Way of the Samurai Series

[Sanada]

The game have some cool gameplay mechanics, also a lot of endings.

[Xiahou Jia]

I am a big fan of the WOS games. Got all three and I'm looking forward for the next one, even though I rarely have time for videogames now.

Alrighty, let's start with the first one. It was a great game for the time. Nice graphics (for the time again), good sound and the lack of voice acting was compensated by an interesting concept of grunts. Innovative game with extremely high replayability. The storyline itself wasn't too bad either, considering the amount of endings. Collecting swords was great feature, the swordfighting was quite realistic in comparison to other games. Autoevade feature was a great thing as a reward for learning how to evade consistently (or abuse ninja battle to get scrolls lol) Tessho was quite an interesting personality and his weapon Dai-Kuronama wasn't too shabby either:) Hyuga also get praises from me, and of course I join the Tsuhobachi's bandwagon:)
A solid game, however I wouldn't agree with those who put it on top.
Firstly, the save system. Unless you have 2 memory cards and ready to spend some time rewriting them consistently, you're in problem. If you die...you lose your lovely ultra sword for good.
Secondly, the AI seriously abuses evade feature on the highest difficulty. I mean...very seriously. The player is forced to never use nice visual combos with high damaging potential as they will be evaded more often than not. I find myself using the same push/pull + 3 normal attacks because of that, regardless of the weapon. Hard difficulty is no fun for combonauts, that's for sure.

The second game is actually my favourite. Interesting storyline and endings, lots of new weapons. I've been playing the game for years now and I still enjoy it.
Kojiro is just awesome and her weapon Biteikotsu is brutally effective. Tessho is reincarnated in Tesshin and Dai-Kuronama is always nice to have, ninja weapons are quite fun to use (and abuse...as most of them have unblockable cheap special moves).
Evade feature is gone, meaning players can fully enjoy the Hard difficulty, but unable to autoevade as well. Saving is possible as well.
Weapon upgrading is...interesting...One would either love it or hate it utterly. Unlike his predecessor, Dojima can create some uber powerfull weapons....if you have patience...lots of patience:) I never had the patience to go for 400+ attack blades so my maxed weapons are: Ukigumo-no-Kodachi (313 attack/101 defence), Kubirabasa (370/164), Dai-Kuronama (313/6). The weapons I hope to max before I die: Biteikotsu (71 attack/18 defence; 3/12 quality currently), Zangetsu (6/-15; 3/12).
Mostly I'm happy about the game. I like voice acting and see nothing wrong with Hanzaemon, Kojiro, Chief or doctor. The only thing I dislike is no noticeable improvement in graphics since WOS1.

The third game I play on PS3. I have mixed feelings regarding the game. I'll start with negative.
Maxing out weapons is now possible within one's lifetime...but it doesn't feel as achievement no more.
Where's Nobunaga, or at least his forces? I played multiple endings hoping to fight the mighty Oda army...and was never given given a chance.
Several deadly weapons are nerfed so badly that it's not even funny. Biteikotsu...ruined.
No Tesshin this time:(
I expected much more from a PS3 game in terms of graphics:(
Ok, now about good things.
Autoevade is back and the AI peons don't use it on Hard no more. Alternatively it's possible to turn it off in game options, as well as instant kills. Nice feature, really. Would be nice if it was possible to turn on/off the heat on maxed-out weapons as well. Mowing down enemies without the fear of breaking weapon is easy but no fun really.
Making your own weapons isn't bad either. Scrolling through all these parts can be annoying though.
Bare hands stance is fun.
Some new characters are quite interesting. Fujimori is a good one for a villain for example and he is distinctively different from both Chief and Hanzaemon. Being a fan of Shinobido I welcome Zaji in the game.
Partners are fun I suppose, but even that guy, who shows up after you kill 1000 people in a single game is no match for a samurai-hunter let alone Kirie or Fujimori.
Unlike WOS2 I didn't put too much effort in getting powerful swords. I actually like to break the AI weapons before killing them, so the attack value of my favorite weapons isn't that great. Anyway here they go:
Toragozen 197 attack/105 defence/ 0 weight/2295 kills; nice new weapon as nyga-ganyu move makes attacking fleeing enemies so much easier
Ippatsumuru 250 attack/119 defence/0 weight/3849 kills; Tshuhobachi's weapon is awesome as always
Biteikotsu 239 attack/74 defence/0 weight/2506 kills; although Kojiro's weapon is no longer an insignia of destruction I still use it if only for memories of it's lost power
Kurotaka 118/16/0/1398 kills; Now that Zangetsu is nerfed this one become my ninja sword choice.
Oo-Kuronama 112/21/1; Kuronama is quite heavy now but I still love it as the AI loves to block the slow moves regardless of the fact that my sword is unbreakable at max level;)

[Zhuanyong]

Indeed, Biteikotsu was my favorite weapon from WoS 2.

And I, in particular, enjoyed the scenes with O-Kyo and her 'oooh, you give me goosebumps' comments over the thought of having a fight to the death with you.

It gives a small amount nostalgia getting to use it in WoS 3 but, it is so watered down that it's ridiculous. Some of its moves were given to Itsuse's weapons Hakuu and (the other one). And I do agree that one of the malefactors is that you can't go into overkill mode with the increase of attack and or defense to your sword.

I did get my Biteikotsu to about 260 ATK and 115 DEF on WoS 3 though.

[Xiahou Jia]

Yeah, Kyojiro's scenes were always something. I still wonder why many people complained about her VA. I found Muto's voice quite annoying but O-Kyos' maniacal personality was perfectly expressed in her voice, imo.

[ky9ersfan]

Awesome series, loved everyone 1-4. I enjoyed the varied amount of endings in 3, and 4. Way of the Samurai 3 was my favorite by far.