I'm not a monster, it's only a mask! Let's Play Killer7!

Don't tell your parents, kids!



Let's play Killer7!

Killer7 is a rail shooterish game developed by Grasshopper Studios and released by Capcom as part of a group of games known as the Capcom 5, all of which were intended for the Gamecube (but I think they also appeared on the PS2). To my knowledge, this included a Resident Evil title, Viewtiful Joe, the game P.N. 03, and the unreleased game Dead Phoenix. What sets Killer7 apart from the rest of the games is just how unflinchingly WEIRD it is (spoilers derp). To give you an idea, the producer of the game, Suda51, later went on to create the game No More Heroes. However, No More Heroes is pretty much meant to be a comedic parody. Killer7 is a whole different animal.



There are two difficulties initially unlocked. First time players should probably choose Normal. I'm choosing Deadly because I hate myself. Incidentally, remember how back in the Eternal Darkness LP I did, I lacked sound on my system? Yeah, I still lack sound, and that's going to be a much bigger problem here.



Here's the level select screen. As you are playing as an assassin, the mission for each level usually centers around killing a certain person. Once you beat the level, their silhouette fills in.



Let's just confirm the mission, and...



The game helpfully screeches at you to indicate the start of the level. Yay!



Also, before every stage, the moon shows up and flickers a bit. Confused yet?



Target 00: Angel - Intro

Target 00: Angel opens up with a lone man, carrying a massive briefcase, walking through the nighttime city. Also, cel shading and gradients are the art style for Killer7. Kind of odd, but eh.



The game introduces everyone of merit in this fashion. This is our protagonist, Garcian Smith.



Another figure, not yet introduced to us, heads toward us, a slip of paper in his hand.



Garcian doesn't so much as blink on his way there.



The two men pass each other, giving only the briefest of glances as the paper is subtly passed to Garcian.



Meet our informant, Christopher Mills. He'll give us our targets and a quick briefing on our mission. Course, not in such a public area.



Garcian quickly makes his way to an abandoned multipurpose building.



Garcian's phone rings once before he quickly picks it up.

You excited? I am. Garcian is quite the badass, it seems.



Once you see this screen, the intro cutscene is usually done.



That laugh… it is just a little chilling.

At this time, you're given the option to learn the controls. I highly recommend this for new players, because Killer7 has a very unconventional control scheme.



We, of course, will skip it in favor of playing the game directly.



All right, Garcian! Let's get in there and mix it up!



Uh-oh, camera.



Now, you'd think that would spell trouble for Garcian, right?



Only… that's not Garcian.



"You don't wanna go any further. It's dangerous."

As the new person who apparently replaced Garcian heads further in, he's accosted by a Jimmy Neutron dead ringer in a hood.



"My friends are all dead. They were all murdered by people that look like… this."

Uh-oh. Stop scowling and do something, man!



"I have been chosen…"

What the hell is that thing!?



Fortunately, our new protagonist is just as much of a badass as Garcian, and blows the Heaven Smile to a fine red mist in a single shot.



"Shit, there's more than fourteen. *spit* Those bastards are breeding."

So, you've met the main enemy of the game, Heaven Smile.



At the same time, you've seen a core element of gameplay: the ability to switch between various personas at will. Today's contestant is Dan Smith, and he'll be who we play as while I explain the basics of the game.



Although we can switch characters at any time, I won't be playing as Garcian for the rest of this update, for reasons.

Moving ahead, we find a split in the path, which is entirely linear. At branches like these, you can choose which direction to move in. I choose the one with the wacky name.



This is Iwazaru, trusted servant of the "Master" of the Killer7, and creepy hanging gimp. He serves the purpose of giving us tutorial advice and hints as we progress through the game.



Indeed, master Harman's room is just to our right. Let's take a looks.



Kinda dim, but oh well. Harman's Room serves as a save point, provided the maid Samantha is actually in her maid uniform. Regardless of her dress, you may also access the TV to change or power up your personas. No, this is totally a new thing, shut up.



The default TV channel is the Blood Room, where you can spend the blood you get from enemies to create serum to strengthen your characters.



"Don't make me say it again. I'm a CLEANER."

You can also switch between characters here and view their abilities. For example, Garcian Smith.

Garcian is a bit of a unique character in that he cannot be upgraded and has precious few abilities, although his health is fairly large. His most key ability is the power to resurrect any dead personas. For this reason, if Garcian dies, it's game over, so he'll be on the back row, hopefully for most of the game.



"Maybe!"

Dan, on the other hand, is our flagship fighter. The Hellion has average health, decent power, and very little recoil with his revolver. His special ability, the Demon Shell, packs the power to annihilate almost anything it hits in a single blow, but it costs a lot of blood to use. On Deadly difficulty, some enemies can only be killed by the Demon Shot. Needless to say, Dan will be seeing a lot of action in our game.



Here's the four stats that most characters have. Power increases the damage of each shot, Speed increases firing (but not reload) speed, Waver helps keep your shots steady, and Criticals increase the odds of killing a Heaven Smile by hitting its weak point. Additionally, you unlock special moves and passive abilities the higher your stats go, but they become more expensive the higher they are, so spend your serum wisely.



"I changed my makeup, did you notice? …Ugh, men. They never notice… these kinds of things."

Next in our repertoire of personas is Kaede Smith. Don't ask about the bloodstain. Just don't, man.

Anyway, Kaede is the sniper of the team. Her health is low, and her reload speed is terrible, but she can use the scope on her handgun to zoom in and pick off enemies from a distance. She's got a large clip size as well, which is handy if you miss the first shot or want to weaken a bunch of enemies at a distance.

Unlike Dan, and like every other member of the team, Kaede has a field ability that doesn't directly relate to shooting things. You should really see it for yourself, but basically, she can destroy special barriers.



Kevin Smith is, at present, busy making plans for Jay and Silent Bob Stowaway to Sweden, so we can't access him just yet. Once we kill enough Heaven Smiles, we can awaken his dormant persona. There's another, somewhat easier way, though, which I'll show off this update.



"Que!?"

Next up is Coyote Smith. I like to think of him as the Luigi to Dan's Mario, but in practice Dan will easily overtake him by the end of the game. I still like the guy, though. His shots pack more power and he reloads faster than Dan, and his charge shot consumes far less blood than Dan's, but his recoil is simply terrible, and the charge shot's only advantage is its decreased cost. The abilities he gets as you progress through the game are pretty much outright inferior to Dan's abilities, too.

He's still useful, though. Coyote has two field abilities, on account of his history as a cat burglar. First, he instantly opens any padlocked doors or whatever else he finds. Second, he's got a ridiculous jump, also like Luigi, to the point where he can easily get to a rooftop of a single-story house from the ground floor.



"Later! PEACE!"

The fifth member of the team is fan favorite, the blind punk Con. Con is all about speed. He shoots fast, reloads fast, runs fast… this comes at a cost, though, as his health is as low as Kaede's, and his attack power and accuracy are lacking. Even worse, his combat abilities are very straightforward, having no special attacks, period. That said, the sheer speed of his attacks is reason enough to consider using him in regular combat.

Con's field abilities, aside from being able to speed up even more, is his size. He's easily the smallest member of the team, and can get into places the others would never be able to manage.



Like Kevin, though, the interestingly named Mask De Smith is unavailable right now. Depending on the level, you'll start off with some members of the Killer7 unlocked and some dormant, requiring combat to awaken. The first level, appropriately, gives you the more straightforward characters right off.



Aside from Samantha and the TV, there's also Iwazaru in the corner. He'll tell you everything you need to know about the game, and he'll also save any prior conversations with him in the level if you want to review (or transcribe, as the case may be).



But whatever, we've wasted more than enough time. On with the actual game!

There's our first bogey.

Heaven Smile start out invisible, but you can hear them cackling as they get near (assuming you have sound. Told you my setup would be trouble here). While in first-person mode, you can scan the area in front of you, turning them visible. After that, all you have to do is shoot them. This guy's a bit far away, though, let's see if we can't get a cleaner shot.



You can just shoot at them a whole bunch until they die, but that's a fairly inefficient way to do it.



"This is too easy."

If you can find a Heaven Smile's weakpoint, you can try to hit it for an instant kill. This switches around depending on the Smile in question, being on one of the elbows, their neck, or their knees. This guy had his on his left arm. Killing them in this way awards you blood, some of which goes into the test tubes to be used for special attacks like the Demon Shell, and some of which goes towards the blood room, where you make serum.



After we dispatch that one, we go talk to Iwazaru.

The Heaven Smile's only method of attack (so far) is to get close, then leap onto whoever their target is and explode, dealing plenty of damage and killing themselves in the process. Naturally, this is to be avoided. The only way of healing, aside from Garcian's resurrection, is to spend test tubes of blood.



We'll see more of these guys later on. Corners are especially dangerous, because Heaven Smiles usually move rather slowly, but they will still pursue you from around a corner. Since it's impossible to perfectly gauge where they might be, but they take a long time, it's important to be patient when fighting them on the other side of corners.



After killing off the Heaven Smile, we've run out of our six shots and need to reload. Reloading takes longer while aiming, but going in and out of aimed mode takes time too, so if there's nothing around, get in the habit of reloading. Dan's got an average reload speed for his gun, and nobody has a realistic reload animation.



Travis, huh?



While Iwazaru gives us tips about enemies and puzzles, Travis is here to rant at us about the plot. His shirt is different every time, and he has, hands down, the best NPC poses in the game.

Sounds like SOMEONE has a bone to pick with us. Also, dead people can't talk, man. Crazy foo.



Just past Travis, we find Iwazaru with a friend of his who is somehow even creepier than Iwazaru himself.

Anywhere we see this Kikazaru guy is a place we can find a Soul Shell. These are important to progressing through the game, for reasons we'll get to later.



For now, let's just keep on going.



This is the next type of enemy we face, the Camellia Smile. They won't actually attack us, and they gives loads of blood when killed. Problem is, as soon as they notice you, they bolt screaming in the opposite direction, exploding when they hit an obstacle. Heaven Smiles that explode don't give blood, so we need to kill this thing as fast as we can.



We'll talk to Iwazaru first, though.

The Y button does indeed govern special attacks, most of which consume blood. Also, Iwazaru tends to refer to the Killer7, and indeed basically anyone, by codenames. For reference:

Hellion == Dan
Barefoot == Kaede
Foureyes == Kevin
Thief == Coyote
Punk == Con
Mask == The Dreadnought Arbalus



This is the pause screen. Here, you can check memos (none yet), view your items (currently just a photo of our target which I forgot to screenshot this update), check your blood total and consume test tubes of blood to recover, and most importantly...



We can change personas.



The image of Dan bursts into a mist of blood...

And reforms a short while later as Kaede.



I chose to use Kaede because she can zoom in, hopefully letting us hit the Camellia Smile in one shot from a distance. The weak point this time is its leg.



No luck, though. I miss, and it self-destructs, awarding us nothing. Oh well. What's that thing behind it, though?



"Hurts, doesn't it?"

Meet the Duplicator Smile, kids. No, not the one Kaede just vaporized, the giant deformed thing behind it. These guys have the capability to spit out an endless stream of Heaven Smiles, which is, of course, bad news. What's worse, though, is that they're only weak to attacks on that red core. On Normal, you can destroy it with anyone, but it takes a ton of damage. On Deadly, though, only one person can destroy it.



Dan's Demon Shell can instantly kill the Duplicator assuming he hits the core. It costs three tubes of blood, though, and I'm pretty sure we only have one or two right now. Fortunately, we can just use the Heaven Smiles it feeds us to get lots of blood.



Kaede reloads after a bit of this. Her reload animation takes about a full second, maybe a bit more. Granted, she gets a lot of shots, but you still need to be careful with her around groups.



Okay, we've got the blood ready. We set the charge level to 3 as Dan, take aim...



"Collateral Shot!"

A lot of people in-game refer to Dan's Demon Shell (or as he calls it, Collateral Shot) as something right out of an anime. I took the screenshot as it was about to hit the target, but basically it's a giant blast of light.



Direct hit! The Demon Shell hits the core, and the Duplicator begins to overload with power.



Dan doesn't have the sense to look away from the ensuing explosion, though, and while blinded, the last spawned Heaven Smile gets close enough to hit him. Dang!



Since I don't have a good way to heal Dan just yet, I'll put him on the sidelines for now. Coyote, you're up!



The path ahead should be clear, so let's go see what all Kikazaru was freaking out over.



Travis again? That was quick.



A lot of people are under the impression that Travis is a homosexual of the flaming variety. I can't imagine why, though.



Travis pops open the trunk of the car, revealing a glimmering… thing.

BULLET

Soul Shells are basically the keys of Killer7. You need to collect a certain number, depending on the stage, to unlock the midboss fight. In our case, we need two, and it's impossible to miss this one. I'll let you wonder about how we unlock the boss with these, though.



Back to the entrance. Give 'em hell, Coyote!



At this time, I check the map. The yellow room is where we are, and the TV screen is where Harman's Room is. Killer7 has a ton of backtracking in it, so get familiar with the map.

On Normal mode, the map also highlights what character you'll need for each obstacle in a room, as well as the location of Soul Shells.



There's the exit to the next area. Let's see if we can't tag this guy before he notices us...



"Hoh… you're fucked!"

Note the difference between where Coyote's cursor is aimed before and after the killing shot. His recoil is kind of a big deal. There's a tool to help, though: pressing B will auto-aim to the nearest scanned Smile's torso, even if it's right behind you. Of course, the best way to kill a Smile is by hitting its weak point, so the auto-aim is more of an emergency tool or a correction for recoil.



The next hall is relatively tame, although there is Iwazaru to talk to.

Kinda makes you wonder where they come from, doesn't it?



Second floor. I don't know for sure where the target is, but if we keep moving up we'll probably find 'em.



Coyote stumbles across one of Jimmy Neutron's friends up here. Since he's neither ridiculously obese nor wearing a stupid mask, we can assume he's reasonably competent, although he is too winded to run past us.



The Heaven Smile that was pursuing him seizes this opportunity to lunge at him just as he turns around.



The result is tragic, but predictable. Rest in peace, hoodie man.



So, there's a bunch of Smiles in this room. The yellow one is notable for the windfall of blood we get if we kill it...



Me being the tactical genius I am, I ignore it, though, and it explodes on its own before it even reaches us.



I take down the other one, but there are two more waiting behind the first pair.



Coyote even takes the time to use his charge shot, which, while formidable, doesn't pack anywhere near as much power as the Demon Shell (it is cheaper, though).



And he takes a hit. The eye in the corner is your health bar: open is good, closed is dead. If the pupil is red, you have at least one test tube of blood on hand for special abilities or healing.

…Why does everyone suck so bad? Let's fix that.

As you notice, aside from the blood I spend here to heal Coyote, we have a fair reserve of thick blood, used to create serum. And we're right outside Harman's Room, so let's put that blood to use.



Samantha's not in her maid uniform this time, so we're better off just leaving her alone. Let's go to the blood room.



We give the word, and our nameless scientist activates his machine.



The blood we collected grants us three drops of serum, which should give us quite an edge.



We're close to unlocking one of the dormant personas, as well.



For now, though, I increase Coyote's Power, and put the other two points into the stats of our last Smith.



Well, we're done here. Let's clear out this area, Coyote.



We need to make sure it's safe before we switch! (You totally don't, but I like to anyway).



Commence with the short jokes at will.



Or maybe we won't be using Con at first!

Meet the Micro Smile. Small, weak, and fast-moving, these guys are a valuable prize if you hit them. If not, they'll explode into light, which doesn't damage you, but does temporarily blind you. They award lots of blood if you hit them, though, and the yellow guys have the added benefit of instantly unlocking all the Smiths on their death.



First things first, though. Come here, you giggling abominations.



"FUCK you!"

Con is my favorite character to play as, and his confident punk attitude, plus the fact that blind fighters are always cool, makes him something of a fan favorite.



He has, bar none, the goofiest reload animation, drawing new clips for his pistols from his socks. Screenshots really don't do it justice, especially since it goes by so fast.



Anyway, let's get the Micro Smile with Kaede.



There we go, much better aiming that time. That unlocked the last two members of the Killer7, Kevin and Mask.

On that note, let's give Kevin a try.



Kevin is, bar none, the most technical character in the game. He doesn't talk, but in between making movies, he slimmed down, became an expert knife-thrower, and turned albino somehow. Kevin's attacks are slow and weak, but he never has to reload, and the lack of a Waver stat means he has dead-eye aim. Instead, he has an Invisibility stat. His field ability lets him remove his shades, becoming invisible in the process. He also has a charge attack, which lets him throw about seven knives in rapid succession.



Anyway, here is a Travis. Hi Travis!



One thing I didn't know my first playthrough is the quick turn ability. Basically, if you turn around while moving forward, your character will make a rapid change in direction. The animation for that varies, but Kevin here does a freakin' double backflip complete with spin. Again, screenshots really don't do it justice, sadly.

I guess now would be ideal to talk about the controls, huh? Well, this is a Gamecube game, so you know what that looks like. You hold the A Button to walk along the linear paths, using the control stick only to choose paths when a branch comes up. You can turn around by pressing B. You aim with R, and while aiming, you can scan with L and fire with A. Hitting the control stick in any direction lets you reload. It's really a fairly drastic change from the norm, but it works for this game once you get used to it.



If you don't hit a Heaven Smile's weak point, this happens. That blood doesn't do us any good like that, sadly. After we move on, we hear a scream and an explosion. Is someone over there?



"Please… y-you gotta help me…"

Not to worry, lady, we'll get you out of h--



…Oh.



New and exciting nightmare fuel aside, we come across another branch just ahead. The south end is locked, though, and since the lock is on the other side, Coyote can't do much about it.



To the north, a side room, the hallway ahead (with a Heaven Smile I didn't notice) and this guy.



This is the informant of the Killer7, Yoon-Hyun. On Normal, he gives you a clue about how to proceed with a nearby puzzle for free, and offers further information if you shoot the mask. The mask lusts for thick blood, though, which means you lose out on serum if you shoot the mask, and frankly screw that.

It's even better on Deadly, though. Here, he won't even give you a hint at all unless you give him thick blood up front. There's no confirmation dialogue either, so if you talk to him with enough blood, he takes it. What a jerk.



BEST PLAYER EVER. Let's go in the room.



There are some candles and an air conditioner in here. There's no benefit to playing with the latter…



And nobody thought to bring a lighter, so we can't play with the candles just yet. We'll be back later, naturally.



"…"

Teach you to ambush me, you jerk!



Further ahead, we run into another NPC. It's worth nothing that they're all transparent, and their dialogue is accompanied by what sounds like a distorted voice synthesizer saying a version of their text run through Translation Party. Maybe they're ghosts?

Meet Kess Bloodysunday, the first in a long line of NPCs with ridiculous last names, and the one that gives you clues about upcoming battles. Or in our case, a battle we already had. Kess, you slacker.

The door behind Kess leads to the exterior of the Celtic building, which is mercifully free of enemies.



He who?

Whoever it is, Iwazaru seems even more terrified than usual. Well, whatever, I bet we can take him.



A carrier pigeon, huh?



The pigeon alights on Kevin's shoulder, bearing a message.



This is the first of the game's memos, all written by Johnny "Speedster" Gagnon. He's apparently an assassin himself, doing investigation on the Killer7 for an individual we only know as Emir for now. Also, apparently he's a fan of the James Bond series, given his habit of naming the pigeons.



Kevin takes the memo and stashes it. We can read past memos at any time.



Just up ahead is Harman's room again, but Samantha is still without her maid outfit, so let's just get some serum.



"Destiny."

We upgrade everyone's stats a bit, and since I haven't shown him off at all yet, I switch to Mask De Smith, after upgrading his Range stat, which replaces his Criticals one.



Changing using the TV has a different animation than changing through pausing. Additionally, you can only switch to/from Garcian with the TV.

-

Anyway, Mask De Smith is a good choice for this room, where you have to handle a bunch of Smiles at once. His handheld grenade launchers pack a wallop and can hit multiple enemies, and he's got the largest health out of the regular characters in the game. Additionally, he has two different charge attacks, Shock Shells and Focus Shells, which cost one and two tubes of blood respectively. And if that wasn't enough, between his grenades and his wrestling moves, he can basically destroy any obstacle in his path through brute strength alone.

There's two big weaknesses to the luchador, though. First, his reload time is terrible, maybe even worse than Kaede's, and unlike her he only gets one shot before he has to reload. Second and more importantly, he can't land criticals. This makes gathering blood, as well as fighting fast single targets, difficult for Mask.



I messed up here and took a Heaven Smile to the face, but Mask doesn't even care.



This is how you know that Mask De Smith is doing his job right.



Heaven Smiles not killed by hitting their weak points evaporate into a cloud of Dipping Dots instead. Delicious, but ultimately worthless.



Across the hall from the entrance is the bathroom. Also, I switched to Con because I felt like it.

-

There's a toilet and a sprinkler in here. The toilet doesn't have the water it needs to work, and the sprinkler can't be triggered. Maybe if we could start a fire of some kind…

Back in the hall full of Smiles, we break through them a second time, reaching the Library. The shelves obstruct our passage ahead, though.



There's a control panel nearby, but we can't manipulate it. Looks like we'll need some spare parts.



We'll tackle that later though. This update is massive as is, and Samantha's got her maid uniform this time.

Next Time: Hello, Smith. \(ˊ_ˋ)

Man, this game is bananas. I remember trying to play it once and quitting because my hands were too stupid for the control scheme. Looking forward to seeing the insanity here, though.

I don't think I ever managed to beat the second mission of this game, so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest through you.

Wow, I had heard this game was weird, but it really goes above and beyond.

Hello, Garcian.

$50 says we get an Iwazaru Percy before the end of this.

Also: This game is awesome and I'm glad to see it LP'd.

Also also: Isn't Travis the same one from No More Heroes, albeit from an alternate future? They never really made clear that connection (probably as a joke).

Nope. That one's Touchdown, this one's Bell.

I would be greatly amused at seeing Iwazaru Percy, although a number of characters could be great Percy'd.

PERCY BLACKBURN, SURVIVE

Nice.

Do Killer8 mode once you're done!

THIS GAME
Now I'm regretting having never played it because I can tell already I would have gotten the greatest kick out of it. And then I would have bitched about how Suda51 sold out once he made No More Heroes.

What does Samantha do when she's not in her maid uniform? :o

She gets dirty with Harman.

That, or absolutely nothing.

A friend of mine came over shortly after I got Killer 7. Having heard of it, he decided he wanted to try it out. Being the impatient sort, he decided to skip the tutorial, despite my protests. It's... really hard to explain to someone that they died because they didn't scan for invisible suicide bombers.

On the one hand, Coyote Smith is pretty much Dan Lite in combat.

On the other hand:

With regard to Two Different Travises:
MAJOR No More Heroes/Killer 7 Spoilers:

No More Heroes was not published by Capcom who, as I understand, own the rights to Killer 7, so Suda 51 was unable to use characters from Killer7 in NMH. And indeed, in the Normal Ending of NMH, Travis Touchdown is murdered on his own toilet by a fellow who looks REMARKABLY like Garcian Smith, and whose name sounds very much like a name we'll hear later. Travis Bell refers to himself as the 7's first kill, as well. So my suspicion is that our friend in the Funky T-Shirt is Travis Touchdown, or rather, that Travis Touchdown is Travis Bell, just with an ownership barrier.

Some of the above sort of tramples on plot points, so if you'd rather I delete the post, Kalir, I will. Nonetheless, fantastic LP of a fantastic game!

Wow, this game looks incredibly bizarre. How much weirder does it get before the end? Or before the end of the first mission, if it's truly ridiculous?

It goes beyond absurd. I can say without hesitation that Killer7 is seriously the strangest game I have ever played.

Noted!

What?

The Normal Ending is just an incomplete ending that leaves off on a cliff hanger. The True Ending just shows what happens next.

Okay, so last we left off, we were meandering around the Celtic building slaughtering chuckling suicide bombers, having the mother of all cases of multiple personality disorder, and wishing we knew how to light fires.



Today, though? Today we fetch the dry laundry. (The An Object can't be interacted with right now.)



All we gots to do is switch it off and we can get what's inside.



Maybe we got the bloodstains out of Kaede's Sunday best?



Nope, just a severed head with a ring in its mouth that talks with emoticons I won't be able to replicate accurately because poring through the character map is boring.



So uh yeah. This is Susie Sumners, resident severed head! She'll show up occasionally through the game to give us rings we can use to solve puzzles or help us in combat. In this case, we get the Fire Ring, which, as the name suggests, lets us light small-scale fires to solve puzzles.



"You're very much in the way. (`#') Assassins should have better manners!"

Yeah yeah, enjoy your dryer you nutjob.



First thing we do, of course, is equip the ring. Rings do nothing unless worn, but they take effect automatically if you interact with something while wearing an appropriate ring. Also, you can see our Soul Shell, which we'll be using this update, and the photo of our target.



We're after the fellow in the green suit. Why he's the leader of the Heaven Smile is beyond me.



Up ahead is the other kind of Micro Smile, the red/blue ones. They don't unlock the other Smiths when killed, but they award a lot of blood.



Near the end of the hallway, Iwazaru stops by with some pointers.

About half of his comments are tutorial things, and honestly not worth reposting in full, so I'll just summarize. In this case, he's talking about the Thief, Coyote, who is all about busting locks. Padlocks, in particular.



Yep, that's a padlock all right. Well, Coyote, looks like this one's all you.



Dude's so good with padlocks he can take 'em on with one hand.



We're in.



This actually leads us back to the upper floor with Yoon-Hyun and the candle room. Now we've got the Fire Ring, that should be plain sailing for us.

Doesn't matter who you examine it with, everyone, except for Garcian who has his own unique Vision Ring, can use the equipped ring freely.



Just like Golden Sun, you know it's working if it lets out a bloodcurdling shriek.



Here's something that also changes from Normal to Deadly. On Normal, the solution to this puzzle is numbered out for you, plain as day. On Deadly, the answer is in the base of the candles. You want to work your way up from 1 to 5, using the design at the base as an indication. Mess up, and you can use the AC to blow out the candles and restart.



Our reward is… a cop badge?



Actually, it's the first Odd Engraving in the game. Think of the Odd Engravings as the small keys to the area. Certain things need the requisite Odd Engravings to work. In this case, we have one of the two pieces to the library control panel.



We heroically stride off to get the next one. Pic unrelated.



Here's a screenshot of Kevin's quick turn animation that isn't terrible. The judges love it!



Kevin also has a charge shot, but unlike Dan and Coyote, who both fire a single heavy attack...



"..."

Kevin lets fly with a knife that hits about seven times. Early on, this move is so slow that you may as well not bother, but against later enemies once Kevin's up to snuff, it can be a valuable defensive tool.



If a Heaven Smile's extremity is damaged enough, it gets blown off entirely, for a small amount of blood. This doesn't actually hamper them unless you take out a leg, as it drops them to the floor and they have to crawl at you. More importantly, if a weak point is on the arm, and you damage the arm without hitting the weak point, you can't land a critical hit anymore. Arms are the most annoying weak points.



Tangent over, let's vandalize the bathroom.



The sprinkler starts spraying water, having detected our Fire Ring. These things are damn handy.




With that, we can now operate the toilet.



Be honest. This is the most satisfying part of the game, right here.



Additionally, the toilet flushing drops another Odd Engraving into the dryer room. Keep an eye on it, Susie, we'll be there in a bit.

Nice. Let's go back to the library.



All that backtracking got us a ton of blood, now converted to serum. Let's get some upgrades underway!



Oh hey, Con just unlocked our first hidden ability.

As the stats of the Killer7 improve, they unlock new techniques they can use on enemies. This one, the Down Attack, is one of two moves universal to the Killer7. Garcian has this move as well from the start, although most people don't know that. If you fire at a crawling Heaven Smile near you, your character will do a special attack that instantly kills them but awards no blood. It's kinda finicky, though.



Let's see if activating the control panel will give us a chance to test that.



Well, we can progress, at least.



Hey buddy, got trouble standing? Lemme help you out.



"That's what I thought!"

Con, always the flashy one, does something of a cartwheel spin, firing his guns like crazy. Amazingly, only one shot actually misses, and the Heaven Smile is killed.

I'll do my best to show off everyone's Down Attack, but I can't promise I'll manage Mask De Smith on account of him being unable to damage specific body parts.



Speaking of the big guy, Iwazaru's got more info on him. Between his physical might and his grenades, anything that shows even a hint of weakness can be destroyed by him.



Taking his advice, we swap out Con for Mask. Con, being blind, has the ability to hear wind rushing through breakable walls, but since the walls are very obviously broken anyway, the ability is just a bit useless.



Anyway, let's bust down some walls.



Take that, library!



Behind the wall, the first thing we see is a golden Smile. Remember, these guys will explode on their own if we let 'em, but killing them gives out a lot of blood.



Paydirt. Going right into the college fund.



Travis is also hiding behind the wall, looking for a good book.

…I don't actually know what his shirt said that time. I just like that idea.



On the other end, Kaede finds the next pigeon. Already? Man, this Speedster guy sounds impatient.

Uh… someone got it. Don't think Emir's gonna reply to you.




Anyway, with the library out of the way, we can move on to the next floor.

…These guys move so slow. Con, fix that.



"Dangerous."

Con's field ability, as you remember, is the power to speed himself up. This lasts for about thirty seconds, or until you go into first-person mode.



I so wish I could make a .gif of his legs just motoring away right here with Iwazaru just staring at him going "why are you doing that listen to me you hooligan".



So, from the sounds of it, there's going to be a national swarm of these Heaven Smile guys. That sounds... bad.




At our next break in Harman's Room, Mask De Smith gets the Down Attack as well. This is, of course, useless to him.




Here's what Samantha tends to look like when not in uniform. Seriously, just leave her alone, Con.




A ways ahead, we run into a woman cornered by a Heaven Smile, screaming for help.



Come on, Mask! He's already floored, get the lead out and Down Attack him!



"H… help me…"

Too late. The Heaven Smile didn't kill her in one blow, but she doesn't live after saying that.



The earlier screenshots didn't make it clear, but the damn thing vaporized her legs. Yeah.



According to the map, we've got the second Soul Shell on this floor.



Yep, there's Kikazaru, over by the Heaven Smile and a weird wall.



Oh, right, Kaede can destroy barriers, huh?



Well, no time like the present. Get to it, miss!