Author Topic: Muramasa - The Demon Blade (Read 7492 times)

Quemaqua · « **on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 02:16:51 AM »

One of the few great game for the Wii, and one that seems to have been sadly overlooked by many. Ignore the somewhat middling review at GSpot. I don't know where in the world they got the idea that this game doesn't have depth. That's just stupid.

In a nutshell this is a 2D action hack n' slasher with a cool story, jaw-dropping presentation, and a little customization and fair amount of replayability. And when I saw jaw-dropping presentation, I fucking mean it. This is one of the best looking 2D games of all time. It is utterly beautiful.

These are a few screens capped from my attempts at running this in an emulator (mostly successful!). As per the usual, view outside the forums for better resolution.

Screen 4
Screen 5
Screen 6
Screen 7

The game is really fantastic and I sincerely wish more people had gotten the chance to see it. It looks amazing, has fantastic voice acting, and is quite a lot of fun. I'll post some more screens when I get to prettier areas, but wanted to get something up now since it appears I never got around to making a thread for it. Shame on me.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #1 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 03:44:46 AM »

Screen 11
Screen 12
Screen 13

I'm staying up way too late playing this. But there you go, some more beautiful screens. They don't remotely compare to seeing the game in motion, but hopefully it's enough to spark some interest. I remember being wowed by the look of the game at E3 but not knowing hardly anything about it, then it released sort of under the radar and I picked it up a little while after it had come out. I was really blown away, but unfortunately our Wii has migrated to the upstairs where it isn't convenient for me to play games, thus I haven't given it a lot of time. Now that I've got it emulated, though... wee!

MysterD · « **Reply #2 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 06:21:01 AM »

Wow @ the art design and direction. That's beautiful.
I'd like to see video of this thing in motion.

EDIT:
Oh, Good - G-Spot's review is a vid one.

EDIT 2:
Holy crap - the awesome screens don't do the game justice, after seeing it in motion. And even the screen-shots alone look awesome. That's really something, Que. The 2D animation and effects are astounding-looking.

So, why hasn't this Wii game got ported to the PS3 and XB360 on disc or through their respective game-buying networks (PSN or XBL)?

EDIT 3:
IGN loved the game - 8.9.

3 1/2 stars from Gamespy. I like on the 2nd page, they highlight all kinds of different opinions on the game from different reviewers.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #3 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:00:22 AM »

How about an idolminds warning and "<1 GB RAM" warning on this thread?

Those are beautiful screenies. I had FDM grab them all so I could flip through them in full res and without bringing the ole PC to its knees.

This is a Wii game? Emulated, really? I know the Wii is a spruced-up GC, but I didn't know its emulation was that far along.

Xessive · « **Reply #4 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:13:32 AM »

Wow, this game does look fantastic!

I don't have a Wii so I'm always wishful that 2D games will make their way to the PSP at least.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #5 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:45:52 AM »

Yeah, it's shocking that you can actually get Wii games to run at full speed on this thing. Not everything works perfectly, of course, and Muramasa has some trouble with certain little transparency things, but those seem to be limited almost entirely to the menus in the beginning of the game. The actual game itself seems to generally stay above 25 fps even when it bogs down, but usually it hovers in the 40s. I'm really shocked that it does so well, and I haven't even spent a great deal of time tweaking it. I could probably get it to play even faster if I tried. I've never used the emu before.

Mind you I'm not condoning piracy, here. Please buy this game if it interests you at all, then play it on your PC all you like if that's your thing, but this game deserved far better sales than it got.

Thanks for the interesting links, D. I'll post some more screens later, maybe. Don't want to overload the thread too much, heh.

MysterD · « **Reply #6 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:59:06 AM »

8.3 from GameTrailers.com.
They show A LOT of in-game video in this approx. 7 min review.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #7 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:59:20 AM »

Quote from: Quemaqua on Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:45:52 AM

I'll post some more screens later, maybe. Don't want to overload the thread too much, heh.

It's already there for me. Firefox took a couple of minutes to become responsive this time. So this is my last time in here until next time I feel masochistic.

It does look amazing.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #8 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 11:18:07 AM »

About half the images converted to links. I guess I didn't realize quite how many I stuck in here, heh.

iPPi · « **Reply #9 on:** Sunday, November 29, 2009, 11:56:46 AM »

I heard about this game recently even though it came out in September I believe. I will keep an eye out for it. The art style is really cool. It appears the Wii has its fair share of good 2D games this year (A Boy and His Blob, New Super Mario Bros Wii, and this).

gpw11 · « **Reply #10 on:** Tuesday, December 01, 2009, 12:32:32 AM »

Quote from: Cobra951 on Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:00:22 AM

How about an idolminds warning and "<1 GB RAM" warning on this thread?

Those are beautiful screenies. I had FDM grab them all so I could flip through them in full res and without bringing the ole PC to its knees.

This is a Wii game? Emulated, really? I know the Wii is a spruced-up GC, but I didn't know its emulation was that far along.

On Dolphin, Gamecube and Wii are about on par...meaning some for both consoles will run at full speed, but others are hella slow. I guess the architecture is similar enough that the fixed cost for resources far outweighs the variable added by the faster Wii hardware....if that even makes sense.

Like I said before, I had a lot of games running at full speed, although with bugs and some slow down here and there stemming from the bugs. I imagine by the time I'm thinking about upgrading/buying a new system (2-3 years?), it'll be close to perfect.

gpw11 · « **Reply #11 on:** Thursday, December 03, 2009, 01:07:39 AM »

This looks a lot like Odin Sphere now that I think of it.

PyroMenace · « **Reply #12 on:** Thursday, December 03, 2009, 06:06:17 AM »

Quote from: gpw11 on Thursday, December 03, 2009, 01:07:39 AM

This looks a lot like Odin Sphere now that I think of it.

Quote

A 2D action RPG from the same creators of Odin Sphere for the PS2. It is a Wii exclusive and features a hand-drawn, watercolor Japanese art style.

Get the fuck out of this thread noob.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #13 on:** Thursday, December 03, 2009, 10:14:12 PM »

Wait, it is? I didn't even know that. Very fitting, and makes sense given some of the game elements, but somehow I never put two and two together. And I'm probably the only person here who ever played Princess Crown.

gpw11 · « **Reply #14 on:** Thursday, December 03, 2009, 11:55:23 PM »

Cool. I liked Odin Sphere a lot...well, what I played of it. So, in this do you select one character and then play through, or can you switch it up between "missions", levels, or whatever?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #15 on:** Friday, December 04, 2009, 12:24:36 AM »

Basically you can play either character from the main menu, and it sort of keeps track of them both at the same time. So whenever you load, you can choose to play one or the other. I haven't played the guy yet. I'm actually wondering if that might not be something I should do, because the chick's story makes absolutely no sense thus far.

K-man · « **Reply #16 on:** Friday, February 11, 2011, 09:13:04 PM »

I just purchased the hell out of this. Hopefully it'll get here next week.

K-man · « **Reply #17 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 09:56:02 AM »

Seriously, the more I read about this game the more I have to wonder why this didn't make a larger impact. I mean Odin Sphere obviously sold pretty well to warrant a "Greatest Hits" release. Why did this fly under the radar? Game looks amazing.

PyroMenace · « **Reply #18 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 12:08:27 PM »

I've told you about it before when I bought it but you didn't seem interested even then.

K-man · « **Reply #19 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 12:29:34 PM »

I remember you talking about it. I guess I assumed it was something else.

Either way I just grabbed it for 12 bucks at walmart.com

idolminds · « **Reply #20 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 12:39:10 PM »

I wonder if thats the price in store. I've been wanting this game.

K-man · « **Reply #21 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 12:42:06 PM »

Quote from: idolminds on Saturday, February 12, 2011, 12:39:10 PM

I wonder if thats the price in store. I've been wanting this game.

I can almost guarantee you it's not. 15 maybe. I can't even find it in my store.

If you want the game just get it from there. I ordered from Walmart.com a few weeks ago and the .97 cent shipping ended up being Fedex overnight. After tax my total came up to just over 15 bucks.

Oh walmart.com also has Castle Shikigami III for 10 bucks.

idolminds · « **Reply #22 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 12:52:04 PM »

I just did a search and came across a CAG thread from 2 days ago. Dude said his walmart store had Muramasa for $10...but it was ringing up as $1. Might be worth a trip to the store. I know one or two walmarts near me have the game...but I can't remember which ones (and walmart.com doesn't help...blah)

Quemaqua · « **Reply #23 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 06:41:43 PM »

Awesome. Yes, the game is very cool. Not the best game I ever played, but very cool, and some of the most beautiful animation ever.

gpw11 · « **Reply #24 on:** Saturday, February 12, 2011, 10:39:33 PM »

I started playing this on Dolphin when this thread first was made and quickly forgot about it. I should get back into it.

K-man · « **Reply #25 on:** Sunday, February 13, 2011, 04:53:58 PM »

I am absolutely loving it so far. The music and art are both fantastic. I am concerned that the actual gameplay will grow stale before it's done.

It's a steal for 15 bucks, for sure.

K-man · « **Reply #26 on:** Monday, March 07, 2011, 07:36:54 AM »

I finished Momohime's story yesterday. Going to tool around with her story a bit more to finish the shrines I have missed. I have yet to touch Kisuke's story.

I love this game.

K-man · « **Reply #27 on:** Thursday, March 10, 2011, 08:10:08 AM »

It's amazing how fast you level up in this game. I started out yesterday with Momohime yesterday at level 42 and ended my session at 54. Granted I was clearing out all of the challenge rooms I had missed along the way but still. Apparently once you take the necessary steps to unlock the 'hidden' ending you will be able to unlock those white barriers. Apparently some of those challenge rooms recommend a level of at least 92.

I think I've done all I'm going to with Momohime for now. I think I'll begin Kisuke's story tonight and start progressing with him.

Rarely a game will do this to me. It doesn't have to be the most popular or best reviewed game, but for some reason occasionally a game will just grab me and not let go until I'm done with it.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #28 on:** Thursday, March 10, 2011, 07:05:38 PM »

It was a good game. I sincerely wish I still had my Wii and my copy of the game so I could give it the real chance it deserved.

K-man · « **Reply #29 on:** Sunday, March 20, 2011, 08:32:18 AM »

Finished up Kisuke's story. My playthrough with him took significantly less time than with Momohime. Probably because by then I had the game down.

Either way, now I have the two swords to beat the final bosses with to unlock the "true" endings. Woo!

K-man · « **Reply #30 on:** Monday, March 21, 2011, 07:15:44 AM »

This game may go in my personal top five of this console generation. It's definitely top ten at least.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #31 on:** Monday, March 21, 2011, 08:03:20 AM »

Stop making me wish I still had it.

K-man · « **Reply #32 on:** Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 06:59:57 AM »

Ok, I got Momohime's second ending last night. Working on leveling up Kisuke so I can equip the necessary stuff to get his. I also found out last night that each character has a THIRD ending that you can obtain after meeting the requirements of the second one with both.

K-man · « **Reply #33 on:** Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 07:14:58 AM »

Oh and apologies for essentially making this thread my Muramasa play through diary. I just really enjoy it and I am compelled to post about my experiences.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #34 on:** Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 07:33:55 AM »

No complaints from me. I never even looked up a FAQ for it so had no idea about all the endings and such.

K-man · « **Reply #35 on:** Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 07:40:22 AM »

The awesome thing is that when you get the first endings, the game flat out tells you what to do for the second. then once you get a second ending you get instructions for the third. None of that secret figure it out for yourself mess.

I have to say, I thought both characters would have similar playthroughs. But Kisuke's story takes you places that Momohime can't access initially and vice versa. Once you finish the game once for both characters the entire world gets opened up to them. There are even some different enemies for each character.

I just can't believe this is now a budget title. Looking back I'd have gladly paid 50 for it.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #36 on:** Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 08:02:00 AM »

Methinks I need to download that Wii emu again...

K-man · « **Reply #37 on:** Thursday, March 24, 2011, 07:09:11 AM »

OK. Got Kisuke's second ending. Found out the third ending basically involves forging the best sword in the game. In order to unlock that sword tree, I have to finish one of the challenges behind the white barriers. I tried it at level 68 last night and couldn't make it through. The game recommends 78 or higher. Looks like I'm up for some level grinding. Thankfully the levels seem to come pretty quickly in the game.

I don't know what I will do with myself once I get the third endings. I guess maybe write Vanillaware a love letter.

K-man · « **Reply #38 on:** Saturday, March 26, 2011, 02:15:37 PM »

I spent a good bit of the day leveling Momohime up enough to forge and wield Oboro Muramasa and got the third ending with her. Now all that's left is to level Kisuke to 94, get his third ending, and wrap up any challenges I haven't completed.

K-man · « **Reply #39 on:** Saturday, March 26, 2011, 06:08:36 PM »

Just finished the final ending with Kisuke. I think I'm going to take a little break for a while, play some other games, and then finish any remaining challenges.

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Author Topic: Muramasa - The Demon Blade (Read 7492 times)