Thinking about getting "Onimusha ESSENTIALS"
 

I saw Onimusha ESSENTIALS for about $20 at GameStop. Since I've never played any Onimusha games I was tempted to give it a shot at that price. However, I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into.

I've never played any Onimusha games. I have played Genji for the PS2 and I hear that's basically an Onimusha clone. Genji was fun but it was only about four hours and it was even shorter on repeat playthroughs because by your second game your characters are so leveled up they can kill almost anything in one hit.

So who here has played any of the Omimusha games? What are your thoughts on the series?

I've played a couple of the Onimusha games. I never beat any of them. They seemed a lot like Ninja Gaiden. That comparison may be way off, but that's how I remember them.

Hmm. I didn't care for the latest Ninja Gaiden games at all. I may have to really debate this then. Thanks, PopcornTreeCt.

I played and finished the 1st Onimusha on PS2 and I think I bought the slightly souped up XBOX version years later but I think I traded it because I don't see it in my XBOX stack.

Anyway, I thought O1 was pretty cool. It's like Resident Evil set in Feudal Japan but with demons and magic. I always appreciated using a sword instead of a gun since that meant you didn't spend all your time looking for ammo or running out at a bad time. I played Onimusha 2 and liked it, but but never finished it since I sold all my PS2 stuff before I could. I never played Onimusha 3 but if I remember right it was a love it or hate it type game based on what I remember hearing.

Just think of all the things you know about Capcom games with the fancy moves, leveling up weapons and magic, and you have an idea of this series. To me Devil May Cry, also Capcom, had a lot of similarities to the Onimusha series so that may help you get a feel for it. If they made a version for the 360 or added "Genma Onimusha"(XBOX version) to their 360's Backwards Compat. list I'd pick it up.

Either way, 3 decent games for $20 isn't a bad thing and I'd say pick it up. :up:


Here's a link to some old, and apparently not so old, PS2 game reviews. Go down to the Onimusha games. Most are very positive.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/list_o.html

Well, I certainly have a soft spot for both Resident Evil and Devil May Cry. Thatnks for the links. I'll read those and may well give this series a shot. :)

I really don't see the Onimusha series as being anything at all like Ninja Gaiden except that they are both ninja/samurai games.

Ninja Gaiden is inspired by the one-on-one fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter except that Ninja Gaiden is one-on-one thousand but with all the combo moves and hardcore action of a regular one-on-one game.

Onimusha is very different from that in my opinion. Like GiantRobo said, Onimusha is basically Resident Evil with ninjas instead of zombies. Also keep in mind that the first two Onimusha games have the same tank-like digital-only controls that the old school Resident Evil games had. Onimusha 3 finally added the analog control.

I have only played the old PS2 Onimusha games (which are the first three games in the series). I haven't played any past that, but I did really enjoy the PS2 games.

Onimusha 1 actually did start out as an actual Resident Evil game. Capcom decided to change it and make it into a different franchise for some reason I can't remember. Onimusha 1 was also one of the launch games for the PS2, and like most launch games, it is kind of "bland" compared to games that follow. It isn't bad though, and I would consider it one of the the better launch games.

Onimusha 2 is much improved. It is both linear and non-linear at the same time. You get to choose between partners to help you out, and the partner you have will change the levels and cutscenes, so in order to get 100% you have to play through multiple times. Onimusha 2 also had the most memorable characters. Gogandantess, the self-proclaimed greatest swordsman, was really cool.

Onimusha 3 is kind of weird. It is a time traveling story where you end up in modern day France with Jean Reno as a partner. Yes, Jean Reno as in the movie actor who played Leon The Professional. I kid you not. The ingame model is actually modeled after Jean Reno, and he even is the voice actor for the character. It is a pretty good game.... just really really weird.

Yeah, I was off on the Ninja Gaiden comparison. But I never saw it as a Resident Evil game, I guess because with RE all that mattered was using your ammo wisely.

Given all the press the third game got, I'm well aware of Jean Reno's participation. he lent his voice and likeness to the game around the time he was shooting Wasabi. I'm also aware that Donnie Yen choreographed the openning action sequence.

I do recall some minor controversy about Jean Reno only recording his character's French dialogue for the beginning portions of the game but that a different actor was used for all the English dialogue. From what I recall, some fans claimed the gamemakers chose this because either Jean Reno was only available to record some of the dialogue and thus they focused on his French dialogue as he could breeze through it quicker (probable) or that the gamemakers though the game would be more "movielike" if they dubbed Reno's character in English (idiotic if true).

So basically the first two play like old school Resident Evil and the third like Devil May Cry? Or is only the first like old school Resident Evil?

That sounds like how Devil May Cry was created. I recall preview articles for the first in that series that also mentioned it was originally intended as another Resident Evil game.

Yeah, now that I think about it, I seem to remember that too. It has been ages since I played the game, but I remember thinking the English voice actor did a fair enough impression of Jean Reno that I wouldn't have been able to tell them apart if I didn't know it was a different voice actor.




All of them play pretty much like Resident Evil. The first two had digital only controls while the third added analog controls. They all have the Resident Evil style 2D backgrounds with 3D character models, and they all have the same weird Resident Evil style puzzles scattered around the place.




If I remember right, both Onimusha and Devil May Cry were early prototypes of Resident Evil 4. Resident Evil 4 had something like an 6 year development period. Capcom started on it immediately after finishing Resident Evil 3 in 1999 and didn't finish it until 2005.

Gametrailers has a video of another prototype build of Resident Evil 4 which shows it being set in a haunted house similar to the original Resident Evil. The video shows a ghost with a hook weapon and killer dolls. I remember thinking that video looked far scarier than the Resident Evil 4 that we actually got.

Doesn't it matter what order you play the games in as far as the story goes?

I've been wanting to try out one of the PS2 games to see what I think about the series.

Playing them in the order they were released would make the most sense because that is the order that everyone else played them in (assuming they played them as they were released of course).

Using an example, the Star Wars prequels obviously take place first chronologically, but you shouldn't watch them before the original trilogy unless you want a lot of stuff spoiled for you.

Re: Thinking about getting "Onimusha ESSENTIALS"
 

I finally picked up the set today. It was actually $29.99 but not a bad price nonetheless.

I like that you can play the first game in Japanese but why don't the subtitle show during the opening CG cinematic? Is that only during that particular cinematic or are they all subtitle free. That kind of kills the point of playing the game in Japanese (to keep the Medieval Japan feel) and keep the subtitle option on.