Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Vanillaware) - Out now

Wait, so the game's bad, according to NP?

Not *bad*, but I was under the impression that this was going to be an all-9s type of game. Seems to be getting just alright reviews.

:|
 
Well, it's a lot like Odin Sphere in the sense that it's just very repetitive. Based on the Japanese reviews I wasn't expecting stellar reviews but at least something more positive than just the graphics.

Here's the summary from NP:

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Pros
-gorgeous
-individual stories are compelling

Cons
-gameplay not as deep as it should be
-little variety in attacks
-sword’s individual skills aren’t varied much despite there being over 100 of them
-the game ends up promoting button mashing over combos, even on the higher of the two difficulty levels. However you can’t get away with that as much on the unlockable 3rd difficulty level and some side missions.
-the two playable characters control the same and play through the same areas
-plot can be confusing when it throws names at you without context

8.0
 
Yay, GS.com shipped my order! Both the game and the wall scroll. Probably won't get it until late next week at the earliest, though. :p

I'm not at all concerned about the current reviews, as I read the original Japanese copy ones and figured nothing was going to change in the port.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']FFS it's not an RPG.[/QUOTE]
Isn't it as much of an RPG as Odin Sphere? They gave that:

Graphics: 94%
Sound: 89%
Gameplay: 83%
Control: 87%
Story: 91%
Overall: 92%

Along with their Editor's Choice award.
 
Odin Sphere isn't an RPG either. Calling these games RPGs is like calling Legend of Legaia a fighting game because you have combos and attack inputs.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Odin Sphere isn't an RPG either. Calling these games RPGs is like calling Legend of Legaia a fighting game because you have combos and attack inputs.[/QUOTE]
Admittedly I haven't looked into Muramasa enough to see how similar they are, but at the very least OS is an Action RPG. So if the site covers Kingdom Hearts, Castlevania, etc., then these games certainly qualify.
 
Muramasa is considered an action RPG, as was Odin Sphere. How much RPG is a discussion best left for another forum topic.
 
Cleared Momohime (Shura) in 10 hours flat. Going back in for Kisuke, then grinding both for the alternate/real endings.

-Not a very compelling story so far.
-Backtracking like no ones business.
-Sometimes the enemies go off screen, I'm not sure if this is a formatting issue since I'm playing in 4:3

+Arcade Stick support
+Technically solid

Momo - Peach
Hime - Princess
 
8 and a half to clear Kisuke. I'm about at 20 hours now. I estimate that I've got 5-10 hours if I want to 100% everything - all swords, all endings.
 
Probably 2-3 hours away from the last ending.

Anyone have any interesting combos (mostly for strong enemies but not bosses)?

The one I'm working on is some variation of this:

slash x4 until they take air, uppercut, air slash x4 (which brings them down to the ground), ground slash (which relaunches if you're fast), uppercut, air slash x4 (at which point you cannot relaunch). Charge down release slash as they are getting up. If they take every hit of it, it relaunches them so you can start it all over again!

Right now I'm trying to work the dashing air slashes into it. Like upper cut, dash slash, air slash x3, dash slash, air dash x3, etc.

You can stay up there for a really long time if you plan it out.
 
I just started playing this last night, enjoying it quite a bit. I find the combat fun, and of course the visuals as well as the music to be fantastic.
 
I got the game today and I'm very confused. I'm playing on Shura, and I'm finding the game quite easy. The thing that confuses me is that I SUCK ASS at action games. After reading Gamefaqs and hearing how much "harder" Shura is, I actually double checked my game to make sure I wasn't actually playing on Muso. I'm on Act 4 with Momohime. Gamefaqs also claims that the game gets easier as you go along in Shura as you get used to the game. Please, someone tell me I'm not going crazy.

IB"lolgamefaqs"
 
I keep seeing this compared to Odin Sphere, are we talking about in style only?

I liked Odin Sphere, or at least the very beginning. I made it through the first two chapters, but by the time I made it to the third chapter, I felt as if the game itself was becoming very, very repetitive. Rehash of exactly the same areas, only with a different character that had to be start over from scratch.

I'm interested in Muramasa, but if it succumbs to the same repetitive feeling of Odin Sphere I'm afraid I will have to pass.
 
hmm.. going to get my preorder today. I have been very busy... if they do not have the preorder bonus... Cancel, Thats all I am going to say.
 
I didnt think Shura is that hard when you are taking advantage of secret arts and items.

It is similar to Odin sphere, but you only get 2 characters. They have their own bosses and weapons. However the play exactly the same (minus different weapons). They go to the same places but the layout is different.
 
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Just got this yesterday w/Wall Scroll from gs.com. I'm afraid to open it, but the scroll looks like it folds out into something larger? I didn't have time to play last night, but maybe tonight...
 
[quote name='62t']Is that every mission? Including one that suggest level 92?[/QUOTE]
I did every dungeon with Momohime but I didnt do them all again with Kisuke. They're the same so I figured I wouldnt bother.

The level 92 one requires that you game the system pretty bad. Once you beat it, you've broken the game because the item you get lets you use Special Arts without using up meter, so you can just win any battle by spamming SAs while being invincible because of both the start up and during the SA you're invulnerable.

Level 99, pre battle cook a shabu shabu, which gives you invicinbility for up to the first 3 waves.

Equipment was:
Oboro Muramasa
Whatever sword has Hornet 3
Whatever sword has Gale 3.
Accessory that regens 2% health.

Items:
- Thing that prevents soul power from going down for a limited time
- Refill soul power (all)
- Refill soul power (one sword)
- pill that refills 1000 with no fullness
- grilled squid (2500 hp/100% full)

I pretty much spammed SA's all the way through until there was one left so I could run around the map until my health recharged (since I didnt bring many health items). I pretty much ran out of everything at the very end but I got lucky and got them both in the corner at the same time and just spammed regular slash'd them to death.
 
So I tried out Shura Mode, and the first boss rocked me, and then dialed down to Musou and had a much easier time :lol:

I'm loving this game already.
 
Started this game the other day. Switching between kisuke and momohime between acts. Currently on Act 3. I am enjoying the game. I find it to be fun even if it is a little easy its a blast to play.
 
Loving this game so far. I'm only four hours into it, but on the "easy" difficulty I'm finding it very fun - not too hard, not too easy.

Because the gameplay doesn't really change much as you move from area to area and gain more blades, Muramasa is better enjoyed in small bursts - not just rushing to the end of the game in a day or two. The art style alone practically begs that you savor this game and not take in too much at once. I think the criticisms of "repetitive" are coming from people who shot through it, marathon-style. (Game reviewers in particular don't really have much choice in the matter.)

I love Odin Sphere like crazy, but the pacing in that game - with all the leveling up and "starting levels over" and so forth - was a little slow for me. And Grim Grimoire is great too, but that's also a slowly-paced strategy game. This is kind of a breath of fresh air, because it's very much an action brawler with leveling-up. Very cool. The bosses are great.

Without its wonderful graphics, Muramasa might not be as enjoyable a game, but in this instance the art style is almost part of the gameplay. It's hard to separate them.
 
Thoughts after beating Momohime's story and in the middle of Kisuke's story on Shura (the harder of the 2 initial difficulties):
-Even on Shura, for the most part the game is too easy except for a select few bosses. And I suck at action games.
-The game is wayyyyyy too repetitive. Too few enemy types, and the enemies only come in one type per battle, except for very few battles (ie only ninjas, only trolls, etc). The areas are also too repetitive, and all you're doing is walking around, and fighting an enemy on most maps. There's very little exploration. The repetitiveness of the areas make it so that the nice graphics don't look all that great after you're looking at the same damn backgrounds for the whole game.
-The boss battles are excellent. However, some of them are too easy.
-Apparently the "translation" is borked. For several lines of robust dialogue in spoken Japanese, there are only one or two short sentences actually subbed in English. So much for giving this game a better treatment than Lux Pain. I'd say the only thing they took care to do is to make sure there weren't any ridiculous spelling or grammatical errors. Otherwise, it's an extremely dry and seemingly rushed translation.

That's about all thus far. It was really fun to play for the first few hours, but then it got more and more tiring simply because it's so repetitive and so easy. I'll probably sell it when I beat Kisuke's story. I think people are overlooking the simplicity of the game due to their extreme hard-ons for the graphics, which I didn't think were all that impressive anyway. It's easy to have no slowdown when there's only one enemy type on the screen.
 
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Got my copy yesterday (Sat.) and really liking the game. The easy setting seems super easy to me. I'm afraid to switch over though...
 
Anyone who preordered from amazon get an email today with a code for a "poster?" I went to the website in the email but didn't see anywhere to input a code.
 
[quote name='jamezuva']Anyone who preordered from amazon get an email today with a code for a "poster?" I went to the website in the email but didn't see anywhere to input a code.[/QUOTE]

Wait for the site to load. Worked for me.
 
So how are you guys aware there are alternate endings, etc?

I am actually getting some time with this 3.5 hours so far, and am digging it.

I am not however heading off to the path shown on the map, I am exploring around and seeing what else is out there, doing this I seem to come to new enemy types pretty frequently. I am at the end of act 3 with the ninja (forget his name).

The translation is poor, but it gives you the just of the game.

Also for anyone that has beat it, is there enough souls, etc to really unlock all the swords or do you have to go around to the few random battles left on the map and continually replay them to earn enough souls? I will probably not be into doing that.

For me this game is almost like No More Heroes. Most people slammed that game, and for me it was good fun, and I went through 100% of it.
 
The Amazon poster came in the mail at my parents' house yesterday. I'm going to see them tomorrow and they'll bring it with them. I send postal service packages to their place because the local usps is total shit and refuses to deliver packages to our apartment complex; they make us pick it up at their PO in the ghetto. Private package carriers do though, so we use them unless we HAVE to use usps for packages.
 
I was so stupid with the poster code from amazon. I was on a business trip and didn't feel like going through. By the time I got back and check, it was OOS. I had stupidly assumed that my poster would just be waiting .. :p yeah... i was tired.

Anyway, just received an email from amazon yesterday regarding a $10 gift certificate they are depositing into my account for the inconvenience.

I did pick up another copy at gamestop when it had its wall scroll. Wish I also have the poster too.
 
[quote name='wasabi5858']I was so stupid with the poster code from amazon. I was on a business trip and didn't feel like going through. By the time I got back and check, it was OOS. I had stupidly assumed that my poster would just be waiting .. :p yeah... i was tired.

Anyway, just received an email from amazon yesterday regarding a $10 gift certificate they are depositing into my account for the inconvenience.

I did pick up another copy at gamestop when it had its wall scroll. Wish I also have the poster too.[/QUOTE]

Everyone who preordered from Amazon got the $10GC, including people who actually received the poster, like me. :lol: This effectively made the cost of my playing this game $0, since I sold it back on Amazon for about $40 the week after release.
 
Just finished, well 5 of the 6 endings. About 20 hours all told. Spent most of it on easy and some on hard.
If I played only on hard, I'd guess it would be 10 more hours.
It takes a while to get a hold of how best to use secret arts and items, some of them are pretty awesome against certain bosses.
Also- I never took a ride from the fisherman until very late in the game- only then did I realize it actually does something besides fast travel.
 
Oh heh, no worries, they mention at GAME.co.uk

But my favourite sites such as GamePlay and The Hut don't even have it listed...
 
I'm thinking of getting this (and RE5) to get the $40 Amazon credit. When using the Classic Controller, can you use the D-pad or do you have to use the analog stick? I don't like having to press up to jump with analog sticks and I prefer to use a d-pad when I can to preserve the analog stick.
 
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