explain the mechanical differences from 1 to 2
avoid talking about those retardedly awful characters
So I only played Sengoku Basara briefly (and HATED IT), and never played Devil Kings, which had some game play changes made to it over the J-version. Whether or not those were for the better or worse I don't know, but my guess is for the worse since everyone seems to hate the original and loves the sequel. Off the top of my head, these are the differences:
-Single "primary attack" move with triangle got changed to one of two selectable special attack moves that can be comboed off of/with. There are multiple special moves you can earn for each character; eight in all but only two can be used at a time. You can change them out between levels.
-Shitloads more equippable items added. Weapon count is now eight for each character...I think the original was like three or four?
-Story mode was added. Now each character goes through his/her own set of levels, taking on various opposing NPCs and various kinds of enemies, including HUGE mech-like midbosses and wacky Viewtiful Joe-like Samurai forces. This is in ADDITION to the unification mode, also back from the first game. So in other words, you get two main modes of play instead of just one like in Koei's games.
-Arena mode added. This is for using combos and facing small waves of enemies, midbosses, or other main characters directly. Arena mode is 100 stages and you can save every 10. You can also earn each character's third armor and final weapon in this mode.
-Ranking system added. The game keeps track of the top 10 best "scores," based on kills, combo counts, time, etc.
-No more character clones. Some characters in the original had the same attacks/combos as others. Everyone was made unique and given their own weapons in Basara 2.
Stuff I'm not sure if the original had or not:
-Character-specific items. Unique armors and such, which make slight visual changes to the characters. I only used Noh (gun-wielding female) once to clear her story mode, but IIRC she even gets an item that changes her entire move set and gives her physical attacks instead of shooting attacks. Her eigth weapon is also Ebony and Ivory from DMC.
-I checked Wikipedia for this, and it says that the "basara drive and basara attacks" are new features in SB2. SB1 didn't have "musou" specials?? Anyway, your drive feels up based on certain numbers of enemies killed, and can then be activated at any time to make your character faster and stronger. If you use this in combination with a basara attack (musou), you get an enhanced super move that does shitloads of damage and looks really fucking cool.
And I think that covers everything. Basara 2 is like a more flashier, arcade version of the Musou games. It has shorter stages and is more linear, but focuses on racking up kill counts and doing insane combo strings instead. (you're also not going to be running around aimlessly looking for shit) I find it much more satisying to play than Koei's games, but it depends on why you like to play these games in the first place.
I also like Capcom's take on the character designs versus Koei's. The characters have much more personality to them and everything is very over-the-top. It's not trying to be historically accurate, and by doing that, you get better attacks and weapons. Some of the character designs are radically different between the two games. Toyotomi Hideyoshi is kind of a small character in Samurai Warriors 2, with his "pole bouncing" wacky attacks and his cutesy wife Nene. In Basara 2, he's a huge hulk of a man who's pissed off at everyone and attacks using his bare hands (so here's the game's "Zangief"). And Nene? Apparently dead, by his hand. Big storyline differences here. Oda Nobunaga also comes off as much more evil and badass in SB2 as well. His voice actor fucking rules if you care about that sort of thing.
Oh, and Heroes adds MORE modes of play, MORE playable characters (basically all the previous unplayable NPCs), and two player split-screen play, with various competitive modes to go alongside co-op. The only thing I'm not too thrilled about with Heroes was the decision to go with animu art and cut scenes over the CG they had before. It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't fit the game's style as much, IMO.
Does the engine even appear to be a decent foundation for future games?
I think so. More so than the game play, one of the biggest blows to the game was Omega Force changing all the characters around and removing a lot of the unique weapons in the process. That was a mistake. The game really feels rushed to me, so an XL version could address the flaws. There were comparisons made with DW6 to Madden 2006 on 360/PS3 when the J-version came out; I'm not familar with Madden but apparently the next-gen versions were lacking in a lot of features that all got added back into the 2007 version.
At least we have the new Musou Orochi to look forward to...
...on Playstation
2.
