August 21, 2012August 21, 2012

Way of the Samurai 4 Out on PSN Today

Last time on PS.Blog, my colleague Tom introduced you guys to our upcoming release (out today!), Way of the Samurai 4. He expounded on the back story, the sandbox nature of its gameplay, and a bit of the silliness you will encounter if you take up arms in Amihama. He tried to warn you. I’m just going to tell you. This game is crazy. Like, if you punch people, eggs fall out crazy.

Way of the Samurai 4 drops players into a period drama populated by Edo-era Japanese citizens, trade-hungry foreigners and hundreds of crates flaunting their breakability. As a masterless samurai, you’re free to aid whichever faction vying for dominance in Amihama that you like. You can choose to support the local government (the Shogunate forces), the isolationists movement (the Prajna), or the diminutive, sweets-obsessed diplomatic envoy from the British. Or you can do what I did and just run around killing everybody.

Whether or not you play by the rules is up to you. With ten endings and a ton of branching story potentials, I highly recommend just trying everything. Everything.

If you enjoy wanton destruction as much as I do, you’ll surely catch the attention of the lovely Kinugawa sisters, and get to enjoy one of three classic torture mini-games.Yes, you’re reading that right. I did, in fact, utter the highly unlikely word combination “torture mini-games.”

Quests will send you on trips to destroy pottery, dispose of peeping toms and crush the dreams of honest merchants. If you manage to get the language school up and running, you can engage in eloquent and highly intellectual discourse with the foreign settlers (please talk to the half-naked man on the Black Ship wearing naught but a pair of boxing gloves and striped underwear. He has one of my favorite lines in the game). And finally, you can attempt to romance the local and foreign ladies by selecting the correct pick-up line.

There’s also a ton of content to flesh out the silly bits. Here’s a quick rundown of some of Way of the Samurai 4’s features:

Replay, replay, replay – 10 endings, multiple branching story paths, unlockables…
Customization – Weapons, appearance and fighting style can all be tailored to your exact liking. There are literally thousands of combos you can make with the weapons available (heck, you can wield a fish if that’s been an unfulfilled dream of yours), 150+ accessories to decorate your samurai with and the more endings you get, the more options you’ll get, like making your avatar a female. Or super-deformed. Or blue.
Night-Crawling – Navigate the torrid waters of love in Amihama and then meet your paramour for a night of revelation. If you can beat the other guy in the room trying to do the exact same thing (race of love?!).
Duelists – The game has a cool semi-online feature where other players’ samurais will be uploaded into your game as a computer controlled enemy for you to challenge and vice-versa. If you beat them, you get to claim their stuff.
Dojo – You can take over and run the local dojo in Amihama… and fill it by beating people up and forcing them to be your students.
Fishing – Anywhere there’s water pretty much is potential fishing grounds.
Casino – Buddy up to the foreign consulate and unapologetic hedonist, Jet Jenkins and you’ll get to try your luck at the tables.

So as you can see, this isn’t a title that takes itself too seriously. Things happen in this game. Wonderful things, terrible things, things you can’t unsee…

…but it’s all in good fun, and well worth multiple playthroughs to fully explore the game’s grit and absurdity in equal parts. I hope you’ll give it a try.

Comments are closed.

58 Comments

52 Author Replies

Fuepepe
August 22, 2012 at 1:39 pm PDT

@48 Niche titles such as this do not produce a high sales throughput. Physical releases not only cost money to make, but they have to produce enough copies of the game to send out a few copies of the game to every major retailer in North America. Not all physical copies sell, potentially putting the company in the hole. Profits are then used to pay their translators and marketers wages as they work on their next title.

To claim that XSeed doesn’t care about their fans is absurd. They make a far greater effort to respond to customer questions than any other developer I’ve seen. Not all of their content is going to be digital only, but for it to qualify for a physical release it has to be popular enough to warrant it. Ragnarok Odyssey could have been announced as a digital only given the VITA’s catering towards PSN and lack of manuals on physical releases. Instead they are offering extra to go with the product because they know that this title won’t lose them money. I am aware that you are a fan of the series and would have preferred a physical copy, but with niche titles such as WotS4 it is the choice between a digital download or not localizing it at all.
- Jessica Chavez
  August 22, 2012 at 4:16 pm PDT
  
  Thanks, Fuepepe. We’re doing our best to bring over games in any form we can, and we really appreciate the fan support. Cheers for the understanding. Hope you saw that we announced the ‘Mercenary Edition’ for RO today too. :) Swag central.
Addfwyn
August 22, 2012 at 3:08 pm PDT

Nooo, why must you release this now. So many games to play, and I am morally obligated to buy this as well. Blast you and releasing good games.
- Jessica Chavez
  August 22, 2012 at 4:17 pm PDT
  
  XSEED Games: Torturing Fans and Emptying Wallets ;)
Einhander138
August 22, 2012 at 3:14 pm PDT

@48 If they cared about their fans, they would have considered *all* have them, and not just lazily dumped this on PSN. Europe is getting a physical release. So should we.

And no, they don’t care about their fans. That’s why *XSeed* canceled Grand Knights History and turned around and blamed someone else for their problems, leaving fans in the lurch.
- Jessica Chavez
  August 22, 2012 at 4:20 pm PDT
  
  Comment system fail. The reply below is to your post.
Jessica Chavez
August 22, 2012 at 4:20 pm PDT

As I’ve said before, we bring what we can in whatever form we can. I’m sorry you don’t like digital versions of games, but if that’s the only way to bring the game or it’s no game at all, then we’ll bring the digital version.

As for Grand Knights history, we already made a statement on the matter. If you don’t believe us, well, that’s your call.
bonemandust
August 22, 2012 at 4:41 pm PDT

I’m not interested in this game, but thanks again Jessica and XSEED for Fishing Resort, I still play it nearly a year after release
- Jessica Chavez
  August 22, 2012 at 4:51 pm PDT
  
  You’re welcome! I <3 Fishing Resort soooo much. Thanks for supporting it, and keep spreading the word of the legendary Alligator Gar! One day everyone will understand why we like it so much. :D
kristof666
August 22, 2012 at 5:37 pm PDT

Interesting…

Hum, I m crazy for the yakuza serie…Do you guys think I would like this one?
- Jessica Chavez
  August 22, 2012 at 6:32 pm PDT
  
  I have heard it compared to that in terms of open world and gameplay style. It’s probably a little more silly than the Yakuza games, but it has both serious and fun elements, a sandbox-type world, lots of freedom, TONS of customization, multiple endings, mini-games, fishing(!) and many other fine features. You really have to try everything in it to capture the charm that is the Way of the Samurai series, but I think you’d like it if any of what I listed sounds up your alley.
Einhander138
August 22, 2012 at 7:16 pm PDT

@Jessica “As I’ve said before, we bring what we can in whatever form we can. I’m sorry you don’t like digital versions of games, but if that’s the only way to bring the game or it’s no game at all”

The problem is that for some of us, the digital version means no game at all.

You’re deliberately excluding part of your audience, and that’s downright insulting.
AizawaYuuichi
August 23, 2012 at 2:04 am PDT

@ Einhander138: So you’d rather they exclude their entire audience? You’re basically telling them to release it physically or not at all. That’s unrealistic when they know there is an audience that will buy it digitally that will cover costs and possibly turn a profit. And it’s selfish, to boot. They did what they could with it. If you don’t like it, you can import the EU version, or learn Japanese and import that version. Being insulted because the game isn’t popular enough to warrant a physical release is a perfect example of “gamer entitlement” and “first-world problems”.

@ Jessica Chavez: A Mercenary Edition of RO, you say? I was planning to buy RO digitally, but I see there is a soundtrack with the ME version, which would be awesome to have… is there any chance you guys could make a digital bundle with the soundtrack for ~$45, or make the OST available separately?
SKeRJ
August 23, 2012 at 5:13 am PDT

10 copies bought if you guys resume the localisation of Grand Knights History and put it on PSN (with Vita compatibility).
Einhander138
August 23, 2012 at 5:29 pm PDT

@58 Learn to read. Never said that.

I said *they’re* the ones excluding people and losing out on sales.

It’s in *their* best interests to reach the widest possible audience and include everyone who wants a copy, instead of excluding a large chunk of the audience. If people want it digitally, great. *BUT INCLUDE A PHYSICAL RELEASE AS WELL FOR THOSE THAT WANT IT*.

It’s not an unreasonable demand – except when you’re XSeed, apparently.
AizawaYuuichi
August 24, 2012 at 12:39 am PDT

@ Einhander138: I can read just fine. I’m not debating that they are excluding fans. By going digital-only, that is a given. But you’re getting personally “insulted” over a business decision.
And when Jessica said “it’s this way or no game at all” and you reply “…for some of us, the digital version means no game at all”, that seems to imply a “retail or don’t bother” mindset.
I’m sure they looked into retail, but drew the conclusion that it would cost more than increased sales would offset. So while it sucks it’s digital-only, I support XSEED making the tough decision to upset the few in order to release it for the many. Do you really expect them to make a retail release, and lose money doing so, just so you and a few others can buy a disc? I’d prefer they do what they can to stay in business, while releasing as much as possible. If that means I have to pass on a game because of the release format, so be it. TitS: SC seems like it’ll be PC-only, and I won’t be following the series from PSP > PC. I’m just gonna have to pass on it, even though I love the first one. But I don’t blame XSEED. They’re releasing it where they feel it’ll cover costs. In my humble opinion, that’s reasonable.

I’m done here…
Nutz-The-Psycho
September 1, 2012 at 8:15 am PDT

I want to get the game but I’ve seen some gameplay and it takes forever to kill one enemy is this going to be fixed with an update or something hopefully it will?