I miss Senran Kagura.
I used to be excited when Jordan tossed me this overview as a result of I’d simply trudged via a slogging roguelite (Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree) and was in search of one thing with a little bit extra vitality, a little bit extra motion, and a little bit extra fanservice. What I used to be not essentially in search of was one other roguelite. Nonetheless, as we all know, 75% of all new video games are roguelites now, so possibly it was inevitable. What I discovered, after hours of slogging via this repetitious sport, is that I actually miss Senran Kagura.
Okay then, inform me about this Full Steel Schoolgirl sport.
Oh hiya, I didn’t see you there.
Within the (close to?) future, there’s a company known as Meternal Jobz that has changed their flesh-and-blood workforce with robots, then labored their autonomous staff to the bone, er, circuit boards. You select one among two robotic schoolgirls who’re out for revenge in opposition to Meternal Jobs and its CEO as a result of he killed their father by overworking him.
Wait, they’re robots?
Yup.
How have they got a father?
The sport really does a terrific job of explaining that.
Actually?
No.
You select one among these robotic youngsters, Ryoko or Akemi, who’re primarily the identical character. You begin on the bottom ground of company HQ, killing your manner up 100 flooring to the CEO’s workplace. You’ll do that by wielding a wide range of melee assaults and weapons, drones, tremendous assaults, shields, and numerous skills discovered after defeating bosses (not like in a cool manner, like Mega Man). And while you finally die, you’ll be despatched all the best way again to the underside and use no matter loot your cybernetic corpse was carrying to improve your self and check out once more.
Like some other roguelite!
Sure! The principle drawback is that Full Steel Schoolgirl lacks any form of secret sauce by any means. Oh, they fight some issues: your chosen robotic schoolgirl is livestreaming her efficiency and her “viewers” gives you challenges while you enter some fight areas, like “beat 5 enemies with melee assaults” or “don’t use a battery” and in case you succeed–which normally isn’t exhausting–you’ll get bonus loot. Typically, although, the problem received’t actually match the scope of the fight space. It’s exhausting to “defeat all of the enemies in 40 seconds” if it’s an enormous room with a lot of grunts and two minibosses, however that’s the key draw back to randomly-generated stage design, ain’t it?
Every time you clear a room, you’ll be supplied a brand new piece of kit. Most of the time, it’s a lateral transfer or a downgrade. You’ll shortly be taught which weapon and gun varieties you favor, at which level you’ll turn out to be a lot choosier about swapping out elements and do it far much less incessantly.
However are there a whole lot of choices?
Sure and no. A number of it doesn’t appear terribly well-suited to the kind of musou-calibur slaughter you’ll be engaged in for 90% of fight encounters. Let’s say there’s a sword, a chainsaw, and an enormous axe. The sword is quick, however weak. The chainsaw is mid-range in each manner. The large axe could be very highly effective however slow-moving. After which there are variations on these three varieties by way of stats. I simply caught with chainsaw sort melee weapons as a result of they had been balanced.
How is the fight?
As bog-standard as senseless character motion will get. You possibly can shoot issues from a distance, however when you get uninterested in manually aiming or run out of ammo (which refills on a cooldown), you may begin smacking enemies with melee assaults. You’ve additionally acquired your drone which, as in Nier: Automata, will assault as soon as as soon as after which begins a cooldown. Drones are additionally swappable. You’ll additionally shortly discover a defend which is helpful however just for avoiding enemy fireplace because it has no impact on melee assaults. Shields will also be swapped out.
So run right into a room full of robots, kill all of them, repeat, advert nauseum.
Right. Typically you’ll discover Mod chips, which barely remix your stats. Barely extra vitality recharge for barely much less motion velocity, that form of factor. Nothing game-changing. We’re not speaking about Boons in Hades right here. And then you definately’ll have to concentrate to your vitality meter, as a result of in case you run out of vitality, you’ll be able to’t do something however run round for a couple of seconds.
And finally you’ll die?
Sure, after which you’ll be able to go to your creepy improve physician, additionally a lady (and a robotic?) who will allow you to purchase upgrades to your physique. The sport positions her as tremendous creepy, as a result of she’s just about bare and straps yo’ woman to a mattress with chains when you’re choosing from a menu of upgrades. It is bizarre! Anyway, all kinds of issues could be upgraded like well being, assault harm, battery (potion) reserves, what elements you begin with, how a lot of your loot you really preserve while you die…
Wait, WHAT?
Oh yeah, it’s a must to sink cash right into a line merchandise that allows you to preserve extra of the loot you discover.
Come on, man. Are there a number of sorts of currencies to maintain monitor of?
Sure, however you don’t actually management tit. All forex is represented by little blue cubes, however when you get again to the physique store, you’ll discover that it consists of one predominant forex and a number of other minor currencies that are clearly a lot rarer. And you will have the “predominant” forex to purchase an improve, however not the “minor” forex that it additionally requires. This truthfully drove me loopy. It’s not like Hades or TMNT and even Towa in that you will note what the reward for beating a room is earlier than getting into it.
So it’s repetitive, shallow fights from room to room. How are the bosses?
Bosses are extra fascinating, however largely they’re big harm sponges with telegraphed assaults that you just’ll shortly be taught to keep away from. Nonetheless, boss fights are inclined to rely closely in your weapons as a result of attacking at shut vary is harmful. They go on awhile and then you definately’ll (normally) get a brand new capability for defeating them, however that capability have to be bought and upgraded to get any use out of it. This ain’t Metroid.
Sounds irritating.
I suppose I’d say this: when you’ve made it via a pair bosses, you’ve seen actually each trick Full Steel Schoolgirls throws at you. And in case you’re not bought by then, you’re not lacking something by strolling away. One factor the sport might have finished to enhance the monotony is to provide you everlasting keys to increased flooring. When you beat a boss, you’re given an elevator key to the subsequent set of flooring, permitting you to bypass the primary 10, 20, 30, flooring (and many others.). Nonetheless, it’s one-time-use, and also you’ll have to defeat the boss of that financial institution of flooring once more on a future run to get it again.
Nope. Not cool.
I agree, as a result of going up ten flooring simply to get to a boss takes a very good period of time. It could not be satisfying or sensible to ascend all 100 flooring in a single playthrough, which implies failure at increased flooring is extra punishing.
Why does this sport make you miss Senran Kagura?
Senran Kagura’s gameplay operates on this weirdly good area the place it’s musou however you by no means need to do very a lot of it, and also you’re normally rewarded with a boss combat. The missions are quick, the boss fights are fairly enjoyable (when you get the hold of a specific woman’s assault patterns), after which it’s on to the subsequent stage. In principle, you possibly can take Full Steel Schoolgirl and provides it a Senran-like stage development, however you’d wind up with a a lot shorter sport. And I don’t know, possibly I’m simply outdated, however I’d desire a shorter sport to 100 flooring of rote nonsense.
How do Ryoko and Akemi maintain up as Senran protagonists?
They actually don’t have personalities. There aren’t any story sequences. I needed to look their names up on-line whereas scripting this overview as a result of they’re simply by no means referred to by their names within the sport. They’re robots, plain and easy.
The rest value mentioning?
It’s simply not very enjoyable. One underappreciated side of Hades, TMNT, and even The Binding of Isaac is that any given playthrough is fairly fast. You’ll succeed or fail in Hades in about 45 minutes to an hour. However in case you succeed, you have crushed the sport. And then you definately attempt once more. It takes 30-40 minutes to get via one tenth of the flooring in Full Steel Schoolgirl in case you’re not skipping fights (which, to the truthful, you are able to do, however then you definately miss out on zenni). And in case you’re saving your elevator key or simply don’t have a spare, it’s a grind, man. It’s a repetitious, secret sauce-free grind with no story to encourage you or quests to work in direction of.
I suppose I am going to return to Silksong.
The bizarre factor about Silksong is that it is usually a cruel grind however for totally completely different causes that you’ll examine sometime once I beat the rattling factor and write my overview of it. Stay up for that, readers!
