The third installment in the Furai No Shiren series is getting a cool new weapon development system. You can still find weapons in random dungeons, but now Shiren can activate a “Dragon Pulse” (竜脈) and let his weapon sit for a few turns to develop a new attribute or become stronger.

Finding a Dragon Pulse wil be the first step. They appears randomly in dungeons and look like those glowing orbs. The player can choose which orb to activate. The color is associated with a statistic or attribute. After finding one, Shiren will have to present an offering which is the item the player wants to augment. In the picture he is presenting a kamaitachi sword to an orb of the darkness element.

After finding the Dragon Pulse and offering a weapon, Shiren must read a Barrier Scroll. This will set up the gate you see surrounding the weapon and orb. After leaving the weapon in the gate, Shiren must wait a few turns for the process to finish. If either Shiren or an enemy wander into the gate before the process finishes, it will collapse and the orb will vanish. You can recover your offering but it won’t have gained the desired attribute.

Since setting up a Dragon Pulse takes several turns, it will be risky if enemies are nearby. It’s probably best to wipe out as many as possible before attempting this procedure.

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Furai No Shiren 3 Preview
Furai No Shiren 3 Update

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Some new info has developed concerning Furai No Shiren 3:Sleeping Beauty of the Trick Mansion. It appears that early in the story Asuka, a female warrior wielding a naginata, and Sensé, Shiren’s fencing instructor, will join up with Shiren. From there the team decides to test their talent by attempting to take on the fabled Trick Mansion.

On the way the team’s path is blocked by a group of 4 demons. The leader (that big red guy) is a Tengu named Owashi. It appears that Shiren and Co. aren’t the only ones after the legendary treasure waiting within the mansion walls. Owashi and his gang of demons are one of many obstacle the party must overcome on their way to the mansion

There will be a world map system in Furai No Shiren 3, unlike its predecessors. The map looks like an ancient ink brush painting, and reminds me of the world map used in the upcoming Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns. The player starts at the base of Horai mountain, and from there can branch out to different dungeons and towns.

One new type of dungeon is the Where-ever Dungeon. The player can bring items, money, and allies in. Likewise, all items and money the player finds within the dungeon can be retained afterwards. The only catch is that when Shiren (or anyone else) enters, his level becomes one. It isn’t permanent however, after completing the dungeon the player’s level will be restored.

I still am not sure what benefit this type of dungeon provides. If dying in the Where-ever Dungeon has no effect on the players level or items, than it is without a doubt a great addition, but that seems unlikely. My guess is that if the player dies within the Where-ever Dungeon, he/she loses all acquired items and money, but receives no level punishment–a fair trade off I believe.

If you have never heard of the series and would like to give it a try, you can purchase Furai no Shiren 2 for $29.99 for the Nintendo DS here.

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Furai No Shiren 3: The Sleeping Beauty of the Trick Mansion preview

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It seems like the War-Strategy-RPG is picking up in popularity. Apparently Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles (戦場のヴァルキュリア) was originally developed for the XBox, but switched to the Playstation 3. For whatever reason this has stirred up some controversy in the gaming community. If I had to venture a guess as to why the developers made this decision, I would say it’s because Atlus has a title that looks eerily similar for the XBox.

Valkyria Chronicles is about a fictional version of 1935 Europe which is divided by war. The red portion of the map is the East European Imperial Alliance, the white portion is the Atlantic Federation, and the tiny blue spot is the country of Gallia.

Gallia is rich with a substance called Ragnite, which can be used to increase the power of weaponry, explosives, and tanks, making it a valuable substance in a war-torn world. The tiny country soon finds itself being pushed around by the East European Imperial Alliance (EEIA), but it will find little help from the Atlantic Federation, which is already engaged in heated combat with the EEIA. The player assumes the role of a group of Gallian nationalists who decide to take up arms and defend themselves from the intruding EEIA.

The battle system is called BLITZ (Battle of Live Tactical Zones), and consists of two modes to make battles feel epic, yet keep the player involved. First the player views an overhead map with symbols representing the different kinds of units in battle. This is called the Command Mode, and allows the player to consider his/her actions based on the locations of all units in combat, and the varying terrain of the battlefield.

The player can then zoom in on a friendly unit and give it commands via the Action Mode. This mode is basically real-time but with some Action-RPG elements.

Actions are restricted to the amount of AP a character has. Performing actions such as moving or firing a gun consumes AP, and getting shot consumes HP.

A video with some combat scenes (Sorry I could only find it in Spanish)

There are 3 Main units:

• Infantry Units
  • Sniper Rifle
  • Machine Gun
  • Assault Rifle
• Tanks
• Anti-Tank Units

Each unit is weak to another: the Infantry units are weak to Tank fire, and Tanks are weak to Anti-Tank units, which are weak to Infantry. Balancing an army will be important to success in battle.

There is not a concrete release date for Valkyria Chronicles, but it has been officially announced for Fall of this year. The game’s Japanese website can be found here.

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Ah, random dungeon games, have my readers noticed that I have a soft spot for them? There is something so unforgiving about a game where you die and lose everything… I don’t know why but I find it appealing. Furai no Shiren 3 is one of these games, and surprisingly enough it is for the Wii, a system which never stops surprising us.

As you may have guessed by the game’s title, Furai no Shiren is a series that spans numerous titles and systems. Believe it or not it all started on the humble Famicon, and from there spread to the N64 and Gameboy systems.

Now the series is making its way to the Wii, with the third installment scheduled for release on June 5th in Japan. I had a difficult time imagining a random dungeon game for the Wii, but luckily I managed to locate this video which shows some of the games cut scenes and a bit of the game play as well.

The game takes place after the second installment. Shiren is reunited with Sense (pronounced like sensei but without the i), his fencing master. The two, along with Koppa, Shiren’s pet talking weasel thing, decide to go on a journey to try and unlock the mystery of the “Trick Mansion.” Here is where the player will enter dungeons to acquire items, defeat enemies, level up, and progress in the story. Both Sense and Koppa fight along side Shiren as well as a variety of other characters both temporary and permanent (like Asuka, a female swordsman introduced later in the story) .

Since the game is for the Nintendo Wii, both the Wiimote and the Nunchuck adapter will be options for controlling your character. In a recent interview with the game’s designers, they said that players who want a more nostalgic feeling would be better off using the classic controller.

Since Furai no Shiren 2 was brought to North America, there is a good possibility that the next chapter will be brought over as well. As of yet, nothing has been said concerning an English localization, but considering it hasn’t even been released in Japan yet, that’s not too surprising. I will keep looking for more info, in the meantime you can check out the game’s official Japanese website here.

If you have never heard of the series and would like to give it a try, you can purchase Furai no Shiren 2 for $29.99 for the Nintendo DS here.

Related Entries:
Furai No Shiren 3 Update

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The Ryu Ga Gotoku (known in America as Yakuza) series has reached the third chapter in Japan with the March 6th release of Ryu Ga Gotoku, Kenzan! for the Playstation3. Above are some screens from this week’s Famitsu magazine and a trailer for the game featuring some story elements and gameplay. This installment in the series is a milestone for the sandbox genre of games.

The player assumes the role of Kiryuu Kazumanosuke, the great, great, great, great grandfather of Kiryuu Kazuma from the first game in the series. The story takes place in Gion during the Edo period, in the year 1605. Kiryuu is an elite mercenary who will do anything for money, and people often come to him when they need someone bumped off. One rainy day, a little girl named Haruka approaches asking :

“Is it true that you’ll do anything for money?”
“Yea, thats right.” replies Kiryuu.
“I want you to kill Miyamoto Musashi.”

It turns out that Haruka sold herself into a life of being an oiran, or Japanese prostitute, just so she would have enough money to hire an assassin to kill Musashi. Unfortunately for Kiryuu, his alter ego is that of Miyamoto Musashi. According to the Famitsu article on the game, “someone” told Haruka to ask for Kiryuu specifically. Who could it have been? Thus the game begins.

(Sidenote: For those who don’t know, Miyamoto Musashi is a famous swordsman, known for wielding 2 katana. He also wrote the famous book of budo, The Book of Five Rings. )

Since the game takes place during such a unique time period, there are a number of authentic Edo period activities Kiryuu can take part in:

• Turtle Racing
  • Find turtles, raise them, mate them, race them, and gamble on them!
• Cho-han Bakuchi
  • a traditional style of dice gambling in ancient Japan
• Oiran (Japanese Prostitutes…. rough translation)
  • There are three different brothels the player can frequent to spend time the girl of their choice. Doing so offers some erotic yet comical scenes. The three girls vary in terms of price, so you may have to spend a lot if you are very particular.
• Shogi
  • Japanese-style Chess.
• Over 100 people and animals to interact with (that’s right, animals)
  • Get involved with the lives of many minor characters, and help them out if you wish. Doing so may bring great rewards, such as new abilities and variances in the story.
• Multiple ways to fight
  • Use 2 blades as Musashi, 1 as Kiryuu
  • There is also an Odachi and the option of fighting barehanded

There is so much to do in this game it is simply mind-boggling. The game’s main web page can be found here.

Given the minor success of the first Yakuza and the numerous Japanese cultural aspects of the game, I am not positive Ryu Ga Gotoku, Kenzan! will be released in English, but I remain hopeful (the PS3 sure could use a decent exclusive). One thing is for sure… we won’t be getting this beast.

The second installment of the Yakuza series is scheduled to be released in America sometime in 2008. Definitely watch out for this one!

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