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Talking 'bout Shmups
Ludendorkk
(he/him)
Thanks for the clarification, wishlisting the first it is then
ArugulaZ
Fearful asymmetry
Oh, it gets better. The first game in the series, Layer Section/Galactic Attack, is available separately, and costs $21. ON SALE. What the hell, Taito? Are you on crack? I took the Nestea plunge on Elevator Action Returns, because it was on the Saturn and of course I did, but Layer Section for $21 is ludicrous. Don't pull this "oh, it also includes Galactic Attack!" crap, because they're the same game. It should be nine dollars, like Metal Black.
Yeah, Taito has little to do with City Connection's re-releases beyond giving them the ok to make them. City Connection didn't even know about Taito's lineup with Hamster, so when they found out Metal Black was coming out that way via a Hamster announcement, they canceled the Switch and PS4 release because they knew their pricing couldn't compete, lol.
this year's "Touhou World Cup" just finished the main matches last night. i'm not connected closely to the community, and i've never watched this event before. in fact, i don't think i would've this year either, except that it came up in my twitch recommendations for about the third time two weeks ago and i saw they were playing unconnected marketeers with a focus on high-skill survival play. which some might remember, i didn't like very much, so when i tuned in i was feeling a bit of the lurid sense of 2001 reality tv. "i get to watch people hurt themselves!!"
because for all of the interesting aspects of zun's games, i do feel like there's a strong tendency for the game design to lead to counterintuitive outcomes when people try to push the scoring past a certain point, and similarly for "no bomb" play there's a lot of stuff that's random or just brutally difficult to do consistently. i'd watch replays of these things when they came through, partly out of the morbid curiosity over what even caused the counterstops in the last two main games, or wonder at how people survive some of the ridiculous spray sections of stages in recent games where enemies really just can't be eliminated very effectively. so i kind of have always wondered what kind of person puts themselves up to this
well, it's not that complicated, even though it's not very interesting to say that it's people who really love a popular series, which is the kind of thing that often leads to really high skill competition. beyond that, this is a really interesting shmup demonstration, since generally other events focus on one-shot plays. there have been some REALLY good presentations coming from that setup, but this being a sort of medium-scope head to head format (one player from each team has 2-2.5 hours or so to make attempts, depending; the timer cutoff is the last time a player is allowed to start a new run) is both exciting as it gives lots of chances for comebacks and a clutch final run, and something with a lot of interesting strategy behind the various aspects of preparation. those include which players on a team will focus on which games, and whether to try to focus on harder or less reliable character choices incentivized by the event scoring system or stick with the most consistent or comfortable choices a player might have already. matched up with chaotic but occasionally insightful commentary it's actually a good way to appreciate the skill and difficulty a bit more, and sometimes even the design itself. last night's match, the final scoring event of the season, was UM scoring, and that's a game that turns into something very different at this level, with a lot of strategic resource management, places where you can try to correct and adjust for mistakes. the community uses some factors to mitigate the randomness of the items, and there's lots of challenge around dragging out boss phases for more hits or to set up good timings later. and after the losing player's final run finished, he hopped into the voice chat and talked a bit. about his frustration at not getting the run he wanted, and the mindset piling up around that, but also talking very earnestly about his love for the game and intent to keep playing it, and hope that people watching would find something interesting to try in it too. it just really made me think about the whole thing differently, even if the core game has aspects that i would still say are not super up my alley.
and i mean, i'm not about to pick up competitive touhou, hahaha. i still don't really want to interface with that stuff to dedicatedly. but watching it has been a reminder of how cool the games are, and how amazing people can get at them when they work hard for a long time.
because for all of the interesting aspects of zun's games, i do feel like there's a strong tendency for the game design to lead to counterintuitive outcomes when people try to push the scoring past a certain point, and similarly for "no bomb" play there's a lot of stuff that's random or just brutally difficult to do consistently. i'd watch replays of these things when they came through, partly out of the morbid curiosity over what even caused the counterstops in the last two main games, or wonder at how people survive some of the ridiculous spray sections of stages in recent games where enemies really just can't be eliminated very effectively. so i kind of have always wondered what kind of person puts themselves up to this
well, it's not that complicated, even though it's not very interesting to say that it's people who really love a popular series, which is the kind of thing that often leads to really high skill competition. beyond that, this is a really interesting shmup demonstration, since generally other events focus on one-shot plays. there have been some REALLY good presentations coming from that setup, but this being a sort of medium-scope head to head format (one player from each team has 2-2.5 hours or so to make attempts, depending; the timer cutoff is the last time a player is allowed to start a new run) is both exciting as it gives lots of chances for comebacks and a clutch final run, and something with a lot of interesting strategy behind the various aspects of preparation. those include which players on a team will focus on which games, and whether to try to focus on harder or less reliable character choices incentivized by the event scoring system or stick with the most consistent or comfortable choices a player might have already. matched up with chaotic but occasionally insightful commentary it's actually a good way to appreciate the skill and difficulty a bit more, and sometimes even the design itself. last night's match, the final scoring event of the season, was UM scoring, and that's a game that turns into something very different at this level, with a lot of strategic resource management, places where you can try to correct and adjust for mistakes. the community uses some factors to mitigate the randomness of the items, and there's lots of challenge around dragging out boss phases for more hits or to set up good timings later. and after the losing player's final run finished, he hopped into the voice chat and talked a bit. about his frustration at not getting the run he wanted, and the mindset piling up around that, but also talking very earnestly about his love for the game and intent to keep playing it, and hope that people watching would find something interesting to try in it too. it just really made me think about the whole thing differently, even if the core game has aspects that i would still say are not super up my alley.
and i mean, i'm not about to pick up competitive touhou, hahaha. i still don't really want to interface with that stuff to dedicatedly. but watching it has been a reminder of how cool the games are, and how amazing people can get at them when they work hard for a long time.
I liked Unconnected Marketeers more than you did, so I'm glad this angle on it piqued your interest.
Looking forward to Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, which should be a hoot besides the name alone, as it's been eighteen years since the last Twinkle Star Sprites-style versus shooter in the series. One of my favourite things about following the series is that it never feels like it's resting on its creative laurels, and revisiting an old idea after so long might as well count as a fresh experiment among all the rest that ZUN does.
Looking forward to Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, which should be a hoot besides the name alone, as it's been eighteen years since the last Twinkle Star Sprites-style versus shooter in the series. One of my favourite things about following the series is that it never feels like it's resting on its creative laurels, and revisiting an old idea after so long might as well count as a fresh experiment among all the rest that ZUN does.
i'm also looking forward to it! it's a style i'm very fond of in general and i've played a pretty fair amount of PoFV and the distantly related (ZUN-composed, Featuring Yuuka Kazami from the Touhou Project Series) kioh gyoku
had a few more thoughts now that i got that first wave out. for one thing, i know i watched one of the UM counterstop runs when they first came out, and even if i forgot about it i'm sure it wasn't completely lost on me that a lot of the boss stalling in the game is focused around getting the hammer cooldown back. sometimes to use twice on the same attack, others to have it ready for the next one. that stalling has been one of the most consistent parts of the series, albeit for different reasons over time (it often raises spellcard values in PCB and IN, for example, while it "only" gives graze/future score in 11 and 12), but it feels interestingly harmonious (and challenging) in this case because of the clash of discrete timings for the item and the boss phases. and similarly, to get full value out of the hammer, it's often used in conjunction with bombs, since it's either hard to reach a desirable position or the height on the screen to collect the items without the invincibility. the result is a bit raizing-esque, as there end up being spots where the player has no bombs and doesn't need them for a bit, and so can coast for a bit where if they die it's not a big deal; they'll choose to die at an upcoming spot soon if they haven't, anyway. which is the same kind of thing that happens in routing garegga (even if yagawa's games are arguably a bit more forgiving in this sense, since the fully rolling bomb counter sometimes means even dying twice in a row isn't too bad). at the same time it creates tense situations throughout the game (and isn't alone in that) where the player goes down to their final life to try and stretch everything to the limit.
and in the larger context of this event, the rounds comprise both survival and score play across most games. in many cave games score play is focused around what touhou players tend to call "NN" for short (no miss/no bomb) as a baseline level; a dodonpachi dai ou jou NN, even if people wouldn't usually call it that, is worth somewhere near a billion points even if the rest of your scoring is disastrously bad. it's also a prerequisite of reaching Special Round in ketsui, and highly incentivized in most of the other games even if they aren't as strictly based on it. the espgaluda series is the only one (outside of ibara, which is a very similar game to garegga) where people tend to view a death or two as relevant for scoring until the absolute highest level, due to factors like the endgame bonus, bomb resources, and the second game having a super hard boss in stage 5 if you haven't died yet. between that and the score stalling, the "high level survival" playstyle and "high level scoring" playstyle in most touhou games are very different from each other, even if they obviously use many of the same skills. (though this is less true on extra stages, where in most cases scoring well means at least perfecting all the spellcards). so it's cool to see both sides of each game
had a few more thoughts now that i got that first wave out. for one thing, i know i watched one of the UM counterstop runs when they first came out, and even if i forgot about it i'm sure it wasn't completely lost on me that a lot of the boss stalling in the game is focused around getting the hammer cooldown back. sometimes to use twice on the same attack, others to have it ready for the next one. that stalling has been one of the most consistent parts of the series, albeit for different reasons over time (it often raises spellcard values in PCB and IN, for example, while it "only" gives graze/future score in 11 and 12), but it feels interestingly harmonious (and challenging) in this case because of the clash of discrete timings for the item and the boss phases. and similarly, to get full value out of the hammer, it's often used in conjunction with bombs, since it's either hard to reach a desirable position or the height on the screen to collect the items without the invincibility. the result is a bit raizing-esque, as there end up being spots where the player has no bombs and doesn't need them for a bit, and so can coast for a bit where if they die it's not a big deal; they'll choose to die at an upcoming spot soon if they haven't, anyway. which is the same kind of thing that happens in routing garegga (even if yagawa's games are arguably a bit more forgiving in this sense, since the fully rolling bomb counter sometimes means even dying twice in a row isn't too bad). at the same time it creates tense situations throughout the game (and isn't alone in that) where the player goes down to their final life to try and stretch everything to the limit.
and in the larger context of this event, the rounds comprise both survival and score play across most games. in many cave games score play is focused around what touhou players tend to call "NN" for short (no miss/no bomb) as a baseline level; a dodonpachi dai ou jou NN, even if people wouldn't usually call it that, is worth somewhere near a billion points even if the rest of your scoring is disastrously bad. it's also a prerequisite of reaching Special Round in ketsui, and highly incentivized in most of the other games even if they aren't as strictly based on it. the espgaluda series is the only one (outside of ibara, which is a very similar game to garegga) where people tend to view a death or two as relevant for scoring until the absolute highest level, due to factors like the endgame bonus, bomb resources, and the second game having a super hard boss in stage 5 if you haven't died yet. between that and the score stalling, the "high level survival" playstyle and "high level scoring" playstyle in most touhou games are very different from each other, even if they obviously use many of the same skills. (though this is less true on extra stages, where in most cases scoring well means at least perfecting all the spellcards). so it's cool to see both sides of each game
Touhou 19 is out. It's great! Feels like ZUN went totally ham on packing the game with Stuff and Things, which he goes into a fair bit, as well as the theme this time being A.I-generated art and his feelings on that. I will always love his stories for being conversant and actively engaged with the contemporary world around him, as filtered through folklore and myth of old. Looking forward to having more of a grip on the moment-to-moment dialogue when it eventually gets translated, but as usual the sheer visuality of the newcomers (and some very surprising and welcome old faces) and the drama inherent in their music and patterns carries things far.
Since a language barrier is present, the play process is mostly feeling out the game mechanics by experimentation, and the game feels suited for that; in general I don't find the versus shooters quite as hardy as the "regular" games in the series to come to grips with. As far as I can tell there's a regenerating shield in play for all characters, that allows for many casual mistakes to be made as things go along. Cards return, but they don't seem freeform so much as a gradually piling up set custom armament for each character in their story mode sequence. The number of these narratives is massive; around 20 by the select screen, so even a casual "I want to see the content" sweep is a significant commitment, and in my experience diverse enough to maintain interest while so doing. I don't know whether hardcore score chasers will find what they want here (since the game appears to have none, lol) or if the game's multiplayer component will have the technical support to give it legs on that front, but as a series-exhaustive toybox it's a fantastic time.
Since a language barrier is present, the play process is mostly feeling out the game mechanics by experimentation, and the game feels suited for that; in general I don't find the versus shooters quite as hardy as the "regular" games in the series to come to grips with. As far as I can tell there's a regenerating shield in play for all characters, that allows for many casual mistakes to be made as things go along. Cards return, but they don't seem freeform so much as a gradually piling up set custom armament for each character in their story mode sequence. The number of these narratives is massive; around 20 by the select screen, so even a casual "I want to see the content" sweep is a significant commitment, and in my experience diverse enough to maintain interest while so doing. I don't know whether hardcore score chasers will find what they want here (since the game appears to have none, lol) or if the game's multiplayer component will have the technical support to give it legs on that front, but as a series-exhaustive toybox it's a fantastic time.
i played as reimu, then sanae. then i'd unlocked mamizou so i tried her, but after i died once to her stage 4 boss (i think) one of the boss' attacks glitched out on the second try and made things basically impossible
at least i hope it's a glitch
at least i hope it's a glitch
I finished the story mode of Natsuki Chronicles on normal difficulty. It’s a lot like a horizontal Ginga Force, which is unsurprising, but I noticed a couple of things in the final boss fight that seemed like references to M-KAI’s previous hori, Pleasure Hearts - there’s a gravity attack a lot like this one, and the final form uses an attack that reminds me of this.
I’ve been playing Fire Shark on Mega Drive. So far I’ve made it to round nine of ten on easy - if I can get through the first couple stages and get fully powered up with the red weapon then there’s little that can touch me from there. My furthest run I accidentally picked up the blue weapon in stage 7, which is still pretty strong but doesn’t fire backwards at all which allowed an enemy coming from behind to take me out. From there I was able to muddle through to stage nine with the large stock of lives I’d accumulated (it only shows up to four, not sure how many I actually had), but powerups are few and far between late in the game and I never really recovered.
The story for the game is a bit out there. Apparently the player character is a time traveller in a battered biplane with weapons sourced from across the ages. The game at a glance has a pretty boring military theme, but there are some nice little background animations showing your allies in the airfields at the start and end of each stage. You also keep control of your plane briefly after getting hit as it burns and crashes. I can imagine this getting annoying but I kind of like it. Several enemy crafts can also stay on screen briefly after being taken out, which can get a bit confusing.
The story for the game is a bit out there. Apparently the player character is a time traveller in a battered biplane with weapons sourced from across the ages. The game at a glance has a pretty boring military theme, but there are some nice little background animations showing your allies in the airfields at the start and end of each stage. You also keep control of your plane briefly after getting hit as it burns and crashes. I can imagine this getting annoying but I kind of like it. Several enemy crafts can also stay on screen briefly after being taken out, which can get a bit confusing.
I beat Fire Shark. On easy. On my last life after using all the continues it gives you (though I got another from points during the last life so I guess I would have had one more chance). Still, a win is a win. I got to I think stage seven on my first life, managed to build back up to almost full power by stage eight, then died again and started losing lives pretty quickly, though I did make it to stage ten, the last stage, before continuing.
The ending was pretty surprising. I got this guy:
Who became this guy:
Well, it’s not a game you play for the story anyway. I looked up the normal and hard mode endings, I kinda like the easy mode one best.
The ending was pretty surprising. I got this guy:
Who became this guy:
Well, it’s not a game you play for the story anyway. I looked up the normal and hard mode endings, I kinda like the easy mode one best.
Ludendorkk
(he/him)
New... Truxton? Why not
