Review #498: Way of the Samurai 2

 Not the way of the good sequel.

You'll be seeing red and black often, every single time you die.

 Way of the Samurai was this obscure little gem of a game, which I played and wrote about a few years ago(Review 50-something!), that was unique in its concept: A sand-box style samurai game, with a plot that could be altered according to your choices. Surely a sequel would polish its rough edges and add more characters, better combat, more and better of everything. Sadly, such is not the case.

 The game is set before the first game took place, so the era of the Samurai is still blossoming. Your created Samurai, who can be a girl once you unlock her create-a-character pieces, enters the town of Amagahara and soon gets embroiled, or not, in the war between the Aoto gang and the Magistrate, trying to keep peace... or so it seems. There's also innocent bystanders which you can choose to aid... or not. Does it sound familiar? Yes, it's pretty much the same plot from the previous game: You can side with 'the people'(Sayo the mute girl, for example), you can side with the evil gang(Aoto gang) or with the law-keepers(The magistrate). To be fair, there're more characters this time around, and they had potential if only it was easier to get involved in the plot.

Y'gotta be fast on your fingers, the game wastes no time throwing you into the wolves.

 Y'see, the game might still be a sandbox styled Samurai game, but the execution is much different. The previous game was a short adventure that lasted three days, but now the story takes places throughout 6(sometimes more) days, which sounds really awesome until you realize that most of it is fat. The previous game had a tight story, with multiple choices and ways to get involved, this time around, unless you know precisely when and where to be you'll miss out on most of the story. If you're not playing with a guide at hand you'll be missing out on most of the story. Which is a shame, because the story has potential, but it's so poorly structured that you'll probably miss out on most of it. Heck, take for instance the Sayo storyline, you can be done with the requisites by day 3 and now you've got to waste time until day 6 in order to conclude it. It's a slightly longer game alright, but it's made up of pure fat.

 So what can you do in order to pass the time? Well, you could, and should, partake in repetitive 'jobs' for either Aoto, Magistrate or people factions. There's about 5 different jobs for each, and each job takes a single time slot(Each day has about 6 slots). They are so repetitive and SO boring it's unreal. 'Find the missing worker and convince him to return to work', 'Find the dropped parcel', etc. For every 3-4 lame jobs there's a single assassination or 'quelling' the mob mission involving combat. And the jobs never change, they are so goddamn boring. And it's the only effective way to make money, which you really need in order to enhance your weapons, which are the only things you can carry over from game to game(Unless you die and overwrite your savefile, in which case, whichever three swords were with you and not store in the safe are gone for good). And to add insult to injury, you've got to be extremely swift with this job, you can't just go anywhere but where the location of the job is, otherwise you'll lose your money because the time of the day changed. Fun. Took me a while to realize that you didn't have enough time to do more than 'Get job -> Get to location -> Report back'. It's a terrible design choice that only serves to make progression slower and take up more of your time.

Try to get the Blacksmith's hammer, it's quite destructive.

 On another note, do not be scared to start the game on easy, as the game is pretty much brutal. As soon as you start the game you're thrust into a fight with no explanation whatsoever of how things work. And combat is very tough all the way throughout, there's absolutely no comparison to the previous game. After dying, repeatedly, on my first two attempted playthroughs, I did an Easy playthrough, got new swords, enhanced them and took them to the Normal mode, and then I had a fair game. And keep in mind that the way swords work is kinda... wonky. Every time you equip a new sword you start with a very limited moveset and you have to unlock it by using it. Which kinda sucks if you get a new, powerful sword, yet becomes nigh useless in Normal or Hard since opponents don't really give you a chance to score hits with your limited starting moveset.

 While the moveset thing kinda sucks, the combat has been enhanced. You can block by holding R1 or parry by tapping R1 as soon as you get hit. Triangle does vertical slices while square does horizontal attacks, and the more you use your weapons the more new attacks, combos and links you obtain. You've also got the ability to kick(R1+square) or perform grabs(R1+triangle). The combat feels nice, although I wasn't able to perform some of the wonky, but funky!, juggling you could on the first game. There're more moveset types than before, like the new dual katanas and sheathed katana styles. But don't be too slash happy, every attack you land, be it blocked or not, will raise the Heat bar, if it fills you'll lose a block of durability and if you lose all blocks, out of a possible five, your sword breaks and not even the smithy can repair it.

Sometimes defense is the best offense. Counterattacking after a parry does lethal damage most of the time.

 Truly, the game's biggest flaw is the lack of direction. After you go through the initial sequence of beating up the three bullies you'll be thrust into a map with about 10 different areas. You aren't told what the EP gauge is, which is your energy and can be restore by eating certain items or by sleeping and if it falls to 0 you lose five time periods. You aren't told how to restore you're health, which is done by sleeping or buying food. You aren't told where the Smithy is, which is the are that starts with a N. You're not even told how to fight. You're basically thrown to the wolves, and with the terrible structure for the plot... it's not a friendly game, and while I'll admit that I eventually learned to like the game... it was a long process.

 The thing about Way of the Samurai 2 is... while there're even more endings, which is appreciated, and the combat is tighter than before, there're even more areas to explore and more timeslots and there's even the addition of 'side-quests', it failed to capitalize on what made the first game so unique, so special. It was the entire structure of the game. It was how, while it was a short game, there was always some plot-related thing to do, some way to advance the story or get involved in it. Here you'll be stuck doing menial crap for money. Over and over again. The game can be fun once you finally get the hang of it, but it takes a long, long time and the payoff isn't as rewarding as it was on the first game. In conclusion, Way of the Samurai 2 is alright, but it's a very disappointing sequel.
 6.0 out of 10