GD: ring^-27

For posting and requesting strategic gameplay tips on shmups!
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Despatche
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GD: ring^-27

Post by Despatche »

Tons of things to unlock. Basic scoring seems to be anchoring an enemy and damaging others to draw crystals, destroying lots of enemies when anchored to seemingly build the multiplier, while collecting medals while the multiplier is building, and keeping your energy in check so the rank does go up so high. I don't think I'm looking at things just right.

Anyway, achievement dump:

Code: Select all

01. Clear Easy Mode
02. Clear Normal Mode
03. Clear Hard Mode
04. Clear Extra Mode
05. Clear Boss Rush Easy Mode
06. Clear Boss Rush Normal Mode
07. Clear Boss Rush Hard Mode
08. Clear Boss Rush Extra Mode

09. Clear Boss Rush Extra2 Mode
10. Clear the game with Anchor
11. Clear the game with Bomb
12. Clear the game with Circle
13. Clear the game with Device
14. Clear the game with E
15. 1CC Easy Mode
16. 1CC Normal Mode

17. 1CC Hard Mode
18. 1CC Extra Mode
19. 1CC Extra2 Mode
20. Grab all secret in a single game
21. Over x100 multiplier
22. Grab all weapons
23. Get the extend item
24. Get the Ex medal

25. Dropped more than 256 medals in a single game
26. Destroy all of the parts on the stage3 boss
27. Destroy the secret boss on the stage3
28. Destroy all of the parts on the stage4 boss
29. Destroy a lot of arms on the stage 5 boss
30. Destroy the secret boss on the stage 6
31. "Hot wing the anchor in a single" (?)
32. Thank you for playing!
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mjclark
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by mjclark »

Cool! How do I access the achievements screen? Also where do I find the menu that let's you turn "Auto-assist" off and on- suddenly I can't find it?
A bit like RefRain this game is a whole lot deeper and better than the demo ever suggested :D
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Despatche
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by Despatche »

Press Z on the Score screen to switch between total scores (first), stage scores (second), achievements (third), and "battle report" (fourth; various game stats).

Also, press C on the Replay screen to sort replays by file number (first), score (second), and date (third).

On the "assist" feature: normally, when your hitbox is lined up with bullets, those bullets turn red. It seems you can only toggle it in Practice mode.
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mjclark
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by mjclark »

Despatche wrote:Press Z on the Score screen to switch between total scores (first), stage scores (second), achievements (third), and "battle report" (fourth; various game stats).
Also, press C on the Replay screen to sort replays by file number (first), score (second), and date (third).
On the "assist" feature: normally, when your hitbox is lined up with bullets, those bullets turn red. It seems you can only toggle it in Practice mode.
Thanks-
As you say, rank increases when energy=0 and also destroyed enemies don't release score items.
Do the pink score items increase the multiplier then, and if so how?
... Also still not sure about:
1)What the "score display" option actually changes,
2) How to trigger and uncover penguins and if there's any more secrets in later stages but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough :D
3) The specifics of the medal chaining

I'm getting the same feeling from playing this as I got when I first played DDP DOJ.
Time may prove it's awesomeness...
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mjclark
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by mjclark »

OK:
1) To toggle "Assist" press Button 3 when on the weapon select screen.
2) "Score Display" option affects how the running score for the pink items is displayed when the game is paused: either blinking, static or not displayed.
3) Pausing the game (with Button 4) gives a full set of stats including quantity of each item collected and current rank.
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Moniker
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by Moniker »

Anyone know how bomb mode works? From what I can gather, the amount of bullets that get cancelled when you bomb depends on how many blue crystals are in the bank (and they seem to get wiped out upon bombing). Sometimes bombing anchors you but I have no idea what this depends on.

Also, how does one go about unlocking new modes? Do you need a 1CC?

Random tip: I'm sure everyone else has figured this out already, but if you latch onto one of the black spikes on the stage 2 boss, you can get massive chaining from all the medals collected from killing white spikes. I typically score 2 extends here on easy mode, with only minor rank increase.
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manatworks
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by manatworks »

Moniker wrote:Anyone know how bomb mode works? From what I can gather, the amount of bullets that get cancelled when you bomb depends on how many blue crystals are in the bank (and they seem to get wiped out upon bombing). Sometimes bombing anchors you but I have no idea what this depends on.

Also, how does one go about unlocking new modes? Do you need a 1CC?

Random tip: I'm sure everyone else has figured this out already, but if you latch onto one of the black spikes on the stage 2 boss, you can get massive chaining from all the medals collected from killing white spikes. I typically score 2 extends here on easy mode, with only minor rank increase.
i think in order to get enemy anchored , you need to make sure that the bullet covering the enemy you want then use the bomb , if it connects , you will anchored to the enemy , it's like Freezing bullet mechanic in touhou fairy wars .
i think this is how it usually works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAjNvIKxCcE
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Iron Peach
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by Iron Peach »

Version 1.0

Half-assed strategy guide...anyone have improvements, speak up! :twisted:

Unlocks
When the game is first started, only Anchor and Bomb shot, Easy and Normal difficulty are available. Clearing the game on the highest available difficulty with or without continues will unlock new shot and difficulty modes.

Hit Box
Your ship's hit box is the white pixel and black circle at the center of the cockpit. The game does feature a grazing effect, but this doesn't add to scoring.

Normal & Secondary Shot
Holding C (button 3) will fire your normal shot while keeping your normal speed. Holding Z (button 1) uses the same shot at the same power, but slows your movement by half. Pressing X (button 2) will fire your secodary weapon (Anchor, Bomb, Circle or Device) and depending on how each is used will lock-on to a target.

Blue & Red Crystals
Enemies destroyed by normal shooting will produce blue crystals which are used to fuel your secodary shot. As long as you are locked-on to something, damaged enemies produce red score-crystals.

Medal Bubbles & Rank
Destroying enemies while locked-on will produce medals as red crystals in bubbles. Then, depending on how many were produced, destroying the original locked enemy will spout many more medals.
Using the secondary shot while the blue crystals are at zero will start the rank counter spinning which begins at 0.000 and quickly increases to around 0.125 or slightly higher depending on difficulty before rolling over to the next whole number. Of course the higher the rank the more and faster the bullets...I have not survived beyond rank 40 to say what the max is. Dying will lower the rank by a bit depending (ex. 40 to 35, 6 to 5), and continuing resets the rank to 0.000.

Anchor & Device
These two are similar in that Anchor shot fires straight from your ship to lock-on, but Device uses an Option that follows you and targets the nearest enemy. Pressing the button again will release the lock and cancel any bullets on screen. Now depending on which enemy or which parts of medium sized and boss enemies you anchor to, your normal shot will usually weaken but gain a sub-shot in one of 18 varieties:

Near - a bit like Ketsui, your ship shoots straight while angled shots auto-target anything nearby
Wide - spreads some of the straight shot wider than normal for extra coverage
Strong - twice as wide normal shot
Straight - shoots ahead, as wide as the ship, with a nice twisting effect
Homing Shot - a constant barrage of small homing missiles
Homing Laser - a constant barrage of small homing lasers, a'la Darius
Long Laser - four screen-length beam sabers a'la SI: Infinity Gene
Missile - a constant barrage of small straight-shooting missiles
Sword - fire is focused into sword points that reach two ship lengths ahead and one behind
Put Laer - holding shot plants an electro laser pod that fires following your movements
Ice Shot - fires angled inward in the opposite direction of movement
Fire Shot - shoots juicy fireballs straight ahead that pass through enemies to damage beyond
Mirror - a shield that reflects enemy bullets back as weak player bullets
Napalm - shots explode, splash-damaging nearby enemies
Homing Plasa - stronger homing lasers that circle the screen until they hit
Trace - four options slowly trail your movement but retract when you stop
Decoy - creates a shadow decoy that enemies will shoot instead, used with Z (button 1)
Beam - four straight lightning shots streak wildly after hitting, damaging enemies beyond

Bomb & Circle
The Bomb shot detonates around your ship causing any nearby enemy bullets to explode in a chain reaction, cancelling them and damaging enemies in the blast. Each bullet in the chain depletes your blue crystals by more or less depending on its size. Tougher enemies that survive the blast will be locked-on to and cannot be disengaged.
The Circle shot raises a forcefield that repels enemy bullets, and like Anchor and Device, it quickly drains blue crystals while bing used. Regardless of crystal stock if the shield passes over an enemy it will lock-on.

Fixed
Fixed shot arms you with a reticule about a ship length ahead that swings with your movement. For 32 blue crystals per shot, use this to gain the lock-on sub-weapon until you change locks again. Bullets fired by enemies locked-on by this turn to red crystals, and bullets can be cancelled by shooting them with the Fixed shot..

Extras
Hidden throughout each stage are several (not sure how many) invisible penguins. Shooting through one will make it flicker, and you'll need to hover over them or shoot at a locked enemy through their position until a circle of triangles appears to collect it.
During the end credits, a number of penguins equal to how many secrets you found in the game will swim past the screen.
After the stage 6 boss, a black ball of energy suggestively moves in the background...could this be a true last boss? Maybe a 1CC or finding all secret penguins will make a difference.
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Shepardus
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by Shepardus »

Here's a dump of some scoring info I'm figuring out through practice mode:
  • Every blue energy crystal is worth 10 points.
  • Every red score crystal is worth 200 points.
  • Medals have a base value of 10000 and increase in value by 1 for every score crystal you have (rounded down to the nearest 10) and 100 for every medal you have. So if you have 1305 score crystals and 5 medals the next medal has a value of 10000 + 1300 + 500 = 11800.
  • Each medal you have increases the amount of points you get from killing an enemy by 10. So if you have 100 medals you'll get a 1000-point bonus every time you kill an enemy.
  • Dropping medals doesn't affect their value.
  • Dying reduces your score crystal and medal counts by a third, and resets your energy to 256.
  • While you're invincible (i.e. after dying) you can run over enemy bullets to turn them into energy (1 crystal per bullet, which is worth 3 energy counter). This probably isn't useful at all.
  • You get points constantly while you're anchored to an enemy. Not when you have no energy though, and it's not much anyway.
  • Higher rank increases the number of blue (or red, if you're at max energy or anchored to an enemy) crystals you get from killing enemies. It does not increase the number of crystals you get from bullet cancels. It also makes medals drop down the screen faster. Rank increases the speed of bullets, but as far as I can tell does not increase the rate at which enemies fire.
  • The multiplier (which is obtained by killing other enemies while you're locked on to an enemy) increases score from kills but not the value of blue or red crystals. It maxes out at x127. It affects medal value but doesn't simply multiply their value. I believe it works something like this:
    • The medal value goes up by 5000 for each multiplier level you have when you spawn the medal (so each subsequent kill while anchored to an enemy increases the medal value by 5000). In other words, the medal values have a bonus of 5000 x multiplier. Unlike the bonus medal value from the score crystal and medal counters, this bonus value is applied to the medal when you spawn it and not when you collect it.
    • For example, if you kill three small enemies while anchored to a large enemy, and then finish off the large enemy, the three small enemies will release medals worth (before item counter bonuses) 10k, 15k, and 20k respectively, and the large enemy will release three medals worth 25k each (the number of medals depends on the enemy but let's say it's three for this example). These values are tied to the medals themselves so if you grab the medals in the order you spawned them the values will appear in increasing order and if you grab them in the opposite order the values will appear in decreasing order. It doesn't matter when you grab the medals, you don't need to be anchored to keep the medals' value after you've spawned them.
  • There are secret rings and secret penguins. Secret rings are triggered by hovering in the right place for a little while. They aren't worth any points themselves but they release a fountain of score crystals when triggered. The amount of score crystals released depends on the amount of bullets that pass through the ring. Secret penguins are triggered by shooting at them while anchored. Secret penguins have a base value of 100,000 and increase in value by 10 for each score crystal and 100 for each medal you have. Basically 10x the value of a medal. Penguin value is not affected by the multiplier, but they increase the multiplier by 4 when triggered. I haven't verified yet whether secret rings affect the multiplier.
  • When you cancel bullets (e.g. through a bomb in bomb mode or through killing an anchored enemy), each bullet cancelled is worth a certain number of points depending on how many bullets you cancel at once and how many score crystals you have. The first bullet cancelled starts at 10 + (score crystals / 10) points, rounded down to the nearest 10, and each successive bullet is worth 10 more points. So if you have 5000 score crystals you'd get 510 + 520 + 530 + 540 + ... points.
  • In bomb mode, bullets are only cancelled into score crystals if you have energy while bombing. You still get the cancel bonus (see above) even if you don't have energy though.
  • In bomb and circle mode, you can lock on to multiple targets at once. The primary target (the one whose weapon you get) has a large indicator around it, while the secondary targets have smaller indicators around them. If you kill the primary target, one of the secondary targets becomes the new primary target and you don't lose your multiplier. You can switch which enemy's the primary target by tapping focus fire. You only lose your multiplier if you die, if you cancel the anchor, or if you kill the primary anchor target (or it leaves the screen) without any secondary targets available. I imagine there's some sort of chaining you can do with this (see the x100 multiplier video below for an example of what I mean).
Seems that scoring is a matter of staying locked on to enemies as long as possible and killing other enemies while locked on to increase multiplier/medal value, and to get more medals and score crystals. High rank is good for scoring as long as it doesn't get you killed.

There's a video on Nicovideo demonstrating how to get the x100 multiplier achievement (it involves the stage 2 boss) and another demonstrating that the maximum rank is 128. Look at that score go!

Some other info:
  • Extends are at 8, 20, 40, 80, 160, and 320 million points. Probably more beyond that but I haven't seen them myself. There's also a secret extend that you can get from the stage 3 midboss by destroying both the back wings (and I think the center pillar/arm thing too).
  • There's a TLB, as seen here. Not sure how to reach it but it's probably something along the lines of getting all the secret rings and penguins.
  • There's also a secret phase of the stage 3 boss, as seen here. No idea what triggers it, but "modirufa6317" on Twitch tells me it's also based on getting the secrets.
  • Boss Rush is available through practice mode by choosing "Boss" as the stage. Not sure if you have to unlock it first. Not sure if it's accessible from anywhere else other than the practice menu, but I did get the achievement for clearing boss rush mode so maybe that's just how you access it.
  • Also accessible through practice mode is "Another," a strange mode/stage in which your ship rotates to face the direction you're moving. Holding rapid shot (C) locks your direction.
  • Judging by the achievements screen there's more modes beyond Anchor, Bomb, Circle, Device, and Fixed - there's achievements for "Piercing," "Shift," "Homing," "Tail," and "Loading." No idea how to get those though. EDIT: Clear Another mode to unlock these. I recommend using a homing shot and turning extra lives up to max. Thanks to "modirufa6317" on Twitch for helping me figure this out! By the way, if you're still trying to figure out how to unlock the first five modes, just clear the game with each (credit-feeding allowed).
  • In practice mode, press Z while hovering over the "rest" setting to turn on invincibility.
  • Anchoring to an enemy with no energy not only drives up rank, but also intensifies the anchored enemy's attacks.
  • Medals blink black if they have increased value from an anchor multiplier; they do not have this effect if you spawn medals with no multiplier (e.g. by killing enemies in Extra difficulty without anchoring). Occasionally I see medals with a red flash; these medals are called "Ex medals" (there's an achievement for it), they are worth substantially more than normal medals, and the score value pops up in red instead of blue when you pick them up. I have no idea how to trigger them, though. Surely it's not just random?
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blossom
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by blossom »

For various reasons, I've reached a point where the idea of playing Eden's Aegis fills me with dread. However, I'm still in love with bullet cancelling and want to find another game to scratch that itch. I've been intrigued by ring^-27 since I first about it and maybe it's finally time to buy it. I've got a few questions.

Which mode is the most focused on bullet cancelling? This question may or may not be pointless because I love strategic bombing and will likely choose Bomb mode for that reason.

This leads me to the next question, just how does the bombing work in this game? I assume your bombs come from the energy count, however if that's the case what exactly sets apart Anchor, Bomb, etc from one another? ALSO, does Bomb mode allow for weapon stealing as mentioned by Iron Peach in an earlier post? Seems like that may be an Anchor/Device mechanic, unless I'm misunderstanding.

Why is it there seem to be a lot of scores entered for Easy mode instead of Normal mode? Considering this game has a rank system, I'm not sure what purpose a difficulty select has.
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Shepardus
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by Shepardus »

blossom wrote:Which mode is the most focused on bullet cancelling? This question may or may not be pointless because I love strategic bombing and will likely choose Bomb mode for that reason.
You're in luck, because Bomb mode is the most focused on bullet canceling.
blossom wrote:This leads me to the next question, just how does the bombing work in this game? I assume your bombs come from the energy count, however if that's the case what exactly sets apart Anchor, Bomb, etc from one another? ALSO, does Bomb mode allow for weapon stealing as mentioned by Iron Peach in an earlier post? Seems like that may be an Anchor/Device mechanic, unless I'm misunderstanding.
You can bomb at any time, limited only by a short cooldown timer. Even when you're out of energy, you can still bomb, but it will increase rank (per bullet canceled) and you won't get red crystals from the canceled bullets (though you still get points from the bullet cancel itself).

The weapon stealing is present in all modes; the main difference between the modes is how you "anchor" to enemies and how that consumes energy.

In Anchor mode you fire a sort of harpoon that latches onto the first enemy it hits. You "steal" the weapon as long as you keep that anchor going, which is until you or the enemy dies (or leaves) or you manually cancel the anchor. Energy drains at a fixed rate while you're anchored; if you're out of energy, the anchor still lasts, but rank increases over time.

In Bomb mode, you have bombs instead of the harpoon thing, and you use these bombs to anchor to enemies. The bomb cancels bullets immediately around you and cascades outward to adjoining bullets, similar to Touhou 12.8's (Fairy Wars) freezing mechanic, and you anchor to all enemies touched by the chain-reaction (unlike Anchor mode, you can latch onto multiple enemies at once this way). In Bomb mode, staying anchored to enemies does not drain energy over time; instead, energy usage (and rank increase if you're out of energy) is tied to the number of bullets canceled by bombs.
blossom wrote:Why is it there seem to be a lot of scores entered for Easy mode instead of Normal mode? Considering this game has a rank system, I'm not sure what purpose a difficulty select has.
Rank only affects bullet speed (and some other factors not related to the bullets, namely how many blue/red crystals enemies drop and how quickly medals fall down the screen), while difficulty selection changes the actual patterns, including suicide bullets. I find Easy already quite difficult especially if you're trying to pull off some good scoring.
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blossom
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by blossom »

OK, I went ahead and bought the game instead of simply playing the trial version. Pretty fun, pretty confusing. Maybe the most important question I can ask you, how do I update the game to version 1.1a instead of version 1.1 that I bought from DLsite?

Now that I'm re-reading what you typed about the chain reaction for bullet cancelling, I'm somewhat beginning to understand. I've never played Great Fairy Wars so the comparison was lost on me at first. So now, at least, I'm seeing why at times I don't cancel bullets at all, due to not many bullets being around me for the cascade effect to take place. I assume if you were freakishly good at the game you'd WANT the rank to be high for more cancels?

Also, re-reading what Iron Peach says about how any large enemies that survive the bomb blast will be locked on to and cannot be disengaged, I assume also you'd want to make sure you don't kill those enemies to abuse.. something? Red crystals? While I'm at it, here's a hilariously simple question - how do you get enemies to drop green crystals? Seemed to be as simple as killing them, but I'm not sure that's the case.

Man, I'm not used to playing a shooter with this type of complexity. Typically this absurdity turns me off, returned Hellsinker almost immediately, yet something about this game is captivating me.
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Shepardus
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by Shepardus »

blossom wrote:Maybe the most important question I can ask you, how do I update the game to version 1.1a instead of version 1.1 that I bought from DLsite?
Download from here: http://sumishiro.blogspot.com/2012/08/r ... dater.html
blossom wrote:I assume if you were freakishly good at the game you'd WANT the rank to be high for more cancels?
In Bomb mode I think it's mostly a disadvantage. Rank doesn't increase the quantity of bullets, only how fast they move, so higher rank makes it harder to gather a lot of bullets on the screen and creates larger gaps between the bullets (though that can make it easier to dodge some patterns...). The main advantage of high rank is that you get more blue and red crystals from destroying enemies, but more blue crystals isn't very useful in Bomb mode (it's useful in Circle mode), and in Bomb mode I think most of your red crystals would come from bullet cancels anyway, rather than destroying enemies.
blossom wrote:Also, re-reading what Iron Peach says about how any large enemies that survive the bomb blast will be locked on to and cannot be disengaged, I assume also you'd want to make sure you don't kill those enemies to abuse.. something? Red gems?
It's not just large enemies, all enemies/parts of multi-part enemies can be locked on to, even popcorn enemies. The bomb itself does not do any damage.

In Bomb mode you cannot cancel the anchor, unlike in Anchor and some other modes. In Anchor mode, pressing the anchor button while anchored will disengage the anchor, which cancels all bullets (you don't get any points from this cancel). If you don't care about scoring you can cheese bosses by repeatedly anchoring and canceling. In Bomb mode pressing the button again will just use another bomb (assuming it's off cooldown) without canceling your existing anchors.

Anchoring will give you a weapon corresponding to the enemy type. Less obvious is that if you're anchored to multiple enemies, you can cycle which enemy's weapon you get by pressing the shot+slow button (default Z). Pressing the rapid fire button (default C) does not cycle the weapon.

When you're anchored, destroying enemies produces red crystals and medals instead of blue crystals, and damaging enemies also leeches red crystals from them. It also starts a multiplier that increases for every enemy destroyed and lasts for the duration of the anchor. The multiplier multiplies enemy value and adds to medal value (it does not multiply medal value - instead, it adds 5000 to the medal value for each multiplier level). Destroying an anchored enemy cancels all bullets on the screen, giving you red crystals and the same cancel bonus as if you had canceled them with a bomb.

Generally when you anchor to an enemy you want to stay anchored for a while, destroying a bunch of enemies to build up multiplier and get red crystals and high value medals, then finish off the anchored enemy for a cancel.

The anchor mechanics are the same across all modes, though in some (such as Anchor) it's impossible to lock on to multiple enemies at once, which limits the possibilities. In Bomb and Circle modes, since you can repeatedly lock on to multiple enemies without canceling your existing anchors, it's theoretically possible to chain together enemies, anchoring to new enemies as old ones leave the screen so you never lose all your anchors and keep building up multiplier. In practice, I find this suicidal outside of a few specific scenarios. It's worth noting here that if you have no energy, anchored enemies will fire more intense bullet patterns.
blossom wrote:Man, I'm not used to playing a shooter with this type of complexity. Typically this absurdity turns me off, returned Hellsinker almost immediately, yet something about this game is captivating me.
I think the system is actually pretty simple once you get the idea of it, but it isn't terribly well-documented, unlike Hellsinker which has a very comprehensive manual but is just that complicated. I think it boils down to a few simple rules, but they intertwine with each other in a compelling way.

I think the main things to remember are:
  • Destroy enemies for energy, spend energy to use your special ability and anchor to enemies (increases rank if you don't have energy)
  • Anchor to enemies for red crystals (score) and medals (also score)
  • Stay anchored to build up multiplier and increase medal value, destroy anchored enemies for bullet cancels
Sources of score:
  • Red crystals - Fixed value, but increases value of medals and bullet cancels
  • Medals - High value, increased by red crystals, medals, and anchor multiplier
  • Bullet cancels - Value depends on red crystals and number of bullets canceled (each successive bullet is worth an increasing amount, and the starting value depends on red crystals)
  • Not dying - Dying takes away a percentage of your red crystals and medals
There's more detail in my wall of text above but it's mostly either minor stuff or specific numbers to back these main things.
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blossom
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by blossom »

Yeah, in general the game's not THAT complicated, especially when you sum it up in those bullet points at the end. I wish there were less modes, though. A bit intimidating to figure out what to play. I suspect that's part of the reason ring^-27 isn't as popular as it could be, when there's not a consensus on what to play as a community experience. Maybe that's already happened organically looking at which modes have the most submitted scores, considering only Anchor and Bomb are available from the start. I get the feeling most of the other modes are just "interesting fluff" and not meant to be taken seriously? I've not played them yet, though, so I could be very wrong.
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Shepardus
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Re: GD: ring^-27

Post by Shepardus »

I doubt the many modes is what's hindered the game's popularity, since I bet most people aren't even aware there are so many. :wink: It's also addicting in the sense that there's always a different mode to try when you get bored of one. Kind of like Armed Police Batrider in a way.

Anchor and Bomb being the only ones available from the start makes them the de facto "standard" I would say. I'm kind of partial to Fixed, though - it makes for a good "no frills" mode. It has very little energy consumption so you can anchor freely without worrying about driving up rank (though you can't anchor to multiple enemies). It also takes away some of the cheese strats like repeatedly canceling anchors to cancel bullets (similar to Bomb mode, you can't manually cancel anchors) as well as choosing a default weapon like Mirror (you still can, but it doesn't matter much in Fixed mode unless you never anchor to anything since anchoring to an enemy replaces your weapon permanently, not just for the duration of the anchor). By the way, in case you didn't know, you can change your default weapon (when you're not anchored) to any weapon you've previously obtained by pressing left/right at the mode selection screen. Mirror (which you can normally obtain near the end of stage 5) is cheesy since it reflects bullets as long as you hold the fire button, making enemy collisions your only true threat. Piercing is also nice since it's basically Anchor but your anchor pierces through enemies instead of stopping at the first target you hit, allowing you to anchor to multiple enemies and removing the annoyance of small enemies blocking the anchor you want. The downside is that it has a slower movement speed (each mode has a different movement speed).
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