Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

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KimagureMachibuse

Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by KimagureMachibuse »

I have played the game on the Sega Saturn while ago and thought it was a solid game that was held back a bit of the game seeming a bit over designed. in someways it overall was a cool idea that of being being able to switch atributes thay had an effect on the enemies and some bosses could have been better executed which Treasure did in Ikaruga The overall look of the game was really great looking and interesting visual effects were made with the transparencies and some of the bosses had cool designs acompied with interesting gimmicks.

While im talking about Silhouette Mirage i might as well discuss the 2 other Releases of it

The Japanese Playstation Version of the game is nearily identical to the saturn version down to the gameplay with the inclusion of and extra boss called the Reaper Boss the final level being boss being altered and some graphical effects being changed.

The US Playstation version is the version more people are familar with and this version was localized by Working Designs who are known for altering overall gampley of Japanese games This version makes a number of changes to make it harder but only makes things more tedious by far the most egregious change is making the parasites you use drain the spirit meter and items in the shop are made far more expensive. the US version has other things added like visual changes and a Zophar mini game added to the credits There is more info on TCRF that discusses these changes in the US Version https://tcrf.net/Silhouette_Mirage_(PlayStation)
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KAI
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by KAI »

The us version is the reason why i hated this game for almost a decade until i played the saturn version. Too bad psx version still doesnt have an un-worked design patch.
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evil_ash_xero
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by evil_ash_xero »

Yeah, I always heard that WD did a lot of mucking about with this game.

A patch would be nice. I'd give it a look.
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pja
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by pja »

I tried this out on a Saturn and one thing bugs me - Various Places On The Internet are saying that the weapons should level up normally as you play... but the problem is that I never saw that happen even once :P Does anyone know when is the level up supposed to happen? Does it depend on the number of enemies killed, or some invisible experience system or whatever? Or maybe it doesn't level up at all and you have to buy it from the rabbits (as I kept having to do? :P)
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MOSQUITO FIGHTER
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by MOSQUITO FIGHTER »

I had the us psx version and could never get into it despite trying.
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Lander
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by Lander »

A real oddball of a game, it's a real shame there's no truly definitive version.

It feels a touch confused gameplay-wise, with the left/right positioning setup, half-shooty-half-melee moveset, and power-down-on-hit not quite hitting the tightness of other Treasure games.
The first stage speaks to this, being a significantly lower-intensity affair than the rest of their work so the player can get their head around it, but there's definite fun to be had once you establish a high level strategy and figure out which weapons are the most broken.
And it's most entertaining to drain a boss until they're ineffectual, figure out their grab loop, and cash bash them for all they're worth :)

I always loved the way it uses mathematical notation for magic effects too - it's got a tinge of the "sufficiently advanced technology blah blah magic" idiom about it, and carries an implication that the world is not what it seems. Why study the arcane when you can simply reprogram the universe?

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pja wrote:I tried this out on a Saturn and one thing bugs me - Various Places On The Internet are saying that the weapons should level up normally as you play... but the problem is that I never saw that happen even once :P Does anyone know when is the level up supposed to happen? Does it depend on the number of enemies killed, or some invisible experience system or whatever? Or maybe it doesn't level up at all and you have to buy it from the rabbits (as I kept having to do? :P)
I assume that refers to the weapons in the shop 'leveling up' as you progress through the stages, since I've never seen it either. I suppose it could also be a bizarre interpretation of the weapon power gauge...
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MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote:I had the us psx version and could never get into it despite trying.
Working Designs absolutely buggered the in-game economy as part of the rental-fearing US localization process. You get way less freedom to explore the weapons, and have to rob every enemy blind to keep up with the progression curve.
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Axelay
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by Axelay »

The boss fights in the game are brilliant. Some stages and set pieces are still incredible. (Worms destroying the city) ((fish girl flying behind buildings and reflections on the glass)

Does anyone have any strategies when it comes to weapons? I usually use the boomerang. I struggle with the trajectory of the bomb weapon. The wings are cool but i dont know how to.use them properly.
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Lander
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by Lander »

My approach is usually dragon beam for direct fire, boomerang for crowds, and the poison gas cloud for stationary enemies and bosses.
The cloud stays out for ages, so you can overlap it with other shot types for bonus damage.
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Stevens
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by Stevens »

I imported the Saturn version not long after release. Didn't speak Japanese, but I didn't care.

The soup fight still stands out and there was a spot you could get soft locked towards the end on a certain boss.

I'd buy a re release.
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Gamer707b
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Re: Silhouette Mirage Thoughts

Post by Gamer707b »

I bought the Saturn import a year ago and loved it immediately. Love the art, music and especially the bosses. Might be a bit weird for some, but I've always liked weird games. I still wanna go back and do a 1cc on it.
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