Senran Kagura

Clearer look at Sayuri's younger form

http://imgur.com/93IAk1s

So it seems either granny or young Sayuri will be a special mode or something.

That's why Versus' story is so mediocre. It sets a lot of plots but barely follows any through.

So more SK 2 impressions.

The way the story is narrated this time is by far the best ever seen on the franchise. The cutscenes, animations, voice acting and music really get the player involved and while I can judge the writing it seems to have the best narrative.

The stance system is such a great addition that I'm gonna be dissapointed if isn't used on more games. It adds a whole new layer of complexity to the characters while also opening tons of new options to play. Frankly, I rather spend my scrolls activating the stances than using ninpos.

As with the Hanzo, the Crimson Squad recieved a massive overhaul. Homura and Yomi bear a passing resemblance to her Versus incarnation but Haruka, Hikage and Mirai are pretty much new characters.

Haruka is the tank character and the mechanic with her robot makes her more "tactical" to be adequately used, Hikage is the fastest character while the berserk stance opens the door for some really devastating combos.

Mirai IS the character for experts on the game, her arsenal demands perfect mastery of them to be adequately used. She can be still used without expertise but she's pretty weak and so, you will have more issues using her. It still pretty fun to bomb the heck out of the other girls though.

Crimson Homura is better balanced this time and so, she doesn't break the game in half making it her more rewarding to use, this changes also serve to avoid rendering normal Homura useless as it was on Burst. Crimson Homura is still a beast though.

The tag team system is tons of fun and is pretty obvious that the game is optimized for it, everything feels faster and fluid that with a single character. The Partner AI is pretty good for what it is, hardly becoming a hidrance. This of course, makes the tag boss battles incredibly frantic where you have to be on your toes at all times lest you get butchered.

To avoid this turning into an excersice of frustration, the non player controlled team member will revive with full health some time after being defeated so you can extend the battle as necessary. Not recommendable but is nice to have the option.

The camera, while not perfect is superior to Versus and the lock system handily has an arrow to point off screen attacks. The camera can feel weird sometimes but that is determined by the character used: slower characters will made more difficult to handle the camera while fast ones will have nearly no issues with it. On my opinion, a great addition since means the characters are perfectly defined.

Another EV gameplay video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=q4dQ0cfnhQI

Graphics are amazing, enemies seem brain dead and the swarm the screen like nobody's business (something that doesn't seem promising for the Vita version)

Renka looks pretty damn fun to play but still massively underwhelmed by everything shown so far.

Can I say that some of the enemy designs look sometime more interesting than the main cast? I would like to play as those sparrow shinobi.

Of course Renka would have electricity powers. Thunder drums and all that.

The hands on the dressing room still look weird.

Hey, at least they're Mickey Mouse like-hands, it would've been massively uncomfortable other kind of hands (still think it was an unnecessary addition though)

It would be nice if enemy gear were available on the dressing room

http://imgur.com/s0nBGWL

Those mooks that went all Hulk on Burst cracked me up.

http://imgur.com/s0nBGWL

edited 12th Feb '15 8:41:45 AM by Tzitzimine

I still would have preferred regular hands if anything. And I think you posted the same link twice. Though nice that the Cyclops shinobi have different hairstyles.

I just noticed something about Ryoubi. In official art, the butt of her musket seems like it just has a sharp corner to it. However, in the in-game model, the thing is just an axe head.

You're right, I posted the same link twice. My bad.

This is the correct link

http://imgur.com/KOJph02

And here are the scans I've made of my artbooks

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/sygylfmmngwoq/Senran_Artbook

Not the best quality, but is better than nothing I think.

Anyways have more SK 2 impressions

Is funny how one of the complaints I've seen the most is how the levels are short but considering the way story mode is structured you get some pretty long stages. This, in my opinion is a great choice. You get incredibly involved with the story told and (although that might be just me) you can actually empathize with the characters. The "you gotta be kidding me" feeling after mowing down tons of enemies just for a boss to show up.

While on the other hand. the missions are fast and short by itself, perfect for grinding or imrpoving your ranks.

This leds me to another factor I'm enjoying inmensely, the rank system is shared. While is hard to get an A rank on your first playthrough (where the character is preset by the plot) you can return later with your favorite character and get an A rank without an issue, thus avoiding the padding plagued both Burst and Versus.

Another "complaint" I've seen is that the game is optmimized for the tag system. This is true but is also true you can play any level with any character or characters. That's right. you can even do the tutorial level with a tag team and wreck faces like nobody business. Add the incredibly lenient way ranks are handled now and you can pick a tag team for better ranks or your favorite girl just to beat people up.

I also had the chance to play with Rin and damn, she's a beast. Fastest character on the game but unlike her previous iterations, her speed isn't a hidrance. Her stance is a lso a great addition, she gets surrounded into what it can only be described as razor wind, making her lethal on close combat.

Bosses are tremedeously more fun to fight now, normal bosses are a bit like fighting another player while the Youma fights add a most needed change to keep things fresh.

My only complaint so far is the ranking system, but mostly because I can't read the results screens and so I don't know what is exactly what is being tallied.

Nonetheless, Deep Crimson is a FANTASTIC game and I can't wait for it to be localized.

Younger Sayuri is called Jasmine

http://imgur.com/JsEfvou http://imgur.com/wY6q970

Everything seems to indicate that Sayuri will be a boss only character

http://imgur.com/iEzM6D6 http://imgur.com/hKBIMyG

And there are speculations about a Young Hanzo and Asuka's dad showing up on Estival.

The OVA bundled with Estival is also confirmed to have full front nudity. I'm kind of dissapointed by the fact.

edited 16th Feb '15 9:23:57 AM by Tzitzimine

Unfortunately called Sayuri not being playable. And what is that thing with Jasmine? A tapir/baku?

I would like to play as young Hanzo. And Asuka's dad might just be NPC.

Thank you for the scans, btw. I always like checking concept art. They always show cool stuff, like how Hikage's knife is folded and how it is a whip knife in SK 2.

You know, just from viewing SK 2, I feel like most of the cast is really redefined there. Like, compare how they play in Burst and you notice that even in such a short span, they have started developing their own fighting style.

It seems like a small elephant to me.

Glad you enjoyed the scans! I love seeing design sketches and have a deeper view of the game's world.

And you're absolutely right, all the girls are perfectly defined on SK 2.The stance system being the epitome of this.

edited 16th Feb '15 9:36:19 AM by Tzitzimine

I suppose just to drop in to talk about the implied collaboration with Dead or Alive series. Indeed, Japan has exclusive DLC costumes for Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, which includes 16 SK-themed costumes. Though currently those costumes are not available for purchase outside of Season Pass.

Now just to see if Estival Versus includes DoA costumes.

edited 20th Feb '15 6:28:28 AM by TPPR10

I wonder what costumes will be?

I'd like to think that everyone from Hanzo and Crimson will be a lock, Dai and Rin also seem likely. No idea on the remaining four though.

I would put my bets that two of the remaining four would be Hanzou and Hebijo school uniforms. Wild bet that one of the last two will be either Hanzou or Murasame. You know, just to give the guys something to wear.

edited 20th Feb '15 8:40:18 AM by TPPR10

Since for some reason Yumi is the most popular character on Japan, her costume must be there. And I guess that Miyabi also gets in so we have the four leaders.

I could see Rin having two versions: Teacher and Shinobi

Not that it was pput on doubt but we have confirmation at the OVA crossing the fanservice line into full echii

http://blog.livedoor.jp/geek/archives/51474841.html

Honestly, I'm disappointed.

Part of the series' charm for me was the fact they kept pshing the envelope as hard as they could but they still kept it classy. Now it just seems another echii series for the pile.

Anyways, as part of the advertising for Estival. They have been releasing interviews with Yumi, Miyabi and Asuka V As

http://nichegamer.net/2015/02/hitomi-harada-talks-about-senran-kagura-estival-versus/

http://nichegamer.net/2015/02/senran-kagura-estival-versus-interview-with-hirata-hiromi/

http://www.marvelousgames.com/yumi-interview-translation/

(Yumi's interview has some very rough translation but Niche Gamer never translated that interview)

Not a lot about the games but is always nice to know more about the people involved on its creation.

Well, Hiromi slips that Miyabi will met her late mom on Estival while Hitomi reveals that Asuka wants to touch more girls.

Oh yeah, I remembered one tumblr post what pointed out that you could see nipples briefly in the preview trailer. Eh, I watched uncensored Strike Witches with the power of sarcastic "Cover your boobs, ladies", so I am ready.

Update on multiplayer for Estival Versus

Vita supports 4 players and Ps4 supports 10 players. Point Battle and Panty Collection Battles are back, and a new mode (I think) where you have to increase the bra amount of a flag made of them by defeating enemies and not loose it.

Update on the DOA costume DLC thing: It will come this March (date not stated), and the costumes in question are destructible.

Those look surprisingly nice (so much that now I'd like to see the Senrans rendered on DOA's style) hope the pack will also be avilable for 360. Since the picture showcases Asuka and Mirai, I guess that confirms we're getting costumes of the original 10.

Over other board someone had the chance to play EV on an event and while it only played for ten minutes, he said it was identical to Versus. Expected but still hugely dissapointing.

http://imgur.com/ikCPpIq

http://imgur.com/Y97aUaS

Now every leader gets a super form. Miyabi's looks kind of dumb and considering that most of the super forms aren't even that impressively designed on the first place is quite the accomplishment.

Renka gets a freaking laser cannon though, that's pretty sweet.

So Renka is the only character who doesn't get a hairstyle/colour change while going super. Okay then. It would also be funny if her super mode was something more mundane than the others. Like, Homura has her seventh sword, Ryoubi has Blood Riot, Yumi could either have Cataclysmic Force or something else, and Asuka... Okay, I have no idea what she uses for her super mode (I am not even sure what hers is called). And If we would intermit Jasmine being one for Sayuri, she can somehow make herself younger.

Well, Asuka's called Shinei no Asuka on Deep Crimson and from the little I can gather it comes from the Super Hidden Ninpo Scroll.

You know, doing some daily checks on tumblr on latest pots on SK has shown to be quite interesting. How else could I have found out about SK-themed ramen collaboration? (warning, Kotaku) I always like when stuff like this happens, just to see what they can come up with.

I think this also made me realise one thing about this series: I am not aroused by the fanservice, I am amused by it and how much they can get away with it based on any given restriction (like EV OVA might actually show nipples, but now I am interested on how they are going to cover up the rest).

edited 5th Mar '15 11:32:42 AM by TPPR10

Promotional food for the games is kind of a tradition by now

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/11/senran-kagura-2-gets-real-food-items/

I don't have the ad at hand right now but Burst had a special chocolate ice cream too.

So I got the pleasant surprise of one of the artists I follow on Devianart turning out to be the Animation supervisor/Layout for EV's OP

http://titanomaquia.deviantart.com/

He also made a pretty cool looking picture of Asuka

http://titanomaquia.deviantart.com/art/Senran-Kagura-Asuka-2014-469378723

Not really that big of a story but I couldn't help sharing since the guy is a fellow mexican