Killing stupid people with traps for fun & profit [Tecmo's Deception Series]

cj iwakura

(aka Trapt in the US, which is the dumbest name)


For the unfamiliar, Deception is one of the few Tecmo games not involving ninjas and ghosts which merited numerous sequels.

In all four games, you get to inhabit large castles, which you must then protect from stupid intruders.



Being hospitable? Holding a polite conversation?

Screw that. They're invading your territory, so paint the walls with their blood.



Then use their remains to make better methods of killing more hapless victims.



The first game didn't offer much depth(certainly lots of death), but it did have neat exclusive features like room building and soul theft.

The protagonist was falsely accused of murdering his father, and hung for it. The devil offers to help him get revenge, and he naturally accepts.

But moving on!


The second game started making proceedings a lot more fun.



You get to play as this lady, who talks less and kills more.

(She also has a cameo in dang near every Deception game since 2, and some games that aren't even part of the series, like Fatal Frame 2.)



What it lacks in customization, it makes up for in sheer variety of killing methods.

And branching dialogues.





D2 has multiple endings, so there's plenty to find in replays.


Also, Kagero has multiple locations, each with more ways of bringing the pain.




Some methods are less gruesome, but still super effective.




I could ramble on about D3 and D4, aka Trapt, but they're more of the same. D3 has another good story(4's is pretty crappy in comparison).

Kagero is where the series hit its stride, and the rest is just icing.

Even if Trapt is the nicest looking of the four, being a PS2 game.



It loses points for having an especially hapless protagonist, even for this series.



Still, IV/Trapt's new 'Dark Illusion' kills are a thing of beauty.





It's the closest thing to 'next gen' this series may ever get, so it'll do for a while.
(Also, it's arguably the hardest game of the four, not that that means much)


So why bother saving lives? Let's talk about colorful ways of ending them.

Darth_Mogs

I remember giving Tecmo's Deception to one of my friends for his birthday.

I was a good friend. We got so much enjoyment out of watching the merchants throw pots at you. Never played the games myself, though, but I kinda wanted to, especially after reading the LPs for them.

chamberlain

This thread deserves much more attention. No other games have pulled as many evil laughs from me as the Deception titles.

bear trap + wall push + catapult + motherfucking meteor = epic evil lolz.

NailbunnyPD

A friend and I used to take turns playing while the other watched. We only had the first, though. It was still great fun.

I tried Trapt more recently, and while it shared the same gameplay, it just didn't have the same appeal. It felt like the series hasn't made any changes since the PS1 era.

It would be nice to see a modern take on the series, much like Demon's Souls being the successor to King's Field.

Blackjack

There are pretty good Let's Plays for this series. 1, 2, 3, and 4

Princepeach

It's funny hearing that Trapt is the hardest of the series.

I anticipated the game forever, and bought it on release. I figured it'd be a good game to introduce my little bro to the series with, so I let him borrow it without having played it first myself.

A few days later I peep in on him playing the game, and he's up against the final boss using the same spring/boulder combo he was using since the very beginning of the game. I traded the game in, disgusted, never even bothering to play it myself.

Deception 1 and 2 were hot shit though. I also own three, but I have yet to play it.

cj iwakura

3 is my favorite.


And Trapt is most difficult because of the final bosses.

Millennia for one, who uses your traps against you.

The ninja types are especially cheap too.