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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
Fyonn
did their best!
I bought all of R-Type Final 2. So naturally, I've been playing R-Type Final. There's a number right there in the title, gotta do 'em in order!
It feels pretty significantly different from my primary experience with the franchise, which is plain ol' R-Type 1. In R-Type 1, I needed to be laying down a pretty heavy curtain of fire to carve out space for myself, but Final seems to be structured more around smaller encounters than a running onslaught. Because of it, all the distinctive Wave Cannons get a chance to shine instead of being a thing you Can but Probably Shouldn't use.
I think that difference is why I'm favoring the long-range R9 variants are my favorite so far. Sure, I don't really like any of the Defensive Force weapons, but making my primary offense wave cannon shots and deploying my Force means that my Force's weapon can more safely left on Blue or Yellow to help with enemies from odd angles. I don't particularly like the only ship I have with a Rodless Force, but the Rodless Force seems very aggressive in a useful way for building Dose. I imagine I will find a ship in that style that I like as well.
I've gotten to Normal mode Stage 3 so far. I was really surprised how short Stage 2 is. Maybe it's an apology for how much time you spend waiting in Stage 1.
I like the hangar menu and I kind of wish there was a mode where instead of having traditional continues, the ships you selected were destroyed, forcing you to pick a different ship on continue. I think there are a few roguelike shmups that do that, but they aren't R-Type Final.
It feels pretty significantly different from my primary experience with the franchise, which is plain ol' R-Type 1. In R-Type 1, I needed to be laying down a pretty heavy curtain of fire to carve out space for myself, but Final seems to be structured more around smaller encounters than a running onslaught. Because of it, all the distinctive Wave Cannons get a chance to shine instead of being a thing you Can but Probably Shouldn't use.
I think that difference is why I'm favoring the long-range R9 variants are my favorite so far. Sure, I don't really like any of the Defensive Force weapons, but making my primary offense wave cannon shots and deploying my Force means that my Force's weapon can more safely left on Blue or Yellow to help with enemies from odd angles. I don't particularly like the only ship I have with a Rodless Force, but the Rodless Force seems very aggressive in a useful way for building Dose. I imagine I will find a ship in that style that I like as well.
I've gotten to Normal mode Stage 3 so far. I was really surprised how short Stage 2 is. Maybe it's an apology for how much time you spend waiting in Stage 1.
I like the hangar menu and I kind of wish there was a mode where instead of having traditional continues, the ships you selected were destroyed, forcing you to pick a different ship on continue. I think there are a few roguelike shmups that do that, but they aren't R-Type Final.
that'd be a cool concept. armed police batrider has a "team edit" mode like that where you switch ships between the set of three you picked every time you die (you can get extra lives repeatedly to keep cycling back through. at least in theory, the game's pretty hard), and some bosses will appear only if you have a character from a certain game in the right place (e.g. a few bosses from the mahou daisakusen series will appear if you're controlling chitta, miyamoto, bornnam, or gain where they spawn, whether or not you're in team edit). which is a cool and fun aspect of replaying with different characters but the routing to have the right ship in the right place to maximize boss fights for scoring purposes is ridiculously intimidating hahaha
not going to say a ton about this here since i ranted noticeably elsewhere but i played zeroranger. it's well constructed and fun but the amount of references i caught give the game something of the sense of a parody game. it's a little hard for me to take fully seriously...which is why i think "white vanilla" mode is pretty rad, since the chopped-up rapid-switching caravan design and overtly "fake" narrative of the mode matches that energy a lot better for me. the game design is really polished overall (as i expected, given the game's reputation and coming off of void stranger) and it looks cool. i think i'm too impatient and unreliable to get full Z but i'll keep playing it for a while since i haven't beaten the TLB yet and it's pretty exciting
not going to say a ton about this here since i ranted noticeably elsewhere but i played zeroranger. it's well constructed and fun but the amount of references i caught give the game something of the sense of a parody game. it's a little hard for me to take fully seriously...which is why i think "white vanilla" mode is pretty rad, since the chopped-up rapid-switching caravan design and overtly "fake" narrative of the mode matches that energy a lot better for me. the game design is really polished overall (as i expected, given the game's reputation and coming off of void stranger) and it looks cool. i think i'm too impatient and unreliable to get full Z but i'll keep playing it for a while since i haven't beaten the TLB yet and it's pretty exciting
I’ve been playing a bit of ZeroRanger, so far I’m stuck on 1-4. I’ve been playing long enough to almost have the full number of continues unlocked, but they haven’t been enough to get me through, though I think I’ve gotten close. My last attempt ended on the third roulette wheel fight, which in this case was the monk - after losing to him on my first try but noticing the dialogue first I tried to wait him out by not attacking, but after what seemed like a pretty long time I gave up on that, triggered the fight and got destroyed. Alas. I did manage to beat the salamander though, which was my stopping point on the previous attempt.
I’ve mostly been playing the C ship, using the back shot, charge, and drill. It leaves me a bit vulnerable at the sides, but I’ve had very poor luck when I’ve used the side shots because of the lack of any kind of backwards defence. The charge and drill are maybe a bit redundant since they both deal contact damage and block or slow enemy fire, but the lock-on just doesn’t appeal to me and I find the sword more complicated than the drill.
I’d been repeating attempts at stage 4 for a while, but tonight I played from the start hoping that my practice in the later levels would make the first couple seem easy and I’d be able to build a stock of lives to help me through 4. It was not to be, and I ran out of continues against the boss of 3. Going back also reminded me of the weapons available - I’d pretty much just been using the forwards and backwards shot, and not using the mech at all, pretty much. Picking them up again and trying them out has probably improved my game. I also remapped the fire three button from the top face button to the left face button, so I can keep my thumb on the bottom one for the forward shot and rock it to either the left or right to use the others. I also moved fire1+fire2+fire3 from R2 to R1 - I hadn’t been able to find it while playing for whatever reason - I think intuitively I felt so much it should have been on R1 that I didn’t consider it could be on R2.
I’ve mostly been playing the C ship, using the back shot, charge, and drill. It leaves me a bit vulnerable at the sides, but I’ve had very poor luck when I’ve used the side shots because of the lack of any kind of backwards defence. The charge and drill are maybe a bit redundant since they both deal contact damage and block or slow enemy fire, but the lock-on just doesn’t appeal to me and I find the sword more complicated than the drill.
I’d been repeating attempts at stage 4 for a while, but tonight I played from the start hoping that my practice in the later levels would make the first couple seem easy and I’d be able to build a stock of lives to help me through 4. It was not to be, and I ran out of continues against the boss of 3. Going back also reminded me of the weapons available - I’d pretty much just been using the forwards and backwards shot, and not using the mech at all, pretty much. Picking them up again and trying them out has probably improved my game. I also remapped the fire three button from the top face button to the left face button, so I can keep my thumb on the bottom one for the forward shot and rock it to either the left or right to use the others. I also moved fire1+fire2+fire3 from R2 to R1 - I hadn’t been able to find it while playing for whatever reason - I think intuitively I felt so much it should have been on R1 that I didn’t consider it could be on R2.
I got through stage four of Zeroranger and managed to make it all the way to what I take to be the bad ending (after running out of continues in 2-2, then again in 2-3). I don’t normally do second loops in shooters, but I guess Zeroranger’s generous continue and level select systems get me over the line. The extra phase of the 2-1 boss fight was a pleasant surprise, especially since I beat it, but 2-2’s was a lot more substantial. The differences in the stages themselves in the second loop are less obvious to me, other than more enemy fire in general I guess. Some sections are clearly more complicated, others seem the same as in the first loop, though since I’ve been using the level select I haven’t actually been playing all that much of the early game.
I think stage 3 is my favourite, so I don’t mind facing playing it again to get past the bad ending (I looked up how to get it - if I’d played better I might have figured it out myself, as during my first run at the 2-3 boss I switched to the mech and tried to be aggressive and got stomped, which was why I didn’t try it on further attempts). I’m not a big fan of the clouds at the start that stop you seeing enemies, but the tower and train bits are pretty cool. I managed to skip the snake part of the tower on one attempt - maybe by shooting it down as it comes out of the water in the background? Anyways, looking forward to playing some more.
I think stage 3 is my favourite, so I don’t mind facing playing it again to get past the bad ending (I looked up how to get it - if I’d played better I might have figured it out myself, as during my first run at the 2-3 boss I switched to the mech and tried to be aggressive and got stomped, which was why I didn’t try it on further attempts). I’m not a big fan of the clouds at the start that stop you seeing enemies, but the tower and train bits are pretty cool. I managed to skip the snake part of the tower on one attempt - maybe by shooting it down as it comes out of the water in the background? Anyways, looking forward to playing some more.
Well, ZeroRanger deleted my save. After like a million attempts at 2-4 I made it through, but my remaining continues were not enough for the thing after that. I’d actually spoiled myself on it, so I’m less annoyed than I might have been, but I haven’t decided if I can be bothered to keep trying. I don’t think it’ll take long to get back to where I was, but even if I save-scum it just takes so long to get through the early phases before getting a shot at the later ones.
I noticed in 2-4 that sometimes it would let me keep my extra lives when I continued - I can get two during the descent at the start of the stage, and then sometimes I would start with three after continuing, sometimes four. Not sure if that’s a bug or the game going easy on me. The time I got through it wasn’t happening, so I was running on two lives per continue. I am in no danger of a 1CC.
I noticed in 2-4 that sometimes it would let me keep my extra lives when I continued - I can get two during the descent at the start of the stage, and then sometimes I would start with three after continuing, sometimes four. Not sure if that’s a bug or the game going easy on me. The time I got through it wasn’t happening, so I was running on two lives per continue. I am in no danger of a 1CC.
Regulus
Sir Knightbot
I'm always happy to see more people play ZeroRanger.
I've been playing it again lately as well -- generally one run a night. I'm so damn close to the 1CC that it hurts. I think I've 2CC'd it 4 nights in a row now. I made it to Despair with 5 lives stocked tonight and somehow fucked up absorbing the "6 orbs" wave and lost 4 of them in the space of about 20 seconds clearing the wave the hard way. I lost my credit with only about 1/4th of the final boss's last health bar remaining. :|
The "extra life" behavior you're describing with the final boss... I've seen a couple of times recently and I'm not entirely sure what causes it either. Maybe if you reach that checkpoint with more than default life count, it saves your total? I haven't been paying super close attention.
If you do decide to keep playing, you might try out the other ship and weapons. I personally favor Type-C/Side/Charge/Sword but the general consensus seems to be that Mido's Type-B is stronger and a makes for a little easier run as a result. One of the best players I've seen uses a loadout that's almost the polar opposite of mine (Type-B/Back/Lock-on/Sword).
Play from the start and try to keep the combo counter up when possible and it probably won't take long to get the continues back at all. I lost save the first time I fought the Primeval Fighter, too, and I think I had all of the continues back the following day. Also... do you have challenges unlocked? I'm not sure how they work exactly since they were added a while after my original clear. But if so, one of them will give you a hint that should make the boss rush in 1-4 a lot easier to manage.
I've been playing it again lately as well -- generally one run a night. I'm so damn close to the 1CC that it hurts. I think I've 2CC'd it 4 nights in a row now. I made it to Despair with 5 lives stocked tonight and somehow fucked up absorbing the "6 orbs" wave and lost 4 of them in the space of about 20 seconds clearing the wave the hard way. I lost my credit with only about 1/4th of the final boss's last health bar remaining. :|
The "extra life" behavior you're describing with the final boss... I've seen a couple of times recently and I'm not entirely sure what causes it either. Maybe if you reach that checkpoint with more than default life count, it saves your total? I haven't been paying super close attention.
If you do decide to keep playing, you might try out the other ship and weapons. I personally favor Type-C/Side/Charge/Sword but the general consensus seems to be that Mido's Type-B is stronger and a makes for a little easier run as a result. One of the best players I've seen uses a loadout that's almost the polar opposite of mine (Type-B/Back/Lock-on/Sword).
Play from the start and try to keep the combo counter up when possible and it probably won't take long to get the continues back at all. I lost save the first time I fought the Primeval Fighter, too, and I think I had all of the continues back the following day. Also... do you have challenges unlocked? I'm not sure how they work exactly since they were added a while after my original clear. But if so, one of them will give you a hint that should make the boss rush in 1-4 a lot easier to manage.
I love Zeroranger so much, glad to see others into it. Been playing a lot of Grand Cross ReNOVATION lately, it's one of those games I like because it's ridiculously easy to get a basic clear of but gets challenging when you go for score/general showing off. Also been putting a lot of time into Sol Cresta and 1CC'd up through Hard but Platinum Hard gets sort of unfun for me since it takes away power ups on hit and resets your score gauge/level ups completely on death. One day.
I don’t know, I don’t think so. I’m pretty much just playing green orange from whatever stage I’m up to. Definitely getting further quicker this time around, I’m back to 1-4 at present with I think four continues. I’ve been pretty much sticking to type C (I think - the one with the narrow main shot)/back/charge/drill. I don’t find the homing very useful and I die a lot to stuff coming from behind without the back shot.
I don’t know how to do whatever this is, I’ve only been doing it the hard way, often at a cost of several continues.
Any thoughts on Hellsinker? I keep hearing it's good and it's just the wording of the mechanics that throws newcomers off but I reinstalled it on a whim and I always feel like I'm doing something wrong. It seems to reward aggressive play since a lot of items float back up off the top of the screen and there's no contact damage with enemies (but you can end up getting ping ponged around)
So far I've had the best luck just picking Fossil Maiden, throwing her doll down somewhere and focusing on dodging but it made the first time out ("THE BOSS HAS DISREGARDED YOU")
So far I've had the best luck just picking Fossil Maiden, throwing her doll down somewhere and focusing on dodging but it made the first time out ("THE BOSS HAS DISREGARDED YOU")
I had a little break from ZeroRanger to play other stuff, but I got back to it and I’m back to 2-4. In fact, I beat Despair on my first attempt, though on the last life of my last continue. I chose not to attempt the TLB after that, and I’ve backed up my save file this time for when I do give it a shot and lose. I’m one short of full continues, so I definitely got here quicker than last time.
I took a shot last night, with four continues. Lost two of them almost immediately to things that shouldn’t have got me, then made it to the third phase, where expanding rings of black spheres come out. I feel like it’s definitely manageable, it just requires getting through a lot of preamble before each attempt. I tried again tonight but couldn’t get past Despair, though I had it down to one line left on its last HP bar on one attempt. I’ve been trying the absorption trick Regulus mentioned, it went perfectly the first time and I haven’t pulled it off since, so I’m just throwing lives away. I’m also noticing a direct correspondence between how much sleep I get and how I do at the game the next day, maybe because I mostly play after the kids go to bed and it’s pretty late.
Did a breezy little run through of Espgaluda II on the switch, I really need to get my joy cons fixed but the split pad stick feels really nice for shooters in spite of not being able to use them with the flip grip.
Amusingly the switch port credits still begin with XBOX 360 STAFF
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Past that I'm still bonking my head against Hellsinker for some reason, it's just so compellingly weird
Amusingly the switch port credits still begin with XBOX 360 STAFF
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Past that I'm still bonking my head against Hellsinker for some reason, it's just so compellingly weird
Made it to stage 3 of Hellsinker after trying Minogane out on a lark, I think I like their homing shot a lot but I got immediately smacked down by the second enemy of the stage. There's supposed to be alternate routes that unlock for the earlier stages once I reach stage 4 so maybe I can reach there next session
After many more failed attempts at ZeroRanger I am gradually getting closer to beating it. This afternoon I got past Despair with five continues, but the game crashed during the escape sequence, frustratingly. Then I managed to get there again, and this time made it to the phase with both bullets and the expanding rings of black spheres, but couldn’t make it through. Gotta be getting close now.