Splatter patterns that paralyze!

[neorichieb1971]

I am a sufferer of this condition. I was speaking to BIG and apparently he is not prone to these symptoms. Which makes me wonder if anyone else is.

Don't get worried though, I'm talking about when a shooter (usually the vertical variety) fills the screen with what looks like random splatter of bullets. As they close in you feel what I would call a case of claustrophobia. Its usually a boss actually. In fact in ESP Ra.DE one of the first 4 bosses does it to me alot.

Well, when I see no way out of the bullets. I freeze, I don't know if its because I cannot move or because I don't know what to do. But what I have noticed is that for the 1.5 seconds that I have to make a choice, I decide not to make a choice and just sit there and inevitably die. Its usually after that I realize I could of used a bomb or a shield.

So does anyone else suffer from this during play time?

[zimeon]

Not really. It's more like "holy craaaaaap!" and panic.

Normally, it's much better not to move at all when ther're fireworks on the screen. That way, you can concentrate on only the bullets coming your way, and move just the tiniest little bit. So your claustrophobia is probably just for the better. Just a question of practise.

[chtimi-CLA]

Normally, it's much better not to move at all when ther're fireworks on the screen. That way, you can concentrate on only the bullets coming your way, and move just the tiniest little bit. So your claustrophobia is probably just for the better. Just a question of practise.

i would say do the opposite, don't stare so much at your ship and try to look at the point where the pattern is fired from. this way you feel their direction much better and you don't rely only on their position. it is much better to see lines and groups than a collective mess of bullets.
also, when you dodged say a circle spread, go up to clear it and have more space to dodge the next one.
also, don't forget to bullet-herd when possible, which is more often than one would think.
one of the game i have the hardest time reading the patterns is DDP-DOJ, i find them confusing and "unhealthy" if you see what i mean. (it doesn't help either that my hitbox perception is hazy on this one)

[freddiebamboo]

I find zoning out just above your ship is the easiest way to dodge the storms of bullets.

And following them down the screen with your ship to give the impression they arent going as fast also helps, although it means you have to make it back up through the bullets to do it again (hopefully in a break between onslaughts!)

[Anarchos]

I have claustrophobia in real life, but lucky me I don't freeze up in shmups, just panic.

But I too think that the best thing one can do is not move. It depends on really, since some patterns (or should I say games) are made that way in which is becomes easier to dodge if one senses its direction, as mentioned before. But if it seems rather random, the pattern, its much better to stand still and not move from side to side since that way your hitbox covers more of the screen.

[OptimusPrimeX]

Normally, it's much better not to move at all when ther're fireworks on the screen. That way, you can concentrate on only the bullets coming your way, and move just the tiniest little bit. So your claustrophobia is probably just for the better. Just a question of practise.

i would say do the opposite, don't stare so much at your ship and try to look at the point where the pattern is fired from. this way you feel their direction much better and you don't rely only on their position. it is much better to see lines and groups than a collective mess of bullets.
also, when you dodged say a circle spread, go up to clear it and have more space to dodge the next one.
also, don't forget to bullet-herd when possible, which is more often than one would think.
one of the game i have the hardest time reading the patterns is DDP-DOJ, i find them confusing and "unhealthy" if you see what i mean. (it doesn't help either that my hitbox perception is hazy on this one)

i'm having this problem with Gigawing.. and i have 2 theories to explain my problem lol...

I would have to agree with the above quote.. Personally i feel that your peripheral vision is your best friend in shmups. Your not looking directly at your ship, but a few inches about it or more to concentrate on where the bullets are coming from, and what to do when they get to your ship. After a while you have more of a Sense where your ship is.

I also know that since all shooters patterns aren't the same, sometimes if you make the wrong decision initially, there is no way out of those bullets, even with what looks like gaps between bullets, your decision should have been to move away and beyong while its fired past you, instead of moving through them. Sometimes this is totally necessary than trying to maneuver through the bullets. Dont use this all the time, but sometimes its just necessary.

I'm playing gigawing, and mostly trying to 1CC as far as i can, and while i practice going through the levels and bosses, i often freeze up a bit, because even though i rely on my Reflect shield, there just never seems to be a way out, especially the last 2 stages of bosses.

memorization of patterns is your friend.. and the proper placement of your ship at an exact momen!!!

[raiden]

Panic is something I usually get often when playing a new game. The more familiar it gets, the less frequent those panic attack occur.
One thing I found helpful is sitting nearer to the screen. I used to play shmups like any other videogame, sitting 2-3 meters away from the screen. That´s good for overview, but it´s almost impossible to dodge precisely at that distance. Now it´s usually 0.5-1 meters, and for example, Giga Wing has almost become a totally different game that way. Before, I only relied on the shield, but now I´m also dodging pretty often. The ideal thing to have is a fixed distance, which is what you get by playing at a cab, as your arm´s length doesn´t change, you are automatically in the same position each time you play, and that´s very beneficial to learn behaviour.

[BulletMagnet]

I never have this problem: I die too quickly for anything like this to take effect.

[dbd]

I used to get that panic and increased heart-rate when I gamed many years ago, not anymore. I don't think it was a good thing to have, as it tended to come from associating the gameplay with something else, like as if it was important to win at the game for some reason other than just having fun, so I am glad I am not like that anymore,

you should be careful that you are not prone to being affected by stroboscopic ( fast flashing and fast moving and flickering ) images and video and so forth - as in, that could be a medical thing. Not meaning to alarm you, just that if it is affecting you physicly then that is not good! Games, strobe lights, videos, have been known to trigger seizures in some people that didn't know they had any sensitivity to strobe effects.

[Andi]

Neon Light Illusion's opening spray of bullets. Ugh! I don't freeze up, I just panic bomb.

[neorichieb1971]

What I have is not a medical condition. To try and explain it another way, you know those scenes in disaster movies like when a meteor hits the ocean and you see a wave coming at you on the beach thats about a mile high. Instead of running (like they do in the movies) your more prone to just stand there because any action seems futile. Thats my position here in shmups.

I can relate to what most of you say though. I never look at the ship, I am kinda looking at whats moving in coordination with my hands without really "looking at it". Its weird.

I am also a sucker for bonus flying items, I Can't stand not being able to get them. In ESP ra.de you quite often get x16 only to see the bonus's fall amongst a splatter fest of bullets. I'm constantly thinking I would be 2million up if I could just get at those

[Skyline]

Just keep at it.

You'll find that as you play, you'll slowly but surely develop an eye for pattern recognition of some sort. Then the only thing you'll have to beat yourself up over is finding the way out of bullet hell, but being a few milliseconds too slow.

The downside is, that feeling of "FUCK!!! I shoulda bombed..." ends up being that much more annoying. :/

[IlMrm]

I also keep my eyes a couple of inches above my character. I'll squeeze through a splatter of bullets if I know my ship has a small hitbox. I've frozed up a couple of times before.

It's also important to be somewhat calm and not be angry/frustrated, even though all of us are probably angry/frustrated while playing shmups one time or another. I discover the more frustrated I am, the crappier I play. Perfect example for me is today. Out of maybe 12 plays of Gunbird 2 I lost the first life in either 1-2 or 1-3, then I just restart a new game. It made me angrier and angrier until I just had to stop playing, before I wind up with a busted controller.

So as mentioned before after playing shooters for a while, you'll develop a keen eye, a kind of instinct on where to go.

[zaphod]

I'm quite familiar with this. I call it "brain freeze," and it's definitely unique to manic shmups. You see the fast bullet patterns and you just go "wtf?" and lose your ability to think for a second, and BAM you run into a bullet. It's NOT panic. When you panic, you actuall y try to dopdge and/or bomb.

Often if your brain is getting short-circuited by the patterns, you are either not bullet herding properly and actuall painting yoursel finto a corner, or you aren't used to the size of your hitbox. But some shmups seem to be very good at causing this sort of brain freeze routinely.

I find that what helps most with brain freeze is seeing the pattern get dodged. Once you see the pattern dodged, then it's usuall enough for it to click, and then you see posibilities where you saw none before.

[raiden]

I find that what helps most with brain freeze is seeing the pattern get dodged. Once you see the pattern dodged, then it's usuall enough for it to click, and then you see posibilities where you saw none before

that´s quite interesting. It might be THE motivation to look for shmup replays.

[Andi]

I'm quite familiar with this. I call it "brain freeze," and it's definitely unique to manic shmups.

Whoa, dude, ever play DDR?

[landshark]

I have a different sort of condition. When a massive spray of bullets happens or I get caught in a mass of crossfire I was not anticipating, I often hit both directions rapidly (alternating).

Left-right-left-right-left really quick. Pisses me off.

This is not unique to games either. I can't walk a slackline either (a piece of webbing slung tightly between two objects (trees, posts, rocks, etc...). When I get on it, I instantly try to counter one direction, then the other, then the other, over and over many many many times a second.

I'm quite familiar with this. I call it "brain freeze," and it's definitely unique to manic shmups.

Whoa, dude, ever play DDR?

I don't run into this in DDR. I miss that game ... haven't played it ever since I brought my TV up from the basement. Never did get MaxX on heavy. Got within 3 or so seconds of the end... what a pisser. Same with Max300/heavy.

[Blade]

Just curious if anyone could tell the difference between this "freeze" and some sort of epileptic reaction. I'm pretty sure most of you wouldn't be playing games if it caused epileptic seizures (and considering shmups have lots of flashing lights and moving colors, they're more than likely to cause them compared to other games). Dumb question, I know, but something to be careful of, perhaps? I mean, consider this: the military uses a form of crowd control called the "Flash-bang" that is intended to overwhelm the senses. It is a certain level of sound and light or pattern of bright light that can overwhelm anyone's senses, you don't need to be epileptic for that sort of thing to happen. I read in a newspaper years ago that Poke'mon in Japan caused like some 8000 kids to get epileptic attacks. Just something to think about.

[landshark]

Hahaha... we got to watch that video in my User Interface class in college.

[zaphod]

I have played ddr. and it's definitely not the same thing. With ddr, instead you usually misread. you have to keep your body in motion, and when an awkward combination of arrows comes up,you feel off balance.