Lesbian Samurai
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 12:20 pm
One of my gaming habits that never changes is the way I always seem to be up for a trot through feudal Japan. The genre and theme are irrelevant... whether it's semi-realistic or outright cartoony, as long as I'm surrounded with ninjas, paper walls, and chicks with bunned hair, I almost inevitably enjoy myself. Perhaps it's this cultural bias that makes Way of the Samurai 2 so appealing to me, but whatever it is: I'm digging it hard.
Not much has changed from the original, but it's smoother, prettier, and a little bit bigger. You still roam around a single town collecting swords and choosing one of the many factions to side with. There are twice as many endings now, and since there are story elements and events you'll only ever see by siding with certain groups, you haven't really finished the game until you've seen all 14. The story is more compelling than the first one and the characters are more easily identifiable... in the first one, there were only three or four characters who I ever remembered enough to sympathize with, but this time there only a couple who I encounter and think: "Wait, who were you, again?"
Combat hasn't changed at all, but that's okay, because it's still good. It's not hack & slash, there's a surprising amount of depth that requires timing and observation of your opponent's maneuvers. There are also several different styles based on what kind of sword you're equipped with. Auto lock-on is a bit dodgy, especially in tight quarters, but that's par for the course. My only wish for the next one is that they mix some Bushido Blade into the combat. I'd like to be able to incapacitate different parts of my opponent's body. Or hell, even chop them off entirely with those samurai cinema geysers of blood.
The music is fantastic, the best semi-traditional Japanese style score since the original Tenchu. It brings the illusion home. I would like to say that the graphics are a huge improvement over the original, but that's probably because of the difference in setting. The first game took place in a rural valley, and, well, the PS2 just plain does not render nature well. Samurai 2 takes place entirely in a large town, so you're dealing mostly with simple geometric shapes that are kinder on the PS2's processors. It's still gorgeous, though, and there are enough visual differences between Amahara's various districts to keep locations from getting confusing or stale.
Most people will probably find it a bit repetitive, as there are 14 different endings and you're basically playing through the same major events each time. Plus, some endings boil down to a single decision made at the last moment of the game, meaning if you want to get the other ending, you have to repeat your steps all the way to that last moment. Also, the only way to earn money is to take odd jobs offered by the game's three major factions. These odd jobs are basically all the same: go to a particular district of the city, find an object or talk to someone, then return to your employer and collect your reward.
On the bright side, getting around and making time pass are a bit less hassle than they used to be. Unlike the original, the districts aren't all connected, forcing you to cross over several areas before reaching the one you want. Now when you exit an area, you enter a map screen from which you can choose any other district to enter. It kind of shatters the illusion a bit and it bothered me at first, but by your third time through the game, it's a blessing and a half. If you want to make time pass, all you have to do is go to your room and select one of the various "sleep" options pertaining to how much time you want to kill, which turns out to be another huge convenience.
And now for the ugly. By and large, Capcom did a pretty decent job with the translation, but the voice acting threatens to make my ears bleed. Nothing in this game shatters the illusion to pieces like suddenly hearing one of these thickly Japanese characters bust out into English speech with fourth-rate acting. All the dialogue is subtitled in the first place, I don't see what need there was to waste money on a dub and absolutely decimate the atmosphere. The story itself is a pretty well-written and intricate little piece of work, so when a character decides to open his/her mouth during an intriguing cutscene, it's all the more tragic. (Oddly enough, only the Japanese voice credits are given in the game and there are none in the manual.)
Then there's load time. There's a 6-7 second load time every time you enter an area. This is extremely grating when you're running around performing tasks for money. I could also mention that the camera is never quite where you want it, but I figure that can just be assumed.
So, like the original, it's flawed and there are people who just plain won't like the idea of running around a limited world repeating the same basic events to collect swords and discover the story's many threads. But fuck them, they're wrong. I haven't been this into a game since I came home with Sly Cooper and Everblue 2, which was almost a full year ago. (I don't know if I ever mentioned Everblue here, but for the record, it's fucking awesome.)
Oh yeah, about the title. This time, you can be an (extremely cute) female samurai, which is a big quirk in a game that's otherwise fairly historically accurate. The female avatars aren't available from the start, you have to unlock them, but when you're actually playing through as one, none of the dialogue is changed. So you're controlling a hot lady samurai who hits on the local girls and is well-known among the courtesans of Amakaze-cho. Ooh, lala.
Not much has changed from the original, but it's smoother, prettier, and a little bit bigger. You still roam around a single town collecting swords and choosing one of the many factions to side with. There are twice as many endings now, and since there are story elements and events you'll only ever see by siding with certain groups, you haven't really finished the game until you've seen all 14. The story is more compelling than the first one and the characters are more easily identifiable... in the first one, there were only three or four characters who I ever remembered enough to sympathize with, but this time there only a couple who I encounter and think: "Wait, who were you, again?"
Combat hasn't changed at all, but that's okay, because it's still good. It's not hack & slash, there's a surprising amount of depth that requires timing and observation of your opponent's maneuvers. There are also several different styles based on what kind of sword you're equipped with. Auto lock-on is a bit dodgy, especially in tight quarters, but that's par for the course. My only wish for the next one is that they mix some Bushido Blade into the combat. I'd like to be able to incapacitate different parts of my opponent's body. Or hell, even chop them off entirely with those samurai cinema geysers of blood.
The music is fantastic, the best semi-traditional Japanese style score since the original Tenchu. It brings the illusion home. I would like to say that the graphics are a huge improvement over the original, but that's probably because of the difference in setting. The first game took place in a rural valley, and, well, the PS2 just plain does not render nature well. Samurai 2 takes place entirely in a large town, so you're dealing mostly with simple geometric shapes that are kinder on the PS2's processors. It's still gorgeous, though, and there are enough visual differences between Amahara's various districts to keep locations from getting confusing or stale.
Most people will probably find it a bit repetitive, as there are 14 different endings and you're basically playing through the same major events each time. Plus, some endings boil down to a single decision made at the last moment of the game, meaning if you want to get the other ending, you have to repeat your steps all the way to that last moment. Also, the only way to earn money is to take odd jobs offered by the game's three major factions. These odd jobs are basically all the same: go to a particular district of the city, find an object or talk to someone, then return to your employer and collect your reward.
On the bright side, getting around and making time pass are a bit less hassle than they used to be. Unlike the original, the districts aren't all connected, forcing you to cross over several areas before reaching the one you want. Now when you exit an area, you enter a map screen from which you can choose any other district to enter. It kind of shatters the illusion a bit and it bothered me at first, but by your third time through the game, it's a blessing and a half. If you want to make time pass, all you have to do is go to your room and select one of the various "sleep" options pertaining to how much time you want to kill, which turns out to be another huge convenience.
And now for the ugly. By and large, Capcom did a pretty decent job with the translation, but the voice acting threatens to make my ears bleed. Nothing in this game shatters the illusion to pieces like suddenly hearing one of these thickly Japanese characters bust out into English speech with fourth-rate acting. All the dialogue is subtitled in the first place, I don't see what need there was to waste money on a dub and absolutely decimate the atmosphere. The story itself is a pretty well-written and intricate little piece of work, so when a character decides to open his/her mouth during an intriguing cutscene, it's all the more tragic. (Oddly enough, only the Japanese voice credits are given in the game and there are none in the manual.)
Then there's load time. There's a 6-7 second load time every time you enter an area. This is extremely grating when you're running around performing tasks for money. I could also mention that the camera is never quite where you want it, but I figure that can just be assumed.
So, like the original, it's flawed and there are people who just plain won't like the idea of running around a limited world repeating the same basic events to collect swords and discover the story's many threads. But fuck them, they're wrong. I haven't been this into a game since I came home with Sly Cooper and Everblue 2, which was almost a full year ago. (I don't know if I ever mentioned Everblue here, but for the record, it's fucking awesome.)
Oh yeah, about the title. This time, you can be an (extremely cute) female samurai, which is a big quirk in a game that's otherwise fairly historically accurate. The female avatars aren't available from the start, you have to unlock them, but when you're actually playing through as one, none of the dialogue is changed. So you're controlling a hot lady samurai who hits on the local girls and is well-known among the courtesans of Amakaze-cho. Ooh, lala.