This is my first review, so tell me what you thought of it!
Tittle: The Nimble Sakura Samurai
ESBR Rating: T for Teen
Platform: 3DS
Downloadable Content
Story:
Once upon a time, there was a holy document made of Sakura. Held be a God in the mountains. The trees in the land were his children.
His most beautiful was the Sakura Tree, Princess of Light, also the country's guardian angel and collected a lot of faith from the people.
One day, she was kidnapped by a wicked spirit, and although people of the land fought for her, she was eventually forgotten, only remembered by a kappa, lord of the pond, which would one day guide a young man to finally rebel and save the princess: The Sakura Samurai.
Gameplay: As far as fighting games go, this is definitely a strategy one. Unlike most sword-wielding games nowadays, it's a dodge; attack! kind of game. Dodging differently depending on their attacks, and being prepared for the unpredictable. You'll never find yourself in an unfair situation, in which several enemies attack you at once; In an ambush, each enemy will attack at once, respecting your space(As you are required to as well, from the tutorial) and simply slashing away will not only be useless, it will also wear off your sword and render it useless.
Abusing Blocking will have the same consequences. Your sword's power will be reduced to an almost useless point. Patience is the key, however risking being hit is a problem.
When you dodge a certain number of times perfectly in a roll, you'll grow prediction points which will wear off as soon as you get hit. Build up the record and sell it for gold, but wait as long as possible, for after selling, the record will only start counting AFTER the last one you reached.
Currency/Item Balance: Every time you defeat an opponent there is a chance he/she will drop a/several golden coins. This will be used for buying items such as healing food, frogs to give you an opening, long range weapons or even invisibility cloaks! The most useful item should be the healing food, which you can only carry 5 at a time. Aways good to carry a Kappa Amulet though! These will revive you if you fall in battle, but not only are they very expensive, but they will only revive you once per stage. You will often have to sharpen your sword with rocks, too, if it becomes dull.
You'll also use coins to upgrade your sword, sharpen it more effectively, sleeping at a local inn and participating in street challenges(which are a total gold rip-off- >>) It is rather easy to earn coins by replaying previous stages.
Map: The game advances as arenas, each location you go to, there will be a spawn of enemies to try and stop you from proceeding. After certain numbers, you will find villages where you can find Inns to save the game and shop, or maybe earn gold.
The boss stages will be castles, where the princess might be at. We all know; she's in the final one, but we can't proceed the storyline beyond the castle unless a boss is defeated.
Bosses are all huge compared to normal soldiers you'll be fighting, they're lords of the castle which will not be pleased about you destroying their troops and sneaking into their room! Not only that, but they all have attacks and techniques you'll be surprised with!
Music: Great music indeed! All fit the environments and are Japanese-styled. It is enchanting.
Graphics: Must say, for a downloadable, they're very impressive! A few noticeable pixelated corners here and there, but it's not bothering. The models are nice too, simplistic but fitting.
Storyline: Can't say much about this; haven't finished yet From what I've heard, though, it has a deep meaning.
Replayability: After the main storyline, you get to replay challenge modes. These are unlocked after every castle you complete. You will have a counter and a number of enemies in a familiar castle; You'll have to destroy all of them as fast as you can to break your record. They will be stronger and more than you're normally used to.
The first castle unlocks "30 thief challenge", the second one, "80 thief challenge" So I don't want to know how many the next one will have!
You also get the cherry garden mode. It counts your steps, and you can dedicate them to the cherry blossoms, but only once per day. This will make almost dead trees suddenly grow cherry blossoms. I'm not sure what this is for yet, so I'll give it max score
Extras: The 3D Visuals look good, but aren't really NEEDED. It's well-made and cool but not exactly something remarkable about the game. The bosses do point their weapons outside the screen and that most of the times look great so a + for that!
Dialogue and Character Development: Some villagers will be thankful for someone teaching the castle Lords a lesson, others just say the same thing no matter what village, and of course, a silent hero. Some have a good sense of humor, such as telling you to cut your hair, others are quite mean, and others are cute. The good thing about a silent hero is that he doesn't react and learn; you do. The castle lords do seem to have some developed personalities so I wish we'd have that explored a little more.
Did I like it: Yes. No doubt. I definitely recommend it to any 3DS owners out there! : )
This is my first review, so tell me what you thought of it!
Tittle: The Nimble Sakura Samurai
ESBR Rating: T for Teen
Platform: 3DS
Downloadable Content
Story:
Once upon a time, there was a holy document made of Sakura. Held be a God in the mountains. The trees in the land were his children.
His most beautiful was the Sakura Tree, Princess of Light, also the country's guardian angel and collected a lot of faith from the people.
One day, she was kidnapped by a wicked spirit, and although people of the land fought for her, she was eventually forgotten, only remembered by a kappa, lord of the pond, which would one day guide a young man to finally rebel and save the princess: The Sakura Samurai.
Gameplay: As far as fighting games go, this is definitely a strategy one. Unlike most sword-wielding games nowadays, it's a dodge; attack! kind of game. Dodging differently depending on their attacks, and being prepared for the unpredictable. You'll never find yourself in an unfair situation, in which several enemies attack you at once; In an ambush, each enemy will attack at once, respecting your space(As you are required to as well, from the tutorial) and simply slashing away will not only be useless, it will also wear off your sword and render it useless.
Abusing Blocking will have the same consequences. Your sword's power will be reduced to an almost useless point. Patience is the key, however risking being hit is a problem.
When you dodge a certain number of times perfectly in a roll, you'll grow prediction points which will wear off as soon as you get hit. Build up the record and sell it for gold, but wait as long as possible, for after selling, the record will only start counting AFTER the last one you reached.
Currency/Item Balance: Every time you defeat an opponent there is a chance he/she will drop a/several golden coins. This will be used for buying items such as healing food, frogs to give you an opening, long range weapons or even invisibility cloaks! The most useful item should be the healing food, which you can only carry 5 at a time. Aways good to carry a Kappa Amulet though! These will revive you if you fall in battle, but not only are they very expensive, but they will only revive you once per stage. You will often have to sharpen your sword with rocks, too, if it becomes dull.
You'll also use coins to upgrade your sword, sharpen it more effectively, sleeping at a local inn and participating in street challenges(which are a total gold rip-off- >>) It is rather easy to earn coins by replaying previous stages.
Map: The game advances as arenas, each location you go to, there will be a spawn of enemies to try and stop you from proceeding. After certain numbers, you will find villages where you can find Inns to save the game and shop, or maybe earn gold.
The boss stages will be castles, where the princess might be at. We all know; she's in the final one, but we can't proceed the storyline beyond the castle unless a boss is defeated.
Bosses are all huge compared to normal soldiers you'll be fighting, they're lords of the castle which will not be pleased about you destroying their troops and sneaking into their room! Not only that, but they all have attacks and techniques you'll be surprised with!
Music: Great music indeed! All fit the environments and are Japanese-styled. It is enchanting.
Graphics: Must say, for a downloadable, they're very impressive! A few noticeable pixelated corners here and there, but it's not bothering. The models are nice too, simplistic but fitting.
Storyline: Can't say much about this; haven't finished yet
From what I've heard, though, it has a deep meaning.
Replayability: After the main storyline, you get to replay challenge modes. These are unlocked after every castle you complete. You will have a counter and a number of enemies in a familiar castle; You'll have to destroy all of them as fast as you can to break your record. They will be stronger and more than you're normally used to.
The first castle unlocks "30 thief challenge", the second one, "80 thief challenge" So I don't want to know how many the next one will have!
You also get the cherry garden mode. It counts your steps, and you can dedicate them to the cherry blossoms, but only once per day. This will make almost dead trees suddenly grow cherry blossoms. I'm not sure what this is for yet, so I'll give it max score
Extras: The 3D Visuals look good, but aren't really NEEDED. It's well-made and cool but not exactly something remarkable about the game. The bosses do point their weapons outside the screen and that most of the times look great so a + for that!
Dialogue and Character Development: Some villagers will be thankful for someone teaching the castle Lords a lesson, others just say the same thing no matter what village, and of course, a silent hero. Some have a good sense of humor, such as telling you to cut your hair, others are quite mean, and others are cute. The good thing about a silent hero is that he doesn't react and learn; you do. The castle lords do seem to have some developed personalities so I wish we'd have that explored a little more.
Did I like it: Yes. No doubt. I definitely recommend it to any 3DS owners out there! : )
Score: 9.5/10 Amazing!
+: Good
Gameplay
Currency/Item Ballance
Eviroments
Music
Graphics
Storyline
Replayability
Extras
-: Bad
Dialogue and Character Development