Sengoku Basara 4 has moved up from 14th place in Dengeki Playstation's ranking of upcoming games, and it's now sitting in 13th place.
That wasn't all, though; I'm pleased to say that game director Yamamoto Makoto returned to give some comments on the three newest character announcements this week! He must have been in an extremely cheerful mood when he was writing these notes.
Kyougoku Maria: The name 'Maria' begins to spin the threads of fate?
- Nagamasa's older sister has been revealed at last! As you can see from her dialogue, she's a self-centered woman who thinks that the world revolves around her. I'm also interested in her name, 'Maria'. Whether this means that the story will develop in a certain way is unknown...heehee.
- A revival! Absolute Justice! It's been a while, since Nagamasa didn't appear in Sengoku Basara 3! Even his actions go with his theme as a 'hero of justice'. This time, he's with the Kyougoku-Azai army, which enters into the Ashikaga faction due to the selfishness of Nagamasa's older sister, Maria. What on earth is going to happen (*grin*)?
- I thought that the revival of Nagamasa-sama would be cause for celebration, but what a sister he has in Maria. Until now, Nagamasa was trapped between Oichi and his brother-in-law, Oda Nobunaga; this time, he's stuck between Oichi and Maria. Sengoku Basara 4 offers a glimpse of an unexpected side to Oichi. Please also look out for her relationship with Shibata Katsuie (*nervous*).
Perhaps less worthy of speculation is a shot of Nagamasa on Maria's stage - with Shima Sakon casually standing atop his head.
The magazine also covers the same new gameplay mechanics Weekly Famitsu introduced last week, including a few new pictures. More about these in my next news story...
Sony's Playstation blog posts new Sengoku Basara 4 screenshots full of gameplay hints
The Sony Playstation blog updated yesterday with a plethora of Sengoku Basara 4 screenshots, including several I had never seen before.
The picture of the game's mode selection screen includes Manual (this could include a tutorial, perhaps?), Online Basara-ya Shop, Sengoku Creation mode (the interactive story mode which contains the main gameplay), Free mode, Gallery and Settings. I have annotated the picture to show the order in which the modes appear.
The character selection screen appears to confirm that two-player co-op play will be available in Sengoku Creation mode, as well as progress being measured in years of your reign rather than stages, something which ties in with the comments made in last week's Famitsu magazine.
Skipping the details we already know, the pictures of the march screen show Mitsunari with a 'drama route' scene at Motochika's Pirate Fortress: Hyakki Fugaku stage, Katsuie with an 'anime route' scene at Hideyoshi's Osaka: Toyotomi Hajou castle and Shikanosuke as the boss in a 'one-on-one fight' (?) but on a stage full of Yoshihiro's flags. The text notes that if you leave an 'omen' battle on the map without engaging, it can change into a 'derivation' battle.
We can also see a picture of what could be Naotora's tiger basara-e artwork, though it seems to be red and hanging in the air behind her. Nine Demons Yoshitaka once noted that people were saying hers was of a tiger with a flower in its mouth, and that's exactly what the illustration seems to show.
DarkMantisTalon, meanwhile, noticed a suspicious icon in one screenshot which might imply that it's possible to use tag mode with your battle comrade.
The final new thing I want to highlight is the screen where you see your rewards for the next battle. This picture is extremely small, however there's a slightly different (and equally small) version in Dengeki Playstation so we're getting a clearer idea of the prizes on offer for each battle. Please understand that I might easily have misread at this size. These rewards are for clearing Incident At Honnouji as an 'outbreak'.
The Dengeki Playstation shot shows that you can get weapons and money as rewards as well as the icons shown above, using the example of Tango: Sengenji as a 'normal' stage. There's a fugitive icon above the stage name in their picture though, so that might affect the rewards somehow.
The left column in Dengeki Playstation shows Masamune's swords Kagehide and Kagehide (Unsigned) while the right one has Kojuurou's Kokuryuu and Kokuryuu (Unsigned) and a sheet of some kind of material with a quantity beside it. I can't read the tiny, tiny labels next to them which presumably explain the difference between the various weapons, but I'm guessing they boost different stats when you receive one as your reward.
Update 14/11/2013: Since 4Gamer has posted much clearer versions of the screenshots, I can now read the labels next to the weapons; in top-to-bottom, left-to-right order they look like (ignoring duplicates) steal food, stylish, find, experience, hardness and willpower. The flat sheet here is a stat bonus material (double hit points).
There's a new picture too (which confirms another stage - 'Investigation: Shikanosuke', the fight where he appears surrounded by Yoshihiro's flags). Kojuurou has his leek/burdock joke weapon back with the name 'nourishment' and Masamune has a wooden 'battou' which looks like it's actually a 'batto', or baseball bat. A few other alternate swords can also be seen, and there are some additional weapon labels detailing properties like collection, protection, break defence, tastiness and training.
Small coloured labels advise that the rewards on the right are for the character you selected as your battle comrade (or the second player in co-op mode, I assume) while the ones on the left side are for the player's own character. That was already pretty obvious but now it's confirmed.
Fans produce English subtitles for this week's new Sengoku Basara 4 gameplay video
The team of Nine Demons Yoshitaka and PSandNintendFreak have outdone themselves with their speed this week, adding English subtitles to the newest character gameplay trailer already. You can watch it on YouTube or below.
Sengoku Basara Card Heroes Matsuri in-game event news
It's been a while since I reported on mobile game Sengoku Basara Card Heroes Matsuri, and given that it's unlikely anyone playing it doesn't already speak Japanese it hasn't seemed all that important. Still, I should mention that Capcom is also running a crossover event with the Biohazard (Resident Evil) series title Minna To Biohazard Team Survive until 10th December 2013. I have no idea what that the other game is like, but the idea is that you earn special cards for the game you actually like by giving the other a try. The Sengoku Basara Card Heroes Matsuri reward you can earn by dabbling in Minna To Biohazard Team Survive is this rare Date Masamune 'The Dragon's Ambition' card.
A funny (and cute) Tsuruhime picture from another Card Heroes Matsuri event has been circulating on Twitter recently as well. The comment was "I thought it was a different game!".
Mobile game Street Fighter x All Capcom reveals Sengoku Basara characters
This isn't exactly news, but as a result of the new promotional video for this Capcom smartphone game being posted today, I was able to grab textless versions of the artwork they are using for Masamune and Yukimura. There will probably be more Sengoku Basara content in this title if the official website is to be believed.
New Sengoku Basara merchandise revealed: Sengoku Basara 4 charms
The CafeReo website has announced a range of charms themed around the emblems of a few key characters from Sengoku Basara 4. Each of the charms will cost ¥1,000 and four designs will be available in mid-January 2014, patterned after Masamune, Mitsunari, Yukimura and Kojuurou. I think they're rather nice!
Just had to comment on Nagamasa's magnificent return. Splendid! When he fights in the video there are large kanji's and stop-time poses, do you think they are actually part of his normal gameplay?
ReplyDeleteAnd now that the deer/boy duo has finally been shown for real I have to say that they look like a lot of fun! The deer's way of speaking was surprising and funny.
I also noticed that Maria's place has a Moorish look to it. Hint of Xavi connection..?
I don't dare speculate on how Nagamasa's crazy pauses will work in the game itself. It looks as though they probably only happen when he's charged up his Justice mode, but I'm not sure how disruptive they'll be. They look cool though!
DeleteMatabee and Shikanosuke both had really fun music, and I'm looking forward to both. Matabee slightly more of the two as his savage moves get me excited (´∀｀)
Between Maria's exotic taste in decorations and the hint about her name 'Maria' that YamamotoD kept mentioning in Dengeki PS magazine this week, I think a Xavi connection is inevitable. I hope they're revealed soon so that we can find out (though I also hope that Kenshin and Kasuga are revealed soon; it's unlikely we'll get them all at once so I'm going to have to wait either way!).