I still remember huddled in bed, playing "Sword Story" or "Golden Sun" with the weak backlight of the GBA screen, imagining that I was the young man who traveled the world with a sword. Now that I have the mobile version of "This Is Jianghu" installed on my phone, my first impression is - wow, this picture is much more refined than the dot matrix of the year, but the Jianghu atmosphere has not changed. 😭
What I love most about the remastered versions of mobile games now is to "optimize" the old gameplay into automatic path finding, one-click sweeps, and soaring combat power values. But "This Is Jianghu" made me find the clumsy feeling of "exploring by myself" that I had back then. Thousands of sects, swords, guns, swords, sticks, fists and kicks, six types of martial arts, you can struggle for a long time like you did when you chose the three imperial families, and then you find that you made the wrong choice and you can make up for it through adventure. This kind of freedom is like running around the map to pick up secrets in "Jin Yong's Heroes", driven purely by love. 🔥
Compared with classic games, today's remastered versions always like to shove the plot into your head, for fear that you will use your brain. But the Blood Rain Tower, the Tang Sect Soul Chasing Array, and the Forbidden Jedi in "This Is Jianghu" actually require you to explore the path and step on the trigger points by yourself. There are even some mysteries that require repeated attempts to understand - such as the hidden clues of the "Flying Immortal from Beyond the World". I almost thought that it would have to be solved with a series of strokes like in "The Gate of Heaven and Earth". I laughed to death. 👻
To be honest, this game does not use "nostalgia" as a gimmick, but retains the soul of the old RPG. Although it is a mobile game now, the immersive feeling of "people can't help themselves in the world" is very similar to the excitement of playing "Final Fantasy: Dissidia" on the PSP. Aren't the Rankings and Weapon Lists the martial arts rankings we posted on our desks back then? But now you can really fight for it. ⚔️
The only thing missing is the sense of socialization that existed back then, where "cassettes were exchanged and borrowed, and guides were filled in the notebook". But now I can secretly promote the Tang Sect Soul Chasing Formation while diving in the forum, which is a different kind of "looking at each other". If old players want to find the surprise of "it turns out that martial arts can be so matched", you can really try this game. My youth seems to have been extended by another DLC. 🎒