Anyone else having trouble following the plot? (Spoilers up to end of Decoyman chapter)

[AHA-Lambda]

Just finished chapter 0 and chapter 1, so a good 2-3 hours of playtime so far.

I'll be honest, I haven't the bloody foggiest as to what is going on...
but, let me see if what I've gathered so far is right.

Basically there was an infamous serial killer years ago named Kamui, and this case was known as "The Silver Case", leading to his capture and then a subsequent establishment of these HCU departments in the police force.

Kamui now seems to have somehow broken out of confinement somehow and killed more people, and the game begins.

Start of the game shows Tetsu encounter him on the road, and the police try to hunt him down.
They then somehow lose him but see other civilians killing each other? And some weird ghostly stuff too? this part lost me tbh

Anyway, after this, police hunt Kamui in the woods, and they all get killed bar one person, the player character.
Kamui has now killed 2 more people.
We then investigate a business partner of his, who it turns out has captured Kamui and was planning to kill him for revenge over business? But she also was the real killer of the 3 people not Kamui? Why?
Oh, and the kids at the shelter are all Kamui's kids with the 3 victims, that fact just seemed to get dropped in passing

It's not impenetrable supernatural nonsense like Suda's usual stuff (killer is dead) but it's writing style (for me at least) has not beeneasy to follow.
Is it just me, or am I the only one having some trouble?

[Deep_wolf]

MYSTERY

[Griszly]

The English tone reminds me of the way FSR turned out on DS. There's nothing wrong with it (in case a developer sees this). Both games are just text-heavy and overly surreal. killer7's script was disjointed too at times, but the perfect voice casting jived easier with my brain.

[DinofartThenPoop]

At that point I don't think you're really supposed to understand the larger part of what's going on. If you haven't noticed yet after you complete Decoyman there's a separate line of chapters on the right hand side of the chapter select menu that give a different perspective on the events of each chapter. I won't say that it explains everything but it does illuminate some things that are going on while also piling on more mystery.

[俄]

I noticed in some japanese manga that the story might be intentionally impossible to understand until the point where you're given certain information much later in the story. It might be a literary trope the japanese have. You have to take all this seemingly useless information in and filter it as you see fit, trying to pay attention to stuff that you feel might be important while ignoring useless stuff, waiting until something is revealed that might hint at what's going on. "Just go with it" trying to find recurring themes, play along until it clicks. That's my take on it, at least.

I'm on the "parade" chapter now and I think that getting a feeling for the character's intentions and motivations is more important than the details on the crimes themselves. I could be wrong though.

Originally posted by Griszly:

The English tone reminds me of the way FSR turned out on DS. There's nothing wrong with it (in case a developer sees this). Both games are just text-heavy and overly surreal.

Yes, that's how it's meant to be. I think the translator did a really amazing job actually.

[AHA-Lambda]

Thanks for the clarifications guys!

[MRKitano]

The guy at the beginning isn't Kamui. It's Ryo Kazan (from Moonlight Syndrome). He was shot dead several times by Kusabi. He was holding his sister's head. The other girl is Rumi Toba (also from Moonlight Syndrome) . They're both mad.

[The Ax-Man]

Originally posted by Gestaltzerfall:

Originally posted by MRKitano:

The guy at the beginning isn't Kamui. It's Ryo Kazan (from Moonlight Syndrome). He was shot dead several times by Kusabi. He was holding his sister's head. The other girl is Rumi Toba (also from Moonlight Syndrome) . They're both mad.

Thought it would be interesting to point out that Silver Case starts when Moonlight Syndrome ends.
Silver Case concluded what happened to Ryo Kazan & Rumi Touba after Moonlight Syndrome.

Also, I think things will be easier to understand when you finish the game, then you'll have to play it at least one more time to absorb more stuff. Just like FSR.

You know... having played both killer7 and FSR years ago, I find both of those far easier to comprehend than the entirety of The Silver Case, primarily because of LifeCut. There's just so much thrown at you, and while some of it makes sense, there are way too many details that get glossed over/things that are left unanswered that I just can't make heads or tails of a good chunk of it.

I will, of course, play through it again in time. Gives me a perfect reason to replay the whole "trilogy" that Suda made with this, FSR, and killer7.

[KingfossilFER]

Well the Danwa prologue makes it pretty clear what was the truth behind the whole thing.

But yes, there were some things open in the end, which I guess its why the game got a sequel.

[The Ax-Man]

There are some things that were obvious enough, sure; the reason why the silver eyes mattered to so many people (though, how would they even properly research/discover the silver eyes/ocular silverization to begin with? Unless it really is all controlled by that programmer, which... man, that's quite a weird way to explain it all away; but that's also impossible, since it seems like the original Kamui had a left eye that was not his own, but seemingly not human... maybe God's Eye, or something, to go with the idea of God's Hand from killer7?), the whole "mental cloning" thing explaining the existence of multiple attempted Kamui/Ayame experiments (also lost as to exactly what scientific processes they're using to accomplish this)...

But the constant back and forth on who Kamui really is/was (primarily based precisely on Danwa's final conversation, but also on that end scene of Hikari with what seems to be the reveal of the new, "real" Kamui; why it was suddenly, seemingly, Morishima, when apparently no previous experiments had worked, I still have no clue. Or was that just some weird throwback to the experiments of silverization apparently working now, with the new Kamui being someone else entirely who kills Mayor Hachisuka?), plus the sudden personality shift of almost all known characters (in addition to apparent government affiliations and hidden agendas/rivalries/enemies), not to mention the also-sudden focus on the government/political aspect of it all (outside of Parade, where the politics of everything came more to light, while other chapters it took a bit of a backseat) made that final main chapter pretty ridiculous. I still love it, but it seems pretty convoluted even with all of the knowledge I have from all 3 main games in the "trilogy".

[KingfossilFER]

The origin of the silver eyes comes in Flower, Sun & Rain. They are eyes of a rare type of hyenas bred on a certain place.
SC does take place in a dystopian future of sorts (in 1999...)

Morishima never became kamui, nor couldnt if he wanted as he was a failed stock body, but he could still interact with lingering consciousnesses.

The sudden change in personalities.. well I think Nakategawa was strictly business and had a part in the faction war going one (which was later revealed to be a smokescreen, but he probably didnt know that)
Morikawa (the john lennon guy) and chizuru where in a love affair despite both knowing that chizuru herself was a stock body of Ayame.

[Deep_wolf]

Originally posted by RiP | FER:

SC does take place in a dystopian future of sorts (in 1999...)

Future? No, it's modern day stuff. Like 99 modern.

[Stevil]

Originally posted by The Ax-Man:

plus the sudden personality shift of almost all known characters (in addition to apparent government affiliations and hidden agendas/rivalries/enemies), not to mention the also-sudden focus on the government/political aspect of it all (outside of Parade, where the politics of everything came more to light, while other chapters it took a bit of a backseat) made that final main chapter pretty ridiculous. I still love it, but it seems pretty convoluted even with all of the knowledge I have from all 3 main games in the "trilogy".

The Prologue and Lifecut says a lot about the factions, but it's a bit like Flower Sun & Rain and Killer7 where the story dumps all this info on you early on, then goes off in different directions, before asking you to remember who's who before the finale.

I don't think the personality shifts were all that sudden, though. Their motivations in Lifecut are set up in earlier chapters, most obviously in Spectrum, but you also have to remember each case has a time skip between them (it goes from March to December), so they've all had some time to change:

Naka is a self-confessed double agent and is pretty upfront about his dealings with Central. When the FS0 plan kicks into action, he does exactly as expected. His love of being part of a group (which is joked about before his death) means he never really sees the bigger picture.

Chizuru's shift is explained somewhat in Spectrum, when the boss tells her to change her way of thinking or leave the unit. In Kamuidrome, she's cold and indifferent, reverting back to her days as a shelter kid. By the time Lifecut happens, she's another Ayame; going along with the plan of murdering Kamui and sending a message to the public. She embraces the Ayame persona, so Sakura (like Tokio, another shelter kid rejecting her past) kills her.

Morikawa loves Chizuru, so he chooses to protect her in the faction war. He ends up getting killed because he's loyal to a fault and Kasubi has a "no tolerance" approach to cleaning up The Silver Case's loose ends. Morikawa picks a side, a side that doesn't really exist, due to Chizuru and his promise to the boss, so Kasubi has no choice but to kill or be killed.

In the end, Kasubi, Akira, Sakura, and even Sumio, survive because they end up "killing the past" and freeing themselves from The Silver Case; everyone else dies because they were still tied to it.

[Deep_wolf]

You also forgot Toiko, who...ahaha, you know it.

[Stevil]

Originally posted by Deep_wolf:

You also forgot Toiko, who...ahaha, you know it.

Oh yeah, Tokio chooses to run away, which is why he never gets rid of the ghosts. He doesn't quite kill the past, but he's not consumed by it either; due to the advice from his bartender and his love for Erika. Plus his story (sort of) continues on in FSR.

[KingfossilFER]

Tokio's only way to get rid of the ghosts is to kill the Akira (your main character) but he doesnt. He does, however, embrace the fact that someone with no purpose in life as he describes himself, still has some worth.
Besides, Tokio, Akira and sakura can be hosts for kamui, so they were deemed failures (I guess)
Rumours say he comes back in the sequel 25 ward.

About Chizuru, I tought that she had no choice with all the deal about being an ayame stock body, and it wasnt something she could control at all.