Black Rock Shooter the Game
Recently I have been asked by a few people about wether or not I would be purchasing the english release of Black Rock Shooter. Supposedly it will be released some time this year, even though I personally have still seen zero promotion of it. Either way, I figured it a good time to finally get off mu rump and throw in my two cents on the game.
Well the Japanese game that is.
That's right, forget about the english release. I already dropped 80$ on the limited edition when it was released in Japan two years ago. With it I got a lovely little artbook, ost, and finally the best prize of all. The limited release came with the White Rock Shooter Figma. Something the english will never get. Along with the nendoroid edition as well. But WRS Figma > Nendoroid any day.
Even though the figma was what finally sold me on the game; it always had my attention. See not only was it about a badass heroine with giant guns but it was also slated as an Rpg. Old school japanese rpgs is what got me into gaming to begin with. So needless to say I was excited to test the game out.
Luckily it did not disappoint. The game is played through a hub mission selection scene. You pick an area and one of the corresponding story missions that go along with that area. The story is told through cut scenes usually at the beginning and end of missions. With comm talk spliced between.
The story, isn't bad but isn't really the greatest. Really, for a concept like BRS it's probably amazing. In my opinion far better then the animated adaptation about other selves no one likes me bull shit.
Pretty much the idea is that an alien life form have come to earth and taken over. When I mean taken over, I do mean it. By the time BRS wakes up, being a genetic weapon spliced from alien DNA to fight them, the fight is lost. I'm not embellishing here when your small band over merry soldiers who wake you up, are practically the only humans left.
So here's what I like about the story. The world is lost. The aliens won. Humans are practically a dead race. There is nothing to save once our heroine wakes up. It's a lost cause. This idea is something hardly done in games. It just really strikes a fancy with me.
As the game goes you find out more about BRS, or rather Stella. About mid way through the game you lose your military support as all of them are brutally murdered. Yet in exchange you meet one of the other generic weapons, Nana. Or rather Grey. See the colour theme yet?
Spoilers under the cut on the endings
One thing I will say that turns me off on the english release, is that they likely won't have the same depth to it. Will the aliens be cannibals that eat one another once they fail in battle? Will Nana get eaten by WRS? Probably not. Since in our rates, I think cannibalism would bump the game from a T game to M or even higher.
You could say, oh aliens can eat each other. They're monsters. Not really the same message when they are humanoid creatures to the point that if they weren't called aliens, you wouldn't know.
But I made this cut to talk about the endings, so here we go. There are actually two endings, which feels very loose to me at least. It's more two paths to a very similar end. Pretty much if you make the right choices at the beginning of the game that saves one of the military blokes, he gives you a polar bear plush.
Apparently the tank you busted out of the help them at the beginning of the game had that in it. Since you just dashed into the fray, he picked it up. It may seem like a small thing, but this bear is actually important. See, you and Nana both have these polar bear plushes. The reason being because the man who created them left recordings for them inside the bear.
This is what makes the two routes different. Because of the plush and recording, Stella is able to collect more information after finding the secret facility. With this code she also activates Nana's bear which talks about how he didn't throw her away as a defect; but because he wanted her and Stella to be normal and live normal lives.
So if you mess up and kill that dude, you miss all this shit! Kind of a jib once you probably go back and fix that mistake like I did. Seriously I don't think there is anywhere else to mess up but there at the beginning. Hazaah on that!
The only difference on the endings is if Nana lives or not. If Nana trusts you, from activating the bears, she will stay behind for you to fight WRS. Which is weird because her armor will still be there like she ate Nana. Or maybe my game just fudged up.
Either way the ending is rather simple and poetic. Stella and Nana (depending on true end) are standing in the snow. They watch as some polar bears walk not to far away from them. Nothing is said as they begin to walk off into the distance as well.
That's it. You may wonder why I find that a poetic end. Well it's because in this world, polar bears have gone extinct. If I remember correctly it was even before the alien invasion. What this says, is that evolution won out. That there is a chance for humanity to rise again. In time they would return.
The gameplay is decently simple but can take a bit to master. It's not your straight rpg. Waiting for turns and smacking each other in order. The game takes a lot from the Tales series in my opinion with the combat being real time.
With this the x button is a simple attack, circle being dodge, and finally square is guard. I may have these a bit mixed up since it's been a while but it's something similar to this effect. What reminds me of Tales is that triangle coupled with a direction will activate a special you have set up.
Yet the gameplay isn't exactly like Tales though. It also feels a lot like a Mass Effect game of sorts. With the analog you move your target over actually moving BRS. Hence the importance to learn how to dodge. Even though you can rapid fire, this will cause your gun to over heat. So thinking ahead and mixing specials and quick shots is a must.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys rpgs when it comes out; but there are a few warnings to be had. The difficulty curve is asinine. You can be doing well in areas but the boss will wreak you five ways to sunday. In that aspect, it is also difficult to grind outside boss rushes. Which in turn may deplete your items if you are not careful. Do note you can not buy items and need to hope monsters or bosses drop more to replenish what you use.
Personally, by the time I got to XNFE who just gets to be invincible for a minute or two before you can hurt her; I was getting fed up. Hell even WRS didn't seem as annoying as dealing with no explanation you can't hit me bullshit.
In the end I did enjoy the game. I made a point to unlock almost everything sans some of the post game content. Perhaps with the english release I may go back and see if I can do the extreme boss hunt.
As for recommending it, I'm a but torn. Yes the story is decent, the gameplay is fun, but the difficulty has to be noted. If you need a Japanese Rpg fix, get Tales of Graces or something of that kin. But if you are up for a bit more of a challenge, then try out Black Rock Shooter.