I finally got around to purchasing this, now that it's on sale. OC: Origin is a remake of the first two Onechanbara games and combined in to a single story. So the first half, you're playing OC1, and the second half, you're playing OC2.
This series is the story of Aya and Saki: two sisters that are from a clan of zombie hunters. They suffer from a blood curse called the Baneful blood that is known to drive users insane, if used too much or too long. The first game is the siblings being at odds with each other, and second game is them teaming up.
This remake blows the original games, and most of the later sequels out of the park. While you start off with just Aya with one weapon, she gets dual swords halfway into the first game. And of course, Saki becomes playable after beating her the first time around. The mechanics uses elements that worked from the previous games, and the Z series. The emphasis on using a dodge button has always been a series staple, and the ability to do air combos is taken straight Z & Z-II. New to the series is the Parry Button. Pressing the CRCL Button allows you to parry a zombies or bosses attack with the right timing a la Royal Guard. Doing a perfect parry automatically fills an enemy's stun bar. Allowing you to either wail on them, or perform a cool strike (press SQR+TRI). You can actually parry multiple foes, if they're grouped together to the monster you parried. You have a standard attack for SQR, and Strong attack for TRI. The TRI acts as a way to stun enemies as this is new for the series. When an enemy is stunned you'll see stars floating above their heads. Locking on shows meter how much time they have left until they recover.
Another mechanic taken from the Z series (Z-II) is the Xtatic mode. It's basically the game's version of Devil Trigger. After entering Berserk mode (where you do more damage, but can't turn it off), there is another state you can enter where you double the damage, but lose health fast, if you're not constantly hitting enemies. In Z-II you could manually activate it whenever you wanted as long it was filled up at max. There is the Ecstasy Bar where filling it up is done by dodging and acts as a Muso gauge of sorts. The difference being, it drains over time, so it's best to use it on a group of enemies or boss to deal maximum damage.
Each character levels up with EXP, and reaching higher levels unlocks knew moves, and a point system. The points can be distributed to either Health, Attack, or Defense. I usually for Attack power. Aya and Saki both play differently. Aya is faster and can wield two swords. Saki is slower, but her sword has longer range, and she can grab stunned enemies performing wrestling moves. Her wrestling moves have an area of effect that can hurt or stun other monsters. Saki also gets gauntlets where she uses her fists.
This is solid good action game. The dubbing is good too, but the lip syncing is off and they never bothered to update it, nor fix it. The cel-shading looks great and gives it the anime/manga inspired tone. The older games while over-the-top, all have more realistic designs and character models. I love anime look the best as it makes the game stand out the most from the entire franchise. I do recommend getting this game, but at heavy discount where it slashes it in half. The sale does not end until October 7th. The Deluxe Edition is on sale, sliced at 40% off of a price that is $75 + tax. The standard version is still at $60 for some odd reason. Origin is no DMC, but deserves to be in the pantheon of Stylish Action games.
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