Shimazu-don's joke weapon is a kebab. IT'S A FREAKIN' THREE-ITEM KEBAB. Well, more correctly, they're items for oden. I didn't take a close look at what the items were, but it looked like the Shimazu clan's emblem was on daikon? I'd imagine that the weapon is very soft, so it's really more like a bludgeoning weapon, much like the rest of his weaponry. His BFS is perfect for breaking every single bone in your body rather than slicing you clean in half. Except for that axe. It looks like it can really cut you.
Yukimura's joke weapon is pretty cute. A pair of really big matches. It does take a little bit before they light, just like safety matches. When it's lit though, 100% chance of setting the enemy on fire. It wears off, just like how a match would burn out, then regenerates slowly back into its original form. Hm. I should try setting Masamune on fire! No, I don't mean in the way a lot of fangirls would think. I really mean "burn him." Wonder if you can set the Hondam on fire...?
For my reference, since I sometimes forget what the stages' extra objectives are. Will update a little later on which ones give what stat boosts and possibly filling out treasure totals.
恐山冥府戦 vs. 南部晴政 - Attack
16 treasures - Generals: 8, Found: 3, Bases: 4, Boss: 1
1000EXP - Find the secret area?
2000EXP - Don't let 南部晴政 resurrect the dead (ie: kill him ASAP)
奥州走竜戦 vs. 伊達政宗 - Defense
23 treasures, but can only get 21? - Generals: 7, Found: 9, Bases: 4, Boss: 3
2000EXP - Beat Masamune to the goal Base
3000EXP - Prevent Kojuurou from meeting with Masamune (kill him on the horse)
長谷堂城の戦い vs. 最上義光 - Luck
22 treasures - Generals: 10, Found: 2, Bases: 8, Boss: 2
2000EXP - Beat the mech in 1min or less
3000EXP - Get the boat to its destination unscathed (don't know the best path)
窪田頑固戦 vs. 佐竹義重 - Attack
17 treasures - Generals: 7, Found: 5, Bases: 4, Boss: 1
1000EXP - Take all Bases
2000EXP - Kill all commanders/leaders
神流川の戦い vs. 宇都宮広綱 - Luck
19 treasures - Generals: 11, Found: 2, Bases: 5, Boss: 1
1000EXP - Clear the fog
1000EXP - Kill 10 tigers
川中島凍土戦 vs. 上杉謙信 - Luck
20 treasures - Generals: 7, Found: 3, Bases: 6, Boss: 4 (3 if you kill MUTEKI-SAMA first)
1000EXP - Open the door behind MUTEKI
2000EXP - Take all bases
上田城水攻戦 vs. 真田幸村 - Attack
21 treasures - Generals: 8, Found: 4, Bases: 7, Boss: 2
2000EXP - Ambush Yukimura
1000EXP - Open the floodgate on Sasuke's clones
上田城攻竜戦 vs. 伊達政宗 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss: 2
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
3000EXP - Break all chests
小田原城再建戦 vs. 北条氏政 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss: 2
2000EXP - Take all bases
3000EXP - Ambush Ujimasa (Take centre, left, jump to right, right bases in less than 2min. Then don't fall off the rooftops.)
!!!Fugitives are always on the rooftops.
帰雲城碧落戦 vs. 姉小路頼綱 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: 7, Boss: 1
1000EXP - Take all bases
2000EXP - Enter the castle in under 2min
手取川の戦い vs. 前田利家/まつ - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: 5, Boss: 2
1000EXP - Take all bases
3000EXP - Force Matsu to drain the supplies. Keep whacking Toshi and don't kill Matsu first.
三方ヶ原断崖戦 vs. 徳川家康 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: 8, Found: 4, Bases: 7, Boss: 3
1000EXP - Find the secret area
3000EXP - Defeat Hondam
背水防衛戦 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: 0, Found: , Bases: 3, Boss: 0
2000EXP - Kill 20 fan users before you lose a bridge
3000EXP - Take all bases
One of the easiest stages to get No Damage in as there are no Bosses. Be careful of archers!
関ヶ原の戦い 内応 vs. 石田三成 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Force Kingo's betrayal of the Western army
1000EXP - Break the poison lances
関ヶ原の戦い 謀略 vs. 毛利元就 - Attack
? treasures - Generals:, Found: , Bases: , Boss: 5
2000EXP - Use the solar ray to destroy Akatsukimaru
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
関ヶ原の戦い 決戦 vs. 石田三成 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
3000EXP - Kill Gyobu before he fires the poison lances
3000EXP - Take all bases, kill all commanders
関ヶ原の戦い 集結 vs. 徳川家康 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
3000EXP - Catch and kill Kingo
3000EXP - Kill Hondam
関ヶ原の戦い 最強 vs. 徳川家康 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Don't let your health fall into the red.
3000EXP - Defeat Hondam
関ヶ原の戦い 残影 vs. 徳川家康 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
1000EXP - Find Ieyasu's real location
2000EXP - Defeat Kojuurou before Masamune
関ヶ原の戦い 乱入 vs. 石田三成/徳川家康 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: 6, Found: 1, Bases: 8, Boss: 4
5000EXP - Reach 10000 hits
3000EXP - Kill 1000
金ヶ崎睡夢戦 vs. お市 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
1000EXP - Find all hostages
3000EXP - Defeat Ichi before taking the bases
金ヶ崎の退き口 vs. お市/天海 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
1000EXP - Take all bases
2000EXP - Kill 10 base takers
本能寺の変 vs. 織田信長 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
3000EXP - Don't let Nobunaga revive more than once (don't let him take more than 2 bases)
5000EXP - Let Nobunaga revive 4+ times (let him take all the bases)
大阪・冬の陣 vs. 石田三成 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Take all bases
2000EXP - Defeat the attack horse in under 1min
大阪城奪還戦 vs. 黒田官兵衛 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
1000EXP - Destroy the hidden mech yourself
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
大阪・夏の陣 紅 vs. 真田幸村 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
1000EXP - Take all bases
2000EXP - Take the Sanada-maru
大阪・夏の陣 蒼 vs. 徳川家康/伊達政宗 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
3000EXP - Defeat Hondam without using the cannon
雑賀荘の戦い vs. 雑賀孫市 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
1000EXP - Find the secret Saika stronghold
2000EXP - Take all bases before engaging Magoichi
烏城の戦い vs. 天海/小早川秀秋 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
1000EXP - Defeat Kingo right after putting out his hotpot flames
2000EXP - Defeat Tenkai without falling into the red
*** Arguably the easiest stage to get the No Damage item if you play a long range game. Or using Mitsunari.
月山富田城砂丘戦 vs. 尼子晴久 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Reveal the hidden area (capture all bases)
2000EXP - Don't let Amago escape more than 3 times (in reality, only 2 since he always runs away the first time)
厳島の戦い vs. 毛利元就 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
3000EXP - Kill Motonari without taking any bases (allies can't do it either)
中富川海砦戦 vs. 長曾我部元親 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
3000EXP - Destory both Akatsukimaru in less than 1min
能島海戦 vs. 鶴姫 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
3000EXP - Ensure both boat reinforcements (40sec in first area, 15sec vs. Tsuru in 3rd round)
能島城海賊戦 vs. 長曾我部元親 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Take all bases during material transportation
3000EXP - Kill all transporters
石垣原坑道戦 vs. 黒田官兵衛 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: , Boss:
2000EXP - Destroy the mech in less than 1min
3000EXP - Clear the rocks with less than 3 bombers killed
戸次川の戦い 思い出編 vs. 大友宗麟 - Attack
? treasures - Generals: 6, Found: 2, Bases: 5, Boss: 2
1000EXP - Take all bases
3000EXP - Defeat Muneshige
戸次川の戦い 三英雄編 vs. 大友宗麟 - Defense
? treasures - Generals: , Found: , Bases: 5, Boss: 4
3000EXP - Gain 20000ryo
5000EXP - Kill Sorin without losing any money
耳川潜伏戦 vs. 島津義弘 - Luck
? treasures - Generals: 8, Found: 4, Bases: 5, Boss: 1
2000EXP - Kill all commanders
2000EXP - Take all bases to make Yoshihiro retreat
And Honnoji paths. Typed it up on GFAQs at one point, forgot to update here. Someone reposted it, but didn't credit. Oh well. I know it was me because I write things in a funny manner.
Ieyasu - Red
Mitsunari - Blue
Otani - Blue
Magoichi - Either
Kanbei - Red (upper, avoid fighting Oichi and Magoichi)
Tsuruhime - Red (avoid Oichi)
Masamune - Red
Yukimura - Blue
Keiji - Purple
Motochika - Green or Blue
Motonari - Red
Shimazu - Red (upper, fight Motonari instead of Tsuru)
Tadakatsu - Red and Green
Kotaro - Blue
24 Sept 2010
20 Sept 2010
I swear I'm a masochist
The first SenBASA isn't actually anything special, other than the crazier flair it had over the Sangoku/Sengoku Musou series. Very simple game with 16 characters, 2-skill system, not many secret objectives, straightforward stages. It could also be considered the hardest entry simply based on how much damage each character can take on Extreme. You can die within minutes of starting a stage, or maybe I just suck at it. But it was great fun because of the combo potentials from the different skill and equipment set ups. The hit counter was just there, mostly for decoration since I don't think there was any extra EXP rewarded for hit counts. 2 and 2H awarded EXP based on exactly the highest hit count achieved on the stage, whereas 3 awarded only 10% truncated. Not really a problem since it's very easy to get 99 999 hits with certain characters and a good chunk of the EXP should come from completing stage objectives anyways.
So. Devil Kings. Really, the only good thing to come out of that game was the emphasis on keeping the hit count going. But, I was already doing that before the game came out with SenBASA because I was amused with the "バサラ！！" label popping out once you get to 100 hits. And playing it with the DMC mindset. The priming system was a complete mess. With some characters (Masa... Azure Dragon and Scorpio), they gain an entirely new attack string. Others have one of their moves shifted to a priming move. One of Kenshin's moves was changed into a priming move (which was kept for SB2/H), but it was quite unfortunate that it was one of the slower ones. Sure, it hits a large area, but it's slow to come out and end because he twirls during his jump. AD lost War Dance as a normal move as it replaced his original Basara. So really, his Basa-- Fury Drive is potentially the most useless one in the entire game. All it is is War Dance with invincibility that blocks using other skills. If the player is good, they won't get hit during War Dance in the first place, and would pair it up with Magnum Step. Screw it, I remember the JP names more than I could ever recall the renames. And because of that change, Masamune no longer has his personal item in the game.
The mechanics were changed as well. In order to fill the Basara gauge, you need to "prime" the enemy first, get hit, have really low health (red) or find those purple stones. The enemy damage seems to have been increased quite a bit. Masamune took rather extreme amounts of damage with a defensive weapon equipped on Normal, against Ninjas. The amount of swarming they did was almost a bit more noticeable, and how they synchronized their attacks. It was a little weird. That's a really lazy way to make it harder. A better way is to have smarter enemy AI (they really haven't improved on it other than bosses...). The difficulty increases were pretty much uncalled for.
The thematic direction was changed for a bunch of areas... So it looks like a mish-mash of Japanese, Egyptian and demonic. What. The amount of HoYay/FoeYay in the game is also near non-existent, which I guess is OK for those who don't want it. It would have been fine if the team actually put forth the effort to explain the why everything was the way it was. SenBASA, we could understand because it was easy to look up the various locations and people as they were based on historical events and people. Masa and Yuki's rivalry was one of the main highlights (until 3, where they're joined by Mitsunari and Ieyasu) of the series. DK really only had Nobunaga/Devil King selling his soul and becoming evil. OK then. Wasn't really elaborated upon, unlike the massive amounts of HoYay you can squint at during all the dialogue.
On the topic of voices. I actually like Frost's voice. Reaper's... well, Tenkai sounds almost as bad. I don't understand how I managed to sit through Azure Dragon's and Scorpio's for so long. Well, at least long enough to get AD to Lv.20 and Scorpio to Lv.10. Didn't/Couldn't replay for long enough to make a judgment on the other voices. The real kicker is that when I looked up all the VAs, they were Canadian. Uh... yeah. I really have no idea what to say about that.
The hilarious thing about the localization is that everything still looked and felt blatantly Japanese. The armour, weapons, structures, music. There were one or two exclusive tracks, but they were annoying. Might have more stuff to say once I either play it again (PS2 needs replacing/fixing), or actually finish the damn game. I think I have a higher chance of finishing 2 and 2H than finishing DK. That's how much I don't like it.
Addendum to the previous post: Found an interesting tag on Pixiv: デビル名倉イ
Read the same way as デビルメイクライ (debirumeikurai). The amount of hate seems to have died down, but people still don't like it very much. I have a real issue with the gritty urban when the entire series has had an air of elegance in the building designs. Just... look at the art books. It's a pretty stark contrast. It only gets gritty when it gets to end-game, when stuff starts getting hellish.
So. Devil Kings. Really, the only good thing to come out of that game was the emphasis on keeping the hit count going. But, I was already doing that before the game came out with SenBASA because I was amused with the "バサラ！！" label popping out once you get to 100 hits. And playing it with the DMC mindset. The priming system was a complete mess. With some characters (Masa... Azure Dragon and Scorpio), they gain an entirely new attack string. Others have one of their moves shifted to a priming move. One of Kenshin's moves was changed into a priming move (which was kept for SB2/H), but it was quite unfortunate that it was one of the slower ones. Sure, it hits a large area, but it's slow to come out and end because he twirls during his jump. AD lost War Dance as a normal move as it replaced his original Basara. So really, his Basa-- Fury Drive is potentially the most useless one in the entire game. All it is is War Dance with invincibility that blocks using other skills. If the player is good, they won't get hit during War Dance in the first place, and would pair it up with Magnum Step. Screw it, I remember the JP names more than I could ever recall the renames. And because of that change, Masamune no longer has his personal item in the game.
The mechanics were changed as well. In order to fill the Basara gauge, you need to "prime" the enemy first, get hit, have really low health (red) or find those purple stones. The enemy damage seems to have been increased quite a bit. Masamune took rather extreme amounts of damage with a defensive weapon equipped on Normal, against Ninjas. The amount of swarming they did was almost a bit more noticeable, and how they synchronized their attacks. It was a little weird. That's a really lazy way to make it harder. A better way is to have smarter enemy AI (they really haven't improved on it other than bosses...). The difficulty increases were pretty much uncalled for.
The thematic direction was changed for a bunch of areas... So it looks like a mish-mash of Japanese, Egyptian and demonic. What. The amount of HoYay/FoeYay in the game is also near non-existent, which I guess is OK for those who don't want it. It would have been fine if the team actually put forth the effort to explain the why everything was the way it was. SenBASA, we could understand because it was easy to look up the various locations and people as they were based on historical events and people. Masa and Yuki's rivalry was one of the main highlights (until 3, where they're joined by Mitsunari and Ieyasu) of the series. DK really only had Nobunaga/Devil King selling his soul and becoming evil. OK then. Wasn't really elaborated upon, unlike the massive amounts of HoYay you can squint at during all the dialogue.
On the topic of voices. I actually like Frost's voice. Reaper's... well, Tenkai sounds almost as bad. I don't understand how I managed to sit through Azure Dragon's and Scorpio's for so long. Well, at least long enough to get AD to Lv.20 and Scorpio to Lv.10. Didn't/Couldn't replay for long enough to make a judgment on the other voices. The real kicker is that when I looked up all the VAs, they were Canadian. Uh... yeah. I really have no idea what to say about that.
The hilarious thing about the localization is that everything still looked and felt blatantly Japanese. The armour, weapons, structures, music. There were one or two exclusive tracks, but they were annoying. Might have more stuff to say once I either play it again (PS2 needs replacing/fixing), or actually finish the damn game. I think I have a higher chance of finishing 2 and 2H than finishing DK. That's how much I don't like it.
Addendum to the previous post: Found an interesting tag on Pixiv: デビル名倉イ
Read the same way as デビルメイクライ (debirumeikurai). The amount of hate seems to have died down, but people still don't like it very much. I have a real issue with the gritty urban when the entire series has had an air of elegance in the building designs. Just... look at the art books. It's a pretty stark contrast. It only gets gritty when it gets to end-game, when stuff starts getting hellish.
17 Sept 2010
Ready to get the party started.
And just when I thought that it wasn't arriving until school started, it shows up at noon (last Thursday)! Second time unlocking everything, so I'm obviously less than enthused at the idea. Or not... Even though I'm unlocking everything really slowly, I'm still having a blast killing lots and lots of Soldier As. I don't even know if I'll be able to do it a third time with the NA version. Too bad it'll be $45CAD (or $40CAD from amazon.ca), which further dampens my enthusiasm. But hey! Can't be as bad as Devil Kings! Really. It can't be.. as bad... *goes into a dim corner because that game seems to have killed the PS2*
Noticed that I can cancel the slash from Mitsunari's 号哭 into pretty much anything. Timing's not exactly strict, but it's pretty easy to input your command a little late. You would actually want to cancel the slash into something because the ending lag is atrocious, unless you follow up with a Sengoku Boost activation or BASARA. Maybe I'll just make another post with all the little tricks that I know. It'll just be for my reference all in one place since I'm pretty sure that other sites will have that information.
Well, managed to do all of Shimazu-don's routes (seriously, the -don part makes me think of food), save for the Honnoji ending because I still haven't unlocked Oichi, Keiji, or really anyone else. This also means that if I have another controller, Shimazu can OHKO while keeping the other character safe from harm. Or I could just use Mitsunari and his crazy slashes of doom on Extreme to rack up a massive hit count for some extra EXP, which should also help with accruing a large ryo count. Still don't have too many of the trophies, and haven't exactly gotten the "No damage" one either. I've gotten "no damage" twice so far, but not during an Emaki run. Don't really know who's the easiest to do it with. Probably Mitsunari at this point in time, or even Yukimura. But he's on Extreme at the moment, and it's gotten somewhat difficult because not having high level weapons. There's also a bunch of random trophies that force you to go out of your way to finish. Not exactly looking forward to it. One involves using on the normal attack string throughout the entire battle. Should really get moving on the other Emaki routes because those are easy trophies that don't really require too much time to deal with. Probably taking longer than usual because I'm trying to get whoever I have up to lv.20 so that they get their first special skill. Ah well, there's still lots of stuff to do in this game! As an aside, Ieyasu's theme occasionally reminds me of "The First Awakening" from LasuRemu. No idea why.
And since I mentioned Devil Kings, might as well say something here.
It killed my PS2. I think the constant loading killed the lens or something with the wiring (leaning towards wiring). It's not booting up certain games anymore, so I'm a little miffed about it. I'll probably just get a new one with Swap Magic since the damn thing's about 7 years old already and seems ready to die as a whole. I could have sworn that SenBasa+2+2H didn't load that constantly on the MUSIC menu. What the hell. Anyways, onto the actual gameplay. I can't believe that when the save loaded, that I've left it mostly untouched. Then I started playing. I can see why I stopped after getting Masa-- I mean Azure Dragon up to lv.19 and a bunch of others to about lv.10. Also couldn't see a damn thing in some of the stages that well because of how dark they were, combined with the dark colour palette the enemies had. I was squinting just to try seeing where they were, and I had the health gauge display on as well. I'll type up some more stuff in a later post. Well probably make more posts on this later on because I do intend to finish the damn game, like I did with SenBASA. Should probably play SenBASA2/2H to completion (mostly done though), along with Battle Heroes because there's apparently some story in there that I might have missed. Namely Ieyasu's transition.
Oh. New DMC game announced. Turns out that the rumours of it being developed by Ninja Theory were right. Someone's asking for death. The reception so far has not been favourable, which is understandable. If you look at the trailer and the screens, there's hardly anything there that represents what DMC is about. And it's being called DmC. That kid is not Dante! If this is what the final product is going to look like, and be the 10th anniversary release, there will be blood. Chances are, he's not going to have something sharp and pointy shoved into his torso in a comedic manner. OK, it wasn't that funny in 3 either, but there was a reason for that.
... I believe I'm going to mimic Kuroda Kanbei's expression of pure despair:
なぜじゃーーっ！！
Now I really have to ask... Will they remember the jump button? I remember Heavenly Sword not having one in the demo, and that really pissed me off. Although the one thing that really pissed me off with this little teaser is "Dante" smoking. I think someone at Capcom said that he was a non-smoker. Don't remember where though... An LJ reply said that it was from an old Kamiya interview (I think I remember reading it), and I have a feeling that little tidbit it was in one of the older novels (which I bought and enjoyed). I want my strawberry sundae loving, white haired pretty boy who playfully insults his enemies back! AND HE DOESN'T SMOKE. This is an insult to the original creation (and by extension, the creator)!
And the music. Holy crap did the music suck. It was painful playing the trailer with the volume on. While the DMC soundtracks were never really that spectacular as a whole (only a few tracks here and there really stood out, but provides very good atmosphere), this is really hitting rock bottom. That track was incredibly obnoxious.
By the way, the reaction on Pixiv is hilarious. Some are drawing the new guy without much of a problem... then follow up with Dante, Nero and/or Vergil beating the crap out of him or not being impressed. Or in one case, Deadpool poking out his eyes (MvC3). That comic even remembered that Dante doesn't smoke, which (I think completely in-character) Deadpool teases him about.
Noticed that I can cancel the slash from Mitsunari's 号哭 into pretty much anything. Timing's not exactly strict, but it's pretty easy to input your command a little late. You would actually want to cancel the slash into something because the ending lag is atrocious, unless you follow up with a Sengoku Boost activation or BASARA. Maybe I'll just make another post with all the little tricks that I know. It'll just be for my reference all in one place since I'm pretty sure that other sites will have that information.
Well, managed to do all of Shimazu-don's routes (seriously, the -don part makes me think of food), save for the Honnoji ending because I still haven't unlocked Oichi, Keiji, or really anyone else. This also means that if I have another controller, Shimazu can OHKO while keeping the other character safe from harm. Or I could just use Mitsunari and his crazy slashes of doom on Extreme to rack up a massive hit count for some extra EXP, which should also help with accruing a large ryo count. Still don't have too many of the trophies, and haven't exactly gotten the "No damage" one either. I've gotten "no damage" twice so far, but not during an Emaki run. Don't really know who's the easiest to do it with. Probably Mitsunari at this point in time, or even Yukimura. But he's on Extreme at the moment, and it's gotten somewhat difficult because not having high level weapons. There's also a bunch of random trophies that force you to go out of your way to finish. Not exactly looking forward to it. One involves using on the normal attack string throughout the entire battle. Should really get moving on the other Emaki routes because those are easy trophies that don't really require too much time to deal with. Probably taking longer than usual because I'm trying to get whoever I have up to lv.20 so that they get their first special skill. Ah well, there's still lots of stuff to do in this game! As an aside, Ieyasu's theme occasionally reminds me of "The First Awakening" from LasuRemu. No idea why.
And since I mentioned Devil Kings, might as well say something here.
It killed my PS2. I think the constant loading killed the lens or something with the wiring (leaning towards wiring). It's not booting up certain games anymore, so I'm a little miffed about it. I'll probably just get a new one with Swap Magic since the damn thing's about 7 years old already and seems ready to die as a whole. I could have sworn that SenBasa+2+2H didn't load that constantly on the MUSIC menu. What the hell. Anyways, onto the actual gameplay. I can't believe that when the save loaded, that I've left it mostly untouched. Then I started playing. I can see why I stopped after getting Masa-- I mean Azure Dragon up to lv.19 and a bunch of others to about lv.10. Also couldn't see a damn thing in some of the stages that well because of how dark they were, combined with the dark colour palette the enemies had. I was squinting just to try seeing where they were, and I had the health gauge display on as well. I'll type up some more stuff in a later post. Well probably make more posts on this later on because I do intend to finish the damn game, like I did with SenBASA. Should probably play SenBASA2/2H to completion (mostly done though), along with Battle Heroes because there's apparently some story in there that I might have missed. Namely Ieyasu's transition.
Oh. New DMC game announced. Turns out that the rumours of it being developed by Ninja Theory were right. Someone's asking for death. The reception so far has not been favourable, which is understandable. If you look at the trailer and the screens, there's hardly anything there that represents what DMC is about. And it's being called DmC. That kid is not Dante! If this is what the final product is going to look like, and be the 10th anniversary release, there will be blood. Chances are, he's not going to have something sharp and pointy shoved into his torso in a comedic manner. OK, it wasn't that funny in 3 either, but there was a reason for that.
... I believe I'm going to mimic Kuroda Kanbei's expression of pure despair:
なぜじゃーーっ！！
Now I really have to ask... Will they remember the jump button? I remember Heavenly Sword not having one in the demo, and that really pissed me off. Although the one thing that really pissed me off with this little teaser is "Dante" smoking. I think someone at Capcom said that he was a non-smoker. Don't remember where though... An LJ reply said that it was from an old Kamiya interview (I think I remember reading it), and I have a feeling that little tidbit it was in one of the older novels (which I bought and enjoyed). I want my strawberry sundae loving, white haired pretty boy who playfully insults his enemies back! AND HE DOESN'T SMOKE. This is an insult to the original creation (and by extension, the creator)!
And the music. Holy crap did the music suck. It was painful playing the trailer with the volume on. While the DMC soundtracks were never really that spectacular as a whole (only a few tracks here and there really stood out, but provides very good atmosphere), this is really hitting rock bottom. That track was incredibly obnoxious.
By the way, the reaction on Pixiv is hilarious. Some are drawing the new guy without much of a problem... then follow up with Dante, Nero and/or Vergil beating the crap out of him or not being impressed. Or in one case, Deadpool poking out his eyes (MvC3). That comic even remembered that Dante doesn't smoke, which (I think completely in-character) Deadpool teases him about.
9 Sept 2010
The old drunk guy.
I still don't like using Shimazu Yoshihiro all that much. He's improved a good deal because of a special S property; you can prep the first strike. I don't actually know how to recover if he whiffs the first strike though. I don't think you can dodge out of the whiff, but I don't know if using a skill is such a bright idea either considering how open Yoshihiro is during the whiff. I'm thinking about completing his story 4 times just to equip the personal items to help level other characters...
The only character I haven't done a story mode in is Motonari. I'm just not fond of his style at all since I like a good brawl with the enemy, not running around in a 3D space laying traps. Perhaps I will change my mind on the matter later... when I play the PS3 version, because the FPS drops on the emulator really kill my enthusiasm at times. I like Tsuruhime now that I've gotten used to the just-frame style. You just can't spam with certain characters. I think I like Keiji's Green, Ieyasu's Red and Yukimura's Blue ends the most so far. Keiji, because he headbutts Mitsunari and Ieyasu. It's hilarious considering that Ieyasu has his headbutts of doom, and that you're headbutting Mitsunari (scrawny) with Keiji (built). Ieyasu's red route shows him changing throughout the story. And Yukimura's just plain funny. He forgets the money for the Saika faction, runs around making a bunch of mistakes, then gets punched in the face by Shingen. Then goes fighting Masamune feeling perfectly chipper after flying a good 50 metres or so. I think I would put Motochika's Red and Blue routes up there as well. Red, because how Ieyasu still considered him a friend even through all of that (just listen to his confusion). Blue, because of how pissed Ieyasu gets at the entire ordeal. No, it wasn't Ieyasu who attacked Shikoku. It was Yoshitsugu forcing Kanbei to do it. Cue little team up on poor Kanbei. The guy can never catch a break, can he?
On a side note, I noticed that 3 went back to what 1 was like; no pity EXP if you die like in 2 (x0.5 multiplier upon death). The EXP multipliers are higher in 3 (x1.0, x1.5, x2.0). The previous games had them at x0.5 (2/2H only), x1.0, x1.2, x1.5. Also, it's kinda hard playing with only 2 skills now, unless it's Kojuurou because he's really easy to play as. Having 5 of them at once was perfect as most of them were mapped to an intuitive button combination. Oh, and Motochika really sucked in 2. His recovery lag is so bad that you can't chain his moves that effectively. I did like how his fishing move worked though. It's like laying a trap, and going "fishing" for ryo. The timing on Keiji's Love Tactics seems to be stricter in 2. Or that the cues are displayed better in 3, to the point that I can actually hit them. I forgot how hilariously bad Ujimasa was, and even then, it was fun playing as that geezer on Extreme. Flailing around with a giant lantern!
Oh, and the PSN has a demo up for the NA version. Smart move, as these types of games aren't exactly popular in the West. Only had Ieyasu and Mitsunari as playables, with a stage associated with them. Not bad for 820MB. They were level 5 in terms of skills, level 1 in stats. Ieyasu vs. Yukimura at Ueda Castle, Mitsunari vs. Hondam and Ieyasu at Mikatagahara. Locked onto the NA Normal (JP Hard), which is easily seen by their equipment. Well, mostly Hondam's big yellow electric drill-spear and Ieyasu's cactus gloves. And Yuki's flaming spears. Sasuke's weapons don't seem to change at all... I'm not sure if this is the case, but it felt like the combo meter stays active slightly longer than the JP version. Or that they have that accessory equipped. Can't see it since the demo throws you right into the stage after selecting a character.
It also sounds like they're cranking up the HoYay to 11. Well, the HoYay was already there, just that this time I can understand everything. Uh... yeah. Ieyasu sounding like Grimoire Weiss is both a good and bad thing. I like the voice, but it's a little too old for not-so-little Takechiyo. I don't think that Mitsunari sounds angry enough, but you're comparing that voice against Seki Tomokazu of all people. And that guy can scream. As evidenced in Ieyasu's red route! It was the only reason why my mom noticed that I was still downstairs... I didn't really have much of an issue with the voices. It's currently listed at $45 here, so I'm not too sure about picking it up in EN since I already have the JP on the way. I've already dumped about 100 hours on the Wii version, so I know that I'll still be getting a lot of playtime out of the PS3 version. Not sure if I want to do it a 3rd time, especially with a penalty if I want to play on Normal/"Easy".
Excuse me, off to ship IeMitsu!
The only character I haven't done a story mode in is Motonari. I'm just not fond of his style at all since I like a good brawl with the enemy, not running around in a 3D space laying traps. Perhaps I will change my mind on the matter later... when I play the PS3 version, because the FPS drops on the emulator really kill my enthusiasm at times. I like Tsuruhime now that I've gotten used to the just-frame style. You just can't spam with certain characters. I think I like Keiji's Green, Ieyasu's Red and Yukimura's Blue ends the most so far. Keiji, because he headbutts Mitsunari and Ieyasu. It's hilarious considering that Ieyasu has his headbutts of doom, and that you're headbutting Mitsunari (scrawny) with Keiji (built). Ieyasu's red route shows him changing throughout the story. And Yukimura's just plain funny. He forgets the money for the Saika faction, runs around making a bunch of mistakes, then gets punched in the face by Shingen. Then goes fighting Masamune feeling perfectly chipper after flying a good 50 metres or so. I think I would put Motochika's Red and Blue routes up there as well. Red, because how Ieyasu still considered him a friend even through all of that (just listen to his confusion). Blue, because of how pissed Ieyasu gets at the entire ordeal. No, it wasn't Ieyasu who attacked Shikoku. It was Yoshitsugu forcing Kanbei to do it. Cue little team up on poor Kanbei. The guy can never catch a break, can he?
On a side note, I noticed that 3 went back to what 1 was like; no pity EXP if you die like in 2 (x0.5 multiplier upon death). The EXP multipliers are higher in 3 (x1.0, x1.5, x2.0). The previous games had them at x0.5 (2/2H only), x1.0, x1.2, x1.5. Also, it's kinda hard playing with only 2 skills now, unless it's Kojuurou because he's really easy to play as. Having 5 of them at once was perfect as most of them were mapped to an intuitive button combination. Oh, and Motochika really sucked in 2. His recovery lag is so bad that you can't chain his moves that effectively. I did like how his fishing move worked though. It's like laying a trap, and going "fishing" for ryo. The timing on Keiji's Love Tactics seems to be stricter in 2. Or that the cues are displayed better in 3, to the point that I can actually hit them. I forgot how hilariously bad Ujimasa was, and even then, it was fun playing as that geezer on Extreme. Flailing around with a giant lantern!
Oh, and the PSN has a demo up for the NA version. Smart move, as these types of games aren't exactly popular in the West. Only had Ieyasu and Mitsunari as playables, with a stage associated with them. Not bad for 820MB. They were level 5 in terms of skills, level 1 in stats. Ieyasu vs. Yukimura at Ueda Castle, Mitsunari vs. Hondam and Ieyasu at Mikatagahara. Locked onto the NA Normal (JP Hard), which is easily seen by their equipment. Well, mostly Hondam's big yellow electric drill-spear and Ieyasu's cactus gloves. And Yuki's flaming spears. Sasuke's weapons don't seem to change at all... I'm not sure if this is the case, but it felt like the combo meter stays active slightly longer than the JP version. Or that they have that accessory equipped. Can't see it since the demo throws you right into the stage after selecting a character.
It also sounds like they're cranking up the HoYay to 11. Well, the HoYay was already there, just that this time I can understand everything. Uh... yeah. Ieyasu sounding like Grimoire Weiss is both a good and bad thing. I like the voice, but it's a little too old for not-so-little Takechiyo. I don't think that Mitsunari sounds angry enough, but you're comparing that voice against Seki Tomokazu of all people. And that guy can scream. As evidenced in Ieyasu's red route! It was the only reason why my mom noticed that I was still downstairs... I didn't really have much of an issue with the voices. It's currently listed at $45 here, so I'm not too sure about picking it up in EN since I already have the JP on the way. I've already dumped about 100 hours on the Wii version, so I know that I'll still be getting a lot of playtime out of the PS3 version. Not sure if I want to do it a 3rd time, especially with a penalty if I want to play on Normal/"Easy".
Excuse me, off to ship IeMitsu!
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