[Review Preface]
If “Age of Discovery” is the geography enlightenment teacher for many old players, then “Taiko Rishiji” has also aroused the interest of many players in the history of Japan’s Warring States period. The series takes the Warring States period of Japan as the stage, and players can play legendary figures led by Feng Chenxiuji and experience that period of turbulent history.
Compared to the Japanese Warring States theme of “Nobunaga’s Ambition”, “Taiko Rishiki” is more like a role-playing game that integrates many game modes, requiring individuals to participate in the plot and progress process. On the other hand, it has rich cultivation, collection elements and high degree of freedom.
The 2004 release of “Taiko Yasushi 5” can be considered as the culmination of the series, with several professions, thousands of card collections, and rich map facilities, further expanding the playability of the game. Even today, players can still enjoy and be addicted to it. Unfortunately, with the changes in the game market, the fate of “Taiko Yasushi 5” is the same as other historical games of Glory, and there has been no new game released for many years.
However, there seems to be some turning point recently. After the HD version of ” Age of Discovery 4: Power Enhanced Edition” last year, “Taiko Ambition 5” also ushered in a reset. Below, I will briefly introduce this work for new players to understand. If you are an old player, you can also jump to the next page to see what new elements have been added in the reprint.
The figures of these old IPs can only be seen in the linkage and special gifts of games such as “Nobunaga’s Ambition”
[High openness, re-cultivation of historical simulation game]
During the Warring States period in Japan, Fujiro, who was originally from a poor peasant background and did not even have the qualification to take the family name, started as a servant and worked his way up to the first rank of Guan Bai. Later, he called himself “Taiko” and ended the chaotic Warring States period, unifying Japan and becoming “the people of the world”. This kind of growth process undoubtedly conforms to the growth routine of role-playing games. “Taiko Yizhi Zhuan” is a game series born with this theme.
Compared to other historical Simulation Games that focus on macro scheduling and control, “Taiko Rishiji” focuses on the cultivation and experience of individual characters. “Taiko Rishiji 5” also adheres to the characteristics of the series. In addition to the kanban character Toyotomi Hideyoshi, players can choose one from hundreds of Warring States characters or create their own character for experience. In addition, the game provides four main professions: samurai, ninja, merchant, and navy, as well as sub-professions such as pharmacists and tea people. The target gameplay between different professions has certain differences. Whether to complete the great cause of unifying the world as a samurai, or to monopolize the commercial circle of the country as a wealthy merchant, or to travel around as a leisurely cloud and wild crane… all depend on the player’s own will.
Due to the large number of characters, their abilities, social relationships, social status, and so on are different. With the career goals of different professions, the choices and process experiences that players can make are quite rich. Moreover, as a historical theme, the game inserts many historical events and plots, especially the recommended five protagonists and well-known figures such as Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Sanada Yukimura, who have exclusive plots. Triggering the collection of these events not only adds to the fun, but also further enhances the immersion and immersion of the game.
Yamanaka Deer Swore to the Moon
The city, town, village, and ninja village in the game map are not designed uniformly. There are facilities with different functions in the village, and ninja village and water army village are also occupied by various factions. The rich map elements make players have a greater desire to explore. In addition, different characters have certain differences in personality, preferences, etc. By giving gifts, competing in martial arts, drinking alcohol, drinking tea, and other ways to “cater to their preferences” to improve intimacy and obtain more benefits, it is also a very important part of the game.
Players can control characters to move freely in various towns on the map, and can obtain funds, treasures, or complete tasks through various means such as trade, work, martial arts, and learning; they can also improve their abilities. Characters in the game have conventional five-dimensional abilities and sixteen skill specializations. The improvement of five-dimensional and skill specializations is closely related, such as martial arts corresponding to archery, martial arts, and ninjutsu; strategy corresponding to military studies and eloquence. Skill specializations affect the actual performance of characters in various actions, such as foot lightness, horseback riding, etc., which will affect the combat ability of corresponding units in joint combat, and martial arts will affect the strength trough of individuals in martial arts competitions, etc…
Learning in the facility or seeking advice from corresponding generals is the main way to improve skills and specialization.
In addition to skill specialization, characters can also learn a large number of secret techniques, tactics, and special abilities. Players can learn some regular skills at corresponding facilities or by seeking advice from generals. The unique secrets and tactics need to be obtained by joining corresponding schools, ninja, and finding generals who hold skills. If you want to learn wind, forest, and volcano, you need to find important generals of the Takeda family. The art of hazy shadow can only be learned by joining Iga…
The learning process is also quite interesting, presented in the form of more than ten small games. As the level of specialization increases, the difficulty of the small games will also increase. Of course, if players find it cumbersome, they can directly skip these small games.
The free action mode, diverse ability attributes, and various skills provide enough space for players to develop and shape different styles of characters. It is worth mentioning that the game presents items such as generals, skills, scenic spots, and titles in the form of cards, with thousands of cards enough to satisfy players’ desire to collect.
The generals and scenic cards are accompanied by detailed explanations, which is equivalent to a small part of the Warring States Lingo
This game is divided into individual martial arts battles and large-scale joint battles in terms of combat. In individual martial arts competitions, players can use different weapons such as swords, spears, bows, muskets, bitter weapons, lock sickles, etc. The weapons have certain differences in range, and the secret techniques that can be used are also different. Players need to use positioning and secret techniques to defeat their opponents. In addition, in June, players can also participate in the Tianlan Imperial Martial Arts Competition at the Imperial Palace, and after winning, they can obtain the title of Sword Saint or Gun World No.1, etc.
As for the joint battle, it is divided into two parts: siege warfare and field warfare. The field warfare in the game is a more traditional war chess mode, with units such as foot light, cavalry, and musketeers. The direction of the battle is determined by the movement of the troops, terrain factors, morale control, and the use of tactics and skills. The siege warfare part eliminates the chessboard map, and the player’s goal is to destroy the enemy’s troops or cities through attacks and skills to achieve victory.
[New elements and content]
After introducing the original version, let’s talk about the reset version of ” Taiko Rishiji 5DX “. “Taiko Rishiji 5” has been released for PC and PS versions (PS2/PSP). The later PS version made many changes on the basis of the PC version and added many new contents. For example, the new script of “Exile Chapter” and “Fantasy Chapter”; the number of cards has been increased to 1200, including new generals, skills, titles; the release of joint combat skills, mines, debate games, combat AI and other contents have been optimized or modified to varying degrees, and it is not an exaggeration to regard it as a powerful enhanced version. “Taiko Rishiji 5DX” is overall based on the PS version for reset, so the new content and changes in the PS version are basically included.
The Yoshikage Incident
In terms of visual performance, “Taiko Ambition 5DX” supports 2K and 4K resolutions, and the background, UI, etc. have also been re-stretched and adapted according to the 16:9 ratio. In addition, the game has added convenient functions such as automatic saving and fast-forwarding dialogues.
As an old game reset, the experience of this game is mostly smooth. However, due to the transplantation based on the console version, the keyboard and mouse operations in the new PC version have not been optimized, and the interaction is somewhat cumbersome, and the overall response rate feels slow, requiring players to adapt. In addition, the personal wartime frame number will be fixed at 30 frames.
Players who are used to the original PC version may need to adapt to the new map, interface, and operation.
In terms of content, this work has added a script for the chapter of Langhua in 1584, with the theme of the Monkey and Fox War. Of course, the distribution of forces on the map has also been adjusted according to the script.
There are not many changes in the overall construction of new generals, except for adding some new appearances. Players can directly choose Castle/Ninjinori/Water Army Village as their stronghold in the new version.
The number of cards has increased from 1200 in the PS version to 1322. The newly added cards include 100 protagonist generals, 10 secret skills, 11 battle cards, and 1 title card.
The added generals include famous figures such as Miura Anzhen, Mizhu, and Amakusa Shiro, mainly filling in the number of generals. However, the new generals all use the illustrations of the neighboring “Nobunaga’s Ambition”, which does not match the style of ” Taiko Ritsuke 5″ itself.
The five-dimensional data and life of the newly added generals are based on Xinye’s Warring States and Great Ambition PK version. There will be some changes in the data, but the magnitude is not significant.
In terms of skills, some new secret techniques require corresponding two specializations to reach a high level before they can be learned, such as the bow technique “Mingxian” which requires both bow technique and ritual technique. In addition, a batch of powerful weapon secret techniques obtained through meditation have been added. The bow has added a move called “Dragon Penetration” that can ignore “no knife take” and “lead fall” and directly hit the enemy. Kuwu’s new secret technique “Chunhua” can make the enemy unable to move after hitting, and so on.
Several meditation secrets have new card patterns
The new secret skill of the gun “Qinglan” can ignore all enemies in the range attack scene
Many of the newly added battle tactics are exclusive skills similar to the old version of Fenglin Volcano and Veshamen Tian, such as Mouri’s Baiwan Xin, Hojo’s Lion Fenxun, Sanada’s Roken Qian, etc. Generally held by one or important generals, Lion Fenxun can ignore durability and destroy the city gate with one blow. Although the hit is limited and the cost is high, many members of Hojo’s family have this tactic, and they can use a small amount of troops to attack even a huge city by accumulating skill slots for a wave of tactic bombing.
Exclusive tactic of the Tokugawa family: Samurai of the Three Rivers
The game also adds more than 20 events and 5 new endings. For example, when Xiuji follows Oda Nobunaga to attack Inabayama Castle, he will encounter Horio Yoshiharu to trigger the “Thousand-Year Gourd” plot and obtain exclusive tactics, etc.
Qiancheng Gourd “is Hideyoshi’s horse seal (an item erected beside a horse to represent the position of a general). It is said that every time Xiuji wins a battle, he pastes gold foil on the outside of a gourd and hangs it on the horse seal, hoping to win every battle.
The game has added a bonus this time – the cat general mode. After switching, some general avatars will be more like the cat avatars in “Ambition of the Meow”.
As for the newly added event editor, it requires a certain programming and modification foundation to use, which is still a certain threshold for ordinary players.
[Summary]
Compared to the content expansion and upgrade from the PC to PS version, the new elements in “Taiko Rishiji 5DX” are not particularly many. However, considering that the PC version of “Taiko 5” from 2004 is widely circulated in China, for players who have not experienced the PS version, I personally think that the large collection version of “Taiko Rishiji 5DX” is still worth trying again.
