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Better than the First One

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: July 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Way of the Samurai was a great fighting game with multiple endings based on your honor. Way of the Samurai 2 adds better graphics and more paths!

You start by customizing your warrior - choosing a head, clothes, sword and ohter items. You can unlock more choices as you go, which is of course half the fun. You have a "sword safe" to store swords in from game to game. You've also got an "item box".

The plot here is that you're at a port town torn between the coming of foreigners and the traditional ways of the samurai. Think The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. The Edo period is coming to an end, and upheaval is a result.

As with the first game, you interact with characters from set choices. The way you choose to interact with characters determines your personality, from slimy dirt-bag to honorable, noble caring person.

You can turn the blood off if you want, but this is a slicing sword game. There are a variety of swords and weapons, but they all basically hack at your opponent until the blood loss kills him. Some have samurai swords, some have hammers, and so on. You can build your weapons and attacks up over time and using special combinations.

The graphics are nice in a Final Fantasy sort of way - nice character models but not so great surroundings. The environments are on the static side, and the character movements are not overly complex. Still, the game is about what you do - not about a Myst-like absorption in your gorgeous surroundings.

The map mode makes it easy to move between the 10 or so map locations, which is very nice. As time progresses, you can see what's going on in the various spots. This is very much like Groundhog Day - you go through the same days over and over again, learning who goes where at each time period so you know what to do and when.

The sound is reasonably OK - Japanese background music and general "OK" and "Hi" noises along with the dialogue. Many of the voices just don't seem to fit - a New York accent comes out of a Japanese woman's mouth. I think they could have done a better job choosing who did the voices for the characters.

The Groundhog Day analogy really fits here. After a few playings you get to know the various characters rather well, knowing what their motivations are and how they react in different situations. You go to a location and say to yourself "OK in a few minutes XXXX will come walking around the corner ..." and sure enough, they do. It gets to be a very "comfortable" game to play - you know what's going to happen and you have to choose how to react.

While in some games you complain about the AI being the same, in this case it makes sense. You're replaying the same time sequence, over and over, and experimenting with different reactions. It's fun to see how your different choices affect your world.

We easily spent many weeks on the original Way of the Samurai, and this new version is even more immersive. If you're a fan of fun plots and sword slashing, definitely give this one a try!

Decisions, Decisions...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: July 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Of all the choices you need to make in Way of the Samurai 2, the easiest would undoubtedly be whether or not you should buy the game at all. And in case you haven't inferred by the rating I've given it, the answer is YES!

As a masterless samurai in feudal Japan, you find yourself collapsing before the town gates of conflict-ridden Amahara. Brought to by an amiable young girl, you discover the troubles of the little town: two malevolent forces are trying to take control of it, and another still is plotting in the shadows. Caught in the middle are a bunch of well-to-do people who call Amahara home. It's up to you to decide whose side you will lead to victory... if you even stay at all.

The gameplay is simple at heart. You traverse the town of Amahara and make choices that decide the fate of its inhabitants. As you make these choices, you will come to rely on your handy weapon(s), whatever it may be, to cut down various opponents who stand in your way between peace in the town or its fiery downfall.

Way of the Samurai 2 presents a larger, more non-linear game than its predecessor. The sizeable Amahara is presented on a map for you to select areas on, as opposed to the previous town, in which you merely travelled across various parts by foot. With the inclusion of this bigger playground, a greater combination of events is achieved and, thus, a greater number of choices. The two day 'time limit' of the last game has more than quadrupled to a whopping ten days, each of which has been divided into five sections, making each ripe with possiblity.

The fighting is much improved as well. The most notable addition is the Instant Kill. Depending upon whether the enemy uses a vertical or horizontal strike, you can catch the opposition off-balance and inflict a single, fatal blow. This aids in the offing of the numerous underlings you will face. One cannot forget all the new weapons at your disposal. From Musashi's good ol' double sword technique to spears, your ronin's repertoire of weaponry is more varied than before.

The create-a-character feature still exists; though not exploiting the Eye-Toy, like Tony Hawk Underground, which allowed you to map your own face onto a character, it still gives enough room for you to make your own distinctive assassin (should you choose that path). Added in this installment is the ability to buy accessories to further express your own style. Feel like slaughtering thugs wearing a giant Bunny Head? Be my guest! Want to wear an eyepatch to give yourself that "ARRRRRRRRRR I'm a pirate!" feel? Sure! My only gripe about this feature is that for some reason, you can only wear one thing at a time, even if they belong on different parts of the body. So if you want to pair up your Eyeglasses with Shoulderpads, you're out of luck. Maybe next time...

The story itself is immersive enough despite not being the next Metal Gear Solid. You really feel the gravity of your choices in every event that they trigger like when... eh... you should find out for yourself, lest I spoil the fun to be had.

Be warned: this is a niche game. There is a reason why gamerankings.com has a 66% or so average on this from professional critics. But please take my word on this; Way of the Samurai 2 is a much more accesible game than, say, Harvest Moon. If I could sum this up for most people, I'll go ahead and say this: "Grand Theft Samurai." Sure, this undermines this game's own flair and design, but it makes it that much easier to convey the message of its astounding nonlinearity.

If you passed up the first game, I don't blame you. It was short, limited in its paths, and the graphics were blah.
But with Way of the Samurai 2, all its shortcomings have been remedied and now there IS no doubt: YOU MUST GET THIS GAME. I never rave in my reviews, but I'm making an exception for this. Missing this game is missing an experience.

Way of the Samurai 2, "not as good as the first"...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Being a big fan of the first I bought Way of the Samurai 2 with high hopes for a game with lots of good swordplay in it and for the most part my hopes were fulfilled. There are even more character designs which makes the game even more enjoyable and there are many, many more swords to choose from (Not to mention some of the "Special Swords" from the first game.) However, this game isn't as flawless as the original. The vibrant landscapes are nice but nowhere near as great as the ones from the first. The characters are terrible; looking like they were all put together last minute and the terrible voice acting makes you hate them even more. The story... is a big upset, it's very straight forward, flimsy and sketchy without too many twists. Another thing that's pretty lame is that you can't actually join a faction... you can just do missions for them and from what I can see that doesn't really make you a member of that faction. I like that there are now shops instead of just the one simple resturant and it's kinda cool that the game is ten days instead of two but that only makes the game a little longer really. Infact the whole day system in Way of the Samurai 2 is very puzzling. Somedays nothing happens at all which short of leaves you hanging and wondering if you messed up on a mission or something. I will agree that the swordplay is absoulutely brillant and the fun factor is out through the roof but a game can't just rely and these two elements, a game has to consist on many. If you were a fan of the first one you will like this one, no doubt but some of the game elements may lead to a slight disapointment.

Supposed to be much better&longer than the origional...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As an avid fan of WoS1, I can tell you that you'll either really really love the series(like me), or hate it deathly. While the first had many downfalls (I.E. almost no save system, game lasted only 2 hours, small world-if you could even call it that...), Way of the Samurai 2, you still get to pick what you look like and such, this time around, you can use two swords at once, and the town actually has...oh my God...PEOPLE! and SHOPS! This time, there should actually be a use for the money system in the game x_x. I guess this time theres three sides you can join, the police, the gang, or the townspeople. Well I don't know, but I plan to buy this, I suggest you rent it, to determine wether your a lover or a hater. If you decide you love it, by all means, buy it.

a letdown from the original

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: July 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Way of the Samurai 2 is an open ended, "choose your own adventure" style game featuring samurai in the late Edo period in Japan. As such, it is more like a prequel of the original rather than a sequel. Like in the first game, it has a short adventure with many possibilities and many endings and storylines. It is not made to be beat once, but rather dozens of times.

As a fan of the original Way of the Samurai, I was much anticipating this release. And while I still enjoy playing Way of the Samurai 2, I must admit I found it to be somewhat of a letdown, and rather disappointing.

Way of the Samurai 2 has some improvements over its predecessor. Amahara is larger than Rokkotsu Pass, and so is the adventure. However, it is still quite short. Fighting is more challenging (though this can be bad too), and the game now features real voice acting (though this can be bad too). It has more cutscenes and more endings than before. There is an additional stamina attribute. And there is an RPG-esque repertoire of wearable items that you can buy and sport. There are also new sword types (i.e. fencing). And the annoying game save mechanism from the original has been fixed (best improvement).

However, more has gotten worse than better. Fighting is more challenging, but it becomes so that there is only one effective way of fighting (parrying), which makes fights slow, boring, and repetitive. This is a major blow to the essence of the game. Fights in the original one were more stylish. Another major blow is the removal of the versus mode. This was like a standalone game, not as good as Soul Calibur, but fun nevertheless. And now it's GONE. And the voice acting? Terrible!! I'd rather have the text with the grunts as before, believe it or not.

Graphics wise, the original wasn't that good, but for its time it didn't look that bad. Now that there has been virtually no improvement whatsoever, graphics look dated.

It was also disappointing that you cannot walk through different areas, you are forced to warp through a map screen, and the story, though good, is not as well put-together. There are times and places where nothing happens, and you are left wandering around doing repetitive things and not sure where to go, only to find out later you could have slept those off.

So, balancing out the good and the bad, can't help but to be disappointed, though the game is still worth a play if you liked the previous one.

If you are new to the series, stay away, or try out Way of the Samurai 1 instead.

for thoughs who like swords read!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: July 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

if you like swords in any way, get this game. i've played the first one and i liked that one a lot but it lacked what the second game has now and thats why this game is so great. graphics are great and two of the things i like is that you can choose a differnt way to play it everytime so you never get bored, and there are lots of sword. i perfer the bosses ones or leaders whatever you want to call them, theres like 15 of them, i've almost got all of thoughs but i still got a while to go. and once you get swords you can make them better by takeing them to the smith. another thing thats great in this game is that if you do something it can change the way all the characters in the game look at you, wich is pretty neat. the sword moves in the are sweet and you can always learn new ones.

like i said if you like samurais and swords, or just looking for a game with adventure get this one

I am a sucker for buying this!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 14
Date: October 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was full of boring dialogue and unrealistic swordplay. The first one had great scenery and realistic looking fights. If you must play it, rent it.

Not for long term use

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 9
Date: May 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game will seem fun for a little while, but once you play through it all and get something better you'll see that it just isn't excellent in any category. If you REALLY like this game, then you need to mature your taste. That may happen soon though.

So upset

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: March 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What a let down. The first version of this game was great. I so wanted the second version to just pick up where the 1st left off. It didn't.

Sure, it looks better. There are even more choices that can be made. Unfortunately... this game just sucks. And I LOVED THE 1st ONE! I don't know how they could screw it up so bad.

Buyer beware.

Far more complex. Not for the young children

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: July 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have owned the American version for about 1 week and I have been actively playing the game getting to several endings. I loved the first one. This one is far more complicated.This game is definately not for young children. There are themes here such as drug use, sex, and lots of violence. For the adults buying this game. Now back to the review although this game was far more expansive with many different characters, outfits and scenarios this game also has alot less fighting in most of the jobs that you must aquire to get money to buy goods. You start out by finding things like lost people, packages, or you have to strong arm people out of money. While this was a change of pace from the first one I found some of the jobs a little tedious often times boring. You have to complete several "find the baby/package/person/ before you get to the more complex jobs. So this is far from hack and slash. Its alot more talk and find and occasionally fight. Which is fine but along with the dialogue that I must put up with every time I start a new game it can get annoying.

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