Topic: School Girl Zombie Hunter announced for january on PS4

[Claimh Solais]

This is why I'm pretty sure Onechanbara and Senran Kagura are made by two completely different teams within Tamsoft. Both are extremely niche games, but Senran Kagura always feels more well-made and all-around complete to me. It has the features you'd expect in a modern game coupled with pretty decent visuals and polish that you just don't see in Onechanbara. Even if they were made by the same team, it's obvious which series is given a higher budget.

School Girl Zombie Hunters and Peach Beach Blast are both co-op shooter spin-offs of their respective franchises, but I find myself actually somewhat excited for PBB because of the track record Senran Kagura has had since the release of Shinovi Versus a long time ago (and SK2 is one of my most-played 3DS games). Plus, co-op is confirmed and they have indeed stated outright that the game is a third-person shooter. Dunno why they're being so stingy on the details for SGZH.

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.

Okay, yeah, I get you here. When it comes to stuff like collectibles in a campaign like this, I usually don't go back and get the rest of them unless I really enjoy the game, or if it offers a stage-by-stage approach with a stage select in the game. Usually if the game just has you replay the whole thing from the start then I don't even bother.

Games like the Musou games or Senran Kagura give you a lot of leeway in terms of collectibles, meaning you can grab them at almost any point in the game, which is why I really like how these games handle them.

[affinity]

the thing is, Senran Kagura is getting more polish, but Onechanbara Z2 Chaos still has the superior battle system and combat depth, while SKEV has the superior multiplayer (well multiplayer at all)

even separate teams, the SGZH team really should get the other side of Tamsoft to assist them in making online group co op happen in their game.  aren't they also responsible for EDF games and online tech?

I'm sure Z2 Chaos actually contributed to helping them gather experience and tech to make 60 fps possible for Estival Versus.

people are questioning if SGZH is even worth being a fully priced Japanese game.  all the single player content in the world wouldn't hold interest without group co op.   L4D and Zombie Army Trilogy thrive on co op. 

if it doesn't, it will be marathoned for a playthrough like Z2 Chaos, but it will be just sitting there.   for them to take a ambitious different direction in the Onechanbara universe, they gotta be ambitious enough to make co op a must for the game, being a squad shooter vs zombie hordes in 50 missions on top of that.
  I mean even Smash TV,  Dead Nation and Neptune vs Zombies have co op.

[affinity]

THIS IS AMAZING!!

Someone suggested using google translate and I discovered the product description says 5 PLAYERS CO-OP ONLINE!!

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=translate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&ei=8HUNWO7KDKKL8QeH0ZnYBQ

+

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

"Corresponding number of people    Offline: 1-person play / Online: five co-op" !!!!!!!! 

I won't flood a whole screen of ultrahype thoughts, but you can imagine.  ^________________^
this is AMAZING!!  this is one of the rare cases where the developer's thoughts/ideas/ambitious align with what the fans feel would be best for the game!!    It goes to show even the developers must know how essential AND PERFECT it is for School Girl Zombie Hunter to feature FIVE PLAYERS ONLINE CO-OP!!   this places it alongside the greatest known zombie horde games to date, including Zombie Army Trilogy, Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor 2!!

and with at least 50 missions??   this is gonna be phenomenol!!!!

Also first print additions!! 

http://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/201610240053/

http://gematsu.com/2016/10/sg-zh-school-girl-zombie-hunter-japanese-first-print-shop-specific-purchase-bonuses-announced

http://gematsu.com/gallery/sg-zh-school-girl-zombie-hunter/october-24-2016/

http://www.gamekyo.com/newsfr67361_schoolgirl-and-zombie-hunter-d3-publisher-en-roue-libre-pour-l-edition-day-one.html

Photos

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201609/15115874.html

https://twitter.com/SGZH_official

[affinity]

with the cover art revealed, could be the next step to revealing more in the next month.  Looks so inspiring!!  Since the cover art is revealed this month, next month they could reveal more of the mission structure, unlockables or some of the customization.  there's more weapons than what we start with, so think there might be a loadout system of some kind, or new weapons and supply are gathered as we progress/explore and receive them from Annna.

http://www.siliconera.com/2016/11/07/sgzh-school-girlzombie-hunters-box-art-features-gunner-girls/

http://gematsu.com/2016/11/sg-zh-school-girl-zombie-hunter-japanese-box-art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGOwYbRIR-U

[affinity]

5 players CO OP REVEALED!! and a lot of innovative and refreshing gameplay systems!!   

http://gematsu.com/2016/12/sg-zh-school-girl-zombie-hunter-details-copy-zombies-underwear-decoys

So incredible!!  and this is Tamsoft's first PS4 game with 5 players co op. 
 yes its 10 missions, but single player progress carries over, so they must be very challenging and really lets horde fans savor the action in epic quantities!!  5 players co op is gonna be sooooooo amazing the first month.  I gotta get some JPN PSN codes like I did with Touhou Sky Arena. 

and I'm sooo lazy, I really should save on computer my emails and passwords, because I don't remember half the passwords for my PSN accounts, well maybe I can request gmail to send password to another gmail I have, but my japanese PSN account is still active, it doesn't request log in, so it should be fine as long as it doesn't ask for password again.    it auto logs in when I sign in. 

[affinity]

Alright a new trailer!  just a couple more weeks until release, I think I have enough on the japanese account to get it

http://gematsu.com/2016/12/sg-zh-school-girl-zombie-hunter-second-trailer-english-subtitles

http://www.siliconera.com/2016/12/15/sgzh-school-girlzombie-hunters-new-trailer-zombie-killing-action-panties/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfET_LX6AfA

[affinity]

7 more days!  and the day before that, KOF XIV gets its graphics upgrade patch!

https://twitter.com/SGZH_official

not sure if they are gonna have a launch trailer, they should promote the 5 players online co op more, currently only article brought up the co op details, but it is a major selling point they should take advantage of.  sure it's 10 online missions, but that's more than the average beat em up campaign.   and the story having 50 missions is colossal, considering Onechanbara Z2 Chaos has 16 story missions. 

[Super Waffle]

I know a guy from another forum who unironically talks about how he thinks Oneechanbara is one of the deepest, most solidly designed games ever made.

[Claimh Solais]

I know a guy from another forum who unironically talks about how he thinks Oneechanbara is one of the deepest, most solidly designed games ever made.

I needed the laugh today. Thanks, Waffle.

Anyway, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic about this one. Probably look for news to see if XSEED is going to localize this one. If they do, I'll definitely buy it since I'm a huge supporter of XSEED.

[affinity]

yes Im cautiously optimistic too.  but I was right about Onechanbara Z2 Chaos, and I knew its shortcomings, lack of any co op hurt Onechanbara, but SG/ZH having 5 players online co op is MASSIVE great incentive to play it, in my opinion.  I'm not nitpicky about netcode either.   

Estival Versus has disconnects and stuff, but still overall solid, and it still runs 60 fps online.

plus even if the mission structure for story is simple, Tamsoft provides a lot more zombies to kill than the average survival horror game, so there will be no shortage of action and gratifying gameplay experiences, plus the squad based action makes it much more lively than Onechanbara where the only times where it feels like fighting in a group is when cross merge combination can be activated for the other 3 members to join in (but they didn't even have their own a.i., which in that case was a good thing because that means you can have the team as aggressively as you want.  though SG/ZH looks to have a.i. partners and they seem more aggressive than something like The Bouncer or Dynasty warriors where a.i. on your side only attack like once every 5 minutes     )

SG/ZH is gonna be greater than great, everything about it is charismatic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_kX6qSHpVI

and the online is gonna be at its most fresh, day 1,  so this is the first Tamsoft game I import, I would buy localization version too. I have both digital and physical versions of Onechanbara Z2 Chaos.   a localized first print edition of School Girl Zombie Hunter would be incredible.   XSEED packages a lot of quality, with artbook, soundtrack, full color instruction manual, really top quality stuff.

[affinity]

I knew it!  it's better than expected!!  the online is laggy and choppy somewhat, but still totally playable!! it's insanely epic!    it's messed up the 5 players co op is only for 10 online missions, but even as is, it's still great and better than previous Onechanbara (which didnt have co op at all).  the next Onechanbara game should have 5 players co op for both campaign besides extra missions, not just online missions.   

though yea these online missions are way more replayable and enjoyable than Onechanbara's campaign and extra missions, and more players make it more epic

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTKwaxo3BD5PjJdn_W3ABHnckJ8nZIsFT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9jPNHxeYk

of course this game is the niche of the niche , I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they do their research and are ok with how it looks and plays. 
I dont regret importing it, but it's not for everyone. 

[Claimh Solais]

Jesus, that game looks unfinished. Right from the moment the gameplay starts you can already see that. The animations are ridiculously jerky, there's no smooth transition from one animation to the other, the ragdoll physics on the clothing is abysmal. That's not even taking into account the characters just seemingly warping everywhere. I'll assume it's just for the co-op, but that framerate is absolute garbage when you take into account both the platform and the graphical fidelity. And that's not even pretending that Tamsoft doesn't know how to work the system. Both Onechanbara and Estival Versus ran at a silky smooth 60 FPS on PS4.

The gameplay at least looks significantly better than I thought it would, but holy crap, it just looks so unfinished.

[affinity]

it looks and performs better in campaign mode.   of course, it's not Estival Versus tier of polish, but it still is great considering SG/ZH is made from scratch, it's not Onechanbara with guns. 

it's much more story deep (a lot more emotional bonds between the characters) and more challenging than Onechanbara.  there's more variety of mission objectives and level design layout as well.   each mission feels like it has its own differences (even those with the same objective).  and the berserk zombies annd explodable zombies add more tension.      every single mission has unique cutscenes and lots more dialogue than their previous games (unless you count Senran Kagura games, but for a story that focuses on 5 characters, the girls has a lot of social interactions and a little more indepth character development going on, which is rare for story from the Onechanbara universe that are basically like "whatever" and are light on story. ) 

it is interesting if a later Onechanbara project might adopt the SG/ZH girls into the story or even talked about.  but even as a standalone, it is a heartwarming survival story overall.  and the game itself has one of a kind action with lots of charisma and epic experiences.   and this game has some of the most impactful explosion effects.   

the cutscenes are very polished and much more detailed than Onechanbaras.  face animations, hands, textures, its definitely above Z2 Chaos's ported assets from PS3.
more cutscenes, more story, more dialogue, and the missions keep things fresh. 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NxthnssQqk

its great they put heart into its story and characters, though moving forward, they really should establish a game design structure so all story/campaign missions are 5 players co op compatible, same for the upcoming Senran Kagura action game.  PBS should have 5 players co op for all its campaign missions too, but not sure,  co op shouldnt just be a standalone mode thing.      I know with SG/ZH missions level designs, it would be very tough for online co op to do some of them as is, but with a more open structure like KF2 or ZAT, they could make things more epic and flexible, while still being able to tell the story they wanna tell in a sense. 


but yea if they make a new Onechanbara, it should have 5 players co op for all its modes and stages including campaign, who would be the 5th character, could be someone new, they could even double or triple the selection if they want to, though yes, there's really a lot more they can do with it, and the whole narrative vs open gameplay design to support coop for it all. kinda holds it back.

as for the SG/ZH timer, I feel it's decent, I wouldnt want every onechanbara related game to have something like that, but it does balance the tension, and keeps the pacing high, my favorite missions are those that involve the group protecting the computer, fighting off constant waves of enemies.   there are some really crazy ones like navigating all over the building to reach an objective point (had some close calls), and searching for keycards without the UI pointing their locations.


it is a humble yet very unique game.  Like Urban Reign or Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae, I wouldnt recommend it to others, but I'm glad I played it. 

also those wondering how to throw used underwear, highlight underwear slot in equip and press square, then confirm and after the shower, in mission you can highlight the underwear icon (it wont be red) and toss it with triangle.   (you can still toss your uniform too to distact enemies after the underwear wears out).

I think minimum you have to have the underwear worn at least 10 minutes before you can take a shower and replace it as reserve underwear to throw, but it an interesting mechanic and can really help in the more chaotic quests.

it took 2 days to complete the campaign mode, I played the co op online for 2 days before that, so I had stronger weapons to do the campaign with.  there's tons of weapons with unique stats.      they put a lot of thought into this.   yea it's not GOTY but it's a cool unique game in the genre.