Early this year, I had planned out some pre-orders for the first half of the year. I had a good idea of what games I wanted to pre-order and put them in, but then I saw a game called "Trillion: God of Destruction" and saw that it was developed by Compile Heart and published by Idea Factory. I seem to gravitate to a lot of the games that have these two companies involved ever since I got Hyperdimension Neptunia. Having a bit of faith in the names of those two companies, I went ahead and pre-ordered Trillion: God of Destruction as well. I did a little bit of research and saw that it was a Rogue-like Dungeon Crawler. I was busy with other games when it released and didn't quite get to play it right away. A month or two after its release, it dropped down to $15 from its original $40 (I got it for $32). I was upset that I paid so much for it when I could have gotten it for a lot less. It was around that time that I decided to start it up and play it. Then I found out that it wasn't a Rogue-like Dungeon Crawler. It only made up a very tiny portion of the game and was its mean of participating in combat.
Trillion: God of Destruction is a Simulation game that mixes elements of management simulation, visual novels, dating simulation, and Rogue-like dungeon crawlers where you ultimately have to take down a monster with a Trillion HP. The plot of the game is that a monster arrives at the gate of hell and starts eating and destroying the underworld. The great overlord of the underworld faces the monster when he hears that his brother's counter-attack had failed. The great overlord also fails to thwart the rampaging monster and meets his demise as well. He then hears a girl's voice calling out to him and offered to save his life if he were to agree to fighting the monster once again and to relinquish his own soul after it is defeated to the girl. He awakens to a patched up, almost zombie-like appearance, version of himself and is to agree that he uses his ability to train each an overlord to fight in his stead using his power. This is where the roller coaster of emotions begins.
The game caught me off-guard on so many different levels that it became one of the more memorable games I played this year. First, I got the genre wrong, then I realized the games doesn't play the way I thought it would (I thought I could choose any character and train them all together, but you don't since you can only train one at a time), and it completely blindsided me when it mentioned "hey, the overlord you're training will probably die". They don't mention this until after you've picked a character and started training them already. In the beginning, you have the choice between 3 of the overlords. I'll be mostly talking about all the characters and overlords. So I started off the game choosing Perpell (the one in orange) because she was incredibly cute. As you choose the overlord's training regiments, you'll also spend time with them, give them gifts, and run into certain events that could reward you, add more to the story, or curse/injure your overlord. For the most part, the game is bright, colorful, light-hearted and funny. But it keeps going back to the theme of despair and absolute hopelessness. I was already informed that the overlord will die if they do no successfully take down Trillion at the beginning of the game, but I had no idea how they would present a character's death. I was expecting a quick and silly "oh, they died" sort of event to occur, but that was not the case.
Characters:
Zeabolos - He's the main character and the Great Overlord that everyone seems to adore. The player assumes the role of Zeabolos and finds that for a leader of the underworld, he is kind-hearted, loyal, and empathetic. You can't help but understand why all the female characters seem to hold affection for him and all his subjects are so loyal and respect him. I really liked him as a character, though as generic as he may be. His comedic reactions in contrast to his more serious attitude was likable.
Faust - I didn't get to play her. You have to do some specific things throughout the game in order to play 3 of the other characters other than the 6 overlords and I didn't want to play the game anymore. Faust is the girl that saves Zeabolos' life and asks for his soul in return after Trillion, the monster attacking the underworld, is destroyed. She has a serious and logical personality that evokes little to no emotion, which often times rub the other characters the wrong way. She's mysterious and has seemingly shady motives throughout the game. It isn't until you get near the end of the true ending that you realize who she is what she's after. She's the daughter of a great overlord of the underworld from another dimension that was destroyed by Trillion and wishes to use Zeabolos' soul to revive her father and restore her dimension and underworld. If you defeat Trillion with Faust, you get her ending in which she refuses to take Zeabolos' soul as she had fallen in love with him from the time they spent together. She then marries Zeabolos and stays with him in his dimension and world.
Perpell - The overlord of gluttony. She's the adorable niece of Zeabolos and daughter of Zeabolos' brother, Astaroth. She's quite child-like and is often seen or heard eating sweets. When Zeabolos' offered the throne of the great overlord to whichever overlord defeats Trillion, Perpell wanted to become the Great Overlord and filled the castle with sweets. She's honest, innocent, and cheerful which easily makes her the most amiable characters in the game. Zeabolos' does his best to be a father figure to Perpell after he makes a promise to his brother in his dying breath that he'd take care of his two daughters. That's why it was the most hardest death to get over when it happened. Perpell was the first overlord I trained and sent out and I had a fatherly attachment to her where I just wanted her to succeed. When Trillion kills an overlord, it does it slowly and you hear the overlord crying out in pain and expressing unfulfilled wishes and regret. I was devastated when Perpell died and wasn't sure if I wanted to continue playing the game. It definitely made me cry. But I was thinking I wouldn't like any of the characters as much as her and decided to continue.
Mammon - The overlord of greed. She's a treasure hunter that likes to track down valuables and pawn them off. She expressed her wish of being the great overlord so she would have access to the royal vaults. I nicknamed her "underboob-girl" just thought of her as the tomboyish thief that did things her way and muscled through everything rather than thinking. But then you learn that she takes all the money she earns from treasure hunting and uses it to better the lives of those in the slums where she was born and raised until she was adopted. She has a difficult time expressing herself and eventually claims that Zeabolos "will belong to her" when she becomes great overlord. I then sensed the pattern within the game: it makes you interact, learn and become attached to a character and then have them die if you fail to kill Trillion. You not only invest time into each of the overlords but emotional investment as well. This made for a good story and character investment, but a cruel ride for your heart.
Levia - The overlord of envy. I really liked Levia, but I knew I would. She's voiced by Imai Asami, who voices Noire (my favorite character from Hyperdimension Neptunia), has a tsundere personality, is the prettiest character out of the 6 overlords. She denies her emotions often, but makes it fairly apparently for the player that she really likes Zeabolos. They're childhood friends and so there is much that the two characters understand of each other. I don't recall what she exactly wanted as great overlord, only that she could be near Zeavolos.
Ashmedia - The overlord of lust. I honestly thought I wouldn't like her very much as the "giant-boobed, 'I love sex'" archetypes are generally my least favorite of characters. She constantly talks about delivering pain to others and enjoy hearing the screams of agony from her victims. She flirts with Zeabolos a lot and makes lewd remarks that causes him to fluster. But then you get into an event where Zeabolos finds Ashmedia more docile when she's usually the domineering one. Zeabolos takes up on Ashmedia's suggestion to "sleep" with her and teases her until she nervously admits that she's "never done this before". Zeabolos is taken aback by this remark and realized Ashmedia is not who everyone thinks she is. Ashmedia then says something along the lines of "the more outgoing and open a girl seems, the more wholesome and pure they actually are". It was just so funny and cute how scared and nervous she looked. She was a girl that was misunderstood and everyone projected their ideas of who she was and she just went with it.
Ruche - The overlord of pride. She's a complicated character. She goes a bit beyond being tsundere. She is the niece of Zeabolos, the older sister of Perpell, and the daughter of Astaroth. She has the princess complex and looks down on everyone, especially Zeabolos. But there are a great number of times where she subtly expresses concern, kindness, and empathy while still trying to hold up a strong front. She's proud of her own abilities and expects a lot from herself and those around her. But she's not very honest about her feelings and it leaves a lot of confusion for everyone. She'll often scold Zeabolos for being dense and foolish, yet always reminds him that he's the great overlord and should act like it because she believes in him. She doesn't like being treated like a child and often hints that she actually has feelings for Zeabolos despite being related. She claims that she'll take the title of great overlord and become the greatest leader the underworld has ever known and would be sure to have Zeabolos bow to her abilities. When you fight Trillion with her, you will have to fight a reanimated version of her father who became a messenger for Trillion. When you defeat him, she repeated bashes the body and yells at how it wouldn't die and let her father's spirit rest in piece. When the body finally ceases to move, she breaks down and reveals the broken sad girl that she had held in throughout the game. It was a very emotional moment and felt so bad for her. To be in such an awful situation where she loses her father, then her little sister, then having to fight an abomination of what used to be her father and then having to fight a monster that threatens to destroy her home world, how could I not feel bad for her. If you get her ending, she drags Zeabolos along to help save Faust's father and home dimension rather than having him give up his soul. Years pass and she's shown to be grown up and looking more like an adult. She still expresses her concern of other girls taking Zeabolos away which still hints at her having affection for Zeabolos.
Fegor - The overlord of sloth. The older sister of Zeabolos sleeps throughout the game. She'll be asleep in the middle of the road, in the garden, under the library table, everywhere. But if it gets to the point where she has to train and fight, they start explaining that she is actually incredibly powerful and was once on the front of the war that took place between heaven and the underworld. I didn't think much of her, but she's actually a pretty cute character. She has a certain charm to her. If you get her ending, she just continues to sleep. She also has Zeabolos give her a kiss on the mouth.
Cerberus - Once a fearsome dog-like guardian, Cerberus was turned into a tiny little puppy due to the miasma that Trillion exuded. Towards the path of the true ending, Cerberus is a playable character that fights Trillion. If you get his ending, Zeabolos blows up and becomes a ghost that advises for Cerberus. I didn't get to see any gameplay or events besides the ending for him, so nothing much to say.
Elma - The sickly, younger sister of Zeabolos is a playable character towards the path of the true ending. She takes on the role of an overlord and fights Trillion, of which the power from the ring that each overlord wears that connects to Zeabolos' power cured her of all her illnesses. For her ending, she becomes the great overlord and is said to be an incredible worker on domestic matters. She then expresses her feelings that she has always wanted to be Zeabolos' bride. WHAT?! I honestly didn't see that coming at all. But then she goes on to say that "she'll be happy whoever Zeabolos marries as long as he continues to praise her".
True Ending - Everyone has to die and you have to do very specific things. That is when all the power accumulated from all the overlords flow into Zeabolos where he regains power once again to thwart Trillion once and for all. After defeating Trillion, everyone is suddenly revived and each of them sacrifices a small portion of their souls instead of having Zeabolos give his entire soul to Faust. Everything goes back to normal, and yet everyone is a bit happier, healthier, and stronger.
Which ending did I get? None of them. I played through what I could and couldn't beat Trillion and didn't want to start over with a method I knew I could win with, but I simply did not want to invest anymore time into the game. I spent at least 30-40+ hours on the game without actually finishing it. I mainly wanted to get to know all the characters as best as I could. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and thought the writing for the game was great. The voice acting (for Japanese at least) was incredible and really brought out the personality of each character and their emotions beyond anything the graphics were doing. Gameplay wise, it's rather tedious and monotonous just to get to events and to the actual fights. I laughed a lot, cried a lot, and had some fun fights. I really enjoyed the game for what it was and thought it was quite unique, but it's not a game I could easily recommend due to its difficulty and tedious gameplay. But if you're still interested and don't have a PS Vita, the game is releasing this upcoming Monday on Steam/PC.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/451780/
Showing posts with label PS Vita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PS Vita. Show all posts
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Let's talk about Senran Kagura Estival Versus (SPOILERS!)
I was able to finish my 3rd remix for the year yesterday and plan to work on some original work for a while before returning to my remix projects. I'm in particularly more pain today than I have been in the past week. I'm not sure what's causing it, but I'm doing my best to bear the pain right now. Right now my lower back hurts with the pain leading down behind my back right thigh, my upper back hurts from possibly doing the stretches I've been performing daily to ease the pain in my lower back, my stomach had an over active acid reaction from eating a little bit of sauce that had spicy stuff put into it which caused some air and discomfort, and I'm feeling fatigued possibly from not sleeping well the past few weeks because I keep waking up in the middle of the night multiple times. I can't tell if I'm getting better or worse, but I'll finally admit that I feel miserable now.
Anyways, I finished Senran Kagura Estival Versus' main campaign on PS Vita on Saturday night and wanted to talk about it a little. I was a little bit disappointed with the gameplay, but was impressed by the overall experience and presentation. I talked a little about Senran Kagura 2 Deep Crimson on 3DS about 2 posts ago and mentioned my thoughts on it being dark and serious when it ended up being sort of silly. I had a similar preconception about Estival Versus being happy, colorful and light-hearted. I've teared up quite a few times playing the series and even cried a little reading the story of Hikage's past in SK Burst, but never have I cried so much playing a videogame than I have playing Senran Kagura: Estival Versus.
A departure from the usual action-based openings, the girls of Senran Kagura are dressed in bikinis and dancing on the beach. So how is it that a game, judging from its opening, that's so happy, humor-driven, and sexy cause me to break down, not once or twice, but multiple times throughout the game? Behind the upbeat personality and colorful environments is a story that hit me at a personal level emotionally and empathetically. You'll know when I get around to them.
Story
The game revolves around the 4 groups of young female ninjas; from Hanzō Academy, Gessen Girls' Academy, Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy, and Homura's Crimson Squad; who are sucked into another world and are seemingly forced to participate in a contest called the "Shinobi Bon Dance in Kagura Millennium Festival" held by Asuka's grandmother, Sayuri. Sayuri explains that the team who wins the festival will "open the path to Kagura". "Kagura" is a title claimed only by the highest ranking ninjas that fight Yōma, dark evil creatures capable of destroying the world. The four teams and the Overseers of the Festival all compete in combat while smashing opposing team's platforms. None of the girls really wanted to participate in the contest and didn't understand it. It is revealed early on that ninjas who have died in the past appear during this festival and are given help in passing onto the next life. The girls quickly realize this situation as they "sense" someone they love that had passed away nearby. As the story progresses, the girls come to terms with those who have passed while revealing the true nature of the festival and its dire objective.
A large portion of Estival Versus' story talks about those who have lost loved ones as a shinobi and how each of those characters deal with grief, loss, and acceptance. It's an underlying theme in all the Senran Kagura games that death is an everyday encounter with their lives. There isn't a clear conflict or threat that's present in the game like in past iterations. But the game still covers a very serious story while still maintaining a fun and humorous theme. I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't escalate into a huge boss fight at the end of the story, but I was decently satisfied.
[Hanzō Academy]
So Hanzō Academy actually take a backseat in this game (more so than Shinovi Versus) as their involvement with the story has little impact with the rest of the cast.
[Gessen Girls' Academy]
It's obvious that they're going to talk about Kurokage as the majority of the story in Shinovi Versus revolves around him. It was a touching moment when the girls finally find him. When it was time for him to leave as he had no regrets seeing how his adoptive granddaughters have all grown to be strong and able, he spoke to each of them individually and each of them put on a brave, happy face to see him off. It was heart-breaking because you have to see each of them breakdown as they finally say their goodbyes.
[Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy]
The most important characters in the story for Estival Versus would have to be Ryōbi, Ryōna, and Miyabi as they have lost someone close to them sooner than they should have. I'll explain it more in detail in their individual character descriptions.
[Homura Crimson Squad]
Homura and gang are the comic relief in the story. As the crew lament on their daily struggles to survive through part-time jobs and scrapping for food, they found the island to be abundant in consumable seafood and free from hiding as they enjoy the hot, summer-like sand on the beach. They later on latch onto the dream of being Kagura so that they would no longer be hunted as renegade shinobi and free from poverty where they can eat all the meat they want and take an actual bath rather than washing in the river.
[Overseers of the Festival]
The three shrine maidens seemingly follow Sayuri's commands but is later revealed to have their own agenda to fulfill. As young shrine maidens, they possessed unnaturally strong combat abilities and are barred from speaking to anyone outside of their village. They met another young girl who seemed to possess similar abilities in speed, power, and perception. She described herself being like a shinobi but isn't one. She warns the three girls that everyone needs to evacuate the village as a Yōma would attack it the next day. But the girls were reluctant to tell the elders as it would have meant breaking the rule on not speaking to anyone outside the village. The girls didn't want to believe that a yōma was real. They couldn't help wondering and left the village at night to see for themselves only to find that the girl they met was fighting the Yōma by herself. When they tried to help, the Yōma had swallowed her whole and in the next moment the Yōma exploded. The girl was nowhere to be found and the three young shrine maidens have wanted to apologize and thank the girl ever since and looked for her during the festival. They couldn't find her which led to the conclusion that she never died. The girl's voice then spoke to them and said that if they ever want to meet her again, become a Kagura.
[Overall]
So a majority of the game talks about the individual stories of each character rather than the overall plot, but quickly reveals what was going on near the end. There exists parallel worlds and the beach that they're on belonged to one such world with nothing left except that little island. All life, including the parallel world's versions of the girls, were all wiped out and killed by a gigantic Yōma revealed by Sayuri who points at the sky with a writhing black monster hovering high above them. Sayuri wanted to teach them to let go of their emotions and to do what they need to as shinobi and become a Kagura to fight the Yōma to prevent it from destroying other worlds. Each and every one of the girls refused to let go of their emotions as they whole-heartedly believed that their love and trust with their friends and comrades enables them to follow their convictions and be strong enough to defeat anything in their path. There is no clear winner of the Festival, so they have to start the contest over again. And that was the ending. I felt a bit cheated with that sort of ending as I was expecting a grand boss fight with the huge Yōma in the sky with ALL the girls fighting it at the same time. Still, I was quite satisfied with the main story in what they provided.
Gameplay/Combat
So the gameplay has changed again, keeping the franchise fresh as every iteration plays a little differently from one another. I'm a little disappointed with the gameplay, but still enjoyed it. Here are critical changes and additions to the game:
-Animation canceling isn't as prominent in combat
-Characters can wall run up and sideways on walls
-You can launch yourself at an enemy while wall running
-Perfect guard: blocking right when you're about to be hit stuns enemies for a second
-Tag-team aerials allows you to attack enemies in the air with a partner
-Creative finishers: defeating enemies in certain areas can trigger special events
I'm not sure if that's everything. So one of the things I was disappointed with was not having boss battles or anything that felt like a boss battle other than the very last fight, which still doesn't compare to the final battle in Shinovi Versus. Perhaps I was spoiled with SK2: Deep Crimson since that had tons of boss battles and I had just played it just months ago. I'm glad they got rid of the QTE button mashing sequences, I didn't like those. So it was very difficult getting used to the new combat system as attacks can't be easily dash canceled, jumped out of, and barely shortened with blocks. This meant that it feels clunkier and stiffer than all previous Senran Kagura games. It isn't too bad, but it definitely slows the pacing of combat down a bit. I believe this change was made for the sake of multiplayer, which doesn't exist for the PS Vita version (only for PS4). Perfect guard seemed like a great idea, but it's a bit difficult to utilize effectively as it can't be brought out immediately from an attack combo. Tag-team aerials are useful in combat, but a bit boring gameplay wise as you execute one command to make it happen. Again, I'm possibly spoiled from the tag-team mechanic from Deep Crimson where team-aerial combos were a lot more interactive. I'm a bit sad at the low options on combos and attacks. Again, it's possibly me being spoiled by Deep Crimson's combo system where it was longer, more diverse, and really distinguished the play styles of each character. Creative finishers are interesting and funny and I always tried to execute them when I can. It was a bit surprising the first time I knocked the clothes off my opponent and they fell into a tree and laid there naked on a branch. Overall, I still found the gameplay to be just as addicting and satisfying, though a tad more frustrating.
Characters/Character Themes
Note: I haven't played the individual stories, which are generally humorous but can also reveal important facts about the character. These insights are all based on the main campaign.
Hanzō Academy
[Asuka]
Wow, I couldn't believe this was Asuka's theme the first time I heard it. This might be my favorite Asuka theme in the series, that's how quickly I fell in love with the song. It has a sort of serious and dangerous tone in the beginning. And then it plays this sort of melody that's filled with hope and conviction. I'm really impressed with this song. Asuka plays more of a support role in the story as her perseverance and caring nature helps those around her find the answers they're looking for.
[Ikaruga]
This is, sadly, my least favorite theme I've heard for Ikaruga. It doesn't sound bad, but something about it just doesn't really click for me as "Ikaruga's theme". I'm judging it a bit more harshly as Ikaruga's been my favorite character throughout the series and she's definitely still my favorite with fast and long reaching attacks, refined demeanor, and righteous belief in justice. She doesn't do much to push the story forward other than being the voice of reason and responsibility in the team.
[Katsuragi]
Katsuragi's theme is okay. I find her to be progressively more difficult to play in each iteration as they continually slow her attacks down. A lot of her attacks are slow and deliberate and a lot of animation lag between each attack. Not to mention she has short range. Katsuragi's around mostly for comedic moments this time around.
[Yagyū]
Again, Yagyū has another great theme song. There hasn't been a single-theme for Yagyū that I didn't like or felt weak. Every single one of her theme songs in every game is full of energy and it really pumps you up for the fight. It's just a shame that she's such an underdeveloped character with such a shallow personality. Her backstory doesn't really make sense as a shinobi. She lost her younger sister in a car accident. She meets Hibari, who reminds her of her little sister. She aims to be a strong shinobi to protect Hibari. But then they went one step further after the first game and imply that she's in fact in love with Hibari and perhaps lusts for her. And that's her character now: the strong and silent unless it involves Hibari; then she turns into a drooling pervert. I wish she had a better backstory and better character development, because her theme songs are simply riveting. So she doesn't play much of a role in this game either. There's this tiny arc story where she's fighting with Haruka on who Hibari belongs to and Yagyū insists that Hibari is all her's.
[Hibari]
Ugh, who cares about Hibari! I get angry every time I get around to talking about Hibari. So her theme is very appropriate to her character. It definitely screams Hibari and no one else. As much as I hate her and think of her as "the idiot", she was also the voice of reason in this game. OF ALL PEOPLE, SHE'S THE VOICE OF REASON! When the girls of Hanzō Academy had a decision to make on attacking the platforms of Hebijo, Hibari insisted on holding off on it as they're not mentally prepared to do so. Miyabi was looking for her mother while Ryōbi and Ryōna were having their own difficulties with their elder sister Ryōki back. Yagyū felt that it was the perfect opportunity to attack because of that reason. Hibari points out to Yagyū asking what would she do if she had the chance to see her younger sister again. She also states that if they destroy Hebijo's platforms when they're not at their best, then they can't truly call themselves the strongest and most capable to become Kagura. She made a lot of sense. But then I had to play her and I was so annoyed by her attacks. They're short-ranged and so weak! Then they made me play her a second time shortly after! I think Hibari was most deadly in Deep Crimson. She's kind of a joke in all the other iterations.
Gessen Girls' Academy
[Yumi]
The ice-princess returns with an arrangement of Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor/Lacrimosa as her theme song. Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor is one of my favorite works that Mozart had worked on and it was the last thing he did before he passed away at an early age. Some say that he was writing the dirge for himself. Lacrimosa is one of my favorite parts and it's an interesting arrangement. The Gessen Girls all share a very similar story and thus they all kind of fall under the same purpose in Estival Versus. They all reunite with Kurokage and then they each say their goodbyes with a goal in mind in their lives. I'm actually a bit blurry on remembering what she promised, but it was probably to be a strong and responsible leader/shinobi. I don't remember if her elements played a big role in Shinovi Versus, but you can freeze enemies with her attacks in Estival Versus.
[Murakumo]
Her theme is a little better, I think. But I still don't really like it all that much. I like her as a character a lot though. I can't wait to play her individual story. Playing her individual story in Shinovi Versus is what made me like this character. She wears an intimidating mask which acts as a shield for her mental stability. She feels scared and embarrassed when people see her face, thus the mask is on all the time. With her mask donned on her face, she speaks in a low tone with domineering force. But when the mask is snatched from her, she becomes a blubbering, cute mess. She has an adorable face and she has a cute, feminine voice of which she speaks in a fast and clumsy manner. When she speaks to Kurokage one last time, she said she needed her mask. Kurokage says that she doesn't. She gets her mask back and says her farewell as she exclaims that the mask is the representation of the face that is strong and can take care of herself. But then she removes the mask and says that this face was important too and wants Kurokage to remember it. Kurokage says that both faces/sides of Murakumo are of a remarkable woman and is proud to have her as a granddaughter.
[Yozakura]
I actually don't know what this song is an arrangement of, but it sounds familiar. Yozakura is seen as child-like and energetic in Estival Versus. As the caretaker of all her younger siblings before she was adopted by Kurokage, she never had the time to enjoy being a kid. So when she saw the beach, she wanted to play and have fun. It was very cute of her. She had prepared all of Kurokage's favorite dishes when Kurokage spoke to her only in voice claiming that he regretfully can't eat it without a body anymore. So as to help Kurokage pass on without regrets, she shoves the food down the Hebijo girls' throats. It was a bit silly.
[Shiki]
I don't know the arrangement of these piece either, but I like it. The translation for Shiki's part is kind of strange. I can understand a bit of Japanese and French, so it made a bit more sense to me. But as a translation, it was just so weird. In the Japanese dialogue, Kurokage wanted Shiki to be able to speak English so that she can spread his Shinobi teachings throughout the world. But in the English text, it said Kurokage wanted Shiki to learn French. So the voice is speaking broken English while the text is in French. I couldn't understand the English that was being said, but thankfully the dialogue was simple enough where I understood what it said in French. This just made it so confusing. So Shiki's goodbye was also a bit silly.
[Minori]
Ah, Minori. The character that Hibari should have been but wasn't. Minori's child-like personality is lovable, but her maturity always seem to pop up at one point in the game or another. She had the most heart-breaking line in Shinovi Versus where she asks "Why can't we all just play games together? If we always played games and had fun, we would be too tired to fight. And if we didn't have to fight, my parents wouldn't have had to die." I would have expected Minori to be the one character out of the Gessen girls to rebel against leaving the beach and be with Kurokage instead. But when Kurokage was saying his goodbyes, Minori stopped him and said "don't leave yet, I need to show you how strong I've become." She then proceeds to smash Hanzō Academy's platforms by herself and win. Before Kurokage leaves, she asks to play one last game of Hide-n-Seek. Minori repeatedly asks if he's ready while Kurokage continually repeats "not yet" until his voice is no longer heard. Minori understands that he had left, breaks down and cries. It was a simple method for the player to feel empathy for Minori, and it worked.
Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy
[Miyabi]
Oh god, here it comes. This is the character that had the story that made me break down twice. First, I want to say how great her theme is in this game. I complained a lot about how much I disliked her theme in Shinovi Versus, but this is good! So some backstory: In Shinovi Versus, it reveals that Miyabi and Imu were playing in an area that their parents told them not to go because it was dangerous. Miyabi's mother goes out looking for and right when she saw them, a Yōma lunged at Miyabi with the utmost malice. Miyabi's mother dives right in front of her and the Yōma snapped her head off as the lifeless body drenched in blood dropped to the floor right in front of her. Miyabi's father quickly subdued the Yōma and covered up the body of his wife and explained to Miyabi that the true purpose of an evil shinobi was to fight Yōma and rid of them from this world. It was one of the most descriptive and graphic deaths told in the game and one that really stuck with me. So in Estival Versus, when Miyabi finally found her mother and broke down to tears in her arms, I broke down too. I often wondered what it would be like if I ever saw those who were important to me who have passed: my grandma, my grandpa, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my friend Jessica. At that moment, even though it was a video game with a fictional character, I was so happy for Miyabi and couldn't control myself. That single moment felt so real and so human that I believed it whole-heartedly. Miyabi's mother said she's make Miyabi's favorite egg-rice dish, but needed two ingredients. As Miyabi went to gather these ingredients, her best friend Imu reasoned with her and asked her "do you really want to stay here with your mother and drop everything you believed in to rid the world of Yōma?" Miyabi knew staying with her mother wouldn't be right and that she needed to return as the leader of Hebijo and that her team needed her (metaphorically, it's saying that she can't cling to the past if she want to move forward in life). She returns to her mother giving her the ingredients. But much to her surprise, her mother wanted her to make it. She knew nothing about cooking and didn't feel confident. Her mother assured her that it was easy and helped her make it. When she was finally done, Miyabi claimed that it was actually really easy and scarfed it down. Right when Miyabi was about to say she can't stay, her mom starts fading. She panicked and asked why this was happening, and her mother said something along the lines of "now that you know how to make your favorite dish I used to make you, I can pass on with no regrets." (Essentially saying you will always have a piece of memory of me with you). I broke down again as Miyabi broke down. She finally had closure with her mother and went back to her team asking for her support as she trusted each and everyone of them. Miyabi's part of the story was my favorite out of Estival Versus.
[Murasaki]
I think her theme in Shinovi Versus was better, but I still really like this song. Murasaki continues to be the hikikomori (shut-in) she's always been. When they arrive on the strange beach, she complains and wants to go back to her room to read web novels and play MMOs. At one point, she pesters Mirai on why she hasn't updated her web novel yet and that she broke her F5 key (refresh page) because of it. Mirai had writers block and wanted to introduce a new character but didn't know what kind of character she wanted. Murasaki helped find Mirai's inspiration after fighting her. After a while, she didn't want to leave the world they were in since it had internet and was secluded off from all other people already. I forgot to mention the little details they put into Shinobi Transformations now. Everyone has a different animation for transforming such as where they keep their ninja scrolls and how they pose, etc. With Murasaki's backstory and intense music, I had hoped she was a borderline psychopathic fighter. But that just isn't the case. She screams things like "just let me die already!" when she uses her hidden ninpo specials, but her animation has her give the most adorable smile towards the screen before her move ends. It's such a strange and conflicting concept. She's portrayed as creepy and depressing, yet cute at the same time. She could've been more.
[Imu]
Her theme seems rather Chinese influenced. A lot of the theme songs have influences of Chinese music and instruments. But I'm wondering if it was a decision to do so since she uses a staff much like Son Wukong does from Journey to the West. Imu plays the support character to Miyabi yet again as the best friend who stands by her through thick and thin. It was hinted that Imu liked Miyabi more than just a friend in Shinovi Versus, but now it's extremely apparent. Imu's the one that snaps Miyabi back into reality and reminded her what her ambitions were and how her team were waiting to follow her lead.
[Ryōbi]
I'd say Ryōbi and Ryōna are the main characters to Estival Versus, at least seemingly so. The two sisters were in the woods when they heard the ritual for helping the deceased move onto the next life. They saw their older sister Ryōki, who was mentioned being killed by a Yōma in Shinovi Versus, in the crowd and ran towards her. When they reached her, a bright light brought them to the parallel world. When they finally reunited with their lost sister, Ryōna was beyond happy to see her elder sister again. Ryōbi did not have the same ecstatic reaction as Ryōna and that was the driving force behind the overall story for Estival Versus. Later in the game, it is revealed that right before Ryōki took the mission to fight the Yōma, Ryōbi had yelled at her "you should just die!" And it devastated Ryōbi when Ryōki's corpse was brought back. The reasoning behind Ryōbi's outburst was because she had a inferiority complex (the game said sister complex. That's not what a sister complex is...). The three sisters had lost their parents at a young age and thus Ryōki took over as guardian for her two younger sisters. In Ryōbi's eyes, Ryōki was perfect. She was beautiful, kind, independent, strong, and intelligent. "How could I compete with that?" At a certain point, Ryōbi had become rebellious and aggressive. Ryōbi eventually reminded her older sister what she had said the last time they saw her before she died. Ryōki claims she doesn't remember the incident and that she isn't angry at her for saying that. Ryōbi ran off even more angry than before knowing that'd be the response she gave. She was such a good person that she'd forgive her for saying such a heinous statement to her beloved elder sister. When the Gessen girls and Miyabi had made peace with the ones they lost, Ryōna urged Ryōbi to tell Ryōki whatever she needed to as it might be their one and only chance. Ryōbi wasn't sure she could tell Ryōki how she really felt after what she said. Ryōna had thought she meant apologizing to her. Ryōbi said "no, I want to thank her. Thank her for taking care of us, for making us strong, and for being there went our parents couldn't." After Ryōna helped Ryōbi find the courage to confront her sister, the two fought Ryōki. Ryōki reveals that she did remember what Ryōbi had said and that it did affect her. She said that she was happy Ryōbi said what she said. Her rebellious remark eased Ryōki's heart as she saw that Ryōbi was finally standing up for herself and becoming an independent woman. She had been worried at that time as Ryōbi clinged onto her for so long that she wasn't sure she was doing the right thing for her. Ryōbi wanted to prove that she is indeed stronger and can take care of herself. The final battle is against Ryōki in her ultimate hidden ninpo state indefinitely. This was the closest boss battle I could think of in the game. And then it got to the ending sequence where they finally said goodbye. Ryōna, who had kept a tight lip and a strong face the entire game finally broke down spilling everything that was in her heart. "Thank you, Ryōki. Thank you for everything. Thank you." I broke down again as it hit a bit close to my own personal life.
I never really got to say goodbye to a lot of the ones I lost. My grandma just disappeared one day and I was told she was at the hospital. I waited patiently everyday for 3 or however many months expecting her to come home. I still remember that day very clearly when I went into the living room and my grandpa was crying. I never seen my grandpa cry before. I ran into my room where my dad was asked what was going on and he said that "we had to let her go." My life had never been the same ever since as it affect my way of thinking, my extended family, and my own family. My grandfather was the only one I really got to say goodbye to. I had visited him at the hospital and told him I'll come see him again soon. He smiled and waved at me and passed away that night. My grandpa passed away a year after my grandfather, and I didn't see him for months and didn't talk to him even longer before he passed. I've only met my great-grandfather three times in my life: once when he visited us in America, and twice when I went to China two times. The very last time I saw him, he shared his wish of wanting for me to get married and show him his great-great-grandchildren. I knew for a fact that it wouldn't happen as I didn't even have a girl friend at that time (and still don't). I also knew that it might have been the last time I'd ever get to see him as we didn't have any plans of visiting China again in the near future (it's been 10 years now). I remember waving bye to him inside the taxi as he left and I already wanted to cry then because I wanted to get to know him better but knew I might not get that chance. He passed away a couple of years ago. And finally, there's my friend Jessica. I have mentioned this in the past, but I wasn't particularly close to Jessica. Yet, she was still my friend and I was deeply saddened when I heard she had cancer and didn't have much longer to live. I wanted to see her, but felt unworthy to since I never hung out with her ever before. When she said she was at a critical state, I couldn't help it anymore and had my parents ask her mom if I could see her. Her mom said it wasn't a really good idea (I imagine she probably looked thin and sickly). I had typed messages to her before not expecting a reply because I wasn't exactly sure what to talk about. I hadn't seen her in person in years before she passed, and I'm not sure if my messages really count as a goodbye. I realized I cared about her, but I didn't now if it was something that mattered to her and I really didn't want to intrude on her when she was already going through so much. I didn't cry when she finally had passed as I cried enough before hand. I didn't go to her memorial service as I didn't think I could handle it. The game had brought all this back for me as I recently revisited these memories with my parents. 2 posts ago, I mentioned having some stressful family issues, and what was going on was that my dad's favorite chicken, Honey, was severely sick and was dying. For three weeks, we saw her go from blind, to a little better and eating, to unmoving and in pain. It deeply affected my dad because we had lost Hattie last year, and his former favorite chicken, Waffle two years ago. It was also because sitting by Honey and watching her life whittle away brought back bad memories of sitting at the hospital room with his mother (my grandma) for those 3 months (or however long it was, I don't remember anymore) and helplessly watch her life whittle away. I knew that it would bring back memories of that time because that's how I felt too: I saw how upset and in emotional pain my dad was and I didn't have anything I could say or do to make him feel better. Back when I was 10 yo and my grandma was in the hospital, I kept telling my dad that she'd be okay; however, I didn't know the circumstances and I still don't. Having grown to be such a pessimist I am today, I'm not keen on giving false hope or words of encouragement to others anymore unless I have reason to believe otherwise. I was sad when Waffle and Hattie passed away, but I did my best not to cry in front of my dad because he was blaming himself for their deaths and I didn't want him to see me sad about their passing. I wasn't as deeply affected by their passing as it did for my dad though. So it was the same with Honey. I was sad, but I didn't want to show him. More than anything, I'm afraid of losing my dad as each passing hen affects him more than the last.
So playing this game and being reminded of all these memories have been...sobering, I suppose. With my 9 week illness in the winter and my now 3 week string of ailments, I fear for my own mortality and well-being. Death is a constant reminder ever since my grandma passed away (thus changing my "way of thinking") and I've always strived forward to do great things with big ambitions. I keep trying to remind myself that it is nowhere near my time yet and that there are still much I need to take care of before the time comes. For the girls of Senran Kagura, death is a constant threat as it is the life a Shinobi must take. But I believe it to be applicable to our own lives as life is unexpected and fickle. We need to make the most of what we have.
[Ryōna]
I didn't mean to carry on for so long. So Ryōna is sort of like a main character in the story, but I guess she's more accurately a supporting role for Ryōbi. Did you know that Ryōna is the older of the two? I didn't. Ryōbi breaks down at one point and thanks Ryōna for being so loyal and so supportive of her. She expresses how grateful she is to have an older sister like Ryōna. Ryōna may be a freak in the game (super masochistic), but she often becomes the voice of reason and kindness for Ryōbi when she's lost her way.
Homura Crimson Squad
[Homura]
I was shocked to find that this song was Homura's as the intro totally sounded like a Daidōji theme song. Homura has become quite the meat-head in the story as she's always looking for a fight and thinking of eating meat. It is also implied that she loves Asuka more than a friend but denies it every time.
[Yomi]
Yomi is back! What I mean is she finally has an amazing theme song. Yomi's pre-transformation theme song in Burst was one of the best songs in the entire series. So I was disappointed when I listened to her theme in Shinovi Versus and didn't really like it. Her theme in Deep Crimson was okay, but nothing like in Burst. But when I first heard this song in Estival Versus, it instantly became one of my favorites. It's fun, catchy, and addicting to listen to. It still amazes me that Yomi is such a sweetheart in the series now when she was the psycho in Burst who hated rich people. She finds a lot of edible food sources on the beach for the crew to eat.
[Hikage]
Oh my goodness, Hikage is fun! Her ultimate hidden ninpo grants her this super powered state where it expands her reach of attack by a large amount while doing tons of damage. Fighting a group of enemies quickly refills her scrolls so she can go back into that state again. Her theme song is pretty fun to listen to. Something I really wanted to see in past Senran Kagura games was interactions between the characters that weren't already paired up. There were definitely a few times where that happened in Estival Versus. Despite it all, I really like the exchanges she has with Imu where she's still trying to figure out emotions. It all becomes sort of a comedy routine where Imu gets ticked off by Hikage while Hikage is trying to figure out what's going on in the conversation.
[Mirai]
Her theme song is...okay. I have high expectations out of her theme songs since the ones in Burst and Deep Crimson is so good and among my favorites from the series. Mirai sort of continues to be a joke or silly character in the series which makes me sad sense she was such a strong character that progressive matured in Burst. She continues writing web novels with no readers other than Murasaki, who is an avid fan of her writing. But it was shown in Shinovi Versus that Shiki took interest in her work and in Estival Versus, Ryōbi also took interest when seeing how intently Murasaki was reading. Her combat style almost seems kind of boring after playing her in Deep Crimson. I still really like Mirai, though.
[Haruka]
Much like Yagyū, Haruka has never had a theme song I didn't like. Her theme songs are easily distinguishable and are often unique and easy to listen to. She doesn't seem to be as OP as she was in Deep Crimson which is necessary if they were balancing the game for multiplayer. Haruka holds a special silly content to provoke Sayuri into telling them what the Bon Dance Festival is really for.
Overseers of the Festival
[Sayuri/Jasmine]
Sayuri is an interesting character. While Asuka's grandpa is a pervert who likes to screw around, Asuka's grandma was/is apparently stronger than her Hanzō and is portrayed as a "tough as nails" sort of gal. She's an ex-Kagura and threw away her title when she wasn't able to fulfill her obligations as a Kagura to fight the Yōma effectively. She lost her friends in the fight and had the creature get away, which is why she's training all the girls to prepare for the inevitable fight. The intro to her theme caught me off guard and I thought I was listening to Dynasty Warriors for a second. The intro really does resonate with the sound, personality, and style of Dynasty Warriors, but that quickly changes as it leads into main portion of the song. Jasmine is pretty song.
[Ryōki]
I really like the Celtic influenced song for Ryōki. I don't know why it feel appropriate, but it just seems like the right kind of theme song for her. Ryōki has very good reach and attack power, but it takes some getting used to the long animation frames to finish up.
[Renka]
Listening to the soundtrack, I knew she was going to be one of my favorite characters. Her theme song is so addicting and upbeat. It reminds me of DDR. She's got a sort of "girl next door" personality and is the smart one in the group. Her fighting style is a lot of fun and I really like her specials where she's banging away on a taiko drum.
[Hanabi]
The idiot of the group. When she thinks too hard, her fireworks jutsu goes off and explosions erupt all around her. Her fighting style is too slow and doesn't compensate in damage enough for my liking.
[Kafuru]
Oh my goodness, she's so cute! I was a bit worried when I read that she had a snobbish personality that likes to look down on others. But getting through the game, I thought she was a sensible character. I like her combos and specials.
I'm not gonna write about the other characters since they weren't part of the story and I haven't played them yet.
This ends my very long rant on Senran Kagura Estival Versus. I'm a bit disappointed with some things, but very satisfied with the overall experience.
Anyways, I finished Senran Kagura Estival Versus' main campaign on PS Vita on Saturday night and wanted to talk about it a little. I was a little bit disappointed with the gameplay, but was impressed by the overall experience and presentation. I talked a little about Senran Kagura 2 Deep Crimson on 3DS about 2 posts ago and mentioned my thoughts on it being dark and serious when it ended up being sort of silly. I had a similar preconception about Estival Versus being happy, colorful and light-hearted. I've teared up quite a few times playing the series and even cried a little reading the story of Hikage's past in SK Burst, but never have I cried so much playing a videogame than I have playing Senran Kagura: Estival Versus.
A departure from the usual action-based openings, the girls of Senran Kagura are dressed in bikinis and dancing on the beach. So how is it that a game, judging from its opening, that's so happy, humor-driven, and sexy cause me to break down, not once or twice, but multiple times throughout the game? Behind the upbeat personality and colorful environments is a story that hit me at a personal level emotionally and empathetically. You'll know when I get around to them.
Story
The game revolves around the 4 groups of young female ninjas; from Hanzō Academy, Gessen Girls' Academy, Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy, and Homura's Crimson Squad; who are sucked into another world and are seemingly forced to participate in a contest called the "Shinobi Bon Dance in Kagura Millennium Festival" held by Asuka's grandmother, Sayuri. Sayuri explains that the team who wins the festival will "open the path to Kagura". "Kagura" is a title claimed only by the highest ranking ninjas that fight Yōma, dark evil creatures capable of destroying the world. The four teams and the Overseers of the Festival all compete in combat while smashing opposing team's platforms. None of the girls really wanted to participate in the contest and didn't understand it. It is revealed early on that ninjas who have died in the past appear during this festival and are given help in passing onto the next life. The girls quickly realize this situation as they "sense" someone they love that had passed away nearby. As the story progresses, the girls come to terms with those who have passed while revealing the true nature of the festival and its dire objective.
A large portion of Estival Versus' story talks about those who have lost loved ones as a shinobi and how each of those characters deal with grief, loss, and acceptance. It's an underlying theme in all the Senran Kagura games that death is an everyday encounter with their lives. There isn't a clear conflict or threat that's present in the game like in past iterations. But the game still covers a very serious story while still maintaining a fun and humorous theme. I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't escalate into a huge boss fight at the end of the story, but I was decently satisfied.
[Hanzō Academy]
So Hanzō Academy actually take a backseat in this game (more so than Shinovi Versus) as their involvement with the story has little impact with the rest of the cast.
[Gessen Girls' Academy]
It's obvious that they're going to talk about Kurokage as the majority of the story in Shinovi Versus revolves around him. It was a touching moment when the girls finally find him. When it was time for him to leave as he had no regrets seeing how his adoptive granddaughters have all grown to be strong and able, he spoke to each of them individually and each of them put on a brave, happy face to see him off. It was heart-breaking because you have to see each of them breakdown as they finally say their goodbyes.
[Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy]
The most important characters in the story for Estival Versus would have to be Ryōbi, Ryōna, and Miyabi as they have lost someone close to them sooner than they should have. I'll explain it more in detail in their individual character descriptions.
[Homura Crimson Squad]
Homura and gang are the comic relief in the story. As the crew lament on their daily struggles to survive through part-time jobs and scrapping for food, they found the island to be abundant in consumable seafood and free from hiding as they enjoy the hot, summer-like sand on the beach. They later on latch onto the dream of being Kagura so that they would no longer be hunted as renegade shinobi and free from poverty where they can eat all the meat they want and take an actual bath rather than washing in the river.
[Overseers of the Festival]
The three shrine maidens seemingly follow Sayuri's commands but is later revealed to have their own agenda to fulfill. As young shrine maidens, they possessed unnaturally strong combat abilities and are barred from speaking to anyone outside of their village. They met another young girl who seemed to possess similar abilities in speed, power, and perception. She described herself being like a shinobi but isn't one. She warns the three girls that everyone needs to evacuate the village as a Yōma would attack it the next day. But the girls were reluctant to tell the elders as it would have meant breaking the rule on not speaking to anyone outside the village. The girls didn't want to believe that a yōma was real. They couldn't help wondering and left the village at night to see for themselves only to find that the girl they met was fighting the Yōma by herself. When they tried to help, the Yōma had swallowed her whole and in the next moment the Yōma exploded. The girl was nowhere to be found and the three young shrine maidens have wanted to apologize and thank the girl ever since and looked for her during the festival. They couldn't find her which led to the conclusion that she never died. The girl's voice then spoke to them and said that if they ever want to meet her again, become a Kagura.
[Overall]
So a majority of the game talks about the individual stories of each character rather than the overall plot, but quickly reveals what was going on near the end. There exists parallel worlds and the beach that they're on belonged to one such world with nothing left except that little island. All life, including the parallel world's versions of the girls, were all wiped out and killed by a gigantic Yōma revealed by Sayuri who points at the sky with a writhing black monster hovering high above them. Sayuri wanted to teach them to let go of their emotions and to do what they need to as shinobi and become a Kagura to fight the Yōma to prevent it from destroying other worlds. Each and every one of the girls refused to let go of their emotions as they whole-heartedly believed that their love and trust with their friends and comrades enables them to follow their convictions and be strong enough to defeat anything in their path. There is no clear winner of the Festival, so they have to start the contest over again. And that was the ending. I felt a bit cheated with that sort of ending as I was expecting a grand boss fight with the huge Yōma in the sky with ALL the girls fighting it at the same time. Still, I was quite satisfied with the main story in what they provided.
Gameplay/Combat
So the gameplay has changed again, keeping the franchise fresh as every iteration plays a little differently from one another. I'm a little disappointed with the gameplay, but still enjoyed it. Here are critical changes and additions to the game:
-Animation canceling isn't as prominent in combat
-Characters can wall run up and sideways on walls
-You can launch yourself at an enemy while wall running
-Perfect guard: blocking right when you're about to be hit stuns enemies for a second
-Tag-team aerials allows you to attack enemies in the air with a partner
-Creative finishers: defeating enemies in certain areas can trigger special events
I'm not sure if that's everything. So one of the things I was disappointed with was not having boss battles or anything that felt like a boss battle other than the very last fight, which still doesn't compare to the final battle in Shinovi Versus. Perhaps I was spoiled with SK2: Deep Crimson since that had tons of boss battles and I had just played it just months ago. I'm glad they got rid of the QTE button mashing sequences, I didn't like those. So it was very difficult getting used to the new combat system as attacks can't be easily dash canceled, jumped out of, and barely shortened with blocks. This meant that it feels clunkier and stiffer than all previous Senran Kagura games. It isn't too bad, but it definitely slows the pacing of combat down a bit. I believe this change was made for the sake of multiplayer, which doesn't exist for the PS Vita version (only for PS4). Perfect guard seemed like a great idea, but it's a bit difficult to utilize effectively as it can't be brought out immediately from an attack combo. Tag-team aerials are useful in combat, but a bit boring gameplay wise as you execute one command to make it happen. Again, I'm possibly spoiled from the tag-team mechanic from Deep Crimson where team-aerial combos were a lot more interactive. I'm a bit sad at the low options on combos and attacks. Again, it's possibly me being spoiled by Deep Crimson's combo system where it was longer, more diverse, and really distinguished the play styles of each character. Creative finishers are interesting and funny and I always tried to execute them when I can. It was a bit surprising the first time I knocked the clothes off my opponent and they fell into a tree and laid there naked on a branch. Overall, I still found the gameplay to be just as addicting and satisfying, though a tad more frustrating.
Characters/Character Themes
Note: I haven't played the individual stories, which are generally humorous but can also reveal important facts about the character. These insights are all based on the main campaign.
Hanzō Academy
[Asuka]
Wow, I couldn't believe this was Asuka's theme the first time I heard it. This might be my favorite Asuka theme in the series, that's how quickly I fell in love with the song. It has a sort of serious and dangerous tone in the beginning. And then it plays this sort of melody that's filled with hope and conviction. I'm really impressed with this song. Asuka plays more of a support role in the story as her perseverance and caring nature helps those around her find the answers they're looking for.
[Ikaruga]
This is, sadly, my least favorite theme I've heard for Ikaruga. It doesn't sound bad, but something about it just doesn't really click for me as "Ikaruga's theme". I'm judging it a bit more harshly as Ikaruga's been my favorite character throughout the series and she's definitely still my favorite with fast and long reaching attacks, refined demeanor, and righteous belief in justice. She doesn't do much to push the story forward other than being the voice of reason and responsibility in the team.
[Katsuragi]
Katsuragi's theme is okay. I find her to be progressively more difficult to play in each iteration as they continually slow her attacks down. A lot of her attacks are slow and deliberate and a lot of animation lag between each attack. Not to mention she has short range. Katsuragi's around mostly for comedic moments this time around.
[Yagyū]
Again, Yagyū has another great theme song. There hasn't been a single-theme for Yagyū that I didn't like or felt weak. Every single one of her theme songs in every game is full of energy and it really pumps you up for the fight. It's just a shame that she's such an underdeveloped character with such a shallow personality. Her backstory doesn't really make sense as a shinobi. She lost her younger sister in a car accident. She meets Hibari, who reminds her of her little sister. She aims to be a strong shinobi to protect Hibari. But then they went one step further after the first game and imply that she's in fact in love with Hibari and perhaps lusts for her. And that's her character now: the strong and silent unless it involves Hibari; then she turns into a drooling pervert. I wish she had a better backstory and better character development, because her theme songs are simply riveting. So she doesn't play much of a role in this game either. There's this tiny arc story where she's fighting with Haruka on who Hibari belongs to and Yagyū insists that Hibari is all her's.
[Hibari]
Ugh, who cares about Hibari! I get angry every time I get around to talking about Hibari. So her theme is very appropriate to her character. It definitely screams Hibari and no one else. As much as I hate her and think of her as "the idiot", she was also the voice of reason in this game. OF ALL PEOPLE, SHE'S THE VOICE OF REASON! When the girls of Hanzō Academy had a decision to make on attacking the platforms of Hebijo, Hibari insisted on holding off on it as they're not mentally prepared to do so. Miyabi was looking for her mother while Ryōbi and Ryōna were having their own difficulties with their elder sister Ryōki back. Yagyū felt that it was the perfect opportunity to attack because of that reason. Hibari points out to Yagyū asking what would she do if she had the chance to see her younger sister again. She also states that if they destroy Hebijo's platforms when they're not at their best, then they can't truly call themselves the strongest and most capable to become Kagura. She made a lot of sense. But then I had to play her and I was so annoyed by her attacks. They're short-ranged and so weak! Then they made me play her a second time shortly after! I think Hibari was most deadly in Deep Crimson. She's kind of a joke in all the other iterations.
Gessen Girls' Academy
[Yumi]
The ice-princess returns with an arrangement of Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor/Lacrimosa as her theme song. Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor is one of my favorite works that Mozart had worked on and it was the last thing he did before he passed away at an early age. Some say that he was writing the dirge for himself. Lacrimosa is one of my favorite parts and it's an interesting arrangement. The Gessen Girls all share a very similar story and thus they all kind of fall under the same purpose in Estival Versus. They all reunite with Kurokage and then they each say their goodbyes with a goal in mind in their lives. I'm actually a bit blurry on remembering what she promised, but it was probably to be a strong and responsible leader/shinobi. I don't remember if her elements played a big role in Shinovi Versus, but you can freeze enemies with her attacks in Estival Versus.
[Murakumo]
Her theme is a little better, I think. But I still don't really like it all that much. I like her as a character a lot though. I can't wait to play her individual story. Playing her individual story in Shinovi Versus is what made me like this character. She wears an intimidating mask which acts as a shield for her mental stability. She feels scared and embarrassed when people see her face, thus the mask is on all the time. With her mask donned on her face, she speaks in a low tone with domineering force. But when the mask is snatched from her, she becomes a blubbering, cute mess. She has an adorable face and she has a cute, feminine voice of which she speaks in a fast and clumsy manner. When she speaks to Kurokage one last time, she said she needed her mask. Kurokage says that she doesn't. She gets her mask back and says her farewell as she exclaims that the mask is the representation of the face that is strong and can take care of herself. But then she removes the mask and says that this face was important too and wants Kurokage to remember it. Kurokage says that both faces/sides of Murakumo are of a remarkable woman and is proud to have her as a granddaughter.
[Yozakura]
I actually don't know what this song is an arrangement of, but it sounds familiar. Yozakura is seen as child-like and energetic in Estival Versus. As the caretaker of all her younger siblings before she was adopted by Kurokage, she never had the time to enjoy being a kid. So when she saw the beach, she wanted to play and have fun. It was very cute of her. She had prepared all of Kurokage's favorite dishes when Kurokage spoke to her only in voice claiming that he regretfully can't eat it without a body anymore. So as to help Kurokage pass on without regrets, she shoves the food down the Hebijo girls' throats. It was a bit silly.
[Shiki]
I don't know the arrangement of these piece either, but I like it. The translation for Shiki's part is kind of strange. I can understand a bit of Japanese and French, so it made a bit more sense to me. But as a translation, it was just so weird. In the Japanese dialogue, Kurokage wanted Shiki to be able to speak English so that she can spread his Shinobi teachings throughout the world. But in the English text, it said Kurokage wanted Shiki to learn French. So the voice is speaking broken English while the text is in French. I couldn't understand the English that was being said, but thankfully the dialogue was simple enough where I understood what it said in French. This just made it so confusing. So Shiki's goodbye was also a bit silly.
[Minori]
Ah, Minori. The character that Hibari should have been but wasn't. Minori's child-like personality is lovable, but her maturity always seem to pop up at one point in the game or another. She had the most heart-breaking line in Shinovi Versus where she asks "Why can't we all just play games together? If we always played games and had fun, we would be too tired to fight. And if we didn't have to fight, my parents wouldn't have had to die." I would have expected Minori to be the one character out of the Gessen girls to rebel against leaving the beach and be with Kurokage instead. But when Kurokage was saying his goodbyes, Minori stopped him and said "don't leave yet, I need to show you how strong I've become." She then proceeds to smash Hanzō Academy's platforms by herself and win. Before Kurokage leaves, she asks to play one last game of Hide-n-Seek. Minori repeatedly asks if he's ready while Kurokage continually repeats "not yet" until his voice is no longer heard. Minori understands that he had left, breaks down and cries. It was a simple method for the player to feel empathy for Minori, and it worked.
Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy
[Miyabi]
Oh god, here it comes. This is the character that had the story that made me break down twice. First, I want to say how great her theme is in this game. I complained a lot about how much I disliked her theme in Shinovi Versus, but this is good! So some backstory: In Shinovi Versus, it reveals that Miyabi and Imu were playing in an area that their parents told them not to go because it was dangerous. Miyabi's mother goes out looking for and right when she saw them, a Yōma lunged at Miyabi with the utmost malice. Miyabi's mother dives right in front of her and the Yōma snapped her head off as the lifeless body drenched in blood dropped to the floor right in front of her. Miyabi's father quickly subdued the Yōma and covered up the body of his wife and explained to Miyabi that the true purpose of an evil shinobi was to fight Yōma and rid of them from this world. It was one of the most descriptive and graphic deaths told in the game and one that really stuck with me. So in Estival Versus, when Miyabi finally found her mother and broke down to tears in her arms, I broke down too. I often wondered what it would be like if I ever saw those who were important to me who have passed: my grandma, my grandpa, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my friend Jessica. At that moment, even though it was a video game with a fictional character, I was so happy for Miyabi and couldn't control myself. That single moment felt so real and so human that I believed it whole-heartedly. Miyabi's mother said she's make Miyabi's favorite egg-rice dish, but needed two ingredients. As Miyabi went to gather these ingredients, her best friend Imu reasoned with her and asked her "do you really want to stay here with your mother and drop everything you believed in to rid the world of Yōma?" Miyabi knew staying with her mother wouldn't be right and that she needed to return as the leader of Hebijo and that her team needed her (metaphorically, it's saying that she can't cling to the past if she want to move forward in life). She returns to her mother giving her the ingredients. But much to her surprise, her mother wanted her to make it. She knew nothing about cooking and didn't feel confident. Her mother assured her that it was easy and helped her make it. When she was finally done, Miyabi claimed that it was actually really easy and scarfed it down. Right when Miyabi was about to say she can't stay, her mom starts fading. She panicked and asked why this was happening, and her mother said something along the lines of "now that you know how to make your favorite dish I used to make you, I can pass on with no regrets." (Essentially saying you will always have a piece of memory of me with you). I broke down again as Miyabi broke down. She finally had closure with her mother and went back to her team asking for her support as she trusted each and everyone of them. Miyabi's part of the story was my favorite out of Estival Versus.
[Murasaki]
I think her theme in Shinovi Versus was better, but I still really like this song. Murasaki continues to be the hikikomori (shut-in) she's always been. When they arrive on the strange beach, she complains and wants to go back to her room to read web novels and play MMOs. At one point, she pesters Mirai on why she hasn't updated her web novel yet and that she broke her F5 key (refresh page) because of it. Mirai had writers block and wanted to introduce a new character but didn't know what kind of character she wanted. Murasaki helped find Mirai's inspiration after fighting her. After a while, she didn't want to leave the world they were in since it had internet and was secluded off from all other people already. I forgot to mention the little details they put into Shinobi Transformations now. Everyone has a different animation for transforming such as where they keep their ninja scrolls and how they pose, etc. With Murasaki's backstory and intense music, I had hoped she was a borderline psychopathic fighter. But that just isn't the case. She screams things like "just let me die already!" when she uses her hidden ninpo specials, but her animation has her give the most adorable smile towards the screen before her move ends. It's such a strange and conflicting concept. She's portrayed as creepy and depressing, yet cute at the same time. She could've been more.
[Imu]
Her theme seems rather Chinese influenced. A lot of the theme songs have influences of Chinese music and instruments. But I'm wondering if it was a decision to do so since she uses a staff much like Son Wukong does from Journey to the West. Imu plays the support character to Miyabi yet again as the best friend who stands by her through thick and thin. It was hinted that Imu liked Miyabi more than just a friend in Shinovi Versus, but now it's extremely apparent. Imu's the one that snaps Miyabi back into reality and reminded her what her ambitions were and how her team were waiting to follow her lead.
[Ryōbi]
I'd say Ryōbi and Ryōna are the main characters to Estival Versus, at least seemingly so. The two sisters were in the woods when they heard the ritual for helping the deceased move onto the next life. They saw their older sister Ryōki, who was mentioned being killed by a Yōma in Shinovi Versus, in the crowd and ran towards her. When they reached her, a bright light brought them to the parallel world. When they finally reunited with their lost sister, Ryōna was beyond happy to see her elder sister again. Ryōbi did not have the same ecstatic reaction as Ryōna and that was the driving force behind the overall story for Estival Versus. Later in the game, it is revealed that right before Ryōki took the mission to fight the Yōma, Ryōbi had yelled at her "you should just die!" And it devastated Ryōbi when Ryōki's corpse was brought back. The reasoning behind Ryōbi's outburst was because she had a inferiority complex (the game said sister complex. That's not what a sister complex is...). The three sisters had lost their parents at a young age and thus Ryōki took over as guardian for her two younger sisters. In Ryōbi's eyes, Ryōki was perfect. She was beautiful, kind, independent, strong, and intelligent. "How could I compete with that?" At a certain point, Ryōbi had become rebellious and aggressive. Ryōbi eventually reminded her older sister what she had said the last time they saw her before she died. Ryōki claims she doesn't remember the incident and that she isn't angry at her for saying that. Ryōbi ran off even more angry than before knowing that'd be the response she gave. She was such a good person that she'd forgive her for saying such a heinous statement to her beloved elder sister. When the Gessen girls and Miyabi had made peace with the ones they lost, Ryōna urged Ryōbi to tell Ryōki whatever she needed to as it might be their one and only chance. Ryōbi wasn't sure she could tell Ryōki how she really felt after what she said. Ryōna had thought she meant apologizing to her. Ryōbi said "no, I want to thank her. Thank her for taking care of us, for making us strong, and for being there went our parents couldn't." After Ryōna helped Ryōbi find the courage to confront her sister, the two fought Ryōki. Ryōki reveals that she did remember what Ryōbi had said and that it did affect her. She said that she was happy Ryōbi said what she said. Her rebellious remark eased Ryōki's heart as she saw that Ryōbi was finally standing up for herself and becoming an independent woman. She had been worried at that time as Ryōbi clinged onto her for so long that she wasn't sure she was doing the right thing for her. Ryōbi wanted to prove that she is indeed stronger and can take care of herself. The final battle is against Ryōki in her ultimate hidden ninpo state indefinitely. This was the closest boss battle I could think of in the game. And then it got to the ending sequence where they finally said goodbye. Ryōna, who had kept a tight lip and a strong face the entire game finally broke down spilling everything that was in her heart. "Thank you, Ryōki. Thank you for everything. Thank you." I broke down again as it hit a bit close to my own personal life.
I never really got to say goodbye to a lot of the ones I lost. My grandma just disappeared one day and I was told she was at the hospital. I waited patiently everyday for 3 or however many months expecting her to come home. I still remember that day very clearly when I went into the living room and my grandpa was crying. I never seen my grandpa cry before. I ran into my room where my dad was asked what was going on and he said that "we had to let her go." My life had never been the same ever since as it affect my way of thinking, my extended family, and my own family. My grandfather was the only one I really got to say goodbye to. I had visited him at the hospital and told him I'll come see him again soon. He smiled and waved at me and passed away that night. My grandpa passed away a year after my grandfather, and I didn't see him for months and didn't talk to him even longer before he passed. I've only met my great-grandfather three times in my life: once when he visited us in America, and twice when I went to China two times. The very last time I saw him, he shared his wish of wanting for me to get married and show him his great-great-grandchildren. I knew for a fact that it wouldn't happen as I didn't even have a girl friend at that time (and still don't). I also knew that it might have been the last time I'd ever get to see him as we didn't have any plans of visiting China again in the near future (it's been 10 years now). I remember waving bye to him inside the taxi as he left and I already wanted to cry then because I wanted to get to know him better but knew I might not get that chance. He passed away a couple of years ago. And finally, there's my friend Jessica. I have mentioned this in the past, but I wasn't particularly close to Jessica. Yet, she was still my friend and I was deeply saddened when I heard she had cancer and didn't have much longer to live. I wanted to see her, but felt unworthy to since I never hung out with her ever before. When she said she was at a critical state, I couldn't help it anymore and had my parents ask her mom if I could see her. Her mom said it wasn't a really good idea (I imagine she probably looked thin and sickly). I had typed messages to her before not expecting a reply because I wasn't exactly sure what to talk about. I hadn't seen her in person in years before she passed, and I'm not sure if my messages really count as a goodbye. I realized I cared about her, but I didn't now if it was something that mattered to her and I really didn't want to intrude on her when she was already going through so much. I didn't cry when she finally had passed as I cried enough before hand. I didn't go to her memorial service as I didn't think I could handle it. The game had brought all this back for me as I recently revisited these memories with my parents. 2 posts ago, I mentioned having some stressful family issues, and what was going on was that my dad's favorite chicken, Honey, was severely sick and was dying. For three weeks, we saw her go from blind, to a little better and eating, to unmoving and in pain. It deeply affected my dad because we had lost Hattie last year, and his former favorite chicken, Waffle two years ago. It was also because sitting by Honey and watching her life whittle away brought back bad memories of sitting at the hospital room with his mother (my grandma) for those 3 months (or however long it was, I don't remember anymore) and helplessly watch her life whittle away. I knew that it would bring back memories of that time because that's how I felt too: I saw how upset and in emotional pain my dad was and I didn't have anything I could say or do to make him feel better. Back when I was 10 yo and my grandma was in the hospital, I kept telling my dad that she'd be okay; however, I didn't know the circumstances and I still don't. Having grown to be such a pessimist I am today, I'm not keen on giving false hope or words of encouragement to others anymore unless I have reason to believe otherwise. I was sad when Waffle and Hattie passed away, but I did my best not to cry in front of my dad because he was blaming himself for their deaths and I didn't want him to see me sad about their passing. I wasn't as deeply affected by their passing as it did for my dad though. So it was the same with Honey. I was sad, but I didn't want to show him. More than anything, I'm afraid of losing my dad as each passing hen affects him more than the last.
So playing this game and being reminded of all these memories have been...sobering, I suppose. With my 9 week illness in the winter and my now 3 week string of ailments, I fear for my own mortality and well-being. Death is a constant reminder ever since my grandma passed away (thus changing my "way of thinking") and I've always strived forward to do great things with big ambitions. I keep trying to remind myself that it is nowhere near my time yet and that there are still much I need to take care of before the time comes. For the girls of Senran Kagura, death is a constant threat as it is the life a Shinobi must take. But I believe it to be applicable to our own lives as life is unexpected and fickle. We need to make the most of what we have.
[Ryōna]
I didn't mean to carry on for so long. So Ryōna is sort of like a main character in the story, but I guess she's more accurately a supporting role for Ryōbi. Did you know that Ryōna is the older of the two? I didn't. Ryōbi breaks down at one point and thanks Ryōna for being so loyal and so supportive of her. She expresses how grateful she is to have an older sister like Ryōna. Ryōna may be a freak in the game (super masochistic), but she often becomes the voice of reason and kindness for Ryōbi when she's lost her way.
Homura Crimson Squad
[Homura]
I was shocked to find that this song was Homura's as the intro totally sounded like a Daidōji theme song. Homura has become quite the meat-head in the story as she's always looking for a fight and thinking of eating meat. It is also implied that she loves Asuka more than a friend but denies it every time.
[Yomi]
Yomi is back! What I mean is she finally has an amazing theme song. Yomi's pre-transformation theme song in Burst was one of the best songs in the entire series. So I was disappointed when I listened to her theme in Shinovi Versus and didn't really like it. Her theme in Deep Crimson was okay, but nothing like in Burst. But when I first heard this song in Estival Versus, it instantly became one of my favorites. It's fun, catchy, and addicting to listen to. It still amazes me that Yomi is such a sweetheart in the series now when she was the psycho in Burst who hated rich people. She finds a lot of edible food sources on the beach for the crew to eat.
[Hikage]
Oh my goodness, Hikage is fun! Her ultimate hidden ninpo grants her this super powered state where it expands her reach of attack by a large amount while doing tons of damage. Fighting a group of enemies quickly refills her scrolls so she can go back into that state again. Her theme song is pretty fun to listen to. Something I really wanted to see in past Senran Kagura games was interactions between the characters that weren't already paired up. There were definitely a few times where that happened in Estival Versus. Despite it all, I really like the exchanges she has with Imu where she's still trying to figure out emotions. It all becomes sort of a comedy routine where Imu gets ticked off by Hikage while Hikage is trying to figure out what's going on in the conversation.
[Mirai]
Her theme song is...okay. I have high expectations out of her theme songs since the ones in Burst and Deep Crimson is so good and among my favorites from the series. Mirai sort of continues to be a joke or silly character in the series which makes me sad sense she was such a strong character that progressive matured in Burst. She continues writing web novels with no readers other than Murasaki, who is an avid fan of her writing. But it was shown in Shinovi Versus that Shiki took interest in her work and in Estival Versus, Ryōbi also took interest when seeing how intently Murasaki was reading. Her combat style almost seems kind of boring after playing her in Deep Crimson. I still really like Mirai, though.
[Haruka]
Much like Yagyū, Haruka has never had a theme song I didn't like. Her theme songs are easily distinguishable and are often unique and easy to listen to. She doesn't seem to be as OP as she was in Deep Crimson which is necessary if they were balancing the game for multiplayer. Haruka holds a special silly content to provoke Sayuri into telling them what the Bon Dance Festival is really for.
Overseers of the Festival
[Sayuri/Jasmine]
Sayuri is an interesting character. While Asuka's grandpa is a pervert who likes to screw around, Asuka's grandma was/is apparently stronger than her Hanzō and is portrayed as a "tough as nails" sort of gal. She's an ex-Kagura and threw away her title when she wasn't able to fulfill her obligations as a Kagura to fight the Yōma effectively. She lost her friends in the fight and had the creature get away, which is why she's training all the girls to prepare for the inevitable fight. The intro to her theme caught me off guard and I thought I was listening to Dynasty Warriors for a second. The intro really does resonate with the sound, personality, and style of Dynasty Warriors, but that quickly changes as it leads into main portion of the song. Jasmine is pretty song.
[Ryōki]
I really like the Celtic influenced song for Ryōki. I don't know why it feel appropriate, but it just seems like the right kind of theme song for her. Ryōki has very good reach and attack power, but it takes some getting used to the long animation frames to finish up.
[Renka]
Listening to the soundtrack, I knew she was going to be one of my favorite characters. Her theme song is so addicting and upbeat. It reminds me of DDR. She's got a sort of "girl next door" personality and is the smart one in the group. Her fighting style is a lot of fun and I really like her specials where she's banging away on a taiko drum.
[Hanabi]
The idiot of the group. When she thinks too hard, her fireworks jutsu goes off and explosions erupt all around her. Her fighting style is too slow and doesn't compensate in damage enough for my liking.
[Kafuru]
Oh my goodness, she's so cute! I was a bit worried when I read that she had a snobbish personality that likes to look down on others. But getting through the game, I thought she was a sensible character. I like her combos and specials.
I'm not gonna write about the other characters since they weren't part of the story and I haven't played them yet.
This ends my very long rant on Senran Kagura Estival Versus. I'm a bit disappointed with some things, but very satisfied with the overall experience.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Hyperdimension Neptunia U and more Drakengard 3 Rant
[MORE SPOILER ALERT FOR DRAKENGARD 3]
After listening to the music a bit more, dissecting the words and meaning behind them, and pondering on the whole story again, Drakengard 3's theme goes a bit deeper than I had tried to explain yesterday. In my review of Drakengard 3, I mentioned the theme of "loneliness" a lot. What I failed to point out was how this actually affected all the characters. I've already mentioned this for Zero and Mikhail, so I think I can skip those. Besides the idea of being "alone", there was also the "sense of belonging" that leads to the perception of being "alone".
[The Disciples]
Dito - Dito mentions many times how he seems to hate the world and all things in it. He could never find companionship that shared his sadistic outlook for violence and inflicting pain. He abhorred his time with Five and at one point in the game mentions how he was "having the time of his life killing people and watching Zero slaughter them alongside him". It sounds messed up, but he seemed genuinely happy with Zero. Yet, in Branch D he switched sides to the resurrected Five to live his dream in a chaotic world of death and destruction. When he finally realized that he was about to disappear from summoning an angel without an intoner's song, he showed weakness for the first time. He cried out for Zero not to leave him, but there was nothing she could do.
Decadus - As a masochist, Decadus only wanted to serve one that can please him in the way he liked it: to be punished and consistently insulted. When serving Four, she was light on reprimanding him. But he served her faithfully and even wished to have himself killed after Four was slain. Zero captures him instead and Decadus humbly accepted to serve her until death. He seemed much happier with the party in tow as each member, other than Mikhail, verbally bombards him with insults as he moans in pleasure from them. Despite his weird ways, Zero does say that he's "been nothing but a perfect gentleman to her". Zero seemed to have enjoyed his company and Decadus evidently liked being part of the group. Out of all the disciples that leave in Branch D, Zero looked most pained to see Decadus go.
Octa - His entry into the party was one most unexpected. He shows up looking like he was about to start one huge boss fight, only to drop his weapons and surrender.
Scene begins at 1:38
Octa had left because he wasn't satisfied with serving Three any longer. He felt he didn't belong there anymore. He claims that Three couldn't satiate his sexual desires any longer. Despite being a dirty old man (even though he claims to be 22), he was wise and perceptive. He often gave the most useful advice throughout the journey. He would also mention a lot about sex and having a never ending erection along the way too. But near the end of Branch D, when 3 of the disciples are gone, he says that he couldn't get an erection whatsoever. Perhaps he felt the group felt lonely without the others around. Perhaps what all the disciples wanted was a sense of belonging. Despite being a band of weirdos, they stuck together as a group.
Cent - The pretty boy without a brain, Cent often spouts nonsensical statements as fact when he probably just made it up on the spot. They made it a point to show how much of an idiot he is. The only time he seemed right in the head was when he's around Two. It seemed that Two and Cent were deeply in love with each other and that they were alone when separated. It did seem like Cent was the most disjointed from the group out of the four members.
[The Intoners]
Five - There isn't much to say about Five. She becomes obsessed with something and then immediately loses interest when she has it. Nothing really seemed to satisfy her.
Four - She felt that they all should stick together as sisters. She seemed to have all sorts of fond memories of Zero, but none of them seemed real. But to her, she felt like she belonged at Zero's side.
Three - She never seemed sane to begin with. She's like the black sheep of the family and didn't really have a place among the sisters. Almost like she was lost in her own world, she never really seemed to have any connection to any of the characters, including her own disciple.
Two - Deeply in love with her disciple Cent, she never seemed to function correctly without him. After the initial encounter with Two, the struggle of self conflict and sanity between Two and Cent is shown again and again in the alternate branches.
One - She is the only intoner that didn't lose her mind to the parasite's power and the only one that questioned their reason for being in the world. She figure out what she and her sisters truly were and soon fought for the same reasons Zero did. She was the only Intoner without a disciple and no one understood her motives. Ironically, the one person that did understand her was the one she had to kill: Zero.
Thinking about it all, I really liked the narrative of Drakengard 3. It's a shame that the rest of the game couldn't match up with the quality.
[Rant on Hyperdimension Neptunia U]
There isn't any spoilers for this game, because there's really nothing to spoil. I kind of wish they had fleshed out some sort of story for the game, but it's simply just a spin-off meant to take on the Action Hack-n-Slash genre. There isn't much I want to say about the game, but I wanted to talk a little bit about it. I was disappointed with it, but I somehow still enjoyed the game. I've completed the main game and didn't feel like I got much of an experience out of it, despite putting in 21 hours into it. The game does have end-game content, but I'm not sure what to think of it. The game itself plays a lot like Dynasty Warriors and/or Senran Kagura as it was made by the same developers as SK. The catch is that most of the levels are arena based (one small room) and require taking out a lot of enemies. The main gripe I have about the game is how confusing the balance of the game is. Low level quests were sometimes ridiculously difficult while some high level quests were actually not that bad. The recommended levels they listed don't seem to match up with what you have to put up with. Some of the worst scenarios I had to deal with is a room full of enemies that can do a string of attacks that stun you. When a group of enemies attack you in such a fashion, you will die because you'll be eternally stunned. It's even worse when those same enemies have so much health that it takes a decent amount of time to take even one down. I do appreciate the challenge the game provides over what SK games seemed to have presented, but it seems poorly balanced compared to the SK games. Perhaps this was a change to the North American version because many English speaking fans that played the Japanese version said it was so mind-numbingly easy that it wasn't worth playing. It took a bit of grinding, but I was able to complete the main quests by utilizing all the different abilities they provided so that I wouldn't die so easily. Afterwards, it unlocked four things for me: Cheat codes, a Chapter 4 quests, a Gauntlet tournament, and a tower. The Cheat codes can be unlocked by fulfilling certain requirements. What they are, I don't know. Chapter 4 quests give really high level and high difficulty enemies to fight against. The Gauntlet is really unbalanced. It gives items at the end (of which it didn't throughout the game), but the gameplay is so broken that it's not that fun. On Wimpy (Easy), enemies are defeated in 1-2 moves. On Decent (Normal), you die in one combo while they take minimal damage. On Pro (Hard), you do 1 damage each hit while they One-shot you. I'll try it more when I hit max level on my characters, but right now it's just farming for items on Wimpy mode. The tower I haven't tried much yet. It's just going up one floor after another to reach the top and fight the lass boss again. I can dare to say that the game is adequately entertaining for me, but I can't say that it's really worth $40. The game feels like it lacks depth and dynamics. What made SK really great was the flow between story and gameplay. HDN:U just seems to throw a lot of long-winded quests and then giving a few short conversations between the characters. I'm probably going to play it more just to get my $40 worth, but it's kind of a hard game to recommend. You'd have to really like Hack-n-Slashes in its bare core form or Hyperdimension Neptunia to enjoy the game.
After listening to the music a bit more, dissecting the words and meaning behind them, and pondering on the whole story again, Drakengard 3's theme goes a bit deeper than I had tried to explain yesterday. In my review of Drakengard 3, I mentioned the theme of "loneliness" a lot. What I failed to point out was how this actually affected all the characters. I've already mentioned this for Zero and Mikhail, so I think I can skip those. Besides the idea of being "alone", there was also the "sense of belonging" that leads to the perception of being "alone".
[The Disciples]
Dito - Dito mentions many times how he seems to hate the world and all things in it. He could never find companionship that shared his sadistic outlook for violence and inflicting pain. He abhorred his time with Five and at one point in the game mentions how he was "having the time of his life killing people and watching Zero slaughter them alongside him". It sounds messed up, but he seemed genuinely happy with Zero. Yet, in Branch D he switched sides to the resurrected Five to live his dream in a chaotic world of death and destruction. When he finally realized that he was about to disappear from summoning an angel without an intoner's song, he showed weakness for the first time. He cried out for Zero not to leave him, but there was nothing she could do.
Decadus - As a masochist, Decadus only wanted to serve one that can please him in the way he liked it: to be punished and consistently insulted. When serving Four, she was light on reprimanding him. But he served her faithfully and even wished to have himself killed after Four was slain. Zero captures him instead and Decadus humbly accepted to serve her until death. He seemed much happier with the party in tow as each member, other than Mikhail, verbally bombards him with insults as he moans in pleasure from them. Despite his weird ways, Zero does say that he's "been nothing but a perfect gentleman to her". Zero seemed to have enjoyed his company and Decadus evidently liked being part of the group. Out of all the disciples that leave in Branch D, Zero looked most pained to see Decadus go.
Octa - His entry into the party was one most unexpected. He shows up looking like he was about to start one huge boss fight, only to drop his weapons and surrender.
Scene begins at 1:38
Octa had left because he wasn't satisfied with serving Three any longer. He felt he didn't belong there anymore. He claims that Three couldn't satiate his sexual desires any longer. Despite being a dirty old man (even though he claims to be 22), he was wise and perceptive. He often gave the most useful advice throughout the journey. He would also mention a lot about sex and having a never ending erection along the way too. But near the end of Branch D, when 3 of the disciples are gone, he says that he couldn't get an erection whatsoever. Perhaps he felt the group felt lonely without the others around. Perhaps what all the disciples wanted was a sense of belonging. Despite being a band of weirdos, they stuck together as a group.
Cent - The pretty boy without a brain, Cent often spouts nonsensical statements as fact when he probably just made it up on the spot. They made it a point to show how much of an idiot he is. The only time he seemed right in the head was when he's around Two. It seemed that Two and Cent were deeply in love with each other and that they were alone when separated. It did seem like Cent was the most disjointed from the group out of the four members.
[The Intoners]
Five - There isn't much to say about Five. She becomes obsessed with something and then immediately loses interest when she has it. Nothing really seemed to satisfy her.
Four - She felt that they all should stick together as sisters. She seemed to have all sorts of fond memories of Zero, but none of them seemed real. But to her, she felt like she belonged at Zero's side.
Three - She never seemed sane to begin with. She's like the black sheep of the family and didn't really have a place among the sisters. Almost like she was lost in her own world, she never really seemed to have any connection to any of the characters, including her own disciple.
Two - Deeply in love with her disciple Cent, she never seemed to function correctly without him. After the initial encounter with Two, the struggle of self conflict and sanity between Two and Cent is shown again and again in the alternate branches.
One - She is the only intoner that didn't lose her mind to the parasite's power and the only one that questioned their reason for being in the world. She figure out what she and her sisters truly were and soon fought for the same reasons Zero did. She was the only Intoner without a disciple and no one understood her motives. Ironically, the one person that did understand her was the one she had to kill: Zero.
Thinking about it all, I really liked the narrative of Drakengard 3. It's a shame that the rest of the game couldn't match up with the quality.
[Rant on Hyperdimension Neptunia U]
There isn't any spoilers for this game, because there's really nothing to spoil. I kind of wish they had fleshed out some sort of story for the game, but it's simply just a spin-off meant to take on the Action Hack-n-Slash genre. There isn't much I want to say about the game, but I wanted to talk a little bit about it. I was disappointed with it, but I somehow still enjoyed the game. I've completed the main game and didn't feel like I got much of an experience out of it, despite putting in 21 hours into it. The game does have end-game content, but I'm not sure what to think of it. The game itself plays a lot like Dynasty Warriors and/or Senran Kagura as it was made by the same developers as SK. The catch is that most of the levels are arena based (one small room) and require taking out a lot of enemies. The main gripe I have about the game is how confusing the balance of the game is. Low level quests were sometimes ridiculously difficult while some high level quests were actually not that bad. The recommended levels they listed don't seem to match up with what you have to put up with. Some of the worst scenarios I had to deal with is a room full of enemies that can do a string of attacks that stun you. When a group of enemies attack you in such a fashion, you will die because you'll be eternally stunned. It's even worse when those same enemies have so much health that it takes a decent amount of time to take even one down. I do appreciate the challenge the game provides over what SK games seemed to have presented, but it seems poorly balanced compared to the SK games. Perhaps this was a change to the North American version because many English speaking fans that played the Japanese version said it was so mind-numbingly easy that it wasn't worth playing. It took a bit of grinding, but I was able to complete the main quests by utilizing all the different abilities they provided so that I wouldn't die so easily. Afterwards, it unlocked four things for me: Cheat codes, a Chapter 4 quests, a Gauntlet tournament, and a tower. The Cheat codes can be unlocked by fulfilling certain requirements. What they are, I don't know. Chapter 4 quests give really high level and high difficulty enemies to fight against. The Gauntlet is really unbalanced. It gives items at the end (of which it didn't throughout the game), but the gameplay is so broken that it's not that fun. On Wimpy (Easy), enemies are defeated in 1-2 moves. On Decent (Normal), you die in one combo while they take minimal damage. On Pro (Hard), you do 1 damage each hit while they One-shot you. I'll try it more when I hit max level on my characters, but right now it's just farming for items on Wimpy mode. The tower I haven't tried much yet. It's just going up one floor after another to reach the top and fight the lass boss again. I can dare to say that the game is adequately entertaining for me, but I can't say that it's really worth $40. The game feels like it lacks depth and dynamics. What made SK really great was the flow between story and gameplay. HDN:U just seems to throw a lot of long-winded quests and then giving a few short conversations between the characters. I'm probably going to play it more just to get my $40 worth, but it's kind of a hard game to recommend. You'd have to really like Hack-n-Slashes in its bare core form or Hyperdimension Neptunia to enjoy the game.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Let's talk about Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus (SPOILERS!)
Wow, November has been a very short month. I can't say I've been particularly productive this month, but it seems like I'm getting a bit better about exercising again. Now I just need to fix my sleep schedule (again...).
Anyways, I've been playing Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus the past month as I suspected I would. I finished the game in its entirety (with the exception of one last alternate final battle) earlier this week and really thought through on how I felt about the game compared to Burst, of which I had just finished earlier this year. It's only been a little over a year since Senran Kagura Burst first reached North America (launched Nov. 14th) and I already feel like I've been a fan for the longest time. In the span of three years (within Japan), Senran Kagura has already exploded into popularity with 5 games (with one more coming out next year), several manga adaptations, and an animé (albeit, it was dumb). I enjoyed SK Burst immensely; however, I was sorely disappointed with the animé adaptation. So when I got SK Shinovi Versus, I was concerned about the quality of the game and was thinking maybe the first game was a fluke. Thankfully, SKSV is a great continuation of the series despite some weaker points.
Story
I was very worried about the story when I found out that 10 new characters were added with the addition of two new groups being added to the fray. When you put too many characters into a story, it's difficult to give them all a chance to shine and connect with the player. It also makes for some really messy story telling when trying to get all the characters to interact with each other. I had a lot of problems with the stories and character interactions, but it seemed to have panned out pretty well overall when you look at the end result. I also like all the comedic side-stories they had for each character. There will be a lot of complaining from me, but know that I still liked the story overall.
[Hanzō Academy]
The overall campaign for Hanzo Academy was a bit weak this time around and didn't have as big of a impact as Skirting Shadows (Hanzō side of Burst) did. The characters individual stories all expand off of the ones told in Burst and gives the player a better understanding of the characters. Their campaign compliments the stories of the other 3 groups rather than being an important one individually.
[Gessen Girls' Academy]
This campaign was probably my favorite out of the four as it had the best story to tell. All the characters in this group lost their parents against the Evil Shinobi and were all adopted, raised and trained by a renegade Good Shinobi named Kurokage. Kurokage also lost his parents to Evil Shinobi when he was younger and believed that the world wouldn't find peace or happiness as long as "evil" existed. He was good friends with Hanzō (Asuka's Grandfather) during his days as a Good Shinobi, but he had conflicting beliefs on what their job as Good Shinobi should be. Hanzō believed that "evil" is found in all humans and that there must be balance between good and evil for there to be harmony in the world. Kurokage believed that ALL evil must be vanquished, and thus he became a renegade to kill as many Evil Shinobi as possible while being hunted down by Good Shinobi and Evil Shinobi alike. This ideology was passed down to the five Gessen Girls and devoted themselves to that belief that only good should exist and evil should not. Hanzō provokes the Gessen Girls to fight against the girls from Hanzō Academy and later fights Homura and her crew only to find doubt in their beliefs that all evil should be eliminated. It's the same struggle both groups faced in Burst when they were challenged with the question of "what is a good shinobi and what is a evil shinobi?" Kurokage himself is found in such conflict with his own belief and slowly reveals his acceptance in his mistake and hoped that his beloved girls would find their way without facing the same mistake that he did and influenced upon them throughout the campaign. You could say it's a copy concept of the original story, but I really liked the delivery and found it both touching and memorable.
[Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy]
This was a weird campaign. It felt kind of rushed with no real substance, yet it still achieved what it sought out to do in the end. The story starts out at the end of Burst when both Asuka's group and Homura's Group was fighting Orochi. Miyabi, the leader of this group, is in a coma like state after a mission against a Yōma went awry and was forced to use drastic measures to stop it. She awakens from that state when she bear witnesses the destruction of her school and vows to restore it to its former glory. This leads her to finding members to add to the Elite team which ends up being the weirdest group of characters in the game. Besides Miyabi, there is her best friend Imu, who is strict, passionate and loyal; Imu's sister Murasaki, who is often quiet and secluded but becomes loud and crazy when in combat; Ryōbi the foul-mouthed sadist and her twin sister Ryōna the perverted masochist. In order to raise back the reputation of the schools' name once more, the group goes around and dunks on the other three groups. Their interactions with the other characters don't seem nearly as important as the ones they have with each other. The main conflict is between the members within the group and it finally exposes itself at the end before several deadly confrontations brought them together to a mutual understanding of each other. I want to say it was a decent story, but it felt kind of dumb at the same time. The story is mainly the very beginning and very end of the campaign, everything else was kind of a filler. This group has an interesting group of characters, but their potential is unfortunately wasted (which I'll get into detail later under "characters").
[Homura Crimson Squad]
This was the story I was most interested in, which I'm sure most would agree after the ending of SK Burst. Homura fled as a renegade ninja after she killed one of Hebijo's biggest investor, and her four friends followed her. Fleeing as renegades, the group can no longer be shinobi and take on jobs; however, Homura mentions that the lowest of the low can accept assassination missions from shady dealings for money but also points out that it would hurt her pride. They can no longer live peacefully either as renegades are hunted down and eliminated since they've learned the secrets of their school. As they are no longer shinobi, they are always on the run and seem to have lost their purpose in life. "What's the point in living if the day to day life is running and scraping for food?" It's no wonder this story was a locked and hidden campaign until you finished the other three. I really liked it and it reveals a bigger picture on the whole plot for the series. It leads to a new found purpose for the girls and foreshadows an even bigger adventure for all the characters in the future.
[Overall]
I think the overall story in Burst was better than Shinovi Versus, but I still really enjoyed it and am craving more. I can't wait for Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus to release next year.
Gameplay/Combat
I have to admit that Shinovi Versus is much better in terms of gameplay compared to Burst.
Pros:
+ From 2D Side-view to 3D Behind-the-Character, the new orientation gives more room to fight in
+ The three stances: Yin, Yang, and Flash, are all integrated in combat
+ Different techniques for different situations add variety to utilize in combat
+ Smarter AI for boss fights, they're a lot more challenging
+ A Hard difficulty can be chosen after the first playthrough
+ The environment feels more dynamic and diverse
+ Changes in attacks and the addition of elements further distinguishes the characters' playstyle
+ They tried to shorten the story-telling parts without cutting too thin on it
+ Character side-stories is a nice diversion that further develops the relationship between characters
Cons:
- Loading takes so long! Sometimes, they're longer than the actual fight!
- Camera can go haywire and get stuck in a wall or start spinning around
- I don't really like the button mashing sequences
- I'm scared to try PvP, the characters are totally not balanced for it
- Combo chains aren't as long as the ones in Burst, though they feel more well-rounded
So even though the story might not be as good as Burst's, I think the gameplay is a huge improvement. I thought Burst was either way too easy or way too hard. SK Shinovi Versus feels very balanced all the way through as long as you don't do the side-stories first.
Music
The quality of the music is higher than Burst, but I feel like the compositions are weaker. There are a few tracks that really stand out, and I suppose Burst was much the same way. But overall, I think character themes were more distinguished composition-wise in Burst. In terms of the opening theme (video up top), I really like the opening riff and guitar solo. But the rest of the song is only okay compared to the likes of the first two opening themes for Burst (Skirting Shadows and Crimson Shadows), both of which I really liked. The opening to Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson is also amazing and I can't wait for it to reach here in North America.
Characters/Character Themes
Hanzō Academy
[Asuka]
Asuka doesn't get much character development this time around as she continues to find her way along the path of the shinobi. She acts as a sort of trigger to help the girls of the other groups find their way in their lives. I'm not really feeling it for her theme song. I don't really like the intro compared the themes she had in Burst, but the main parts are alright.
[Ikaruga]
Ikaruga struggles with preparing for the final exam and then it dawns on me: "are the girls going to be split apart after they graduate?" It'll be interesting to see new characters and see the remaining ones change, but it'd also be a bit sad to see the group split apart. They do mention that they might not get to see each other as much as soon as they graduate and start taking on missions as a full fledged shinobi. It's also not surprising to see that her brother shows up again; however, it was surprising to see him try to change and find it in his heart to accept Ikaruga. I also really liked her interaction with Murakumo from Gessen Academy and their involvement with Yomi. Ikaruga remains my favorite character as her fast dashes, long reach, and crowd control fit my playstyle. She really respectful, fair and just, and always speaks formally. Her theme in the past was kind of weird the first time I heard it, but I really grew to like it. So I wasn't sure if I was going to like the new one. I do like it. It still has that flavor and a melody that you can follow. I just really like her character.
[Katsuragi]
I've come to really like Katsuragi more and more as a character. In terms of combat, I thought she was kind of hard to use in Burst and she's even harder to use in Shinovi Versus. She's slower with short range, but is strong. I thought they presented her even better in Shinovi Versus as they show many different sides of her. She's usually loud, confident, perverted, and seems to fool around a lot. In Burst, she reveals the truth about her past in how her parents disappeared and how she finds them. The player is then shown a much more serious and determined side of her. Her parents are renegades on the run. And in SK Shinovi Versus, it explains why. Her parents were assigned to assassinate Kurokage. But after seeing how he was just a frail old man taking care of 5 orphans, they decided to live as renegades seeing as they can't bring themselves to kill him and failure meant death. The game also shows a hypocritical and sensitive side of Katsuragi as she reveals that she doesn't like to be sexually harassed despite doing it ALL THE TIME! Despite all the love of fighting she has, she is also shown to have a strong will when she refuses to kill Yozakura. She was a great character in Shinovi Versus. Her theme song is alright. I never really noticed it before, but her theme songs all sound kind of like they're from a Chinese Kung-Fu film. But I think that's what they were going for.
[Yagyū]
I listen through all of her themes from Burst, to Shinovi Versus, to Deep Crimson and I realize they're all really good! Each and every one of them has this beginning riff that makes it sound really cool. It evokes the feeling of "it's time to kick butt!" I don't really quite remember the melody like I do in Burst, but it's something I'd be willing to listen to. It's hard to say how I feel about Yagyū's character. Her back story is sad, but it's not very strong. She loses her younger sister in a car accident and it forever changed her. In Shinovi Versus, it finally explains why she wears an eye patch. She is told that time can heal the pain as memories fade. She starts to forget some things about her sister and that frightened her. So she wears a coin and ribbon over her eye so that she always has one eye on the memories of her sister because she never wants to forget her. So when she first meets Hibari, she is reminded of her younger sister. This is Yagyū's character: the big and overprotective sister. Her character revolves entirely around Hibari to the point where she's even mean to her own friends in the group. She's a pretty cool character, but there just isn't much to her other than she wants to protect the one she loves most who happens to be Hibari. And maybe she wants to protect her friends too, but she has threatened to behead Katsuragi if she feeds Hibari's mind with indecent thoughts.
[Hibari]
Hibari is a dumb character. Why am I talking about her anyways? Okay, I'll admit that I like her a bit more after she reveals that she has a special power that lets her control people. It's the reason why her eyes are different with little flowers in it. She explains why she doesn't like her powers since she feels all the help and friends she has is due to her eye and that she's been living a lie. Haruka is the one who points out to her that people want to help her and she has friends because of her "charm" and personality and not because of her powers because that power only lasts temporarily. But now it explains why she always seem so down when not being able to pull her own weight and help the others. She supposed to be such a cute character with a cheerful personality, but a lot of the times she's depressing, air-headed, and dumb. One of her moves causes her to face plant the floor! Her normal air attack is awesome, though. She a bunny bouncing up and down into the ground killing everything around! Her song is as dumb and silly as her other themes. Yes, I like her a little more, but she's still a dumb character.
Gessen Girls' Academy
[Yumi]
She's quite the lady. Her ninja outfit is a kimono, she's prim, proper, and full of grace. She was also haughty and rather conceited for most of the game. Brought up with the belief that all evil should be vanquished, she finds it deplorable that Asuka and her friends had any involvement with Evil Shinobi. Her ice element is pretty strong as it encases opponents and allows her to continue wailing on them. Yumi is supposed to be an Ice-princess of sort: cold, resolute, with deadly conviction. This is to counter Asuka's personality who is energetic, passionate, with a hot determination. Yumi's theme is an arrangement of Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor/Dies Irae and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 (Sonata Pathétique). I don't know if I like her or not. I guess I feel rather neutral about her character. I really liked her character progression throughout the Gessen campaign, though.
[Murakumo]
She is absolutely adorable! She's a very interesting character in terms of personality. When she has her mask on, she's strong and rather scary as she comes on very strong and aggressive. But the second she loses her mask, she's this incredibly timid and cute girl who just breaks down and can't even talk correctly. The voice actor did an incredible job capture the essence of who this character is supposed to be. For wielding a large cleaver and spear, she's incredibly fast. Her story is that she was an orphan living in the slums where she meets Yomi. She was adopted by Kurokage to be raised and trained alongside the other 4 Gessen girls. She was then adopted to rival Ikaruga's adoptive father's company. She resents Ikaruga's existence as this caused her to be pulled away from Kurokage. Unfortunately, she has the least appealing character theme song. It's supposedly based off of Sergei Prokofiev's Scythian Suite Op. 20, and it's a rather creative arrangement. But it only seems to really emphasize the scary part of her. Still, I think she might be my favorite among the Gessen Girls.
[Yozakura]
There's a lot of mention of being a "big-sister" in the series, but she's the real big sister with 12 younger siblings. She was pretty much the mother figure in the house who cooked and cleaned as their parents were both Good Shinobi and always out in the field for a mission. After losing both parents due to Shinobi battles out in the field, relatives and distant relatives split all the children apart to raise them. Yozakura wanted to take care of all them on her own, but she was only 9 at the time. After being adopted by Kurokage, she sought forth to improve herself until she was strong and responsible enough to bring all her siblings back together again. Not a very realistic dream as all the kids will have grown up and be living their own lives, but a dream nonetheless. She fights with large gauntlets of which I knew immediately she was going to fight Katsuragi (Fists vs. Feet). I like her theme the most out of the Gessen girls and I think it's one of the ones that stand out most in the game. It's an arrangement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata). Yozakura is a very serious character. I feel kind of neutral about this character as well.
[Shiki]
Shiki is a rich and modern girl who's always talking on the phone, using modern slang, and talking about fashion. She knows she grew up rich and spoiled, but she kind of changed after losing both her parents. Kurokage teaches her the sutras of Buddhism to calm her mind when she's not feeling right. So she's often very outgoing with a happy-go-lucky personality, but she also has a calm and zen side of her when she's more serious. In combat, she uses a Scythe with stupid range which is why I don't play PvP because I'd have to struggle through fights with her among others. Her theme is an arrangement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, particularly Winter. She's a fun character with a bubbly personality.
[Minori]
HER! This right here, this is the character Hibari should have been! When I first started up the game and saw Minori as she opened up her mouth to talk, I groaned and complained "not another Hibari..." But holy smacks, I fell in love with this character so quickly. She's not the air-head that Hibari is. Rather, Minori is the epitome of a child-like personality who acts and thinks like a child. She doesn't have much of a back story other than losing her parents due to Shinobi related business like the other Gessen Girls. What made me really like her was who she was. She's as innocent as a child could be in her response of why she wants to play. When she lost her parents, she says there was no one to play with until Kurokage adopted her. Then Kurokage was bedridden with illness. And then she said that one line along the lines of "If everyone just played, we wouldn't have to fight and then my parents wouldn't have to die". That just tore me up. I loved that response. Whenever she had to fight someone, it was never "fighting." She just wants to find friends to play with and she'll say it's "playing shinobi" if it's a fight people are looking for. She's such an adorable character. Her character is a bit difficult to play, though. With short-to-medium range attacks with medium speed, she doesn't have much coverage. Her specials also come out a bit slow and don't have as much coverage as other characters. She fights with a frying pan and bucket full of candy. Her theme is an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, of which I've gotten really sick of hearing since it's a theme often heard during Christmas every year in a lot of cartoons. It kind of bugs me that she has such a large chest for being so child-like. I'm sure it pains Mirai most of all.
Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy
[Miyabi]
I feel like the majority of this group's characters have great potential for character and story development, but they all fell short of greatness. Miyabi is an extremely intimidating character with a dominating attitude. She had the most graphic back story in the game. Often left alone at home with her parents out on a mission, Miyabi and her best friend Imu would play while they wait for their parents to come home. One day, she and Imu decide to go to the place their parents forbade them to go to because it sounded dangerous and they wanted to see what it felt like to be real shinobi instead of pretend play. While they ended up playing there, a black, ravenous monster came out and lunged towards Miyabi. Miyabi's mother, who was looking for her and Imu, saw the monster and ran forward to protect Miyabi. The monster devours Miyabi's mother's head in one bite as her lifeless body falls just near Miyabi as it splatters in blood. Miyabi's father kills the monster and explains to Miyabi what the Yōma are and their role as Evil Ninja is to eradicate the monsters. So Miyabi's drive in life is to become strong enough to fight the Yōma. She doesn't have any strong relationship to ANY of the characters other than Imu, and I think that's wasted potential. I don't really remember much about her play style other than that half wing she uses was really strong. The intro to her theme doesn't really match her character. I was thinking it'd be more darker and heavier. The middle portion of the song is alright. I think Miyabi was wasted potential as a character, but I can hope that she gets more character development in future installments.
[Murasaki]
I want to love this character SO MUCH, but she is also wasted potential. Murasaki is the younger sister of Imu and possess a strange ability that causes her to be inhumanly strong. Often times, she's extremely reclusive and wants to be in her own dark room. She's a "hikikomori" or a "shut-in" and doesn't like coming out. During practice battle when they were younger, Murasaki unleashed her special powers but blacks out when she does so she doesn't know what happens. She was upset that she hurt her sister and didn't want to fight again. She talks very softly and slowly, which often annoys me when she talks in the game, but then explodes and screeches and yells when fighting. I wish they had rode off of this little gimmick of her personality and went with it. Make her one crazy !@# $#!@% when she's fighting or transformed. It would match her theme a LOT better. By the way, her theme song is THE BEST song in the game. I really wish it was Imu's theme because it matches the speed that Imu has and her passionate loyalty to Miyabi. I really want to see this character snap and just go insane with this theme going. I love this song so much. She fights with large shurikens and yells as her special while unleashing her secret ability.
[Imu]
She shares her backstory with Miyabi and Murasaki. Imu feels guilty about the death of Miyabi's mother as it was her idea to go to the forbidden area. Imu is jealous of Murasaki for having the special ability when she did not (but then she finds out she does at the end of the campaign). There isn't much to her character. She's very angry looking, stern, but very girly and vulnerable around Miyabi who she clearly is deeply in love with. I like her interactions with Miyabi and Murasaki, but there isn't enough of it in this game. She's an extremely fast fighter who uses a staff with an electricity element. If I ever PvP, I'd use her because her regular combos would stun enemies pretty easily. Her theme is so normal. It doesn't feel or sound very special.
[Ryōbi]
The Sadist of the twins. She starts off being foul mouthed, but she kind of trails off and doesn't have that personality as much near the end. She doesn't have as much long-ranged attack as I thought she would considering she uses a rifle. Ryōbi and Ryōna lost their older sister and believes Miyabi to be her killer. They plan to ruse as a member until they find the right time to take their revenge. They later find out that a yōma had killed their sister and not Miyabi. Her theme is pretty heavy and grungy. I kinda like it. There isn't much to this character. She didn't play her Sadist part enough.
[Ryōna]
The Masochist of the twins. She does show a much softer and understanding personality when she's not annoyingly masochistic compared to her twin who is often aggressive and demanding. She uses dual pistols with the handles connected which totals to four pistols. She moves like an ice skater and a lot of gun-slinging moves as her fighting style. She such a weird character. I've seen the "masochist" type characters in animé and games before, but she goes far and beyond that. Her walking animation is this weird skipping, her voice is whiny, and she just wants to be beaten. I found her very annoying at first, but she ended up being the one with the most personality of the group. Her theme sounds a bit similar to her sister up until when the melody starts. I like her theme more. I like her character more, too.
Homura Crimson Squad
[Homura]
I liked the story of this group back in Burst, so I was looking forward to this one too. And it was pretty good. Homura has crazy range and coverage with a move that gives her invincibility. I love her theme song this time around as I felt the previous two themes she had started with a good intro but it never built up to anything. Her theme song in this one had a great intro like she's getting pumped up, and then the melody starts and goes somewhere with it. Homura is pretty solid this time around.
[Yomi]
Yomi took a 180 degree turn in personality in this one, it's strange yet wonderful at the same time. She's super warm and friendly in Shinovi Versus. She moves and attacks slower in this one, but she has super armor and a stronger attack this time around. Her theme is very her; you know it's her theme, but it's just not as catchy as her other two themes. She cooks for her friends everyday and still talks a lot about beansprouts.
[Hikage]
Hikage also changed a bit. She was confused and didn't think too much about herself or others because she didn't understand emotions. In Shinovi Versus, she's actively learning more about herself and others while grasping the idea of different emotions. She's super fast and also has a special that makes her temporarily invincible. She also can apply poison damage. Her theme is alright. I liked her older themes more. But the intro is really good.
[Mirai]
Mirai's character is expanded even more as she has found confidence as a shinobi but not quite as a person yet. She shows interest in writing novels and Otaku culture with a series called "Super Sengoku Wars". Her interactions with the other characters are really good. They changed her combat system drastically. She is almost entirely ranged with a lot of different bullet moves. She's also the only character to back dash as her normal dash to put space between her and her opponent. Her theme is very forgettable compared to her other two themes in Burst, which were my favorites.
[Haruka]
Haruka's theme has always been one of the most distinguishable ones. Her theme is pretty good in this one too. I never really liked playing her, and she's even harder in this one with short dashes, short reach, and slow attacks. She has a lot of good interactions with other characters, especially with Ryōna.
[Suzune/Rin]
I wanted to point out that she finally goes back to Hanzō. I really liked that scene.
Okay, I think I've written enough. I really liked Shinovi Versus. I really like Senran Kagura even more now. I'm probably going to even get that music rhythm game. I can't wait for Senran Kagura 2 and Estival Versus.
Anyways, I've been playing Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus the past month as I suspected I would. I finished the game in its entirety (with the exception of one last alternate final battle) earlier this week and really thought through on how I felt about the game compared to Burst, of which I had just finished earlier this year. It's only been a little over a year since Senran Kagura Burst first reached North America (launched Nov. 14th) and I already feel like I've been a fan for the longest time. In the span of three years (within Japan), Senran Kagura has already exploded into popularity with 5 games (with one more coming out next year), several manga adaptations, and an animé (albeit, it was dumb). I enjoyed SK Burst immensely; however, I was sorely disappointed with the animé adaptation. So when I got SK Shinovi Versus, I was concerned about the quality of the game and was thinking maybe the first game was a fluke. Thankfully, SKSV is a great continuation of the series despite some weaker points.
Story
I was very worried about the story when I found out that 10 new characters were added with the addition of two new groups being added to the fray. When you put too many characters into a story, it's difficult to give them all a chance to shine and connect with the player. It also makes for some really messy story telling when trying to get all the characters to interact with each other. I had a lot of problems with the stories and character interactions, but it seemed to have panned out pretty well overall when you look at the end result. I also like all the comedic side-stories they had for each character. There will be a lot of complaining from me, but know that I still liked the story overall.
[Hanzō Academy]
The overall campaign for Hanzo Academy was a bit weak this time around and didn't have as big of a impact as Skirting Shadows (Hanzō side of Burst) did. The characters individual stories all expand off of the ones told in Burst and gives the player a better understanding of the characters. Their campaign compliments the stories of the other 3 groups rather than being an important one individually.
[Gessen Girls' Academy]
This campaign was probably my favorite out of the four as it had the best story to tell. All the characters in this group lost their parents against the Evil Shinobi and were all adopted, raised and trained by a renegade Good Shinobi named Kurokage. Kurokage also lost his parents to Evil Shinobi when he was younger and believed that the world wouldn't find peace or happiness as long as "evil" existed. He was good friends with Hanzō (Asuka's Grandfather) during his days as a Good Shinobi, but he had conflicting beliefs on what their job as Good Shinobi should be. Hanzō believed that "evil" is found in all humans and that there must be balance between good and evil for there to be harmony in the world. Kurokage believed that ALL evil must be vanquished, and thus he became a renegade to kill as many Evil Shinobi as possible while being hunted down by Good Shinobi and Evil Shinobi alike. This ideology was passed down to the five Gessen Girls and devoted themselves to that belief that only good should exist and evil should not. Hanzō provokes the Gessen Girls to fight against the girls from Hanzō Academy and later fights Homura and her crew only to find doubt in their beliefs that all evil should be eliminated. It's the same struggle both groups faced in Burst when they were challenged with the question of "what is a good shinobi and what is a evil shinobi?" Kurokage himself is found in such conflict with his own belief and slowly reveals his acceptance in his mistake and hoped that his beloved girls would find their way without facing the same mistake that he did and influenced upon them throughout the campaign. You could say it's a copy concept of the original story, but I really liked the delivery and found it both touching and memorable.
[Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy]
This was a weird campaign. It felt kind of rushed with no real substance, yet it still achieved what it sought out to do in the end. The story starts out at the end of Burst when both Asuka's group and Homura's Group was fighting Orochi. Miyabi, the leader of this group, is in a coma like state after a mission against a Yōma went awry and was forced to use drastic measures to stop it. She awakens from that state when she bear witnesses the destruction of her school and vows to restore it to its former glory. This leads her to finding members to add to the Elite team which ends up being the weirdest group of characters in the game. Besides Miyabi, there is her best friend Imu, who is strict, passionate and loyal; Imu's sister Murasaki, who is often quiet and secluded but becomes loud and crazy when in combat; Ryōbi the foul-mouthed sadist and her twin sister Ryōna the perverted masochist. In order to raise back the reputation of the schools' name once more, the group goes around and dunks on the other three groups. Their interactions with the other characters don't seem nearly as important as the ones they have with each other. The main conflict is between the members within the group and it finally exposes itself at the end before several deadly confrontations brought them together to a mutual understanding of each other. I want to say it was a decent story, but it felt kind of dumb at the same time. The story is mainly the very beginning and very end of the campaign, everything else was kind of a filler. This group has an interesting group of characters, but their potential is unfortunately wasted (which I'll get into detail later under "characters").
[Homura Crimson Squad]
This was the story I was most interested in, which I'm sure most would agree after the ending of SK Burst. Homura fled as a renegade ninja after she killed one of Hebijo's biggest investor, and her four friends followed her. Fleeing as renegades, the group can no longer be shinobi and take on jobs; however, Homura mentions that the lowest of the low can accept assassination missions from shady dealings for money but also points out that it would hurt her pride. They can no longer live peacefully either as renegades are hunted down and eliminated since they've learned the secrets of their school. As they are no longer shinobi, they are always on the run and seem to have lost their purpose in life. "What's the point in living if the day to day life is running and scraping for food?" It's no wonder this story was a locked and hidden campaign until you finished the other three. I really liked it and it reveals a bigger picture on the whole plot for the series. It leads to a new found purpose for the girls and foreshadows an even bigger adventure for all the characters in the future.
[Overall]
I think the overall story in Burst was better than Shinovi Versus, but I still really enjoyed it and am craving more. I can't wait for Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus to release next year.
Gameplay/Combat
I have to admit that Shinovi Versus is much better in terms of gameplay compared to Burst.
Pros:
+ From 2D Side-view to 3D Behind-the-Character, the new orientation gives more room to fight in
+ The three stances: Yin, Yang, and Flash, are all integrated in combat
+ Different techniques for different situations add variety to utilize in combat
+ Smarter AI for boss fights, they're a lot more challenging
+ A Hard difficulty can be chosen after the first playthrough
+ The environment feels more dynamic and diverse
+ Changes in attacks and the addition of elements further distinguishes the characters' playstyle
+ They tried to shorten the story-telling parts without cutting too thin on it
+ Character side-stories is a nice diversion that further develops the relationship between characters
Cons:
- Loading takes so long! Sometimes, they're longer than the actual fight!
- Camera can go haywire and get stuck in a wall or start spinning around
- I don't really like the button mashing sequences
- I'm scared to try PvP, the characters are totally not balanced for it
- Combo chains aren't as long as the ones in Burst, though they feel more well-rounded
So even though the story might not be as good as Burst's, I think the gameplay is a huge improvement. I thought Burst was either way too easy or way too hard. SK Shinovi Versus feels very balanced all the way through as long as you don't do the side-stories first.
Music
The quality of the music is higher than Burst, but I feel like the compositions are weaker. There are a few tracks that really stand out, and I suppose Burst was much the same way. But overall, I think character themes were more distinguished composition-wise in Burst. In terms of the opening theme (video up top), I really like the opening riff and guitar solo. But the rest of the song is only okay compared to the likes of the first two opening themes for Burst (Skirting Shadows and Crimson Shadows), both of which I really liked. The opening to Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson is also amazing and I can't wait for it to reach here in North America.
Characters/Character Themes
Hanzō Academy
[Asuka]
Asuka doesn't get much character development this time around as she continues to find her way along the path of the shinobi. She acts as a sort of trigger to help the girls of the other groups find their way in their lives. I'm not really feeling it for her theme song. I don't really like the intro compared the themes she had in Burst, but the main parts are alright.
[Ikaruga]
Ikaruga struggles with preparing for the final exam and then it dawns on me: "are the girls going to be split apart after they graduate?" It'll be interesting to see new characters and see the remaining ones change, but it'd also be a bit sad to see the group split apart. They do mention that they might not get to see each other as much as soon as they graduate and start taking on missions as a full fledged shinobi. It's also not surprising to see that her brother shows up again; however, it was surprising to see him try to change and find it in his heart to accept Ikaruga. I also really liked her interaction with Murakumo from Gessen Academy and their involvement with Yomi. Ikaruga remains my favorite character as her fast dashes, long reach, and crowd control fit my playstyle. She really respectful, fair and just, and always speaks formally. Her theme in the past was kind of weird the first time I heard it, but I really grew to like it. So I wasn't sure if I was going to like the new one. I do like it. It still has that flavor and a melody that you can follow. I just really like her character.
[Katsuragi]
I've come to really like Katsuragi more and more as a character. In terms of combat, I thought she was kind of hard to use in Burst and she's even harder to use in Shinovi Versus. She's slower with short range, but is strong. I thought they presented her even better in Shinovi Versus as they show many different sides of her. She's usually loud, confident, perverted, and seems to fool around a lot. In Burst, she reveals the truth about her past in how her parents disappeared and how she finds them. The player is then shown a much more serious and determined side of her. Her parents are renegades on the run. And in SK Shinovi Versus, it explains why. Her parents were assigned to assassinate Kurokage. But after seeing how he was just a frail old man taking care of 5 orphans, they decided to live as renegades seeing as they can't bring themselves to kill him and failure meant death. The game also shows a hypocritical and sensitive side of Katsuragi as she reveals that she doesn't like to be sexually harassed despite doing it ALL THE TIME! Despite all the love of fighting she has, she is also shown to have a strong will when she refuses to kill Yozakura. She was a great character in Shinovi Versus. Her theme song is alright. I never really noticed it before, but her theme songs all sound kind of like they're from a Chinese Kung-Fu film. But I think that's what they were going for.
[Yagyū]
I listen through all of her themes from Burst, to Shinovi Versus, to Deep Crimson and I realize they're all really good! Each and every one of them has this beginning riff that makes it sound really cool. It evokes the feeling of "it's time to kick butt!" I don't really quite remember the melody like I do in Burst, but it's something I'd be willing to listen to. It's hard to say how I feel about Yagyū's character. Her back story is sad, but it's not very strong. She loses her younger sister in a car accident and it forever changed her. In Shinovi Versus, it finally explains why she wears an eye patch. She is told that time can heal the pain as memories fade. She starts to forget some things about her sister and that frightened her. So she wears a coin and ribbon over her eye so that she always has one eye on the memories of her sister because she never wants to forget her. So when she first meets Hibari, she is reminded of her younger sister. This is Yagyū's character: the big and overprotective sister. Her character revolves entirely around Hibari to the point where she's even mean to her own friends in the group. She's a pretty cool character, but there just isn't much to her other than she wants to protect the one she loves most who happens to be Hibari. And maybe she wants to protect her friends too, but she has threatened to behead Katsuragi if she feeds Hibari's mind with indecent thoughts.
[Hibari]
Hibari is a dumb character. Why am I talking about her anyways? Okay, I'll admit that I like her a bit more after she reveals that she has a special power that lets her control people. It's the reason why her eyes are different with little flowers in it. She explains why she doesn't like her powers since she feels all the help and friends she has is due to her eye and that she's been living a lie. Haruka is the one who points out to her that people want to help her and she has friends because of her "charm" and personality and not because of her powers because that power only lasts temporarily. But now it explains why she always seem so down when not being able to pull her own weight and help the others. She supposed to be such a cute character with a cheerful personality, but a lot of the times she's depressing, air-headed, and dumb. One of her moves causes her to face plant the floor! Her normal air attack is awesome, though. She a bunny bouncing up and down into the ground killing everything around! Her song is as dumb and silly as her other themes. Yes, I like her a little more, but she's still a dumb character.
Gessen Girls' Academy
[Yumi]
She's quite the lady. Her ninja outfit is a kimono, she's prim, proper, and full of grace. She was also haughty and rather conceited for most of the game. Brought up with the belief that all evil should be vanquished, she finds it deplorable that Asuka and her friends had any involvement with Evil Shinobi. Her ice element is pretty strong as it encases opponents and allows her to continue wailing on them. Yumi is supposed to be an Ice-princess of sort: cold, resolute, with deadly conviction. This is to counter Asuka's personality who is energetic, passionate, with a hot determination. Yumi's theme is an arrangement of Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor/Dies Irae and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 (Sonata Pathétique). I don't know if I like her or not. I guess I feel rather neutral about her character. I really liked her character progression throughout the Gessen campaign, though.
[Murakumo]
She is absolutely adorable! She's a very interesting character in terms of personality. When she has her mask on, she's strong and rather scary as she comes on very strong and aggressive. But the second she loses her mask, she's this incredibly timid and cute girl who just breaks down and can't even talk correctly. The voice actor did an incredible job capture the essence of who this character is supposed to be. For wielding a large cleaver and spear, she's incredibly fast. Her story is that she was an orphan living in the slums where she meets Yomi. She was adopted by Kurokage to be raised and trained alongside the other 4 Gessen girls. She was then adopted to rival Ikaruga's adoptive father's company. She resents Ikaruga's existence as this caused her to be pulled away from Kurokage. Unfortunately, she has the least appealing character theme song. It's supposedly based off of Sergei Prokofiev's Scythian Suite Op. 20, and it's a rather creative arrangement. But it only seems to really emphasize the scary part of her. Still, I think she might be my favorite among the Gessen Girls.
[Yozakura]
There's a lot of mention of being a "big-sister" in the series, but she's the real big sister with 12 younger siblings. She was pretty much the mother figure in the house who cooked and cleaned as their parents were both Good Shinobi and always out in the field for a mission. After losing both parents due to Shinobi battles out in the field, relatives and distant relatives split all the children apart to raise them. Yozakura wanted to take care of all them on her own, but she was only 9 at the time. After being adopted by Kurokage, she sought forth to improve herself until she was strong and responsible enough to bring all her siblings back together again. Not a very realistic dream as all the kids will have grown up and be living their own lives, but a dream nonetheless. She fights with large gauntlets of which I knew immediately she was going to fight Katsuragi (Fists vs. Feet). I like her theme the most out of the Gessen girls and I think it's one of the ones that stand out most in the game. It's an arrangement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata). Yozakura is a very serious character. I feel kind of neutral about this character as well.
[Shiki]
Shiki is a rich and modern girl who's always talking on the phone, using modern slang, and talking about fashion. She knows she grew up rich and spoiled, but she kind of changed after losing both her parents. Kurokage teaches her the sutras of Buddhism to calm her mind when she's not feeling right. So she's often very outgoing with a happy-go-lucky personality, but she also has a calm and zen side of her when she's more serious. In combat, she uses a Scythe with stupid range which is why I don't play PvP because I'd have to struggle through fights with her among others. Her theme is an arrangement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, particularly Winter. She's a fun character with a bubbly personality.
[Minori]
HER! This right here, this is the character Hibari should have been! When I first started up the game and saw Minori as she opened up her mouth to talk, I groaned and complained "not another Hibari..." But holy smacks, I fell in love with this character so quickly. She's not the air-head that Hibari is. Rather, Minori is the epitome of a child-like personality who acts and thinks like a child. She doesn't have much of a back story other than losing her parents due to Shinobi related business like the other Gessen Girls. What made me really like her was who she was. She's as innocent as a child could be in her response of why she wants to play. When she lost her parents, she says there was no one to play with until Kurokage adopted her. Then Kurokage was bedridden with illness. And then she said that one line along the lines of "If everyone just played, we wouldn't have to fight and then my parents wouldn't have to die". That just tore me up. I loved that response. Whenever she had to fight someone, it was never "fighting." She just wants to find friends to play with and she'll say it's "playing shinobi" if it's a fight people are looking for. She's such an adorable character. Her character is a bit difficult to play, though. With short-to-medium range attacks with medium speed, she doesn't have much coverage. Her specials also come out a bit slow and don't have as much coverage as other characters. She fights with a frying pan and bucket full of candy. Her theme is an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, of which I've gotten really sick of hearing since it's a theme often heard during Christmas every year in a lot of cartoons. It kind of bugs me that she has such a large chest for being so child-like. I'm sure it pains Mirai most of all.
Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy
[Miyabi]
I feel like the majority of this group's characters have great potential for character and story development, but they all fell short of greatness. Miyabi is an extremely intimidating character with a dominating attitude. She had the most graphic back story in the game. Often left alone at home with her parents out on a mission, Miyabi and her best friend Imu would play while they wait for their parents to come home. One day, she and Imu decide to go to the place their parents forbade them to go to because it sounded dangerous and they wanted to see what it felt like to be real shinobi instead of pretend play. While they ended up playing there, a black, ravenous monster came out and lunged towards Miyabi. Miyabi's mother, who was looking for her and Imu, saw the monster and ran forward to protect Miyabi. The monster devours Miyabi's mother's head in one bite as her lifeless body falls just near Miyabi as it splatters in blood. Miyabi's father kills the monster and explains to Miyabi what the Yōma are and their role as Evil Ninja is to eradicate the monsters. So Miyabi's drive in life is to become strong enough to fight the Yōma. She doesn't have any strong relationship to ANY of the characters other than Imu, and I think that's wasted potential. I don't really remember much about her play style other than that half wing she uses was really strong. The intro to her theme doesn't really match her character. I was thinking it'd be more darker and heavier. The middle portion of the song is alright. I think Miyabi was wasted potential as a character, but I can hope that she gets more character development in future installments.
[Murasaki]
I want to love this character SO MUCH, but she is also wasted potential. Murasaki is the younger sister of Imu and possess a strange ability that causes her to be inhumanly strong. Often times, she's extremely reclusive and wants to be in her own dark room. She's a "hikikomori" or a "shut-in" and doesn't like coming out. During practice battle when they were younger, Murasaki unleashed her special powers but blacks out when she does so she doesn't know what happens. She was upset that she hurt her sister and didn't want to fight again. She talks very softly and slowly, which often annoys me when she talks in the game, but then explodes and screeches and yells when fighting. I wish they had rode off of this little gimmick of her personality and went with it. Make her one crazy !@# $#!@% when she's fighting or transformed. It would match her theme a LOT better. By the way, her theme song is THE BEST song in the game. I really wish it was Imu's theme because it matches the speed that Imu has and her passionate loyalty to Miyabi. I really want to see this character snap and just go insane with this theme going. I love this song so much. She fights with large shurikens and yells as her special while unleashing her secret ability.
[Imu]
She shares her backstory with Miyabi and Murasaki. Imu feels guilty about the death of Miyabi's mother as it was her idea to go to the forbidden area. Imu is jealous of Murasaki for having the special ability when she did not (but then she finds out she does at the end of the campaign). There isn't much to her character. She's very angry looking, stern, but very girly and vulnerable around Miyabi who she clearly is deeply in love with. I like her interactions with Miyabi and Murasaki, but there isn't enough of it in this game. She's an extremely fast fighter who uses a staff with an electricity element. If I ever PvP, I'd use her because her regular combos would stun enemies pretty easily. Her theme is so normal. It doesn't feel or sound very special.
[Ryōbi]
The Sadist of the twins. She starts off being foul mouthed, but she kind of trails off and doesn't have that personality as much near the end. She doesn't have as much long-ranged attack as I thought she would considering she uses a rifle. Ryōbi and Ryōna lost their older sister and believes Miyabi to be her killer. They plan to ruse as a member until they find the right time to take their revenge. They later find out that a yōma had killed their sister and not Miyabi. Her theme is pretty heavy and grungy. I kinda like it. There isn't much to this character. She didn't play her Sadist part enough.
[Ryōna]
The Masochist of the twins. She does show a much softer and understanding personality when she's not annoyingly masochistic compared to her twin who is often aggressive and demanding. She uses dual pistols with the handles connected which totals to four pistols. She moves like an ice skater and a lot of gun-slinging moves as her fighting style. She such a weird character. I've seen the "masochist" type characters in animé and games before, but she goes far and beyond that. Her walking animation is this weird skipping, her voice is whiny, and she just wants to be beaten. I found her very annoying at first, but she ended up being the one with the most personality of the group. Her theme sounds a bit similar to her sister up until when the melody starts. I like her theme more. I like her character more, too.
Homura Crimson Squad
[Homura]
I liked the story of this group back in Burst, so I was looking forward to this one too. And it was pretty good. Homura has crazy range and coverage with a move that gives her invincibility. I love her theme song this time around as I felt the previous two themes she had started with a good intro but it never built up to anything. Her theme song in this one had a great intro like she's getting pumped up, and then the melody starts and goes somewhere with it. Homura is pretty solid this time around.
[Yomi]
Yomi took a 180 degree turn in personality in this one, it's strange yet wonderful at the same time. She's super warm and friendly in Shinovi Versus. She moves and attacks slower in this one, but she has super armor and a stronger attack this time around. Her theme is very her; you know it's her theme, but it's just not as catchy as her other two themes. She cooks for her friends everyday and still talks a lot about beansprouts.
[Hikage]
Hikage also changed a bit. She was confused and didn't think too much about herself or others because she didn't understand emotions. In Shinovi Versus, she's actively learning more about herself and others while grasping the idea of different emotions. She's super fast and also has a special that makes her temporarily invincible. She also can apply poison damage. Her theme is alright. I liked her older themes more. But the intro is really good.
[Mirai]
Mirai's character is expanded even more as she has found confidence as a shinobi but not quite as a person yet. She shows interest in writing novels and Otaku culture with a series called "Super Sengoku Wars". Her interactions with the other characters are really good. They changed her combat system drastically. She is almost entirely ranged with a lot of different bullet moves. She's also the only character to back dash as her normal dash to put space between her and her opponent. Her theme is very forgettable compared to her other two themes in Burst, which were my favorites.
[Haruka]
Haruka's theme has always been one of the most distinguishable ones. Her theme is pretty good in this one too. I never really liked playing her, and she's even harder in this one with short dashes, short reach, and slow attacks. She has a lot of good interactions with other characters, especially with Ryōna.
[Suzune/Rin]
I wanted to point out that she finally goes back to Hanzō. I really liked that scene.
Okay, I think I've written enough. I really liked Shinovi Versus. I really like Senran Kagura even more now. I'm probably going to even get that music rhythm game. I can't wait for Senran Kagura 2 and Estival Versus.
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