Enzai Shikkou Yuugi: Yuru Kill (G.rev/Izanagi Games collab)

[xxx1993]

Oh, trust me, I’m like that with a lot of voice actors these days.

[qmish]

So... did you participate in score event?

https://steamcommunity.com/games/173384 ... 3327411657

[m.sniffles.esq]

So... did you participate in score event?

I played on Switch, which has desolate leaderboards.
(BTW the event goes until 8/31, the "7" seems to be a typo)

[xxx1993]

Spoiler

The ending theme also happens to be sung by our villain, so what is that supposed to mean? Is this like the end of Portal where GLaDOS sings that she's "still alive", or Double Dragon Neon with Skullmageddon singing about his defeat at the hands of Billy and Jimmy Lee?

[xxx1993]

I have another question to ask. For each team, who is the one calling the shots? The Prisoner or the Executioner?

[xxx1993]

I've finally downloaded the game. I'm already two chapters in.

[xxx1993]

Only two chapters remain. And I intend to finish this before September.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Are you on the dreaded chapter 6?

[xxx1993]

Are you on the dreaded chapter 6?

Dreaded? What's so dreaded about it? Is it because the Bullet Hell is a boss rush involving Kagura, Oka, and Rina? Three back-to-back fights?

[xxx1993]

Finally cleared Chapter 6 and earned Rina's trust. The final battle is about to begin!

[m.sniffles.esq]

Dreaded? What's so dreaded about it?

Rina's incredibly jive last wave (it's seriously harder than the final stage)
Everybody seems to hate it (including yours truly)

[xxx1993]

I lost a few lives against Rina, but I still won. Just as long as you answer the questions at the beginning of every Bullet Hell section, you’ll do fine.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I lost a few lives against Rina, but I still won. Just as long as you answer the questions at the beginning of every Bullet Hell section, you’ll do fine.

Oh, I don't mean during the main game, they give you more lives and even cap her conditionals at a lower point. It's during score attack that she petty much spoils everything. Even if you let Oka take a few lives so her conditionals for the first two waves aren't so brutal (and you have to suicide the lives for Oka as he's dead easy), her final wave saps whatever lives you have remaining.

It's impossible to do all that dodging while still returning fire, and she has such a ridiculous amount of health. It's just such a sudden and unfair difficultly spike. Especially strange, since the seventh stage returns to being balanced. But, it pretty much completely ruins the potential for anyone playing score attack mode.

[xxx1993]

Oh, that... Either way, I'm finally starting the final chapter. It is time for the final showdown!

[xxx1993]

I've finally reached the final confrontation with the culprit!

[xxx1993]

Spoiler

And that's it! Izane is toast! Or is she...?

[m.sniffles.esq]

You may wanna spoiler that first line too!

[xxx1993]

Either way, I'm glad I've won. That's one less loose end. That leaves Andro Dunos 2... and Sol Cresta. And maybe Gunvein, but I don't know when that's coming out. But if it does, I'll get that right away. I suspect it'll come out sometime next month...

[xxx1993]

Spoiler

Well, at least they don't make Sengoku and Rina a couple at the end (outside of the ending where Rina hugs Sengoku after he defeats Izane, which sadly isn't shown), and Sengoku even ponders wanting to get a girlfriend in the epilogue.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Unless someone else steps ups, I think you're officially the only sys11-ite to--y'know--finish the game.
I mean, I finished score attack. But I couldn't bring myself to actually get all the way through the final chapter of the vn.

The thing is, when I was complaining to my friend in Tokyo about Yurukill's--uh--problems, they kept laughing at me while saying the issues I had with Yurukill were true of all virtual novels. And really, Yurukill wasn't even as bad as some of them as far as being incredibly drawn out, and having extremely shaky writing and plotting (although, I did manage to get them to agree with me that Binko's voice acting was incredibly grating. But they added that some other big vn series has a Binko-esque character. And the voice acting is just as over-the-top, if not moreso)

So I guess I'm forced to admit that perhaps I just don't "get" virtual novels. Be it for cultural reasons, or whatever.

[xxx1993]

Right now, though, I have a lot of questions for the game. Here's one example.

Spoiler

If Yurukill is a game show, how long has it been going on? And what season is it currently on in-universe? It was mentioned they had something about ratings.

[m.sniffles.esq]

That's your only question about Yurukill?

Mine was less "is it a game show?" and more "what isn't it?" because it seemed to be a game show, a corporation, it's own police state (that seemed to operate outside of the laws of... everything. Release people from jail? No problem. Murder people? Of course!), a theme park, etc, etc.

I mean, I'm guessing it's supposed to be evocative of Disney or something. This gigantic entertainment conglomerate that has their fingers in all sorts of pies. But how did they get so huge? Making game shows where contestants rearrange dolls to open locks? Binko cartoons?

The central conceit didn't make a lick of sense. And what's worse is it didn't seem like the authors cared. Like, at all. And this is on par with the entire virtual novel thing? No thanks. Call me old fashioned, but I like some effort to be put into my time wasters and boredom killers.

[xxx1993]

I've got plenty other questions.

Spoiler

If Izane committed suicide at the end of the final battle, with Binko having just seen it, then what was that post-credits scene for revealing Binko to be Izane all along? Was it a body double? Did she fake her death?

[m.sniffles.esq]

Spoiler

Was it a body double?

It would have to be since not only are Binko and Izane in the same room. Like, a lot. In front of other people. Binko and Izane speak to each other. Again, in front of other people. That twist doesn't make any sense.

[xxx1993]

Now what about my previous question? Is it the Prisoner or the Executioner that calls the shots for each team? Or do they have equal authority?

[m.sniffles.esq]

Now what about my previous question? Is it the Prisoner or the Executioner that calls the shots for each team? Or do they have equal authority?

Well, seeing that the Executioner can murder the Prisoner on a whim (somehow legally) one would assume the Executioner has the final say in whatever matter is at hand (which comes up several times during the story)

[xxx1993]

Why don't the Peeping Toms have their own chapter? They could have thrown in another chapter just for them.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Why don't the Peeping Toms have their own chapter? They could have thrown in another chapter just for them.

•They didn't actually do anything
•They don't even have their own level
•They're just a (painfully unfunny) joke
•They're really annoying

Although, seeing that the sister has giant cans, yet she's barely in the game just shows how little Izanagi understands their audience.

[xxx1993]

Sengoku and Rina… aren’t really a couple, right? Sengoku is 29, and Rina is 17, plus the ending had Sengoku considering getting himself a girlfriend, with Rina assuring that he’ll find one eventually. Obviously, Sengoku and Rina are platonic because Rina’s a minor, right? Even though it’s implied Rina has a bit of a crush on him?

[qmish]

Finally completed the game (in a non-shmup, normie gamer terms, I mean, reaching ending/credits) even though have bought it a while ago.

As I was saying since demo version, I really liked the VN/adventure part of it (I mean, Ace Attourney/Zero Escape/Danganronpa is stuff I enjoy, also at times I was reminded of wonderful Collar X Malice). As for shmup part of the game, during days of demo I felt underwhelmed with it (also didn't help that it's hard to feel difference between focus and normal shot of main character's ship unless it's full powered) - but as people were saying here, it became more and more elaborated over the course of game. Yeah, G.Rev are pretty good and their work here shows it, and I'd also say I was getting certain Strania flashbacks, overall it was pretty creative. I didn't start attempting "all stages in a row, hell difficulty" yet (which seems to be a preference of stg crowd for this game), perhaps sometime later (still busy with learning DDP DOJ, ahem). Boss fights were pretty exciting, I should add.

In the end though, I feel sorry for devs becoming victims of situation. I think everyone who worked on game have put their heart and soul in creation... except maybe those who didn't see opportunity to make stg section available from the start without unlocking it via story? It feels like very few people would be like me (as in, enjoying both story mode and shmup sections), meanwhile majority of audience were either strictly stg/shmup fans or strictly vn/adventure fans and game part that didn't represent their interest could have been a chore for them. In the end, I guess no DLC or sequel would be in question, as sales and reception is seemingly not very satisfying. A shame, would have liked to try out

Spoiler

Benimaru's ship

at least in Score Attack.

Still, for me persinally it was a nice ride. Yuuuuruuu kiiiiiill!



P.S.

Spoiler

It would have to be since not only are Binko and Izane in the same room. Like, a lot. In front of other people. Binko and Izane speak to each other. Again, in front of other people. That twist doesn't make any sense.

That twist kinda explained what happened before though. If anyone's remembering when Binko "drowned" for real, and then appeared just nothing happened. Perhaps it's same concept as in

Spoiler

The Silver Case (game by Suda 51)

, where you have "host bodies" that can be occupied by.

I was more interested to know how come Izane became an important part of Yurukill, and did she use criminal connections of her village on her way to power. Though before that after-end scene, I thought that Binko was having more importance than Izane and was faking her "sorry Izane I couldnt do anything against Kobayashi". But now this isn't leading anywhere yeah.

Btw, dunno about other players, but personally I thought that Peeping Toms gonna be culprits because of all the fishy stuff with them escaping through window and what not, so I was pretty surprised when it ended up with Izane being the villain for everything, and Detectives returning to help.

EDIT:

And now I've watched how Hiroyuki Maruyama plays first two stages and does commentary. Well, now I really underused the outburst shot during story playthrough Time to try out new tactics on "Hell", then.

It's always cool to see when developer shows the game and describes stuff, you start think about all the design behind the game. I hope G.Rev will have chance to work on another STG in the future.