I remember booting this game up 6 or so odd years ago on the 360. Played through it at least 7 or 8 times, then I saw the reviews. Specifically, IGN's. Let me tell you, if you haven't seen the reviews, don't look. This game is the greatest example of graphics < gameplay to date. It suffered in reviews just because it looked a few years behind, when the gameplay is solid and fun, character customization is great (not to mention your customized character actually shows up in cutscenes! <3), and there's more than 15 endings! If you love quick slice and dice action adventure games, this is for you. I bought it right when I saw it for $15, but if you're not sure, maybe wait for it to go on sale for a lower price. Personally, I love it, and I would've paid $20 to see one of my favorite series run at a better fidelity then it could on a 7th gen console.

Oh and also, the PC port is solid so far. Keep in mind though, that's what it is. A port. not an HD remaster or anything like that. They didn't even give you the almost 10 year old DLC, which is kind of annoying, but whatever.

EDIT : Someone asked on my steam profile if the game is locked at 30FPS, and yes, it is unfortunately. Someone might find a workaround at some point, but from what I hear the animations are tied to the frame rate somehow.

I'm Italian but I really want to share that with you all so forgive me if my english sounds pretty bad:

I had it on console and it was one of the best game I ever bought, It's really a gem of a game.

Just has a disclosure there is only one con imho so here you go:

CON:

- The first time you play it it's kinda hard to get the hang of it and you wont know what to do...


PRO:

- ...But trust me it's so so worth it to endure at the beginning that you wont regret it

- Freeroaming samurai game with multiple choices and ending (20 Endings so a lot of replayability value) the game just makes you hit that play button once again just to know all the different outcomes and cutscenes

- A lot of customization for your weapon and your character (you can be a perfect samurai but also a samurai with a tengu mask on his di**)

- Really nice OST that just sets you in the mood for some samurai action

Way of the Samurai has become one of my favorite series over the past couple of years, and this installment may be my favorite one. Originaly I played this on the xbox 360, and decided I would revisit it on the pc port. Honestly over the forty somthing hours I played before writing this review it only crashed on me a few times, all of which were when I alt tabbed out of the game. That said, I don't alt tab out any more and it runs fine.

The Run down...
-good ol fashion samurai fun
-good mix of sandbox rpg and fighting game mechanics
-lots of weapons to collect, parts to find, missions to do and moves to learn
-a plethora of unlockables
-more endings then a bioware game
-stable (for me, apparantly results may vary)
-can turn random girls komonos into skirts (good I guess??)

What you need to know about Way of the Samurai 3
+ It's a game about samurai. It's an open world
+ You got to choose your story path. There are multiple endings to it
+ A lot of unlockables & upgrades
+ A lot of weapons and weapon stances
+ Combat system is above average and fun
+ Game is challenging, even on easy an advanced enemy can kill you very easily
+ Have an option to set audio to Japanese while keeping English subtitles so you can go full weeb with your inner warrior spirit. The katana completes you, spiritually /s
- BAD PC PORT. Like seriously this is the elephant in the room. The control is HORRIBLE as the result (by default, the jump button is escape). I highly recommend you to get a gamepad
- Graphic is par with PS2 graphic
- Gameplay is fixed at 30 fps. Animations are tied to FPS (common issue with Japanese PC games)
- Very little and vague gameplay tutorial. You are pretty much left to discover everything by yourself

The main point of differentation of WotS series in general is gameplay repetition to unlock everything (swords, endings, etc.) as things, especially storylines, are usually mutually exclusive depending on decision you made. Each gameplay last upto 100 in-game days, but can be cut short for numerous reason (eg. you die).

Overall I still can recommend Way of the Samurai 3 despite its numerous issues. The gameplay and story on itself make the game worth through the troubles

Post-lot-so-hours gameplay EDIT: The game is wayyyy grindy than you might think

Game is good but my disappointment is immeasurable after knowing i can't romance Sensei unless i play on Console japanese exclusive version

I do like this game.
Sure, it is simple and repetitive. Very grindy. VERY Japan... but it is also very fun, and it also has Instant Kill mode.

Now see... a lot of games do difficulty wrong. They tend to provide a nigh-insurmountable challenge that requires you grind away at things for hours to achieve very little. BUT this game's final difficult setting is called Instant Kill, and it is different: If you get hit (with a weapon), you die. If you hit them, THEY die. It takes just one hit to kill anything in the game. Attack damage becomes irrelevant. Health and defence become irrelevant. It changes EVERYTHING.

What I wouldn't give for more games to have an Instant Kill mode like this game...

It also goes very well with another factor in this game: There are only a tiny handful of endings that require you kill anything. You can get more without any violence whatsoever. You always have the option of either killing your foes or knocking them out. Killing them is easier in the short-term, but frequently will make enemies of one of the factions in the game and will cut you off from certain plot paths... while knocking them out with blunt attacks is usually a bit tougher (it does less damage for one thing), but is unlikely to cause you any long-term hassle.
So yeah... this game was doing the Undertale thing before Undertale was a thing.

Keep in mind that I have only been playing for about eight hours and besides the other two in the series, I haven't played WOTS4 for a reason. With that said here's my impression:

For those who have played the first two Way of the Samurai titles, you know what to expect here with the third installment. For the unintitated, it would be best to know what this game is not. It's not GTA with swords or a hack-and-slash game, it's purely a decision-based system in which you tell the story where to go by triggering inklings or scenes or behaving differently. Killing innocents and looting them or saving people from injustice and defending yourself with blunt attacks clearly imply 2 ways you can play the game but they don't necessarily guarantee you the same ending. No matter how you end the game, however, it begins in the same fashion. You're found on the battlefield within an inch of your life by two looters and, one way or another, you are led to a farming village where a cot is set up for you. From this point on, the fate of the town and its people is in your hands.

The game play is a mix of samurai action and arcade fighter. When you're fighting enemies you focus on one at a time, and when you take them out another steps in. with the variety of weapons available you can do sweeping attacks with some them and take out multiple people, even if you're just focusing on one. The map is broken up into a bunch of different areas, and you can visit all of them from the get go. Blue exclamation marks show the inklings (story) events you can see, and even the order as you see some of these changes the game.

So do I like the game? Yes I love the game because of it's open ended approach. It gives me a sense of actually being a samurai and doing something that affects a person or a community. There are tons of "Samurai" games out there that walks the line between a fighting game and a comic-book rpg and this is not one of them. Do I like the graphics? Well... to be honest I'm not easily blinded by eye-candy. I still go for the substance of the game. The graphics are basically good PS2 era and while it's locked into 30FPS, it doesn't take away from the playability of the game. Besides, graphics is like the least of my requirements when choosing a game. There's also an option to switch between the English voice cast audio which is somewhat lazy or the much superior Japanese voice cast instead, so choose wisely.

Ghostlight definitely did a good job with this port, judging by how smooth the game run and I haven't seen people complaining too. All in all, it's a great game and a solid port. It might not be for the trigger happy sword wielding gamers who want to hack and slash for hours. This game takes patience. The game isn't hard in terms of dealing with NPCs. What makes the game difficult is making the right choice at the right time, and being able to face the consequences of your actions.

So, I've played a lot more Way of the Samurai 3 than is shown here. I've logged a good forty or fifty hours on the PS3 version of the game; I loved it then, I love it now.

Way of the Samurai 3, in my opinion, is greater than 4 in just about every way. The combat feels more varied, the sword crafting is fun and lets you make all sorts of neat weapons, and the endings are more numerous and impactful. Seriously, when I say the endings are numerous, I should just go ahead and elucidate there. There are 28 endings in WotS3, and it's not immediately apparent how to get all of them from the get-go.

Way of the Samurai 3 is a game that lets you take it at your own pace. You can go all in on viewing events and progressing the story and reach an ending in about an hour or two, or you can take a bit more time with it, bounce back and forth between paths, and experience all the side content. Both are equally satisfying approaches, and both are equally valid ways to play the game.

The game gives you plenty of customizations to make your character look unique, or if you feel so inclined, it is possible to play as any NPC you defeat non-lethally. You also have your choice of weapon and style which let you further mix things up. Most weapons can be broken down into their constituent pieces, which can then be recombined into a new weapon with different stats and given a different style, meaning there are a ton of different weapons you can make. This setup makes progression feel more open-ended and fluid. You can jump from one weapon to the next with relatively little investment and still come out on top, or you can stick with a weapon and make it your own personal ultimate sword. Hell, for the first few playthroughs of the game, before you get your health upgraded and such, you can actually make a pretty killer weapon out of a green onion by raising it to level 10 and giving it the "Organic" title. Overall, there's so much depth to a game like this that it's difficult to adequately lay it all out, but let me just condense this all by saying that Way of the Samurai 3 (and to a slightly lesser extent, 4) is an exceptionally deep game that rewards experimentation and encourages multiple playthroughs. It is a game that does not hold your hand, but does not need to. It engenders creativity in service of its mechanics and systems while not discouraging complacency. It is a game that lets you do you.

So basically what I'm getting at is you should buy it.

First, to get the bad stuff out of the way - the port is kinda lazy. It would probably be the same playing this on an emulator, the default keyboard layout is terrible, so a controller is highly recommended. Other than that - didn't get any crashes or similar issues.
The game itself is pretty unusual in that you can "beat" it in a couple hours. You go to a certain place, at a certain time, after certain conditions are fulfilled and get to experience an event. After a certain number of events you get to your ending depending on what events you saw and what choices you made during them. As the game advertises, there are over 20 different endings, so you probably will not be over with the game after getting one ending. After the ending, you get to start a new game keeping all your experience, money and weapons. You get to experience the same events from all the different sides and see from everyone's perspective. The story is not super deep, but it has its twists and most of the endings are satisfying, even if tragic.
And if you're a completionist there's a TON of things to complete - from getting with all the partners and getting all the different endings, to learning ALL the moves for ALL the stances, and even more - to counter ALL the moves, which is really a lot. The combat is interesting and fun, there's a lot of different swords and movesets to experiment with.
Overall, if you have a controller and don't mind the lazy port - a highly recommended game.

I had no choice, but to lay down my sword... and pick up a hoe.