Last time I said I’d seen enough of OreShika and wanted to try something new. I spent the rest of that day trying to think of what else I’d like to play, but my thoughts kept coming back to OreShika. The art, the music, the atmosphere, all the things I’d left undone and unsaid. I’m not ready to move on after all.
Once the “what am I going to play” question was answered, one more question remained: “How”? How to solve the little logistic problem I raised last time? How to kill Nueko off without putting the rest of my party at risk? The answer hit me out of the blue around 1am: “Why not make it look like a suicide?” >:-) Instead of depending on the benevolence of my enemies, why just make her kill herself? Nueko has several powerful skills that sap her vigor. Put her in the front row with only one backup and let her fight herself to exhaustion, problem solved. My parents must be so proud of the creativity and problem-solving skills I’ve developed from long years of gaming.
Although the plan went off without a hitch, it made me understand once again again the reason fans of the first game have a beef with Nueko. On one hand you have a game about the brevity of life and the pain of loss. Each family member is unique. Each one lives as best as they can and then dies full of regret and unfulfilled dreams, never to be seen again. It hurts, but you try to move on. …And then, on the other hand, you have this character for whom dying is just like a summer vacation. It’s like a Dragonball character wandered into our game by mistake. And she’s not particularly gracious about it either.
She doesn’t even try to fit in with the rest of the family.
Well anyway, I killed her off early, re-raised her a few months later and created a super-team of mighty warriors. The March festival went off so easily I can’t even remember what the boss was like. Some kind of crow, I think. Then the bad guy Seimei captured a princess and I went off to rescue her, also a piece of cake. I confronted Seimei in a tower and beat him, beat another boss and now I have to climb to the top of the Stairway to the Moon to meet the queen of the gods. My party is full of strapping young fighters with great equips and lots of good spells so I expect to get pretty far before needing to rest and regroup.
This seems like a good enough time to try and sort out what we know of the story so far. This will involve some spoilers, hence the warning in the title. It’s a good point to stop reading at if you plan to play OreShika (and I highly recommend that you do so).
1. Hundreds of years before the story started, a human? demon? named Nueko married a god and had a child with him.
2. The child eventually became Abe no Seimei, who framed our family for failing to protect 7 Instruments of Festivity and had us killed. This was his way of luring Nueko out of heaven.
3. Somebody wearing an oni mask killed baby Seimei at some point. Nueko resurrected him. Now he can’t die any more.
4. Abe’s father created the Instruments as a way of circulating energy between the heavens, the earth and hell. For some reason, Abe’s father was thrown out of heaven and disowned. He was also sealed under the Imperial Palace by Nueko herself for reasons unknown. Seimei’s current goal is to get him out of there and get some answers.
I’d like to get some answers of my own, especially about these points:
How does my family come into this? Seimei killed us to lure Kitsuto and Nueko into reviving us, but he could he be so sure they would take the bait?- Why does Nueko have amnesia? What did Nueko do that was so good that she became a goddess? How did a normal human/onmyouji have the power to raise the dead? And why was she bound and gagged at the beginning of the game?
- What did Abe’s father do that was so bad that he was banned from heaven? Even his name is redacted so no one can say it.
- How come Abe no Seimei can’t die any more? My party was raised by Nueko too, but we still die normally.
- Seriously, what does my family have to do with any of this? Apparently the answer will turn out to be “Nothing.” The creator Shoji Masuda wanted to make a game about his light novel character Nueko but didn’t think anyone would buy it, so he hijacked Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke 2 instead. He could have done a better job integrating the two stories, IMO. But we’ll see how the story plays out before passing final judgment.
Plans for the rest of the game:
- Push as far forward as I can with my current party. It will take me a while to get another party this good once I lose them.
- Take on some onigami and release some gods. The Rite of Union roster in this game is pretty anemic.
- Explore some dungeons once I can’t move forward any more. I’ve barely explored Ash of Heaven and Hellfire Way.
- Eventually finish OreShika sometime before Armaggeddon. It’s so much fun that dropping it is not on the cards any more.
The year is almost over, so my next post will probably be my New Year’s Resolutions. Advance spoilers: 1) OreShika. 2) OreShika 3) OreShika, and on and on and on. Happy New Year in advance!
