Samurai Warriors 3 Hints and Tips

Without a doubt this is one of my favourite action games on the Wii as my Nintendo Life review should indicate. It’s just been released in North America and can be had at a discounted price in Europe so if you haven’t picked it up yet and you like the idea of a blend of beat-em-up and strategy with a strong historical setting, I definitely suggest you do so. Hopefully these tips will come in handy for newcomers.

Read the Manual Before Playing

If you’re a franchise veteran then you’ll likely find this similar to previous games in the series given the heavy emphasis on gamepad-based controls – specifically the Classic Controller Pro, which is my recommended interface. For newcomers however there’s a decent amount to get to grips with and even though you can review and tweak controls in-game you’ll still want to familiarise yourself before playing to get the most out of it.

Start Out with Oda Nobunaga

Now I happened to pick this character because during the timeframe covered by Samurai Warriors 3 (the events leading to the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the end of the Sengoku or Warring States period) he was the first figure to make serious progress towards unifying Japan. He also happens to be one of the more formidable characters in the game with some deadly, but easy to pull-off combo attacks. Of his four battles only one that I can recall has a fail condition linked to the defeat of an allied character; as a newcomer this means you can largely focus on completing objectives rather than running to the rescue.

Pay Attention to Your Objectives

You can happily skip through the intro to each battle and jump right into the action, but it’s the equivalent of going into actual combat unprepared and a sure path to failure and frustration. In the intro text you’re given the main objectives, but you’ll need to proactively view side objectives by choosing the appropriate option in the battle planning screen. Though some of these merely result in extra gems, armour or weapons, there are ones that can help salvage a bad situation and turn a game around by either restoring the health of critical allies, bringing in reinforcements or downgrading key enemy officers.

I always make it a practice to focus on one or two with game-changing consequences, pausing if necessary to remind myself of the payoff when I encounter a character with the “Tactical Bonus” sign over their heads.

Learn Equipment Bonuses and Outfit Yourself Wisely

As you progress through the Story Mode characters and their battles you’ll pick up various weapons specific to that character and armour, gauntlets and boots which are shared between all of them. Each of these pieces of equipment has its own set of bonuses in various combinations which have colourful names and three different levels of effectiveness.

This can have a serious impact on the game so it always pays to consider the type of battle, strengths and weaknesses of your character and what combination of bonuses will work best together, in addition to the weapon’s default damage to attack speed ratio. More bonuses does not make a piece of equipment inherently superior; it’s the effect of the combination that counts. Don’t pass over one piece of equipment because it only has two bonuses in favour of another with four automatically: consider the benefits and the battle at hand.

For example if you’re going to be facing lots of enemy officers you’ll likely want to have a weapon with the Intrepid Soul bonus, causing it to do more damage against enemy officers. A good defencive counterpart would be armour featuring Resolute Soul, which reduces damage suffered from enemy officer attacks.

Some characters like Hattori Hanzō have musō attacks that affect the surrounding area, but have limited range. Using a weapon with levelled-up Musō Force to boost the special attack range for those characters is probably something you’ll want to do often. There are other combinations of bonuses to watch out for which will boost normal, power and musō attack range and damage levels or add elemental damage to various attack types. There are also separate bonuses that apply when on horseback and once you start earning various steeds you’ll need to decide if it makes sense to start battles on horseback or not.

It’s this kind of strategic depth that makes Samurai Warriors 3 a great game.

Speed Run at Your Peril!

Many battles will only have two or three primary objectives; coupled with the fact that you’ll get in-game prompts to proceed to the next one, you might be tempted to get on your horse and just dash along madly to achieve them, ignoring hordes of enemy officers along the way. Unless you’re pursuing a time-limited objective, however, this decision will cost you dearly as many battles will have defeat conditions linked to the defeat of one or more allied officers and those enemy officers you leave untouched will often end up being encountered by your allies and potentially defeat them.

Though your allies are often quite capable on their own, enemy officers have a tendency to gang up on them and your allies won’t have the health bonus items that you start out with so a succession of enemy encounters will gradually wear them down. If you can take the time to eliminate most of the enemy officers you encounter (even non-objective-related ones) you’ll minimise the risk to your allies and reduce the number of enemy soldiers on the battlefield.

The same goes for taking out guard captains. These are tougher-than-normal soldiers who secure “strongholds” which produce more soldiers and are marked with a sign over their heads and a banner affixed to their backs. If you can take them out you’ll cause other enemy soldiers to flee the battlefield and reduce the number of enemy reinforcements spawned. As a side effect every stronghold you control means more footsoldiers for your side entering the fray.

Pay Attention to Battle Reports

In the midst of battle you can be bombarded with messages and the corresponding corner map icons flashing to show you information regarding your current primary objective, nearby tactical objectives and allies in trouble. The latter can be especially critical if the allies in question have a defeat condition attached to them. New objectives also tend to pop-up during battles which may require prompt action. If you’re feeling overwhelmed you can always pause to review the map and the current objectives. Stopping to take your bearings will also allow you to confirm whether that new objective has a defeat condition attached or if you can ignore it in favour of what you’re currently focused on doing.

Learn Your Cartography

Though Samurai Warriors 3 has a 3rd-person perspective and a user-controlled camera, the levels are quite large and various areas often get closed and opened during the course of a battle. As a consequence activating the on-screen map is a must. Some battles take place in dark forests or over multiple elevations like multi-floored castles or ships and it can be easy to get lost. Luckily with a press of a button you can superimpose a blown-up translucent version of the map to help guide you on your way. Constantly reorienting yourself by checking the corner map as you’re moving through various sections of the battlefield is a skill you’ll pick up in time, but don’t forget to pause and check the big map if you need help finding a narrow passage or ninja trail.

Don’t Forget Those Items!

Before starting a battle you get a choice of three sets of items with temporary game effects and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Some of them have powerful effects like being able to execute continuous musō attacks or boosting nearby ally attack strength, but by far the biggest saver of bottoms has to be the health boosts.

Unless you’re at death’s door it’s better not to waste these on yourself (you can find bonus health items in rice bales and other destructible items scattered over the battlefield), but save them for use on allied officers – especially if there’s a defeat condition attached to them. Health items in your inventory apply to yourself and your nearby allies, so if you have an ally in trouble the first thing you should do when you arrive to give assistance is get close and trigger a health boost to avoid a random attack taking them out right after you show up. I cannot tell you how many times this has saved me from defeat because a critical ally was near death.

Learn Those Combos

Some reviewers have written this game off as a button-masher, but that’s really unfair and suggests only a cursory experience of the combat system. Yes there’s only two primary attack buttons and many of the combos are triggered by repeat button presses, but the range of power attacks that can be executed using these buttons is pretty diverse with an increasing number of combos added as your characters level up.

You’ll find the game a bit of a slog if you merely rely upon pressing the standard attack button over and over again and when enemy officers block your attacks the only way to break through is with a power attack or a spirit charge. Familiarising yourself with power attack combos is the only sure way to defeat the hordes of enemy soldiers and officers you’ll be facing.

If the regular and power attacks weren’t enough, there’s skill-based attacks, the spirit charge, jumping attacks and normal and ultimate musō attacks. Becoming familiar with musō attacks is key to defeating “boss” opponents so be sure you can reliably set them up properly. This is especially true of the ultimate musō attack, with the penalty being a wasted attack that leaves you exposed to a counterattack. Most importantly remember to hold that musō button down when carrying out your attack!

Taken as a whole, each character has a pretty wide arsenal of attacks; it pays to learn them so you know what to do when you’re surrounded or facing a tough enemy officer.

My Little Pony

When you start out you might think the horse just gets in the way: after all you tend to do less damage with attacks from horseback and you cannot pull off all those special combat moves. Nevertheless there are times when mounted travel is valuable. For one thing you can move a lot faster; in some of the larger battlefields like Odawara Castle you’ll find serious baddies like Fumō Kotarō turning up to ruin your day – often on the other side of the map. Running on foot can simply take too long – not to mention the fact that you’ll probably end up getting slowed down by battles with foot soldiers on the way.

You can deliver a bit of pain by remembering to trigger mounted jump attacks into groups of soldiers on the way or just plow through them. Of course you can get knocked off your ride by a volly of arrows, so equipping armour which actively counteracts this is advised if you want to play horsey a lot. Once you start earning special horses you can start out the battle with one. This isn’t always advised – especially for ship-based battles or ones set in castle towns, but it’s a great option to have for the more wide open battlefields and not to be ignored.

Remember the Network

Samurai Warriors 3 is one of the only Wii games with an online environment similar to that which you’d find on a PC or networked game on another console. You’re able to connect to the network outwith playing a mutiplayer game, with an icon letting you know when you’re contactable. It’s a great feature and means you won’t be dependent upon setting up a “play date” for online gaming. You do need to remember to connect before you start a single player game and you’ll also need to register some friends, but once you do you’ll be able to see when friends are playing and invite them to play some Murasame Castle and vice-versa. If only other online Nintendo Wii games did that…

Mahjong Taikai Wii Guide

Special thanks to Barticle for his contribution to translating missing game options and all of the static and customisable mahjong rules in the game! He has a separate faq/guide for Mahjong Taikai IV on the PS3 at GameFAQs that’s worth checking out as well.

Initial Screen

Top Choice is to create a New Save profile
Bottom Choice is to load an existing profile

“Street” View

Press up/down/left/right on the d-pad to choose which parlour to play in.
Two choices are initially available: a starting parlour and the tournament. Additional parlours can be unlocked through reducing ranked non-player characters to negative pride during parlour matches.

Press B to bring up “street view” menu

1. Return to “street view”
2. View ranked player stats (only those unlocked appear)
3. View “collection” (subchoices to view “coins” and medals won for winning tournaments and beating ranked players)
4. Free Play (a one-off game where you can set the rules and choose opponents)
5. Game Options
6. Save/Load (option 1 saves; option 2 loads)
7. Exit to Title Screen

Press A to start a game

1. Start
2. View Rules
3. Exit to “street view”

Before play (applies to parlour only — after choosing Start, above)

1. Continue to game
2. Exit to Title Screen

Before first hand (applies to parlour only)

1. Place Pride Side Bet with another player (Pride is the “currency” of the game; it determines standing and is used to buy entry to tournaments)
2. No Side Bet

After a hand is finished

View stats by pressing up/down to go through the options in the top left:
1. View scores of all players
2. View “Top” (score leader) and points of others relative to Top.
3. View human player and scores for others relative to human player
A = continue to next hand/round
– = Bring up submenu with following options:
Return to scores
View Rules
Game Options
Quit game
+ = Return to scores
1 = View Rules

Game Options

(these can be changed by selecting “street view” menu option 5 or in-game from the – menu between hands or before your play mid-hand):
1. Choice of sound between stereo/mono
2. Change music Volume
3. Change sound effects Volume
4. Change Character Voice Volume
5. Rumble On/Off (if “on” remote will vibrate when selecting a dora tile, red five tile or when any player wins)
6. Toggle Discard Speed (3 levels)
7. Character Speech On/Off (text still displays)
8. Character Text On/Off (audio still plays)
9. Display Final Tiles Remaining On/Off (when choosing between tiles to discard when declaring Riichi you will be shown how many of that tile remain unplayed)
10. Automatic Discard Following Riichi (On/Off)
11. Motion Control (On/Off) (declaring Pon, Kan, Chi, Riichi, Ron and Tsumo can be done with a remote wave or button press by default)
12. Discard Tile Identification (makes tiles you’ve drawn and promptly discarded darker) On/Off
13. Win Effect (special effect for Ron/Tsumo display) Normal/Simple
14. Swap A/B functions
15. Display colour test pattern
16. Revert to Defaults

After a game is finished you will get a prompt to play another game (any players who go into negative PRIDE will be out of the game and replaced) or exit back to street view where you can save your progress. If you win multiple successive games you’ll be automatically prompted to enter a tournament. Note there is no autosave function, though when playing a tournament you will be prompted to save between games.

Custom Rules

(accessed via menu options indicated above):
1. Kuitan (on/off) — All simples hand
2. Tsumo Pinfu (on/off) — Tsumo with no-points hand
3. Ippatsu (on/off) — Extra fan for going out within four turns of declaring Riichi
4. Dora (all/extra dora for kan or riichi /extra dora for kan/extra dora for riichi/normal dora only/two-tile mekuri – two dora tiles?) — Rules for dora tile reveals. The default is “all,” meaning all rules are in effect: starting dora and extra tiles for declaring kan or riichi). I’m not certain what two-tile mekuri could mean — two starting tiles only?
5. No-ten Payment (on/off) — Extra payment of 3000 points to players who are “tenpai” (one tile from a complete hand) by players who aren’t (“no-ten”) in the event the wall is depleted.
6. Continuances (nanba/houra/tsune ni/tenpai) — Conditions under which a player remains the dealer for the next hand; the default is nanba (dealer stays if East hand is tenpai; otherwise if he wins/draws the South hand)
7. Bankruptcy (on/off) — Default is “on.” The game ends if anyone’s score drops below zero.
8. Starting Points (25k/27k/30k) — The default is 30000. If a lower number is chosen the balance goes into a pot that is awarded to the winner at the end of the game.
9. Number of Rounds (ton-nan/ton-puu) — Default is two rounds (ton-nan) being East and South; the other option is East round only.
10. Conditional West Round (off/30k/30100/33000/35000) — If set it provides for rounds beyond the South, if the target score hasn’t been reached by any player. Default is 30100. This option is disabled in the event option 9 has been set to one round.
11. Scoring Adjustment (off/0-5/0-10/0-20/0-30/5-10/10-20/10-30/20-30) — default is 5-10. This setting determines the number of points (in thousands) paid by the player in 3rd place to the player in 2nd (the first number) and the player in 4th place to the player in 1st (the second number).
12. Winning Termination (on/off) — On by default, this gives the dealer the option to end the game if they’re in the lead after winning the final hand of the round (if this is you, then you’ll have an on-screen prompt).
13. Abortive Draws (replay/next hand – seats move/next hand – seats don’t move) — Action taken after any condition which would cause play to stop: four revealed kan, any player having nine or more terminals and honour tiles after their first draw (assuming they elect to abort play), all four players discarding the same wind on their first turn, all four players declaring riichi in the same hand, three players calling ron on the same discard. Default is to keep the same winds and deal the next hand.
14. Conditional Two Fan Minimum (on/off) — On by default. Normally a yaku worth one fan is required to go out; with this rule in effect two fan are required to go out if the dealer has won/drawn five times during the round.
15. Split(on/off) — Default is off. If this option is enabled the player upon whose side the wall is broken gets a blue marker and pays/receives double points (if also dealer, bonuses are cumulative) which are applied after calculating the rest of the score.
16. 8-hand limit (on/off) — Enabled by default, this option scores a yakuman for the dealer if they stay on for 8 consecutive hands.
17. Nagashi Mangan (on/off) — Enabled by default. If a hand ends in an exhaustive draw (all wall tiles drawn) and all your discards are terminals and honours — with none having been taken by other players — you score bonus Mangan points (8000 non-dealer; 12000 dealer).
18. Tokushu Yakuman (on/off) — Enabled by default. Controls whether or not the Tokushu Yakuman hands are allowed: Renhou (Blessing of Man) and Shiisanpuutaa (Thirteen Unrelated Tiles).
19. Double Yakuman (on/off) — Enabled by default. Controls whether or not special double-point versions of these traditional hands are allowed (conditions are based around completing them bar specific pairs, the full rules of which are beyond the scope of this guide): Thirteen Orphans, Nine Gates, Four Concealed Pon, Big Four Winds.
20. Double Ron Win (on/off) — On by default, this allows two players to go ron off the same tile, though if one declared riichi they alone benefit from ura and kan dora tiles. If disabled then the one closest to the discarder (going anti-clockwise around the table) wins.
21. Yakitori (on/off) — Every player gets a special marker which sits next to them on the table. When they win a hand the token is removed/inverted. Anyone who hasn’t won a hand by the end of the game pays a penalty.
22. Akadora (off/2 tiles/4 tiles/6 tiles) — Enables “red fives” which give an extra fan if part of a hand. 2 tiles are both five dots, four tiles consist of two five dots and one in each of the other suits, six tiles is two per suit.

Finally, be sure to check out Koei’s official site.

Monster Lab Hints and Tips

Needless to say this is a game that was sorely under-promoted by Eidos; much to their shame as there’s enough quality and attention to detail in it that it’s clear the developers at Backbone Entertainment cared about putting out a good game. Here’s some general advice for new players, I hope you find it useful.

On the topic of part-making and experimentation

Part quality relates directly to the strength of attacks and to the amount of damage a part can take. Defects or enhancements are bestowed according to the secondary ingredients used, though there is no one-to-one mapping of each kind of defect or enhancement bestowed and you can end up with a different result each time you experiment (i.e. you’ll still get a defect, but maybe a different one if you repeat the exact same experiment).

So, just because the same primary ingredient will give you the same part, trying the experiment again with different secondary ingredients to see if you can get a really good enhancement is very much worthwhile.

I would never discount a part because of a defect alone. Some defects you can live with — provided only one part has them: power drain for example, is cumulative — and if you made a high level part with a rare ingredient you may not really be able to pass it up easily just because it has the Slow defect or reduces your power a little.

Always experiment whenever you can

Sure if you talk to the Mads back at the castle they’ll tell you to get on with the mission, but improving your monsters is something you’ll need to do as you increase in level and start encountering tougher and tougher wandering monsters and bosses.

Observation on parts:

I’ve noted that there seems to be two kinds of parts: ones that can take a lot of damage, but don’t dish out much pain and have a low energy cost, and those that put the hurt on, but are quite energy-expensive and are easily destroyed. This is very noticable in Torsos, where you find some really really tough torsos in the higher levels which output really minimal amounts of energy, but keep on experimenting because there are some that strike a balance.

You might think that all Level 4 parts are superior to everything else you’ve made, but realise that the higher level parts are also harder to make. Every lab has some parts that are easier to make than others. The level four biological parts are probably the hardest to make overall, but Cardio Chaos and Stitch-o-Matic have to be the worst. The Astral Rift (for making arms) in the alchemical lab is the only thing that comes close. As a consequence a really high quality Level 2 or Level 3 part can often be a better choice for a biological or alchemical part, but if you’re ace at those mini-games knock yourself out!

Don’t forget the defense!

You can create a monster with attacks so awesome that the opposition crumbles quite rapidly, but trust me Baron Mharti’s Manor has some real tough hombres guarding it and if you lack a part with a really good quality block, the final boss is pretty much unbeatable.

Don’t forget the old ingredients!

Sure that Caustic Juice couldn’t make more than a 1st level part for a long time, but hey, you’ve got some Neutronium as a 2nd ingredient and wow, look what you can make now!

You can swap out secondary and primary ingredients to see the level of part before you experiment. So, every time you turn up a new ingredient of any kind try using it with all the other ingredients you have available. Just because a new mechanical ingredient only makes a Level 1 or 2 part when combined with your other mechanical ingredients doesn’t mean it won’t make a Level 3 or 4 part when combined with a biological or alchemical ingredient. This will mean shuffling through the different labs with all your ingredients, but no one said being a mad scientist was all field work!

And what will you do with 15 buckets of mud?

Well Leo Lumiere is willing to do a swap for some nice burlap sacks after you’ve put Mharti in his place…

Shanghai Wii Guide

My guide to the Japanese menus and interfaces for Shanghai Wii from Sunsoft. Be sure to read my review!

Initial Menu

User ID; basic preferences
Name: 4 characters, kana or roman
Icon (choice of 10)
Option to use icon as pointer

2nd Menu

In clockwise order these are:
1. Single player Normal Mode
2. Single player Challenge Mode with leader boards
3. Multi-player modes
4. Preferences and Options

Single Player Normal Mode

Two Choices: progressive or one-off
Progressive game options
Board Sets: 1-6 in increasing difficulty. 12 boards each with four to unlock or 16 available per set.
BGM: seven choices, no preview
Tileset: six choices initially; unlockables up to 24.

One-Off game options
Difficulty: 1-3 stars
BGM as above
Tileset as above
Background: 10 choices initially; unlockables up to 64.
Boards: 1-22 initially; unlockables up to 104.
Cheats: Zero, 1, 3, 5 or unlimited.

Controls:
Rotation
Undo
Hint

Indicators:
Tiles Remaining
Level
Time Limit (bar)

In-game Pause/Exit menu:
Resume
Restart
Restart and Shuffle
Exit and Save
Exit without Saving (next start will result in prompt to load)

After Loss Menu:
Restart
Restart and Shuffle
Exit

Single player Challenge Mode with leader boards

1st Mode of 4, top left: Time Trials; high score lists for each difficulty mode and each board. Beat 5min. to get on the board.
——–
Difficulty: 1-3
BGM as above
Tileset as above
Background as above
Boards: 1-8

Controls:
Rotate
Undo
Hint

Indicators:
Tiles Remaining
Level
Time Elapsed

Try to clear the tiles in the least amount of time possible to get the best score.

2nd Mode of 4, top right: Get as many tiles cleared as possible in fixed number of cycles. Top score for level 30, 50, 100 recorded.
——–
Difficulty: 1-3
BGM as above
Tileset as above
Background as above

Controls:
Rotation
Add Tiles

Indicators:
Tiles Cleared
Clock
Level
Points

Small clock on the right side counts down approximately one minute. During that time on-screen tiles must be cleared; if not more blocks are added after clock counts down. If you get stuck click the button to cause the clock to go to the end and put more blocks on screen. Clock seems to count down four times in total. Object is to clear as many tiles as possible during this time. Special rainbow blocks appear which turn other tiles to gold; increasing points. Score tables indicate Level 30, 50 100 for scoring; unclear what advances level.

3rd mode of 4, lower left: Complete one pair of boards within the least time possible.
——–
Difficulty: 1-3
BGM as above
Tileset as above
Background as above
Choose Set (there are four pages of two sets each; each set has four boards for a total of 8 sets to choose from)

Controls:
Rotate
Undo
Hint
Swap Set

Indicators:
Tiles remaining
Level
Timer at bottom to count total time taken

Try to clear two boards in the least amount of time for the best record. If you get stumped; change boards. Must do two out of four to complete.

4th mode of four, lower right: Clear as many tiles as possible in 3min.
——–
Difficulty: 1-3
BGM as above
Tileset as above
Background as above

Controls:
Rotate
Shuffle/redeal

Indicators:
Tiles Cleared
Clock
Timer at bottom to count down from 3min.

Remove as many pairs as possible. Clock expiration results in a new board being placed on the table (approximately 30sec. each rotation) if you don’t clear it first. The reshuffle/redeal button can be used in the event no pairs can be cleared. Play stops when the 3min. timer runs out.

5th menu option is High Scores table with a separate button for each high score mode and an option to exit.

Multi-Player Modes

Five menu options as with single-player alternate modes. The fifth option is also a leaderboard as with the single-player alternate modes.

Every multi-player game allows for a choice of 1-4 players which can be a mix of real and CPU players and the option to have everyone for themselves or two teams of two each. The screen with these choices is presented after choosing a game mode. Once team or individual play is chosen a button on the bottom of the screen is pressed to start the game.

1st mode of four, upper left: Try to clear your board before everyone else!
——–
CPU Difficulty
BGM
Tileset
Choice of 8 boards

Controls:
Undo
Hint

2nd mode of four, upper right: Most tiles cleared wins; like 1st mode without borders separating player boards so pairs can be made from any of the boards on the screen. Tiles continue to appear on screen until time limit expires.
——–
Number of Minutes (1-3)
CPU Difficulty
BGM
Tileset

Indicators:
Timer Countdown

3rd mode of four, lower left: Clear two pairs before anyone else. Same as alternate single-player mode. Player’s boards are separated.
——–
CPU Difficulty
BGM
Tileset
Set (choice of 8)

Controls:
Undo
Hint
Board Swap

4th mode of four, lower right: Battle mode. Conditions Unknown. All players can access all boards; each player has a separate time limit for clearing pairs. Pressing 1 button allows for use of special powers.
——–
CPU Difficulty
Set (choice of 8)
BGM
Tileset

Indicators:
Timebars for each player.