STGT'12 Week 4: ESPGaluda

[KAI]

Galuda rank, lol

[ryu]

mar - 2277510 - Stage 3 - male

really weird game. i have no diea what was going on there

[sirmax]

sirmax - 11.180.620 - Stage 4 - Ageha - MameUI

[Smraedis]

Smraedis - 31,756,460 - ALL - Ageha - PS2

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Chaos Phoenixma- 16,307,830- 6 - Ageha- MAME


Have no idea whether I'll actually play this again. It's too annoying, but not as much as Ketsui or DOJ would have been.

[damakable]

Galuda rank, lol

I realize this is all moot to the players for whom Galuda is easy even at max rank and who are playing exclusively for score, but I don't think understanding the mechanics of a game is ever a bad thing.

So speaking of rank, does leveling Overmode increase rank? If I have 0 gold but max Overmode level, is the rank higher than it is at 0 gold and 0 Overmode level?

Assuming Overmode does increase rank, does it affect rank independently of your gold ingots count? I.e. Is rank going to be any different at 1000 gold if you level Overmode, or is 1000 gold max rank, or is 1000 gold and max Overmode level the only way to hit max rank?

Simply staying alive also increases rank, right? So even if I never collect gold and never level Overmode, I'll still reach max rank eventually? At what point will I reach it? Or will I reach the final boss on my first life with only, say, half the max rank?

Assuming I understand things correctly, even if Overmode level does increase rank it would only make me hit the maximum earlier, which I'm not worried about because I really only care about what the rank will be if I reach Stage 5 on my first life. Meanwhile I shouldn't stop collecting gold because I want to at least get both score extends, so there's no point trying to stay under 1000 gold. So unless not leveling Overmode during the first stage means that I start Stage 5, or even reach the final boss, with lower than max rank, I should probably play this game "properly", aiming for max Overmode level and a good score, at the same time as I play for survival with the only goal being to get a 1CC, because not leveling Overmode won't help me and in fact will make me get fewer green gems, making the game harder overall. The only thing I should really do differently to survive rather than score is to use Kakusei mode on patterns I have trouble dodging, rather than insisting on saving it up for the ideal places to score, starting on Stage 3 or 4.

Does that make sense, or have I misunderstood things? I used to play without ever leveling Overmode because I assumed it would make the game much harder.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Levelling up overmode + survival both seem to have a slight impact on rank. I think it affects bullet speed more than actual density though. but if you max out overmode in Stage 1 you don't notice too big of a difference in Stage 2. How well you're surviving seems to affect things a bit more, at least I notice bullet speeds seem to get a bit quicker if I've no-missed a while. Really, Galuda's rank is extremely forgiving and you shouldn't need to consciously worry about it like say Garegga's rank, or how Futari BL Original's rank jumps considerably when the stage counter's maxed. Rank isn't really an issue in Galuda IMO, I didn't notice any significant difference when I no-missed to 5-2 on that last run, or elsewhere for that matter compared to simply playing for survival and not boosting overmode.

The real danger in levelling up overmode is the risk of accidentally exiting Kakusei early by killing a group of enemies you didn't intend to, or forgetting to switch back when you run out of gems in Kakusei and suddenly having every bullet zoom at you. The jump in speed at the base overmode level to the maxed overmode level is extreme, but the increased gem gain you get from maxing out overmode by the end of Stage 1 is well worth it.

[damakable]

Wow, talk about a fast response to an obscure question! Thanks! I guess I'll start maxing out the overmode level in Stage 1. The risk sounds small compared to the reward, which makes the game easier by allowing you to use Kakusei more often. That my scores will improve is an added bonus!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Does Espgaluda even have rank? I was messing around in a no Kakusei run (yay only enough points for one extra extend ._.) and really, nothing seemed that different anywhere, even though I died twice in a row on stage 4, had a crap gold meter for the first three stages, etc. If Espgaluda has rank it seems to have a minor if not negligible impact on difficulty. that or i suck

[KAI]

Espgaluda Rank=Placebo Effect

[Xeno]

Xeno - 13,970,630 - 5 - Ageha - MAME

So damn close to the second extend...

[damakable]

The PS2 practice mode settings allow you to set the rank, I believe. I'll try out different settings tonight to see what difference it makes. But it sounds like I shouldn't worry about it too much.

[Bananamatic]

Bananamatic - 29,570,140 - ALL - the dude - mame

[Zengeku3]

Zengeku - 29,502,930 - ALL - Linear Shot - Shmupmame 2.2

http://i.imgur.com/ejtvY.png

[DMC]

DMC - 22,700,110 - 5-2 - Ageha - MAME

[MrMonkeyMan]

MrMonkeyMan - 52,165,530 - ALL - Ageha - Mame

[Aru-san]

Aru-san - 13,616,020 - 4 - Tateha - MAME 0.146

I'm starting to get the hang of scoring in this game. Managed to pull off getting 10 million by the end of stage 3.

[noiseredux]

noiseredux - 3,926,350 - 3 - Ageha - PS2

[Marblez]

Marblez - 2587060 - 2 - Ageha - Mameuif

[CulDad78]

culdad78 - 9,995,570 - st. 4 - PCB

[damakable]

damakable - 18,015,030 - Stage 5-2 - Ageha - PS2

Died just before the final boss. Still happy about this credit, though.

I played around with the practice mode for a bit. Modifying the overdrive level and ingot count didn't seem to affect the difficulty at all, but boosting the rank meter to the top made enemies fire bullets at the speed they normally do in Kakusei without activating it. Presumably (?) in the actual game rank increases somehow, but I can't be sure how much overmode level, ingots, and simple survival time affect it relative to one another. In any case the score above was achieved by leveling overmode in Stage 1 and keeping it until dying at the end of Stage 3, at which point the rank would have reset or been cut in half or something. Okay, I'm not going to worry about rank any more... I'm just curious about it, really.

[DrInfy]

Dr Infy - 25,128,050 - 5-2 - Ageha - Mameplus

AARGH, lost my last life at the last pattern of the final form of the final boss.

[AmidstStorm]

AmidstStorm - 7,171,230 - 4 - Tateha - MAME64 0.145

[Battletoad]

Battletoad - 17,365,890 - 5-1 - Ageha - PS2

Been having this game for a while, but never got to playing it seriously. Seems now it's the time. Thinking about switching to Tateha though, I might get on better with her/him.

[The Coop]

The Coop - 23,929,310 - All - Teteha - MAME

[Zerst]

Zerst - 34,229,740 - All (Lx1/5) - Ageha - Wolfmame145

[sirmax]

sirmax - 13.480.530 - 4 - Ageha - MameUI

[Gmintyfresh]

Gmintyfresh - 7257480 - 4 - Teteha - Shmupmame 3

[BareKnuckleRoo]

damakable - 18,015,030 - Stage 5-2 - Ageha - PS2

Died just before the final boss. Still happy about this credit, though.

So close to the clear! Go team~

I seem to be messing up my runs in easy sections now when I try to improve my score. -_-;

[chum]

chum - 34,991,690 - ALL - Ageha - mame