Customer Reviews

Way of the Samurai 3

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been waiting for this game for a while and this game was near impossible to find, but I finally found a copy and got to play for the first time last night. It follows the along the same model of the original The Way of the Samurai. There are tons of swords and fighting styles, that will keep you enthralled for hours upon hours, and once you find that certain sword/style that fits you, you can learn new techniques and level the sword so you can become the ultimate assassin, protector, or just plain ole bad a**. This game is full of action around every turn, and the best concept is that you can choose which path you want to take, if you want to become a rich samurai you can join the fujimori clan, or you can be a sole wanderer a ronin,or you can protect the citizens of a poor city who are being heavily taxed, or you can plot against the fujimori clan and join the ouika clan who are a bunch of thieves and robbers, and the beauty of it is it's all up to you which path you choose. The fighting in this game is superb, depending on which sword you use that is the fighting style used, or you can fight bare handed which is pretty fun as well. I thoroughly enjoyed and am still enjoying this game, if this game sounds like something you might like, or if your like me, I really enjoy old samurai movies especially Akira Kurosawa films, you'll love this game. One of my favorite things about this game is one of the faces you can choose for your samurai looks almost exactly like Toshiro Mifune. In all I give this game a 5 out of 5. Maybe more, this is possibly one of my favorite games of the year.

I'm reviewing this game after putting in about 30 hours so far into it. I'm also reviewing from the perspective of someone who has not played the previous installments in the series, so my comments will be based mostly on the merits of the WOTS3 alone.

I bought the game based on the mostly positive reviews I saw here on Amazon (the decent price point also helped). I too did not see this game in any of my local video game stores or big box retailers so it was nice, being able to find it here.

As for the gameplay - you start off as a samurai who wakes up in a village and over the course of the game you can opt to choose to help one (or both, or none) of 2 major samurai factions/clans, or choose to help the village you woke up in, or pretty much do whatever you want and help nobody as well. One great aspect of the game has been the freedom to choose your destiny, and one of the big selling points of this game is the fact there are so many different endings you can choose from.

It is helpful to note that after you achieve one ending, you can carry over your stats and weapons into a new save, so that you don't have to start all over again in terms of accumulating items. Given the deep weapons creation system in this game and the huge number and variety of weapons you can make or choose from, it makes sense that you carry over items in each incarnation of the game you subsequently start.

Gameplay is relatively fun, with the combat mechanics being very deep and fulfilling. You can learn many different moves and combined that with the variety of weapons and stances you choose from, it definitely caters to both the experts who like deep combat, or even button mashers who like to hit X 100 times a minute to slog through a fight. In this respect I give the game props.

How you finish the game is up to you, with all sorts of storylines and decisions presented to the player at many stages of the game. It is nice to see how your choices really do ultimately affect your outcome.

In short, the game plays relatively well and the variety of endings is also very good. But there are also several shortcomings to the game that I noticed as well.

First, even though the game is technically 'open ended', there is a very limited amount of places you can actually go in the game. You're pretty much cycling through all sorts of jobs and tasks and event driven things in those same areas. Mercifully there is a quick hop option you can select to each area, otherwise you'll notice that you're pretty much running around the same stages over, and over and over again.

Also animations in the game are at times stiff and clunky. Someone above mentioned it was a characteristic of previous games as well and has been improved for the current gen version. However, given how far we are in the current gen, the characters shouldn't be moving around this poorly. The graphics also look relatively weak. It isn't as bad as a late stage PS2 game, but it does come pretty close. The animated scenes do look good, and facial models there are decent. The sound effects are not bad, though I recommend you use the Japanese voices with English subtitles. The English voices sound dorky and some of those guys sound like people in a Chinese restaurant. You're better off using Japanese to stay true to the 'feel' of the game.

One last note, much of how you gain favor in the game is related to the jobs that you are entrusted with by whatever faction you choose to serve. Keep in mind a lot of these missions repeat, and some of them can be frustrating or boring (like those 'find and fetch' or 'hide and seek' kind of missions, which get old after the 10th try if you're playing a prolonged session). Not all of them are bad. In fact some of them are pretty fun and exciting to play. But there is just enough repetition that I'm not sure every player will be devoted enough to try and get all of those 20 or 30 or whatever endings in the game.

That said, it's not a terrible game by any means. The cool storyline, exotic setting and fun combat is definitely a major pro. I just think there are other games out there that provide more action and less repetition than this. But if you're into samurai or ninja style games, or if you are too overwhelmed by the chaos of Dynasty Warriors or turned off by the overly deep strategy sessions of Nobunaga's Ambition ... this game might be a good middle ground for people like you. Just be ready to do a lot of jobs, like fetching underwear or apologizing to townspeople who kick you in the head a lot.

If you like samurai games, this one is pretty cool. There are many different avenues of gameplay. You can hack and slash your way through the game, or try for the many different endings given. The combat system is pretty simple. There are various attacks that you can use...and each weapon has a different set of attacks and stances. The weapon creation system is new and pretty cool. You can make either swords or spears with various different parts you pick up throughout the game. The game has both English and Japanese dialogue for everyone's enjoyment. There are a lot of unlockables, and they stay unlocked for future playthroughs. The graphics are pretty basic, nothing fancy. There's not much audio in the game, but then again you don't really need it. So, feel free to have your own background soundtrack going while playing. Overall, dope game.

I loved this game. This is a combination of the best features for each of the other games. So far I have spend about 40 hours playing and have several endings that I have not unlocked yet. Due to work, I have not played it much lately but when things chill out, it has quite a bit of replay value left. I encourage anyone who enjoyed the previous games to try this out. If you haven't played the others, you should play this anyway. Though the graphics are not mind blowing, the gameplay makes up for it. You should look up a couple of gameplay videos and if you find the graphics acceptable, pick it up. I'm not saying they are terrible but some people place a super high priority on graphics.

This game has been out for a very long time, but seeing that it has just been added recently to the xbox live marketplace. I have decided to add my 2 cents in a review. I purchased this game at release and then again for a friend around the end of this past christmas season for a friend. He despised the game, shocking me within a weeks time he traded it in to gamestop. That speaks volumes for not just this game but the Way of the Samurai series in general. Something that stands out for me is the variety of characters, multiple endings and how decisions truly play a role in the game. This has been true of past iterations as well, at first glance I can't see why this game would be so despised(harsh word) or considered mediocore(more appropriate word).

I'm not sure what to say on this review. I avoid reading other user reviews on amazon.com because I may repeat what they say, which could still happen but it wouldn't be intentional. as much as I want to say "This game is great if you give it a chance" the same people that don't understand why I like Deadly Premonition will fall in the same category of not understanding what this game is about. If anything it is a series that is continuing to build upon itself, fans are craving the 4th game to be localized and rumours are that it will. This game is not for everyone. It's gone up in price at the time of writing this review for the 360 from when I grabbed it for a friend back in nov-dec of last year. The expectation for blockbuster games is way too high, gaming is now about having the EA, Activision or Bioware logo(the list goes on). If your willing to step out of your environment to see what the game has to offer, you may just be surprised on what a smaller released title can do.

if you played and liked either one of the first two, you'll like this. It's not for everybody, as I've seen people talk bad about this game, but I think it's a great game. You can change the outcome of the game, and with over 20 endings, the replay value is great. To pull a sword, or not to pull a sword...that is the question.

This game is awesome! It isn't like Final Fantasy or anything so don't expect huge quests but it is more like those "choose your own adventure books" and like such you can finish a story line in about an hour if you skip all cutscenes and fast foward warp on the map (which comes in handy when you watch that cutscene already 5 times before and are just looking to unlock a new cutscene) but there is 22 endings which mean if you knew EXACTLY what to do to get each one it will still take you 22 HOURS!
Now this game is open world within the city of amana which has some random NPCS thrown about but feels very authentic. you can kill or do anything, but I suggest if you want to go on a killing spree search out the samurais scattered about and draw your weapon to entice THEM. If you attack the citizens you get points counted against you for each hit which means it makes it harder to unlock new outfits and game modes (and you can even put yourself in the negative if you attack too many citizens.) I wouldn't suggest attacking higher level Samurais until after a few play throughs and have a weapon (or two) with high amount of attack. I have dual swords with the attack at 70 and 90 and a decent defense and I still and pressing for many healing items (oh yeah collect as much of those as you can as often as you can! You can find them for free if you know which terrains to look.)
Now the point system is fun, at the end of every play through (or if you die) your life is looked at and seen how well of a samurai you acted, the closest you were to a samurai the higher the points (aka new items, outfits, heads, and gameplay modes) which make the games seem sort of like a new game every time.
I love this game and everyone who loves samurais will agree. This game feels authentic and you feel like you are in the world BUT it does getting used to and takes some time to figure out exactly what your supposed to be doing. I spent two hours running around completing errands when the whole time I could of went to a area (clearly marked on the map when you AREN'T in the middle of the errand) and progress that way.
Very fun and definitely not a game that you see everyday hence why 5/5 rating just wish it had gambling or something to keep you away from the main story line longer to completely immerse yourself in.

I've seen many people compare Way of the Samurai 3 to the first Way of the Samurai. They are similar in many ways, but also quite different. Here's what you can expect in WotS3:

Graphics, Sound, Menus, etc
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Everything is okay. Nothing is great. It feels like you're playing a late PS2 or Xbox game more than an XBox 360 game. All of the WotS games have been a little light on graphics and so forth, so it's to be expected. However, two things annoy me:

1 The time it takes to get to a menu and back (especially for your map) is far too long.

2 An annoyingly loud THWACK blasts from your speakers every time you bump into a bird. Sometimes the birds get stuck between you and something on the ground and your house will tremble with the THWACKTHWACKTHWACKTHWACKTHWACK... and on and on until it unjams.

Overall, nothing too horrible.

Locations
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WotS3 has more locations to visit than the previous games. However, there doesn't seem to be much worthwhile to do in the locations. Events don't generally just happen in front of you and you get a chance to respond. You tend to initiate every little thing going on. Because of this, the world feels less alive and more of a chore to get to anything fun.

Quests
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I kid you not, the first quest I got was to find a grandmother's lost underpants that she lost somewhere in a battlefield. I never did find them, but spent 2 hours searching the dead and looking in every nook and corner I could think of.

Some of the quests are fun, but most don't give you any variety in completing them. For instance, for one quest somebody has dishonored a guild. You are instructed to intimidate him until he leaves the guild alone. However, there's no way to intimidate him except to beat the tar out of him with the flat end of your sword. You couldn't scare him with unsheathing a blade, sneaking up behind him and pushing him, figuring out where is family lived and teaching them a lesson or any other option. You just had to beat him up.

Also, it takes so long to find a quest worth doing that when you finally get one that feels like it might be fun and turns out to be a dud, you get a little annoyed.

Difficulty Variance
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All open world games have some trouble figuring out how difficult different enemies should be. However, WotS3 is way too far off. You may be working on a story arc and then you'll either need to win an impossible battle that is critical to the plot or you'll be waylaid by a bandit that is impossible to beat.

Now, eventually you'll beat them. You'll gain in power and you'll get better weapons, etc. But even after several play-throughs, I've still not gotten to any end of a story arc.

Save System
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You talk to bards and they'll save your game. I like this system better than WotS 1's system of "no save until you win or die." Also, WotS 3 likely takes several hours to beat (I've put in 9 hours over 3 consecutive games so far without getting close to beating it).

Combat
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When you're fighting a fair battle, combat is fun. You block and attack while also moving your weight around to get them off-balance. In an impossible battle like I mentioned above, it's frustrating -- especially when there's no good way out of it. The enemy will hit you so much harder than you can hit that you'll just drop quickly.

What is there to like?
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There's still tons to do, and that's what this game is all about. It's about discovering characters and experimenting with cause and effect. I know that with enough time, I'll learn all of the characters and I'll build the best weapons. There's still lots of story to uncover and combat styles to learn.

Conclusions
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This is a niche game for sure. But I thought I'd fit into the niche better than I did b/c WotS 1 is one of my all-time favorite games. I would strongly recommend trying this one for a few hours before buying.

If you've played the previous entries in the Way of the Samurai series then this game will neither disappoint or surprise. I bought it for my brother, who is a fan of the series. He says it was rather short but he enjoyed his time with it. Also, there is a way to finish the game in minutes. But I don't know why you would want to do that.

Great game with many alternative endings. You choose your destiny like in the fable games. If you like ninjas and samuria then you will love this game. Great storyline. They could have did way better on graphics though!