Spigot
03-15-2009, 03:17 PM
Honour decrees that there shall be a light shone upon the games of yore that have not been paid their due.
In light of this, Turning The Spigot will paraphrase the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi and propose that we all put away our blasters and chainsaw guns and think about the mighty katana, "an elegant weapon for a more civilized age".
Way Of The Samurai
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3640/3357653108_de760c8bb7.jpg?v=0
Platform: PS2
Year: 2002
Rating: Honourable
# of Players: 1-2
Way Of The Samurai is a very interesting little game that came out in the early years of the PS2 to little fanfare. It may look like your run of the mill 3rd person action game set in feudal Japan, but it's so much more than it appears on the surface.
Way Of The Samurai tells the tale of Kenji, a ronin, or masterless samurai. He begins the game in Rengoku Pass, a fictional area of rural Japan, in a period of history that is seeing the early signs of Westernization of Japan. Rengoku Pass is being fought over by three different factions. There are two local families that are at odds over the pass. One wants to resist the encroaching government interference while the other knows that it is almost powerless against the superior forces of the government and is willing to make a profit by siding with them. The government itself wants to rid the pass of both families and establish itself as a force of stability and law in the region. Stuck in the midst of these feuding parties are the hapless peasants of the village who will suffer regardless of who wins control.
Your adventure will start the same way every time. As you enter the village, you'll come across a group of samurai trying to kidnap a young girl. Kenji can help the kidnappers, save the girl or just walk past them and go on with his life. Each of these choices will branch its own set of storylines, which themselves are full of branching plotlines that lead to one of seven different endings and a variety of unique encounters. In fact, Kenji's tale plays out very much like a digital Choose Your Own Adventure book.
While dealing with the intricacies of local politics and the oppression of the villagers, Kenji will have to put his skills with the blade to good use. The game has a fairly robust fighting engine, which starts off limited but opens up over the course of the game to give Kenji a variety of stances and special skills to complement his basic sword swings and blocks. You can also take the swords from your fallen enemies and have them repaired at the local swordsmith, which will then open up new abilities and give you stronger attacks and health. Be careful though. If you use a sword too much and don't repair it, it can break.
The game doesn't take a particularly long time to play through. The first time I played through it, I was able to reach one of the endings within an hour or two. That said, some of the storylines can take several hours to work through and the game is intended to be played multiple times in order to unlock more character models, weapons and storylines.
The game isn't perfect. The graphics, while decent, are rather dated at this point in time. It also has some goofy translation issues, but nothing to the levels of "spoony bard".
Yk6Os34-r2c
Way Of The Samurai has spawned two sequels, with Way Of The Samurai 2 hitting North American shores in 2004 and Way Of The Samurai 3 having just been released in Japan for the PS3 last year. As well, the original Way Of The Samurai was released for the PSP in Japan in 2008. There is also a side-story in the WotS series called Samurai Western, which takes place in the late 1800's in the Wild West. I heartily recommend Samurai Western, if only because it is incredibly silly!
There is an unlockable vs. mode, though it's nothing to write home about. The real meat of the game is its incredibly free-form single-player component.
In light of this, Turning The Spigot will paraphrase the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi and propose that we all put away our blasters and chainsaw guns and think about the mighty katana, "an elegant weapon for a more civilized age".
Way Of The Samurai
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3640/3357653108_de760c8bb7.jpg?v=0
Platform: PS2
Year: 2002
Rating: Honourable
# of Players: 1-2
Way Of The Samurai is a very interesting little game that came out in the early years of the PS2 to little fanfare. It may look like your run of the mill 3rd person action game set in feudal Japan, but it's so much more than it appears on the surface.
Way Of The Samurai tells the tale of Kenji, a ronin, or masterless samurai. He begins the game in Rengoku Pass, a fictional area of rural Japan, in a period of history that is seeing the early signs of Westernization of Japan. Rengoku Pass is being fought over by three different factions. There are two local families that are at odds over the pass. One wants to resist the encroaching government interference while the other knows that it is almost powerless against the superior forces of the government and is willing to make a profit by siding with them. The government itself wants to rid the pass of both families and establish itself as a force of stability and law in the region. Stuck in the midst of these feuding parties are the hapless peasants of the village who will suffer regardless of who wins control.
Your adventure will start the same way every time. As you enter the village, you'll come across a group of samurai trying to kidnap a young girl. Kenji can help the kidnappers, save the girl or just walk past them and go on with his life. Each of these choices will branch its own set of storylines, which themselves are full of branching plotlines that lead to one of seven different endings and a variety of unique encounters. In fact, Kenji's tale plays out very much like a digital Choose Your Own Adventure book.
While dealing with the intricacies of local politics and the oppression of the villagers, Kenji will have to put his skills with the blade to good use. The game has a fairly robust fighting engine, which starts off limited but opens up over the course of the game to give Kenji a variety of stances and special skills to complement his basic sword swings and blocks. You can also take the swords from your fallen enemies and have them repaired at the local swordsmith, which will then open up new abilities and give you stronger attacks and health. Be careful though. If you use a sword too much and don't repair it, it can break.
The game doesn't take a particularly long time to play through. The first time I played through it, I was able to reach one of the endings within an hour or two. That said, some of the storylines can take several hours to work through and the game is intended to be played multiple times in order to unlock more character models, weapons and storylines.
The game isn't perfect. The graphics, while decent, are rather dated at this point in time. It also has some goofy translation issues, but nothing to the levels of "spoony bard".
Yk6Os34-r2c
Way Of The Samurai has spawned two sequels, with Way Of The Samurai 2 hitting North American shores in 2004 and Way Of The Samurai 3 having just been released in Japan for the PS3 last year. As well, the original Way Of The Samurai was released for the PSP in Japan in 2008. There is also a side-story in the WotS series called Samurai Western, which takes place in the late 1800's in the Wild West. I heartily recommend Samurai Western, if only because it is incredibly silly!
There is an unlockable vs. mode, though it's nothing to write home about. The real meat of the game is its incredibly free-form single-player component.