Sunday, February 5, 2023

Live-a-Live Remastered, Pt 3 - Twilight of Edo Japan

 

This might be the prettiest chapter, especially in this remake. Really good game here.



The latest evil Odio incarnation is scheming to set Japan ablaze with war.

This is, of course, the chapter where you play as a ninja and set out to assassinate said Odio incarnation.

I'd like to see more games take place in this time period. Or any time period of Japanese history in the 1200-1900 range. Ghost of Tsushima takes place in the late 1200's, while this is in the 1800's.

Ode Castle is a sprawling place with 100 NPCs in it (not all of them hostile, but all of them can be killed). You can take this place on in a number of ways.

The map isn't much help and it's a bit confusing at times. When it comes down to it, it's one big dungeon.

Oboro has the ability to hide in place, generally confusing nearby guards.

The game keeps track of your body count. Going for a pacifist run is difficult and has its own rewards, or you can clear the place out and go for 100 kills (which results in Oboro being a much higher level at the end). I'm just playing normally.

Man, the light effects are on full display here. Awesome how it uses oranges and purples.

Oboro, before attacking this NPC: "And then I JUST STARTED BLASTIN!"

TIME TO PAY, OLD MAID!

Yeah, really racking up the body count here.

Sword upgrade! There are only a couple of upgrades for Oboro in this entire game.

::funky music begins to play, then scratches out as Oboro turns around to leave::

Now she wants him to marry her? Yeah, definitely a trap.

Oboro finally has enough of the princess and decides to MURDER HER.

Man, it wasn't kidding, you really CAN kill everybody.

Fun fact: If you actually give in to her advances, she attacks YOU, and in a much stronger form.

Is this social commentary?

Finally, Oboro arrives at the lair of Ode Iou. This is a lot like the China chapter, in that you have to go through a bunch of minibosses to get to him.

Here's the fearsome Miyamoto Musashi.

Our heroes arrive at the roof, the throne room of...

...Ode, who has finally run out of goons to hide behind.

He retreats onto the roof, and proceeds to show us his "noble visage"

::zipping sound::

OH MY GOD.

He favors poison AOE attacks and is generally one of the tougher Odios.

Still, won without too much trouble. I didn't kill everyone, but I took out a large majority of the castle, which left me with pretty high levels.

And our hero lived happily ever after! Until he got whisked away to the Medieval Era later in the game.


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