Garuda pays homage to Sengoku Basara!

[Bufudyne Dan]

Beyond the obvious similarities to Devil May Cry, this game earned my respect by featuring attacks plucked straight from Capcom's Sengoku Basara franchise. More specifically, two of Garuda's unlockable attacks pay homage to the series' main protagonist, Masamune Date.

Gouge's attack animation is straight-up Crazy Storm (or Crazy Stream if Masamune uses all six swords), and Wicked Wheel is Masamune's L1 + Square attack introduced in the 4th game.

It makes sense, considering the combat designer worked at Capcom years before Square Enix poached him, but it still made me very happy. Sengoku Basara is by far my favourite Musou-style game out there, even giving its inspiration a run for its money by infusing hoard-slaying gameplay with DMC's franetic action and combat variety. Yet outside the third game (and an "americanized" bastardization of the first game), we never see those games come to the west. Worse yet, we haven't had new mainline installment in almost 10 years.

So imagine my surprise when I played the FFXVI demo last year, finished the prologue, and then got a taster for the three available Eikons, to then find out Garuda's moveset was one big love-letter to one of my favourite Capcom franchises. Seeing any homage to those games was greatly appreciated. It's the closest thing I'll get to playing as Masamune (MY Masamune) in a new game, and Gouge has served me well in Arcade mode as I shave bosses' will down to nothing. It'll be a shame to part with it once I unlock more powerful skills from each Eikon, but my point still stands.

Clive put his guns on.

[Techno Tyrant]

there is an ability you get later on that is a Stand Rush from JoJo's

[Bufudyne Dan]

Originally posted by Techno Tyrant:

there is an ability you get later on that is a Stand Rush from JoJo's

Titan, I assume? That's a fun moveset too with a lot of chances to counter attacks, though the JoJo flurry-rush is hardly obscure at this point.