A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally retold - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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Grave
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"A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally retold" , posted Sat 24 Dec 04:34post reply

So I'm back in my hometown for the holidays and last night I met up with one of my oldest and best friends for drinks and fun. Whenever we do that I always show up with a pile of old games and we sift through them. Last night it was 10+ PS1 fighting games, but we didn't get too far. Bushido Blade was the first one in and it stayed there all night.

So when I got home I tried to find any information I could about BB being played "seriously" and the nuts and bolts of good play - all I could find was a single SRK thread with no real answers. Since MMCafe is a place of obscure and arcane knowledge about things like Outfoxies tournanents, I figured this might be the place to ask - does anyone, anywhere still care about BB or BB2? Could there be any written material about them? And if not, is it going to be us? Are we going to start caring right here, right now? I vote yes. Because I care.






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Phoenix
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"Re(1):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sat 24 Dec 07:53:post reply

I just remember that Bushido 2's gameplay was much worse than Bushido 1.



Spoiler (Highlight to view) -

OT: It's too bad that all the modern versions of this type of games seem to suck... Does anyone know if any of the modern sword games like Kengo are any good?


End of Spoiler







[this message was edited by Phoenix on Sat 24 Dec 07:57]

Grave
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"Re(2):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sat 24 Dec 08:03post reply

iOS browser friggin' hates this site so I have no idea what you said!





Ishmael
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"Re(3):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sat 24 Dec 11:37post reply

quote:
iOS browser friggin' hates this site so I have no idea what you said!


Let's talk about Grave while he can't read the responses.

Or, better yet, let's talk about Busihdo Blade. I don't know if there is a scene for the game but there should be since BB was such a strange and unique game. Since I can't contribute anything useful here's a few of the things I can remember about the game off the top of my head:

Good luck killing anyone with the naginata. While it was a fun weapon the lethal area of the blade was so stupidly small you most often hit people with a non-lethal blade rubbing.

The broadsword and sledgehammer were probably the two strongest weapons in the game. BB wasn't really a balanced game but those two weapons were so heavy that they could blow straight through the other weapons. It was kind of sad that a game on a chanbara aesthetic could easily be reduced to clubbing people with hammers but so it goes.

It could also really pay to get hurt. Getting your legs chopped out would put you in a crouch that greatly improved your defense and gave you access to a lunging chop. Don't bother learning to use the broadsword, just get hobbled and flop at your opponent until they die.

The sub-weapons never stunned for long enough and were barely lethal so they weren't of much use. You could play frisbee with the big fan tho'.

The verses stage that had a moat was great because you could get knocked down in the water and remain submerged indefinitely.

BB2 tried to fix the problems of BB1 by introducing a bunch of weird new problems.

I so wish BB would come back because I loved that first game.





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"Re(4):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sat 24 Dec 16:34post reply

Oh, this is perfect! Believe it or not I've been putting some time in on Bushido Blade lately in preparation for a tournament. No lie.

These tips are gold. I've been wondering on the advantages of speed over strength. Does wielding a weapon change based on your strength at all?





Ishmael
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"Re(5):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sun 25 Dec 05:40post reply

quote:
Oh, this is perfect! Believe it or not I've been putting some time in on Bushido Blade lately in preparation for a tournament. No lie.

These tips are gold. I've been wondering on the advantages of speed over strength. Does wielding a weapon change based on your strength at all?


Whoa, a tournament that is going to feature BB? Let us know how that goes.

Note: anything I'm saying in this thread is based on my own impressions of the game and my spotty memory. If anyone has a different take on how BB plays please speak up.

As far as wielding goes, I think the default moves for the weapons will get a bit slower or faster depending on the strength of the character but it's not that big of a difference. Or will it be the same across the board? Eh, I can't remember. The running speed, however, will change drastically. The speedy characters will really slow down when you give them something even mildly heavy like a katana. Plus, each character specializes in a few of the weapons and can perform unique special attacks. These special attacks are often really good so picking the a character's preferred weapon is a safe bet.

As far as speed vs strength goes I always felt the speed characters got the short end of the stick. Parries depend on the weight of the weapon and stance so the speed character can't depend on them for safety. You're also fully vulnerable during evasion moves so that also adds risk to the stick and move style of play of a fast character. While the speed characters can move around more they are going to have to close in to fight and the strength character has the advantage when going toe to toe.





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"Re(4):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Tue 27 Dec 02:59post reply

quote:
Bushido Blade 2, #1 for problems
Heh, my friends and I got a kick out of Bushido Blade back in the day...always avoided 2 because it appeared as though they'd added a bunch of people with strange pastel hats and guns, or something. It would actually be a fun tourney game and probably deserves more love than any other fighter of that generation actually designed for PS 1...except Tobal 2, which may actually still be the greatest fighting game in the world, even if no one loved it.





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Gieflos
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"Re(5):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Tue 27 Dec 03:39post reply

This tournament I'm going to runs the usual set of popular games and always 1 "oddball" game. The previous year they ran Bloody Roar 2! These seem to be the games I get the most enjoyment out of and the results show because I placed 1st last year. Bushido Blade is going to be a single elimination bracket so I will literally be fighting for my tournament life!





Maese
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"Re(6):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Tue 27 Dec 15:43post reply

A Bushido Blade thread! This is one thing I honestly didn't see coming!

I have the fondest memories of BB, but those are mainly of that hilarious chanbara mode, where you had to kill 100 guys in a row on a small castle corridor with a mere katana as your only possible weapon of choice. I still remember their screams when dying or when jumping into the fray. Man, those were the times! I spent hours and hours trying to clear that friggin' corridor, and I think the closest I got was about 80 kills or so.

I think I've never played against any other human being, so I can't tell how useful my tactics could actually be, but I remember the nodachi being a truly devastating weapon, specially if you wield it on the lowest position. That double horizontal sweep was enough to cut pretty much any opponent in half, no matter how tough his guard was. The rapier was nice as well; you could either finish your opponent off in one powerful strike (charging forward from the highest position, plunging the blade right into his forehead) or keeping him at bay with a combo of swift thrusts to the legs (from the lowest position), which won't allow him to make any movement at all.





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"Re(7):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Thu 29 Dec 05:52post reply

quote:
A Bushido Blade thread! This is one thing I honestly didn't see coming!

I have the fondest memories of BB, but those are mainly of that hilarious chanbara mode, where you had to kill 100 guys in a row on a small castle corridor with a mere katana as your only possible weapon of choice. I still remember their screams when dying or when jumping into the fray. Man, those were the times! I spent hours and hours trying to clear that friggin' corridor, and I think the closest I got was about 80 kills or so.

I think I've never played against any other human being, so I can't tell how useful my tactics could actually be, but I remember the nodachi being a truly devastating weapon, specially if you wield it on the lowest position. That double horizontal sweep was enough to cut pretty much any opponent in half, no matter how tough his guard was. The rapier was nice as well; you could either finish your opponent off in one powerful strike (charging forward from the highest position, plunging the blade right into his forehead) or keeping him at bay with a combo of swift thrusts to the legs (from the lowest position), which won't allow him to make any movement at all.



I remember some duels against skilled human opponents which could be easily summarised as me, horribly crippled, holding dearly to life and trying to get the upper hand by sheer luck "the epic struggle for survival of a one armed, limp swordsman". Fond memories, indeed...





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"Re(2):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sun 1 Jan 09:04post reply

quote:
OT: It's too bad that all the modern versions of this type of games seem to suck... Does anyone know if any of the modern sword games like Kengo are any good?


I'd say that the closest thing to Bushido Blade currently available that is also entertaining would probably be the Deadliest Warrior games on XBLA (and I guess PSN).

The Deadliest Warrior games do lack a few of Bushido Blade's features.

Stages are standard fighting game fare. There is neither anything like Bushido Blade's giant map (which was more like an FPS map than a fighting game stage), nor the sometimes non-standard sub-section designs (so nothing like the bridge with the long fall into the gully below, or even the small bamboo forest).

Deadliest Warrior uses a lifebar system, though you can still die instantly from a sufficiently lethal/unlucky hit. The big difference is that a lifebar means you will eventually die regardless of whatever else is going on. With Bushido Blade, you could keep hitting each other indefinitely with non-lethal attacks. With Deadliest Warrior, losing a limb (already likely caused by a damaging hit) starts you bleeding out, leaving you maybe a few seconds max to try to win the match.

And each character in Deadliest Warrior has character-specific equipment to chose from.

Instead of Bushido Blade's stances, Deadliest Warrior has switching between your close range weapon, your longer range weapon, and your projectile weapon. Attacks are high, medium, low, and parrying exists. I think there was right analog stick dodging as well. (It has been a while since I've played.) The sequel (which uses characters based on real people) added a simple grappling system, which seemed like it was a bit overpowered. (You grab, picking a height and the opponent gets a chance to block one of the three heights. Each height had a special effect. One effect I think was immediate death?)


I think what I'd really like to see is to remake Bushido Blade, taking more from the FPS genre than from fighting games. I said earlier that Bushido Blade's maps were more like an FPS stage than a fighter. Bushido Blade's fast deaths are also perhaps closer to a modern FPS than a fighting game. In a fighter, you get mad if you die within two seconds. In an FPS, you respawn and try again. (FPS even accept one-hit kill melee attacks these days.)

Imagine a battlefield with teams of warriors rushing each other with swords, cutting each other down while trying to achieve different objectives. (Capture the flag, domination, elimination, just amassing points, whatever.) I think it could work.





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"Re(3):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sat 28 Jan 04:38post reply

So I participated in the Bushido Blade tournament and I was ELIMINATED IMMEDIATELY.

There were about 20 people entered and the entire bracket took about 15 minutes, heh. All the knowledge I gained and all the anticipation proved useless the moment I stared down my opponent's sword. When all was said and done everyone had a great time and people were cheering!

On a side note, the tourney organizer made a rule that if a player began to run for too long and the crowd began to boo he/she would be eliminated! This created an extra level of tension. Although BB is hardly a tournament level game I can honestly say that it made for one of the most enjoyable tournament experiences I've ever had.





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"Re(4):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sat 28 Jan 19:12post reply

BOOO!!! HISSS!!!





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"Re(5):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Sun 29 Jan 03:34post reply

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Ishmael
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"Re(4):A tale of Bushido and Blade, eternally" , posted Mon 30 Jan 09:50post reply

quote:
So I participated in the Bushido Blade tournament and I was ELIMINATED IMMEDIATELY.

There were about 20 people entered and the entire bracket took about 15 minutes, heh. All the knowledge I gained and all the anticipation proved useless the moment I stared down my opponent's sword. When all was said and done everyone had a great time and people were cheering!

On a side note, the tourney organizer made a rule that if a player began to run for too long and the crowd began to boo he/she would be eliminated! This created an extra level of tension. Although BB is hardly a tournament level game I can honestly say that it made for one of the most enjoyable tournament experiences I've ever had.

That sounds like a pretty cool tournament. Too bad you got gutted like a trout. Now that I think about it I realize I forgot to mention the most important strategy for Bushido Blade: if all else fails bang on the circle button and hope the opponent blunders into your sword. That's not pretty but since the whole point is to hit the other guy with the stabby part of your weapon you might as well wave it around and hope for the best.