Ichi The Swordsman
Medieval Japan 1565
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The armies of the Shogun are gathered for what is supposed to be the last battle. In reality, the Shogun wants to march on Iga, the last bastion of resistance to his plans and also the city that hides the Shadow Warrior, a renowned ninja who wants to counter the Shogun's plan to conquer Japan. Also, Iga is the town where Ichi was born. To save Iga, Ichi receives an order: bring the mysterious Shadow Warrior, dead or alive.
The fight at the beginning of the game is easy and is used as a tutorial. If anything goes wrong and an enemy goes through Ichi, an archer will kill him and won't reach the shogun. So the player has to finish the fight tutorial to continue.
Game Start:
The game story starts on a battlefield. Protecting his Shogun, Ichi slay soldiers who managed to reach the last line of defense through the rain of arrows.
You can hear the swords clashing on each other, arrows flying, screams and other battle rattles.
After the fight, a dialogue starts with the Shogun. Ichi wants to end the war, to stop fighting and he really wants to go back home. But the Shogun greatly disagrees with him and sees this proposal as an insult to his plans of war and conquest. So he sends Ichi to bring the Shadow Warrior.
Road to the east:
The first road leads to a fishing village. There, Ichi can start investigating the Shadow Warrior. He can also, through dialogs make allies who will help him during the final battle in Iga. He opens the door of the tavern. Everything is peaceful. He can talk to the tavern owner. He introduces Ichi to another warrior who's looking for work. Ichi has the possibility to recruit him.
Road to the north:
By taking the road to the north, Ichi starts the exploration towards Iga. He arrives at the first village. There is a tavern there. He can enter and talk to people. Talking to the tavern owner will open a manu where he can buy things and put them into his inventory. He pushes the door. As he enters, he sees the Shogun's men, sitting and drinking. They're being rude to everyone around them and do not respect the place. The soldiers are drunk. Ichi can interact with them by getting close. The dialog starts with Ichi trying to make them come back to reason. But they won't listen and a fight starts.
Ichi then has the choice to use non-lethal methods or lethal. If he uses non-lethal fighting, a monk sitting nearby will offer his help. If uses lethal fighting, then an assassin will offer to go with him on his mission.
After the party is created, they will continue their journey until they reach the entrance of the forest before Iga. There, they will be ambushed and be taken inside the city (cinematic).
Once inside, they'll meet the Shadow Warrior, who is actually Ichi's lost brother: Iku. Iku will then explain the situation of how the Shogun is cruel and he uses his men to tax villagers and steal all their money. Once Ichi is decided to fight by the side of Iku, the Shogun will show up at the gates of Iga when the final battle will occur.