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Onimusha : Dawn Of Dreams (sometimes called Onimusha 4) is the fourth canonical installlment of the Onimusha series. It was released in March 2006, despite producer Keiji Inafune claiming Onimusha 3 would be the final in the series. In a series first, the main character, Soki(灰燼の蒼鬼 a.k.a. Yuki Hideyasu), is not based on the appearance of an actor. He is the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and wields twin broadswords; he uses the blue one, Lamentation, in normal combat, while the red, Requiem, is only unleashed for special attacks. The player has been granted camera control, as opposed to the static camera angles employed in recent years. A shop system grants the player new weapons, all of which can be upgraded for increased damage potential and abilities. Finally, Soki is given a second party member, who is controlled via the directional buttons (for tactics) and the game's AI (for actual fighting); the player can switch to the other character with the press of a button.
The game takes place some sixteen years after Onimusha III, and involves Toyotomi Hideyoshi resurrecting the Genma threat. It also features return appearances by characters from previous games.
Two new songs by Ayumi Hamasaki, one titled Startin
Characters
- Yagyu 'Jubei' Akane: grand-daughter to the star of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny: Yagyu Jubei Muneyoshi/Sekishusai. The name Jubei is a given title, only to the best swordsman of the Yagyu Descent, Akane is the first female in line to do so. Her mission is to apprehend and exterminate her renegade uncle, Yagyu Munenori, a son of Muneyoshi, for his atrocities of the Yagyu clan's massacre and also siding with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the legion of Genma's clan as a watchdog.
- O-Hatsu: 2nd Daughter of Oichi (aka Oyu of Odani) and niece of Nobunaga who was trained in gun-fighting techniques by Magoichi Saiga from Onimusha 2. She is also the sister of Lady Yodo (Cha-Cha), the concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the villain of Dawn of Dreams).
- Roberto Frois: a Half-Spanish, Half-Japanese 'Westerner' who became an orphan after moving to Japan from his homeland of Espaňa with his mother. Taken in and cared for by Luis Frois, a missionary doctor, who implants the "Exorcising Beads" in Roberto's arms, resulting in the creation of Roberto's "Exorcising Fist" so that he can fight Genma and kill Luis Frois. His mission is to kill Luis Frois because Luis wanted him to, since he, under the control by Rosencrantz, had killed 26 of his country-mate through experimentation.
- Nankobo Tenkai: A mysterious warrior monk of Mount Hiei. Claims to have been fighting the Genma for a very long time and believed to be an old Onimusha. Fights with staves and polearms. He has very few special moves and does take some getting used to.
General Information
- The Triumvirate who are major villains in this story, all seem to have a common poisonous miasma which they use as their disposal. This miasma, which really the Genma's essence, can be absorbed just the way souls are absorbed. Claudius and Rosencratz use it to form pools of greenish purple venom that poisons anyone that steps in them. Claudius also uses it to form violet colored flame attacks. Ophelia uses it to form a shield around herself.
- All playable characters in this game are able to absorb souls and achieve an oni awakening. In other games people who didn't have oni powers were able to absorb souls due to soul absorbing items that were conveniantly placed in certain areas for them to pick up; which was undoubtedly a gift from the oni thanks to their dominion over the powers of time and space. However, there was no such thing in this game, neither was there any explanation as to why they were all able to absorb souls. While it can be argued that this ability was a gift from the oni, or that each playable character has unique attributes that favor this outcome, most fans agree that some form of explanation should have been provided to explain why this is so similar to the previous games. An oni awakening isn't the same thing for everyone in this game. For example, Ohatsu channels the blood that is tied to the previous genma lord, her uncle Oda Nobunaga, which is where she inherits her abilities from and it has nothing to do with the Oni. Some have criticized the fact that everyone who achieves the oni awakening automatically absorbs souls and remains invulnerable until the state of Oni Awakening is over. This seems to put all other characters on a level of power equal to the Onimusha which isn't supposed to be. Thus the greatest criticism that this game can receive is the fact that its creators payed more attention to gameplay then to its story.
- The weapons in the game have appearances similar to weapons from the previous Onimusha games. For example, Fallen Angel and Bishamon Sword along with Genma Samonji and Gokumonji use the same skin, but they are historically different weapons. Raizan and Enryu are the only swords that are the same from previous Onimusha games. However, their magic attack has changed due to the game's system and mechanics. Plus none of the weapons have a charge attack in this game but replaced with magic charge, which allows the character to charge up there oni magic three times.
- The five playable character system was similiarly adopted from the previous Onimusha series. However though the main characters are only able to do secret combos by upgrading the characters attribute skills ( ATTACK, THRUST, LIFT, KICK, AND FINISHER).
- Similiarities to each character also are adopted from the previous games all except for Roberto.
Music
The game's music and soundtrack is composed by Hideyuki Fukasawa and Jamie Christopherson. Hideyuki Fukasawa, who first came onto the video gaming music scene with his work on Chaos Legion, is responsible for most of Shin Onimusha's in-game music and soundtrack (most gamers who are familiar with his work on Chaos Legion will notice his style of composing) while Jamie Christopherson was in charge of the game's impressive CG cutscenes and FMV's Hollywood-style orchestral scores.
Trivia
- Yagyu Jubei Akane's immense speed and agility style of attack is like that of Kaede's from Onimusha 1.
- Ohatsu's gunning attack is closely-resembled that of Magoichi Saiga , who had trained her with all his gunning skill, from Onimusha 2
- Tenkai's spearing pole-arms combat is styled from that both of Ankokuji Ekei from Onimusha 2 and Honda Heihachiro Tadakatsu from Onimusha 3.
- Roberto's attack is styled from his very own art of fist-fighting. His theme tune also contains a small guitar part Devil may Cry 3's first mission
See also
"Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams"