Quick Onimusha Question

[J T]

The first one is cool, but over too quickly.
The second is my favorite.
The third was good enough that I finished it, but I never quite got into the story.
Onimusha Dawn of Dreams has some great graphics, but I haven't played much of it.
Onimusha Blade Warriors is crap.

[Bradtemple87]

The first one is cool, but over too quickly.
The second is my favorite.
The third was good enough that I finished it, but I never quite got into the story.
Onimusha Dawn of Dreams has some great graphics, but I haven't played much of it.
Onimusha Blade Warriors is crap.

I wanted to like blade warriors, but I just couldn't do it

[brunoafh]

I think I might try Blade Warriors too now since everyone here seems to dislike it.

I have a strange affinity for playing bad games. It's a lot of fun in it's own way.

[Xeogred]

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna go with the Xbox enhancement of the original Onimusha called Genma Onimusha. I didn't even realize this had horror elements or dealt with supernatural things, but I guess I should have with a title like 'Onimusha'. The thought just somehow never occurred to me.

Well, don't expect anything incredibly deep. It's like on par with Ninja Gaiden's (Xbox) plot or something, haha.

That said I can't stress how enough how much I love this series. 3 was good but like others said I hated the setting and some of the stuff going on there, 2 was just downright awesome. Dawn of Dreams is considered to be the 4th entry and was really good too.

This series, Otogi (from the bits I played), Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi (PS2), and other Japanese action games last gen are basically why I hate all the God of War-esque action games thesedays. I really hate to dog on them, but ugh. I'll take intricate combo's, more challenge and the need for actual skill/reflexes over boring QTE bosses and weapons that constantly spin around hitting everything on the screen. Seriously it's amazing to me how backwards God of War and its clones feel compared to these types of Japanese action games!

[(-_-)]

I think I might try Blade Warriors too now since everyone here seems to dislike it.

I have a strange affinity for playing bad games. It's a lot of fun in it's own way.

I actually liked Blade Warriors a lot. The issen attacks make the gameplay so much more intense. I'm still looking to pick up a copy for cheap. I own all four of the other games and Onimusha is one of my all time favourite series.

I enjoyed 2 the most. I was genuinely interested in the characters and the relationship and gift giving sections opened up a lot of small, but different narrative changes. I'm not into sim or dating games, but I enjoyed seeing where the different paths would take me. Enough to get me to play the game over quite a few times and collect useless objects that did nothing but increase how much someone liked me.

I felt 3 was a great game but the least memorable. It was solid and gorgeous but it didn't stand out as much to me. And I felt cheated when Jean Reno stopped voicing himself after the first thirty minutes of gameplay...

One was awesome because it felt like a classic capcom survival horror in some ways. I also like the tank controls of the first two titles, but most people hate that.

The fourth one is completely different from the rest of the games. It was an all out action title. The whole game is easier then the rest because you had so many damn weapons and your magic allowed you to pull of issen attacks with no effort. I still found it to be fun as hell though. I think it was the most vibrant and colourful in the series. If I remember right, it felt like it had the most content. You could play as 4 different characters and there were secret weapons to find and the game had co op to some extent. Forgot if the whole game is co op.

You won't miss much if you don't play them in order but they are all pretty awesome games and you can find them cheap. 1 and 3 have the same main character and 2 and 4 are both different main characters. Each game references the other to a minor extent and the fourth being the largest departure. There is an Onimusha bundle that was like 30 bucks if you can't find individual titles for less then that.

[(-_-)]

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna go with the Xbox enhancement of the original Onimusha called Genma Onimusha. I didn't even realize this had horror elements or dealt with supernatural things, but I guess I should have with a title like 'Onimusha'. The thought just somehow never occurred to me.

Well, don't expect anything incredibly deep. It's like on par with Ninja Gaiden's (Xbox) plot or something, haha.

That said I can't stress how enough how much I love this series. 3 was good but like others said I hated the setting and some of the stuff going on there, 2 was just downright awesome. Dawn of Dreams is considered to be the 4th entry and was really good too.

This series, Otogi (from the bits I played), Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi (PS2), and other Japanese action games last gen are basically why I hate all the God of War-esque action games thesedays. I really hate to dog on them, but ugh. I'll take intricate combo's, more challenge and the need for actual skill/reflexes over boring QTE bosses and weapons that constantly spin around hitting everything on the screen. Seriously it's amazing to me how backwards God of War and its clones feel compared to these types of Japanese action games!

I own and love all of those games but I can't hate on God of War. I have yet to come across a Japanese action game with a story that can compare to god of war. God of War is just mindless button mashing fun on epic backdrops of unparalleled scale. I agree that there are way too many clones though. I haven't played anything that comes close to either Onimusha, Otogi, Ninja Gaiden, or Shinobi. Each one even today has unique gameplay. God of War has had the living shit copied out of it and not particularly well in most cases. But again, the narrative in most japanese action games are pretty bad. The ones that stick out most in my mind being Rygar and Ninja Gaiden which are kind of painful to listen to.

[Xeogred]

Ah! You mentioned Rygar... which I love how it did pretty much everything God of War did 2 years before or something (the PS2 Rygar), but you don't see it getting much praise. I guess God of War had better execution.

Yeah I'll admit I can't completely hate on the God of War games myself, 1-2 were fun, but 3 I didn't think was that great. The game was so heavily scripted I just didn't like that at all. Also call me crazy, but I seriously think Kratos is just straight up obnoxious and lame. He literally just comes off as a big baby to me, sure he's killing God's and all... but there's not really anything about him that I like or that makes me think he's badass. Am I alone on this? lol...

[brunoafh]

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna go with the Xbox enhancement of the original Onimusha called Genma Onimusha. I didn't even realize this had horror elements or dealt with supernatural things, but I guess I should have with a title like 'Onimusha'. The thought just somehow never occurred to me.

Well, don't expect anything incredibly deep. It's like on par with Ninja Gaiden's (Xbox) plot or something, haha.

That said I can't stress how enough how much I love this series. 3 was good but like others said I hated the setting and some of the stuff going on there, 2 was just downright awesome. Dawn of Dreams is considered to be the 4th entry and was really good too.

This series, Otogi (from the bits I played), Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi (PS2), and other Japanese action games last gen are basically why I hate all the God of War-esque action games thesedays. I really hate to dog on them, but ugh. I'll take intricate combo's, more challenge and the need for actual skill/reflexes over boring QTE bosses and weapons that constantly spin around hitting everything on the screen. Seriously it's amazing to me how backwards God of War and its clones feel compared to these types of Japanese action games!

I would agree 100% on the God of War issue (although you forgot to mention Devil May Cry in your list). I enjoy the games to some extent, but I tend to play them for what they actually are. Not a very big fan, but they're decent games. Otogi, Ninja Gaiden, and DMC blow the series out of the water in my book.

I haven't played Shinobi for PS2 yet, but I've always meant to. Is it any good?

I have yet to come across a Japanese action game with a story that can compare to god of war.

Otogi's story and narrative, to me at least, is far more interesting than God of War's. I'm not really the type to get into the whole "epic scale" thing though. God of War is interesting enough based on what kind of game they're trying to produce, but Kratos has about as much personality as a shoe, and the story pretty much gets by on it's huge set pieces and extreme amounts of gore. There's not really any actual plot or character development, they just continually come up with reasons for why Kratos needs to brutally slaughter god x. The plot in GOW3 got way out of hand too.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the style and originality that Otogi emanates is something that I'm much more interested in. Raikoh doesn't really have any personality either, but that's different, because it's kind of the point. I really liked the surreal fantasy atmosphere Otogi created.

[Xeogred]

Haha, glad I'm not alone then. I thought GoW 1-2 generally had a lot of good stuff going on, but despite the obvious graphical update I just really didn't care for 3. I think by then the novelty had really worn off, there's nothing interesting about Kratos, or the stories mythos, etc.

And you're absolutely right I forgot to mention DMC! Which definitely deserves a spot there, yet again just another series that I think gets the action right for me and is more my style. Oh man do I fear what the next one will be with a new creator behind it.

Shinobi PS2 was an amazingly fun game to me, really badass music, and the difficulty curve was hilariously through the roof. But it was one of those games that had a lot of rewarding satisfaction. It had a weird "chain attack" system where if you timed some special attacks together or something you'd kill things instantly... it's hard to explain since it's been awhile, but it was pretty cool. The timing had to be extremely precise though, so it wasn't easy to pull off. But just a hilarious example of the difficulty, in one of the last stages of the games there was this long hallway of enemies, with no floor. Falling would result in your death, so you had to pull off these timed attacks flawlessly to get through that section. It was stage based, but also one of those games where death restarted you at the very beginning of the level. This video shows what I'm talking about throughout a lot of it, like @ 0:48 you can see how you can chain attack those flying things, and the player misses the last one. You had to pull something like that off perfectly in this long hallway along with some wall running I think or you were dead, scariest crap ever lol.

Edit: This is the level with the pits... screw this level man, oh man it was evil. haha


I remember the first time I played it was way back in Jr. High and I was staying over at a friends, the final boss took hours I believe. I remember telling my friend "Dude I'm not going to bed or leaving until I beat this", haha.

Being a fan of the games you've mentioned in this thread I'd bet you'd like it, I remember it having a lot of unlockables and other cool modes too. I think it may have even had a Japanese audio option, not sure though. I never got around to Nightshade though, it's spiritual successor or something.

[ujnhunter]

Don't forget Onimusha Tactics (GBA)!