Review: Toukiden Kiwami

 

Hi everyone!!! Today I will give you my personal review of the new chapter for Toukiden called Kiwami (JP for Ultimate).Three months after the battle to prevent another Awakening, the village Utakata will enjoy a brief period of peace. This interlude of serenity, however, is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a new threat, the Oni from the North.

To face them arrives to the village the Hundred Demon Corps, a special unit sent by the Holy Mount and captained by Soma. These include Reki, a young girl from Shiranui, a nearby village who disobeys orders of the Holy Mount.

To complicate things Horo, a girl who suffers from amnesia and appeared suddenly in the village of Utakata. What will be the fate of humanity? What is the real goal of the mysterious organization called the Council of Elders?

Toukiden: Kiwami, a new chapter in the hunting game, strongly oriental based, created by TECMO KOEI Games and Omega Force, which adds new weapons and some mechanical modification of the previous game making it much more than a simple revision.

 

Taking control of a Slayer (Mononofu in Japanese), we will have to hunt the monstrous Oni, creatures inspired by demons in Japanese mythology, many of which are created specifically for Kiwami, and we will choose one of the different types of weapons at our disposal.

This game was released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita arrives in the West without his incarnation for handheld older generation, but in exchange for a PlayStation 4 version, so that makes joining the saga on home consoles.

 

The two versions of the game are perfectly compatible with each other; In fact, thanks to the cross play, holders of PS4 edition, will play with their friends with the portable version, in multiplayer both locally and online.

Who owns both versions can take advantage of the function cross save to share saving on both consoles, while players of the previous episode can import the rescue in this new incarnation, maintaining all progress and getting exclusive bonuses.

Toukiden: Kiwami takes up the story right where we had left: the protagonist of the game, or the avatar of our Slayer, freely customizable in the best tradition of hunting game, managed with the help of his friends to avoid Awakening. Suddenly, however, will make its appearance the beautiful Horo, a young woman by the heavenly hair, that for a reason unknown to us seems to have lost his memory and have come to the event in the village of Utakata.

Will meet all the characters of the previous chapter, as Oka and Fugaku, which will add other new members of the Hundred Demon Slayer Corps, as Reki, young girl from Shiranui village that will accompany us using his naginata, their leader Soma, hero in the previous Awakening, in addition to the aforementioned Horo, that provide support with her rifle.

All these characters will accompany us on a mission and will help us in the hunt, according to their style of personal struggle. Players who have a save file of the first Toukiden will retain all the progress and the equipment of their previous game, and will get some small bonus.

New players, however, will start a ‘adventure from scratch starting with the story mode of the previous episode; Toukiden: Kiwami fact also includes the first chapter of the saga. The amount of content added in Kiwami is quite high, so much so that more than with version 2.0 of the previous chapter seems to have to do with a real sequel, to the delight of more seasoned Slayer.

A place to call Home

The Village of Utakata, stained orange with the advent of autumn, will serve as the center of operations for our missions as was the case in the first Toukiden. Find once all the old structures as Tatara, the blacksmith, who will create or enhance our equipment or Shikimi, to control the growth of Mitama. We always like to visit the house of our Slayer to handle the equipment, save the game and send our Tenko on mission in one of the many hunting areas in order to retrieve useful items.

New in this version is the ability to assign a Mitama to Tenko and to be able to feed between an assignment and the other, which will improve his mood and consequently its efficiency. May happen to meet our little pet in one of the many missions, providing support and could even awaken our Slayer if HP were to end.

 

The Pool of Purity has undergone a slight modification: in addition to use a Mitama to get passive effects for the next mission, we can choose to invite one of the various characters with whom we have established a good relationship, being able to choose which consequently passive skills we want to have with we will.

Return also the basis of Slayer, where we can talk with the beautiful Yū to accept missions, turn to his father Yamato to control the game record deal and tutorials for each weapon present, or check information about Oni, on the various characters or more in general the game world talking Shusui. In short, a lot ‘of things to do that make Utakata a village quite alive, for which it will be worth repeatedly put our lives in danger.

Press Slay to start

As in any hunting game that respects, the juiciest part consists of the hunting missions: we move freely within most areas we have to try to accomplish the goals we are assigned within the time limit. These may consist in killing a number of small enemies or kill one or more Large Oni, while others will require to be clean some areas from the enemy influence, defeating a certain number of opponents.

During the mission, we run out of our HP Slayer for a maximum of three times, and if our allies will not have time to revive us, the mission will be considered failed. As in every title of this mold, our character will have at its disposal the classic bar of vital energy coupled to that of stamina, which will control the number of actions that we can take evasive or using some special techniques. At the end of each mission completed successfully we will receive a cash prize and the objects that we have collected, with some added bonus if we managed to break up in the unfortunate duty demons.

Kiwami introduces two new types of missions to the already extensive list, the Urgent Mission and Infinite Mission. The first will be notified by Yū, randomly, to deal with the enemy is unknown and stronger than normal, and for this reason at the end of the mission will receive rarest awards and the ability to get the Mitama increases. The Infinite Mission will enable us instead to challenge in succession several Oni: the mission will end once you decide to retire or the achievement of certain conditions. These positions are also divided into two categories, one of the single player campaign and those which can be addressed in the company of other players using the multiplayer mode. Another change is that you can choose, in the course of the battle, the style to be taken to our fellow AI controlled, making them focus on a particular activity depending on the situation.

The Quests, however, are the requests that we will be advanced by the villagers or by our comrades, usually require that you deliver a certain amount of objects and serve, as well as some Haku earning (value in the game), to better relations with the various characters. Unfortunately there remains a lack of interactive elements within the various hunting areas, a ballast that Toukiden: Kiwami carries from the first chapter. Comparing it with other titles of the same genre, such as the most famous Monster Hunter, you immediately notice how in accordance with the various areas are more lives and how there are secondary activities that can be done within the same. The difficulty of the game, however, is much less frustrating than that of the already mentioned title CAPCOM, making it much more accessible to players fasting hunting game.

How i kill you today?

Toukiden: Kiwami introduces three new types of weapons that guarantee a renewed variety of choice. The first of these is the Naginata, a weapon characterized by the ability to increase attack speed by hitting the enemy.

The bat, or club, it’s a weapon by the high attack power but very slow. To finish the Rifle, is a new weapon at a distance by the high firepower with bullets with different effects. Even the weapons found in the previous chapter have been slightly modified, adding new techniques to their arsenal. With the arrival of new species of Oni within the game increases accordingly, the number of weapons and armor that we can create using materials obtained from killing monsters.

A further type of equipment consists of Mitama, souls of some impressive figures, among which we find for example Oda Nobunaga or Yaoya Oshichi. Each of them has a different style of play, there are indeed some that will focus on the techniques of attack and others that focus more on defense. Their usefulness will be to donate to our Slayer of special skill to use in battle and to activate the passive skills that can positively affect our parameters. In Kiwami will add two new types of Mitama: the Support, dedicated to aid allies in battle, and Plunder, which instead have his prerogative as the destruction of the body parts of the Oni. In addition to being incremented, the total number of them, also increased the maximum level that they can achieve.

The fact Mitama earn points at the end of each mission, or paying Shikimi to enhance the experience in exchange for money. The level cap is twelve and at every level up you will be able to obtain new skills. Just like in the previous episodes, striking our enemies will load the Weapon Gauge, which will give us the opportunity to use, once filled, a powerful special move that we can deliver to crack parts of monsters. To this is added a new one, the Unity Gauge, which will recharge working with our allies and that will allow us to deliver a powerful combination technique to cut in one single blow several oni parts.

From Japan with fury!

The Oni will be mainly divided into two categories according to their size. The little ones are quite weak and can be defeated by simply hitting them, when their life energy comes to an end just cleanse to get some items. The second are, of considerable size, are defined Large Oni, and they differ not only in size but also for their power. Kill these demons is not immediate as with smaller ones, it will not have at their disposal only the vital energy, but also a second bar called Surface Resilience, which will decrease as we strike our enemy and, once completed, we will begin to affecting their life energy. The purple bar will fill up again after a certain period, leaving unfortunately our opponents discovered only for a short amount of time. Another typical feature of these demons is the ability to destroy their body parts; if hit enough, in fact, the limbs come off leaving the Oni completely uncovered in that particular area.

The parts will be purified as quickly as possible: if we leave unattended, they will return to their place after a bit ‘of time, but if we will complete the task of purification, will completely disappear in exchange for precious drop. Using the profit Eye of Truth we can easily control all this information at any time, remembering that keep active will gradually decrease our stamina, then making it difficult to dodge enemy attacks. You should pay attention to check the status of the enemy when it has collected a number of attacks, in fact, the monster will enter Rampage, becoming much more ferocious and dangerous than before, changing the pattern of attack and inflicting more damage of normal.

Toukiden: Kiwami introduces within the game a great number of demons, which are in addition to those already present in the first, greatly increasing the variety of monsters that we hunt in our adventures and then making a little ‘more varied missions, sometimes too monotonous, the original game.

From a visual standpoint, with regard to the PlayStation Vita version, Kiwami looks very similar to its predecessor, maintaining a truly outstanding performance thanks to its light effects and fluid movements. The version for the Sony lounge console is even better: not only the effects of light and texture are better, but some details, such as faces, give the PlayStation 4 version an added value. As for the sound, instead, the game retains its distinctly oriental, delighting with the music from the traditional Japanese flavor which, although in my view, very attractive in the long run may be, for those who are not fond of this type of songs too similar to each other.

On a negative note, however, is to be found in the repetitive level design: the various areas in which there will be the missions are just too similar to each other, and personally I would have liked it had been offered a bit ‘more variety. The game features again his beautiful language dubbing Japanese original, perfect for a title with many references to the mythology of the Rising Sun as it can be Toukiden.

Conclusions

Strongly suggest Toukiden: Kiwami to every lover of hunting game, this being, in my opinion, the best first exponent for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 to land in the West. The title also, as I have explained, can be fully enjoyed even by those who approach for the first time to the brand, being also included the first episode of the saga, or more generally to those who do not chew normally this kind of games since his approach beginner friendly.

The more experienced players will instead make a remarkable longevity guaranteed by all the additions that double in fact the contents of the previous chapter. Toikiden also maintains its multiplayer mode, through which Mononofu of both platforms will be able to devote together to hunt cooperatively.

Toukiden: Kiwami also earning the top spot on the podium of the PlayStation Vita. The new content to enrich the very last chapter and add new fighting styles and new weapons that allow greater choice and customization. The number of monsters, almost doubled, also helps to increase the variety making it less repetitive missions, which in the long run, however, can still tire the most demanding.

The main story is still very interesting and very well manage to tie together the various missions, introducing the characters interesting and well characterized. Unfortunately, the game retains some flaws inherited from the first episode, as a certain feeling of emptiness in hunting areas, which are very similar to each other and have very few interactive elements. Given his attitude “beginner friendly” and dynamic movements and fluids, can be played easily by anyone and, thanks to its multiplayer mode, ensures a high longevity, since the nature of this kind is well suited to sessions with more players; thanks also to its cross-play function, the holders of the two consoles will be able to play with each other without any problem.

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Until next time, see ya!!