Topic: School Girl Zombie Hunter announced for january on PS4

[affinity]

from the makers of Onechanbara and Senran Kagura!!  Looks like a PS4 exclusive, and it might run at 60 fps.

http://gematsu.com/2016/09/d3-publisher-announces-schoolgirl-zombie-hunter-ps4

http://gematsu.com/2016/09/sgzh-school-girlzombie-hunter-teaser-website-opened

https://www.d3p.co.jp/sgzh/

http://gematsu.com/2016/09/first-look-sg-zh-school-girl-zombie-hunter

https://twitter.com/SGZH_official

will it actually have 5 players co op online?    online co op is the one thing their games are lacking that would make the games sell more and replayed more (like Zombie Army Trilogy and other masterpieces are still played to this day because of co op.)   they have gathered experience supporting 10 players online with hordes.  So instead of PVP, SGZH could specialize in group co op for all campaign and modes. 

I really like the character designs, it shows protagonists ( Risa Kubota, Sayuri Akiba, Mayaya Himeji, Enami Kamijou, and Rei Kanezaki ) don't need to be designed like supermodels or superstars to look cool and charismatic.   in a way it reminds me of Resident Evil Outbreak how you can play as civilians that stand out as their own person.   and SGZH has 5 school girls, that while wear a strict uniform dress code, still are unique and even have their own unique signature weapons.   

this spinoff game has potential to become its own successful franchise.     

[Claimh Solais]

After how good ZII: Chaos turned out, and the recent Senran Kagura games actually being worthwhile (after the travesty that was Burst), I'm actually pretty hyped about this and Valkyrie Drive.

[affinity]

After how good ZII: Chaos turned out, and the recent Senran Kagura games actually being worthwhile (after the travesty that was Burst), I'm actually pretty hyped about this and Valkyrie Drive.

even now the 600 and 999 horde missions of Onechanbara Z2 Chaos are a blast to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA3xpcQFiuo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ACKVAOS00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DFGfM8vI9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoNH-Om5e88

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nuAIcBO-N0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtPfGIcohKY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLQs6IvodJ8

If SGZH structures its campaign missions so there's at least 999 enemies to kill (and bosses), supports 5 players online co-op, supports offline single player with 4 a.i. partners, and overall great gameplay and action, it could be really hyper epic!!   even adding a bit of nonlinearity to progression like Z2 Chaos did for the middle of its campaign, would be great. Though I think SGZH takes place in a isolated location cut off from the rest of the world, but even still, there could be ways to structure the campaign so players can complete the next locations in any sequence, before it funnels towards the climax.

they really should emphasize replayability and stuff with the co op, the squad of 5 play, and unlockables and stuff.
the screen with all 5 girls present, I don't think that's a cutscene, it might actually express all 5 girls will be present fighting in the gameplay at the sametime all the time, whether playing solo or online.

I would facedesk so hard if this game doesn't have co op at all.   Tamsoft has gathered all the necessary experience to make 5 players co op campaign and extra missions happen.   

their Senran Kagura Estival Versus game is living proof the developers have the expertise with online multiplayer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vX_v6NmFY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbPV_9Odrxs

channeling those talents into a fully dedicated 5 players co op experience would be even more epic than Left 4 Dead and Zombie Army Trilogy with the right design and stuff.   it would be among the key ingredients that would have the game bought more and played much longer. 

[Belmontoya]

Awesome!

Z2 chaos is probably my most played ps4 game. No lie.The new Senran is great too. 

I'll be getting this for sure!

Thanks for the heads up!

[affinity]

Awesome!

Z2 chaos is probably my most played ps4 game. No lie.The new Senran is great too. 

I'll be getting this for sure!

Thanks for the heads up!

well we have to see how it plays and stuff first.  I'm optimistic about it.  but even their great games have flaws they could have easily avoided to make them more replayable and enjoyable .

yes, it's understandable that Z2 Chaos was their first PS4 game, so expecting online co op is a little too demanding when they must have had a to blow the time and  budget on adapting to PS4 developing. 

Estival Versus had online multiplayer but there was no excuse not making the versus modes playable offline since the multiplayer modes can be played solo with bots.    they should have learned a thing or two from Timesplitters and other series.   online only multiplayer is dumb, especially having bots with adjustable difficulty setting.


who knows how SGZH will be designed as a whole. but I'll tell you one thing, that if it doesn't have group co op for at least online, it's gonna really have little gameplay hours to it compared to co op games.    I think the gunplay might be similiar to Bikini Samurai Squad, except maybe no infinite reloading since there is a drone supply system.    there's just too many questions about it.   we know it's a budget game, but they surpassed expectations with Estival Versus's quality online and unprecedented multiplayer supporting up to 10 players.  and that was a multiplatform game.

being PS4 exclusive, a lot more is expected from SGZH's content and features.    5 players co op for all stages/modes shouldn't be out of the question considering the developers experience with PS4 and multiplayer.    SGZH without co op would be like Left 4 Dead or Zombie Army Trilogy without co op.  this genre is multiple times more incredible with those things and makes the campaigns much more usable.    and SGZH would have advantage over Senran Kagura because its multiplayer would promote PVE and cooperative instead of competition.    so it does add more positive social qualities to the gaming experience.

well its just a couple of days for TGS, it will have a trailer and be playable at TGS 2016 too.

[Claimh Solais]

I'm really hoping that it plays more like a shooter than whatever the hell Anna's gameplay in Onechanbara was supposed to be. I get that it's a spin-off of Onechanbara (with Anna even making an appearance in the game), but some good gameplay would be nice. They seem to be hitting the nail on the head with all their recent games, so I'm optimistic about this one, but I supposed we'll have to wait for the upcoming TGS to really know.

[Belmontoya]

Yeah they're not perfect games. But they're hella fun.

Remind me of Otogi. I used to love those games.

[affinity]

first TRAILER!!      

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Aub4D3Sdbw

it looks so much better than expected!! but of course, we have to see the gameplay flow, I think tommorrow or at some point they will open the playable demo to the public and we'll get footage to how it actually plays.    I know I said it before, but they MUST be sure to include 5 players online co op to this.  I mean there's really no excuse.  this game can't afford to be a single player only game.   if Left 4 Dead or Zombie Army Trilogy were single player only, they wouldn't even be played beyond the first week. 

they have a potential cooperative masterpiece in this hands.
1. the developers have experience with PS4 due to Onechanbara Z2 Chaos and Senran kagura Estival versus
2. Estival Versus proves the developers are skilled with online netcode, and supporting a vast amount of players, along with destructible costumes. 
10 players online + hordes support is very rare in action games.    so 5 players coop vs enemy hordes should be very doable for the developers.
3. it's PS4 exclusive, so the budget is not stretched across multiplatform.  they can focus on making a bigger, bigger and feature filled cooperative game.
4. the team of 5 concept screams for online co op. 

even low budget games out there are known to have co op, and I think Neptune vs zombie army has coop and that's a portable game.   Aaaaah I have to relax, SGZH is at a crossroads that will determine its overall market value, popularity, and replay value.    they better not screw this up.   

[Claimh Solais]

I have to say that trailer was extremely disappointing. It showed off barely anything aside from the expected: zombies and school girls. I was really hoping for some gameplay aside from random shots of the girls shooting their guns toward the screen or a girl swinging a bat. I still don't know whether it's more like the shooting in the Onechanbara games (which is awful awful awful) or more like an actual third-person shooter. Hopefully they reveal some gameplay soon cuz that was a lame trailer.

[Belmontoya]

I agree. That trailer didn't show much of anything.

It looked bland. Not nearly as good as Z2 Chaos.

Let's hope it's just a bad trailer.

[affinity]

while waiting for indepth gameplay footage, here's a event video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO7UTeMad-0

it may not be much, but debut events for games are known to rarely show any gameplay for their teaser phase of promotions/marketing. 
it's still a cool rare view for something that while is a new niche title, they really put a lot of effort into promoting compared to other niche games.  so that enthusiasm, probably hints it's a very enjoyable game.   

I have to say that trailer was extremely disappointing. It showed off barely anything aside from the expected: zombies and school girls. I was really hoping for some gameplay aside from random shots of the girls shooting their guns toward the screen or a girl swinging a bat. I still don't know whether it's more like the shooting in the Onechanbara games (which is awful awful awful) or more like an actual third-person shooter. Hopefully they reveal some gameplay soon cuz that was a lame trailer.

Annna's gameplay in bikini samurai squad was not bad.   it's different, but effective considering it's not intended to be a shooter.   I would say Anna's gun mechanics is more impressive than say Senran Kagura EV's Ryobi, who mostly uses the rifle for close range attacks, and the long range attacks are really mostly for launchers. 

but one thing that sets Onechanbara themed games apart from more Dynasty Warriors inspired gameplay, is that it generally focuses more on the raw realtime combat than super moves with invincible frames.   well Z2 Chaos does have those special attacks but they don't monopolize the combat structure like Musou games do, and don't use repetitive dynamic camera angles for super signature attacks.   and they don't overwhelm bosses like in Musou games.

the first trailer is clearly a teaser trailer, you know there's some very popular games where their first trailer has no gameplay at all. 

they are gonna show more at some point.  the first impressions of the screens was people thought it looked bad, then they watched the trailer's ingame graphics and admit it looks much better than the screens. 

I think the actual gameplay could be great, but people shouldn't measure it with the Onechanbara hack n slash ruler, or a TPS ruler.   It's gonna be its own game mechanics, and not going to be surprised if it's not over the shoulder TPS. 

https://www.d3p.co.jp/sgzh/#system

in the System Section, they have better quality screens, and it appears there's at least 3 girls visible in the gameplay screens, perhaps it supports full squad of 5 at the sametime.    they probably have more advanced a.i. in place for a more squad feel in single player,   and having multiple girls active at the sametime, further lifts the theory it might have online co op.     maybe that's not the case but some screens seems to confirm this is more of a squad game than Onechanbara.

if would be great if all of the girls are active all of the time, unlike Onechanbara Z2 Chaos where only one is active, and the summon system only has the other girls active at thesametime for a set period (and they don't have a.i., so your controls controls all 4 at the sametime, which is in one way a good thing because you can control how aggressive everyone is at the sametime).    though SGZH should have an effective a.i. system for all the girls, especially since it would be awkward mashing to get all the girls to attack at once.  perhaps it could have competent a.i.   and might have character control switching in realtime.   though they say at least some of the story missions focus on certain characters.  though maybe there is free select too.  there's about 50 missions, so I think most of them anyone is selectable and playable.  and the story focused missions are kinda like SKEV shinobi heart missions, though I think even those had a free select mode.

[Claimh Solais]

Annna's gameplay in bikini samurai squad was not bad.   it's different, but effective considering it's not intended to be a shooter.   I would say Anna's gun mechanics is more impressive than say Senran Kagura EV's Ryobi, who mostly uses the rifle for close range attacks, and the long range attacks are really mostly for launchers.

Annna's gameplay wasn't bad, it was awful. Yes, it was different, and I appreciate that Tamsoft was trying to add some variation to the gameplay, but it was sloppy and poorly designed. A gun character can be used well in a 1v1000-styled game. Take Magoichi from Sengoku BASARA for example. She utilizes her rifle very effectively, with several long range attacks and she plays great.

Not a 1v1000, but in Onimusha 3, even Michelle's gameplay was decent but fluid. And Ohatsu in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams played really well.

Annna is just awful. Granted, pretty much all of the Onechanbara games pre-ZII:Chaos were pretty bad, but at least the rest of the gameplay was passable.

but one thing that sets Onechanbara themed games apart from more Dynasty Warriors inspired gameplay, is that it generally focuses more on the raw realtime combat than super moves with invincible frames.   well Z2 Chaos does have those special attacks but they don't monopolize the combat structure like Musou games do, and don't use repetitive dynamic camera angles for super signature attacks.   and they don't overwhelm bosses like in Musou games.

...Where are you getting this stuff about "invincibility frames" in Musou from? There are VERY few invincibility frames in the Musou games, and the only way to avoid taking damage is if you yourself can dodge them. The only time that there are a lot of invinciblity frames are during EX Attacks and Musou Attacks, and if you were able to be hurt during these, then the gameplay would be horribly designed, since these attacks leave you wide open otherwise -- not to mention they'd effectively become some of the most useless attacks in the game.

On top of that, the Musou games don't even have boss fights. The characters labeled as "BOSS" in the games are simply the enemies you need to beat to end the games. The only Musou games that DO have boss fights are the spin-off titles, and you do not overwhelm the bosses in those games. If anything, the bosses are wiping the floor with you.

Onechanbara has significantly less well-designed combat than the Musou games, despite them having more you can work with. A poorly made and poorly taught combo system, attacks feel like they have no weight to them, most enemies barely respond to your attacks, and the boss fights that Onechanbara does have aren't even that good, aside from the occasional 1v1 boss fight against another humanoid character. That's not even going into the other problems Onechanbara has like level design and mission design.

I don't mean for this question to sound rude or anything, but have you actually played the Musou games? And if so, how much have you played of them? Being that I've sunk hundreds of hours into each title in the franchise, your description of the games just sounds so weirdly off-the-mark that I feel like you're thinking of a different series altogether.

the first trailer is clearly a teaser trailer, you know there's some very popular games where their first trailer has no gameplay at all. 

they are gonna show more at some point.  the first impressions of the screens was people thought it looked bad, then they watched the trailer's ingame graphics and admit it looks much better than the screens.

There are indeed trailers of popular games that don't have any gameplay. The difference is those are AAA games or sequels, both of which give you an idea of the kind of gameplay you'll have in the game (or in the case of a sequel, you can already guess that on your own).

School Girl Zombie Hunters is a niche budget title. It doesn't have that luxury. It's trailer doesn't give away anything that the title doesn't give away. It doesn't even give an idea of what the gameplay will be like. Will it be an actual third-person shooter? Will it have similar gunplay to the Onechanbara games? Will it be a twin-stick shooter? You can't judge that off the trailer.

Also, all games look better in motion than they do in their screenshots. Onechanbara ZII: Chaos looks awful from its screenshots but great in motion.

I think the actual gameplay could be great, but people shouldn't measure it with the Onechanbara hack n slash ruler, or a TPS ruler.   It's gonna be its own game mechanics, and not going to be surprised if it's not over the shoulder TPS. 

No one thinks that it's going to be blatantly a hack-n-slash or a third-person shooter a la Spec Ops: The Line. Of course it's going to have its own mechanics.

The problem here, though, is that the game is a spin-off of Onechanbara, made by the same team that made Onechanbara, and everything it showed off just looked like Onechanbara. So if the gunplay functions the same as the gunplay in Onechanbara, it simply won't be a fun game. This is why I wanted to see some actual gameplay in the trailer, since, again, it showed off nothing that you couldn't guess from the title of the game. School girls hunting zombies in a game called School Girl Zombie Hunters.

in the System Section, they have better quality screens, and it appears there's at least 3 girls visible in the gameplay screens, perhaps it supports full squad of 5 at the sametime.    they probably have more advanced a.i. in place for a more squad feel in single player,   and having multiple girls active at the sametime, further lifts the theory it might have online co op.     maybe that's not the case but some screens seems to confirm this is more of a squad game than Onechanbara.

I'll admit, some form of co-op would definitely make the game more fun to play, even if it winds up bad, since bad games can be decently enjoyable if played with a friend. Let's hope it doesn't turn out that way but still.

Though 5 is a weird number to have co-op at. 4 or 6 are more standard numbers.

[affinity]

The only time that there are a lot of invinciblity frames are during EX Attacks and Musou Attacks,

that's what I'm talking about.   the player in musou games have insane advantages over most enemies, and add to the fact Koei games have some of the most pathetic enemy/boss a.i. with artificial challenge (no wonder a lot of players get bored and sick of musou games), on top of players being so OP that the only way they figure to balance it is buffing the enemy stats more. 

On top of that, the Musou games don't even have boss fights.

enemy officers count as bosses. it's different from what games commonly integrate as bosses, but some musou enemy officers, depending on difficulty, can be classified as boss tier opponents, especially if they are required to win the objective, like any beat em up.  the only difference is that musou games are an open battlefield with scripted introduction/placement of enemy officers, but they can still be called bosses, especially the hardest ones.

The only Musou games that DO have boss fights are the spin-off titles, and you do not overwhelm the bosses in those games. If anything, the bosses are wiping the floor with you.

you never played Ken's Rage 2? 
you can mash X to dodge literally anything and everything.
 You can INTERRUPT their signature attacks.
 their signature attacks are heavily telegraphed. 
Your signature attacks cannot be interrupted. 
on top of the boss a.i. being so slow and stupid.  And they stripped the game of some things that made bosses more of a challenge in the previous game, like the armor system,   Koei's boss fights are a joke for the most part.

attacks feel like they have no weight to them, most enemies barely respond to your attacks,

actually, attacks do have weight to them in Z2 Chaos.   and enemies can be cut in half, there's lots of blood and gore, I mean have you even played the games, especially the latest one?   their attacks do have weight to them, especially Saaya's chainsaw, Saki's deep sword slashes, Aya's heavier combos, and Kagura's swords cool combos.    not to mention their super attacks that can fire rockets, energy waves, and more.   Onechanbara enemy response is so much better than Koei games that don't even have blood effects, blood stains, and gore for that matter.
enemy response makes Koei enemies look like slapping paper dolls with sparks that can't be cut or bleed.
and remember that Onechanbara hordes are mostly made up of ZOMBIES, so of course they will be more durable and resistant to damage instead of always getting juggled. 

I don't mean for this question to sound rude or anything, but have you actually played the Musou games?

I played musou games since Dynasty Warriors 4.  5, 7, 7 XL, 7 Empires, 8 Empires.   and that's not counting the Fist of the North Star games, Samurai Warriors 4, and Warriors Orochi games.

The problem here, though, is that the game is a spin-off of Onechanbara, made by the same team that made Onechanbara, and everything it showed off just looked like Onechanbara. So if the gunplay functions the same as the gunplay in Onechanbara, it simply won't be a fun game.

that is opinion based.  I enjoyed Annna combat, and SGZH gameplay can only be better.   Remember that even the Z Kagura era of Onechanbara gameplay is night and day to Bikini Samurai Squad,
and Bikini Samurai Squad gameplay is better than its Simple Series predecessors, adding to the fact that the Xbox 360 hardware made everything better and more refined than previous gen.  (Xbox360 is equivalent to PS3 gen. and BSS is better on X360 than on Wii, and a generation more advanced than the PS2 games.)

now 2 generations later since Bikini Samurai Squad, I would think they have improved upon Onechanbara style gun combat.

<quote>Though 5 is a weird number to have co-op at. 4 or 6 are more standard numbers.</quote>

5 players co op amount is not weird at all. just because its odd number, doesn't make it weird.

  Xmen Arcade was one of the rarest beat em ups to support 6 players co op, even when the standard was commonly 2 to 4 players co op, and players CAN play it with just 5 players.

PVP multiplayer shooters support 8 or more in a team.   
having 5 players co op cap is rare, but better than 4.

I think even the original Rainbow Six, supported like 8 players co op for campaign missions.   and Serious Sam supports 16 players co op on PC.    people can also co op with 5 people on ARK Survival Evolved, Minecraft, 
think Torchlight 2 has 6 players co op, which means 5 players is possible.

if there was a modern Sailor Moon co op game, it would make sense for it to support 5 players cooperation.
and SGZH has a Sailor Moon sized team.

SGZH features 5 lead protagonists as a squad of 5, so there's really nothing keeping them from supporting 5 players co op unless they didn't bother to design the game for group co op (which would be dumb. I know it's a budget game but Tamsoft already has experience and resources with multiplayer. and multiplayer shouldn't be just about PVP. )

I don't mind if the missions boil down to something like Killing Floor games, it can still be fun co op against hordes.  though it would be cool if the level design is a little more like Zombie Army Trilogy. 

With these things, it's best to not expect much, that way people can be more flexible to appreciate the positive things instead of nitpicking SGZH for what it doesn't have.    I'm already prepared for it to be single player only, but I could enjoy it as long or longer than Z2 Chaos depending on certain things.

It has 50 missions, not sure if total, but if that's the campaign size, that's already waaaaaaay more missions than Z2 Chaos had, which was 16 chapters.  So it could be an epic experience.  and with their reputation, it might be packed with unlockables and other incentives.   

Overall I think mission structure wise, it would be better to make the campaign more meaty than splitting the missions between campaign missions and extra missions, because most people don't bother with extra missions, but if they become required missions in the campaign, that would greatly make it greater, since it:

1. makes the campaign longer

2. encourages players to do all the missions since they are a part of the whole story journey/adventure/situation.

3. no missions skipped/ignored, resulting in a more wholesome experience that makes use of all of the mission content.

Well they already have January 12, 2017 date, so they will reveal actual gameplay and more as they progress.
this is their most innovative, bold and ground breaking Onechanbara universe game to date, so people should be more flexible, adaptive and understanding of its own formula. 

yea they can screw it up in some ways, but in other ways, it could be cool to be optimistic.  the devs are taking a chance with this new concept, so the fans have to be more open minded about things.

It's kind of like how Persona is almost nothing like what Shin Megami Tensei sets as standards, but the fanbase took the time to understand Persona, and it went from a spinoff series, to its own flagship series.

I think School Girl Zombie Hunter could become more popular than Onechanbara, and its gameplay and features can be key.   even as niche, and even without the most mainstream gameplay, it can still have profound entertainment value, especially if it has up to 5 players co op for all missions.    it could be added to the all time greatest co op games list.

[Claimh Solais]

that's what I'm talking about.   the player in musou games have insane advantages over most enemies, and add to the fact Koei games have some of the most pathetic enemy/boss a.i. with artificial challenge (no wonder a lot of players get bored and sick of musou games), on top of players being so OP that the only way they figure to balance it is buffing the enemy stats more.

Again, on the point of EX/Musou attacks, if those attacks didn't have their invincibility frames, you would be getting wiped out by the enemy way too quickly when using them. Especially in later games in the higher difficulties, it would effectively render the moves useless.

Also, the higher difficulties in the Musou games, even the later ones (which are widely regarded as easier) aren't easy, even with the amount of invincibility frames that they have. In all of the Musou games since 2013, enemy AI becomes more aggressive and smart the higher the difficulty level. The games aren't built to just be played on Normal, they're built to be replayed so you're supposed to go up to higher difficulties. I will say that DW7 did this horribly, though, and only buffed enemy stats on higher difficulties.

enemy officers count as bosses. it's different from what games commonly integrate as bosses, but some musou enemy officers, depending on difficulty, can be classified as boss tier opponents, especially if they are required to win the objective, like any beat em up.  the only difference is that musou games are an open battlefield with scripted introduction/placement of enemy officers, but they can still be called bosses, especially the hardest ones.

Except that they aren't bosses. Because certain Musou games actually have bosses. Just because they're harder on higher difficulties doesn't make them bosses. They're about as much of a boss as a screamer or bloodshot in Resident Evil 6. They're just another enemy type. None of the mainline Musou games actually have bosses. Only the spin-offs do.

you never played Ken's Rage 2? 
you can mash X to dodge literally anything and everything.
 You can INTERRUPT their signature attacks.
 their signature attacks are heavily telegraphed. 
Your signature attacks cannot be interrupted. 
on top of the boss a.i. being so slow and stupid.  And they stripped the game of some things that made bosses more of a challenge in the previous game, like the armor system,   Koei's boss fights are a joke for the most part.

I haven't played Ken's Rage 2 in years so I can't really comment on that game since I don't really remember how it is. Though I will tell you, yes, you can interrupt their signature moves. But they can also do the same to you. It's happened more than once to me in a single stage in Ken's Rage 2.

actually, attacks do have weight to them in Z2 Chaos.   and enemies can be cut in half, there's lots of blood and gore, I mean have you even played the games, especially the latest one?   their attacks do have weight to them, especially Saaya's chainsaw, Saki's deep sword slashes, Aya's heavier combos, and Kagura's swords cool combos.    not to mention their super attacks that can fire rockets, energy waves, and more.   Onechanbara enemy response is so much better than Koei games that don't even have blood effects, blood stains, and gore for that matter.

Being able to cut enemies and half and their being blood and gore doesn't make attacks feel like they have weight. When playing ZII Chaos, every attack felt the same. Enemies hit by Saki's fists would react in the same way as enemies I attacked with Saaya's chainsaw or Aya's katanas.

In Musou games, though, you have Wang Yuanji's tiny projectiles that don't cause enemies to flinch (though they are very briefly stunlocked), then you have Yue Jin's smaller swords which cause them to flinch slightly, and then you put that next to Lu Bu's halberd which straight up knocks enemies away. The more powerful weapons feel more powerful, and the weaker ones feel weaker.

enemy response makes Koei enemies look like slapping paper dolls with sparks that can't be cut or bleed.

I don't... I don't get the point of this statement? It kinda sounds like you're docking Musou for being rated T? Can you clarify what you mean by this?

that is opinion based.  I enjoyed Annna combat, and SGZH gameplay can only be better.   Remember that even the Z Kagura era of Onechanbara gameplay is night and day to Bikini Samurai Squad,
and Bikini Samurai Squad gameplay is better than its Simple Series predecessors, adding to the fact that the Xbox 360 hardware made everything better and more refined than previous gen.  (Xbox360 is equivalent to PS3 gen. and BSS is better on X360 than on Wii, and a generation more advanced than the PS2 games.)
now 2 generations later since Bikini Samurai Squad, I would think they have improved upon Onechanbara style gun combat.

I get that the gameplay is significantly better in Z Kagura and ZII Chaos compared to Bikini Samurai Squad or Bikini Zombie Slayers. But that's a moot point here, since neither Z games featured gun-play the way that BSS and BZS did. So as it is now, the only memory most gamers have of it is of it being bad.

And yeah, you enjoy it. And there's no faulting you for it. Opinions are opinions after all. But most people who have played those games agree that the gun-play was awful. So while it is an opinion, a majority of the people who played agree that the gun-play was terrible.

Co-op stuff

It has nothing to do with it being an odd number. No need to explain all that stuff. The only reason I said 4 or 6 is because they're much more common multiplayer counts than 5. That's literally the only reason.

As far as the campaign, if it does indeed have 50 missions, then I'm very happy with that. ZII Chaos was a horribly short game, even after replaying it a couple times. I have pretty much everything done and unlocked in the game and I have less than 20 hours in it. I hope SGZH takes more after Senran Kagura from a content standpoint, since there's significantly more content in those games.

I agree that it would be cool if it functioned like Killing Floor, but if it's more a straightforward action game, a mode like the Yoma's Nest from Senran Kagura 2 would be really cool.

Overall I think mission structure wise, it would be better to make the campaign more meaty than splitting the missions between campaign missions and extra missions, because most people don't bother with extra missions

Not sure where you get this from, but I don't know anybody who ignores side content in the games they buy, especially if they're more niche games like this one. I would have enjoyed significantly more side content in ZII Chaos, for example.

I'll remain optimistic about SGZH, though, since Senran Kagura has become significantly better since its first awful entry (though the rest of the SK games are great), and Onechanbara has finally found legs to stand on with ZII Chaos.

[affinity]

Not sure where you get this from, but I don't know anybody who ignores side content in the games they buy, especially if they're more niche games like this one.

well some people actually skip extra content if it's a chore and "more of the same".
with campaign missions, even if they are "more of the same", people tolerate it because it's part of the journey through the campaign and the enviornments/chapters are fresh in their first playthrough.
and some people only wanna grind enough to beat the campaign.

 even in games like Tomb Raider, people don't want to go back to the optional exploration stuff because it's basically pointless when it's not required to beat the campaign, and the rewards suck anyways.


 Z2 Chaos can have tedious "you can only use this to damage/kill enemies" rules.   I tolerated some of them to unlock the "horde" type missions that involving killing 600 to 999 enemies (those are actually cool missions), but most of the extra missions are restrict playstyles to beat them, so they aren't enjoyable and I really hate that timed one where you have to kill all the enemies in a tight timeframe (I even upgraded and unlocked all the moves/rings/weapons, but I hate rushed stuff like that anyways).

Still, Onechanbara Z2 Chaos, even the campaign alone is lots of content for a single player action game of its budget.
Compare that to something overrated like Lollipop Chainsaw when it was $60 new, which only has 6 stages (counting tutorial), less diversity of weapons/fighting styles, less enemies, less bosses, less customization, less variety of enemies, less blood and gore, and no replay value incentives.

and yes, SGZH having 50 missions sounds really meaty.     but still it would be INSANELY STUPID if it doesn't have cooperative multiplayer for all the missions, and 5 players co op makes sense.   Senran Kagura is supporting 10 players online on PS4, plus hordes.   Estival versus even has a 4 players coop mode vs hordes (though the tower defense theme is dumb. it's boring having enemies that focus on attacking the tower more than you.)

and now their latest game, Peach Beach Blast, is supporting teams of 5 too


http://i.imgur.com/rklvkmR.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/hndAK4i.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Mxd2urJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KpgdoYb.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JnzRY7l.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/R0x87ht.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/QGDZGyx.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/eBFCZYc.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/FortNzO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/pSeAgJ0.jpg

SGZH, and Senran Kagura are under the same roof.   

Can SGZH be great without coop? it can, but it would only be half the game it could be.

It's crazy that Earth Defense Force games made it standard to have cooperative multiplayer against hordes, and Onechanbara related games have yet to bring back the cooperative excellence Bikini Samurai Squad supported.  yes splitscreen is avoided by most devs these days, but Tamsoft has the means to add online multiplayer to their games.
and SGZH being a shooter, all the more reason to have full group co op online.

if Overwatch had a cooperative campaign, it would have 6 players co op supported.  even Serious Sam, a series that centers on one character, provides up to 16 players co op campaign on PC, and at least 4 players on console.

and yes Killing Floor is a decent example how these horde games should definitely make at least 4 players co op standard.  though School Girl Zombie Hunter centers on 5 girls, so why not raise it up to 5 players co op while they are at it??

co op really make these games last longer, like L4D and Zombie Army Trilogy definitely prospered and become timeless classics due to the group co op support.

if SGZH is single player only, I dunno what the heck Tamsoft and D3 are thinking.  D3 should really look at what Marvelous is doing with elevating multiplayer, as well as successful zombie horde developers.  and now Killing Floor 2 is said to be coming to PS4.

even for a budget game, SGZH devs could really establish group online co op to make the game really shine.

for a fully priced horde game, it would be absurd not having online co op.

SGZH is a part of Onechanbara, and Onechanbara has a rare yet significant history of featuring co op.  even Z Kagura had it despite the small windows and local only.   They got to get with the times and establish group co op for School Girl Zombie Hunter if they really care about its reception and potential to be its own prosperous series.

Tamsoft is getting more into shooters with Peach Beach Blast and School Girl Zombie Hunter, and more multiplayer with Estival Versus and Peach Beach Blast. 

I mean I heard even MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies has group co op of some kind, and that's just a portable game/PC port.

SGZH might be packed with lots of single player content, but that's going to run dry fast compared to group online co op.