It Seems Like A Lot Of Paths, But They Keep Intersecting

I thought I'd talk about a game I've just started playing recently, since my last game post was about one I'd just finished, and I'm not sure when new comics might show up.

Way of the Samurai places you as a masterless samurai, entering a particular valley in the mountains where there's quite a bit going on. Rival clans are fighting for supremacy, townspeople are being pushed around, the law seems to be represented by corrupt weasels, the government's up to no good, and so on. You just walk in, and what you do from there is up to you. Since everything that happens takes place over the span of two days, it doesn't take long to play through a story, but the replay value comes in being able to choose different paths.

My first play I wandered by some guy telling his subordinates to be on guard against the rival clan, declined an opportunity to join their side, then had the swordsmith improve my sword. Except I didn't have the money to pay him, tried to flee, and was beaten to death by him and his giant sledgehammer.

Second time through, I accepted the offer to join that clan, which meant I had plenty of money to improve my swords, but also meant I did things like hassle shop owners for protection money. I served pretty well, protecting my leader's kid, defending the foundry he was selling to the government, but was eventually killed by a horde of the government's covert ninja guys. Which was quite annoying since there was seemingly no end to those guys. I must have killed a dozen, but another would just hop off the rooftops.

Starting my third play, I took the other path, and ran into some of my cronies from the previous play carrying off the young girl who works at the shop. So I kicked their butts and saved her, then defended her shop when they showed up to mess with it (minus me on their side, this time), then rescued her buddy Don who had snuck into their fortress to swipe some money. Well, "saved" might be a strong word. We made it out, but ran into the leader on the way, and he was probably going to kill when he was distracted by bigger problems. Still, Don's not dead, and he would have been, if not for me. I'm not sure what's going to come up next.

The game tends to provide you with options as to how to proceed. You can talk to someone and choose from a couple of responses, and maybe that informs how things proceed. When I went to rescue Don, I told the girl to make it worth it, and the game presented that as having 3 meanings: Either I meant money, a good meal when we returned, or some time in the sack*. You can switch sides in a fight, or choose to help no one at all (assuming nobody attacks you, and even if they do, you could run). If you're about to die, you can try begging for mercy, which I've eschewed so far, figuring I'm supposed to die rather than lose face. Plus, you never know how a fight can turn. One of the guys carrying the girl gave me that option, I declined, and hurt him badly enough he ended up leaving. I might try it next time though, just to see how it goes. Knowing my luck, the guy will laugh and cut me in half. That's basically what I did when I squared off with the guy from the bridge during my rescue of Don.

What? He had a nice sword, and if you kill someone, you can take their sword.

I'm not sure how many different paths there to choose from, but there are things I haven't entirely explored yet. In the second story, the wife of the clan leader was either striking up a business deal without her husband's knowledge, or carrying on an affair. I ran afoul of the town cop earlier in my current game, not sure if that's going to be a problem later or not. The swordsmith's got some big hopes for me, though not big enough to lend a hand when I could use it. The stories don't always operate in a way that makes sense, though. In my second playthrough, the girl from the shop asked me to rescue Don, even though the only time she'd met me, I was working for the people Don was planning to steal from, and I helped trash her home and workplace. I didn't end up saving Don that time**.

Combat isn't too tricky. There's a button for weak attacks, another for strong, one for jumping, and one for blocking. There is a nice touch where, if your opponent is blocking, you can try to push them off-balance, which leaves them momentarily open for a strong attack. or, if you're blocking, if you move away, they'll stumble forward, again leaving them open. You can come up with combos as you go along which is nice. There are even moves for you to attack if you trip over something, so you aren't completely helpless. The only health recovery items are whatever veggies happen to be laying around. Fortunately, most fights take place near storerooms, gardens, or places where mushrooms could grow.

Even though the story isn't very long, I am intrigued by the idea of playing through and making different choices all the time. I want to play at some point as simply a berserker, attacking anyone in sight, and maybe another time, see if I can do nothing. Take no sides, no action, just see what happens if I stand by. I doubt I can manage that. I couldn't stand idly and watch a half-dozen swordsmen from the rival clans have a particularly half-assed battle. Nobody seemed eager to attack, so I rushed in and started swinging to gets things happening again. Course, I went ahead and chopped down everyone, so maybe I've already tried my berserker option.

* I went with food, because the other two seemed wrong, and I generally suck at being evil in games.

** I did make the attempt, but I thought I was supposed to be sneaky, Thief-style, and couldn't see how to pull that off, so I ended up leaving, and telling her it was no good. When I actually made it through on my next play, I basically killed everyone I saw. So much for stealth.