Koei Tecmo has revealed another two characters that will be joining the ever growing roster of Musou Stars characters. Both of the characters are from a series known as Harukanaru Toki no Naka de and they are called Darius and Hajime Arima. Darius is a young man from the Oni Clan that lives deep within the forest of the Imperial Capital and wears a mask to prove that he is a leader and to show his triumphs in genjutsu. In combat Darius will wield a sword cane and make use of spiritual powers to manipulate wood, create tornadoes to deal damage to his enemies, and even fire scatter shots from the tip of his cane.
Hajime Arima is a commanding officer from the Imperial Army’s Vengeful Spirit elimination organization and uses a standard Japanese blade to blow away his enemies with powerful slash attacks that are filled with spiritual energy. Koei Tecmo also detailed how players will be able to experience different endings depending on what key battles they clear. You see, Musou Stars will feature a world map with free scenarios that can be played outside of the key battles and some of these may have special conditions such as befriending certain characters before they are allowed to even try the mission.
In fact, City of Light rarely takes any time to draw things out like the previous episode, making it a bit short but also far better paced. Almost every encounter in this episode helps bring about a resolution to one of the many plotlines that have been woven since the first episode while also helping to develop Bruce as a character. Whether it is saying a perhaps final goodbye to a romantic entanglement or taking down a former ally/childhood friend Bruce’s journey is successfully told in a meanginful manner that feels like it actually matters.
While the beginning of City of Light may change depending on how players left off the resolution of the episode once again tapers down to a mostly set point that, of course, helps set things up for a second season should Telltale wish to pursue it. There are a few alterations that players can make during their final few choices that will also likely appear in some form but whether they will be mostly cosmetic in the end is something we will have to wait and see.
One thing that does play an unfortunately heavy role in this episode is the game’s aging engine. After playing through both beginning scenarios there were moments during the action that the game would come to a complete halt for up to fifteen seconds at a time. The most egregious of these drops came during an incredibly basic scene that saw the entire game freeze up for over a minute only to come back to life just before restarting the console.
The voice work by the actors once again remains a high note for the episode, especially in regards to helping make players actually believe that the villains they are coming across are actually humans. This is certainly true when players manage to break through their facades and force them to let a bit of their normal nature leak through the bravado.