*WARNING* Story spoilers are included, it was hard to describe how good the game is without them.
Then again, why care, if you haven't played it already - you never will, so read freely.
Anyways, let's start.
The latest installment of Zero(零) survival-horror games series,
developed and released exclusively for Nintendo’s first HD console – the Wii U.
It is highly praised by journalists, and the idea to use Wii
U gamepad as a camera is said to be really good.
Well, can’t deny, that was an awesome experience.
There is a lot to say about this game.
Koei Tecmo really went all out on Wii U hardware in terms of
graphics, and the game looks really good.
When the game was in development, it was advertised that it will use
some system from Dead or Alive 5 games.
And that system is “Wetness”-system, allowing
characters/characters’ clothing to get wet in the rain/water/by touching
ghosts. It is quite an important addition, considering that the game’s theme is
“rain”, and the game is called “濡鴉ノ巫女”(literally – Shrine Maiden of
the Wet Crow), which has a double meaning. One is in the captions, second would
be “Black Haired Shrine Maiden”, because 濡鴉, besides literally meaning a “wet
crow,” also means a hair color, and was used in ancient Japan to describe women
with VERY black hair.
When characters get wet, random encounters with spirits will
occur much more often. Yes, unlike previous installments, there is a real bunch
of random encounters in this game. If in Zero 2 it happened in certain areas,
or in Zero 4 it happened quite rarely(maybe certain areas too, don’t remember),
in this game I managed to get tired of them at times and just ran from spirits
to conserve film.
The story revolves around 3 characters, and the Mountain
where no one but people going to commit suicide go – Hikami Mountain.
The 射影機(lit. Projection Machine,
officially called Shadow Obscure in Zero 3) makes a return, of course, since
it’s the central concept of the series, and what’s more – in 2 varieties.
One is used by Kozukata Yuuri and Hinasaki Miu(who “borrows”
it from Yuuri), and it is the usual model we all know and love, with a ton of
different Strenghtening Lenses and functions.
Another one is the one used by Houjou Ren(a male. Yep,
another one. Then again, males have been in the series since Zero 3, I stopped
caring), and it’s only Strenghtening Lens allows 4 quick consecutive shots.
Speaking about characters is necessary as there is a bit of
confusion in people’s minds, regarding playable characters. There are 3:
Kozukata Yuuri – a girl who has the ability of 影見(kagemi,
lit. Shadow View). Kagemi allows Yuuri to follow the “shadow” of what/who she
seeks, or see the past of people/objects she touches. Her mentor, Kurosawa
Hisoka, however, warned her never to get into searching for missing people, as
that may lead to her seeing something that shouldn't be seen.
Houjou Ren – an old friend of Yuuri and Hisoka, a writer. He
actually is a relative of the Asou family, a relative of Asou Kunihiko, the
maker of the Projection Machine.
He follows his friend to the mountain Hikami, following a
trace of a strangely beautiful Funeral Photo he received from him.
Hinasaki Miu – her name is written in a way that it can also
be read as Miku, but she, in fact, is the daughter of Hinasaki Miku we know.
She is in search for her mother who went missing, and who, supposedly, went to
the mountain. She works as a gravure model.
The game goes in a mission-based fashion, with each chapter
being a “mission”, which, however, doesn’t damage the atmosphere, somehow.
There were a lot of moments that really scared me, like when
ghosts came literally to the Antique Café Kurosawa to attack. There was also an
all out attack on the café when all of the characters gathered there during the
Oomagatoki(逢魔時). The funny thing, Ren managed to drive them off until
the very end…but during both attacks on the café, he managed to fall asleep in
the end.
No really, if ghosts in spiritual places like the abandoned
hospital, or in Village that Disappeared from the Map, or in the Mansion of
Dreams, seem pretty far away from home, where characters (and the player) can
feel at least a bit safe, this game destroys the illusion of being safe at
home, as spirits, ghosts can come there to attack. Brr, just thinking about it
gives me goosebumps.
There also is a bit of things that I didn’t find an answer
to in the game.
For example, in Miu’s good ending, she and Miku walk towards
the “hidden world”(underworld, really), and the player knows Miku wanted to go
there(literally die, yes) to meet her brother, Mafuyu, who supposedly died in
the very first game, Miu says a strange line “Mother has father, but for me
there is no one to go to the underworld for”. Has me wondering if the game
implies Miku managed to concieve a child from her brother, or that Miu’s
father, someone we don’t know, is dead too.
Or a pretty scary thought, in Yuuri’s good end, while the
nightmare does end, unlike other games, the movie doesn’t show spirits being
put to rest. Does it mean that it’s just not shown, and together with black
water, the Bride sealed them too? Or does it mean that the spirits still wander
on mount Hikami? No answer found
But the question I, and probably most players, want to know
the answer to – WHICH of endings is CANON?
In this game, ending is decided by player’s actions, not by
difficulty the player played through the game on, so it cannot be as usual,
with BAD endings being canon. Or...maybe it can.
This game is really worth owning a japanese Wii U for. Too
bad it didn’t sell that much. Well, I hope it’s enough to get me a 6th
game, and not enough to get it localized. Such great games must not reach
heretics on western shores.
But...I forgot to mention a really small part of the game, and
yet quite surprisingly interesting. By request of Hayashi Yosuke, Ayane, a
character of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series was added to the game.
She has her own story and gameplay. The gameplay reminds of
Choushiro, as Ayane uses a Spirit Stone Flashlight.
However, unlike Choushiro,
Ayane cannot defeat spirits, only temporarily stun them, so she has to use the
flashlight to stun them and sneak while they are stunned.
Her story takes approximately 20 minutes to finish, and
means exactly nothing to the main story.
While I do not really approve of the crossover, it was sure
an interesting experience to play as Ayane in a stealth mission, where she
can’t fight(the first cut-scene in her story is hilarious, how she tried to cut
up a ghost, and got beaten to a pulp, because she cannot CUT a ghost).
No comments:
Post a Comment