Behold, my incomparable skills with MS Paint. Marvel at Sorin's see-through hand.

Nearly a full year of hyperventilating, and nail biting excitement will soon reach its crux. Am I speaking of StarCraft II? Well, I am hyped, but this isn't about that.
Less than three days remain before Sengoku BASARA 3, the 4th console game in the hack n' slash series, will release for the Playstation 3 and Wii in Japan. I have my copy pre-ordered, and now the agonizing wait is steadily growing.









Of course, those unwilling to cope with playing a whole game in an unfamiliar language will have to wait until October 12th, when the English adaptation, Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes comes to North America.

Here are the last tidbits of info that Capcom has trickled out in regards to Sengoku BASARA 3.





Gameplay & System Info





"Drama Emaki Mode" Story Paths



It had already been known that there would be choices to make, and multiple endings for each of the 16 playable characters, but just how much choice is the player presented with?
If this chart in the Drama Emaki section is any indication, there is some surprising depth. Ieyasu's story sees 3 major branches leading to 3 different endings, with plenty of smaller branches on the way.

Reviews of the game from Dengeki and Famitsu have cited that an average playthrough of the new story mode will clock in at roughly two hours, about twice as long as the standard 5 stage story mode of past titles. With multiple playthroughs required in order to see everything, it seems there's much more meat to the narrative content here.






Assist Generals/ "Bodyguards"



I'm still a bit foggy on the nitty gritty of this addition, but basically you get to choose your allied officers that head into battle with you, and they can grant you stat buffs or special attributes. Exactly how much they will factor into gameplay remains to be seen, aside from perhaps unique dialogue between characters. I just want to know how long it will be before I have Hirotsuna's tiger fighting by my side.







Big Bosses



The previous Sengoku BASARA titles had big machine bosses too. However, the strategy that went into fighting them was paper-thin. The player more or less ran up the the closest leg and spammed a multi-hitting skill, or used their BASARA attack until the wooden husk keeled over. Wooden AT-ATs, dragon-spider-tanks, Living Buddhist Statues, they were basically all the same.





In this video, you can see the Toyotomi Epic Horse




From the looks of it, that too has changed with Sengoku BASARA 3. The new monstrosities that our heroes will face-off against include the above pictured Toyotomi Epic Death Carriage (since I don't know what it's actually called), a Zabii shaped tank that is literally titled "Ah, Lord Zabii~! Your visage and memories!", the Chosokabe's Toad-Spider-Boat-Walker-Thing (named "Akatsuki-maru"), and, for some reason, a huge excavation vehicle that belongs to the Kuroda, but is being used by Mogami Yoshiaki(?).







In this video, you can see Otomo Sorin, and the Kunikuzushi. You also see him do inappropriate things





The new bosses actually have weakspots, attack patterns AND movement patterns, and don't sit still waiting to die. Although, fast characters like Kotaro can still make mince-meat out of some machines, like the Zabii Tank.





Other things shown on the site include glimpses of the new weapon upgrade system, and word that in addition to taking 3 skills into battle, each character may also bring 1 of 3 unlockable "super skills". I have no idea exactly how these skills are executed, but they include such feats of random win as Ieyasu picking up and throwing Tadakatsu's drill-spear.










New NPCs




Otomo Sorin



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otomo_Sorin

Zabii, "Mr. LOVE AND PEACE" himself, has left Japan, and appointed his loyal choir-boy page Sorin to carry on the goals of Christi-- er, I mean, "The Zabii Cult". Sorin doesn't fight with a "weapon", opting instead to ride on the aforementioned Zabii tank. It shoots missiles that can be hit and redirected back at Sorin, and can also rotate while singing "ZABIIZABIIZABIIZABII!"
Sorin also does all kinds of wild movements while riding this thing. He even does a "pelvic thrust" occasionally.
It may be also worth noting that Sorin's voice actor is well known for his role as Uchiha Sasuke in the anime adaptation of Naruto.








Tachibana Muneshige



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachibana_Muneshige

A big burly man with a well groomed beard, and a pair of lighting-imbued chainsaw blades. This Muneshige, I like. The history between the Otomo and Tachibana clans is something I'm not so familiar with, but if memory serves, Muneshige was the adopted son of Tachibana Dosetsu, who was originally a vassal of Otomo Sorin. It seems as if he only follows Sorin out of his own sense of honour, as he doesn't seem to make an awful big noise about the Zabii Cult..
That said, he looks to be a beast to fight against. In Kotaro's japanese video, Muneshige's charging attack alone nearly sapped all of the life away from the Legendary Shinobi. He also chases you throughout the Battle of Hetsugigawa Stage (Zabii's Castle); fitting, as he was known as the "Tadakatsu of the West".









"Landlord" NPCs

Not as story relevant as the other NPCs, not with a "full moveset" like them either, from the looks of it. For most of them, it seems more of a way to easily slip in representation for clans that have not appeared in the series. I had never even heard of most of these samurai, but lets take a look.
We'll begin the most well known of them.









Naoe Kanetsugu



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoe_Kanetsugu


"I am the invincible main character! It took a whole year, but I've become famous! Uesugi's number one fighter, Naoe Kanetsugu!! I won't lose to the likes of y--AAAAGGHH!!! I lost even though I'm invincible?!?!"

You may have noticed him in Sengoku BASARA 2. Maybe in the anime (he made an appearance in this week's episode, for those of you following it). He's the man who boasts of his invincibility.

He's certainly funny, but as a fighter, he's as lacking as ever, in spite of his now unique character model. In fact, I dare say he's weaker than ever before, being dispatched by skills that merely would have wounded other officers. He also seems to have no elemental attribute.
"Muteki no Shujinko", I salute your misplaced bravery.








Utsunomiya Hirotsuna



http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Utsunomiya_Hirotsuna

WATAH!! Wait, what? Does this guy think he's Kenshiro?! I know little of this character or his real life counterpart. What I do know is that he looks like Dynasty Warriors' Zhao Yun, he has a pet tiger(s?), and he's packing plenty of "AAAATATATAtAtATATAtATATATATATATATATATAT*cough**hack**cough*"
His element appears to be Ice.

Tsuruhime is the only playable character with the Ice Element, and yet 3 NPCs (Kenshin, Yoshiaki, Hirotsuna) have it? Unfair...*sadface








Nanbu Harumasa



http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Nanbu_Harumasa


A creepy, old, one-eyed ninja who summons ghost samurai? I like this guy, too!
And that is literally all I know.
As you can guess, his element is Dark.









Satake Yoshishige



http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Satake_Yoshishige


The most uninteresting looking "unique" general, aside from his deadly eyebrows.
His element, or at least his attacks are centered around Earth, and it looks like he can bury himself underground.











Anegakoji Yoritsuna



http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Anegakoji_clan


Hmph. No individual article on SA? Exactly which member of the Anegakoji clan he was, I haven't the faintest idea. He has bamboo shoots on his back, and he rolls logs outwards to attack the player.
No idea what his element is. Light, perhaps?











Amago Haruhisa



http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Amako_Haruhisa


Despite his somewhat feminine appearance, he has one of the deeper voices of the landlords. His stage appears to be a sand-swept desert (on the coast of Japan; go figure), and his element, I'm guessing, is Wind.










Unique Character Traits


These are some unique things that each character can use to make the most of their playstyles, and further diversifies the cast. Here are the traits we know so far:

Tokugawa Ieyasu: can charge most of his attacks

Ishida Mitsunari: can execute a warp move after his skills to cancel lag time, and chain skills together

Sanada Yukimura: can execute a lunging slash after skills, similar to Mitsunari

Date Masamune: skill set changes when all six swords are drawn (i.e.: Death Fang -> Death Bite)

Otani Yoshitsugu: hold square to apply a "mark" to enemies; skills gain homing properties

Saika Magoichi: using different skills changes her equipped weapon (magnum, shotgun, machine-gun)

Kuroda Kanbei: using a dodge cancels lag time after skills

Honda Tadakatsu: different activation modes can change attacks (i.e. Flying + Attack Mode = aerial
bombing)

Maeda Keiji: "Love Tactics" skill can be chained into basically any of Keiji's moves, including his BASARA

Chosokabe Motochika: long distance anchor chain moves deal multiple hits(?)

Mori Motonari: trap activations using his taunt; different combinations of traps (?)

Tsuruhime: attacks do more damage at a specific range

Shimazu Yoshihiro: hold square to walk; eliminates the annoying habit Yoshi has of getting his sword stuck in the ground if his first hit misses

Oichi: Black Hand moves hold enemies in place, stay active while you can move and activate other skills (?)

Fuuma Kotaro: as long as he hits enemies, he can stay airborne indefinitely

#16: ???


...Hmm...what's that? #16? Oh, right, the final playable character was leaked by Capcom's Korean site last Sunday, but was taken down a few short hours later. Dengeki, V-Jump, and Famitsu had articles about this character that same week, and that Wednesday evening...the japanese SB3 website was taken over...



THE FINAL PLAYABLE CHARACTER

Don't read on if you don't want your puny mind blown!
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Oda Nobuuuuuunagaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa zu!

*Title has been changed from "Demon King of the Sixth Heaven", to "Demon Conqueror of Heaven and Hell"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga


Despite the fact that the Honnouji Incident has taken place in this game's storyline, and Nobunaga was sent to rest in the underworld, he bitchslapped the overfiend, arm wrestled Beelzebub, and gave King Minos a pinkbelly, and will rise to wreak havoc on the fields of Sekigahara. The most major change seems to be a ghostly red visage of Nobby that appears during certain moves. Some of his new skills make more use of his often neglected shotgun, and rumor has it that his BASARA attack is different now. But seriously, how can you top a living, tattered red cape that mercilessly shreds everything in sight?!
All will be revealed when Nobunaga's gameplay video hits the Japanese site on July 29th, the day the game releases in Japan.

Back when the initial details of SB3's story were coming in, Nobunaga was one of several characters confirmed to be dead. This, however, didn't stop him.
It's funny how despite the statement that "the Oda are no more", more than half of the Oda characters are still alive. Nobunaga, Oichi, and Mitsuhide are still in this game, while Ranmaru and Nouhime are the only ones left under the dirt.




I am incredibly pumped. This long awaited game is almost here, and will soon consume all my damn free time. The land-dividing conflict rides forth into Japan this Thursday, July 29th, for the PS3 and Wii.
The conflict spills onto western shores on October 12th, and will be a budget title, priced at $40.

Sadly, the online co-op that was originally meant for the PS3 version of the game has been scrapped, but local multiplayer is still in. There are also no plans for DLC, which means an expansion game in the vein of Sengoku BASARA 2: Heroes will appear some time in the next year or two.



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If I'm lucky, I should have my copy of the game by next week. I'd love to write a review once I've begun to satiate my thirst for hacking and slashing.

GOOD COURAGE! LOTS OF LUCK!!