Unifying Japan for Fun and Profit

 

What!? A video game entry in a movie review blog!?

Yeah, I'm diversifying (again). I just want to talk to the void about this.

To lessen my time playing the insanely addicting gacha hellhole that is Genshin Impact, I've decided to take up another video game, a "part time" game to lessen the crushing existential dread that's been in ample supply recently. The game of choice was Samurai Warriors 4 Empires, a cross between Koei's kingdom simulation games and a Samurai Warriors game. The latter is itself a spinoff of Koei's popular Dynasty Warriors series, where historical figures fight large scale battles against hundreds or thousands of enemies with over the top weapons and sometimes even magic. However, the Samurai Warriors series is more than just "Dynasty Warriors but Japan," it's a lot more tactically diverse and the gameplay has diverged quite a bit from its parent game. It has its faults, yes (it skims over some controversial parts of history, understandably so, and its gameplay loop can prove to be tedious for some) but it has developed its own niche following.

In Samurai Warriors 4 Empires, you are put in charge of one of several clans (based on Japanese history) with the ultimate aim of conquering everyone else and unifying Japan under your rule. You fight battles, defend your territory, recruit new generals to fight for you and manage your domain's economy. To the right kind of person, this kind of game is very fun, and I'm exactly that kind of person.

The map of Feudal Japan that you have to work with. Each territory is controlled by a clan, indicated by the flag.

By the third playthrough (a single playthrough on normal difficulty lasts around 9-12 hours), I decided to play the Sanada clan, which featured the Samurai Warriors series' poster boy, Yukimura Sanada. The starting territory is right in the middle of Japan, surrounded by hostile clans. I tried to make alliances at the start so that I wouldn't be attacked constantly, but few clans responded to my offers of alliance. I won each battle by the skin of my teeth; in one battle in which I invaded a territory despite being horribly outnumbered, I won with just 9 seconds remaining on the clock (running out of time means you lose, and you fail to capture that territory).

Eventually my economy started to pick up and my kingdom wasn't running on fumes anymore. To protect myself from the western clans, I struck up an alliance with a clan next to me, creating a barrier and preventing other western clans from invading as I began to conquer the east. In the meantime another clan, the Shimazu, were getting busy conquering the western half of Japan. A showdown was inevitable.

One of the most troublesome enemies I had to deal with in East Japan was the Tokugawa clan, whose defense and troops were, at this point of the game, top tier. One general in particular, Tadakatsu Honda, was a big source of most of my problems, as he is the strongest character in the game. (Historically the man was a badass too.) While the Shimazu were conquering domains left and right, I had to ally with eastern clans (that I would later betray) just to defend myself against the Tokugawa. By the time I was done with the Tokugawa, limping and injured, the Shimazu had time to recuperate and organize their troops. 

After finally uniting East Japan, incurring a number of losses to my own troops, I thought I had some time to rest and recover. That was, alas, only a pipe dream because in the next turn, the Shimazu had conquered my western ally, and were rearing up for an invasion of my territory. When they struck, I was still depleted and my attempts to defend my westernmost domains were feeble at best. I managed to regain my lost territory, but my men were dwindling. Thankfully I had a secret weapon: Tadakatsu Honda, the man that frustrated my attempts to put down the Tokugawa clan earlier. After the defeat of that clan, Honda found himself in my service as I had to recruit people to bolster my forces.

The battle between east and west began and I took my sweet time. With each victory I crept closer and closer until finally I had cornered the Shimazu to their last domain and won handily. A united Japan at last. It may not be a game to the level of immersive AAA masterpieces, but a fun gameplay loop and the ability to make a story by yourself through gameplay (like what I've done so far) is something that I value in my games. Some games want you to go on a predestined track, which is sometimes okay, but the ability to create your own (meta)narrative is something not a lot of games have.

So that's about it. Sorry you had to endure all that.

Oh, one more thing.

In this game, your playable characters or generals have the ability to form relationships with each other, either as friends, rivals, mentor-students, and in the case of female and male characters, as husbands or wives. There's a way in-game, once the correct things have been unlocked, to create your own cutscene where two generals marry each other in a solemn ceremony.

The marriage scene looks like this.

There are rules, however, but I don't know if they thought this through. Males and females only, which should disappoint some shippers. You also can't put as husband and wife two characters that are historically father and daughter (Mitsuhide Akechi can't be married to Gracia, and Tadakatsu Honda can't be married to Inahime, for example). But brothers and sisters? Mothers and sons? Apparently it's fair game. That's just weird.