Same old goddamn story every time. An old crush comes calling saying it’s been a while, we should get lunch, catch up. Also, by the way, I know we haven’t been close in a real long time but it’s been a rough couple of months, will you murder several dozen people in honor of my dead brother the warlord? I’m usually not like this. I just don’t have anyone else to turn to. Tale as old as time.
Lucky for Lady Oichi, though, one of those several dozen people is one of the mask-wearing assholes who’s currently ruining Japan for everybody. No time for love, Dr. Yasuke. Time for revenge.
1. Preparation
2. The mission: ‘The Wheel Unmasked’
3. There’s a twist (Spoilers)
Yasuke’s gonna be doing the heavy lifting for this one. Get him armed to the teeth as best you can at your current level. The Naginata you got from…er, well, the Naginata comes in real handy here; it can break guards in a hurry, and has some of the sickest kill animations in the game. Run with that, and a good teppo, and you’re good to go.
So, you might’ve noticed your target Onryo is called the Wheel in-game, but in the target menu, they’re called the Mourner, which is a little weird. But more on that later.
First things first: You’ll need to do some quick recon on your target. You have a choice between Naoe and Yasuke for this. While Yasuke’s portion involves kind of an ugly fight down at the docks, Naoe’s got a much easier stealth mission eavesdropping on a high ranking soldier. Let’s run with that instead.
When you get control of Naoe, parkour your way to the rooftops ahead. When you get to the inn where your target’s tying one on, walk a little further down the block, and climb up to the roof from the side of the building. Use Eagle Vision to keep an eye on Onryo as he stumbles out the front door. Once he’s far enough out of the front door to see him without Eagle Vision, it’s closing time, air assassinate him, take the guard out on the right as well. Yes, that sentence hits the exact rhythm of the Semisonic song; no, I swear on God it wasn’t intentional.
Once that’s done, climb back on the roof and leg it back to your starting point on top of the hill. Be careful wandering the streets, there’s ronin walking around that would love nothing more than to start some shit with you at the worst possible time.
Once you’re back at the start, interact with the goalpoint on the ledge. After a brief cutscene, you’ll get the choice to switch characters. The next bit’s definitely more Yasuke’s speed. When you’re ready, send him in to mop the floor with a truckload of soldiers. Aside from one big boy with a kasubo down at the docks where you start, and a few dudes with teppos who like to hide in doorways, this next bit is essentially a glorified beat-’em-up where you’re eliminating everyone in your path with extreme prejudice. As long as your gear is right up to the level cap, it’s a cakewalk.
Anyway, your goal is the big pagoda at the very top of the stairs. You’re gonna want to take a minor detour to the right as you make your way up just to clear out the slightly smaller pagoda before you proceed. When all the soldiers in there are dead, exit through the side door, assassinate the two guys right outside, and cross over the path with the stairs to the other side of the area. From here, you’re gonna actually make your way up using the rocks here, so you can circle around the back of the main pagoda, and get a high vantage.
Tag all the enemies here just to keep your head on a swivel. You’ll also notice, if you’ve been doing Kuma’s sidequest to kill all the corrupt Daikan, one of those dudes–the Hoarder–is hanging out with this group, and he’s the one you want to kill first, since he’s got the most life out of all these guys. For Yasuke, though, that involves waiting on a close ledge till he turns his back, leaping off to the ground, and doing a Brutal Assassination while his back’s turned. With that dude out of the equation, it’s just a matter of mopping the floor with the other half-dozen jabronis in this courtyard. Once the coast is clear, it’s time for a showdown, but wait there’s a twist..
Open the door, and oh snap, it’s Lady Oichi, Austin. It was Lady Oichi all along. As it turns out, she has some pretty compelling reasons for doing what she did. And in lieu of a proper boss fight, during the cutscene, you’ll have a choice to make: Option A: Yasuke can choose to spare her, and she gets off with a slap on the wrist. Option B: Naoe can choose violence.
Obviously, it’s your life. You do you. But the Spare option keeps the door open for Yasuke to slide up in the 16th century equivalent of Oichi’s DMs. On the other hand, letting Naoe go stabby means poor Kuma ends up catching a stray trying to protect his mistress. Both end the same way, you end up with Nobunaga’s katana as a reward, but the Naoe option just feels shittier. Dating Oichi culminates in a really sweet visit to the cat island of Okishima, in case that sweetens the deal.
But also, now that that’s done, can we talk about how “the Mourner” basically gives away the twist right away, which it wouldn’t if she was simply called the Wheel the whole time? It feels like they couldn’t decide which way to go? Ugh. At least her mask is dope. Anyway, here’s Wonderwall.
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