Way of the Samurai 3

Way of the Samurai 3 is a PS3/XBOX 360 game released in 2009 in NA and 2008 in Japan. The game was also made available in March 2016 for Microsoft Windows.

Story of Way of the Samurai 3[]

Set during the Sengoku Era, the story of WOTS3 takes place in Amana, a fictional land ruled by a rising feudal lord, Fujimori Shuzen, who had overthown his former superior, Lord Sakurai, and became the new ruler. The Fujimori clan is an emerging force in Amana and has many enemies within its territory. In order to protect their domain, they force farmers and villagers to overwork and impose heavy taxes on them to strengthen their armed force. Because of this, people in Amana are beginning to feel discontent toward the Fujimori clan.

There are four main factions in Amana: Fujimori clan, Ouka clan, Omiki villagers and Takatane villagers. The Ouka clan consists of vassals of the Sakurai clan and assorted outcasts who desire power and seek to overthrow the Fujimori clan. The Takatane and Omiki villagers are harmonious people only wishing for peace.

Characters of Way of the Samurai 3[]

Protagonist[]

The main character is a customizable rōnin whose default name is Nameless. Players can customize their samurai by combining several heads with some bodies. Non-Player Character (NPC) models are also available for use after this option is unlocked, any NPCs (including female characters) that you have knocked unconscious will become selectable.

Originally there were only male heads. The Plus version of the game added a female head (from Way of the Samurai 2), but even when playing with a female model, NPCs will still address the protagonist as "he".

Fujimori Clan[]

Fujimori Shuzen: Former vassal of the Sakurai clan, now the rising Lord who overthrew the Sakurai clan. He is strengthening his power by forcing hard labor and collecting high taxes from the villagers. Voiced by: Nakada Jouji
Umemiya Shinnosuke: The eldest son of Munechika Umemiya, and a former loyal member of the Sakurai clan. Now a vassal of Fujimori Shuzen. A skilled swordsman who was once called the "Three swords of the Sakurai Clan". There is a reason behind his betrayal. Voiced by: Daisuke Ono
Araragihime: Fujimori Shuzen's mistress, who holds the noble bloodline. She is a fearless woman who lives as she desires. Any worthless men will easily have their souls taken by this witch-like woman. Voiced by: Yukiko Ozima
Kirie Masatsugu: Fujimori's ninja general who does all the dirty jobs for Shuzen. Another assassin will replace his role in events if he was killed before that. Voiced by: Takashi Onozuka

Ouka Clan[]

Matsuzaki Genjuro: The giant leader of the Ouka clan who was once a low rank samurai of the Sakurai clan. He persuaded fallen samurai and bandits to create the Ouka clan and rebuild Sakurai clan. However, he is known to use violence to obtain power. Voiced by: Takahiro Yoshino
Umemiya Yuma: Youngest son of the Umemiya family who proudly served the Sakurai clan. He strongly believes that the Sakurai clan can be rebuilt through the Ouka clan. He detests his father for being a coward and his brother for being a traitor. Voiced by: Hiroshi Sugiyama
Rindo Itsuse: A female samurai of the Ouka Clan. After losing her family (killed by Fujimori Shuzen), she lives only to kill him and get her revenge. Her sword is Hakuu. Voiced by: Eri Saitou

Takatane Village[]

Munechika Umemiya: Former chief vassal of the Sakurai clan, now head of the village. He is the target of threats and abuse from the Fujimori clan because he wants to protect villagers from their oppression. Voiced by: ???
Osei (Sakurai Clan's Princess) : A young girl who lives in the village with her little brother, Kota. She really hates samurai because she lost her parents in a great battle against the Fujimori clan. Osei is, in fact, not just a normal village girl. Voiced by: Rina Satō
Kota (Osei's Younger Brother) : A young boy who lives in the village with his older sister, Osei. Although he acts as if he hates samurai in front of his sister, he actually admires them a lot. Voiced by: Maki Mizuma

Others[]

Gunji Dojima: The blacksmith who has appeared in every Way of the Samurai games, now he has a brother. They will gladly work on your weapons if you have the money. Voiced by: Atsushi Imaruoka
Sensei:* The female samurai who teaches players how to fight in the tutorial at the beginning of the 1st game. Now she can be found on the 3rd floor of the dojo at Guard Gate. Sensei can become a partner in the Plus version of the game. She is the only character in possession of a Middle Stance Bokuto, which cannot be obtained by means other than killing her. Voiced by: Hikami Kyouko
Kasumi: The heroine from the 2nd game. Now she is one of the companions you can find in this game. Voiced by: Hikami Kyouko
Setsuen: A mysterious man who seems to be spying on Amana.
Zaji "The Black Hawk": The ninja from Shinobido: Way of the Ninja, he is a guest character in this game. He will drop a smoke bomb and his sword when defeated. Voiced by: Konishi Katsuyuki
Misae: An old woman who is the job broker in Takatane village. The first job she will give you is to find her missing underwear.
Oryo: A woman who is the job broker in Omiki town. Misaki often hangs around her. Oryo's is often called the Overseer.
Joji: Ouka clan's job broker, nicknamed "The Homeless Mighty God".
Kiyonari: Fujimori clan's job broker.
Fabled Merchant: A legendary merchant who appears after you perform any three inklings. He is the little boat by the waterfall at the Road during the day. He sells the niftiest stuff in the game.
Momiji: A tomboy who wants to avenge her father. She can be recruited if player choose not to fight her. When her health is full, Momiji can occasionally invent a new sword skill.
Kana: A village girl who will become your servant once rescued from bandits. She can hold weapon parts.
Misaki: Another villager who was also kidnapped. But unlike Kana, she is mean and ungrateful. As a partner, she will help by kicking enemies when player is losing.
Minamo: A girl who will become your little sister if you have certain swords. She will sometimes give you a new sword, and hold items.
Yuzu: An old woman who will takes care of you like a mother if you are nice to her. Her bargain skill lowers the price of items you buy.
Hinagiku: Hinagiku will become a companion if you buy her a lot of things. She will distract enemies in battles, and also hold your money. But if she moves in, she will sometimes steal money from your safe.
Yukino: A spear-wielding bodyguard for hire who will fight alongside you until morning for the price of 100 yen. She appears at the bridge in Omiki Town at night. Her late husband was a spearman. She can hold weapons. Her additional alias is the Weeping Spear.
Hiiragi: A girl who likes to eat. She will follow you if you give her something big to eat (a giant radish). Hiiragi can throw you foods when your health is low and holds your accessories.
Otome: A virgin old lady who was apparently a kunoichi. To obtain her services, player must accept her assassination requests (like killing the Dojimas). She kicks corpses and breaks objects.
Osada: In order for her to join, player must perform a "shameful slash" on her (that is slashing at a female character's lower body, only barely hitting their clothes so that it will come off and make her run away in shame). With her as a partner, player can buy stuff from dead merchants.
Nyanya: A cat girl wielding a giant tuna who will appear if player was nice to the cats in town. She is playful and can break the swords in your safe if you leave her at home.
Dona: The afro samurai (Don Donatelouse) from the first game. Dona is a girl now. She will steal swords from the safe if left at home alone.
Ensen: The wandering rōnin from the 1st game, who can become your apprentice if you spare his life. He runs faster than female partners, and sometimes brings a woman to your house. His sword is Benihime.
Genjuro: A dog (not Matsuzaki Genjuro) beloved by those of the Ouka clan.

Gameplay of Way of the Samurai 3[]

Much like last two games, players have direct involvement in the plot by choosing dialogues and actions in the game. A new feature in the game is that players can draw their weapon anytime during cutscenes.

The number of events are three times more than the previous game and there are 22 endings as opposed to 14 in the last game. After completing the game, players will retain the weapons, items, parts they obtained, money, as well as physical stats, learned skills and techniques for future replays.

Based on what they did in the game, players will receive an end-game title and Samurai Points. There are 50 different titles, ranging from "Nobody" to "Samurai 4EvR!". The total Samurai Points are used to unlock secrets, heads, clothes, and abilities.

The game, however, encourages players to be honorable, because they will lose their total Samurai Points for doing villainous acts, and will not be able to unlock secrets.

Movement and Time[]

Players can now either walk from place to place like in the first Way of the Samurai, or travel instantly (or warp) between areas by using the map like in Way of the Samurai 2. If you use the map, time will wind fast forward. There are 8 areas in Amana: Kuchihagahara, Guard Gate, Posting Station, Takatane Village, Omiki Town, Castle Amana, Castle Minori, and The Road. Areas which have events will be marked with an Inkling "!" to allow players to follow the storyline more easily.

Time is displayed by a clock on the top right corner of the screen. One minute in the game is equal to one second in real life. Time progresses as the day advances; morning, noon, evening, night, midnight, and dawn. Certain events only occur at a certain time of the day. Unlike previous games, there is no day limit in this game.

The "safe house" first introduced in Way of the Samurai 2 returns, but this time you can actually walk around. A bed, weapon safe, money safe, item box, and weapon parts box can be found inside the house.

Combat[]

The game focuses deeply (as in past games) on sword combat. There are 102 weapons in the game, including swords, spears, and even some joke weapons like sticks, green onion, tuna, brooms, and hoes. Players can now kneel down and beg for mercy (Dogeza) if they are losing the fight, this action is called Apologizing. NPCs will also do this.

The "parry" technique introduced in the last game was scrapped. Now the "push and pull" system like in the first game is used, as well as a new "instant kill" (hit satsu) technique called "glimpse of death", which is activated after a successful awase. After an instant kill, it is possible to perform a chain kill (ren satsu) just by approaching foes and hitting the right buttons.

With Blunt Attack mode ON the samurai will uses the blunt side of the blade instead of the sharp edge, and as the result, enemies will be knocked out instead. When using blunt attack, instant kill is disabled. As well as not being able to kill your enemies using Blunt Attack, you cannot Yen or weapons from the opponent when using blunt attack.

Weapons will gain EXP and level up. New skills can be learned by leveling up weapons. At max level (50), the weapon will have infinite durability and become unbreakable. The player can learn unarmed fighting (bare hands stance) and dual ninja swords techniques by reading scrolls. Learned skills are now recorded with the main character and later can be assigned to new created weapons. Once you have learned all skills for a sword stance (like middle stance), a stance mastery trophy will be unlocked.

Swords and Spears[]

Like in previous games, you can enhance your swords' stats and value (like durability, attack/defense bonus) by visiting the blacksmiths (the Dojima brothers). In addition to that, the game will be the first installment in the series to allow players to create their own original katana or spears by collecting parts like blades (each blade comes with a certain scabbard), guards, grips, pommels, and bringing them to the blacksmiths. Players then can set a stance and assign moves to it, and can even name their new unique weapon. According to the official blog, there are around 200 original parts and more than 750 skills to choose from (skills must be learned first).

The swords are still divided into seven types: middle stance, upper stance, lower stance, side stance, single stance (one-handed), draw stance (Battōjutsu), and ninja stance. The "dual stance" swords introduced in Way of the Samurai 2 were removed. Instead, you can obtain the "dual wielding" ability (can equip any two swords at once) after earning a certain amount of Samurai Points. Spears are now treated as its own kind (spear stance), not "side stance swords" anymore.

A new stat for weapons is "weight", ranging from 0 (light) to 8 (unmovable). Heavyweight weapons will be very slow.

Partners[]

Another known newly introduced feature is the "partner" system. There are NPCs in Amana whom you can take along with you in your adventures. There will be some minigame jobs which require two people to complete, like making sticky rice cakes or performing a sword catching trick. Your partners might agree to live with you at your home if they become fond of you, but they will be jealous if you bring home another girl and will be angry if you do not come home for many days. When living together, each partner can have positive or negative effects, like increasing money in the safe or breaking swords.

There are 14 partners (4 more are added in Plus version, including Sensei) you can get in this game (anyone who has a green name tag is recruitable), from a spear-wielding widow to the ghost of a murdered woman to Donna (the afro samurai from the 1st game) to a cat girl called "Nya-Nya" (meow meow). Each of them has different abilities, from assisting in combat to holding weapons/items/parts. The max relationship point of each partner is 7.14%. To have 100%, player must raise relationship with all available partners.

Jobs And Mini Games[]

Players can do jobs for any of the four factions. Working for one side will increase the main character's popularity with that side, and terrorizing them will make them hate him instead. Some of these jobs include babysitting a dog, finding runaway kids, punishing food thieves, rescuing kidnapped babies, or just killing someone.

In addition to various normal "jobs" provided by 4 different brokers, there are some mini games like "help the old lady toll the bell", "cut vegetables for the old woman", "dismantle the giant tuna", and "make sticky rice cakes".

Titles[]

Achievements[]

"Plus" Version[]

A new version of the game will be released for PS3 in Japan only as Way of the Samurai 3 Plus, with additional content, including 4 more companions (Osei, Itsuse, Araragihime, and Sensei). This content will not be available in the English version of the game.

Trivia[]

The player's character's default model, as shown in the intro is the second Kenji shown in the Way of the Samurai intro. However, is now wearing a samurai armor outfit.
All character models in Way of the Samurai that is initially available are all able to be used except for the third head and body model and the second body model.