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Re: Shmups

Posted: May 12th, 2019, 12:13 pm
by ratsoalbion

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 12th, 2019, 12:24 pm
by KSubzero1000
ratsoalbion wrote: May 12th, 2019, 12:13 pm Statement on Psyvariar D:
https://twitter.com/shmups/status/11275 ... 52960?s=21
Already deleted, it seems. Could you perhaps sum up what it said?


EDIT: Okay, I found a facebook statement from a few days ago. Was this it?

https://www.facebook.com/dispatchgames/ ... 7074049524

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 12th, 2019, 12:31 pm
by ratsoalbion
That’s the one.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 6:35 am
by Chopper
I take full responsibility (I don't). Congrats, hope it was fun and rewarding (that sounds sarky but isn't)!

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 8:43 am
by hazeredmist
Fair play Clippa, you're obviously a rather competent and/or stubborn gamer! Spelunky is nails - I feel like I need to go back to it some day.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 10:47 pm
by hazeredmist
Started Bio Hazard Battle on the Megadrive Classics compilation on Switch, after choosing it for a retro game score challenge I’m in. Feels very unforgiving / tough so far! Seems to be a running theme with this sort of game. Oh well - I’d best man up... Practice may make mediocre yet.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 13th, 2019, 10:58 pm
by ratsoalbion
The original Japanese name for the game is simply 'Crying'.
You might see why..!

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 7:35 am
by Stanshall
I am still playing Mushihimesama Futari Black Label when I get the chance, pretty busy at the mo.

Yesterday evening I got to Larsa having no missed the first four stages and only used two bombs and a fucking wasp flew in the window. I'm not kidding. It was like the spirit of Hibachi, the last boss from Dodonpachi, had come to protect the portly Queen! Hahaha. I'd like to say I kept pretty calm and bombed my way to victory but I actually shat myself and jumped out of my chair and YOU DIED. Honestly, although I'm being very good natured about it this morning with the jovial Hibachi reference, there is a part of me which is gone forever.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 4:12 pm
by KSubzero1000
KSubzero1000 wrote: April 8th, 2019, 3:17 pm I think I'll pass on Dodonpachi for now. Thanks for the heads-up.
Quick follow-up: I bought the disc version (Resurrection) on 360 after all. With a nice, thick, old-school instruction booklet printed in color. Worth the price of admission alone, Rising Star are absolute heroes. I think there is a Black Label DLC as well, would I get all of the extra content by purchasing it?

Anyway, I have other things on my plate at the moment, so it'll probably be a while before I can really sink my teeth into this one, but I booted it up real quick and... holy water lily it's sooooo smooth. :o

I also impulse bought Caladrius Blaze in the PSN sale. I feel vaguely guilty about it but that 85% price reduction was too hard to resist. I'll have a go at it one of these days and if it's too overbearing I can always uninstall it.


...And apparently Battle Garegga Rev.2016 came out worldwide on XBO but only in Japan and NA on PS4? What a troll. :|

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 5:05 pm
by Stanshall
KSubzero1000 wrote: May 14th, 2019, 4:12 pm
KSubzero1000 wrote: April 8th, 2019, 3:17 pm I think I'll pass on Dodonpachi for now. Thanks for the heads-up.
Quick follow-up: I bought the disc version (Resurrection) on 360 after all. With a nice, thick, old-school instruction booklet printed in color. Worth the price of admission alone, Rising Star are absolute heroes. I think there is a Black Label DLC as well, would I get all of the extra content by purchasing it?
Nice one! I think it's a fantastic game and considering it's a later Cave effort, they really managed to capture that distinctive Dodonpachi feel with the patterns. It feels very familiar if you've played much of the original Dodonpachi or DaiOuJou. To me, it also feels really accessible, straightforward and simply fun to play. There's no gimmickry, just well designed, distinct levels, some challenging patterns and loads and loads of opportunities to shred medals and cancel bullets and watch the combo meter rocket.

Unfortunately, the Black Label DLC has been delisted, at least on the UK marketplace. Fingers crossed it's still accessible in Germany but I suspect not. Having given the BL a couple of hours through my 'import copy', though, I would say that the 1.5 version is arguably more enjoyable, for my skill level/taste. The BL is very chaotic and flashy but it feels very hard from the start whereas 1.5 doesn't get too tough until around the Stage 3 boss. The DLC is definitely for someone who's mastered the base game.

I genuinely laughed at the Caladrius purchase given our chat about Shikhondo and that kind of thing! The 'Shame Breaks' are...Well, I look forward to hearing what you have to say about the 'Shame Breaks'...You can turn off pretty much all of that stuff, though, and concentrate on the gameplay which is...decent enough.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 5:53 pm
by KSubzero1000
Stanshall wrote: May 14th, 2019, 5:05 pm Unfortunately, the Black Label DLC has been delisted, at least on the UK marketplace. Fingers crossed it's still accessible in Germany but I suspect not.
I had a look, and... I honestly don't know if it's delisted or not. I can see both DLC packs (1.5 for €1, BL for €9,50), but I get a system error message whenever I select either one. If you wouldn't mind checking, can you see any of them on the UK 360 marketplace or are they just completely absent?

If they're still visible on my end, perhaps there is a workaround?

It's really fucked up if it turns out that they are still listing content that nobody can actually purchase. Someone could have easily decided to buy some MS points just for that. But hey, "digital future".

Stanshall wrote: May 14th, 2019, 5:05 pm I genuinely laughed at the Caladrius purchase given our chat about Shikhondo and that kind of thing! The 'Shame Breaks' are...Well, I look forward to hearing what you have to say about the 'Shame Breaks'...You can turn off pretty much all of that stuff, though, and concentrate on the gameplay which is...decent enough.
I actually looked up one of your old posts from last year about this game and hesitated for about 10 minutes before buying it! But I was willing to roll the dice for €4. The price of my dignity, I guess... :lol:

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 7:14 pm
by Stanshall
KSubzero1000 wrote: May 14th, 2019, 5:53 pm I had a look, and... I honestly don't know if it's delisted or not. I can see both DLC packs (1.5 for €1, BL for €9,50), but I get a system error message whenever I select either one.
Sorry, mate. That's the exact same situation as the UK marketplace :(

I did a fair bit of research and there's no workaround, unfortunately. Both the game and the DLC are apparently available digitally on the PAL store (only!) but in practice, they've been delisted. I saw someone contacted Rising Star (I think) and got a reply saying that MS should have removed it but just haven't got round to it.

To bring some comfort, when I said the 1.5 version was better, I just meant whatever the base disc version is.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 7:26 pm
by KSubzero1000
clippa wrote: May 14th, 2019, 6:19 pm Sorry, owly, I was cringing pretty hard the other night when the penny finally dropped and I realised why you were being a bit short with me.
There were lots of people just getting into the genre and when my brain was tidying up, I've just gone and stuck you in the box with them.
Won't happen again!
No harm done! To be fair, I am fairly new to bullet hell and there is still a lot I don't know or haven't played in the genre. Any and all tips, suggestions and recommendations welcome! :)

Stanshall wrote: May 14th, 2019, 7:14 pm Sorry, mate. That's the exact same situation as the UK marketplace :(
Well, that's disappointing. I guess I'll have to make do with the base version. I knew that shmups were getting a rough deal in terms of availability here in the West, so hiccups like this one are bound to happen.

If I ever feel like spending money on another Cave shooter any time soon, I can always go for the physical version of Akai Katana instead. That way my DoDonPachi can have some company on the shelf!


PS: digital distribution *mumble mumble* arcade cabinet *mumble mumble* kids these days *mumble*

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 10:01 pm
by Stanshall
@KSub

Akai Katana is good, I probably need to spend more time with it, though. It's the least played Cave game I own. I'm sure Dodonpachi Resurrection will give you plenty to get stuck into. My only tip to get started is to choose Strong Style when you select your ship. Great set up for survival play.

@clippa

I really really love Muchi Muchi Pork. It's all so chunky and stout. Rushing to get your bonus up and then triggering loads of big fat gold cuboids with your lard attack and hoovering them all up. It's magnificently gluttonous.

Interesting poll at the shmups forum, too. I'd say MMP or DDP Resurrection would both be good picks.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 15th, 2019, 7:55 am
by Chopper
clippa wrote: May 15th, 2019, 1:45 am One day I'll live in a mansion, I'll be sat at the end of a 100ft room with a big 1,000" telly balanced against the opposite wall, then you'll all learn.
This screen would be good for shmups:

https://twitter.com/TomKCTV5/status/1082773842534285312

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 16th, 2019, 7:12 am
by Stanshall
I expected nothing and was still disappointed.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 16th, 2019, 7:36 am
by KSubzero1000
You know, with the comparatively tiny install size of most shmups, I think one could probably fit all of CAVE's back catalog onto a single Blu-Ray. Imagine if there was the willingness to put together a nice physical compilation of all highlights of the genre, with Treasure, MOSS, Eighting, Capcom, Hudson, Irem, Taito, Technosoft, and others joining in as well...

Video game preservation isn't talked about enough. Enthusiasts like us shouldn't have to either resort to illegal means or pay exorbitant scalper fees and jump through innumerable technical hoops in order to be able to play games originally released decades ago. And it certainly shouldn't be the responsibility of individual collectors to pay thousands of dollars/pounds/euros/yens/yuan to keep basic physical records of an entire genre for future generations once the servers inevitably go offline at some point.

It's no surprise video games are having respectability problems if we can't even get that right.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 17th, 2019, 11:32 pm
by KSubzero1000
I've put a fair few hours into Ghost Blade Score Attack over the last week and I really enjoy it overall. Managed to get a little over 2B which put me at #13 of the PS4 leaderboards, but I'm struggling with climbing any higher. Mostly because my strat for the second half of the run isn't as solid as it should be and some of the nuances of the scoring system still elude me. I tried looking up some superplays and FAQs to help me out, but the only video over 1B I could find is from clippa as well as ancient posts of him exhorting random redditors to play this. Could have saved myself the trouble if that's the extent of the entire fanbase! :P


Also tried a bit of Calamitus Glaze and... yeah. Love the Shame Breaks, though. Shame Breaks should be in every game. I already signed a petition to get some Shame Breaks into TLoU2. GotY 2020 right there.
Spoiler: show
This is some shameless shit all right. Thank Hephaestus you can turn it off.

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 18th, 2019, 12:06 am
by Stanshall
Totally agree. They should definitely patch Shame Breaks into Bloodborne, for starters. I can't think of a single game that wouldn't be improved by this mechanic,

Re: Shmups

Posted: May 18th, 2019, 6:50 am
by KSubzero1000
clippa wrote: May 18th, 2019, 6:28 am Aaaah, so it looks like killing enemies with the focus shot is what makes the bomb gauge fill up? So it's pretty basic
Indirectly, yes. It spawns Tech Orbs and collecting those fills the bomb meter. You can get up to 5 bombs on the Score Attack level. I don't think 6 is possible, but I could be wrong.

Looking at the run you've posted, the only stat I'm lagging behind on are the Stage Stars, because I have no idea how to get close enough to some of the later large enemies without getting hit in the process.