Icarus's blog: "Somantics"

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DUDE! just...
FUCK! I'm still digesting all this information but
HOLY FUCK!!!

Alright-
sooooo
exteeeeeeensive minigame development

(dating games, stealth games, torture minigames for being a "wicked samurai")

Proof of life system-
Your actions effect the next playthrough.
If you murder everyone in town- there's gonna be more guards hanging out.
If you can't talk to the englishmen (cuz... they're english, and you're Japanese- duh)
Convince the shogun to open a foreign language school
bam-
you talk to foreigners.



Realtime dialogue and scene interactions
(I still prefer skipping cut scenes til they need my input- I've got 80 hours in WOTS3 logged, I'd say 4 of that was watching cut scenes ONE time and never watching them again :/)


The accessory system is revamped
but still there

fishing minigame- I already know there's a rare sword to be fished up somewhere- its just... so japanese!

...
Random samurai encounter-
Playstation network will randomly upload your player data PSN, and you will appear in other people's game
fully customized and fully armed.
If someone kills an avatar- you get their custom sword!

The weapon system is completely fuggered (probably not in a bad way) though-
read a review from someone and it sounds like...
lemme see if I got all this right
cuz its secondhand and from a guy playing the JP version that isn't japanese

There are three weapons
Sword
Spear
Barehands
(and heavy indication that there are useable guns)

There are 82 styles

...
109 unique swords
over 240 "sword parts"

and swords are no longer associated with sword styles.

You join a dojo
you beat people into submission to join your dojo (this stays on proof of life and subsequent playthrough we'll call it POL)
Dojo challengers show up based on your dojo fame/infamy
if you beat em
they sometimes drop a book
read the book
learn a new stance

82 STANCES!??!?!?!

That's what I thought I read from this guy calling it "styles"

Apparently you can adjust your stance at any time, and moves used in that stance with your current equipped sword.


Weapon forging:
Your sword has a max amount of punishment it can take before it just drops
dead
I dunno what other stats it has but I'm assuming it has hit/def
rather than having to time out how much heat your sword has
its just a comprehensive -
oh you swung your sword
90,000,000 times
its dead
but you can buy expendable items that instantly repair it

you can have it reforged and repaired though
or you can break down swords into base materials for forging
there's also title appraisal- so I'm sure like in Wots2 and 3 if you kill a thousand or so people
you get a massive increase to attack
and a badass title.

Samurai points are used for buying NPC skins and character creation options
including muscle mass
skintone
etc

There's actual ARTICLES of clothing now, not just "robe- other robe- other kimono" (basically not a default set of 16 outfits like before)
so you can actually wear slacks
and mantles
and shit

and
accessories are back
(glasses, more glasses, devil mask etc)
and accessories can be placed different spots on the body
and apparently you can get more than one now.
So
want 2 sets of glasses? go for it
Want 8 hanya masks?
go for it.



I like this new system
I get extremely attached to some of my swords.
Or at least a sword, a playstyle and an outfit together (IE I use the "sharkfin blade" with the red outfit and black hair from Wots3 cuz it looks like one of the main characters in 1) it kinda generates a composite character.

if I make a totally badass custom sword
I can probably use any combination of stances and abilities with it, not a limited, funneled amount of "skill points" that you sacrificed weapon functionality for when creating a weapon.

I've already got "my" sword planned.
Its a red shirasaya.
Draw stance.

If its possible.
(shirasaya is that... ceremonial sword look, the sheath and handle are one piece of wood carved and crafted so it looks like a seamless single piece, no guards, no fancies- they're not "hidden swords" just... nifty, and I've always liked red lacquer)

Simple... but mine.

Apparently there's three parts to every sword
Blade
hilt
grip

... there's something about "charms"
as well.
+ to money per kill
Restores life at 0
+ damage at night.

Apparently there's optional lil additives.
Neat.
Wonder if they have a visual effect.

...
*sigh*
what else, sorry I was too busy FREAKING out for a couple minutes there.


I wonder what my samurai is gonna look like...

The developers definitely responded to all the /whine
about not enough sandboxing.

Holy shit there's at least 10x as much now.

So lets work under the assmuption that there are
82 styles

Barehands

Swords-
Dual (I'm betting is purchased from the blacksmith- said he had a book in his shop)
Side
Draw
Middle
Top
Down
Onehand
Ninja
(ninja DW?)

Barehands-
... ?

Spear-
Dual -.... hahahaha! just kidding- no idea. Again.

Gun-

Sword-gun combo.
I can see this coming from Samurai Western- the franchise's crazy cousin.


Even if there's variants to each major style
Which I've observed in every WOTS game
(Remember my rant about 1 handers? of course you don't)

There's...
rougish downstance
rolling downstance

ineffective (random thug style)
for nearly every style.

1 hander kick/spin emphasis
1 hander murder buzz saw emphasis

hell even the difference between the Samehamadaru (top) and the Daikuronoma (top) are MASSIVE.
One spins, lunges, stabs and spins
the other one jumps, crushes, stabs and crushes

So... maybe "Style" is just the variants of all the interdisciplinary variances

In other words-
yeah, you're using mid stance, but are you using a collection of those shit abilities the thugs use
or the badass abilities you learned from Sensei's sword?

Even the draw stances had different approaches to the same move
-> + Triangle on one sword wasn't always the same thing
it was
a jab with your sheath,
a palm attack
a super fast strike
a forward roll
a slow but powerful draw
an upward slash
a horizontal slash

and various combos that could be strung to those first attacks.

-----------------------------------

Speaking of sandbox games I'm eagerly anticipating

Saints Row 3
and I know EXACTLY what to expect from those people, and what they can do NOT to fuck up that game
(don't pull a GTA4)
The one thing I finally came up with that I knew I wanted from that whacky franchise

okay in
SR you can customize
EVERYTHING

Every article of every clothing
color
placement
body type
age
sex
etc

so you can also do this with your car
colors
body kits
hoods
etc
etc
etc

What I want?

I want to put a fucking tank barrel on my BMW
a minigun on my truck
and jamesbond rocket pods on a jet booster on my moped.

...
yeah
that's like the final frontier for those assholes.

Go to a mechanic- or even a special mechanic, and slap on some "hardware"

Everything else is pretty spot on XD

--------

so yeah
crazy /want for this game aside
both games actually...

I will learn japanese if I have to...

here's dudes appearing in your game at random with random swords.
I love this feature.

Puts a new spin on the term "sword collector" huh?