GD: Psyvariar 2

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qmish
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GD: Psyvariar 2

Post by qmish »

I noticed there is no general thread for Psy2, so i'd like to have all useful stuff compiled in one place. What i'll quote here is written by respective authors from here and else. I'll edit this post if needed based on your wishes and whatever.

Basics:
Saurian wrote:Terminologies -

Buzz:
The action of a shot ("cartridge") passing through your mecha's Buzz Field. The field is the orb around you, that's the range you have to catch shots so take time to learn it and the size/position of the hitpoint. The hitpoint is only a few pixels dead centre of the orb. Each time a shot or object passes through the field it counts as 1 buzz. The key to Psyvariar is to learn how to interact with the shots and surf them rather than avoiding - you have to un-learn a lot from playing past games. Buzzing shots increases the Neutrino gauge explained next:

Neutrino:
This is key to the core gameplay of Psyvariar, the Psyvariar 2 gauge is more precise than the previous games and is variable in fill rate. You Buzz shots to fill this gauge, when the gauge fills it resets to 0 and a shield will be activated - Learn how long this shield lasts. It will pulse from the hitpoint, fill the buzz field, then reduce to nothing - it's dead when it reduces to your hitpoint. You can activate a shield before the last one finishes - this is a shield chain and it should be just about constant when you get into it. The rate the gauge fills is down to the Neutrino colour, red is least active while blue is most active - the higher the rate the more levels you gain.

Rolling: (2 types)
Rolling increases the rate that Buzz occurres. Instead of triggering a Buzz when the object leaves the field, when rolling you get a Buzz everytime something enters or leaves the field. Rolling is triggered by opposing movements on the stick, up/down, left/right or any of the diagonals. To trigger 1 Roll the motion is just 2 positions up/down for example. The 2 types of rolling affect your movement and are both very useful. Soft Rolling: This is when you trigger the rolling action quickly then hold the stick in any direction, the rolling will only stop if the stick is returned to neutral so you can move freely still. Hard Rolling: Is an art and something you REALLY need to get down to get good at Psyvariar, you keep the opposing movements going while moving - this increases your speed and the jittery moth-like movement is better for catching shots within your field. There is a small buffer between the opposing movements so it's actually possible to spin on the spot, I cant stress to you how much of a difference spinning on the spot makes and would recommend you get a DC arcade stick for the best tool for the job. I can use up/down or left/right to spin on the exact spot now using my stick without any effort, it's very difficult on a pad.

Bodily crush:
This is where attacking power comes from - during a shield if you ram into an object it will be destroyed or in the case of bosses very heavily damaged. This is the best way to kill enemies during the stages, you need to create a routine where you sweep across and ram things as you buzz but not sacrificing buzz by destroying things too early. If the technique you use to ram enemies makes you miss a little buzz - change it or dont use it! The shield has a simple attack property - it's initial pulse is VERY powerful then the power weakens to near nothing as the shield dies. There is a tactic needed where you buzz the origin of huge attacks - as the entire thing is hitting you, you level up and survive:

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Point Blank Buzz:
This is a major gameplay change over Psyvariar Revision - now you get a massive Neutrino boost if you Buzz an attack at point blank. The Neutrino gauge doesnt even have to be near maxed - it can be done nearly anywhere. The first good place to do it is stage 0 boss, you see the red orbs it fires? On green or blue Neutrino you can roll in the boss' face at point blank and level up multiple times as the shots all hit you at once. The rule of point blank is that if done right you get a shield as soon as the shots contact your field so you are in no risk or death.

Cartridge Break:
This is where if you run over a shot "Cartridge" it's destroyed, during the game I make sure I avoid it to maximise buzz, but there is somewhere you NEED it! So keep it in mind.

Stage Difficulty Gates:
Area 1, Area 2 and Area 3 are split into 3 difficulties. The better you do through the earlier Area the more Buzz will be made available for you in the next, after a couple day's worth of play Easy and Normal become distant memories:

-------------NOR----HARD
AREA-1 ↑ LV24 ↑ LV35
AREA-2 ↑ LV48 ↑ LV64
AREA-3 ↑ LV88 ↑ LV120

Transformations - your ship will evolve at these levels:

LV28 → LV118 → LV288 → LV348

The way you get Area 6 is to make sure you get the Final Transformation by the end of Area 5, you can only transform once per Area so even if you are levelled past 2 transformations you take them one at a time.

When I play I Transform at:
Area 0 - LV52
Area 1 - no transformation
Area 2 - LV 180ish
Area 3 - LV 300ish
Area 4 - LV 400ish
(so I've already evolved far enough for Area 6 by the end of Area 4)
Area 5 - no transformation, already have access to Area 6.
Mission translations - see here:
viewtopic.php?p=268054#p268054

Japanese fansite (mostly works) - i'd recommend you to back-up it! Also note that some screenshots in scoring walkthrough section are actually links with pop-up pages:
http://tiantian.gooside.com

Other finds:
icepick wrote: Exercise:
Reach Area 1-C

Objective:
Level 35 by end of area 0.

Note:
I list the shooting type method first, for those whom believe that they prefer this style of play. If this is you, then yes, you should try it first, but then try the buzz type. With hope, you'll notice that the shooting type is a much more vanilla experience, in comparison. Buzz type simply feels more "right," and while you'll need to work just as hard to get to the final level, it'll be much more fun and fulfilling. Shooting type's nice every now and then, but then again, there are lots of other games for straight shooting!

Method
Shooting Type:
Using Kei, begin rolling as soon as you start the stage for focused rapid fire. You don't need to wait for enemies to fire for buzz; You may simply fire at will. Achieve 100% destruction before the "Red Warrior" appears (you should be at level 15 or so, at this point). When you know it's coming, position yourself and time a bomb so that it detonates right as the sub-boss comes into play, causing it to explode once. Stay close and keep firing, and you'll end up filling the neutrino bar for invincibility--Move into its personal space when this happens, still spinning, still shooting, causing it to explode a couple more times. (Every time the warrior explodes, the neutrino changes color, and you want for this to be pale green as soon as possible.) Then, you must keep your fire on target for the remainder of the battle, and when the warrior begins its own rapid fire attack, you must move in close to continue shooting on target, which means that you'll also need to be chaining invincibility.to survive the incoming bullets. When it begins its blue orb final attack, you'll need to be at least at level 25. You may move in when invincible to buzz the source of the bullets while still shooting, and with luck/skill, you'll hit 35 before or shortly after it leaves.

Buzz Type:
Using Yuhei, simply focus on buzzing (of course). Start rolling as soon as you begin the stage for maximum buzz, and for the most part, since this is the first level, you'll be able to simply chill on the bottom, moving ever so slightly. You'll be surprised at how little you'll need to move, until you get the hang of playing with this style. Don't worry about the destruction rate at this point; Simply milk each enemy for all of their bullets. After the last wave of enemies, move up to where the Red Warrior appears, and use a bomb (which is actually invincibility for buzz type) directly on top of it, as it comes into play. It'll explode once, and while it's doing this, continue rolling around on top of it to buzz and level up and cause it to explode a couple more times. (Again, you want the neutrino bar to go to pale green.) After this, you can either fall back and buzz as you please (and shoot), or you can come up with interesting ways of buzzing the source. In any case, be sure to buzz the rapid fire attack, and by the time that it starts the blue orb final attack, you should be at least at level 20. Move in when you're invincible, and buzz the stuffing out of the source, shooting as well, to level up like a madperson. You should hit 35 no problem; Maybe even 40 or more!

Conclusion:
With area 1 now on "hard" route instead of normal, you'll have more enemies and bullets coming your way. You should be able to keep the "hard" versions coming by making use of these additional enemies and bullets. Focus on 100% destruction with Kei, and take the bosses out quickly, and you might make it to level 353 or above by the end of area 5. Truly the preferred way to play is with Yuhei, though... You get to experiment more, with buzzing new and interesting bullet patterns; You see more of these bullet patterns, instead of dispatching the enemies right away; The levels and boss battles last longer, and as mentioned, you seem to simply get more out of the game. Not to mention; Buzzing is fun, and you'll also probably level up significantly moreso than with shooting type.
Saurian wrote: (Five Ascetics) I start at the side almost level to the enemies and let the shots skim past me from the front, once the shield activates run through the enemies and into position to do the same for the next wave.
I tend to memorise start positions for each wave and make sure I finish each one in a position to start the next.

To get used to the tactics try this (just keep trying till you get used to it)
You know in the first section where you get those enemies that fire twin lines of yellow dots? You can sit still and not be damaged, learn where you can do this, so that you are getting into position to anticipate it. Once you get them all the time try ramming the enemies as soon as you level up and then into position for the next attack.

These enemies too - they fire twin lines of blue orb like shots (fired twice with a short pause between), you can sit still and take the first one to level up and then spin for the second shot.

Like here - you can actually just sit dead still in the middle with these six enemies around you and buzz with shield until they leave the screen. Get it right and your shield will last to the next bit which will let you do it quicker resulting in more level ups. The tactic is the still still for the first but when you get the shield start spinning, in hard mode they fire enough to keep your shield going until the next bit (but not on easy or normal)
Saurian wrote: The game is truly sick -
The rate your neutrino bar builds is not just due to the colour of the bar itself but also the shots themselves. Blue shaded shots will build your bar at a faster rate than red/pink shaded shots, green is mid-range.
Notice the first boss - you cant constantly stay in the origin of the attacks cos the boss will die, but there's nothing stopping you from diving in and out quickly as long as you can keep the shield going.

For example on the first boss you can:

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Set up the bar on this first attack so that it's ready to max out for the next. Notice one side is blue! This side builds your bar faster.

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This is a blue attack so your bar will fill at a decent rate - get as close in as you can without causing the boss much damage, right in close near the origin and back out as it ends to prepare for -

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This next red attack which wont build your neutrino fast enough for the shield - so play it defensive.

This bit:

Image
It's blue and green, you can get loads of buzz if you time your bar and zip through it from one side to the other and get enough neutrino to keep the shield.
Saurian wrote: I can get a 'loop' going on Earth's boss now!!!

From the start through the attacks and back round I can keep the bar under control, I have a feeling the 1st and 2nd bosses are not about looping the Neutrino bar through the attacks as you would on a boss like Revision's Volcano boss for example - I think on Psyvariar 2's 2nd boss you only have 1 really good opportunity to get right in there (right at the end)

But Earth's boss is more like it!

End the stage/start the boss with the Neutrino at 70%

1. You have to have the bar about ready to max by the time this attack ends (90% and above)
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2. Then you buzz this massive shot at it's origin (nearly 1000 buzz!)
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3. Get round to the right in the middle of the 2 gun turrets on the right wing.
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4. The lasers now fire, buzz the right side and when you level up fly through and buzz the left side:
Extra*
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5. Now use this central laser to build the Neutrino back up to the start position:
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Then repeat the whole thing again........and get pwn3d by the 2nd form I'm sorry but this shot pattern:
Image

Is just FILTH!

**During one of his attacks he'll fire 4 laser beams one after another from the right. I hope you guys know what im talking about. Anyway, to buzz this attack, i start off on the right with the furthest laser beam. The next laser beam will then start to fire. At this point, you'll be between the laser beams. Its safe to just roll to get the buzz. I usually level up during this attack at which point i move to the other set of lasers on the left fully utilising the brief moment of invincibility. However, there are times when my neutrino gauge is in the wrong position so that i dont level up (or level up to early) causing me to miss the buzz from the laser beams on the left side. Well, heres the trick. You can move between the laser beams without being hit! Move to the top of the two beams slightly above the laser barrel and you'll be able to move across to the otherside unscathed! With this technique you dont have to worry about the neutrino gauge too much and youll still be able to get the maximum buzz from the 4 lasers.
Saurian wrote: BTW you manz - I noticed something else DIRTY about the boss final attacks:

You know the orbiting technique, or buzzing from the attack's origin? There's a lot more to it now, in Revision you can just sit there and level-up till either the attack stops or the boss dies but now the force of you doing that will kill the boss VERY quickly. You'll notice that when such an attack comes up the shots pulse in different colours, when you see the blue/green shades you dive in quickly to take advantage of the Neutrino boost it gives then back out to avoid boss damage, you cant just hold the craft on the shot origin anymore - it's a rhythm (stay in too long the boss dies, stay out you die)

Examples:
Image Image Image

That last one is disgusting - you have to follow it out a bit, hit the origin, hold for a fraction and follow out again (it's hellish!)
Saurian wrote: I got to Gluon over the weekend. It's every bit as sick as you'd imagine and it is by far the best boss battle I have ever fought on a shoot em up. It's like an advanced exam in keeping the shield and working with the shot colours, first the red mech explodes onto the screen giving a orange Neutrino bar if you survive this attack you must fight Gloun itself which seems like the soul or energy source of the mech.

The first section is massive fun, with the limited time I spent on it I was getting over 10000buzz consistanty. The most basic way to explain it is that you use these blue/white to level-up rapidly as they build the bar VERY quick:
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And you use these large red rings to adjust the bar more accurately:
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These rings will drift away from you slowly depending on what angle you buzz it - also you can get inside them!
It's like following a track - you use the rings to either stay invincible or adjust your bar ready for the next attack:
Image

If you ride out the first form you get the true form - it wont last long if you stay on it and buzz, it's hell now! No way can you just ride the shots like in Revision.

Then this happens:
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Saurian wrote: Section 2 - it's a mad one, I werent feeling it at first but now I love it!

Keep the blue orbs alive - that's the first rule, make sure you never kill any blue orbs through the stage.

The basic setup is to follow the ships that leave the trails but dont kill them - use the shield to take out the orange orbs but keep all ships alive cos they keep firing as they leave. If you keep everyone alive you'll still be invincible by the time the central blue orb is low on the screen and you have the new set of blue enemies up top - the next bit after that is transistion between the exact same setup again.
The 2nd from last attack from the boss is THE attack of the stage - soak it all up!

Stage 3 - WICKED!
Spin staying STILL at the bottom of the screen and let the enemies fire - they all miss and give you 3 levels/103buzz each time. The next set of enemies will stay a fixed distance from you so stay close to the bottom of the screen. Follow their line and the shots will miss and level you up, now go through the blue shots they fire and then through the line of enemies. Make sure you take note of the timing - you want a shield for when the next lot come in but not too late - repeat when next set come in and go for the orange orb at the top STRAIGHT AWAY!

Now the stage is yours - stay up the top and take out any orange orbs as soon as they appear but leave blue ones, do not fire - run over orbs to kill them *DO NOT KILL ANYTHING ELSE*. The entire stage from this point is level-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-uplevel-up....as long as you kill nothing and keep all blue orbs (spin like hell too)
Saurian wrote: Area 6 - GLUON Frog Hands Rev (in progress...)

ORANGE NEUTRINO
Upon start it really doesnt matter what the Neutrino value is (anything above 30% is good for safety)

There are 6 attacks:

Mowdown α
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Blue rings α
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Heat Coil α
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Mowdown β
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Blue Rings β
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Heat Coil β
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Attack order is:
01 Mowdown α ?2
02 Blue ring α ?2 v
03 Heating coil α ?2
04 Mowdown α ?2
05 Blue ring β ?2
06 Mowdown β ?2
07 Heating coil β ?2
08 Blue ring β ?2
09 Heating coil β ?2
10 Mowdown β ?2
11 Blue ring α ?2
12 Blue ring β ?2
13 Heating coil β ?4
14 Mowdown β ?4
15 Mowdown α ?1

You have an orange Neutrino bar here so the technique is actually REALLY simple! All you have to do is work a routine for each attack and simply apply them as the attacks come round, the system is very stable on this stage. Neutrino rate control is only really needed on the Heating coil attacks - but isnt difficult.

Mowdown α
GLUON will fly sideways and fire 3 small pink shot clusters at you as it drifts across. GLUON will fire the Mowdown attack after a brief charging sound - it peels off GLUON starting at 12oClock round to just past 6oClock and always fires on the inside edge (NEVER outside)
(safest meth) follow GLUON so that the 3 pink shots brush past the front of your craft and buzz the Mowdown attack from a 4oClock (when GLUON is on the right of screen, 8oClock position for left side) position at point blank. This method is safe due to the fact you are never in the path of the Mowdown but your buzz field is large enough to catch it.

Mowdown β
Same angles, timing and speed as Mowdown α but double the amount of shots: Instead of following and letting the pink shots brush past, lead GLUON this time. when he get's into firing position loop round the back of him and take the Mowdown attack from 9oclock (when GLUON is on the right of screen, 3oClock position for left side) and wind round slightly with it. It doesnt matter where your Neutrino is - you level up muliple times if you take this attack from point blank. When taking either Mowdown attack you can adjust the Neutrino for the next attack by staying near GLUON or by following the shots outwards a little longer. If you find taking this attack from 3oClock/9oClock position very difficult take it the same as Mowdown α (you get less buzz but it's safe)

Blue ring α and Blue ring β
This attack is your safety net - either version is taken the same way, it doesnt matter what value your Neutrino is when you initially start the shield at point blank. Blue rings increase your Neutrino at a stupidly fast rate, these D shaped bursts are to be followed with hard rolling to keep the shield going. When you hear the charge for this attack get in point blank in front of GLUON and hard roll left and right - you will see the shield pulse a few times but you'll actually be getting 2 or 3 levels each time the shield pulses it's so fast! Once you have taken the levels off the point blank position, wrap round using hard rolling to follow the D shaped inner path once upwards and once back downwards and straight away back into the point blank position to take the next set.
It's always the same: Point blank - once up - once down - point blank....
But be aware that soft rolling is not enough to keep the shield going as the rings' path gets wider as they drift outwards, use hard rolling the whole time.

Heating coil α
OK now it's all science - GLUON will fire 2 red Heat Coils with around 3 seconds delay between them, these increase your Neutrino slowly so timing is needed to get inside and back out. It's ALL down to how you come off the last attack to get into this one, with a little practice you'll pwn this - you need to come off the Blue ring α attack just right.
OK so you are hard rolling to follow the D shaped path the blue rings make and GLUON is now charging the first of the Heat Coils. You need to get it so that with your shield still on from the blue rings you get a little extra Neutrino off the blues and get inside the first red Heat Coil as the shield goes (inside the red coil by the time you are back to around 60%-70% charged works for me, but please experiment). You dont have much time before the next coil is fired so use a tight circular motion to gain another shield as the 2nd ring is fired and fly into that. If your Neutrino is too low shoot at GLUON to boost it a bit, if too high - stop spinning (the Neutrino build-up stops dead if you dont spin inside a red coil). Get out of the 2nd ring with shield on in time for when you hear the charge for the next attack (Mowdown α ?2) and take it point blank.
So it's: Off blues, 60% inside 1st coil, activate shield for next coil, get in, activate shield for Mowdown α ?2, point blank.

Heating coil β
I can take this one without problems but it's SO hard to put into words! >_<
First of all there are 3 elements to this attack, a spiral blue shot which boosts the Neutrino fairly well, a pink version of the former which boosts less and a red Heat Coil which builds you up slowly. Like the previous one it all depends on how you get into it from the last attack Mowdown β . For best results I make sure that I adjust the Neutrino after taking the last Mowdown β back up to 70%-80%, Heating coil β begins with GLUON moving from right to left trailing a spiralling blue shot. The angle it trails at lets you get in really close and follow - buzzing the blues shot as you go, when GLUON gets to the left of the screen it will fire off the main part of the attack (red Heat Coil + spirals) so you have to make sure you get the shield off the blue spiral in time. Once inside the red coil GLUON will repeat the attack in the other direction, here's where it gets complicated: You need to keep a loop going, one shield + extra buildup to get into the coil, once inside you need another shield in order to trail GLUON as it fires off the next blue shot + ring and so on....
Trail blue to get shield - get inside coil with shield - get another shield within the coil and trail blues again - repeat. The red coils stay on screen for ages so you'll get enough buzz to chain the shield once they are all onscreen quite easily.
Saurian wrote: Caaaarple nice area 2 boss tricks!

H.D.S-ATP3

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During these attacks you can sit at the side of the screen perfectly still and rolling - everything will miss you. The boss cannot fire directly at you if you are too high up, so sit in one of the lanes nearer the top (near the boss' front leg). All you do is sit in a lane it cant fire directly at you so you are safe fro this + the next attack if you just sit there:

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During the above attack - you know it fires a tri laser from it's mouth? Next time you see this shot pause the game as it leaves it's origin - you'll notice there is a gap and if you get through the pink lasers and sit in this gap as the tri laser fires you'll buzz the whole thing.
venom743 wrote: I got a tip for the earth boss . During one of his attacks he'll fire 4 laser beams one after another from the right. I hope you guys know what im talking about. Anyway, to buzz this attack, i start off on the right with the furthest laser beam. The next laser beam will then start to fire. At this point, you'll be between the laser beams. Its safe to just roll to get the buzz. I usually level up during this attack at which point i move to the other set of lasers on the left fully utilising the brief moment of invincibility. However, there are times when my neutrino gauge is in the wrong position so that i dont level up (or level up to early) causing me to miss the buzz from the laser beams on the left side. Well, heres the trick. You can move between the laser beams without being hit! Move to the top of the two beams slightly above the laser barrel and you'll be able to move across to the otherside unscathed! With this technique you dont have to worry about the neutrino gauge too much and youll still be able to get the maximum buzz from the 4 lasers.
Saurian wrote:
What are you doing for the first attack of the second form? I sware there is a blind spot right next to the blue vulcan shots in the middle!
Yeah man it's not too hard to do the first attack,

1. Come off the loop you were doing (last attack is the central laser) with your Neutrino above 80% (90% is perfect), the boss dies and changes form.
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2. Sit in the area shown in the image, buzz the side wall of the attack, 2 attacks will come at you in a wave. Control your buzz/shoot so that just as the 1st wave shot is about to hit you at the bottom of the screen you level up - you have just enough of a shield to rush forwards and get through the 2nd wave.
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venom743 wrote: Referring to point 2 in your last post, its cool for you to go through the 2 waves as you level up but then youll have to deal with his next onslaught with 0 neutrino(not easy, unless you use a bomb or are extremely adept at dodging bullets). The guy on that site says that there is a blind spot to get through the above attack pattern. Your gauge should be at 70% and when the attack finishes it should be at 90%. Apparently there's a blind spot which is located between the 3rd and 4th bomb indicator at the bottom of the screen. So just sit there at 70% neutrino and youll be able to level up in time for the next onslaught!
venom743's translations on some segments from fansite:
venom743 wrote: Okay, Ill start with boss 4's first form.

2nd Form , 1st attack

The boss will fire off a stream of bullets aimed at your ship. However, its aiming isnt very accurate. When youre at the side of the screen, the bullets will only be fired diagonally. If you stay near the origin you wont get hit. More precisely, directly next to the point of origin ie next to it. There is also a blind spot near the tail of the boss enabling you to move freely from the left to the right( I need to test this) The boss will start firing in 4 directions from the right to the left. Itll repeat this attack, but the second time is a lot shorter and it will only fire in 2 directions from the left to the right.

So basically, just roll and buzz to the side of his tail near the point of origin.

2nd attack

This attack doesnt pose much of a problem. There is a blind spot at the bottom right corner of the screen. The boss will fire in 2 directions , right and then left. It will do this again, only this time the number of bullets will be reduced. During this attack , you should use your shot to adjust the neutrino gauge to around 85%.

3rd attack

Basically, dont be tempted to rush in to buzz the origin even though your gauge is around 85% as you can get more later without damaging the boss. So just stay below the origin and buzz. Once you level up, retreat to the left and keep buzzing so that you are close to levelling up at the end of the attack. The boss will perform this attack again so just follow the same procedure and make sure that you are close to levelling up after the attack. There is a blind spot in the bottom left corner where you can escape to, if your neutrino gauge is in the wrong position.

4th attack

Not much to say about this. This attack is similar to the previous one except that the bullets move anti clockwise. You should be close to levelling up so just shoot the boss and buzz the origin and retreat to the left before your shield runs out.

5th attack

For this attack pattern, dodge rythmically from left to right whilst adjusting the neutrino gauge using your shot. The boss will fire 15 streams of bullets so make sure that when it finishes its attack your gauge is at or above 90%.

6th attack

Buzz the origin and make sure that your gauge is close to 90% when the attack finishes. The boss will fire 9 streams of bullets. You should have around 7500-8000 Buzz.

3rd form

1st attack

This is pretty straight forward. Just dodge and get your gauge up to 90% by the end of the attack.

2nd attack

This is difficult! First of all, the boss will fire different colour bullets in this order: red, blue, green. Dodge the 3 sets and when it fires the next set of red bullets you should level up. At this point you need to get inbetween the red bullets and rotate your ship around them! Try to level up at least once during this. Your gauge should be between 0-20% when the attack finishes.

3rd attack

The boss will repeat this attack 3 times. During the first phase, position your ship 2 character spaces right, from the centre of the screen. From here, roll using up and down movements. The procedure for the 2nd and 3rd phase follow the first but you may have to adjust the horizontal positioning of your ship in relation to the position of the laser beam. The neutrino gauge should be at around 80% when this attack finishes.

4th attack

The boss will repeat this attack 3 times. During the 3rd phase it will fire red bullets, blue bullets and then self destruct. For the first phase, rotate your ship around as shown in the pic. After going round once , shoot the boss to get your gauge up, ready for the next phase. Repeat for phases 2 and 3. After phase 3, buzz the origin till the end.
_________________________
Saurian wrote: Stage 2 is digital heroin!

I'm getting up to 1650buzz by the time I get to the boss now and it's all down to how you can control the enemies within the stage and keep them on screen longer.

You know these 4 enemies?
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They can be controlled so that they stay onscreen and keep firing even as next attack sequences start! The basic is to be low down the screen when they come in so that they stop and aim around the middle of the screen, when they fire off their initial stream of shots level through them and take out the 2 orange orbs that always appear at this point.

The 4 enemies follow a behavior rather than a path, when you levelled through them they will start to drift backwards - they drift in the opoosite direction you are to them and constantly fire. So if you work out a route so that you start them off low, quickly take out the orbs, can get back round so you can keep them onscreen longer and be ready for the next attack you'll get loads of buzz cos you'll have 4 extra lines of blue shots through every attack in the stage.

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You can set this up nicely using the method described - with the 4 extra lines of blue shots slowly drifting upward all the way through this bit you can sit above the middle enemy after it's first attack and keep buzzing. You'll have a path of green shots you'll be inside, with the blue shots left over from before still drifting upwards + the next attack coming in!
venom743 wrote: If you watch the video for stage 1, the guy only levels up 3 times when he buzzes the origin right? Which means hes damaging the boss too much before it can initiate the second pink winding attack. Youve probably noticed the guy in the vid moving away from the origin just before he levels up. I do something different from what he does. If you stay right above the origin, you can level up without getting hit and without damaging the boss. As you dash in, move slightly above the origin and just sit and buzz for 2 level ups. After the second level up , the boss should initiate his pink winding attack. At this point, move into the origin. You can just sit there and level up twice to destroy him or you can move to the position just above the origin before levelling up to ensure you get the most buzz. If you choose the latter, you can level up twice during the pink winding attack and still have time to move out of the screen to adjust your gauge to 95% for his next attack. I usually move to the top left corner. With this method, i can get over 5000 buzz , no probs. Also , with the bosses vulcan attack ie his second blue and pink as you move towards the origin , your gauge will fill up more. As much as 60%! Use this attack to your advantage. Your gauge should ideally be at 70% before the boss. What if its close to zero? Buzz his second attack close range and youll be fine. On the other hand , if your gauge is at 20-30% you can buzz the second attack at far range so that your gauge wont increase so much.
Saurian wrote: Few things about Graviton's boss:

Attack 1
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It cant see you if you're to the side of the shot origin - you can sneak round the back of the boss and not be damaged but it can actually see you there, so the blind areas are only at the side.

Blue Spiral
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This bit isnt hard to do but I absolutely cannot get the Neutrino bar back up high enough to repeat the setup. From 85% I stay below the origin and buzz, not rushing into the center like Tiantian advises and then on level-up I delay a bit before retreating to the blind spot on the bottom left. But my Neutrino is only at 40% by the time it finishes and I'm screwed for the next bit. The blind spot on the bottom left is not 100% safe, you are safe if you retreat to avoid the attack as it ends (not entirely sure which lane hits you, but as long as you retreat "late" you make it)

Green spiral
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Hee hee hee - there's a 110% GUARANTEED blind spot at the bottom right of the screen!

64 way Blue
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Another absolutely safe blind spot in the bottom right hand corner! 8)

RGB Spiral
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I absolutely CANNOT orbit the boss inside the red lane - not getting enough Neutrino to keep it going. The way I can do this bit consistantly is from 90% Neutrino as suggested: The first attack this boss does when it changes form only stops on the 2nd lap of this red, green and blue sprial. So join the orbit on the 2nd lap when the first attack finishes and loop round between the red and blue lanes you can keep a safe orbit and get a level up.

You have the largest gap in between the red and blue lanes, the other lanes are surgical precision.
Saurian wrote: I finally managed to survive GLUON last night!!! I died during the run but I'm not finding it difficult anymore - you HAVE to learn the final sections! OMFG! They go on and on for ages and you just orbit the boss getting insane levels. They arent that difficult to do once you learn them - the execution is simple.

Found out how to get in and out of sickest sections and tbh it's not a difficult boss! (once you get used to it)

1. Arc shots
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Circle the boss here - those arcs will be aimed at you so as long as you keep orbiting fairly close they all miss.

2. Smoke
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Start in the middle of the screen below the boss (close enough so you can level into it quickly, but not so close that dodging is difficult) so that you can get into the middle lane of shots and make left and right movements to follow it's path. No need to adjust the gauge, just dodge until you level up and do *one* lap around the boss and get back into the same lane and position you left. Now get back into the rhythm of dodging left and right and a couple seconds later you level up again and can do another lap and so on.
The boss also fires a slow blue laser at you, this will track you so be careful when entering/exiting the orbit.

3. Arc shot with extra circular attack
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This is the hardest part of the whole boss imo, I stay low and use basic dodging, there is a way to set up a blind spot at the bottom left according to the Tiantian site but I cant get it to work >_<

4. Splash
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STRAIGHT AFTER the attack above use hard rolling to quickly get above the boss 1 character space between you and in line horizontally with it. Spin on the spot and catch the attack as it happens, how you move now determines the Neutrino position for the next attack which must be above 80% for it to be good. I circle round the boss following the arms of the shot pattern at close range then adjust the bar as the attack ends.

5. :?:
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Give it a couple seconds to kick in fully then level-up into it and keep a close circular orbit - dont damage the boss by contacting it with your shield or buzzing the origin. Just like in Psyvariar Revision "Rotate" still exists and is a slight auto-assist in the craft's movement, if you orbit in the same direction as the shots the craft locks into their path for a smoother circle. When the shot pattern starts to turn green it's on the way out - there are 3 green pulses that I count before starting to exit. If you stay horizontally in line with the boss and above it when you exit it wont hit you. It looks crazy but it works every time for me!
To set up for the next attack your Neutrino needs to be above 40% for safety.

6. Winder
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Sit you craft at the right of the screen and spin on the spot with your hitpoint in line with the top of the boss (so that you sit just above the boss' position at the side of the screen) - the lines are far too quick to dodge so learn this pre-emptive position. If your gauge is above 40% at setup as I described you will level up before you are crushed by the lines as soon as you do get in and tightly orbit the boss.

7. 8-Way heat coil
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Stay back and buzz so that you adjust your Neutrino to be about to max for the next attack. For extra buzz you can level-up into the red rings and stay inside one till you level-up again, then change position - as so on... but it's harder to adjust the Neutrino position this way, if you pull it off the buzz will be silly!

8. :?:
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Same as before - your bar should be about to max when this attack starts, get it there, orbit and exit using the exact same technique - no need to adjust Neutrino.

9. Blue ring rush
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Safest place to be at the start of this is at the bottom of the screen, the boss fires those blue rings straight down from it's position so position yourself so that they buzz past youat first and when you level get in there and orbit. This attack goes on for ages and you are in no risk of death - it looks so ****ing sick!

10. Pinwheel
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Your bar need to be about to max as this attack happens. It seems to do a folding motion when it starts so you should be able to use that for a brief bit of safety if your bar isnt high enough. Again you just level into it and orbit till it stops - it goes on for ages, it's proper hypnotic!

That's all of it!

All it does now is repeat:

11 8WAY heating coil
12 WTF
13 High-speed blue ring rush
14 Pinwheel
15 8WAY heating coil
16 WTF
17 High-speed blue ring rush
18 Pinwheel
19 8WAY heating coil
venom743 wrote: Got a new strat. for boss 2. When he starts to go crazy in his second form, level up and go straight into him. From here you should rotate your ship around the origin making sure that you dont damage the boss. You can level up twice before retreating. When he does the same attack for the second time, just buzz the origin till he dies.
venom743 wrote: The stage 2 boss has no point of invincibiliity unlike the 1st stage boss. This means that even if you buzz away from the origin, you'll damage it. Its whole body is vulnerable. The trick is to rotate around it in big circles so that your shield does minimum damage to it.
More translations:
venom743 wrote: Boss 5 tactics- First form

First attack

Your gauge should be between 20-40%. If your gauge is too high you will lose out more buzz later on. Position yourself slightly to the bottom left of the screen. Buzz the attack whilst moving right and rotate around the boss to escape the red(pink) bullets. It will do this attack 4 times so just buzz and ensure that your gauge is between 50-70% towards the end.

Second attack

The strategy for this attack will differ according to your gauge level. At 50% just buzz and roll at the bottom of the screen. At 70% , buzz without rolling. You should be ready to level up before the next attack.

Third attack

Level up and buzz the origin. Do this for one level up ONLY and then buzz the remaining shots to get your gauge back up to 90%.

Fourth attack

For this attack, rotate around the OUTSIDE of the origin. You should be able to get 2 level ups and your gauge should be at 50% when the attack ends. The key here is not to damage the boss so do not buzz the origin, rotate around it.
venom743 wrote: Area 5 Boss

2nd Form

First attack

The boss will shoot out 10 layers of pink bullets which circulate around itself.
You should be ready to level up as it shoots out the 4th-5th layer of bullets any sooner, and you wont be able survive the whole attack. After levelling up, rotate around the boss in a WIDE circular motion and make sure that you are at 90% neutrino when the attack ends.
When dealing with this attack the second time around, level up and buzz the origin using V shape motions. Don't stay in there too long as you can die easily. So buzz and then retreat .

2nd attack

Your gauge should be at around 90% so level up and rotate around the boss. The approach is slightly different to the first attack in that you should be closer to the origin when circulating. Otherwise, you wont be able to adjust your gauge to the appropriate level for the next attack.
After circulating once, retreat to the bottom of the screen whilst 'soft rolling'.
70% neutrino is perfect for the next attack.
The boss will repeat this attack later on but the same strategies still apply. Its best to destroy the boss at this point as the risks are high and there isnt much gain in terms of buzz.

3rd attack

It will perform this attack 3 times in succession. You should be able to level up and survive the first phase easily. The second time around, you'll have to do some bullet dodging. If you stay around the middle towards the bottom of the screen itll be a lot easier to dodge the bullets. The 3rd time it performs this attack, be ready to level up and buzz the shots just below the origin and then retreat to either side of the screen.

4th attack

The boss will fire 5 sets of bullets. For the 1st,2nd and 4th set of shots you can use the safe(blind)spot) at the bottom left corner of the screen. For the 3rd and 5th sets there isnt a 100% safe spot but try to stay near the bottom of the screen towards the centre.

5th attack

Position your mech just below the boss and buzz the lasers. You should be able to increase your neutrino gauge by 50%. When this attack finishes it will repeat its 1st attack again, so make sure that you are ready to level up to cope with that.

6th attack

This attack is pretty difficult to cope with as the lasers rotate at a fast pace and there are blue bullets flying around. After rotating 90 degrees, the boss will self destruct, meaning that you cant really get that much buzz out of this attack. If you are good at bullet dodging, by all means buzz to the end. If not, just destroy it!
_________________________
Saurian wrote: Stage 2 Hard - DMAL4

This stage is completely different to all others as the enemy paths, shot direction, behaviours etc are down to you and not pre-set. Even the boss patterns up to the final attack are freeform making it the most manic shot dodging section of the game.

I'm getting over 1800buzz now by the "Warning" at the stage end b4 the boss, the extra Buzz is coming off just 1 enemy type:

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Those 4 orb like enemies that appear regularly and each fire a thin twin beam at you which you can fit inside of. These things have a crazy behaviour applied to them, I'll list it in sections:

1. On arrival, they will stop at a certain distance from you to take aim, make sure you are low down the screen - this brings them lower too.
2. After firing they will back off in the opposite way in relation to your angle to them and constantly fire. So get above them slightly as they start to leave and they will move slowly outwards but stay on screen while you deal with whatever section you are doing.
3. This is where is gets very clever, if you go up REALLY close to one without killing it the unit will slow down to a crawl - the trick is to make then slow down by using a path that brushes past them as you take care of the section so you always have them onscreen firing constantly.

They can be made to stay on even when the next set are doing what they do and you get loads of extra buzz. You know you have got it right cos the screen will be full of blue shots near enough the whole way through after their initial appearance.
I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying. So, you should position the mech above the pods? And in doing so, they will move towards the bottom of the screen as opposed to the top, right?
Yeah you got it -

After they fire you'll have to go to the top of the screen to take out the orange orbs that reduce your Neutrino rate. You can round them up closer together by moving side to side or orbit them to keep them spinning in one area.

I take the initial blue shots low down the screen, zip up through the middle of them quickly to take out the orange orbs then it's all down to movement how the 4 orbs leave the screen. After taking out the orange ones you can screw around with the 4 orbs again - the best way I find is to slow them down completely and get them to drift downwards by being above them or to wide orbit all 4 to make them spray shots everywhere. You can stay really close and drift down with them as they will still be keeping your shield chain going even when the next 4 are in.
Saurian wrote: Stage 3 is amazing - there are a couple of things I picked up on:

These things:
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Have a behaviour assigned aswell,

First set: they start firing a set space away from you so stay low. Take the initial shield from their pink shots from left to right then get in close and Buzz the 3 way blue shots right to left and finally ram through them from left to right. The second set is the exact opposite - blah blah blah then end it ramming through right to left. If you ram through them the right way they bunch in together rather than break apart and leave the screen.

You get 1 set of these at the start of the stage and another at the end - they are both the same.

I have a little routine for the main levelling section of the stage (this is all hard rolling and moving very fast starting on the 2nd orange Neutrino reducing orb): If you up top, as soon as you see one of those orange orbs ram it and hard roll downwards missing the 2 ships near you (these will be the bottom 2 next lap) and take out the middle left ship - on exploding it do a small 360 on the stick to catch the whole explosion of shots and immediately down to the bottom two ships, ram through both, then ram through the right middle ship (with 360 roll) - and hard roll back up to the top to be just in time to ram through the next orange orb.....and so on in one continuous hard rolling frenzy.

This is how I get the most out of this stage - good destruction + silly Buzz (110levels and over)
Saurian wrote: Stage 2 - H.D.S-ATP3 first form
(this boss hates me so excuse me for taking LONG!)

Start with Neutrino anywhere around 1/2 > 2/3 way depending on how you buzz - the key is to level up at a certain point (4th attack) in order to get behind the boss. I worked this one out last night, it's not risky and gives decent buzz.

Green & orange light attack
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Simply evade and buzz as much as you can. Soft rolling at the bottom if the screen is safe or be adventurous and hard roll close to the origin.

Pink lasers & mouth attack
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These pink lasers are random as far as I know - towards the end of the attack the boss will shoot 3 lasers from it's mouth with are not random but aimed dead at you. All you need to do to dodge the mouth lasers is edge left or right once, so dodge the pink lasers leaving enough room to nudge the craft sideways once to dodge the mouth lasers. My fave method is to use up and down hard rolling while drifting slowly left or right - the whole lot will miss.

Green & orange light attack
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As before - Neutrino should be getting there now...

Pink lasers & mouth attack
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Timing is important here, you have to be fast. The trick is to level up when the mouth lasers fire, use your shot to give the bar a push if it isnt high enough.

As soon as you level-up fly upwards past the boss and roll holding the mecha against the top edge of the screen with your hitpoint lined up with the start of the Neutrino gauge exactly and stay there!

Pink and blue 36? way
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When you level-up in this position dive into the origin using down then up, if you dont level just sit there till the boss explodess - make sure you dont disturb the horizontal position you must be in line with the start of the Neutrino bar through all remaining attacks of the 1st form.
Sylph wrote: These orbs appear throughout the game in psi2, some blue and some brown. The brown ones make your levelups go slower while they're on the screen, where the blue ones make you level up quicker. As such, it's best to kill the brown ones immediately, and leave the blue ones alone altogether (in fact going out of your way *not* to kill them.)

As for bosses - most of them make your bar go red, yes. Two of the bosses in the game can be manipulated to get your bar back off red though -
- The very first semi-boss (the red mecha) explodes with damage, and each explosion gets you levelling quicker. This is why the best area 1 runs involve shooting him non-stop to make him explode, and as soon as you level up you can run right into him to shield-crash him until he has exploded 3 times, after which yo can ride out his final shot pattern for loads of levels.
- The boss at the end of area 4 is surrounded by metal plates (shields), and each time you blow these plates your levelups get quicker, making the usual tactic to blow up the shields 3 times, then ride the rest of his attacks, the last of which before he self-destructs giving you about 70 levelups if I remember rightly.

As for buzz - it's not something you need to worry about too much with the shooting mech - the shooting mech is more about killing enemies for your levelups, it doesn't level too quickly from buzz, and it's shields don't last long enough for many of the truly lucrative buzz levelling opportunities.
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qmish
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Re: GD: Psyvariar 2

Post by qmish »

If you have something more to add, please do.

Also sorry for not formatting OP better. I'll think about it...

Looks like https://shmups.wiki/library/Psyvariar_2 is empty for now? Guess we all could work on it as well.
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