Doing much better now and I have had some cool battles. I just raided Iga ninja's castle, really cool location. Love the art style of the game. I am forging better swords and doing better in combat. I completed the first enemy cave, a pain but I did it. There is no penalty for death is there, in fact it seems you get rewarded cause you keep all the exp you earned before dying but regain all items you lost. Cool game, I just wonder how the combat holds up for the whole game. There aren't many moves to do.
It's not about tons of moves it's about efficiency. Much like all you do in Metal Slug is jump, shoot, and throw grenades. There are enough though, especially since they vary between swords. Of course it's only just a few different types that will repeat after a while and then only their stats will differ but it's cool since you switch between three. Keeping your XP on death isn't a huge deal, especially in Shura mode.
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Dvader said:I just raided Iga ninja's castle, really cool location.
Leave Iga alone! Bully!
The moves don't change all that much through the game --BUT-- YOU do.
One of the things that impressed me the most about the game (other than the obvious graphics) is how the player eventually learns to use each and every move to his advantage. You start off floundering, you get better... You'll use the roll move occassionally. You'll use the air dash every once in a while too at first. You'll quickly learn to deflect things and strategically employ the sword's special attacks. BUT THEN there will be instances where you HAVE TO use the roll and the air dash. You master them at this point.
(Using the roll against the X-Ray Horse as Bugsie put it as practically essential! There are some several story tall bosses that MAKE you use the air dash too.)
Once you get those moves down you start using them in normal combat. The game then starts to take on this magical "flow" where you are pulling off moves without a second thought that you didn't even think to use in the beginning of the game. You'll then encounter enemies again that you found HARD in the beginning, but by your second encounter they will be no problem. You're zipping in the air by them, rolling under their attacks, hitting them with a special, zipping by them again... You'll feel completely BAD-ASS but you'll be using the same old moves that you've had since the start!
(If you've finished the 100 Iga Ninja Lair, You MUST HAVE noticed how much skill you gained from the first attempt at it to once you finished it! ESPECIALLY the Deflect!)
This isn't really "new" news. I've said this in this topic before. If you don't get it just yet, keep playing, I'm sure you'll agree before too long!
Thanks guys, yeah I noticed that my play style change in my last session. I am still not there, half the time i still feel I am spamming a few attacks over and over. The best action games make you feel like a badass as you learn the system, hopefully that is the case here. As for the cave, I just came up with a system to beating them, it took half an hour of constantly trying and I barely made it out alive.
One day I need to play this for more than half an hour.
Played finally had some time to play some more. My fighting style changed again, I am dodging more without blocking at all. I am now at the final act, with Momohime. Won't spoil it too much for Vader's sake.
Kisuke comparing Momohime to a monkey
I beat a lady on a ghost horse yesterday, that was fun.
Game is very awesome. It hit me just a while ago as I was running atop trees and the sunlight was beaming through the trees, I am playing a 2D action/adventure game in the style of old school gaming. I have been wondering why there isn't much of an explination about anything (like sword effects, or what the different difficulties actually change, the manual doesn't really say). I wonder where are all the long cutscenes. Where are the huge move lists you learn. I am thinking in terms of games of today, back in the day there wasn't any of that. The game is basically played with two buttons much like an old brawler. You only have a few moves but somehow it works, the combat remains interesting due to the amount of new swords you get and the incredible enemy variety.
I think of myself as a kid playing a side scroller like this, could I ever imagine a game like that looking as beautiful as this one does. I wish I could show my child self this game, he would freak. I am playing it with that mentality now and loving it.
I don't think it has much to do with being retro, it's just what works for this type of game. Just like side scrolling Mario gets by with jump and run buttons and Metal Slug with jump, shoot and grenade buttons. There are still more actions than in such games in Muramasa and it saves a button by having jump on the dpad too. I mean, I guess all of these games can also be considered retro but most are still the pinnacle of design for their genres. What modern side scrolling shooter has surpassed the Metal Slug series by adding more moves to execute?
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Finished Momohime's story, now will try to go 100% first with Kisuke than Momo.
The game has gotten really easy now. I feel like I am more leveled up than I should be but I haven't really done anything to get more EXP. I rarely die, I kill bosses on my first try with little effort. The only challenge comes from the challenge rooms, at least they live up to their names. The good thing is that you always have to pay attention, there is a fine line between kicking everythings ass and getting your ass beat. So its not like I can sleep at the controls, but its easy to dominate enemies. But i am still enjoying the game quite a lot.
Finished the dudes story. There is a lot wrong with the game yet I find it very playable and enjoyable. The game is very basic with NPCs that are pointless, Castlevania 2 had more interesting NPCs and towns. The backgrounds repeat a million times, by the time you are a few hours in you have already seen practically every background in the game, they repeat for all new areas. Enemy types repeat as well, you stop getting new foes a few hours in. Also the story is very lite and is not interesting at all. Basically its the combat and boss fights that make the game worth playing, thankfully they got this very right. I am even looking forward to the other story line just to get new swords and fight new bosses.
Agnates said:I don't think it has much to do with being retro, it's just what works for this type of game. Just like side scrolling Mario gets by with jump and run buttons and Metal Slug with jump, shoot and grenade buttons. There are still more actions than in such games in Muramasa and it saves a button by having jump on the dpad too. I mean, I guess all of these games can also be considered retro but most are still the pinnacle of design for their genres. What modern side scrolling shooter has surpassed the Metal Slug series by adding more moves to execute?
Pretty much. It's a modern 16-bit action side-scroller. Just with exploration elements.
One of the site's forefathers.
Play fighting games!
Yeah and this game is awesome like Vanillaware's other games.
One of the site's forefathers.
Play fighting games!
Holy crap the challenge rooms are hard. I finished 2, but the third one with the white ninjas! HARD.
Dvader said:Also the story is very lite and is not interesting at all.
I would not call the story light, but the translations and explanations are very lite indeed. If you do not know a thing about Japanese mythology and history, you won't understand anything about the story at all!
The Ninjas are tough and the Tengu (I think?) too, where you have to fight so many of those winged-harpy-like creatures!
I would breathe a sigh of relief when I would go into a Den and it would merely be a Boss!
Yeah. They're Tengu!
Yes, Muramasa has both versions of the Tengu. You have the bird faced one and the red long nosed one.
Did you also notice the Kappa ghosts, Leo? These are the turtle like creatures that spit water. Bowser and Koopa Troopa's of Mario fame are based on these mythological creatures.
Nope, it's not an RPG. Just a brawler/hack & slash, that you can level up in and acquire/forge new weapons/food in. It's all about the combat though, try to master that and you'll have fun. It can get repetitive when requiring to backtrack but if you've learnt the combat you'll just rush through those areas and see it as an opportunity to level a bit and get some items before the next challenging area more than anything else. If you're playing in Shura mode then yes, it's meant to be that tough and requires mastering every aspect (even cooking). Muso mode is more relaxed and has auto block (like Street Fighter type auto block, not invincible) so if you find Shura so hard you'll quit the game try Muso until you get better (although you'll need to adjust your playstyle a lot for Shura).
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds
while the pessimist fears this is true.
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