Magatama

I totally forgot I owned this game. Was tidying up once again and found it one of my boxes of old games. Even I don't know what's in those. I'm probably going to be posting a lot of obscure action game topics this weekend.



This video should give you a solid idea of the game, but there's a few things I want to say. I have barely progressed in this game at all. I got annoyed with the hub world and it seems you can repeat a level but not be able to finish it without those mirrors which I didn't know at the time. I would wander that hub world with that annoying girl not knowing where I was supposed to go so it went in the box. Just didn't have time to mess around in it either.

The guy in the video compares the one button sword attacks to Dynasty Warriors two button setup, which is crap. The mentality that the amount of usable buttons in combat defines quality is bullshit and needs to go. This attitude (while not the intention of the reviewer here) is what destroys the genre.

In Magatama, that one button still has more than one function. You also charge attacks which create different finishers. The video doesn't go into it much, but this is how the combat works. You have a single sword combo. As you slash, you can hold down the button and briefly charge, then release. The end result is similar to DW's combos where pressing triangle after each slash will do a different finisher. Magatama's method is interesting, and I found it odd at first, but since you are charging as your attack is happening, there's no delay (or at least not the longer one you'd expect from a charged move).

The video mentions how Orochi can attack when there's enough meter but again doesn't mention how this actually works. You can call him any time as I remember, but during sword combos it depends on which part of your combo you're at when you call him.

Some things I say might not be 100% accurate, as I just bought this one day with no knowledge of it, popped it in the Xbox, and was like WTF? This video taught me some things I didn't know like that you can shoot Orochi to reach inaccessible items. There were no videos or any kind of info around the time I bought this.

The reviewer recommends button smashing as a good idea. Disregard that.

I can't remember if the dodge is invincible or not. It works fine though. Not sure if stuff can be cancelled. Honestly can't remember a thing about blocking. Might set up the game tomorrow and test this basic stuff if I can be bothered.

Never bothered with customizing Orochi. It's pretty basic which I like. Just find those magic stones or something and slot them in. Probably more to it than that but this is just my observation with no understanding of the menus. He mentions new sword attacks but I didn't have those at the point I reached. Must be a stone that allows abilities like that. All I had was an elemental one.

Looks cool, yeh amount of usable buttons is a bit silly, virtua fighter has 3 attack buttons but is supremely complex, dmc has one attack, gun and a style button, but dmc3-4 are the most complex action games around, God hand has 3 of buttons plus prompts/roulettes, list goes on. Yeh button mash isn't a sign of skillfull play and a good action game avoids this.

This game has been on my mind recently.

I finally set up the OG Xbox. It was a nightmare to find all the cords.

So what I plan to do is run through this game and note as much info about the mechanics as I can. As I said, the video I posted doesn't explain stuff fully and some not properly. This game has zero info available. A real mystery.

Figured out a decent amount but some things I'm still not 100% sure on.

Pretty basic so far and each stage is boring. The object seems to be destroying this golden, out of reach bell with Orochi (who you can shoot out from first person). Enemies seems to be infinite in most areas, probably due to you needing meter to shoot Orochi which is only gained by attacking enemies.

Bosses have been a little weird, but I'll get to them later.

Got some decent notes now but will progress a bit more. I also plan to scan parts of the instruction manual on the off chance I can find someone who can read and understand Japanese because there might be something crucial in the manual I'm missing.

Not enjoying this game at all.

Has some interesting points but overall I know I'll probably never play it again. Now I'm only really playing for documentation.

I'm going to keep it though as it's one of the most obscure action titles in existence.

I've scanned the manual but then I realized I didn't have it on the best quality setting so I'm going to redo it and see if I can post the images here.

Well, I really don't like this game.

It introduced some of the worst platforming in a recent stage, where you're on a log raft on an underground river. You pass one of those gold bells, and have to hit flying enemies to build power for Orochi then go into first person to hit the bell.

What I hate about shooting out Orochi is that when you activate first person, it makes you face the direction of the camera. This was especially annoying because as I passed the bell I'd quickly try to target it but it would make me face the wrong way.

No guard or dodge cancelling. No cancelling AT ALL. Even though it has a dodge roll, it doesn't matter because you can't cancel into it. I just went back to the temple which is where you start and not really a stage, rather a small tutorial. Now there are optional enemies.

I fought with these 5 fat monsters, and all they do is make shockwaves that stun lock you. Can't block, can't attack because you get stunned, and can't attack with Orochi because you can't get any power. I want to believe I'm missing something, like something to do with all these gems I can equip to him, but I have no way of knowing what they do or if it matters what slot they're in. I'm not seeing anything happen in game.

You have to repeat levels because you get keys in others, but it's boring and annoying because I don't know which level to repeat. I have to get up to the locked door and hope I have the right key. I'm sure the game tells you because you can look at them in the menu but I can't read shit.

The design of this game is irritating me. I'm going to quit here and not bother posting all the details I've documented so far. I'll keep my file because there MIGHT be more to it. For example, I noticed after equipping a gem to Orochi that I had an extra hit to my string, so it's possible other attributes could be gained. I find it hard to believe there would be one just to cancel attacks though.

Thankfully, the list of gems, though in Japanese, never change their position in the list so I could possibly label them 'gem1, gem2' and try in each slot then enter a stage to test. Won't be right now though. I need a break before engaging in that rigmarole.

What I will say though, is Orochi works very similarly to Atreus. In GoW, you can tap the button and have Atreus attack regardless of what you're doing. Orochi is the same. As long as it has meter and one of those eye icons it can attack during your attacks, not attacking, and even when you're down. Orochi's strikes also change depending on the state of the enemy, just like the various attacks Atreus can use. If anyone ever tries to say GoW 2018 is unique, you could safely bring up Magatama's mechanics. GoW's might have more options and be slightly more advanced though.

Anyway, I'm dropping this here, and continuing to sift through the sea of obscurity and shit so you don't have to.

Couldn't help myself.

It's just as I thought. I went through the list of gems I currently have and equipped them one at a time. Two have the same name and they extend your sword attack string by one hit.

One gives Orochi fire element, and another changed his super move. There's one that I'm not sure what it does, but I think it might be another element change.