Yoshimi Yasuda, Director of God Wars, Describes the Hefty Labyrinth of Yomi Expansion; Additions to the Complete Legend
Recently, I was able to review God Wars: The Complete Legend, which is all sorts of amazing. I had reviewed the original release, Future Past, on PlayStation 4. The new release contains a lot of extra content, with press content stating an extra 100 hours of content within the new Labyrinth of Yomi expansion. Since my save file wouldn't port over, and there only being so many hours in the day, I didn't get near the end of this second playthrough before it was time to write my review. I gave it a glowingly positive 5, the max we give here at The Gamers Lounge. I knew that no matter what, the bonus material would be more on top of an already great game, but I had no idea that the truth would be even better than what the press releases let on.
When I published the original review last year, my review caught the eye of Yoshimi Yasuda, the director behind God Wars. I was given a wonderful thank you from him, and I waas able to see my article shared around the entire development team. I still had his contact after this second review, so I asked if I could clear up some information about the expansion. I will summarize it here, and put the entirety of the interview's text below.
The original game, Future Past, is estimated by the staff to run about 120 hours. On the PlayStation side of things, two "additional scenarios" were added. Yasuda describes these as "prequels" to the Labyrinth of Yomi, meaning that the entirety of the new DLC does take place after the original story. The Yomi expansion doubles the size of the base game, giving an estimated 150 hours of additional gameplay. The skill levels are tweaked as well, and they claim that you should have your job skills truly defined in order to succeed. Despite the similar length of gameplay, it only has half the battle stages, so expect longer battles and more difficulty. Max level cap has been increased from 99 to 200 to adjust for the increased difficulty.
There are three different endings, with varying levels of success. All endings are accessible via one save file according to Yasuda, so I'm assuming the differences come from endgame choices or percentage of completion. During the Yomi expansion, five characters join your troupe (Orihime, Momotaro, Saru, Inu, and Kiji) and can be used per normal, inclusive of going back to previous battlefields for skirmishes. There are several "quality of life" upgrades coming to the game as well, which can help speed up the battle system, up the battle members to 8, and implement a help function.
There is apparently more to this expansion than originally meets the eye. Yasuda describes an extra "Deep Level" set for hardcore gamers that requires strict monitoring of characters and structuring of teams. After all of that, the team is also implementing a New Game Plus, requiring gamers to get up to the new 200 level cap. The Labyrinth of Yomi appears to be a wonderful addition to the base game, creating wonderful value for Switch players as well as making the PlayStation DLC worth the entry fee as well. Unfortunately, PlayStation players are stuck buying the base game and DLC, which as of right now will cost more than buying it on Switch, as there is no intent to bring the official "Complete Legend" to Sony systems, but purchasing the Yomi DLC will bring your copy up to Complete Legend status.
Overall, God Wars provides a ton of gameplay value, and the Labyrinth of Yomi expansion adds a lot more for not that much price. It's up to you to decide whether to start over if you've already started the PlayStation version, but the Switch version offers the best value for the money and gives you the portability option that will help you pound through all those hours of gameplay.
Thank you so much to Yoshimi Yasuda and the team at Kadokawa Games for providing an amazing game and some much appreciated answers!
Below, please find the original questions asked and Yasuda's direct answers. I felt it best to summarize above, but this is here for your reading enjoyment.
1) How does the DLC combine with the game? Is it "end game content" for after you beat it, or will it show up through the game?
YASUDA: The Labyrinth of Yomi DLC is for players that played Future Past, where they will be able to enjoy the true story of the destiny of the Kaguya and her 2 sisters of Fuji. We’ve also provided an episode that dives deeper into characters background that came out in the original story. We can say that this could be the prologue into the next game.
2) Will you be able to take these extra characters out and use them outside of the expansion?
Y: From the DLC you can obtain 5 new playable characters starting with Orihime, Momotaro and his companions. All characters including these can be used.
3) What makes the endings change? How many endings are there? Will people be able to see different endings on the same file, or will they have to start over and make choice changes?
Y: The game has multiple endings, the good ending where you can find the truth of Kaguya and her 2 sisters from Susanoo and Tsukuyomi, or the normal where you meet Susanoo but not hear about their fate, or the bad ending that you cannot even meet Susanoo. You can view all endings with the same save data.
4) Your press release discusses "quality of life" upgrades to the game as a whole. What did you add to these parts?
Y:
1 Sped up battle system
2 Increased member limit in battle (to 8 people)
3 Increased level and skill cap (from level 99 to level 200)
4 Implemented New Game+ (users can choose to carry over clear file)
5 Added multiple endings
6 Added 5 new playable characters (Orihime, Momotaro, Saru, Inu, Kiji)
7 Added new storyline
8 Added new theme songs ( Legend of Yomi Battle bgm, boss bgm, etc)
9 Implemented a Help Function
5) When the expansion comes out, will The Complete Legend be available on PlayStation as well, or will gamers need to buy the original title and the expansion as well?
Y: GOD WARS The Complete Legend is available for purchase for the Nintendo Switch both physically and digitally but for PS4 and PSVita the large expansion pack Labyrinth of Yomi is available so please purchase this to have fun.
6) Is there anything else you want to share about the new game content? Y: For GOD WARS The Complete Legend and the Labyrinth DLC we increased the level cap, skill cap, added New Game+, and new stages (Labyrinth of Yomi, Deep Levels) to really increase game play through and volume.
When clearing Labyrinth of Yomi, the player is able to play the Deep Level stages (included in the Labyrinth of Yomi DLC). There the players will encounter new enemies that are level MAX and will experience a las t battle that is extremely difficult. To clear the Deep Levels it’ll take about 160 hours but we hope that you enjoy this highly addicting tactics RPG.