The Playstation 4 is yet to have its fair share of Japanese games; the usual Yakuza, Persona or even Final Fantasies, except for XIV, are yet to debut on Sony’s latest console, and thus each game coming from the east is welcomed quite well, before unearthing all its flaws at least. Toukiden Kiwami is one of these Japanese games which, although not a contender for game of the year, does what it sets out to do, meaning a good story and varied, absorbing gameplay, which ultimately do a great job out of the game.
Toukiden Kiwami, like a series of games before it, start with you creating your own character, which means that there is no fixed protagonist to the story. Customization is limited to a couple of options like hairstyle and face, but these two contain quite a selection, so creating two identical characters is not that for granted. There is also a voice selection for the character, but curiously enough the voice is only used for the grunts and shouts which your character yells out during combat, since normal dialogue involves the traditional written frames, but only for you. Other characters speak loud and clear, in Japanese though, and you have a handy translation of whatever they are saying through the frames in the lower part of the screen. It is not so clear as to why the developers decided to go this way with conversations in the game, but nonetheless it still conveys the story clearly, so it should not prove to be that big of an issue.
Basically, the story recounts the tale of a warrior, being your character, who is sent out to Utakata Village in the midlands, to help this town fend off the threat of the Oni, the demons which were invoked in an event called The Awakening, eight years prior to the timeline in the game. Utakata is in serious trouble since it is continuously attacked and almost invaded by these demons, but a group of fighters who call themselves Slayers defend the town from its demise. Your character is then recruited into this group and must help the others in protecting the town against the exponentially difficult challenges which it faces.
The main part of Toukiden Kiwami is its battles, as one would expect. One of the best elements of the game is its incredible variety when it comes to fighting, with the ability to choose from nine types of weapons, which all handle and perform differently, from the hard-hitting, close ranged swords to guns, which although serve much longer ranges than swords, do considerably less damage, reasonably. In combat, each weapon performs differently, and not only on the damage department, but also in available moves. While for example the gun can be loaded with three different bullets, shoot normal attacks and special attacks, melee weapons such as swords or spears strike enemies either with a light attack or a heavy, chargeable attack, while also having a special type of strike, in the sword’s case charge it up with focus for a short period of time, until your Focus meter runs out. Attacking the same part over and over again while the sword is charged causes a stab wound, and upon the end of the period it will inflict damage proportionate to the depth of the wound, meaning how many attacks one manages to inflict on that same body part.
Another part of the combat which is quite a good feature is the ability to dismember parts of big foes, such as legs, wings or other body parts which may be slashes away from the demon. As one will experience in the game, your party members, of which you can select a maximum dictated by the mission requirements, will smartly attack these parts, to slowly weaken the enemy until you detract enough of its fighting power to be able to fight it at an advantage. Once severed, the part can be purified to obtain items or materials, as well as prevent the demon from regrowing said body part. It gives a somewhat strategic touch to an action game, and a very welcome element indeed.
Toukiden also revolves around Mitamas, who are the spirits of warriors, who were killed previously by these demons, and by purifying the latters’ bodies these spirits are released once again. These Mitamas can be equipped to your weapon to provide boosts to your warrior, both passive and active. These passive bonuses involve some small increase to attack or defence or any other stat, and more bonuses may be obtained as the Mitama levels up. Then there are the spells, which can be used by holding the L1 button and any of the four face buttons of the Dualshock 4 or Vita. These spells differ for each Mitama and thus introduces another element of strategy in the game. The selection of Mitama will affect your style of play, so if you have one which focuses on defence and recovery magic, you may opt for a more aggressive style, but equipping a more offensive Mitama with no healing or similar magic will introduce caution into the mix. Your allies can revive you once downed, but enemy attacks can interrupt this, and if not revived until a period of time the game will end there.
The game features two types of objectives; Missions and Quests, and both are given out by the village chief’s daughter, Yu. While missions are the main story and must be completed to progress, quests are optional, and involve tasks such as collect some quantity of materials, kill a certain number of enemies and so on, and are carried out during missions themselves, which means that one only has to check whether he has completed a quest to then hand it over against the reward, which generally is Haku, the game’s currency. With Haku you can buy items, weapons, armor or even craft new weapons, if obviously one has the proper materials needed to create such piece. It ties in the RPG experience nicely, and will no doubt have players engaged for quite a lot of time to level up their character and the weapons they use.
On a much lighter note, the player can also befriend Tenkos. These Tenkos are friendly little foxes who run around, and if you happen to friend one, which you do quite early in the game, you can send it around previously visited locations to scavenge for materials and items, so you don’t have to. You can also equip Mitamas to the Tenko to help it on its travels. For example I choose to equip defensive oriented Mitamas to bolster the chances of the Tenko returning alive. You can also feed the pet food which you can buy from the store, food which will make the mood of the Tenko better, which may result in you getting better items from his outings. If you happen to meet the Tenko while both you and it are in a mission, he will recognize you and come running towards you, and grant you a small boost, as well as run around filling the game with adorableness.
If there is one negative thing which I have to bring out, it definitely is the mission structure. While the whole mission assignment thing does not bother me that much, or neither the fact that it is essentially the same battleground with varied backgrounds or items, it does bother me the fact that urgent situations still need you to ask for your mission. It ruins the seriousness of the cutscene beforehand, and an incoming invasion to the village becomes just a stroll in the park, letting you be ready whenever you want, be it in minutes or in a week. It may not mean a lot to others but honestly it does put away the tension of panic moments, and in a situation where your village is infested by demons, it is not that nice to linger about.
Toukiden Kiwami is an excellent game, full of different activities to do and enjoy. Its focus on combat is quite unique since I have not seen many titles incorporating all this variety, which also works quite well in practice. As mentioned before, the only problem it has is the story’s flow, but given how much about the game is good and enjoyable, it may only be a little dent to an otherwise solid foundation.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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