Way of The Samurai 3

Cover art

Way of the Samurai 3 is the third game in the series, and was released in 2008-2009 for the Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. It was later converted to PC in 2016.

The reason I haven't covered Way of the Samurai 2 is simply that I never played it.
The Japanese title for the series was slightly altered in the second game, from simply 侍 (Samurai) in the first game, to 侍道 (Samurai dō) in the second. Appropriate since it then coincides with the English title.

Trailer for the PC version

Unlike the first game, that took place during the fall of the samurai, this game takes place during the Sengoku era (ca. 300 years before the events in the first game), which may be considered the heyday of the samurai.
Furthermore the game is not limited to only two days, but can probably be played for an almost infinite time-space. One character doesn't even appear until the 30th day, although that is probably far longer than the average play-through.

In many ways the game is quite similar to the first game; the story centers around two opposing factions, you can get and improve swords which gives the player new moves. Although now there are also spears and dual sword stances.
The game even features two smith named Dōjima (like the smith in the first game). and a colored samurai with an afro, called Donna (although this time it's a female).

Key-event

You can also get companions that helps (or hinders) the player.
Once you get a companion to like you enough you can even get her to move in with you.
All companions are female, and although you can alter the main characters appearance he is always male. Until you unlock the ability to look like NPCs that is, but the game considers the main character to be male nevertheless.

Rather than a time-based progression of the story, the story only progresses when you trigger a key-event (marked with '!' on the map), and the possible routes changes depending on what key-events you trigger and how you interact with them.

Receiving a quest

Unlike the first game, that only had 6 endings, this game has 22 possible endings.
It is quite difficult finding out how to get the endings on your own, and despite multiple play-troughs you will likely get the same ones over and over.

This is quite characteristic of the game; it is quite similar to the first game, only much bigger and with more content (and the fact that you can take it in your own pace and never need to feel rushed).

Despite all this, I can't make myself like this game nearly as much as the first game, although it seems like it should actually be way better.
I wonder if it is simply too big, and has too much contents for a game and a story-line that really doesn't benefit from it?
Or perhaps it is simply not enough of an improvement considering it is 6 years newer? Especially since it graphics quality was still on the level of PlayStation 2 games.
Whatever the reason reviewers seem to agree, giving it average ratings.

Loosing a fight

I must admit the lure of progressively unlocking more and more contents has driven me to play this game way much more than it deserves.
After unlocking the instant-kill mode it did in fact speed up the play-through time, making "boss" battles insanely easy, but en-masse battles ridiculously difficult (since the instant-kill goes both ways, and includes allies accidentally scratching you).
I really like this mode since it reminded me of more realistic games like Bushido Blade, but unfortunately the game-mechanics of this game was never intended for this mode, which shows and can get really frustrating at times.

En-masse, all-against-all fight.

I would hesitate to actually call this a gem, but at the same time I can't really understand Why it isn't more fun to play.
Nevertheless, if you enjoy this kind of game, or if you're a fan of the series, and are able to get it for cheap, it might be worth to waste some time on.

You can get a used copy for Xbox 360 for around €5, PS3 for €10, or a Windows copy on steam for €20.