Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2025 6:35 pm
Sengoku Maou Kourin-den: Warlord Revival or Sengoku Maou Kourin-den (Descent Tale of Sengoku Demon King): Samurai of Legend in Japan is a historical-fiction 2009 RPG by EXE-CREATE that was ported to smartphone devices and translated on English in 2012. It gets two following sequels and a prequel-sequel about the rise and fall of Dystopia, which remains exclusive till this day to the feature phones in Japan.
Story synopsis: Set in a fictional version of Japan (or Hinomoto in the Japanese version) during the Edo period, you play as the resurrected Sengoku period samurai Yoshiteru Tachibana, as well as historical figures of Japan such as Masamune Date, Nobushige Sanada, and Nobunaga Oda to fight an invading foreign country called Dystopia, which wants to take over Japan, the last remaining country standing in their quest for world domination. And at the same time, they must unite the country's lords into an alliance to fight their true enemy, the 3 forces of Dystopia Army currently in Japan.
Controls: The controls are clunky and similar to Alphadia 2, especially if you manage to play this on newer Android versions, specifically Android 14, where it has a sound bug. Since this is a very old game that was delisted from the Play Store around 2017-2018, it wasn’t optimized to be played on newer Android versions and is also no longer supported by Google. It has also an item bug which crashed the game whenever you tried to use it.
Gameplay: Warlord Revival's gameplay is somewhat similar to Alphadia 2, but with an introduction of a new map exploration mechanics called Line System and Peace Level. Line system is a fixed line-based map exploration around several regions of Japan, including the ocean area. On the other hand, Peace level is a sub-mechanic of Line system that affects both the encounter and the ending you might get. The lower the peace level, the higher chance of an enemy encounter, and depends on how much Peace level you have during the finale, it can also affect the ending you get after the final battle.
Also, the protagonist has a selectable male and female genders that may affects several events and dialogues based on their genders (mostly only characters specific events). The Male Protagonist is called Hiro Tachibana while the Female Protagonist is called Yuri Tachibana in the English version.
(This is also part of the Battle and Skill system) There is also a new parameter system where you can manually optimize your stats as you see fit, similar to a ARPGs or the Inotia and Zenonia series if you're familiar to it. You’ll be given 6 points per level-up (though you'll receive many more points early in the game when each characters join the party and level up), which you can use to upgrade HP, MP, STR, INT, JUD, and LDR.
Putting points on HP upgrades it by 10, while MP is 3 (though I know the percentage increases as the game/story progress)
Putting points on STR (Strength) increases your physical attack and defense, which also increases a chance of unlocking new Art skills (that I will talk later) and its dmg dealt.
Putting points on INT (Strength) increases your magical attack and defense, which also increases a chance of unlocking new magic skills (that I will talk later) and healing recovery effectiveness
Putting points on JUD (Judgment) affects battle order. Basically SPD.
Putting points on LDR (Leadership) affects combo attack rate and morale.
You'll also get several titles based on your stats. with the best title can be only achieve by getting 320 points to STR, INT, and LDR. Titles don't affect gameplay nor the story.
Battle and Skill System: I will combined this portion since it's better to explained its unique system in one go.
The battle and skills system in Warlord Revival resembles that of Alphadia II (or any of their RPGs from that time), but with a unique twist. It introduces a new battle mechanic called the Morale Gauge and a new 'skill-up' system mechanic called 'Katsumoku' or Inspiration.
Morale Gauge, similar to the Gaia Icons in Infinite Dunamis, runs along the top of the battle screen next to the character turn icons and can affect the tide of battle for better or worse for your party.
Higher morale increases the party's critical rate and damage dealt, and occasionally restores minimal HP. If it reaches its peak, it can also halve MP consumption.
Lower morale increases the damage the party receives and makes the effects of status ailments last longer.
Inspiration is part of a skill system called Strategem, which each character has magic skills and their own unique Arts (individual skills), both of which require MP. Inspiration has stages that must be reached before it triggers a skill-up or allows the character to learn new, powerful Arts and magic. Occasionally restores minimal HP during an instance.
Strategem is a skill system that each characters possessed, with their own unique skills they can learn.
Overall, this game truly deserves the spotlight it unfortunately missed due to its broken IAP system back in the day. It features a unique and unusual, mature, dark-fantasy story during EXE-CREATE's prime, which their modern games seem to lack. The characters are one of the game's strong points, especially with their chemistry with the protagonist's ideals and to each other, shaped by their own histories. I do hope they remake this in the future.
Unfortunately, this is all I can say for now in this quick review, since the game is not generally accessible, and this is merely my personal opinion and thought.
Extra:
Warlord Revival is quite known in Japan and it gets three following: A 2 sequels, and in which the last installment served as a prequel-sequel to the entire series.
The second game is called Ai: Bakumatsu Ouka Funjin-den: Samurai of Legend or Indigo: The Fierce Tale of the Bakumatsu Cherry Blossoms/Sakura. Set during the end of the Edo period, you play as Togakure Kouyou, a ninja princess to stop the second invasion of the foreign country Dystopia, alongside prominent figures such as Ryoma Sakamoto, Souji Okita and Katsura Kogorou.
The third game is called Ransei Genpei Emaki: Samurai of Legend or The Warring Genpei Scroll. Set after the second game, you follow the story of Yakumo Tachibana, a descendant of the Sengoku samurai Yoshiteru Tachibana, as he/she attempts to prevent the third invasion of the foreign country, Dystopia, and confront a malicious conspiracy with the help of prominent figures from the Heian era such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Musashibo Benkei.
The fourth game and final chapter of the series is called Load of the Union (ロードオブザユニオ): Samurai of Legend, which served as a prequel and sequel to the first three game. Set a year before the first invasion, during the rise of Dystopia, and after the third invasion in Japan, the story follows Alexandros, an ancient hero resurrected from the land of the dead after two millennia, who rises his own country, Dystopia, and set out into a journey of world domination to put an end to conflicts by becoming its sole ruler.
Story synopsis: Set in a fictional version of Japan (or Hinomoto in the Japanese version) during the Edo period, you play as the resurrected Sengoku period samurai Yoshiteru Tachibana, as well as historical figures of Japan such as Masamune Date, Nobushige Sanada, and Nobunaga Oda to fight an invading foreign country called Dystopia, which wants to take over Japan, the last remaining country standing in their quest for world domination. And at the same time, they must unite the country's lords into an alliance to fight their true enemy, the 3 forces of Dystopia Army currently in Japan.
Controls: The controls are clunky and similar to Alphadia 2, especially if you manage to play this on newer Android versions, specifically Android 14, where it has a sound bug. Since this is a very old game that was delisted from the Play Store around 2017-2018, it wasn’t optimized to be played on newer Android versions and is also no longer supported by Google. It has also an item bug which crashed the game whenever you tried to use it.
Gameplay: Warlord Revival's gameplay is somewhat similar to Alphadia 2, but with an introduction of a new map exploration mechanics called Line System and Peace Level. Line system is a fixed line-based map exploration around several regions of Japan, including the ocean area. On the other hand, Peace level is a sub-mechanic of Line system that affects both the encounter and the ending you might get. The lower the peace level, the higher chance of an enemy encounter, and depends on how much Peace level you have during the finale, it can also affect the ending you get after the final battle.
Also, the protagonist has a selectable male and female genders that may affects several events and dialogues based on their genders (mostly only characters specific events). The Male Protagonist is called Hiro Tachibana while the Female Protagonist is called Yuri Tachibana in the English version.
(This is also part of the Battle and Skill system) There is also a new parameter system where you can manually optimize your stats as you see fit, similar to a ARPGs or the Inotia and Zenonia series if you're familiar to it. You’ll be given 6 points per level-up (though you'll receive many more points early in the game when each characters join the party and level up), which you can use to upgrade HP, MP, STR, INT, JUD, and LDR.
Putting points on HP upgrades it by 10, while MP is 3 (though I know the percentage increases as the game/story progress)
Putting points on STR (Strength) increases your physical attack and defense, which also increases a chance of unlocking new Art skills (that I will talk later) and its dmg dealt.
Putting points on INT (Strength) increases your magical attack and defense, which also increases a chance of unlocking new magic skills (that I will talk later) and healing recovery effectiveness
Putting points on JUD (Judgment) affects battle order. Basically SPD.
Putting points on LDR (Leadership) affects combo attack rate and morale.
You'll also get several titles based on your stats. with the best title can be only achieve by getting 320 points to STR, INT, and LDR. Titles don't affect gameplay nor the story.
Battle and Skill System: I will combined this portion since it's better to explained its unique system in one go.
The battle and skills system in Warlord Revival resembles that of Alphadia II (or any of their RPGs from that time), but with a unique twist. It introduces a new battle mechanic called the Morale Gauge and a new 'skill-up' system mechanic called 'Katsumoku' or Inspiration.
Morale Gauge, similar to the Gaia Icons in Infinite Dunamis, runs along the top of the battle screen next to the character turn icons and can affect the tide of battle for better or worse for your party.
Higher morale increases the party's critical rate and damage dealt, and occasionally restores minimal HP. If it reaches its peak, it can also halve MP consumption.
Lower morale increases the damage the party receives and makes the effects of status ailments last longer.
Inspiration is part of a skill system called Strategem, which each character has magic skills and their own unique Arts (individual skills), both of which require MP. Inspiration has stages that must be reached before it triggers a skill-up or allows the character to learn new, powerful Arts and magic. Occasionally restores minimal HP during an instance.
Strategem is a skill system that each characters possessed, with their own unique skills they can learn.
Overall, this game truly deserves the spotlight it unfortunately missed due to its broken IAP system back in the day. It features a unique and unusual, mature, dark-fantasy story during EXE-CREATE's prime, which their modern games seem to lack. The characters are one of the game's strong points, especially with their chemistry with the protagonist's ideals and to each other, shaped by their own histories. I do hope they remake this in the future.
Unfortunately, this is all I can say for now in this quick review, since the game is not generally accessible, and this is merely my personal opinion and thought.
Extra:
Warlord Revival is quite known in Japan and it gets three following: A 2 sequels, and in which the last installment served as a prequel-sequel to the entire series.
The second game is called Ai: Bakumatsu Ouka Funjin-den: Samurai of Legend or Indigo: The Fierce Tale of the Bakumatsu Cherry Blossoms/Sakura. Set during the end of the Edo period, you play as Togakure Kouyou, a ninja princess to stop the second invasion of the foreign country Dystopia, alongside prominent figures such as Ryoma Sakamoto, Souji Okita and Katsura Kogorou.
The third game is called Ransei Genpei Emaki: Samurai of Legend or The Warring Genpei Scroll. Set after the second game, you follow the story of Yakumo Tachibana, a descendant of the Sengoku samurai Yoshiteru Tachibana, as he/she attempts to prevent the third invasion of the foreign country, Dystopia, and confront a malicious conspiracy with the help of prominent figures from the Heian era such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Musashibo Benkei.
The fourth game and final chapter of the series is called Load of the Union (ロードオブザユニオ): Samurai of Legend, which served as a prequel and sequel to the first three game. Set a year before the first invasion, during the rise of Dystopia, and after the third invasion in Japan, the story follows Alexandros, an ancient hero resurrected from the land of the dead after two millennia, who rises his own country, Dystopia, and set out into a journey of world domination to put an end to conflicts by becoming its sole ruler.