I just jumped on the Sengoku Basara 2 love train.

[Ichirou]

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[Ichirou]

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[bork]

So this game is a wee bit more complicated than Gundam Musou Special, it seems.

I would say the opposite.     It's a lot more straight-forward and linear.

[Ichirou]

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[bork]

Could you repost that long explanatory post you made about the game in another thread?  It was awesome.

It covers Heroes, too...

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.

Going back further:

Koeiwarriors Sez:

Sengoku BASARA is a game made by Capcom, and produced by Mr. Hiroyuki Kobayashi, the same producer of Capcom's famous Devil May Cry series. Its gameplay is similar to KOEI's Shin Sangoku Musou (Dynasty Warriors) and Sengoku Musou (Samurai Warriors): a Hack'n'Slash game. It also shares the same timeline as Sengoku Musou, the Sengoku Jidai occured in Japan during 16th century. However, what distinguishes Sengoku BASARA from KOEI's games is the stylish aspect. The moves in this game are made as stylish as the ones you can see in DMC; and Mr. Makoto Tsuchibayashi who drew Dante is the one who makes all the characters' eccentric designs.

The first game was released on July 21st 2005, and received quite a favorable response from the Japanese gamers. However for some reason, Capcom decided to scrap the historical aspect of the game when they were trying to bring it overseas. They tweaked Sengoku BASARA into Devil Kings for the Western market.

One year after SB1 was released in Japan, Capcom launched the sequel, Sengoku BASARA 2, which was released on July 27th 2006. This new game has much more volume and replayabilty than its prequel.


Modes
Sengoku BASARA 2 has three times the replayability of its prequel. Two new modes and 48 stages are available on this game.

Aside from the Unification Mode and Free Battle Mode, there are now Story Mode and Arena Mode. Story Mode is the equivalent of DW&SW's Musou Mode, where you follow your character's story by going through 5 to 6 stages. Arena Mode (named Daibutoukai) is a 100-stage survival mode that Shin Onimusha players may find it similar to the Dark Realm.


Characters and Enemies
There is a total of 30 unique characters in this game. All 21 unique characters -PCs and NPCs- from the prequel are making a return. But first of all, the two popular NPCs from SB1, Chousokabe Motochika and Mouri Motonari, are now playable. There were also issues of clone characters which were Kenshin-Matsu and Sasuke-Kasuga.. Not anymore. Matsu now holds a naginata and can summon animals, while Kasuga now carries kunais. Kenshin and Sasuke still have their old weapons.

There are 4 brand-new playables. The first one is Maeda Keiji, the kabukimono all of you should have known by now. Then there's Toyotomi Hideyoshi, accompanied by his strategist, Takenaka Hanbei. Last but not least, Miyamoto Musashi is also in this game, although he just serves as an extra character to please you Musashi-philes. (He does not have a story nor element, and he only has two skills at all)

There are 5 new NPCs. Other than Katakura Kojuurou, Masamune's retainer, there are Azai Nagamasa, O-Ichi, Fuuma Kotarou and Honganji Kennyo.

There are also new kinds of enemies, such as fire ninjas, ice ninjas, oni soldiers, dragon tanks, and perhaps the most famous of them all is the Gohonyari, a squad of five spearmen that may remind you of Power Rangers.


Gameplay
The gameplay is still similar to the prequel, however there are now some new features, including Battle Drive, a hyper-mode-activation system similar to DW5's Musou Awakening and Basara Fever, a combo hit ranker taken from Devil Kings and will give you coins for each hits after every 500 hits.

Coins? Yes, there is now money in this game, and you can use them to shop in the Basara Shop which sells things like stat-increasing foods, weapons and armors, as well as special items. Speaking of items, they're still generated randomly from treasure boxes. However in this sequel, the boxes are now divided into two categories: Item Box and Equipment Box. Also, useless boxes will be automatically converted into money or experience points.

And speaking about EXP, the maximum level your character can get now is 100.


Others
The music is, once again, varied. You can hear many genres of music from this game's BGMs; from rock, techno, to even jazz. Some of the music from SB1 are returning. But sadly, some other favorite themes such as Thunderbolt aren't.

This game only has one minus point for me, which is the lack of art from its prequel. Unlike in SB1, now you can only see the 3D rendition of the characters in all places; the only place you can see the artful 2D drawings is in the Character Introduction movie accessible from the Gallery.

And last but not least, although this game only has a few historical accuracies compared to Sengoku Musou, some of the stories and dialogues are humorous, such as when one of Zabii's followers says "No Zabii, No Life!" So in the end, if you want to play a stylish and fun hack'n'slash game, go get this game.

Musou games don't have enemies like this:

(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

Or weapons like this:

(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

Or attacks like this:

(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

BASARA 2!
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Oh, and every character has three sets of armor and eight weapons to get.  And you want skill?  Play the ARENA MODE!  It's not you fighting dumb guards...you cut right to the chase and engage in combo-filled fighting game-like battles against other main characters!

[bork]

3600+ hit combo video

[youtube=425,350]mFstOeIPK7c[/youtube]

[Mr. Gundam]

I really want this game. I don't know why I'm so reluctant to import it, when I import tons of inferior JP titles all the time...

[bork]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-77-6-49-en-15-sengoku+basara+2-70-1t2e.html

$29.90 at Play-Asia.  If you have a Wii, you might want to try a Freeloader and the Sengoku Basara 2/Heroes Double Pack.

[bork]

Sooooooooooo how goes it?

[Ichirou]

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[Shuri]

I'd love to see a futuristic take on those games that isnt from an anime l; i'd love something that would look straight out of the universe of wipeout, for example.

You'd face off hordes and hordes of cyborgs, robots and soldiers that looked straigh out of Akira..

[TVC15]

I'd love to see a futuristic take on those games that isnt from an anime l; i'd love something that would look straight out of the universe of wipeout, for example.

You'd face off hordes and hordes of cyborgs, robots and soldiers that looked straigh out of Akira..

Crimson Sea 2 was pretty great.  At the time, at least.

[bork]

Sooo....how about now, Ichi? 

I have off for two weeks.  Cultural Furlough + Nenkyu.  This is good since next week is OROCHI MUSOU 2 .

Crimson Sea 2 was pretty great.  At the time, at least.

Yeah, that was pretty good.  I never did finish it...need to go back and rebuy it, but I don't know how it would hold up today.

[Ichirou]

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[Ichirou]

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[Ichirou]

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[Ichirou]

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[bork]

Another lost soul has seen the shining light of Sengoku Basara 2.  Welcome to the order of Musou perfection, brother.

And don't forget, there's Heroes too!

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I don't suppose the Wii version will be hitting the US 

Might have to get a freeloader.  After hearing how disappointing SSM5 turned out to be, I still need my Musou fix.

[Ichirou]

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