Terra Diver / any good?

dynagod · Post by **dynagod** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:43 pm

i see this game up on E-bay but the price leads to believe that its not such a great title.
the images i see on here look promising ,but i would like to hear the opinion of some people who have actually played it.

thanks all!

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:54 pm

Never judge a game from its price, especially its ebay price!

Terra Diver could be cheap for various reasons. Which version did you see? Both Saturn and Playstation ports have been re-released as budget at some point, that's why the price isn't too high.

And thank god, 'cause the game totally rocks. best lock-on shmup ever since Xevious. Grab it by all means.

dboeren · Post by **dboeren** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:04 pm

It's a pretty decent game. I don't know what price you saw it at though, so you'll have to decide for yourself if it's worth it. If you like the 3D art style and the lock-on idea then go for it. I think the main criticism I hear is that because of the powerful lock-on weapon the designers felt that they could make the game arbitrarily difficult in some parts.

I don't think it's the best lock-on game though, the Ray[Force/Storm/Crisis] series is better lock-on for my money. Of course, I only own RayStorm from that series.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:06 pm

yeah. I got Pop 'n Twinbee for under 20 dollars in good condition complete and it's one of the best shmups on the SNES IMO.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:17 pm

dboeren wrote: I think the main criticism I hear is that because of the powerful lock-on weapon the designers felt that they could make the game arbitrarily difficult in some parts.

Plus the fact that your "regular" weapon (and thus weapon power ups) are all but useless, since picking up the powerups raises the game's rank, and you can always just use the lock-on instead.

If you can get it cheap, though (most Saturn copies I've seen usually go for around 30 bucks or a bit more, not sure about the PS version), it's also got good things going for it.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:21 pm

dynagod wrote:i see this game up on E-bay but the price leads to believe that its not such a great title.
the images i see on here look promising ,but i would like to hear the opinion of some people who have actually played it.

thanks all!

Just for reference:

Terra Diver = Soukyuugurentai

whoisKeel · Post by **whoisKeel** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:25 pm

I just got this game last week (for saturn), and I am enjoying it. Worth $30 imo, which is what I paid. The music is really nice too. The ships move really fast. The stages are pretty easy so far, but the bosses seem damn near impossible (especially stage 3 boss). I can get to him on one credit, but he takes up about 3 creds for me to get past.

One thing tho, this game has some graphical glitches in the text if you are using an action replay to play your imports. I asked in the Strategy forum here, and they said that it was fixed in a later version, so you may want to get that one if you decide to get it.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:28 pm

frickin great stuff this. one of (the) first shooters i bought for saturn. my problem when i play it is I use the lcok-on like i should, but i am merciless with enemies. so with 0-10% miss on each level, i can get NOWHERE (that Fire Tank fucker on level 3, and then he steals my precious men

)... cause i am terrible.

MNK · Post by **MNK** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:55 pm

Great game if you like Rayforce & Raystorm, the Saturn version has less slowdown. Music is fantastic btw.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:39 pm

whoisKeel wrote:One thing tho, this game has some graphical glitches in the text if you are using an action replay to play your imports. I asked in the Strategy forum here, and they said that it was fixed in a later version, so you may want to get that one if you decide to get it.

Yes, it was fixed in Soukyugurentai (how most Ebayers spell the game) Otokuyo. Plus, you get a Battle Garegga demo of the first stage. The Saturn version looks prettier (being an ST-V game) and doesn't have the lengthy slowdowns that the later PS version suffers from but you don't get the powerful yellow ship and an easy default difficulty setting.

It used to sell for around $60 (back in the age where Radiant Silvergun was always generally considered top of the Saturn shooters with Soukyugurentai just behind) but now it's plummeted to $30. That doesn't stop it from being a great game though. It's plenty of fun although make sure you like locking on to stuff because you won't get very far just smashing on the "shoot" button like an "ordinary" shooter.

Post by **system11** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:55 pm

Amazing game, for $30 you'd be silly not to. If it helps fill the background knowledge, it's a Raizing game.

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:31 am

Is Terra Diver the name of the PS version?

Because if the question was "is Sokyugurentai any good?", I would be laughing.

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:37 am

Terra Diver is the name for the Western arcade release of Soukyuugurentai. If you haven't got it yet, grab it, especially for the price it's seeming to go for now. Bargain price for a top notch horzyvert.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:48 am

Ehh, to be picky, Terra Diver was the name of Soukyugurentai plugged into a US ST-V board. It was never actually released in the US unlike some other ST-V games like Die Hard Arcade. Why nobody uses the official English name I'll never understand.

Post by **system11** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:52 am

I thought STV carts were regioned actually - a double region cart?

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:59 am

Short FAQ:

Q: Is Soukyugurentai any good?
A: HELL YES.

Q: Which version should I get, "Soukyugurentai (Saturn)", "Soukyugurentai (PS1)", or "Soukyugurentai Otokuyo (Saturn)"?
A: Soukyugurentai Otokuyo (Saturn).

Q: What is Soukyugurentai Otokuyo?
A: A re-release of Saturn Soukyugurentai, which fixes a bug relating to the Japanese text getting garbled on non-JP Saturns. Raizing also added an early Battle Garegga playable demo on the re-release, accessible from the menu.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:59 am

bloodflowers wrote:I thought STV carts were regioned actually - a double region cart?

Yeah, they are regioned, but for some reason, Soukyugurentai was an exception and even changed regions upon detection. I don't know of any other ST-V titles that work on both US and JP boards though.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:08 am

I've always wondered what the reasoning behind the "Terra Diver" name was...doesn't "Soukyugurentai" translate roughly to something like "Blue Sky, Crimson Warriors," something like that? "Terra Diver" doesn't seem to have very much to do with the game, at least to my knowledge...

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:11 am

Thunder Force wrote:"Soukyugurentai (PS1)"

Also known as Soukyugurentai Oubushustugeki, which nobody bothers to include. I wonder why...

Yeah, Soukyugurentai has the most meaningless name I've encountered (although Terra Diver is almost equally nonsensical). I'll ask my parents some day if it's a quote or something.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:53 am

I have both Saturn versions and I like the original release better. It does have mangled text before you fight bosses if you use a PAR 4-in-1, but most other text in the game is converted to English, which is especially important if you want to read the text after you beat the game.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 4:18 am

Soukyuugurentai = Azure Sky, Crimson Regiment

(Yes, the colours are specifically azure and crimson)

Otokuyo = For the honorably economic (I love that subtitle)

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 4:25 am

Kiken wrote:Otokuyo = For the honorably economic (I love that subtitle)

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 4:49 am

Soukyugurentai is arguably the best shmup released for the Saturn, which is arguably the best console for shmups ever. The game is unbelievably kick-ass!

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 5:01 am

"Honorably economic," I am DEFINITELY going to have to write that one down...

"No, no, you've got it all wrong! I can't pay for the gas money, that just wouldn't be honorably economic!"

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 5:26 am

Kiken wrote:(Yes, the colours are specifically azure and crimson)

Why specifically azure and crimson?

Anyway, I asked my parents tonight but no, it's not a quote. Here's my translation (given I already know quite a bit of kanji) with their assistance:

Blue Sky, Red Lotus Team

1st character: blue (a less commonly used version of "blue"; sometimes of a darker variety)
2nd character: sky ("of the air"; the first 2 characters together refer to a "blue sky," or oftentimes just reduced to mean "sky")
3rd character: red (a generic red, not specifically light or dark red)
4th character: lotus (rarely also used for "paradise" but that's highly unlikely in this context)
5th character: team (could also be roughly translated as "squad" or "regiment")

I believe this is as accurate as it goes to the meaning of "Soukyugurentai." Still makes little sense though...

Tomtom · Post by **Tomtom** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 6:45 am

Ah, I guess that explains why the third kanji is red then

I just got Soukyugurentai Otokuyo, and I love it. Probably my new favorite Raizing game.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 2:59 am

Kiken wrote:Otokuyo = For the honorably economic (I love that subtitle)

Just noticed this. My kanji could be getting rusty but I couldn't get "economic" out of there. Is that an uncommon meaning of the 2nd character I'm not familiar with?

From Otokuyo, I got:
For the Honorably Virtuous

1st character: honorable (rarely found character derived from its early use as "imperial"; originally, the 1st and 3rd characters were put together to mean "for the use of the emperor")
2nd character virtuous (can also be roughly translated as "honorable" or "spirited")
3rd character: use ("for the use of" or simplified to "for")

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Terra Diver / any good?

Terra Diver / any good?

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Re: Terra Diver / any good?