A game made by the
Koei company. It was one of the earlier
Strategy RPG's realised. You played the
role of a young
Iga Ninja who seeks revenge against
Oda Nobunaga for the destruction of your people and the
Iga fief. The game, while set in the
historical Warring States period of
Japan, quickly separates from true history.
Oda Nobunaga, who was killed by one of his minor generals Akechi Mitsuhide in history, somehow manages to survive the assassination attempt in the game. Thus Koei clears that one "small" hurdle and allows the main character to go on his quest for vengeance.
The game, in the early stages, revolves around earning levels and skills... The skills can only be earned at training grounds scattered around Japan. While the levels can be earned in these training grounds, in other dungeons or in the overworld map itself.
Most people give up on the game early. The graphics are subpar, the music boring in the most part, basically a rather forgetable RPG. Unfortunately they never seem to play long enough to get into the game's strategy elements.
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The character has a chance to interact with other npc's at inns and tea houses across Japan.
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At level 13 the you can, if your relation with an npc is high enough, ask them to join. There are MANY npc's to choose from, from all different sects. Swordsmen, Ronin (Samarai who have not pledged themselves to a lord), Ninja's both male and female (Yes some sects had sizable groups of females ranked alongside the males), and mystics, both healers and mages. Each group has different skills and most npc's within the groups have different stats. So depending on your style of play, a certain npc may make or break your quest.
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At level 18 you are allowed to take jobs from Daimyo's oppossed to Nobunaga. These jobs are worth money based on your level and generally involve doing damage to one of their rivals.
- Finally you will be granted the final ability. You can participate in battles. Here you can influence the future of Japan.
Your final goal will be to get one of Nobunaga's rivals to invade close enough to his capitol that you can sneak in and assassinate Nobunaga.
As this game is a rather old and unknown Super Nintendo (Super Famicom) game, it may be hard to find. I recommend checking for it on Emulation and Abandonware sites.