you in your explorations. Confuse your enemies, slay your foes, and emerge victorious every time!  
Our studio hopes that in this game, players will express the theme of "Always stick to your heart, dare to fight against difficulties; make choices carefully and grasp your own destiny."

Release date: 26 May, 2023

Categories: Open-World Exploration, Character Progression, Real-time Combat, Crafting, Sect Rebuilding, NPC Relationships & Romance, Resource Management, Single-player Story


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Stunning art style and music (weight 0.95): The game features a visually stunning art style inspired by Chinese ink wash paintings, detailed character designs, and vibrant environments.  The soundtrack complements the game's atmosphere, enhancing immersion.  The overall aesthetic is consistently praised for its beauty and ability to capture the essence of traditional Chinese culture.
- Highly engaging and addictive gameplay (weight 0.91): The game is highly engaging and addictive, providing hours of entertainment and replayability. Players find themselves losing track of time and constantly thinking about the game.  The game is easy to pick up and offers a satisfying sense of progression.
- Authentic Xianxia/Wuxia cultivation experience (weight 0.87): The game excels at capturing the essence of the Xianxia/Wuxia cultivation genre, immersing players in a world filled with martial arts, mythology, and character progression.  Reviewers consistently praise its ability to fulfill fantasies of cultivating immortality and experiencing a journey from weakness to power. The game effectively integrates traditional Chinese elements, deep lore, and intricate gameplay mechanics.
- Extensive modding support enhances experience (weight 0.51): The game's extensive modding support and active community significantly enhance the experience, offering a wide range of customization options and new content.  Mods can transform the game, add new storylines, and improve quality of life. The Steam Workshop integration is well-executed and provides a low barrier to entry for mod creation.
- Detailed cultivation and combat systems (weight 0.27): The game features a detailed cultivation system with engaging progression, a functional crafting system, and strategic combat. Players can choose different cultivation paths, learn various martial arts, and create unique builds. The game provides a satisfying sense of accomplishment as players overcome challenges and grow stronger.
- Complex NPC relationships, emergent stories (weight 0.26): The game features a complex NPC relationship system with emergent storylines and unexpected events.  NPCs have their own lives and stories, leading to unique and engaging experiences.  The world feels alive due to the interactions and relationships between NPCs.
- Overall positive experience, good value (weight 0.23): Reviewers express overall positive sentiment towards the game, praising its quality and value for the price. The game provides enjoyment that is best experienced firsthand, with subtleties that are hard to describe. The ending provides a satisfying feeling that surpasses most games.
- Freedom in cultivation, sect progression (weight 0.19): The game allows players to experience the life of a cultivator, rising through the ranks of a sect, participating in tournaments, and choosing their own destiny. The game offers a high degree of freedom in the cultivation process, allowing players to customize their characters and develop unique abilities. The sect system is enjoyable and provides opportunities for rapid character progression.
- Functional controller support added (weight 0.07): The game features controller support, improving convenience and accessibility. The controls are generally well-implemented and functional, leading to an enjoyable experience. The addition of controller support is a welcome improvement, especially for playing on devices like the Steam Deck.

Common complaints:
- Excessive, repetitive grinding is tedious (weight 0.69): The game is plagued by excessive grinding for materials, skills, and progression. This repetition becomes tedious, especially in the mid-to-late game, and is often compared to mobile game mechanics. Many reviewers suggest mods to alleviate the grind, indicating it significantly detracts from the core gameplay experience.
- Frequent crashes and poor optimization (weight 0.63): Reviewers report numerous technical issues, including frequent crashes, freezes, lag, and poor optimization. These problems can render the game unplayable and cause loss of progress. The game also suffers from a lack of polish and incomplete content, leading to disappointment.
- Weak, uninteresting storyline and characters (weight 0.61): The game suffers from a weak, uninteresting, and sometimes confusing storyline. Characters lack depth, NPC interactions are bland, and the open-world design feels disconnected from the narrative. Some reviewers feel the game's potential is wasted due to these shortcomings.
- Updates cause game-breaking bugs (weight 0.33): Updates frequently introduce game-breaking bugs that prevent launching or corrupt save files. These issues often require workarounds like deleting specific files, and can make the game temporarily unplayable. This creates frustration and distrust in the game's stability.
- Steep learning curve, poor guidance (weight 0.27): The game has a steep learning curve, especially for those unfamiliar with the Xianxia genre and its terminology. Poor explanations of game systems and mechanics add to the difficulty. The game's complexity and lack of guidance can be overwhelming for new players.
- Flawed AI, frustrating NPC interactions (weight 0.22): The game's AI leads to bizarre and frustrating situations, with NPCs acting illogically and engaging in negative interactions with the player. The game punishes players for retaliating against theft, and the morality system is inconsistent. These issues detract from the overall gameplay experience.
- Simplistic, repetitive, uninspired combat (weight 0.19): The combat system is simplistic, repetitive, and visually underwhelming. Skills lack variety, and the overall gameplay lacks innovation. The UI is also criticized for being unrefined and resembling a low-quality web game.
- Reliance on mods has drawbacks (weight 0.11): The game's reliance on mods is a double-edged sword. While mods can enhance the experience, they can also become unavailable over time or make the game too easy. Finding and installing mods can also be difficult, and overpowered mods can ruin the intended game balance.
- Sect system is poorly designed (weight 0.09): The sect system is poorly designed and lacks depth. Sects feel generic, and the AI management leads to poor results. Sect wars are boring, and the overall sect gameplay becomes useless towards the end.
- Poor English translation quality (weight 0.08): The English translation is often spotty and janky, leading to confusion for some players. While most translations are understandable, they could be significantly improved.
- Poor DLC quality and quantity (weight 0.08): Reviewers express disappointment with the quality and quantity of official DLC content. There is a desire for more free content and new game modes. Some DLC has become inaccessible after purchase.

Gameplay feedback:
- Deep, intricate cultivation system (weight 0.23): The game features a deep cultivation system inspired by Xianxia and Wuxia stories, where players progress through realms by collecting materials, fighting monsters, and managing attributes. Character creation involves choosing appearance, attributes, and innate luck, influencing character development and progression through diverse cultivation paths.
- Sandbox open-world with freedom (weight 0.11): The game offers a sandbox-style open world with a high degree of freedom, allowing players to explore and set their own goals. Gameplay is split between open-world RPG exploration and bullet-hell combat, with various random encounters and side content.
- Sect management and participation (weight 0.05): Players can manage and participate in sect activities, including wars and competitions, but these can be lengthy and unrewarding. Joining a sect is sometimes forced, limiting gameplay and access to important items, while sect wars can lead to resource depletion and failure.
- NPC relationships and events (weight 0.05): The game features social simulation elements with randomly generated NPCs and an affinity system, allowing players to form relationships. The game world updates itself monthly, triggering random encounters and events with NPCs.
- Towns and bounty board quests (weight 0.02): Towns offer functional buildings like markets, inns, and scripture pavilions, along with a bounty board system for accepting quests. Completing bounty board missions rewards players with Spirit Stones, Reputation, and Mayor's Decrees, which can be exchanged for magic books.
- Elemental and martial arts combat (weight 0.02): Combat involves six elements and six martial arts, each with multiple builds, but the player is limited to one skill per button. The game features various weapon and elemental skill specializations, each influencing the ease of learning and power of corresponding skills.
- Crafting and inventory limitations (weight 0.02): The game features a crafting system where you can create manuals, but the combat system is not as rich as expected. The game has a limited backpack size that requires upgrades, and material descriptions are unclear, making it difficult to determine their usefulness.
- Repetitive realm progression (weight 0.02): Progression through each realm feels similar, with gameplay changes significantly only in the final two stages of Ascension. This can lead to a sense of monotony as players advance through the game.

Performance notes:
- Limited settings, cursor visibility (weight 0.02): Players are reporting limited system settings, such as mouse sensitivity, which remains too small even at the maximum setting. Additionally, too many visual effects on screen make the mouse cursor difficult to see.
- Language-based launch issues (weight 0.01): Players with non-Chinese systems must manually modify installation files to launch the game. This is a significant inconvenience and accessibility issue.
- Lacking technical support (weight 0.01): Players are reporting that technical support may be lacking. This can be frustrating when encountering issues with the game.
- Long loading times (weight 0.01): Loading times could be faster, but this is considered a technical issue that may be improved in the future.
- Modding causes issues (weight 0.01): Modding can cause exceptions and issues. This can be frustrating for players who want to customize their game experience.
- Cloud gaming unavailable (weight 0.01): GeForce cloud gaming is offline, preventing play on mobile devices. This limits the accessibility of the game for some players.

Recommendations:
- Anticipation for future content (weight 0.1): Many reviewers express anticipation for future updates, DLC, or a sequel. They hope for continued content additions, improvements, and new features to enhance the game's longevity and depth. Some specifically mention wanting to see the game evolve significantly over time.
- Concerns about current state (weight 0.07): Some reviewers express concern about the game's current state and future, suggesting that changes are needed for it to succeed. They highlight areas like optimization, world-building, and interactive elements as needing improvement. A few reviewers explicitly advise new players to avoid the game in its current form.
- Conditional recommendation, stability issues (weight 0.03): A few reviewers mention conditional recommendations based on the game's stability and price. They note that the game is enjoyable if it works properly, and suggest purchasing it only at a historically low price. Some also mention specific technical issues that potential buyers should be aware of.
- Mixed opinions on DLC value (weight 0.03): Some reviewers discuss the DLC, with mixed opinions on its cost-effectiveness and necessity. Some recommend buying all DLCs, while others suggest that completing the main story of the base game is sufficient. There are reservations about whether the new content is worth the price.
- Importance of developer communication (weight 0.02): A few reviewers emphasize the importance of communication and a good attitude from the development team. They suggest that interacting with the community and prioritizing changes can reassure players, even if updates are slow. This highlights the importance of developer-player relationships.
- Potentially polarizing, research first (weight 0.01): A small number of reviewers suggest that the game is potentially polarizing and recommend watching gameplay videos before purchasing. This indicates that the game may not appeal to everyone and that potential buyers should do their research before investing.

Other player notes:
- Initial issues largely resolved (weight 0.08): The game's initial release had issues, but many have since been resolved. However, concerns remain about future updates due to the announcement of a sequel, creating mixed feelings among players.
- Xianxia/cultivation theme (weight 0.05): The game is set in the Xianxia genre, incorporating classic Chinese myths and subtle cultural nuances. This setting and theme heavily influence the game's narrative and world-building.
- Complex, consequential systems (weight 0.04): The game features a complex, interconnected system where actions have far-reaching consequences. The narrative focuses on the player's experiences and moral compromises, drawing inspiration from real-life scenarios and various novels, leading to deeper engagement.
- Cutthroat cultivation society simulation (weight 0.04): The game simulates a cutthroat cultivation society where betrayal, resource theft, and power imbalances are common. Interactions with other characters, including friends and family, are fraught with danger and moral dilemmas.
- Minimal impact of starting attributes (weight 0.01): Starting attributes have minimal impact on gameplay. The choice of cultivator type (gun, sword, fire, water) does not drastically alter the player's experience.
- Simulates the 'real world' (weight 0.01): The game simulates the 'real world', which some players find counterintuitive as they seek escapism in virtual environments. This point is somewhat subjective and lacks specific details.
- Best martial arts game (weight 0.01): The reviewer subjectively considers this game the best martial arts game they have ever played. This point is based on personal preference and lacks specific details.

Emotions:
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