Suda 51 general - Killer 7, No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw,

[Frank D'arbo]

Since Travis Strikes Again just came out, I have a question:

What do you guys think of Suda 51's work? This includes anything he's produced, directed, or wrote.

Killer 7 is the greatest mind fuck of the last 20 years.
No More Heroes has fantastic writing
No More Heroes 2 was meh
Fatal Frame 4 was good but glitchy.

Lollipop Chainsaw was more of a James Gunn project since Suda only produced it.
Liberation Maiden is really fun but short.

 

[Cardenio]

Shadows of the Damned was a great romp. I wish Suda could get a bigger budget to produce his lovably trashy games.

 

[Gutes Zeug]

I loved Fatal Frame 4, I've been a fan of the series for a while, and I think they did a great job with that one.

 

[Manah]

Sine Mora is pretty fun.

I feel like he hasn't really gotten a chance to actually be in charge of anything in some time, though. I wonder how he feels about that; Killer Is Dead was supposed to be his next game where he had complete control, then nope, it was someone else's project. Then Lily Bergamo was supposed to be, but then it turned into Let It Die and that didn't happen then either.

Killer7 is interesting, I'm still not entirely sure how much of it is supposed to be symbolic and how much of it is faux-symbolism. Not to mention some of the symbolism is just build up for a dumb pun.

It has some extremely memorable sound effects, though. Some of the Heaven Smile laughs and the heartbeat during a Target's intro cutscene are really unnerving.

 

[Stoneheart]

I played Killer is dead 3 times and i still dont get the story.

 

[frozenrunner]

Suda is a genius. It's too bad he's wasting that genius as the Grasshopper CEO instead of writing and directing games like he used to.

You can tell without looking when he hasn't contributed to a GHM game. They're just not as interesting. NMH2 is superior to the first game in every way... except the writing and the sense of style. It's like going from a masterful low budget indie film to a big-budget, less creative sequel with a "safer" director.

I still like GHM games a lot though. And I appreciate it when Suda writes a game every once in a while. I think Lollipop Chainsaw is the only one of their "big" releases that I haven't played yet.

I feel like he hasn't really gotten a chance to actually be in charge of anything in some time, though. I wonder how he feels about that; Killer Is Dead was supposed to be his next game where he had complete control, then nope, it was someone else's project. Then Lily Bergamo was supposed to be, but then it turned into Let It Die and that didn't happen then either.

At least he wrote KiD's script... but he'll probably never "direct" a game again, and that makes me sad.

I actually really like Let It Die, especially considering it's a F2P game. (Though I haven't yet hit that "optional" paywall that exists in all F2P games, so my opinion may change.) But it's far from the studio's highest creative achievement, and I don't want GHM locked into making F2P stuff forever now that they've been acquired.

Killer7 is interesting, I'm still not entirely sure how much of it is supposed to be symbolic and how much of it is faux-symbolism. Not to mention some of the symbolism is just build up for a dumb pun.

It has some extremely memorable sound effects, though. Some of the Heaven Smile laughs and the heartbeat during a Target's intro cutscene are really unnerving.

Out of interest, what "faux-symbolism" are you thinking of?

I played Killer is dead 3 times and i still dont get the story.

I like KiD a lot, and it definitely has that Suda style, but yeah... the story is all over the place. It's so hard to follow that it made me wonder if there was an issue with the translation/localization.

 

[Sigma]

I've only finished Killer7, NMH and NMH2. I tried to get into the Silver Case but I couldn't really. I'll have to try some of their other stuff sometime considering I got Killer is Dead for free a while back.

 

[Megaroad]

Killer7 and Damned are my favorite games, but considering Mikami is also a part of them that might have something to do with it. I know Suda wasn't happy with the end result of Damned because of EA but Garcia and Johnson were great

Spoiler

and I'm happy for their return in TSA.

Contact is pretty awesome and it's the rare RPG I've gone back to. Not sure if Suda directed or wrote it though, but he was producer.

NMH has the best lead characters in all his games, even if the writing sounds like something an alien (or weirdo in Japan) wrote when I hear it now a days. Might just be shit localizers though. First games soundtrack is one of my faves.

NMH2 starts strong but kind of meanders.

Lollipop Chainsaw was stupid and awful and even at his worse, Suda's a better writer than edgy boi James Gunn.

Too bad GHM replaced Masafumi Takada with Akira Yamaoka for their music because frankly Akira is kind of overrated and a secret hack beyond a handful of good songs from the first three Silent Hills.

Travis Strikes Again is a great return to form and I'm always excited to see what's next. The writing is the best since K7.

Edit: Oh I guess I have Killer is Dead but never get past the moon level because I get bored.

 

[Sigma]

The only thing I know about Contact is that this song is neat.

 

[Fuckyoudad]

I don't think he's had any great level of control over projects for years. His name just gets attached to stuff like Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day to try and sell a few extra copies to the hardcore GHM fans. You scarcely hear of modern games with his name on them that haven't been severly altered in some form or another: EA got on board with Shadows of the Damned and then bullied him into five different drafts, insisting on it being a shooter etc before they were satisfied.

Kadokawa were the ones reponsible for the inclusion of the lechy ogle/gift giving/seduction minigames in Killer is Dead that and while it may have appealed to some people it didn't really do the game any favors in the west when it came review time. You could argue it was a Suda game so it was never going to sell much anyway but still aspects forced upon him don't seem to help when your sales pitch relies on the guy being noted as some gonzo gaming auteur.. who doesn't even have the last word on the content.

Haven't played The 25th Ward (and probably won't) but I rate The Silver Case, Flower, Sun and Rain and No More Heroes as his best stuff. I know a lot of people love Killer 7 and stylistically I'm into but I haven't been able to force myself to finish it.. one day perhaps. I do actually like Lollipop Chainsaw, Shadows of the Damned and Killer is Dead but not really for the sort of reasons I normally associate with Suda or Grasshopper. I don't have a Switch either but I'd definitely give Travis Strikes Back a shot if I did. Also keep meaning to check out Sdatcher.

 

[Megaroad]

 

[jewelry investor]

The best dimensional merge since Sonichu.