With franchise revival Onimusha: Way of the Sword in active development, there’s been a resurgence of interest in the PlayStation 2 Onimusha series. While a remaster of the original Onimusha: Warlords has been available for quite some time, it was only recently that Capcom announced that Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny would also be getting a remaster, due out on May 23.
Fans of the series rejoiced at the news, and for good reason. Onimusha 2 is a fan favorite, with a unique style and gameplay elements that make it a true standout among the series.
We had the opportunity to interview Motohide Eshiro, the original game director and longtime Capcom veteran, about what players old and new can expect from Onimusha 2’s remaster.
Making friends and influencing people
What did the team learn from the original Onimusha remaster?
We learned that we could make the controls more comfortable. Onimusha 2 originally only had ‘tank controls.’ We carried over the revised controls from the previous remaster to Onimusha 2 smoothly.
Would these modernized controls affect the difficulty?
No, it’s more about minimizing frustration. Classic fans can choose tank controls if they prefer, but modern players can more easily get into the game this way. As far as combat goes, we faithfully carried over the Issen critical system from the original game. It won’t be any easier to perform critical attacks, since we think the critical system was really finely balanced in the original game.
Can you elaborate on one of the game’s defining features: the ally system?
It’s one of the defining elements of Onimusha 2. You can give gifts to other characters and form relationships with them. In return, they’ll help out Jubei in battles. Sometimes, you can control these characters, as well.
Was anything altered for this system in the remaster?
Like Issen, I think the ally system was well-balanced, so I didn’t have to make any tweaks or drastic changes. We considered adding a gauge over the characters’ heads to indicate your relationship status, but that wouldn’t express the depth of the characters. So you need to judge, through their reaction, the facial expressions, the comments they give you, how they feel about the gift.
Heaven or Hell?
What