Oda Nobunaga Den

"Oda Nobunaga Den"(織田信長伝) is a video game released by Koei (now Koei Tecmo Games) and is the fourth installment in the "Eiketsuden Series." Released in September 1998 for Microsoft Windows. This title is a turn-based simulation RPG featuring the Sengoku-era warlord Oda Nobunaga. The storyline allows players to relive Nobunaga's life, with branching storylines that let players either follow historical events leading to his demise at the Honnō-ji Incident or avoid the event to unify Japan in a fictional scenario. This game inherits systems from its predecessor in the "Eiketsuden Series," Mōri Motonari: The Three Arrows of Oath. These include elements such as the job system, skills and abilities, combat mechanics, and graphics. However, the game's flow has been simplified to consist mainly of repeating story events, battle preparations, and combat. Many features from the previous game, such as facility usage and dialogue sections, have been removed. In terms of scenario progression, the previous game followed a linear path where losing a battle meant immediate game over. In this installment, there are richer branching scenarios, and even if players lose a historically victorious battle, they may not face an immediate game over. In the predecessor, enemy levels were predetermined for each scenario, and players could raise their army’s levels at will through training facilities. In this game, enemy levels adjust based on the player’s army level, and there are no equivalent training facilities. As a result, players must carefully plan their army’s level growth during each combat phase. Additionally, the number of troop professions has been significantly reduced. However, this installment introduces a system allowing players to change professions within limits by equipping different weapons (e.g., Oda Nobunaga can switch between spear cavalry, sword cavalry, and rifle cavalry). Correspondingly, skills, which were tied to professions in the previous game, are now set individually for each commander. The number of recruitable commanders has been halved compared to the previous game.