Soul of the Samurai (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
951A playthrough of Konami's 1999 samurai action-adventure game for the Sony PlayStation, Soul of the Samurai (released as Ronin Blade in PAL territories).
This is a really unique type of game - it feels a lot like Onimusha, even though Capcom didn't release Onimusha: Warloads until 2001. It features many of the same ideas: it focuses on a particular period in Japanese history as a period drama (If I had to guess, I'd put it taking place around the time that the Meiji Restoration began).
It's said that the developers were intending to create a blend of Tenchu and Bushido Blade. I can see what they were going for, but in all honesty, this plays a lot more like a 3D beat 'em up, not that differently from games like Golden Axe or Die Hard Arcade (with a fairly heavy, and great, dash of Resident Evil thrown in). And really, it's much better for it. The storyline is surprisingly heavy for such a short game, but the gameplay is really fluid, the graphics are pretty amazing by PS1 standards, and it really makes time go by quickly overall.
This playthrough shows both characters - they have entirely separate paths through the chapters, and both have to finish the game on the same save file to get to the true final chapter, which provides access to the final boss and the best endings. I think I got all of the secrets - I made to that I got the best weapon for each character, their secret outfits, and their bonus items. I took the "scenic" route through much of the game. It's really short.
The first part of the video is the Kotaru path.
The second part, the Lin path, begins at 1:38:08.
Chapter 9: Ascendency begins at 2:35:49 using Lin and is followed by the best version of her ending.
The final boss battle using Kotaru begins at 2:42:56 and is followed by the best version of his ending.
What an underappreciated game. I absolutely loved it!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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