Live-a-Live #2 - Oboro Muramasa

LIVE. WIN.

Five ninjas assault our hero in this one room. My God! How will he...

Several seconds later, the fight is won. Yeah man, even Tien kept it down to three parts.

I acquire the Genji Glove, a familiar item to Final Fantasy VI fans. It'll go well with my Genji Socks.

Next mission? Find another key. This scenario is starting to get a little old. It all takes place in this one location...

A talking pot? Are you serious? It doesn't have much to say.

Soon after, I drop into a hidden well and encounter Ryuunosuke, the uberboss of the scenario. He's more difficult to defeat than the final boss of the scenario, and completely optional.

...he defeats me in one hit. I'll be back later to get his insane loots.

Out in the moat, I encounter the other hidden uberboss: A giant fish. Omega and Shinryu, these guys are not.

Pen-Pen: An even more fearsome marine creature.

At this point, I continue the story and break into the jailhouses of Ode.

Oboro sets all of the prisoners free, which should make for a fun time. ...except some of them proceed to immediately attack Oboro. What the hell?

Oboro debuts his newest attack: Shurikens. Nice.

This pit is full of skeletons, which can't bode well. Is the Rancor nearby?

Nope, it's one of Ode's three henchmen.

Amakusa Shiro, in addition to having a great name, is the first real boss.

It's an annoying fight because he/she frequently pushes Oboro away (out of melee range). Shurikens still work wonders, and it's over quickly.

I get my first party member now, the aptly-named Prisoner.

Soon after, I find the Kotetsu. It's twice as powerful as the starting sword, so this is a huge deal.

Uh oh, I believe I've been spotted.

Prisoner isn't a bad fighter, but it falls on Oboro to do most of the heavy lifting in these battles.

This set of armor is actually top-of-the-line for the game. I'm getting it so early because Oboro will be out of action after this until the final chapter. The scenarios exist to deck out your characters for when they rejoin later.

A strange voice demands that Oboro siddown and have some tea.

Nope.

What the hell? Leave me alone!

The voice finally reveals itself, and it's the second of the three henchmen: The nefarious Gennai.

Oboro takes him down with ice shurikens, and the fight isn't much to write home about.

At this point I realize that I've made some critical mistakes. I fought Ode's royal guard, which prevents me from getting a super-powerful secret character named Circle. Without him I can't defeat the two side-bosses or get Oboro's ultimate weapon, Muramasa. I also killed a harem girl earlier (should have reset) which prevents me from getting the Ribbon. It's an artifact that doubles magic power, which is huge. There's a lot of hidden stuff in this game that's easy to miss, and I'm likely better off referring to a guide as I go.

Here's Ode himself, laughing at me for screwing the scenario up.

He summons the Brave Fencer to take me on. I believe this is his third henchman.

This is the most difficult fight in this scenario, aside from the two optional fights. It's quick and brutal, which seems to be the trend with boss fights in this game. Either you're strong enough to defeat them quickly, or you lose.

I backtrack a bit to look for things that I've missed, and find a princess being accosted by four dudes in a scene straight out of Game of Thrones. I beat them up Hound-style.

This dialogue is... wow. It isn't Shakespeare, I'll say that much. These NPCs have bizarre, nonsensical motivations, and I'm starting to get why this game never saw the light of day in the United States.

Nope, it turns out that this is all a trap. She wants to seduce Oboro and make him stay here forever so he won't be a threat to Ode. ...I guess. The game doesn't make it clear. It might just be hating on women again.

If you refuse her advances, she's a timid, weak boss. If, however, you accept her advances (forcing Prisoner to intervene)...

...then she's a half-topless war goddess and a difficult fight.

Victory gets me the last of the Genji items. Nice. Onward to the finale of this scenario, as I take on Ode. Then I can move on to covering some of the other scenarios in this game. This one is definitely the hugest by a mile.

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