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Post by Poog on Dec 28, 2016 4:55:54 GMT -5
Just give more love and attention to the characters who most certainly need it. We just want more of our beloved Shinobi girls to be loved and not neglected. These two points right here are what I'd really like to think most of the anti-Yumi people would prefer.
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Post by ateliertohka on Dec 28, 2016 14:10:08 GMT -5
Just give more love and attention to the characters who most certainly need it. We just want more of our beloved Shinobi girls to be loved and not neglected. These two points right here are what I'd really like to think most of the anti-Yumi people would prefer. I know I can't really speak for everybody, but it's definitely what I would prefer. Fair treatment of all characters is one of the basic tentpoles of good writing. It's only natural to want all of the characters to be treated with respect, and for a story to only focus on one character at the expense of everyone else, I don't think that's something that even the Japanese audience would want.
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ShadowKnight508
Sapphire Star
Playing Fallout 4 (PS4) and Horizon: Zero Dawn as I await a Western release date for SK: PBS!
Posts: 36
PSN ID: MossyOakRcn42
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Post by ShadowKnight508 on Dec 28, 2016 15:12:38 GMT -5
I have been thinking it over the past day or so after seeing Poog put up this thread, I have decided to partake in this discussion. This is going to be a fairly long post, so please bear with me as I get all of this off of my shoulders. -THE YUMI SITUATION-First off, I would like to echo the comments of those who have mentioned it in their posts prior to mine in regards to the over-saturation of Yumi as the face of the franchise. I fully understand that she is the most beloved character of the Japanese fan base and is widely loved by the majority of Senran Kagura fans around the world, but her exploding popularity has unfortunately come at the expense of the other characters in the franchise. As a fan of this franchise, I personally do not hate/dislike Yumi as a character, since I find her to be interesting, I love most of the awesome official/fan art that has come out for her over the years, and she is fun to play as in Senran Kagura: Estival Versus (the only SK game I have had the pleasure of playing so far, working on getting Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus on my new gaming PC later this week). However, I am somewhat disappointed that some of the other characters in the franchise have been suffering at the hands of Yumi's massive popularity, getting left behind and out of the limelight while Yumi is getting mass exposure by the franchise via New Wave cards, promotional content, mouse pads, wall banners, posters, becoming the new face of the franchise, etc. How bad has it gotten? While Yumi gets quite a bit of new content created on a regular basis, some of the less popular characters have been getting little to no new content that barely trickles in at an irregular rate. Several characters have even been reduced from interesting, compelling characters down to basic, lackluster characters (hollow shells of their former selves) as the focus has turned towards Yumi the past few years. For example, my favorite Senran Kagura character is Katsuragi, who I quickly became a fan of due to her personality, rocking figure, brutal kicks via her iron greaves, and for her perverted nature (mostly at the expense of poor Asuka's breasts). She has an interesting (and sad) backstory that I learned about while watching the anime series and reading the manga, and I was excited to see where they would take Katsuragi as the franchise progresses. However, due to not being as popular as other characters (it was pointed out to me) in the Japanese fan base, poor Katsuragi has been slowly phased out of the spotlight and has been reduced from an interesting character with some potential down to simply groping/sexually harassing others. I am not the only Katsuragi fan who is disappointed to see our favorite Senran getting the shaft by the franchise and reduced from what she was as a character while Yumi has been thrust into the spotlight and has become the face of the franchise. Several other characters in the series seem to have suffered a similar fate as Katsuragi (being phased out or reduced from what they were down to a hollow shell of themselves), and I am sure that the fans of those characters are disappointed as well with what has happened to their favorite Senran while Yumi gets all of the attention. As Sinister-Oni posted back on the first page, it was even worked into one of the special missions for Estival Versus where Asuka (the original face of the franchise in the 1st wave prior to Shinovi Versus) pointed out that most of the focus was on Yumi, Miyabi, and their respective groups and that she was concerned that she would eventually become non-existent as her parts in the series have been getting smaller with each new entry in the series. I originally chuckled when I first saw that bit when I was playing the game, but as time has gone on, I am starting to become very aware of just how true this seems to be. With a roster of over 80 characters (original series + New Wave), it is a shame to see the franchise putting so much effort into Yumi and leaving a vast majority of the other characters behind as they slowly get phased out by the fan base due to little to no new content involving them. I don't want to see the franchise pull the plug on Yumi in order to give the other characters in this wonderful series more attention, but I just wish that they would be more balanced in promoting and creating new content for most of the characters in the franchise instead of putting so much effort into Yumi (due to the Japanese fan base). Give some of the lesser-known or loved characters in the franchise their chance in the limelight along with more love/attention for them and stop reducing/phasing out some of our favorite characters due to their low popularity. -OTHER CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS- As the franchise moves forward with the release of Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash, it has been mentioned that more games (the one following PBS being an action game) will be on the way so long as the franchise remains popular and profitable. Below are a few things that I would personally love to see happen in those coming games:
1. More story/plot development & character development. Have a story that features more characters having bigger parts in the overall story and get some of the less popular characters in on the action so they can have their chance to be seen. In addition, perhaps some more character development/interactions can be worked into the upcoming games so we get to see our favorite characters interacting with the other characters more often. I love seeing the girls interact with each other (fellow squad members along with rival/friendly groups), and it would be nice to see a bit more of that wonderful interaction in upcoming games. 2. The New Wave girls being featured in their own game (action game, preferably). Have most of the New Wave characters in the new game with others added in via DLC/Story Expansions and have the old cast of characters featured in cameo roles or in the game via DLC. This will most likely never happen (due to Yumi having to get phased out so the New Wave characters get the spotlight, which will disappoint the Japanese fan base), but I could see it happening down the road when the current roster of characters we have been enjoying over the years finally move on and take a step back in order for the New Wave characters to take over. 3. More large-scale boss battles (either against rival shinobi groups n huge, multi-part battles or giant Yoma fights that have multiple parts that you must complete to utterly defeat them). 4. An RPG Senran Kagura game. I personally would be interested to see just how a Senran Kagura RPG game would turn out, mainly because I am a big fan of RPG games and would love to see just how the game would turn out in a modern setting with the majority of the SK cast (original + New Wave) being featured in it. If you find this idea to be stupid or dumb, you are entitled to your opinions, and I will respect that. I was just posting what I would personally love to see happen one day (which is not likely, but you never know).
EDIT: I had better ideas earlier today when I originally started this post, but after a hard day at work, I forgot roughly half of what I wanted to post in this reply and ended up posting a much shorter version of what I had originally planned to write. Sorry in advance if some of this comes off as rambling (since I lost my train of thought several times while writing this, hence some parts being different).
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Post by tppr10 on Dec 28, 2016 15:49:37 GMT -5
So to summarize this thread: "Stop showing off Yumi so much".
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Post by Nobu Narukami on Dec 28, 2016 16:09:28 GMT -5
These two points right here are what I'd really like to think most of the anti-Yumi people would prefer. I know I can't really speak for everybody, but it's definitely what I would prefer. Fair treatment of all characters is one of the basic tentpoles of good writing. It's only natural to want all of the characters to be treated with respect, and for a story to only focus on one character at the expense of everyone else, I don't think that's something that even the Japanese audience would want. I'm glad you guys agree with me. We all, Western or Japanese, have our favorites characters and our own opinion on what goes on in the series, and wish that focus can shift to one or more of the other characters, even if they're fan favorites.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2016 18:34:59 GMT -5
I wanted to provide a middle ground in my post, really. I didn't want to sound like "YOU GUISE YUMI IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH" or "MAKE A CAPTIVATING STORY TAKAKI". I just wanted to dig up both sides, and figure out which resonated with a whole lot of us, me included.
Besides, I said it before, there are Japanese SK fans that are different in what they believe in. It wouldn't feel right to jump to conclusions now.
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Post by DarthVitrial on Dec 28, 2016 21:35:41 GMT -5
Yeah, I wouldn't ask them just to stop using a character just because I personally don't like them...to me, Yumi is about as interesting as a block of wood, but I know other people like her, and I wouldn't want them to miss out.
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Post by Leon Tekashi on Dec 29, 2016 4:03:57 GMT -5
Well, I'm sure some of you probably want to know how I personally feel about this entire situation and what I want changed. Let's see...
Well, to begin, I got into SK back when the anime just finished airing in Japan. I loved what I saw, so I decided to do some research on the characters by reading about them on the wiki. Originally, Katsuragi was my main favorite because of her character and her story. As you can see on my profile pic and signature, my new favorite is now Yozakura because of other reasons along with her character and story. Moving along, after doing the research, I found out that folks were trying to bring SK to the west on the old XSEED forums, which made me happy since I'm glad there's folks over here that want the games localized. Eventually, I came across this forum and joined it to express my love of SK with other folks. Soon enough, SKB was finally localized and I bought it. I had so much fun with it to the point where I even did literally everything in the game. Then SV came over and I platted that. I have yet to get Bon Appetit but I did get EV, which I also platted. The rest is history.
Now, as for the situation. As people have already stated, there is an over saturation of Yumi as of late, mainly due to her popularity in Japan. Now, Yumi is one of my favorite characters. However, this is my stance on the matter. On one hand, I understand how because of this, lots of characters are getting neglected, especially in NW. I understand that for some characters (particularly Hanzo group and Homura's group), when their stories are finished, they're just there for the sake of moving the plot forward (although, we don't really know if Katsuragi really got her parents back at the end of SV.) On the other hand, I don't really mind what they're doing with Yumi. The reason because Yumi does give Marvelous a good sum of money, which could potentially go towards game development or other things like merch. Every other character is getting merch still, just not as much as Yumi. Sure Yumi is getting the most attention but all of the other characters are still getting some form of attention. More attention for them would be nice but it's better than nothing. I know people want all of the characters to get equal attention but it's rather difficult at this point with the amount of characters they have, which leads me to what I want changed:
- Attention balancing. Everyone doesn't have to have the same amount but enough. - Add new gameplay elements to the Versus games, as I felt they could have done more with EV but couldn't due to limitations. - Stop flanderizing the characters. Even if they already developed, flanderization isn't the way to go. - Some variety in missions for the Versus series as it's rather repetitive for the most part. - More costume and accessories that are unlockable since as of late, some of them are locked away as DLC.
With all that's been said, let's see what they'll do in the future.
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Post by ateliertohka on Dec 29, 2016 10:06:45 GMT -5
I would just like to say that we don't need another Versus game. Or at least, not another game with Versus in the name. There's only so many "Versus" titles you can have, and they ultimately say nothing about what the games are going to be like. Something that relates more to the plot would be more appropriate. I would also like to say that they need to give us what they hinted at and go through with the Mikagura sisters/Kagura story regardless of character popularity. The way I see it, the seeds are already planted, so it would be very foolish to go back on the promise of what could potentially be an amazing storyline. Another point, the system doesn't matter. Just put it on whatever. We all know that a Switch-exclusive title is not going to happen, so if we do get a game on the Switch, just make it multiplat. That's all I can say about that.
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Post by Ayacchi on Dec 29, 2016 16:36:01 GMT -5
I forgot to mention someone else who I wish had some development. Murakumo. I liked the character and she was one of my top 3 favorite senrans. Murakumo is someone I can relate to with my shyness and low confidence which was why I really enjoyed her in the first place and was hoping that she would have confidence in the future games as character development.
Post-EV, I was disappointed when I found out that she barely got any development at all and was still crippling shy and it seemed like it only got worse when it became a gimmick even. She's still a favorite but I didn't like that they didn't really do anything about her problem and just kept it. I don't even want to imagine how it's going to be in PBS
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Post by ateliertohka on Dec 29, 2016 18:21:54 GMT -5
I forgot to mention someone else who I wish had some development. Murakumo. I liked the character and she was one of my top 3 favorite senrans. Murakumo is someone I can relate to with my shyness and low confidence which was why I really enjoyed her in the first place and was hoping that she would have confidence in the future games as character development. Post-EV, I was disappointed when I found out that she barely got any development at all and was still crippling shy and it seemed like it only got worse when it became a gimmick even. She's still a favorite but I didn't like that they didn't really do anything about her problem and just kept it. I don't even want to imagine how it's going to be in PBS This is another big problem I have with EV. No effort to actually develop the characters aside from Ryobi. (I apologize if this comes off as rather blunt. I'm just kind of frustrated with everything that's been going on.)
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Post by Nobu Narukami on Dec 29, 2016 18:52:21 GMT -5
I forgot to mention someone else who I wish had some development. Murakumo. I liked the character and she was one of my top 3 favorite senrans. Murakumo is someone I can relate to with my shyness and low confidence which was why I really enjoyed her in the first place and was hoping that she would have confidence in the future games as character development. Post-EV, I was disappointed when I found out that she barely got any development at all and was still crippling shy and it seemed like it only got worse when it became a gimmick even. She's still a favorite but I didn't like that they didn't really do anything about her problem and just kept it. I don't even want to imagine how it's going to be in PBS This is another big problem I have with EV. No effort to actually develop the characters aside from Ryobi. (I apologize if this comes off as rather blunt. I'm just kind of frustrated with everything that's been going on.) Actually, I think you make a valid point. While Ryoubi got a develop more, it seems everyone else had little character development in comparison. Sure, moving on from the death of a loved one is a big step, but it felt kind of tacked on and forced. It almost makes you think they're only there simply to fill the roster.
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Post by Leon Tekashi on Dec 30, 2016 10:39:32 GMT -5
One other thing. I know that some of you are following me on Twitter so you might know this. A couple of weeks ago, I've ranted about how ridiculous it's getting in regards to the hate towards Yumi. I want to elaborate on that. I understand that people are sick of seeing Yumi get all of this attention compare to other characters. I also understand that people that don't really like Yumi all that much are upset with this treatment as well. Now, I made a statement in regards to how those that hate Yumi only because of her popularity and nothing else are hipsters. I was speaking about those folks in particular, not everyone in the fanbase. I know the majority of you guys aren't that shallow. It's folks like those or folks that jump on the bandwagon cause it's the cool thing to do are folks I generally get annoyed at. For anyone that saw my rant and got offended, I apologize. I just really, really hate people that do stuff like that. It really grinds my gears when people hate on something all because it's cool to do so or they're just salty.
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Post by Default_Kashou on Dec 30, 2016 22:06:50 GMT -5
Been a while since I last made a post, but had a few thoughts on my mind for a while now so here we go.
I definitely feel like characters need to get more equal screen time and development, looking back at EV most notable to me was that Crimson were just left to the side completely with a few minor things here and there while most of the other groups had something going on. Im not sure if it just ended this way because they tried something different for the story progression than previous entries but it really sucks when there are so many characters to only focus on a few of them and flanderize a bunch of others in the process, Im really hoping PBS and the next Action game dont leave us with more of the same in that department especially with the addition of even more characters from NW, the awesome characters is what really hooked me onto the series in the first place.
With Yumi, I see why they push her so much in promo material but we have other leaders too, all of them should be getting used, the amount of NW cards, promo artwork and merch that I have seen with Yumi just randomly there with members of Crimson or New Hebijo just make no sense due to their opposing alignments especially with where Yumi's character started off. Just scale it back a bit to make everyone happier.
Would love to see more tag team/coop gameplay like in SK2 in the future, it was really fun and added a nice new dynamic. Also more Yoma boss fights, those fights were awesome would love some boss fights like them on a PS4 game to see how far they can go.
Last thing I have is a little different and im hoping some people would agree with me here, Music! the series music is awesome yet it feels like we always get shafted some way or another when it comes to it, missing vocal tracks on soundtrack CDs due to licensing issues or just the short version like we got on the EV CD (pretty sure that cd also had broken tags or something since i recall needing to fix them), I wish a little more effort was put for us when it comes to that, looking at the awesome 4 CD soundtrack with bonus tracks that came with the JP SK2 special edition compared to what we received just doesn't feel good.
While on the topic of music I think it would be really awesome if in the future we could get some form of lyrics displayed for the vocal songs at the very least in romaji but obviously would prefer a translation alongside, I was really disappointed with BA especially with this since we had 6 vocal tracks (7 counting the OP) and we couldn't look up any of them in the gallery, same goes for some of the credits themes which all sound like deep emotional songs but we are in the dark with what they are even about unless we know some Japanese. Im sure the Japanese fans would love this too since they could just look it up rather than getting the words by ear.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2016 21:42:47 GMT -5
This is probably going to be the biggest post I'll ever right, but it's really worth it to just get my thoughts out there for Takaki.
Looking at where the series is going, I really feel that they are oversaturating the cast too much. I'm not talking about in the vein of saying the new characters ruin the series like some fractions of the Sonic fandom, but the cast is big where not all characters get enough screen time or development. So it's more than just Yumi and her promotion (which I don't mind since Japan has different tastes that us and I prefer Katsu as my bae). Remember all the awesome moments that each Hanzo student had with their respective Hebijo/Crimson rivals? I miss that aspect in the series in which they CARED for developing their characters to show that they have more dimensions than one. I've got to agree with some users said about flanderization hitting some people hard that makes their development irrelevant like Homura or (as much as I hate to say this) Katsuragi. Where's the blonde badass I loved that fought for a thrill and knew when it was the time to grope them bosoms? Now she's kind of a stereotype that kind of made her hard to take serious in recent titles. And I doubt she will be any better with the upcoming Peach Beach Splash. The same can be said for Yagyu too, who's devolved into a yuri bait trope that wants to get in Hibari's pants or nosebleeds when thinking about her. What I would like is better treatment and development of the characters instead of resorting to exaggeration of traits or borrowing from more bloody anime cliches. Not that I'm saying Senran Kagura has lost its way like the Fire Emblem franchise did, but I miss back when the characters where taken serious.
Speaking of which, I also wish the main series had more focus instead of everything being based on the Versus games. I sure do love the games and how deferent they are from the beat em up original, but I just want a bigger focus on plot and not that "other plot". Some fanservice once in a while is fine and dandy since I do love me some boobs (Ironic right?), but having fanservice as a heavier focus over a more balanced plot is one serious gripe that I have with the Versus series. Sure he originally intended to them to be all about fanservice than port like the main series, but I just don't want him to throw his original setting and ideas out of the window just to go for the Dead or Alive route (Having more focus over fanservice over anything serious like character and plot). There is so much potential with the Yoma to be ignored and brushed under a rug after several new games. Heck, even introduce the Versus girls like the Gessen Gang and New Hebijo Crew to breath more life into those games. I've been a fan of the series since it was localized and it would be a shame if they just focus too much on the side stories that grew more popular over the serious tale of good and evil that started it all.
As for gameplay stuff, I'd say maybe add some new moves or specials for each character. Nothing too drastic or anything. Or maybe add more male characters into the franchise. It would be nice for Murasame to be given another chance in addition to Kiriya and Hanzo joining the battle. If naked old men wouldn't be their thing, then they just don't have to be stripped like Asuka's grandmother. That would be a fresh breath of air.
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