Senran Kagura thread

Personally I'm hoping that we get the OVA that was paired with the special edition of Estival Versus in Japan, I mean the Zestiria CE is coming with its OVA after all.

Otherwise, it'd be cool if FUNimation would license the extended edition of the OVA and also release the omake that weren't included in the original release of the anime series.


Also congrats, I was waiting for somebody to notice.

Whoa, it's hard to believe that Senran Kagura 2 is a 3DS game. It runs so much smoother than the original (though the breast physics look super unnatural now, even for videogame standards: they appear to be modeled after water balloons,) they can display a ton of characters in cutscenes and animate them independently and it has ONLINE co-op for the entire game once you unlock the tag mechanic. The cutscenes really impressed me right from the get-go, Yagyuu going all washi washi on Hibari and everybody turning in surprise was hilarious.

I keep saying this, but I think Tamsoft is a really underrated dev team. They're already far beyond what Koei has achieved with the Dynasty Warriors games (though Hyrule Warriors is still a strong contender and Dragon Quest Heroes appears to be Koei's Onechanbara) and Onechanbara Z2 proved that they could totally make a character action game if they wanted to. I really hope that Valkyrie Drive doesn't distract them from making future Senran Kagura games though...


One thing that's kind of disappointing is that this is more of a side-story than a sequel, and I doubt the story will really have any impact on the events of future games since it seems like it's all going to focus around bigass Youma battles. The tutorial literally starts during the raid on Hebijo. It's more like Senran Kagura 1.5 with Shinovi Versus being the true sequel. Now it makes sense why nobody from this game ended up in Estival Versus/SK3 (excluding Naraku who will be added via DLC.) Hopefully they'll flesh out Crimson Squad some more at the end.

Kenichiro Takaki (Senran Kagura's producer) is working on a new game called Uppers.

http://gematsu.com/2015/10/marvelous-announces-uppers-ps-vita

Takaki being Takai, there's boobs involved.

"Girls will cheer the guys on during their fights to heat them up. If you defeat enemies in front of the girls, you’ll power up. There is even a chest grab-and-bury-your-face element. (There’s the Takaki influence.)"

Basically this is, as the Best Friends would say, Girls Are Watching!: The Game.

Also did any of my Senran Komrades get Senran Kagura 2?

I figured out most of the game's quirks, though some missions are still a huge pain to get A-ranks on (most stages refuse to give you an A-rank if you take even 100 points of damage.)

What ever happened to that lone male character that was playable? Is he still around and playable or was that just once.

Murasame, Ikaruga's dirtbag brother. He's playable in Senran Kagura 2 only, and can be selected if you export your Senran Kagura: Burst save to your SD card (I realize it was digital-only in America but you still have to do this =P) or you can buy him for $5.

Speaking of special characters, I linked Ayane's trailer already but here are the Ikki Tousen girls:

Taiyz wrote:

Murasame, Ikaruga's dirtbag brother. He's playable in Senran Kagura 2 only, and can be selected if you export your Senran Kagura: Burst save to your SD card (I realize it was digital-only in America but you still have to do this =P) or you can buy him for $5.

Oh nice. Thank you for the information!

Just to clarify further just in case, the exporting is done from within Senran Kagura: Burst's menus, not the 3DS' system-level digital save converter nonsense. In the Continue menu you go to SD card and you can choose to copy one of your saves to the SD card (which you can also load from or delete after the fact, and of course you can choose to copy your save over again later if you just want the SD card save as a backup..)

This doesn't wipe out your regular save file or anything, I guess it's if you wanted to transfer saves between cartridges (you could load an SD card save then save to the cart/digital game save list) which isn't really relevant because we only got the first game digitally.

This will be helpful, I'm going to write that down for future reference.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-15/xanadu-next-little-king-story-senran-kagura-shinovi-versus-head-to-pc-in-the-west/.94264

everybody say it with me, INEVITABLE NUDE MODS

Especially since it says right in that article that Takaki has no problem with mods.

Well Estival Versus certainly escalated things. Bon Appetit! has complete nudity with 8-bit-style sprites of the girls or whipped cream covering them, Estival Versus has Mysterious Anime Light(tm) obscuring things, and the OVA that came with the LE version of Estival Versus, or at least the extended version that was released separately, features uncensored nipples.

I think it's clear that if they didn't have to worry about laws or sales, they'd be fine with full on nudity.

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/12/29/there-will-be-more-to-come-for-the-senran-kagura-series-in-2016/

Whew, I was kinda worried that with Valkyrie Drive out and Uppers on the way, that the Era of Kagura was behind us.

In other news, Slowgamer McTaiyzman has finally gotten around to playing through most of Shinovi Versus' story...Murasaki's totes adorbs, I was expecting to not like her and Bebe-tan (TAMSOFT WHERE IS FULL-SCALE BEBE-TAN PLUSH) but I think she's probably in my top 3-5 characters. I feel really bad for her sometimes though, particularly the punchline of her Bon Appetit! story...Though that arc was really amusing. Her calling Shiki NAITOSUTAKKA and throwing garlic at her then asking someone for holy water was priceless, and like Homura it seems to add an extra favourite food to her repertoire, pizza being the first delivery place she mentions in her intro, it also being featured in her character art and clear image. I dig that, unlike some of the other characters that rely super heavily on a single character trait (MINORI,) she has depth and self-awareness of her hikkikomori life-style despite being so spacey. Also her Bayonetta-like Fuuma Shuriken-wielding is pretty cool, although she's not particularly strong.

I kinda wish that the story arcs for some of the Hebijo and Gessen girls were more interesting. Some of them are again, very singular (Imu especially.) It's nice that there are lots of background details still, like Shiki being a goddamned Buddhist, and Murakumo's misguided relationships with Ikaruga and Yomi (not gonna lie, the Yomi scene caught me off guard.) Hanzo and Crimson Squad have the benefit of being reactive characters, Gessen and Hebijo just show up out of the blue and suddenly there's a plot! They are also already developed so Crimson Squad is basically a sequel story to the first game, and the Hanzo story was able to be more focused, although they completely forget to mention what happens to Katsuragi's parents afterward. I will say though, Gessen's story was a lot more satisfying than Hanzo's just because Hanzo's story made them into complete antagonists and make you dislike the characters. I kind of dislike the what-if aspects of the visual novel style of storytelling though, Kurokage's current situation is vastly different between Hanzo and Gessen's stories, and in the Hebijo story you apparently burn down Gessen Academy!

I kinda wish that Xseed wouldn't adapt the script so heavily sometimes. There are times when characters are speaking English, like LET'S ENJOY LIFE being turned into let's par-yay! In Hanzo's story, I think Yozakura says "this isn't a sports manga," twice to Katsuragi regarding her intent not to kill anyone, the first time it was translated as "you're treating this like a sport, not a battle" and the second was more like "this isn't a game, you know!" and while they obviously keep the same intent, when the character is obviously saying SUPOOTSU MANGA I at least expect to see "sports comic" (because they never say manga in the script, which really bothers me. There's one other word that I'm forgetting right now that I wish weren't translated...On that note, it's interesting that FUNi decided to leave shinobi barrier as shinobi kekkai.)

Miscellanea: Ryoubi having a goddamn hatchet attached to the butt of her gun is intense, even if her goddamn bolt-action rifle fires impossibly when she spins it around during DMC Fireworks-like combos. I also really dig Ryouna's delay after her triangle Secret Ninja Art which is another DMC-inspired move (Bullet Rain!) Makes her feel a lot more technical despite her Breach Art being pretty OP.

Man these games are good though. Aside from Gravity Rush, Senran Kagura is possibly my favourite franchise right now.

Edit:

It's here, it's here, it's heeeeeeeere!

The game looks fucking phenomenal on the PS4, videos on YouTube just don't do it justice when it comes to the frame rate.

The new dressing room features are also super hype (to access the traditional stuff, hit square when selecting a girl's outfit, the diorama feature is a separate mode from the classic dressing room. I haven't figured out if you can input text in-engine though...) They also fixed Homura's underwear so she doesn't have a weird bandage-kini top underneath her t-shirt.

So, what faction did you guys get for your art cards? I got Gessen, which I'm on the fence about (I think my preference would've been Homura's Crimson Squad, Hebijo, Gessen then Hanzo.)
Each Endless Summer box comes with one faction, 10 cards featuring the faction's five reps with two outfit variations; six factions in all (I'm assuming the two extra ones are for the overseers and DLC characters) and no I haven't found a gallery yet. Much like their other CE stuff, XSEED thinks that they will be releasing the card packs to buy from their website's store, but it could take a while to offer them.

If you haven't gotten the game already, what's wrong with you?


(PS: this was unintentional.)

Have they gotten rid of the clothing damage animations? I don't mind clothing damage per se, but zooming in on their boobs was a bit much. Then again I only played the first 3DS game.

I think so, actually. I haven't played very much though, because of the amount of text in the intro (you do 6 missions back to back before you can access the real single player menu, but everything apart from the shop is unlocked from the get-go...Not 100% on characters in multiplayer yet, Jasmine, Ryoki, Sayuri, ultimates, properties and moves from leveling may be locked by progression.)

The first real boss fight I had still featured a boss intro and a transformation animation, but when I performed a couple ninja arts there weren't any other cutscenes except for the Creative Finisher at the end (certain objects in the environment have a ! sign beside them, defeating a boss by one of these strips them completely and plays a humorous cutscene.) The game in general feels like it was balanced more for the multiplayer's sake, to be honest. You've even got some Smash Bros.-esque items and gimmicks to play around with, like balls that cause physics damage when attacked and one-use bombs that can cause damage over time or stun your opponent. (Personally my only complaint about the game so far is that the bombs should've been mapped to R/R1+X and should've given the player a TPS-style "grenade path" for them, the bombs require you to be completely neutral on the ground and hit triangle which is super finicky if you've been dashing around.)

This game does have a bunch of visual settings in the menu though, give me a few minutes and I'll edit with some of the details.

Edit: well, they removed boss' ninja art cutscenes at least, your character has them still but I assume they aren't present in multiplayer. I assume that boss' ultimates may still have cutscenes but I haven't seen one yet.. You can disable clothing destruction for cutscenes (and custom outfits and accessories, in the settings menu,) but not in-game.

Double edit: destruction cutscenes are definitely still in, but I've only been able to trigger one per fight, per costume, so far. Don't think I've gotten anybody down to JUST their underwear before a fight ended (the manual indicates that this is still possible,) and the cutscene doesn't always trigger, maybe only during aerial raves. I'm wondering if it only occurs at set thresholds of destruction (maybe only the first (and last, if the manual is right) times that clothes break, further testing is making this seem more likely) AND only during an aerial rave, or at least when you trigger a green halo.

I also think that there's just a single hidden clothing gauge now instead of damaging tops and bottoms separately, and ninja arts just do bonus clothing damage since you can get bosses naked without ultimates or CFs. You have to deal a certain amount of clothing damage then finish them with a ninja art to strip them. Ultimates just count as regular ninja arts now, Homura's unlocked at level 12 so the requirements are low, and frenzy mode doesn't change anything I've said. Although there's an item to restore "one level of clothing defense" the manual doesn't indicate if clothes reduce damage.


Oh and Homura's new ultimate is great, it combines her original ultimate with her super busted triangle ninja art, so instead of a fighting game-style burst she performs her SV ultimate then goes Crimson for a while (unfortunately her Crimson attacks still don't count as ninja arts themselves and I don't think she can perform any arts while Crimson, so getting that blue star requires patience if they won't go near a CF.) This is much more balanced than letting her become invincible with only three scrolls.

So I looked into some stuff.

One of my favourite changes in Estival Versus is the shinobi transformation, now, as long as you aren't already in a boss fight, your character's theme starts DURING the transformation cinematic. This gives you a nice RULES OF NATURE!! moment before you start kicking ass. SV and SK2 did this as well, but only after playing out the transformation cutscene with a generic humming background track (and SK2 would only play the character theme of the leader, presumably just so that the host in online co-op can control this. I also just discovered that based on whether you finish/abort a mission with a Hanzo or Crimson Squad member as the leader, that changes which ninja room you go back to.) I'll upload a video of this when I get around to it.

Also, I forgot how drawn out the ninja art cutscenes were in Shinovi Versus. While clothing destruction scenes are still in (to an extent,) the ninja art cutscenes are now more comparable to standard Musou game supers, Ninja Gaiden charge attacks or DoA Power Blows. It's nice to see Tamsoft learning from their partners in big-titted crime. So there's no longer a cutaway to the speedlines dimension, you just do the move with some camera angle changes and voice clips.

Finally, I got around to confirming that a new feature of Homura's ultimate is that, not only does Crimson mode seem to last longer, but if you finish a mission while Crimson, you remain Crimson even during her victory animation. Super, super hype.

The game is still fun...but damn. They slowed down the heck of it just to balance multiplayer...and it shows.

Dash/Jump Cancelling has been watered down/almost non-existent compared to Shinovi. I was trying my usual cpntrols at the beginning of the game and couldn't do it. The combat feels less fluid and a bit more stiff for me now.

Coming from Shinovi and the insane speed of Deep Crimson, this a bit disappointing that they did this. Still having fun with this game so I'm still okay.

Daidouji and Rin are pretty much still broken and feels like the only characters that didnt get affected by the slowdown.

New waifu Renka and Hanabi:3

They kinda had to dial it down. Apparently Shinovi Versus was full of balance issues and there was some sort of ridiculous combo that people would use in MP, don't think it was an infinite with the way that the game is structured, but I heard that it was like the first thing that people noticed in Estival.

Certain characters were affected differently. Honestly I don't have any issues with how Homura plays in Estival, but I suppose she never really relied on movement options because so many of her attacks move her around and can be steered. Apparently Katsuragi plays like a slow, powerful fighter now (someone likened her to using big swords in Monster Hunter.)

Also Rin's entire gimmick is dashing so I didn't really expect her to be too affected.

Edit Oh yeah. So there's a bunch of fake social media sites that XSEED created to promote the series with in-character entries from several characters.

You've got Mirai's web novel: https://futsure.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/
Murasaki's LiveJournel: http://cute_shutin.livejournal.com/
Shiki's blog: http://shinobistyling.blogspot.ca/
Ryobi and Yomi's IndieGoGo (not sure how people found this): http://gogokickme.com/bootyland/

Dressing room shenanigans is making me laugh too much.

BTW, I want Uppers too dammit.just release it in the west first Takaki.

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping will happen.

https://twitter.com/KenichiroTakaEn/status/712579255914340352

Apparently Takaki's pleased with Estival's sales so far.

From a retweet:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeFzPEEUUAE5TUB.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeFzPFlVIAA_Z8n.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeFzPDwVIAEDFli.jpg

Diorama mode so godlike.

Is she high in that last pic?

What are you, 12? It's a comic. Asuka's grandmother is trying on Asuka's shinobi outfit and acting all cute, while Homura knows perfectly well that her real appearance is this.

There's also the fact that Sayuri generally gives Homura a hard time, probably because a lot of people ship Asuka and Homura (Yumi even made a joke about it in Shinovi Versus' Gessen story) or just because she can be impatient and Sayuri is vague and crotchety.

You missed an emoticon there.

Just because you were trying to make a joke doesn't make that comment better since it's 100% clear what the panel is trying to communicate.