Introduction

Asura's Wrath is an action game developed as a collaboration between CyberConnect2 (creators of the .hack franchise, Tail Concerto/Solatorobo, and a metric ton of Naruto games) and Capcom (do I really need to mention the games Capcom has done?). It was released in North America on February 21st and Europe on the 24th of the same month for PS3 and Xbox360. It is a game that combines elements from Hindu mythology and science fiction to make one crazy-ass designed game about giant spaceships with faces, giant Buddhas with chainguns and one really angry demigod that just wants to punch the shit out of everything.

How do I begin to explain this game? Well, to start off, a lot of people won't call it a game. It's a bit hard of a criticism, but in all honesty they have a point.
You see, the game's main form of story progression is through cutscenes. Now you might say "well, don't a lot of games do that nowadays?" The problem is not that the game has cutscenes, but rather that the game IS cutscenes. The ratio of gameplay to cutscenes with QTEs is way far weighted in the cutscenes' favor, but don't count the game out as a painful slog yet. If you like fast paced action like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, 3rd-person rail shooters like Panzer Dragoon or Sin & Punishment, or really like over-the-top batshit crazy anime fights then you might want to sit down and give this game a look.

The game plays out in episodes, and is intended to be like an interactive TV series, broken up into three chapters of six episodes and keeps to this format incredibly well. You'll see what I mean, but this really was intended to be experienced as something you watch more than play.

You play as Asura, one of the Eight Guardian Generals: eight demigod warriors who fight to protect Heaven and Earth from the Gohma - a mysterious, evil and destructive force within the earth itself that threatens to annihilate all its inhabitants. The Guardian Generals are supported by a powerful priestess, who redirects the prayers of those on the Earth to give them and their armies strength to fight this great evil.

All is not as straightforward as it would seem however, as the Gohma's powerful leader Vlitra continues to revive itself after every war over thousands of years, becoming even stronger with every return. The Generals long wish to be able to defeat Vlitra for good, willing to stop at nothing to do so. What will this need to stop an endless war drive them to do?

All will soon be revealed.

This will be presented as a dual-commentary video LP, but the two versions are going to be a little different to the normal dual-comm LP.

The first track side of the episode (we'll call it Side A) is going to be me solo, only talking at the beginning and end of the episode, and when there are non-cutscene gameplay segments. This side is intended for those who have not played the game yet or people who just want to watch the game and let it explain itself, which it does quite well.

The second track, Side B, will be a group commentary track watching the video, possibly for their first time, and you'll get to hear their reactions or (inevitably) snide remarks riffing how goofy the game is. More likely than not I'll have 2 or 3 people doing the commentary, I will not be one of them. You'll see how this works soon enough.

The game will be played on the PS3 version with the difficulty setting at Normal. This way I get to show off the combat system and show off the mechanics without it taking forever to kill a damned turtle. I will be going for A rank or better on every episode.

- Thread Participation -

As the game advertises, this game takes a lot of elements from Hindu mythology in designing its people and places. I'm not all too well versed on the subject, but I'll point out what I can. What I'd love to see the thread attempt is give us any interesting insight into the mythological references and themes used throughout the game. I don't know if it's a steep request, but it sure would be swell.
At the end of each episode there is a illustrative interlude drawn by many famous manga artists. I know there are a lot of you out there that know a great deal about this subject and if you have anything to add regarding that as we see each piece, feel free to share your knowledge!

Another element I'll leave to your discussion is the choice of what gauge I should use for each episode. If you don't know what this means (because you haven't played the game before or you legitimately didn't know about it) I'll detail them in the second post. We will not be using the unlock gauges because they defeat the purpose of showing each episode in its entirety. That'll take effect for Episode 3 onwards.

_{Note: At some points in certain episodes viewers may experience tearing. This tearing or vertical syncing anomalies are a result of the game itself, not the console it's played on, the capture device or your monitor. This tearing is not prevalent in most episodes so please try to bear with it rather than complain, in all likelihood we'll just make fun of you for not reading this.

All videos are currently being hosted on YouTube. I have no access to a second host with HD support that doesn't require a subscription service or something equally stupid, so we'll just have to put up with that for now. To better ignore the clunky YouTube interface, all videos have been pre-linked in Polsy's YT player for a more comfortable viewing experience.}

Complete Box Set Playlists! Side A Side B