Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny

• You can finally block arrows by just holding block instead of having to look at the archers! That shit is great!

• Issen timing is a little easier in this game and you can chain it into another one provided that you time it correctly and there's at least one more enemy close enough to you. Chaining was probably in the first game, but if you've played 1, you probably didn't really need to do that to get by.

• If you can, you will get secret moves for your weapons. They're down, then up and Square. If you time it right, you can do a follow-up. You need the scroll for the correct weapon, though.

• Always upgrade your shit as soon as you can. You can leave the armor for later, but weapons are pretty important.

• There's a charge move where if you press and hold R1 firmly/quickly/whatever the hell the game thinks is correct I mean seriously, you can do an attack that can stun or knock over any mook in the game. Picking up certain scrolls with let you charge longer for more moves.

• In the gold mine town, always buy out the gift shop by grinding for gold. You will get a very nice prize at the end and also have a bunch of crap that your new friends will like.

• Talking of your friends, context matters when you hand something over. If you give them a gift they normally hate but you're both real good pals, for example, they may actually like it instead of hate it. Also, if they're in a specific location, they might really like a gift for the occasion.

• There's two pairs of friends and one hates the other in the pair; Ekei and Magoichi are petty as hell to each other and Kotaro doesn't trust Oyu one damn bit. The penalty for this is not as severe as you might think, but it's still something to keep in mind if you want to be friends with a certain person. You should know that Oyu doesn't enter the picture until a bit later, so if you want to score a bunch of points with Kotaro without pissing her off too bad, that would be the perfect time.

• Certain items will always yield certain rewards. If you give Ekei a Caligraphy Set, he'll jazz you up a Fancy Paper with sweet words on it.

• Ekei loves booze and food that's good with booze. Magoichi is a nerd and loves nerd shit. Oyu has an interest in cute things and some (definitely not all) Western stuff. Kotaro likes things that are fun and rare things as well.

• There's a guy early on next to the gift shop who wants a Melon. He gives you Chalk, so pass it to Ekei. He'll give you the Tale of the Heike, which you can give to Magoichi. He hands over the Emblem, which goes to Kotaro. He'll give you the Melon, which you can give to the guy and you'll get something very useful for powering up your weapons.