+ Use :D a lot. Slow with replies. + 100% Samurai Warriors blog. + Also a SW Sakon appreciation blog. + I translate SW stuff sometimes and if there's anything that needs correction or clarification, do let me know! + This blog is currently inactive because I am deep in NiF/LYB hell and also because life and stuff. Probably will be active again when new SW games are out. + Secondary (and now NiF-centric) blog is chaikat.
professor-tammi replied to your post “Sanadamaru ramblings #3”
the tea house could've been a great excuse to give some additional screentime to characters that weren't developed in the main story but alas... :'(
yeah, a lot of the side stuff that’s not directly related to the main story could have been used for other characters and that would definitely be more interesting than the 1389276812732 NPCs they used instead.
I finished Sanadamaru a few weeks ago so here are my final thoughts on it. In summary, not very impressed but there are a few points that I like.
Spoilerssssss but not much details because I haven’t been taking notes.
On characterisation:
- I like Masayuki a lot and his friendship with cinnamon roll Katsuyori but he kinda just faded into the background after Katsuyori’s death. He has a lot of depth that I wish was explored more and I also really wish they gave us more on his thoughts on Mitsunari and what Masayuki saw in him but that’s my bias speaking. He’s a complex character and I love his final cutscene which shows that he’s still conflicted over Katsuyori’s death and his reason for fighting.
- I unexpectedly like Sasuke a lot? I wasn’t impressed by his design or his initial appearance at all, but he just grew on me. I like his bickering with Kunoichi and his mentor/rival relationship with Hanzo, and how he’s pretty much like a lost puppy finding his forever home and being alternatively grouchy or baffled at how nice they all are. His character development and relationships aren’t novel but something about them just hits the right note with me and I think it’s also because he’s not the focus at all so there was just the right amount of him without pushing it into the annoyingly repetitive territory.
- Sasuke also has great cutscenes! They are mostly action cutscenes which I think Koei is great at. I really like the cutscene where Hanzo told him that he regretted taking Sasuke in. Because if he hadn’t, then maybe Sasuke would not have become a ninja (and thus go on this path of heartbreak and death™). And then Sasuke dies in Hanzo’s arms and I felt genuinely sad until they zoomed in on Hanzo’s face and the single sparkling tear rolling down his face and sorry but that was funny.
- I love Chacha’s reserved personality and her silent strength but the writing for her was disappointing at parts. I wasn’t really fond of the intense focus on how ~lonely and isolated~ she was at Osaka Castle and how Yukimura was the only one who could ~set her free~. Also, I’m not really convinced by how trapped Chacha feels (at one point you need to help her sneak past all the guards in the castle town and get out to advance the story) and at the same time, Hideyoshi and Nene are portrayed as being genuinely worried over and caring for her. I get that they probably don’t want to portray Hideyoshi and Nene in a negative light but maybe they should just sit down and talk it out. Communication! It is a good thing.
- More interaction between Chacha and Takatora or Yoshitsugu would have been awesome too.
- I would also have liked to see more of Chacha’s thoughts during the final part, like what she thought of the retainer controlling her moves, the inevitability of their defeat, what it means to her to take the final stand, etc.
The parallel between the castles burning down at the start and at the end of her story is great though.
- The build-up to Sekigahara feels weaker in this story than the previous ones. Honestly unimpressed with all sides.
- If anyone’s curious about how the Gracia’s hostage situation went down in this version, it’s like this: Mitsunari is going after Gracia, Chacha volunteers to help him look for Gracia and Mitsunari agrees readily. Yukimura’s also dragged into this. In the end, everything burns down and Chacha’s like ‘oh dear it seems like Gracia died in the fire :| how sad’. Sakon asks if Mitsunari wants to see the body and Mitsunari’s just like ‘nah it’s fine’.
I know people have said how Koei is bound to avoid portraying Mitsunari in a negative light for this event and I guess that’s what they’ve done here. It’s not something that bothers me a lot because 1) the writing for Mitsunari (and in general) in this game isn’t great, and 2) I don’t view the hostage thing (what I know about the historical version) as omg evil!!!!! anyway.
- This game is probably the one most critical of the Tokugawa so far and it does bring up a lot of good points re: sacrifice, honour and ambitions. Masayuki is a really good foil to Ieyasu and later, when Masayuki fades into the background, Hidetada takes up that role.
- Speaking of Hidetada, he’s a pretty interesting character! He appears pompous and seems to run his mouth off at the start, but he turns out to be pretty observant with a good grasp of what’s going on. I like the part where he... uhhh shit I don’t remember in detail but it was the pre-Sekigahara battle and he opted to retreat? back down? so that Nobuyuki wouldn’t have to fight his own father and I’m weak to stuff like that. He seems like a very good candidate to take over from Ieyasu and lead the country into an era of peace.
A lot of the stuff added in this game felt to me like good ideas with poor executions.
- The castle town is neat and looks really cool but after the nth time of running from one end to the other end to talk to people to get story expositions it just gets tiring.
- Farming and fishing minigames are so easy I can’t even count them as minigames. The sneaking around guards thing that happens occasionally is a pain but not too difficult. Just annoying.
- Having a tea house that you can invite people to and chat with would be a lot neater if they gave us nice graphics of the characters talking (yes these are my priorities) and if the conversations are actually meaningful.
- Gift-giving is a great idea but again, it doesn’t really do anything. You just gift them something and get a thanks line of varying levels of enthusiasm.
- I quite like the exploration missions in between battles but they would be better with more variety like different landscapes, or unique hidden enemies or treasures. They do have all those, but just... it could be better.
- I couldn’t bring myself to really care about the NPCs nor could I tell them apart and there’s so much dialogue with them. I just kinda... not bothered talking to them after a while.
The missions from the villagers are okay but not really exciting. Hmmm actually I think it would be better with the missions were from the NPCs and if the missions tell us something about what each NPC is like.
Other miscellaneous things:
- Why is the final battle easier than Sekigahara??
- Yukimura spends a large chunk of time in his fashion disaster stage, such a tragedy.
- So much time spent on loading oh my god this is seriously the most annoying thing about the game.
