Soldiers of Ashina (Spoilers?)

[DaniTheHero]

I've beat the game a couple of times already but there's something i don't understand.

Why are the soldiers of Ashina hostile towards us? Ishin, who is the true leader of the lands doesn't mind us at all, and even talks to us on the battlefield (As Tengu) and yet they target us and we are forced to kill them.
Not to mention that even though we continue killing every single soldier and general in the castle, Ishin remains friendly towards us.

Speaking of killing every single soldier and boss in the outskirts and castle.
Doesn't that mean Ashina gets successfully invaded BECAUSE of us?
If we haven't killed the numerous generals, the bull, the ogre and the Horse Rider and so on would they defend themselves better?

[Lusus Symphonia]

Shinobi are dangerous, holding a katana while not serving your local lord/emperor put you outside the law so to speak.

[evil_apai]

Wolf is a shadow. Nobody really know what his intentions except the few NPC. Thus he is considered as a threat by foe and ally.

[Arpenser]

Well, Wolf is SUPPOSED to be the hidden one because he is a ninja.
I think you would remember he never tells his name to anybody when he encounters some NPCs. He is hiding his identity throughout the game.
That's why all the soldiers don't actually know by whom they get attacked.

[Zu]

Originally posted by DaniTheHero:

Speaking of killing every single soldier and boss in the outskirts and castle.
Doesn't that mean Ashina gets successfully invaded BECAUSE of us?
If we haven't killed the numerous generals, the bull, the ogre and the Horse Rider and so on would they defend themselves better?

I said this before and I still stand by this: Ashina's overall manpower is trash.

There's nothing more embarrassing than a run-of-the-mill purple boi single-handedly defeating half a miniboss and his lackey without breaking a sweat.

As for the badass argument, the height of neither invasion would pan out like our favorite badass Wolf casually and methodically clearing Ashina step by step. Things would be pretty chaotic.

Examples are the antechamber and the huge staircase. Whenever you see soldiers or dojo bois scuffle there, they don't stand a chance, so I really don't think having a few more badasses mingle with the crowd would actually turn the tide.

Besides (meta joke but still), in the first and less one-sided invasion, Owl himself could handle the bull and Gyoubu no problem. He's got firecrackers, and we all know those are broken. LUL

[Washing Machine]

Not only is their manpower probably worse, but they're clearly less trained and worse equipped. The generic soldiers wear pretty much rags and many of them sit around having given up entirely during the invasion. Ministry troops have full body armor, superior weapons and clearly better training.

Owl's invasion had some backup from Ministry, and that backup was already enough to make that invasion a success. Full scale attack with their main troops it was just game over for Ashina.

They were doomed from the beginning.

[Krono]

Isshin was pretty much single-handedly holding back the Ministry, the majority of his army is pretty much worthless, as Zu said

[Sasha Mason]

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Genichiro is part of the reason why that is.

What I think is curious is that during the invasion, there's a lot of Ashina soldiers who actually beg us for help. All the still fighting soldiers are still hostile though.

[Johnny Rook]

Is not our fault they are being invaded. Remember, as far as we are told, the invasion comes from the back of the castle, through a rebuilt bridge, not from the main gate once guarded by Gyoubu. Granted, we did weakened their forces inside the castle by killing the general at the stairs.

I've asked myself the same question about the soldiers attacking us and found it odd, since we were considered "part of reinforcements". But then I noted they attack only when are already engaged on combat. There's a bunch of soldiers inside the castle and near the Old Tomb that don't attack. And if we kill them, they grant no sens nor experience points.

However, what I found even more odd was one of the Seven Ashina Spears, Shume Masaji Oniwa mini-boss. Until I eavesdrop him and he talks about killing everybody to get whatever he wants to get.

[Smug]

Pretty sure they're just following Genichiro's orders, by that point I don't think Isshin's bothering giving out commands at all. He knows Ashina's going to fall regardless and if it isn't Gen's orders they're probably just attacking you on sight because you're a random ninja wandering about the castle.

[Washing Machine]

I thought endgame the dudes ask you for help because they're dying and probably can't tell what's going on anymore. Someone is talking to them in their final moments, they think it must be an ally, so they just repeat their last duty to you or warn you about what's going on ahead.

[Johnny Rook]

Originally posted by Smug:

Pretty sure they're just following Genichiro's orders, by that point I don't think Isshin's bothering giving out commands at all. He knows Ashina's going to fall regardless and if it isn't Gen's orders they're probably just attacking you on sight because you're a random ninja wandering about the castle.

Yes, Genichiro is in charge, indeed.The Shume Masaji Oniwa eavesdropping proves it conclusively. He's talking about killing everybody and wake up with Lord Genichiro's rejuvenating waters or something like that.

[Goilveig]

It's my take that Genichiro is running the show due to Isshin's illness and advanced age; it's likely fairly recent (Kuro hasn't been locked up for three years).

[SmallGespenst]

a super suspicious man running around with an impending invasion (so the guards have probably been sent on patrol to look for spies and assassins) what do you think the guards would think about that?

[DaniTheHero]

Thank you for the answers, though it does seem to be a little "too" convenient, i'll accept it as such.

[alicerinz]

Yeah,Isshin was the only real power there. The dude could single-handedly slaughter any army.