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Rating

Way of the Samurai 3 seems, more or less, to be nothing more than a reiteration of the past games. That is to say that it doesn’t deviate very much from its predecessors. While this is a good thing to fans of the series, it strikes me–an avid gamer–as a bit cheap. Is it worth the $40? Sure. Any more, though, and you’re being cheated. Which is why I feel cheated as I was one to pre-order this game.

Now, what’s great about this game is that it offers some freedom in how you play through the game. Certain events occur at certain times and in certain places, and it is up to you to find them, partake in them, or skip them if you like. The story is there, though it can be rather awkward to try and find your way from one to the next. It seems mostly to be a series of encounters which you may or may not influence, and may sometimes progress the story even if you do not want it to. However, if you choose to forgo the story, you will find that you can play for an infinite amount of days, which is a hugely welcome change from the previous games. However, the stories in Way of the Samurai 3 seem to jump from one point to another, ending on an ending that may be entirely different from another playthrough, or only slightly different. The name of Way of the Samurai’s stories is variety though, and not long, drawn-out masterpieces. So don’t expect yourself to be comepletely drawn in by the story.

There are three factions and you are allowed to join any of them, or all of them if you wish. Joining a faction is a bit shallow, however, with each faction offering a hand full of missions which aren’t very different from one another. These missions usually include simple tasks like assassination, mediating disputes, finding lost objects, apprehending criminals, and other rather meaningless tasks that reward you with progressively higher amounts of money. Factions are mostly for two things; progressing the story and earning both money and faction reputation. There doesn’t seem to be very much difference here from previous titles.

The character customization, both pre-game and mid-game, are only slightly more advanced than previous games. There is a larger selection in faces and bodies and after obtaining enough Samurai points, players may choose to play as an NPC they have previously knocked unconcious. Accessories make a return and this time players can easily manage them as well as customize their size and placement.

Weapons seem to be limited mostly to swords this time around, though there are now spears. To offset the lack of weapon variety, we are given the ability to create swords and spears from whatever parts we find. The custom weapon is made up of four or five parts, each of which influences the weapon’s statistics. You then are allowed to choose the stance for the sword and respective skills. Unfortunately, no weapons can be dissasembled. Weapons can still be upgraded and appraised for titles, as in previous games, and the upgrade process is a little more lenient this time around, allowing you to reforge the weapon for a small price in hopes of getting a better upgrade. It seems that weapons are no longer at risk of breaking from being upgraded.

Combat is just as entertaining as it has been in previous games. It doesn’t change very much. Basic combat is still block, light attack, and heavy attack. Delving deeper, you have the ability to push your opponent when you attack or to pull your opponent when you block their attack. Parrying and hit-satsu–which is Way of the Samurai’s one-hit kill, whereby you time your block to parry and the quickly press attack to kill–are still here and aren’t very different… They’re just a little flashier. Most combat is still one on one, even when surrounded by foes, and accidentally hitting friendlies isn’t very difficult. Unfortunately, as with previous games, combat can cause the game’s frame rate to slow a great deal, especially in larger battles like the 100-man missions wherein you must kill 100 people in order to regain a faction’s favor. It doesn’t make the game unplayable, and can really assist you in getting plenty of hit-satsu, but when the game begins slowing down in other areas as well–as it often will if you’ve played long enough, or taken part in too many large battles–it can be very troublesome to restart the game.

Way of the Samurai 3 deviates very little from previous games. It changes enough to feel fresh to fans, but gamers looking for the next best thing aren’t going to find it here. The game’s obvious flaws may not be so bad at first, but can really wear on you as you’re running through the game again for the tenth time. Way of the Samurai still is not a game for those looking for an absolutely fantastic story. It is meant more for those who like to collect things in games, those who like to fight, and those who like achievements more than progress. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t great, and I believe it falls just short of being what people often call a next-generation game. Way of the Samurai 3 still seems to be stuck on the Playstation 2; it doesn’t seem to realize that both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are capable of holding much more on their DVDs and that both console’s hardware are very capable of handling a great deal of stress. If Way of the Samurai 3 is just the forerunner for a much better Way of the Samurai 4, then I would understand–the first time is always a bit diffcult–but otherwise I find this game to be lacking in terms of innovation. At the end of the day, the game feels a bit cheap and a bit stale. Fortunately, the listed price here is now $40, which is a much more reasonable price.

Rating

I’ve played WOTS2 and although it was great at the start, the time limit and strange save system drove me crazy that I decided I was not going to play WOTS games ever. When I read that WOTS3 had no time limit and the save system was “fixed”, I decided to give this game a chance. I’m glad I did.

You start out walking off a bloody battle, wounded and confused. You encounter two villagers. At this point, it’s all in your hands what you wish to do. Kill the two villagers or let them help you. Your choice. The game can end in 15 minutes if you choose to or you play the game for hours on end. Currenlty, I am playing it for 10 hours now.

The gameworld is small, about 8 villages I think set in a province, pre-Meiji period. But don’t be disappointed about the small gameworld. There are lots of things to be done in each of the villages; from running simple errands, to setting up ambushes, joining samurai clans, or just picking a fight on a villager. There are consequences to every action you take. So be careful what you do. You can beat up an opponent without killing him/her. WOTS3 introduced a “blunt” system whereby you use the blunt edge of the sword to pummel the baddie or goodie into submission. Killing a person in game affects the entire flow of the game, so be careful on who you pounce. Oh…and during combat and there’s a bystander, and you accidentally hit the person with a sword, that bystander will either run, die, or join in the melee. You cannot turn off “friendly fire” in this game. Everyone, except the livestock and children, can be killed anytime, at any point.

Although I am not that familiar with different katanas/bokkens in Japan. Most, if not, all the weapons in the game seem to be authentic or based on real authentic weapons. There are no ninja-gaiden type weapons in this game. Also, the weapons gain levels not the person. So the weapons grows in level as you use it. At the same time, the weapon gains different stances (I think) that you can employ on your character. The game reportedly has 20 endings. I have not beaten the game yet, I am taking my time doing quests and just walking around villages waiting for a fight. The game randomly throws in a samurai or two to ambush you in broad daylight or in the evening. So…be ready to unsheath your sword or yoou’ll get sliced and diced fast. By the way, during cutscenes the game will give you a choice to unsheath your weapon (a sign of aggression) or apologize (a sign of submission) or just let the cutscene run by itself. In other words, you can actually shift the cutscene to a different story line simply by drawing or apologizing while the cutscene runs.

For the most part, the NPCs in the game seem to be authentic in their costumes although you’ll find a few weird looking costumes that are more anime than authentic. The villages look authentic for it’s period. The language in-game can be either english or Japanese. I went for the Japanese language to give it a more samurai feel to the game.

Now comes the saving part. Well…here’s what I do. I save my game often. There are what you call village minstrels who you can speak to and have them save your game. They are all over the map so don’t worry about not finding locations to save. From what I’ve noticed, every village has a minstrel that you can save your game. When you save your game, your entire inventory and status is saved, including your current location. Now if you get killed or complete the game, you will get a screen showing you how many samurai points you’ve earned at the end game. Another screen will then pop up and ask you if you wish to save the results or not. Here’s the trick: If you decide to save the results. The game will reset back from the beginning but it will still have all your items, money, etc you’ve earned intact and complete..so basically you won’t be starting from scratch as a dirt poor samurai. But the entire storyline starts from scratch again. This gives you an opportunity to take a different approach to the game. If on the other hand you decide not to save the results, the game will take you back to your LOAD GAME screen, and you can pick up from where you last saved before you were killed. I believe the only time you can see how much samurai points you’ve earned is when the game ends either by dying, completing one of the endings, or leaving the province of Amana (which you do by simply selecting Leave Amana on your map).

Do I like the game. Yes I love the game because of it’s open ended approach. It gives me a sense of actually being a samurai and doing something that affects a person or a community. There are tons of “Samurai” games out there that walks the line between a fighting game and a comic-book rpg. DOn’t get me wrong. I like fighting games and anime styled rpg games with samurais but WOTS3 brings the samurai to a more realistic and authentic level. Do I like the graphics? Well…to be honest I’m not easily blinded by eye-candy. I still go for the substance of the game. Graphics is like the least of my requirements when choosing a game. For my own standards (which I know isn’t all that high or great), the graphics is next-gen. A lot of people are saying WOTS3 has ps2 graphics. I think they’re wrong…or so that’s what I think. BGM is a mix of authentic Japanese koto and shakuhachi music and some chill lounge music with a Japanese traditional feel to it.

All in all, it’s a great game. It might not be for the trigger happy sword wielding gamers who want to hack and slash for hours. THis game takes patience. The game isn’t hard in terms of dealing with NPCs. What makes the game difficult is making the right choice at the right time, and being able to face the consequences of your actions.

Rating

THe game has a awsome idea but it fails with being to short, yea the idea to kill pretty much anybody is amazing in it, but it lacks in time..i felt it was a waste of my money!

Rating

I have been a big fan of the Way of the Samurai series since it started on the PS2. The game has a choose your own adventure branching storyline mixed with a very fun and robust sword fighting mechanic. My main draw is all the different sword types, styles, and combos. This game also allows you to make your own sword by collecting and choosing thru pieces and then assigning it combos of your desire. The fighting system is fluid with tons of different animations for all the weapons. They also added hand to hand combat as well as the ability to use the dull side of your blade. Tons of replay value and addicting sword collection/fighting make this game an easy purchase for any action fan. If you really want a number 8.8/10

Rating

Way of the Samurai is a really interesting series, from the team behind the original Tenchu games it splits half way between action-RPG combat and almost a choose your own adventure sort of narrative.

It’s really a rare find in todays marketplace on home consoles. The day where games were awarded for inspiration and creativity seems to have been replaced with increasingly higher franchise power and marketing.

Way of the Samurai 3 is a really great deviation from that. If you’re into an inspired, rural Japanese aesthetic set back towards the end of the Edo period and you can forgive the PS2-HD esque visuals, there’s a lot to enjoy here. It’s kind of a game for those who revel in the b-tier with the classical Japanese action RPGs and the such.

Rating

Although the game has everything I expected, the lack of the tutorial ensured a costly error within the first 5 minutes of game play. I was prompted to press the L1 button when some farmers arrived and they ran off, thinking i was out to kill them for no reason. Other than that early mistake, and the immensely corny dialogue that was so very rampant in the first 2 games, the game play ends up being a lot of fun. you can choose from three paths now, Good, Evil, or you can take a diplomatic route and avoid combat entirely. All around this is a great game, just read the instructions before you play. There is also free Downloadable Content on the Playstation network. Worth checking out over all I would say $40-$50 is a fair price for this game.

Rating

A friend of mine told me about this game, how its a samurai simulator and seeing as there hasn’t been an Onimusha game or a good samurai game out for awhile I picked it up without second thought. Why? well its a game that didn’t get a lot of ads and I knew its one of those hidden gems if looked passed the “high def ps2 graphics” so many people that have been calling it to have. And I heard its hard to find in retail so it might be a MvsC2 in a couple of years.

At times it can be a mystery to wonder why the developer didn’t take full advantage of the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The graphics looks great but nothing truly that will make you awe at the screen. The areas you got to are not that expansive and it feels like its suppose to be a samurai sandbox sim but at the same time the areas are small and sometimes lifeless in some areas.

But what makes this game really good is the depth. The depth in story, characters, and most importantly the gameplay. The story is something that is hard to explain but because there’s know real way to explain it because its your story, your the samurai that’s just let loose in the world and you have to make your mark in history. I say this because there’s 20 endings plus 2 more I believe which are secret. And the game can end in so many ways.

The gameplay in general is about collecting and mastering weapons and learning skills for those weapons and this is where the depth comes into play there are 102 weapons and those weapons consist of ninja swords,katanas, spears. If you like to collect things in video games especially weapons this game is for you.

If collecting weapons isnt your thing you can just make your own ones there’s plenty of variety to how you want your weapons to look, damage,weight,defense. Speaking of looks your characters is someone you can customize to your liking and the game is not short of a few goofs of clothing for your character to wear.

The game is not for everyone, it will appeal to people who are familiar with this type of genre and they will enjoy it from start to finish and even then the game can get addicting with all those weapons and skills to unlock, by the time your done it’ll feel like you just completed a full jrpg. For the casual gamer this is not and was never intended. enjoy the game.

Rating

I’m a history buff particularly interested in the history of feudal Japan and the era of the Samurai. Thus just about any game that features Samurai attracts my attention.

The various narrative descriptions of The Way of the Samurai described to me a game focused heavily on story and role playing with combat being at best a 1/3 focus of the game.

I was disappointed to discover that combat is 90% of the focus of this game. Role playing and story are there but all they do is provide the excuse to fight yet another duel with one or multiple NPC’s.

Not my thing. But if sword play is you’ll love this game. The level of detail is incredible. There are numerous, maybe hundreds, of weapon specific skills to be used. Each and everyone with its own animation. Those skills aren’t there for just looks either. Each one has a use and to master your weapon of choice you’ll need to know them all and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

If I’d purchased Way of the Samurai as an Action/RPG instead of an RPG/Action game I’d have given it 5 stars.

For the roleplaying enthusiast who loves a good story this one only rates 3 stars.

Rating

this game is very realistic, its the best martial art game to come out since tenchu z for the xbox 360. it has great replay value. set in real historic times, it gives you a idea what it was like in fuedal japan. another great point is you have the option to have everything spoken in the japanese language with english subtitles, ive been waiting for a long time for this game to come out and i am 100% satisfied with it. its a game for every martial artist as myself andd also for those with the warrior spirit. it teaches good morals and virtueous character.

Rating

For those who have played the first two Way of the Samurai titles, you know what to expect here with the third installment. For the unintitated, it would be best to know what this game is not. It’s not GTA with swords or a hack-and-slash game, it’s purely a decision-based system in which you tell the story where to go by triggering inklings or scenes or behaving differently. Killing innocents and looting them or saving people from injustice and defending yourself with blunt attacks clearly imply 2 ways you can play the game but they don’t necessarily guarantee you the same ending. No matter how you end the game, however, it begins in the same fashion. You’re found on the battlefield within an inch of your life by two looters and, one way or another, you are led to a farming village where a cot is set up for you. From this point on, the fate of the town and its people is in your hands.

There are several endings, over 20 of them, which can take you anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours to complete. Beating the game or leaving the town altogether, reseting the game, will result in the end of that play session and the final summation of “samurai points” you have attained. for every act of villainy such as kicking an unarmed villager or slashing/killing people who don’t deserve it or are unarmed will decrease your total by 50 while progressing into a story branch and/or obtaining titles through play such as Rich Samurai for having 10,000 mon on you will raise that base total which adds or subtracts from your points bank – rewarding you with new faces/outfits/accessories/safes to hold weapons/difficulties/etc. Wanna look like Gackt in a tuxedo weilding a blacksmith hammer? Go for it.

Now to play devil’s advocate: It’s fun, definitely, and I’m still playing it. Over 30 hours in so far, personally, but the replay value is different for all people. For the Gears/God of War crowd, this may be too much of a chore with how slow-paced it can be or its lackluster graphics (yes, it’s not Killzone 4 but no one’s playing this for its looks). If you like the idea of a game being significantly different depending on whether or not you bowed to that woman or spoke negatively about that clan, you’re in for a treat because while it doesn’t have the same dialogue branching detail as a Bioware title, the story itself goes in another direction. That said, the con side to this is that you don’t know exactly what choice will equal a desired result, which either results in trial and error or having to be faithful to a guide written by gamers. Yeah, forget about a strategy guide or in-depth explanation within the game itself, any and all support for all the titles in this series has and will come from the fans.

If you’re willing to engross yourself in its world or are playing along with a guide, that’s your best bet for knowing all you need to know about WotS3 and you’ll still either love or hate this game. But if you’re interested thus far, you may end up becoming a fan once you get used to its inner workings and controls. By no means is this a AAA title but it has so many complex nuances that makes it at the very least worth a hard look. And, for fans, it’s exactly what should be in your cart/wishlist if you’re not already playing it.

Rating

I’ve been waiting for this game for a while and this game was near impossible to find, but I finally found a copy and got to play for the first time last night. It follows the along the same model of the original The Way of the Samurai. There are tons of swords and fighting styles, that will keep you enthralled for hours upon hours, and once you find that certain sword/style that fits you, you can learn new techniques and level the sword so you can become the ultimate assassin, protector, or just plain ole bad a**. This game is full of action around every turn, and the best concept is that you can choose which path you want to take, if you want to become a rich samurai you can join the fujimori clan, or you can be a sole wanderer a ronin,or you can protect the citizens of a poor city who are being heavily taxed, or you can plot against the fujimori clan and join the ouika clan who are a bunch of thieves and robbers, and the beauty of it is it’s all up to you which path you choose. The fighting in this game is superb, depending on which sword you use that is the fighting style used, or you can fight bare handed which is pretty fun as well. I thoroughly enjoyed and am still enjoying this game, if this game sounds like something you might like, or if your like me, I really enjoy old samurai movies especially Akira Kurosawa films, you’ll love this game. One of my favorite things about this game is one of the faces you can choose for your samurai looks almost exactly like Toshiro Mifune. In all I give this game a 5 out of 5. Maybe more, this is possibly one of my favorite games of the year.

Rating

This doesn’t feel like a PS3 game. The graphics are okay, but nothing along the lines of some of the other great games for the system. Though there is some good things about the game, many things seem clunky. For me the combat seemed herky jerky and not free flowing at all. I also didn’t like that I had to hit villagers up to ten times with the sword to kill them. A defenseless person will not stand up to 10 sword strokes without dying. This is just okay, but this type of game has been done better many times before.

Rating

I was a huge fan of the previous 2 incarnations on the Playstation 2. I was hoping that this game would be a natural evolution of a game that was great on a simple platform (probably because of its simplicity), upgraded in sophistication for a more complex PS3.

I was pretty disappointed. The graphics are weak, which could be forgiven if the story or gameplay was more compelling. Unfortunately, the full potential of the PS3 was in no way maximized. There is no subtlety or strategy in the “jobs”. The swords you can acquire or build are not as interesting or powerful as those in the first games. The villains are easy to defeat. The “instant kill” and “chain kill” effects touted for seamless battling are difficult to trigger, I found myself mostly mashing the square button over and over to kill everyone.

There is a reason that the first 2 games still retail for over $50 for used copies but this game is down to $25. This is not a true heir to the series, in spirit or gameplay.

Rating

Way of the Samurai 3 is an open-world game styled like an old-school samurai film. In some ways, it lives up to the standards of the series; in others, it overextends itself.

In WOTS3, you play as a wandering samurai caught in the kingdom of Amana during the Warring States period. There are several factions you can choose to ally yourself with: the powerful Fujimori clan, the rural Ouka clan, or the oppressed farmers of Takatane. The game has an open world, so you can wander around doing what you want – doing jobs and gaining the trust of the various factions to accomplish something in the world, or just spending your time picking fights and upgrading your sword. The game is meant to be played many times – it’s short, but there are so many variations in the endings that it’s clearly meant to be replayed over and over.

WOTS3 offers you more influence in the world than previous games. While WOTS1 and WOTS2 both allowed you a wide variety of choices as to your behavior in the world, in terms of who you could kill and where you could go, you were severely limited. In WOTS3, anyone can be killed at any time as long as you can get to them. It’s possible to draw your sword during almost any cutscene in the entire game; if you want to, you can just cut a bloody swath through every important character, take their stuff, and leave.

On the flipside, if you’re actually trying to accomplish something and get a good ending, it’s important to be more diplomatic. WOTS3 offers two different concessions to the idea of peace. The first of these is the ability to apologize; in previous games, if you accidentally drew your sword, you had to fight or run away. In WOTS3, it’s possible to attempt to reconcile and avoid fighting, which can be crucial if you’ve spent all your time building up trust with one clan and almost ruin it accidentally. The other new feature is the ability to attack non-lethally; you can defeat an enemy, but they won’t be killed permanently. Since every single character in the game is persistent in the world, this can be important if a necessary character picks a fight with you and won’t accept your surrender. You may find it necessary to fight back, but also to keep the person alive.

The swordfighting system feels slightly less refined than in WOTS2, but it makes up for it with improved customization. Like previous games, there are a few basic styles that swords can be used in, as well as some exotic options like ninja swords and iaijutsu. WOTS3 changes a few things as far as weapons go. Spears have been added to the game, to go with the more medieval tone of the setting. Additionally, dual-wielding now involves two actual swords, rather than one “sword” that’s actually a set of two. Finally, you now have the option to create your own swords or spears from parts that can be found or bought in the game world. These weapons have their stats determined by the parts you use, so saving all your best parts to build a super high-quality sword is usually a good idea.

As gameplay goes, the most annoying part in comparison to other games in the series is how disconnected everything feels. The story is moved along through “inklings”, which show up on your map occasionally to let you know to go to a certain area. However, many of these inklings are non-intuitive. For example, while playing as a member of the Fujimori clan, I ended up at a dead end where nothing was happening. As it turned out, I had to go join the rival Ouka clan, then immediately leave. It made no sense and felt really awkward. The jobs you have to do to gain faction approval are a pain, too. Some of them are ok – go here, kill one guy. Others have you hunting around the map for a hidden person or item, many of whom won’t show up due to bugs or bad programming. In one case, I found two of three people that I needed to find, and couldn’t find the last one no matter where I looked. I then left the map and came back; when I returned, the third person was sitting in a place that I had definitely checked before.

Another gameplay gimmick added is the presence of “partners” – romantic interests for your samurai to pursue. These partners have no role in the main gameplay; rather, you have to go out looking for them and fulfill whatever requirements they have for you to “recruit” them. For example, one partner threatens to attack you to avenge her dead father (she has mistaken you for his killer), and to recruit her you must apologize to her rather than fighting back. Another shows up only at midnight, and can be hired as a bodyguard for the night. However, these partners are more annoying than helpful – some offer small advantages, like remote access to your weapons safe and so on, but they all run much slower than you do and you’ll be forced to constantly stop to let them catch up, or just walk everywhere. There are some mini-games you can do that require you to have a partner, and if you hang out with a partner long enough they can become a romantic interest, but other than that there’s really not that much they’re good for. Overall, they’re just a pain.

The game’s graphical quality varies pretty wildly – people and weapons are done pretty well, but the environmental textures are bland and unappealing. The main character especially is good at expressing emotion, but the buildings look really fake and the maps are lined with invisible walls and other issues that seem really silly to still have in 2009. Despite some improvements, as a whole WOTS3 is not a graphically impressive game – it’s not quite as bad as last-gen, but it’s not up to the standards of current generation graphics.

The sound design in the game is similarly varied in quality. The music is interesting and atmospheric. The voice work in Japanese is pretty good, but the English dub is lazy and not even worth bothering with. Thankfully, the game provides both English and Japanese as options. There’s a really weird bug with voices, though, which is that the volume of a person’s voice is based on the camera’s proximity to the speaker – not based on the character’s proximity. The result is that, because it’s a third-person game, you won’t be able to hear anyone unless you swing the camera around so that the person speaking is right in front of you. It’s really weird and annoying and just ruins the experience.

As a whole, WOTS3 is an ambitious game, and I can respect that. However, it’s so sloppily put together that the few areas where it is fun are overshadowed by repetitive tasks and shoddy development. It’s a good example of combining story and gameplay, but in terms of being a fun game it’s kind of lacking.

Rating: 6/10.