Valkyrie Drive, by the Senran Kagura guys (contains YURI fanservice)

Ok, I set up a page for Bhikkhuni I'm still going through the game's story so there are elements lacking and thus, any collaboration is appreciated.

P Qube finally released all the DLC for Bhikkhuni.

A while ago I bought this game due to my interest in Senran Kagura, however, I only got to play the tutorial, because it has a lot more hard to execute moves than SK, leaving me dreading how much is necessary to master of these to succeed at the game. All those dashing moves are insane to get used to.

If this is the meaner, Nintendo Hard cousin of Senran Kagura I'm not touching it again.

edited 20th Apr '17 3:47:45 AM by AngelG55th

The game is actually very easy (in fact that is one of its few flaws). The phantom mechanics might look daunting at first but the more you go through the game, the easier they become. In any case you don't really need to use them and spending some time on training mode and doing the first few challenges are the best way to get used to the phantom mechanics.

I pray that you are correct, because Senran Kagura frustrated me into quitting both Versus games.

Which is quite an achievement in non-perseverance.

edited 20th Apr '17 8:39:26 AM by AngelG55th

Vs floated between way too damn easy and "die in 3 hits hard", thats really the only way they can up the difficulty with levels so short and limited AI.

By the way, when levelling up your characters make sure to raise the Extar level of all the girls first, at least until they reach level 10. That will unlock all the attacks of your liberator and the four drive levels. Since driving refills your health you have four free heals per stage.

The only genuinely difficult parts are the final bosses since you've thrown without the chance to build drive and they are able to go into final drive anytime they want. Is not that bad but it catches a lot of players by surprise.

Bhikkhuni will be released on Steam this summer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUwblHRYaFc

Oddly enough, Marvelous is handling this port not P Qube

^ Woohoo! I just finished Estival Versus main story too!

Surprised Marvelous is doing it tho considering that they intentionally didn't do it for Vita...

Good news: This means I could theoretically play it!

Bad news: Chances are quite good the sysrecs are too high for my shitty computer.

Anyone know of a good 100% video walkthrough for the games? No commentary is preferred.

I don't believe anyone has uploaded a full 100% walkthrough, the ones out there only focus on story mode and leave aside Challenge, Survival and the collectibles. That said, this is one of the most complete

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMf_b78jbe81L50d5SpmtSHMuzTczRovO

Honestly, so long as the side stuff doesn't include story or character details, it's probably fine. I just sometimes get annoyed when I'm watching someone play a game and I notice things they don't or figure out things faster than they do. That's why I, by and large, prefer 100% playthroughs or video walkthroughs since the player will usually already know everything.

So, I'm watching those videos and I'm really confused by a number of things due to having watched Mermaid. I had thought that watching it would make it easier to understand what's going on in the world and whatnot but, no, it's the opposite.

For starters, Mermaid said there were five islands where women with the virus (which was called the Armed Virus there but is the A-Virus and V-Virus here) were sent to completely unwillingly. Here, they make it sound like there's quite a few- way more than five- and they go their completely willingly. Not only that but Bhikkhuni seems to be completely different from Mermaid in every way since the girls on Mermaid had no idea (for the most part) why they were there other than as quarantine and had no idea what they needed to do to get off (other than a bogus theory about proving they can create a perfectly acceptable society).

Now, while I can understand the five islands doing things differently from each other for the sake of... whatever the franchise's ultimate plot is about, some facts about Mermaid just seem really weird to me based off of what we're being presented regarding Bhikkhuni. I can only guess that Bhikkhuni is basically the PR island seeing as how entry was easy and voluntary and they're supposedly working on a cure (although, going off of Mermaid's climax, the real purpose seems to be triggering the Valkyrie Drive for some reason) but... I dunno, it's just kinda confusing.

I also just realized that this franchise is basically doing what .hack did years ago. Just less complicated and with far more fanservice.

Some of the inconsistencies regarding the different natures of Bhikkhuni and Mermaid are explained later on the game's story and are in fact, part of the game's major twist.

The game also mentions at the beginning that there's a third, rarer strain of the armed virus, the VR strain. All the playable girls are infected with such strain and is the reason they are able to be Extar or Liberators indistinctly, unlike the girls on Mermaid that could be only one of the two. It also implies that Lady Lady have VR strain.

Bhikkhuni also gives a better insight on the motivations of the group in charge of the SOLDIER program and their reasons to dispatch Momoka and her team to Mermaid.

Yeah, I poked around the work page and it revealed some of that stuff. I also took note of the explanation for how Lady Lady works which I found interesting. Makes me wonder how two people with the VR-Virus (seriously, what do these letters stand for?) ended up on Mermaid instead of Bhikkhuni buuuuut they're secret agents (or were secret agents) so I guess that's all the explanation I need.

Gotta say, I hope the pace of the plot picks up soon. DRIVE_01 was painfully and boringly slow. The fact that Driving did not involve groping- at least not yet- was a major letdown. That and all the obvious corners they cut with the cutscenes in order to conserve budget.

ValkyRie Virus? And since Mermaid is treated as the island where all the undesirable go, I suppose they sent Lady Lady there so they wouldn't let slip any secret from the government.

The start of the game is slow since it focus on introducing the setting and the characters. Driving not being as graphic as the anime is due restrictions from the Japanese rating board. And hey, at least the cutscenes are slightly more dynamic than Senran Kagura's

Yeah, it's really weird that manga and anime can get away with borderline porn but video games cannot. Well, except visual novels which totally can get away with straight up porn for some reason.

It's really disappointing due to not only the game's tagline (Weaponized lesbians! Powered by orgasms! What a time to be alive!) but the promise of incest yuri that they can't fully deliver on here. I thought it strange that the groping wasn't even mentioned in DRIVE_01 but I guess it'd make sense for the sisters and Momo to be able to Drive on their own.

VN can only be openly explicit when they are for PC (PC being for porn games is why ports aren't as popular in Japan), if they are ported to home or handheld consoles, then they are edited to remove any explicit content.

Most of the raunchy contents are implied by the narration and even them, the are much more prominent on the Romance novels. The plot keeps it secondary for the most part. The romantic affection between the Kagurazakas is more blatant from Ranka, Rinka is the usual air headed MC oblivious to love. However said affection becomes crucial during the end game and is in fact, the reason the game has two different ending routes.

If you want to see slightly riskier content with the game's cast, then I suggest you to read the Bhikkunism manga. It tells some extra events happening between the games missions and is more closer in tone to Mermaid in the fanservice department.

I'll check it out after I finish the game's story.

Okay, just what the hell is Valkyrie Drive? In Mermaid, it seemed to be a full powered Drive that required not only a really power Extar but also a Liberator who the Extar had an extremely strong bond with. However, In Bhikkhuni DRIVE_04, it sounds like some kind of tournament or something.

While this probably isn't the case, it feels like the terminology changed between Mermaid and Bhikkhuni and it's kind of annoying because it just makes me hopelessly confused.

Oh that.

What Mamori does in the anime is not actually called the Valkyrie Drive but the Valkyrie Effect, in both Mermaid and Bhikkhuni Valkyrie Drive is how they call a drive with a "perfect" synchronization.

Ah.

So, in that playthrough linked earlier, there was a glitch with the Rongo boss fight that made all of Rongo's SFX and audio clips not play. It seemed like even Mana's SFX weren't playing properly. It made for a very quiet, lifeless boss which did not help both how pathetically easy it looked (not helped by the guy playing on Easy) and the guy's lackluster gameplay.

I will never understand people who take half a minute in order to hit the accept button on menus,

Yeah, that is why I'm not a fan of watching playthroughs. Especially when is of a game I know pretty well, I can't help but question why the player doesn't do the same thing I'd do.

That said, Kongo is the easiest of the Pillar Gods. She hits hard but is slow so is easy to avoid her attacks. If you're interested on seeing more effective gameplay, I've gathered a few videos from experienced players going through the japanese version

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdDkb0xvTQpRMlBHRJ1j9F6CEA95TnnWL

Looking at those, I can't help but notice that Mamori's Drive forms are not the same as they were in the anime which is really disappointing.

I also really wish Bhikkhuni came out for the PS 4 and/or PC since I have no intention of ever getting a Vita.

You do know that it is coming out on PC this summer right?