[u][i][b]Samurai of Hyuga[/b][/i][/u] is an interactive novel written by [i][b]Devon Connell[/b][/i]. You play as a badass ronin. Formerly an assassin turned bodyguard. You may pick your name, gender and sexual preferences.
[i][b]The story[/b][/i] starts off in an Inn; where you and your charge have come to rest for the night. This is where you get drawn into a ploy that tests your skills. Skills the Emperor himself wishes to know about. Why? You are the ronin of his dreams, of course - lucky you. Or maybe not, for his dreams consist of having you traipse around the country hunting and killing demons. Despite being a masterless, yet talented fighter, who's loyalty is only to yourself, you agree to take on this crazed mission. You don't even believe in demons but your young employer totally has a thing for the Emperor, and so you get dragged along either way. You're given a fancy nickname, a ninja with no combat skills and are sent on your way in a blaze of clumsy glory.
Your first target is, sensibly, the closet one. A demon who feeds off of greed. You must enter the city of Jijinto, hunt down, and kill this foe. To make matters even more complicated, demons can appear as human, and you have no clues about your enemy. Ah, and don't forget, your own personal lust for greed will be put to the test. There is so much that one can tempt a wondering ronin with.
[i][b]The cast[/b][/i] consists of several members with strong traits. The first being your young employer whom you are the bodyguard of. They can be male or female depending on your earlier chosen preference. [b]Masashi/Masami Hashimoto[/b] is a member of a well known Royal family and a [i]shugenja[/i]. They are basically an individual who poses a rare magical talent. They are also very vocal, whiney and always displeased by your actions. The ronin clearly must possess a great deal of self-control, as I personally, would have left them to defend for themselves, or killed them and taken their coin long ago, like the heartless, badass, the ronin is made out to be.
Next, the right-hand male/female of the Emperor himself and a ninja; [b]Toshio/Toshie[/b]. You first met them during the ploy I mentioned earlier, then again a short time later. The ninja is openly hostile and thinks very little of the ronin. They make it clear they don't believe you are befitting of the task at hand. A complete character change takes place, very quickly, during a situation where you learn the true identity of them. The ninja is a Kondo; the lowest class of people. Dark skin is what alerts the world to this. Basically racism. Either way, Tosh quickly settles into a stoic and quiet individual whose only goal is to complete the mission at any cost.
Later [b]Hatch[/b] stumbles into the group. He's a friendly streetfighter but a bit dim-witted. He has an appreciation of saké which leads to him and the ronin becoming drinking buddies. He favours unconventional forms of combat; mainly using his fist and forehead against armed assailants. Or just his whole body, really.
Lastly, [b]Momoko[/b]. A beautiful woman you save from a tense situation. Not only is she gorgeous, but she's smart too. Momoko is a doctor with a dark secret - as is the case with most intelligent, stunning women.
Despite being asked about your sexual preference, this book doesn't hold any romance within. It is the first book in its series and focuses more on learning about the characters than trying to woo them. I'd not let that fact discourage you, however, as you do get the opportunity to be a perverted person if you so wish. Dishing out lewd comments that make others disapprove is a very enjoyable part of this game, at least for me it was. I really appreciated the amounts of laughs I got, and not just from the comments themselves but from the reactions of my companions.
[i][b]An issue [/b][/i]I found with this game is the [i][b]stat system[/b][/i]. Throughout chapters 1-6 your answers define the personality of your character (sort of). This is a very common thing, however, after chapter six the game adds in an attunement stat which becomes the main focus. Attunement is based on [i]'staying true to yourself'[/i]. If you continue to pick answers that align with your character's personality, attunement increases, otherwise it decreases. Having a low attunement will lead to one of two bad endings close to the conclusion of this book. Because this software doesn't allow for saves, this will mean starting over from the very beginning if you intend to try again. There is also no skip feature which can become quite frustrating.
Attunement sounds fine in theory but almost forces a stop in character development, from the player's side, if you do not wish to see the bad ending currently. It's a strange route to go down, especially with a character who already has a strong personality, to begin with. Your ronin has very set thoughts which change very quickly. At the beginning of the story, it's made apparent that they don't easily trust people and have no friends. This is all well and good until they met a few individuals later on. Far more surprisingly, the ronin considers these people to be their friends, after barely knowing them for a day. The ronin suddenly feels the urge to protect them, even if your chosen personality doesn't align with such thoughts.
[i][b]Another problem[/b][/i] here is that at this point in the game, the attunement system is very much already in place. If you have been a loner and aloof but now wish to follow the ronin's example and try to be friendly with protective of their new friends, expect a rapid drop in attunement. It's very counter-productive and can even start to feel like a battle between yourself and your character. This isn't something I imagine anyone wants to feel when trying to immerse themselves in a good story. Worst of all, it's not even written in a way that feels like the author is trying to test the player, to see if they really can stay true to themselves no matter the situation.
While on the subject of having a character with such a strong personality, it's very unfortunate that they, and not you, get to pick their preferred physical attraction to others. To put it simply, the ronin doesn't like people who carry a few extra pounds, and no, not the British currency but weight. They have very strong thoughts about this which adds a fair bit of fat-shaming to this title. It's as if there are only two types of people in this world; those the ronin finds attractive or "fat" people. To make matters even worse, they don't usually stop with just that insult. Instead, it's usually accompanied by additional negative thoughts that imply overweight people are disgusting and smelly. 99% of the fat-shaming comes from the ronin themselves. It's not the type of character I really want to play as.
[i][b]Overall[/b][/i], after much consideration, I'm unsure that I would recommend [b]Samurai of Hyuga[/b]. I know I'm in the minority here; I've seen how many people adore this title. I can understand that people will enjoy this story for the witty and strong ronin fighter that you play as. For me, their personality was just [i]too[/i] defined. I never thought I'd say that before now.
I'll admit, it was a solid read and enjoyable at times, but I just can't bring myself to overlook (what I believe are) the negatives here.
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