Rolling Gunner: Side Scrolling Indie PC shmup 2017

[SPM]

I kind of like the graphics, they have grown on me (except for the backgrounds in stages 2, 4 and 6... those need some work, especially when you look at some transitions).

But that's just me. When I love the gameplay everything else gets better over time. (The most extreme case was Xevious. I don't mind its graphics and "ost" anymore, despite not having played it before because of them. You could even say I almost like them now haha, but not quite)

[Augemitbutter]

yea, some of the backgrounds could use some work in a potential follow-up. The rest was fine in my eyes. Ships and color composition is totally fine on this oled.

[G3n3raL86]

Got it yesterday on PS4 and OMG, this is a GODLIKE made smhup!!! Already 3 hrs. into it and i'm loving everything about it, it really feels like a AAA production.

Rn i'm placed 4th on Novice Mode (Original Mode kicks my butt really hard after all, gotta git gud and stuff:3) and i'll invest more time into it:)

[SPM]

The world record holder "R" has shared his replay. Perplexing stuff! <3

https://youtu.be/PdE47RGt1O8

[subcons]

The world record holder "R" has shared his replay. Perplexing stuff! <3

https://youtu.be/PdE47RGt1O8

Makes way more sense if you read the short GD thread where BKR drops some good info on scoring.

Recently started playing this myself and it’s really good. I’m not much into milking, so I’m just playing for survival with light scoring. I’m not even bothered by the visuals as some seem to be, and I’m usually pretty picky about stuff like that.

[Sengoku Strider]

The world record holder "R" has shared his replay. Perplexing stuff! <3

https://youtu.be/PdE47RGt1O8

LOL, that milk. 212 million on stage 1, this person exponentially obliterated my high score before they even beat the first boss.

Got it yesterday on PS4 and OMG, this is a GODLIKE made smhup!!! Already 3 hrs. into it and i'm loving everything about it, it really feels like a AAA production.

Rn i'm placed 4th on Novice Mode (Original Mode kicks my butt really hard after all, gotta git gud and stuff:3) and i'll invest more time into it:)

Yep, I hadn't been sure from videos, but it really is as good as advertised. It just feels so smooth to play, and is flat out addictive. I'd clocked 3 hours before I even knew it, just experimenting with different options. I've only had it for a week or so, so this opinion might change, but so far in the 'danmaku of the past decade' contest I think I'd personally place Rolling Gunner ahead of Crimzon Clover.

[SPM]

The world record holder "R" has shared his replay. Perplexing stuff! <3

https://youtu.be/PdE47RGt1O8

Makes way more sense if you read the short GD thread where BKR drops some good info on scoring.

Recently started playing this myself and it’s really good. I’m not much into milking, so I’m just playing for survival with light scoring. I’m not even bothered by the visuals as some seem to be, and I’m usually pretty picky about stuff like that.

Sorry, I probably should've said mesmerizing (I have a reported history of English inaccuracy on this forum aka gearshiters syndrome). I know how the scoring system works, but I still find perplexing (?) some subtleties and execution on his route.

And yeah, BKRoo was an invaluable help to understand this game. Thanks for sharing that

I agree on the last part. I milked the first 3 bosses a lot when I played it, and it's too excessive. Will cut it out when I come back to it. The milking itself is okay but the boss timer is too long.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I was enjoying the game a lot until I learned about the existence of milking. When I first started trying it myself it's pretty satisfying when you can pull it off, but the timer feels quite lengthy. It's still a fun game, but I'm not sure it's as exciting to play for score now because it revolves so heavily around milking. The milking itself is also much more demanding than say Giga Wing, because it's possible to drop the milk by getting too much red meter. Cranking the rank up early on puts you into a whole other league of scoring potential. The way you perform milking is also very different from other games I've encountered, so it's unique and interesting in that respect.

I still enjoy Rolling Gunner, but have mixed feelings about the game now, at least now that I know not milking bosses is essentially half-assing the scoring. It still think it's great fun to play for survival and I'd like to try for an Expert TLB clear sometime.

I've updated that thread with additional info. The milking changes depending on what ship you use because the faster the ship, the bigger the collection radius. Counter-intuitively, this actually makes the blue ship potentially the trickiest to score with, because having the largest autocollection radius makes milking very tricky. The milking is noticeably easier with the red and yellow ships because you can avoid accidentally grabbing too many medals and making your red meter too long before entering Overmode (you can nudge forward to adjust how many medals you grab as they're dropping if you haven't gotten quite enough but you can't fix it if you grab too many).

[SPM]

Definitely, I still love the game but that's a clear flaw in my book (the only flaw that bothers me in this game).

One "positive" thing about it though is its impact on the rank (and difficulty). I couldn't handle the later stages at super high ranks so I tried to end stage 3 around rank 30. With that goal in mind I could replace milking with better scoring strats. But it would still be a flaw for players trying to get higher scores.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I think our reaction to its milking might have to do with our expectations of the game. The game feels CAVE-like in its mechanics, and CAVE games generally do not revolve around lengthy boss milking where you deliberately try to timeout a pattern for score. It's not a thing in Dodonpachi, DOJ, DFK, or SDOJ from what I'm aware, it only applies to a couple bosses in Donpachi where you have to get the bee medals during the boss (and it's not that hard on boss 1 in both loops). It's not a thing in the first Deathsmiles, in Mushihimesama, or Mushi Futari. Espgaluda has a couple minor instances where you wait for a dense attack to kill the boss while in Kakusei to score but it's hardly the same length or precision required as Rolling Gunner milking. Espgaluda 2's Kakusei Zetsushikai mechanic is perhaps the best example of milking I can think of in a CAVE game, though you technically use it during stages rather than bosses (and it's also extremely difficult and complex).

Discovering that the scoring actually revolves around lengthy boss milking causes Rolling Gunner to feel like it has a very un-CAVE like element to it.

[SPM]

I didn't really have any expectations around it since I played RG before getting deep into any CAVE game, I'm late to the CAVE party (I bought it for its aiming system, that seemed fun and it's actually the best of its kind IMO, that I know of).

I do enjoy the milking strats for this game (and had a great time figuring out the 2nd and 3rd after learning the 1st), they're just way too long (particularly bosses 1 and 2). Reducing the timer to allow less than 1 minute of milking would solve the issue for me.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

How long is the timeout exactly? I remember I once tested it on the S1 boss and it was REALLY long, but I can't remember how long it is. Two minutes? 2.5?

[SPM]

The last phase of the 1st boss and the first phase of the 2nd take around 3 min. Unnecessary!

Actually, the last phase of the 3rd boss may be as long. I'm not sure (I used to kill it once I reached rank 30).

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Yikes, that's quite lengthy. By comparison Giga Wing's boss timers are like a minute to a minute and a half tops for milking purposes depending on the boss. And you only need to worry about milking the first 4 bosses in a high scoring run; the bosses from Stage 5 onward don't need milking because you'd be aiming to max out your multiplier by then. The stage 6 final boss and TLB do have massive timers but you don't need to milk them or run out the clock deliberately even when playing for score. It's actually better to kill them quickly and thus get more points from the end of stage boss bonus.

[BIL]

On the off chance anyone else was waiting for the PS4 version of RG + Over Power to appear on Japanese PSN, I was pleased to notice (while awaiting ACA Tetris The Grand Master with bated breath) that it's finally up.

[DietSoap]

There's nothing wrong with the Steam version of this, is there?