Sword and Fairy might not have the same prestige attached to it worldwide as Final Fantasy, but it’s no exaggeration to say that it is the Final Fantasy of China. The series has been around since 1995, and has been so popular in its homeland that it has spawned everything from theatre productions to multiple seasons of TV, and a series of books.
Localising the games into English is a relatively new phenomenon, however. Sword and Fairy 6 was, and got a release on PlayStation 4 as well. It wasn’t the world’s best localisation effort, but it was legible and allowed us to enjoy a very good classical Japanese-style RPG. Sword and Fairy 7 is in English on PC, where it has had a largely positive response, with 71 per cent of the nearly 10,000 user reviews being solid thumbs up.
Now the publisher, Softstar Technology, has announced the global release of it on PlayStation 4 and 5. It will be re-titled “Sword and Fairy: Together Forever” and will have English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. The game will also get a physical release in Japan and Asian markets. The publisher in the west will be eastasiasoft.
I am so excited for this. The more RPGs we get out of China, the better. Also, I know this is par the course for me, but the protagonist is so pretty, AND she has an owl animal familiar! Shades of Rinwell from Tales of Arise in this her, that’s for sure.
The game will release at some point this year, but we don’t have a specific date yet.
I’m keeping my eyes open for this one for sure. Love the classical folktale vibe.
Regarding that game you linked to, which does look really good , I did a little reading on Mohism , and Even though I’m the furthest thing in the world from an expert on the subject, it strikes me as a bit ironic for there to be a video game inspired by this philosophy, given how big Mozhi was on rejecting any kind of aesthetic pleasure or frivolity, and yet people were able to take his ideas and utilize them in a form that would seem to be directly opposed to them. It’s kinda fascinating how ideas can be taken and utilized in a way that their originators Probably wouldn’t have approved of, and yet they still have power in that form.
Hahaha, you are very much right about that. Though of course, Mohism is so old now that it’s difficult to predict exactly how the thinker would have responded to the world today, and back in those days any form of aesthetic beauty would have been quite decadent, whereas now it’s for the common person. How we as society perceive such things is very different… or you could be right and he’d be very upset that people did this to him. It’s fun to muse on 🙂
And yeah I really cannot wait for Sword and Fairy. Looking forward to it so much I’m considering a replay of S & F 6 😀