Call to Arms in the Great Edo Period
by BONZO, HSM team writer
The week of the x7 launch, and the subsequent controversy that followed, overshadowed the Great Edo of Nippon update which included a new single and multiplayer game and a plethora of new rewards. Let’s not forget this wonderful space and its tribute to a great forgotten empire.
The great Edo revives a period of Japan’s history ruled by the shogun of the Tokugawa family, which held the longest reign in Japan’s history. Edo is the former name of the city now known as Tokyo. Within the virtual confines of Home, Granzella’s second public space has revived this period in homage to what is considered to be the essence of Japan. There is a romantic beauty to this space with an astonishing vista of Mount Fuji and a temporal shift from day to night, and period attire worn by the non-player characters — some of whom you can interact with. You also have the option of buying several clothing items to fit the period.
This latest update introduced an exciting new game, where it is the Home users’ task to defend Edo. So what is the Mononoke Hunting game all about? Edo is under attack by angry vengeful spirits, it is up to you to take on the task solo or with a team, to hunt down these monsters and collect Ryo, which you can then trade in to the Time Turner Old Lady in the market for various rewards.
Like many of Home’s games, this is a freemium game. So you can play for free with the option or purchasing premium upgrades that will aid you in the task. Playing it for free means committing to putting some serious time and frustration, because without at least the sword or the armor it will take a while to get anywhere playing with only the free bamboo sword.
(So far, no Home game has demonstrated the advancement variation between playing free and investing in a few upgrades better than nDreams’ Aurora OrbRunner. Reaching level 100 would be a daunting undertaking if you didn’t own, or had access to, the Aurora Island defense game for an extra five hundred experience points a day, the gold or silver watch booster and goggles, Aurora hoodie, or the latest Auroralite contraption.)
So, is it impossible to win anything with only the free bamboo sword? No, but if you want to get anywhere, definitely play with friends. Playing solo with only the bamboo sword is somewhat like trying to take down a bear with nail clippers. Unless you’re a Dos Equis pitchman, don’t try it.
The game is pretty exciting once you get used to the chaos of multiple enemies, a large playing field and other players you see in your game that aren’t in any way helping your current session unless you are in a team. You are limited by time and your own stamina. Once the candles burn out, game over. If you lose your stamina, game over.
The first time I tried it, I had no clue what I was doing; I only had the free bamboo sword obtained from playing the haystack game. I tried solo play first, and proceeded to take down the Cyclops with nothing but a stick and some bravado. Boy, was I out of my league. I then tried taking down some of the smaller monsters first to get them out of the way since they seem to impede my progress against the main beast, but that proved futile as well. Finally I was able to take down a couple of umbrella ghosts, but once I was killed by the starving ghosts that looks like a green monkey on fire, I was left with nothing to trade with the old woman. After several more frustrating tries I focused my attention on the Cyclops and avoided the rest of the demons trying to get in my way — particularly the red ogre, as he will charge and one direct hit will take you out.
Though there were some signals to look out for, it was still very difficult to do any damage to the Cyclops. Cues to beware of: there are two attacks he will unleash on you. The Cyclops will either sweep his giant brush or stomp, causing a green cloud that will paralyze you; if you are caught in it he will pick you up and toss you like a rag doll, with no upgrades ending in your demise no matter how many times you hit the circle button. I was getting nowhere but frustrated and fast, and was just about ready to give it up when I decided to bite the bullet and buy a sword. Huge difference.
You can argue that the game is by design made to be near impossible with the free items as a means to make it pay for play, but if you can muster up enough friends and enough patience you can still play it for free. If you lack the endurance, the popularity or can’t find the time to coordinate with others, then buying a few upgrades will make a huge difference.
The sardine seller top comes with a custom animation walk and stance for your avatar and I’ve been told the balance pole which sells for the same price as the sword is one of the best upgrades you can buy — but the whole outfit can run you about five dollars if you get the wig that goes with it. I purchased the nameless sword hand item for about two dollars, which hangs at your side as the bamboo sword does, but looks way more badass. There are a total of four pieces for the armor, with each one giving you a boost in defense, in total running you just under seven dollars. If the sword and the armor aren’t your thing, there are other alternatives you can purchase to give you an advantage. The Edo row houses are available as a personal space for the standard price of $4.99, which if purchased you can use the row houses in the Defend Edo game to heal yourself. Other premium items include charms which comes as as set of hand and decorative item for defense, medicine decorative item for recovery and pills decorative item for strength. 
This is a Granzella space so obviously not just any avatar sword will do; it must be the Granzella purchased items that will give you the game upgrades. So if you think the lightsaber will even let you in the game, forget it.
The downside of the game is that it can get chaotic. You have umbrella ghosts, starving ghosts, the giant red ogre, a walking moving water well and even human soul ghosts that look like blue tear shaped hovering flames, even the lanterns are against you in this game while you try to take down a Cyclops. There are two Cyclops to take down in the first available mission as well. It takes a while to collect enough Ryo to trade in for the more desirable rewards.
It’s a game of patience and endurance, and strategy, and certainly a team effort helps. The camera can get really problematic when you are trying to look around you; it shifts to low angles, making it difficult to see what’s approaching you. Aiming is hit and miss, and your strikes won’t always hit precisely where you think you are aiming. It’s hard to tell if you are doing any damage since there is no health bar for the enemy to cue you to any progress you may be making. 
For the reward hunters there are several items to trade Ryo for, but they are all decorative items and nothing very impressive. Other than the Bonsai and the Sword Kusanagi and possibly the jeweled branch from the Mystical Island of Horai, most of the items will probably end up in your storage or go uncollected.
Upgrades can get expensive, and Granzella hasn’t offered any bundles to make the wallet easier to open. The complete armor with sword, charms, medicine and pills will run you a grand total of $14.92; add the space and you can blow through a $20 PSN card. However, the game IS worth playing — but I’m content with my $1.99 purchase as it added a pretty cool avatar wearable item to include to my wardrobe. The armor looks very cool and it has the bonus of adding upgrades during battle, but I am hard pressed to spend that much for such premium items. The good thing is that you can buy the items separately, so if you just want to get the helmet it will add some bonus on its own. The more upgrades you have, the stronger you will be when facing the enemy, but for a sword slashing mini-game it can get too pricey.
The rewards leave a lot to be desired; they could have been better, but there are some if you are a reward collector, and hopefully Granzella will continue to provide updates for this game, including new rewards in the upcoming missions to motivate you.
Though the game is fun, there is only one solo mission and one multiplayer mission available, with promises of two more for each mode coming in the near future. The problem is that it can get very repetitive. If you like fighting, sword-slashing games, Home doesn’t offer much of this content — so it’s a nice introduction to this platform. But if you don’t have the patience to play through the same mission continuously, then you will get frustrated fast and eventually forego playing the game and have nothing but some expensive upgrades in your inventory of avatar items. So, buyer beware; shop responsibly. I recommend the game if you like action fighting games, but it will require some endurance, and if you lack that it may not be the game for you. Cool game, but basically not for everyone.
- Fun action game
- Rewards
- Theme is cool
- Multi-player optional
- Camera control issues
- Aiming is problematic
- Game can be chaotic
- Very difficult unless you purchase premium items
- Hard to tell if you're doing any damage
- Repetitive
- Patience is a must
- Not for everyone
April 25th, 2012 by BONZO | 9 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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Been a regular player there for a while already. Any advice needed can ask me and I’ll try to answer them.
Bonzo may have his/her review but I will give it a 4.5/5 rating with the difficulty being the only problem encountered in the game.
where do i spend ryo and is souls still not worth anything?
I was skeptical about this game at first, but after buying the sword and trying the game out a few (unsuccessful) times, I got hooked. I eventually bought all the upgrades, samurai armour and the personal space.
I agree that the game has control issues, both for the camera and when attacking. But practice pays off and I now have a set pattern for the mission that always results in success. The only really annoying thing for me, now, is the music. The sample is too short and repeats too often during gameplay that it starts burning a hole in your brain. I was hearing that mournful flute tune in my sleep for days after playingt.
One minor correction -- I don’t think the Cyclops’ green cloud attack is the result of a stomp. If you watch the animation closely, you’ll see he’s actually breaking wind.
LOL i hadn’t noticed that…but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. Thanks for the correction.
I tried the game once or twice here, but I agree that it is costly and not something I would spend too much money on at all. I won’t even buy the sword as it would sit in my storage for the most part. Looks good visually but it is cost prohibitive, especially in this economy.
P.S. Nice review Bonzo!
My friend “Benny” took me to play, and I didnt have the armor, just the merchant clothes and the ‘cool’ sword, and did ok, then I invested in the whole package, the armor and the Edo house so I can try it again. I havent had the chance because of the server problems of the last few days, but I am looking forward to it as I had fun. The purchases were a plus for me because I just love the whole Edo look so I would have bought them anyway. So next time you look into the Edo game, I’ll be the cool looking samurai in grey armor…dying.
p.s. Bonzo, good write. It was a great idea to look at something like this after all the flap over x7.Thumbs up.