Samurai Legend: Musashi

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Hey. Has anyone played Samurai Legend: Musashi yet?

I saw it in an ebgames, and thought "Wow! A sequel to Brave Fencer Musashi!" and it was only 29.99$, so I bought it. I absolutely loved the original, but to my dissapointment, Samurai Legend isn't really a 'sequel,' it's just.. another story with Musashi. They changed his character, though. He's no longer an apathetic "I'll do it if I absolutely must" and sarcastic character, but a cheerful, obnoxious-voiced hero.

The gameplay is fun, it's more complicated than the original's, but also less fun. The story is much worse since they copied the 'five swords' elements and the 'summoned, must get out' mentality. The original had a strange air about it that made you think the whole game was a joke--and you were in on it. The second just doesn't capture the original's atmosphere.

I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you absolutely loved the original, and have 29.99 to blow. It's a "rent game"--pretty short.

Anyone else have any thoughts?
 
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I grabbed this game about a couple days after its release but the original 'Brave Fencer Musahi' is about ten times the better game. Musashi: Samurai Legend was definitely missing a certain something...like exploration, strategy, depth ... all three...? It just seemed way too straight forward; go here, go there, nothing to do on the side. Any upgrades to your equipment or special items seemed to be laid out for you to take. They didn't even really make any attempt to hide the missing villagers, which was disappointing.

The "Secret Techniques" seemed to be rather pointless after a while being that they all did the same thing: hit the enemy for damage. The only difference between them was the speed with which Musashi dealt that damage and how many chunks the enemy split into. And the defenceive techniqes were so far beyond pointless since you can hit the 'Defend' button and block damn near anything, without the use of precious MP. The Fundamental techs were nifty because they could be used at anytime so you could easily incorporate them into your regular attack regimen.

The story, as you said, was more or less the same thing as Brave Fencer with a slight variation. The Legend of Zelda might be able to get away with that but obviously Musashi isn't Zelda. The voice acting is more or less the same between the two games: cheesy. It's cheesy to the point where I think they made it like that on purpose.

All said, it wasn't that bad a game, just disappointing considering how great I thought the first one was. One cool thing about this game, though, it was released in America first rather than Japan. In fact, this game releases in Japan today. Maybe that's why it doesn't seem as polished as the other Square products I own .... who knows?

I'd rate the game somewhere between 6 and 7. It's good, but it's nothing I'd recommend anyone to pickup without at least trying it first.
 
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You say both games had cheesy voiceacting. The first did have corny acting, but it I think it was intentional. It was purposely silly--a game that didn't take itself seriously, like the original Star Wars movies. "I'm ROOOOOTRICK!" And Musashi's voice was strange, but fitting.

Samurai Legend's voice acting just wasn't special. Not silly, funny, stupid, it was just.. mediocre. The voice acting in Brave Fencer was part of what made the game interesting and different. It was one of the first Japanese RPGs with an English voice-over. Samurai Legend..

I think the first was a 'sleeper hit classic,' while the second is just yet another example that 'Square Enix' is incapable of making quality sequels to either Squaresoft's or Enix's quality games.
 
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Heh, still pissed at FFX-2, huh?

Yeah, Brave Fencer's voice acting did seem intentional in that respect, but both games are done in the same style, which is what I was trying to say. As you said though, Brave Fencer was more expressive in its effort.

I think Brave Fencer caught on simply because it was paired with the FFVIII Demo. In fact, that's the only reason my friend even bought it (actually, I think he thought is WAS FFVIII). Then he told me about how great the game is and lo' n' behold, there's your 'sleeper effect'.
 
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What system was Brave Fencer Musashi for, and would either of you recommend it as a buy? :eek:
 
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yeah i wanna know that too..
hmm i loved brave fender ...though i wanted musasshi too look like the one in the legends but oh well xD
great game...hm maybe you can tell us here we can see some screenie or something like this
 
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Brave Fencer Musashi was for the PS1. You played as Musashi, who was represented as a kind of diminutive little super-deformed guy (kinda big-headed and little-bodied) and you ran around with your two swords and smacked stuff up. It was really goofy and cartoony but fun. Don't expect anything like Way of the Samurai or whatever, this was more reminiscient of a platformer or something (as in, not even close to realistic), and I don't think the story had anything to do with Musashi's life.
 

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SailorAlea said:
I think the first was a 'sleeper hit classic,' while the second is just yet another example that 'Square Enix' is incapable of making quality sequels to either Squaresoft's or Enix's quality games.
Really have to agree with this, Square Enix is just amazing, how to awesome companies can merge and suck so much after merging is still a mystery to me. I loved the first game now I'm getting second thoughts on this one, hmm..

FFX-2...Charlie's Angels >_>
 
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Would it be worth a buy if I picked it up for a few bucks from a bargain bin or something? It sounds kinda interesting, I kinda like goofy Japanese games.
 
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It's already dropped in price pretty drastically. It was $49.99 when it came out this year (March 15th), now it's $29.99. If it's dropped that much in in only 4 months, you can bet it'll probably be only twenty bucks by the end of the year.

It's not that it's such a terrible game, it's just not special compared to the original.

If you can find the original, Brave Fencer Musashi, you should definitely get it. It's kind of rare now, and it's an excellent game.
 

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A demo of it came in my free issue of OPM that I got with my new PSTwo. I played it, and didn't like it very much. Keep in mind though that it was almost immediately after having played DMC3.
 
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I blame Enix for the retarded sequals and for the rampant explotation of the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy VII : Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy VII : Crisis Core, Before Crisis - Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children. I mean, gimme a break already. Making a sequal is already crossing the line, in my opinion, but this is outrageous.

If they ruin the Chrono seires like this, I'm declairing Holy War on Square-Enix.

Anyway, Shiyo, if you see this game in the bargin bin for $30 or less, get it. If you see Brave Fencer Musashi in that same bin, get that instead.
 
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Half-Unit said:
I blame Enix for the retarded sequals and for the rampant explotation of the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy XII : Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy XII : Crisis Core, Before Crisis - Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII : Advent Children. I mean, gimme a break already. Making a sequal is already crossing the line, in my opinion, but this is outrageous.

If they ruin the Chrono seires like this, I'm declairing Holy War on Sqaure-Enix.

Anyway, Shiyo, if you see this game in the bargin bin for $30 or less, get it. If you see Brave Fencer Musashi in that same bin, get that instead.
Quoted for truth.

You'd think two of the best RPG making companies combined would make a force to be reckoned with. I guess both we and them were sorely mistaken. >_> They have never, never been bashed as much as the last few years, I wonder what they'll do to fix it.

Dirge of Cerberus might be a 'sequel' to FF7, but it'll have to be damn, damn good before I get it. FF7 was my first Final Fantasy, if the game isn't good then I'd rather not get it than force myself to taint the good memories I have of the FF7 storyline by playing Dirge of Cerberus.
 
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Half-Unit said:
I blame Enix for the retarded sequals and for the rampant explotation of the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy XII : Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy XII : Crisis Core, Before Crisis - Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII : Advent Children. I mean, gimme a break already. Making a sequal is already crossing the line, in my opinion, but this is outrageous.

If they ruin the Chrono seires like this, I'm declairing Holy War on Sqaure-Enix.

Anyway, Shiyo, if you see this game in the bargin bin for $30 or less, get it. If you see Brave Fencer Musashi in that same bin, get that instead.
I actually disagree with this. Instead of making more horrible sequels to games that weren't nearly as good (FFX-FFX-2), or making horrible sequels to fantastic games (FFT--FFT-A), they're finally making things based on FF7.

Now, it may turn out that they suck. But since none of them are out yet, we can't really judge them to be crappy, can we? :p
 
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That's some strange logic. You'd rather them make horrible sequels to legendary games? I don't understand. Square-Enix is already batting 0-4 in the quality sequel department, slapping the title 'Final Fantasy VII' on a game isn't going to help.

And yes, yes I can pre-judge them. Dirge of Cerberus is going to be a third-person shooter. Let's count the number of successful Square or Enix games in that department............. Ok. Since this is a modern game, I'd expect it to have voice acting, but the original FFVII never had any voice acting so it's going to be VERY awkward to hear Vincent's "voice". Speaking of Vincent, what was he in FFVII, an optional character? Let's make a game out of him!! Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Vincent, but you really have to question why he'd get his own game (although it's probably because he carries a gun).

Now, with all that crap said, I'm not going to label these games as 'bad' before I've even played them, but like Shiyo said, they're going to have to be something SPECTACULAR in order for me to put them on a pedestal anywhere near FFVII. FFVII is a 10/10, no argument. These games are going to have to be 20/10 in order for me to think they're mediocre. Making a sequel is one thing. Making 4 games and a movie is straight up milking it for everything its got, which is my biggest beef.
 
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It's true that Square Enix has a poor record of making sequels.

But I'm hoping that the fact that FF7 is 'legendary,' that they'll try their hardest not to make half-ass, ridiculous games.
 
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SailorAlea said:
It's true that Square Enix has a poor record of making sequels.

But I'm hoping that the fact that FF7 is 'legendary,' that they'll try their hardest not to make half-ass, ridiculous games.
I'm not giving it much hope.

Time and time again, I have been disappointed. Not just by Square-Enix, but also by other game companies, such as Capcom. They've utterly butchered their Megaman X franchise with attrocities such as Megaman X7. I have only seen X8, not played it yet, but it looks nothing like what the old X games were. It is a monstrocity that should never have been born. The same goes for their Street Fighter games. Lack of innovation had caused said franchise to lose my respect and my money many years ago.

Then there's SNK with their King of Fighters franchise, and again, the very same thing applies. Lack of innovation and only making lazy choices.

I could probably name more examples but my point is already quite strong. As was said, Dirge of Cerberus had best be damn, damn good, before I would even dare praise it in comparison to FF7.
 
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Well, I'll always hope for the best. It's not like Vincent is going to team up with Cloud and Cait Sith in a desperate plea to find 'her', all while uniting a planet with his immaculate ability to sing, which was never remotely apparent in the prequel. I can also hope that Vincent won't lose the things that made him great in the first place like Musashi did in his sequel.

Heh, I popped Brave Fencer in the ol' PS. I forgot how quirky it was. Allucaneet Castle ...... what a weird game. I also forgot that it actually has time and days of the week. It's really amazing how much better this game than it's sequel. Amazing and pathetic.
 

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