Gekokujo
is a Mount & Blade mod by phlpp. It transports the player into the Sengoku Jidai Japan, where factions wage war with each other for dominance of the isles. The player character is a youth thrust into the role of a fighter in this turbulent times.
It has a Spiritual Successor, Gekokujo - Daimyo edition, that adds improvements and some historical accuracy.
open/close all folders
Tropes in the original Gekokujo
- Army Scout: Mari has high Spotting and Tracking skills from the get-go.
- Bow and Sword in Accord: Most archers carry swords as backup weapons, and Samurai archers tend to be quite proficient with them.
- Cosmetically Different Sides: Downplayed - Each faction except the Ikko-ikki has broadly the same troop tree as all the others - Ashigaru that can become either skirmishers or spearmen, and Samurai that can become archers, gunners, cavalry, or melee infantry, and are largely distinguished by the color of their armor. On the battlefield, what differences do exist beyond the semi-procedural generation of stats inherited from the base game manifest in Ashigaru skirmishers (some factions get gunners and some factions get archers) and the highest levels of the Ashigaru and Samurai trees - Each faction gets either elite Ashigaru skirmishers or spearmen, and two of their four Samurai branches can reach the Hatamoto rank. Even with these minor distinctions, some factions, such as Satake and Azakura, have the exact same trees down to the skirmisher specializations and final promotions.
- Do Not Run with a Gun: While you can fire a gun while moving on foot or horseback, your accuracy will suffer greatly, and all firearms present are muzzleloading longarms that can only be reloaded while standing still on foot.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Noble Samurai form the elite of your army and tend to be higher level, better trained, and much better equipped than the commoner Ashigaru soldiers of the same promotion tier, and Samurai can get horses, which are an awesome force multiplier in open field battles. Accordingly to their superior performance and noble status, Samurai are also much more expensive to hire and pay than Ashigaru. This being feudal Japan, it is also of course the Samurai who wind up much more remembered.
- Expy: Several of the companions are basically renamed and reskinned Native companions.
- Glass Cannon: Various low-level gunner units tend to have little or no armor and are easily killed if any enemy hits them, but even relatively unskilled gunners pack an enormous punch.
- Guide Dang It!:
- There is nothing to indicate that certain yaris are couchable (the ones that are all have a "yari pike" version that is not couchable) and little reason for players to assume that they are, as samurai are not nearly as famous for using couched lances as European knights were, and the tournament format being entirely on foot means you'll never be randomly placed into a battle with a couchable weapon to learn that it's possible.
- Figuring out what the best places to recruit Samurai for certain roles and Ashigaru, especially as skirmishers, is entirely unclear from in-game information.
- Samurai from each region can reach the Hatamoto rank in two branches out of four (gunner, archer, cavalry, and infantry), and which of these they can reach the Hatamoto rank in is not clear when they are recruited.
- Ashigaru from each region may reach master rank as either spearmen or skirmishers, and skirmishers may use bows or guns, which at first may seem random, like whether Native Sword Sisters do or don't have a helmet, but it's based on their region. Of the two, since Ashigaru don't have nearly the power draw skill of master or Hatamoto samurai archers, or get powerful enough bows to even use a high rank of power draw, the much less plentiful gunners are much preferred.
- Hidden Elf Village: There are six non-aligned 'forts' that you can liberate. Once liberated, you can either burn them or occupy them. If occupied, they generate resources or soldiers every seven days. These troops have lower maximum capabilities than faction troops, but they're plentiful, cheap, and don't have a parent faction, and as such can be used against anyone without fear of losing morale. Each fort also has an associated companion who doesn't have any conflict with any other companions and whose right to rule missions don't anger anyone else.
- Historical Domain Character:
- Pretty much all the Samurai warlords, although they represent more their clan (there's no distinction between, say, Shingen and Katsuyori Takeda, they're simply referred as Great Lord Takeda) than individuals.
- The companion George is pretty clearly none other than former US president George W. Bush, somehow sent to Sengoku-era Japan.
- Jidaigeki: The mod is set in a mostly-historical depiction of Sengoku-era Japan circa 1590.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Averted. There are no shields in this mod.
- Magikarp Power: Archery as a skill and Archer Samurai in particular. Firearms do massive damage, require no particular skill investment to be effective, and even relatively low-level troops can use them. Meanwhile, archery starts relatively weak, requires significant player skill to be accurate, and only really has advantages in rate of fire and ammo capacity over firearms (as well as the potential of horseback archery, while firearms are too long to reload on horseback). However, at high skill levels, bows become much easier to aim and with investment in the Power Draw skill and a bow that can actually use a high rank in Power Draw, bows can hit as hard as guns while allowing much greater mobility and firing much faster, while firearms only ever reduce their dispersion. This is perhaps best exemplified in the contrast between Ashigaru Skirmishers and Hatamoto Samurai Archers - Even as Elite Skirmishers, Ashigaru never get enough proficiency, Power Draw skill, or good enough bows to use a high Power Draw rank effectively and thus remain "magikarps", while Master and Hatamoto Samurai absolutely do have those proficiencies, skills, and equipment, and become a terrifying force on the battlefield, eclipsing gun-armed Ashigaru and Samurai Gunners.
- Master Swordsman: Since this is Sengoku Jidai Japan, you can recruit many to your cause. There are even the familiar names of Kojiro and Musashinote .
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The Ikko-ikki are unique among the major factions in that they have their own entirely distinct troop tree - while they have Ashigaru and a small handful of Samurai (only available at Toyama Castle, as their other "castles" are instead referred to as Fortresses and produce monks instead), their Ashigaru have no elite promotion and their Samurai have no Hatamoto promotion - much of their forces are from a unique monk troop tree with similar branching options to Samurai, but a distinct lack of cavalry and a greater specialization in polearms.
- The Medic: Enrique fits best to this archetype, with his high-leveled base First Aid, Wound Treatment, and Surgery skills.
- More Dakka: As much as can be done with muzzleloaders, Oda (and by extension, all troops from the Owari region) love guns and uses them more than anyone else. Oda's Hatamoto samurai are cavalry and gunners, and they're based in one of the relatively few regions whose Ashigaru skirmishers are gunners and get elite skirmishers. Taken together, this means that an Oda army is bringing a lot of guns to the fight and has a lot of skilled gunners that can fill the air with a staggering amount of lead.
- The Musketeer: Like their archer counterparts, most gunners carry swords as backup weapons and Samurai gunners tend to be quite skilled with their swords.
- Ninja: Characters with a particularly high mastery level in Throwing and One-handed weapon skill are functionally this. Amongst the companions, Mari is the most like this.
- Agent-type troops are depicted as this but they can also function as sappers in a siege.
- Pirate:
- Shih is a Chinese pirate, and as might be expected, takes no issue with raiding villages.
- The Tsushima Mansion is a home to a clan of Wokou pirates, and if captured, yields either silk or cheap gunners.
- Randomly Generated Loot: While field & siege battles tend to give you low-grade weapons and armor, storming a rebel hideout sometimes yield rare foods, trade goods, resources, or even higher-grade weapons and armor pieces.
- Rocket-Tag Gameplay: Compared to Native Mount and Blade, combat in Gekokujo is extremely lethal and decisive due to abundant firearms that give even low-level characters and units great offensive power, as well as a complete lack of shields.
- Shout-Out:
- Among the companions you can recruit are Youmu, Hong Meiling, and Teruyonote .
- In the inn or castle, sometimes you will hear a traditional Japanese rendition of Take on Me.
- You can sometimes buy a Sakabato from weapon merchants.
- The Smart Guy: Among the companions you can recruit, Sessai and Francisco stands out most.
- Token Minority: There are a few recruitable foreigner companions in the game, including Chinese, Korean, Ainu, European, Filipino, Mongolian, and inexplicably, Texan characters.
- Warrior Monk:
- The Ikko-ikki sect is comprised of warrior monks seeking to spread their brand of "Promised Land Buddhism".
- Two of the neutral forts, Mii-dera and Kokawa-dera, are home to minor sects of warrior monks, with the former specializing in melee combat, especially with the spears and staves, and the latter being proficient gunmen.
- Additionally, there are roving bands of Monk Rebels that blur the line between warrior monks and bandit monks.
