Sengoku Basara 3 - character evaluation

So far I've finished a total of 9 Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes stories. What I like about this game compared to its prequel SenBasa and SenBasa 2 is that each characters are unique on their own, and none of them are identical to each other [eg Kasuga and Sasuke, Ieyasu and Toshii in previous SenBasa]. For that reason, I'd like to give my thought about each characters I've played. Bear in mind that what's written are purely based on my experience playing these characters, so others might actually have different opinion on the character's strengths and weaknesses.

note
Movesets - this means how strong and well executed the skills and moves are, individually.
Combo - how well each of the movesets linked up to create devastating combos.




Yukimura Sanada
Weapon: 2 lances
Moveset - A
Combo - A

comments: The first character I've used in SenBasa 3, in fact he is the first character I had used in every single SenBasa/Sengoku Musou series. He's no different than the previous SenBasa - still wielding 2 powerful spears in battle. He is also one of the easiest character to use, with strong individual moves while also relatively easy to combo [hence explains my rating of "A" on both Movesets and Combo]. His R1 skill allowed him to repeatedly pierce forward with his spears, and along with the ability to cancel-combo into his normal attack [square], this is probably one of the easiest way to get thousands of combo hits against the mobs. In fact I even got 2k+ combo hits in his very first mission -_-

Masamune Date
Weapon: 6 swords
Moveset - A
Combo - B

comments: The One-Eyed Dragon. He specialized in offensive "Six Claws" mode in which he unleash all his 6 swords, executed after each Basara attack, or by using one of his R2 Super Moves. he negative side is that this moves renders him unable to evade or block attacks. I find his movesets equally as good as Yukimura's [Crazy Storm cancel combo to normal attacks], but overall the remaining of his combos weren't linked that well. This is kinda compensated by what I thought was his strongest move, the R2 Super Move "Dragon Eye" [aka Hell Dragon in previous SenBasa] - the Kamehame-ha skill that pretty much can 1-hit KO anything along the lines.

Tokugawa Ieyasu
Weapon: Brass knuckles
Moveset - S
Combo - C

comments: Ieyasu is back, with NEW and AWSM design and movesets. He specialized in charged attacks, and the more he charge the stronger the attacks are. Most of his moves are strong, no jokes, too bad they aren't linked well [but this might be just me]. Not very good at focusing single target enemy, but his wide coverage of attacks [R1 and first R2 Super Moves which damages everyone around him] made him a powerful AoE powerhouse, making him one of the best character to use in stage with tons and tons of enemies [Sekigahara intrusion].

Saica Magoichi
Weapon: Firearms - Magnum, Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Bazooka and Grenades
Moveset - S
Combo - D

comments: Suddenly Saika becomes a sexy chick. Well not that I complain or anything. Her theme remained the same - western firearm to obliterate anything on her path. With a simple L1+/Triangle press she can switch from gun, shotgun or rifle freely, and they're individually very powerful. I actually never found any other character that can kill the big white tiger in one of the stage [forgot the name] in less than 5 hits other than her. And being ranged, it's much easier to get the "no damage" trophy with her. Her only weakness - she really didn't have any particular combo - only shoot, shoot and SHOOT!

Mitsunari Ishida
Weapon: Katana
Moveset - B
Combo - A

comments: He's fast - way too fast that sometimes I had a hard time focusing on single enemy [aka bosses]. His strength lies in speed and timing. His movesets aren't particularly great and also has a bit ending delay, but with proper timing, many of this can be canceled into other attacks, creating fast and powerful combo that allowed him to move around the field at ease. He's probably one of the harder character to master.

Keiji Maeda
Weapon: Nodachi
Moveset - C
Combo - S

comments: Keiji is actually one of my favorite character to use in SenBasa 3 - strong combo and probably one of the hardest character to be killed. His basic attacks are nothing out of ordinary, but his Triangle move is really something that made him unique - it basically can cancels anything he did - press it while he normal attack and he cancels it into another powerful combos, which can then be further cancelled. Press it while he lunge with R1 and he can stop midway, although false timing can cause him to fall funnily to the ground. Heck he even can cancel his own DEATH - by pressing Triangle during his death animation. Crazy shit. On top of that, he also can regenerates HP on his own...by R2 Super Moves - Sleep -_-

Kotaro Fuma
Weapons: Shuriken, ninjatou
Moveset -C
Combo - B

comments: Despite finishing his story, somehow I still haven't figured out how to effectively used him. As the only ninja in SenBasa 3, his unique ability allowed him to dash in the air after jumping. I found him kinda similar to Judith of Tales of Vesperia - hard to master but lethal in the air if properly used. His skillset was relatively weak and has a loooooong delay in between but can be cancel combo-ed into many aerial attacks, continuously without even touching the ground. Aside from Shuriken, it still puzzled me on how to effectively use his other 2 R2 Super Moves...

Oichi
Weapon: Darkness hands
Moveset - A
Combo - C

comments: Man she's creepy. Poor soul with all the misery she went through in previous SenBasas. Her combo featured the use of those creepy shadow hands of her to attack [Deep Scars and Forgotten Sins combo are great to tear enemies apart], unfortunately many of these attacks did not combo that well. Good for grabbing, throwing and crush enemies from distance though. Oh, she's also the only other character [at least out of 9 that I've played] that can heal herself, by consuming the souls of enemies she grabbed [hence less reliable than Keiji's].

Tsuruhime
Weapon: bow
Moveset - A
Combo - B

comments: The Idol of SenBasa 3, she's reminding me of a hybrid of Okuni+Ina in the original Samurai Warriors. For me she's like Date - strong individual attacks but weak linking/combos. Plus she also had similar devastating attack like Date's Dragon Eye, named Nayuta Issen in which she stick her bow on ground, pull the string with all her body and might and release it [kinda funny when you overcharge it and she fell to the ground]. She's also probably the only character so far that can stun multiple enemies at once [BOSS INCLUDED!] with her imbalanced arrow rain. This pretty much made her the only character I've used that never get to low/red health in her entire story : ) Anyway, her R2 Super Moves were slow to cast and overall not really that useful, aside from maybe Charm Arrow.

p/s: her seiyuu was Ami Koshimizu. Japanese voice option DO WANT D :