Oda Nobunaga-den (織田信長伝), launched 9/23/1998, developed and revealed by Koei
That is the fourth sport in Koei’s “Eiketsuden” collection. I beforehand lined the others: Sangokushi Eiketsuden, Sangokushi Koumeiden, and Mouri Motonari. Like the opposite video games this primary got here out for computer systems and was then ported — this time there was no Saturn port, maybe reflecting that the Saturn was nearing the top of its lifecycle. On the entire, I believe this sport is the weakest of the 4 in just about each side — it makes me marvel if the sport was rushed in growth, or whether or not they simply had been making an attempt for a less complicated strategy that simply didn’t work out.
The primary character this time is Oda Nobunaga, most likely probably the most iconic determine from the Sengoku interval. He is called a ruthless and bold common, and he defeated the Ashikaga shogunate and practically unified Japan underneath his rule. However he was betrayed by certainly one of his followers, Akechi Mitsuhide, and he dedicated seppuku within the Honnoji Incident. This dramatic scene has offered plenty of fodder for fictional remedy, particularly since no person is aware of for certain why Mitsuhide turned towards Nobunaga. After his demise, certainly one of his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi accomplished Nobunaga’s objective of unifying Japan, and one other certainly one of his followers, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was the founding father of the Tokugawa Shogunate that led in the course of the Edo interval.
I don’t imagine the story of this sport works in addition to the others. Nobunaga acquired a lot nearer to his objective than the heroes of the opposite three video games, so the story principally follows historical past up till the Honnoji Incident. However after that, I felt just like the story dribbled away into an anticlimax — the ultimate boss was Hojo Ujiyasu, who was a big determine within the Sengoku interval however not somebody of “closing boss” stature. I believe the writers had been boxed right into a nook with this, although: by the point Nobunaga died, he was shut sufficient to unifying Japan that there weren’t any figures opposing him of applicable stature to make an actual closing boss. With Mouri Motonari, they may pit him towards Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu, the titanic figures of the interval. However I assume the writers weren’t prepared to rewrite historical past to the purpose the place Ieyasu would flip towards Nobunaga, or something of that nature.
Mouri Motonari was a totally linear sport. This sport does have some alternate battles however principally it’s simply alternative ways to get to the identical level. The one main distinction is that you could utterly keep away from the Honnoji Occasion by being good to Mitsuhide.
The battles typically are a lot smaller than Mouri Motonari. Your workforce can also be smaller on the entire. The varieties of characters are additionally diminished from the earlier sport; a number of the lessons just like the mountain males and the ocean pirates are gone. The characters additionally generally have talents depending on the precise individual relatively than their class. You may nonetheless improve at degree 20 although.
The system is usually that of Mouri Motonari nevertheless it’s been streamlined and simplified in quite a few methods. First off, your complete part between battles has been eradicated — you not can go round to the cities, and there’s no enviornment to degree up your characters. All you do is summon a service provider or a forger. The service provider solely sells probably the most fundamental weapons and armor for your complete sport. The forger can enhance your weapons, however the system shouldn’t be as strong as within the earlier sport.
The forger has a sure variety of factors they’ll use earlier than every battle (50 in that screenshot). The forger additionally has a degree in every sort of weapon and armor, that can elevate in the event that they forge extra, to a max of three. To degree up the man sufficient to make the very best stuff you’ll have to purchase issues for the aim of simply forging them, however every gear solely has 4 ranges (though there’s a branching tree the place you may prioritize pace vs protection or hit vs injury). Which means you don’t get that many upgrades all through the sport.
The degrees of the opponents in battle are primarily based on the typical degree of your workforce. As a result of there isn’t a enviornment or coaching space, you really want to just be sure you degree up your characters pretty evenly all through the sport. My expertise was that you could get via the vast majority of the sport with out doing this, particularly as a result of Nobunaga himself is such a robust character. However the closing battle is way more troublesome than any of those earlier than it.
I didn’t get an image of it apparently, however the closing battle has limitless reinforcements, and also you do want to guard your HQ from them. The boss is behind a chokepoint that has just one sq. of entry, and with the limitless reinforcements you may’t survive with simply Nobunaga. I attempted twice and was not capable of beat it, so this joins Langrisser IV and Shinseiden Megaseed within the checklist of video games that I gave up on the ultimate battle. This sport is just like L4 in the way in which that you’ve an excellent probability of getting caught on the finish for those who don’t know the correct method to develop your events (in reverse methods — L4 you wish to deal with getting the very best folks as excessive as doable whereas in Nobunaga you want a celebration that’s as balanced as doable.)
So I didn’t notably take pleasure in this sport, even leaving apart the ultimate battle — if I had been capable of end the battle I don’t suppose it will have modified my opinion a lot. All the Eiketsuden video games have flaws however this one had greater than any of the others. Too lots of the battles concerned only a entire bunch of models coming at you without delay, which makes it more durable to do any form of strategic planning (or degree your decrease degree guys, who shortly get surrounded and killed).
If I needed to choose a favourite of the 4 video games, it will be both Koumeiden or Mouri Motonari. Koumeiden has a nasty first chapter, however when you get previous that it’s an excellent sport. Mouri Motonari is simply too lengthy, however the battles do really feel satisfying to play in a manner that they don’t in Nobunaga.
There was yet another of those video games, Cao Cao-den, nevertheless it was not ported to any consoles. In order that’s the top of the Eiketsuden collection for me.
