I've been going back and forth about what mode I should spend most of my time in for Deathsmiles (original). As it stands, this is how I see it:
X360 @ LVL3 - Best non-MBL mode, but a real snoozefest without suicide bullets. Only real challenge starts with EX LVL2 suicide and Final Stage LVL3 suicide. Even so, too much time is spent not being able to play for score and if you miss a recharge you're pretty much screwed.
MBL X360 @ LVL3 - Suffers same fate with regards to lack of challenge as the mode mentioned above but the extra stage makes up for some of it.
MBL X360 @ LVL999 - Steep challenge. Powering up at 500 is a plus but bosses are stupid-hard. Suicide bullets don't add to the power-up counter so sucking up all of those bullets yields no reward unless you're in scoring mode.
MBL x360 1.1 @ LVL3 - Fixes the pacing and scoring issues from the other LVL3 modes by having suicide bullets throughout that add to power-up counter, however, the ability to power-up with as little as 100 on the counter makes survival a matter of pressing a button.
MBL X360 1.1 @ LVL999 - Better challenge than 1.1 LVL3 but abuseable power-up mode mixed with same stupid-hard bosses as X360 999 somehow feels more empty than it should.
X360 1.1 @ LVL 3 + EX stage is my favorite, I think. Offers a pretty good level of challenge for me without feeling overwhelming. Being able to manually control the familiar is great, but the 360 controller's d-pad makes some situations harder than they should be, and it isn't as fun on an arcade stick due it limiting familiar control. It would be very interesting if this mode could be played with Virtual On twin sticks.
I've only played MBL a couple of times at an arcade, so I can't really compare.
Cuilan wrote:X360 1.1 @ LVL 3 + EX stage is my favorite ... isn't as fun on an arcade stick due it limiting familiar control. It would be very interesting if this mode could be played with Virtual On twin sticks.
I've only played MBL a couple of times at an arcade, so I can't really compare.
I don't know if you knew this or not but X360 MBL 1.1 allows familiar control with just the stick/d-pad like the rest of the game.
casualcoder wrote:I don't know if you knew this or not but X360 MBL 1.1 allows familiar control with just the stick/d-pad like the rest of the game.
I was referring specifically to regular 1.1 mode, not the MBL version, but yes I'm aware of that already. But like I said, using a stick is more limiting than using a dual analog controller, since with the latter the character and familiar can be moved completely independent of each other at the exact same time. With a stick, the direct familiar controls are limited to moving only in the same direction as the character.
It may seem limiting at first but once you get the rhythm of how to control both your character and familiar at once it really presents no great challenge. The only thing I can think of that may be more difficult without independent control is if you have bullets surrounding you from all directions but that senario should be rare if you play it right.
The main reason I never got into this mode is because I loathe the standard X360 d-pad.
Most likely MBL 360 1.1, every other mode for/to me is a chore, because I enjoy liking to get millions of points in real nice slowdown action, of course, it gets ruined if I don't get a good pattern/flow going or take a unnecessary hit (more obvious in the Extra stages), but at least to me, it works wonders. (And yes, better done at Lv.3 to me, I'm too dull not to do it at Lv. 999, because of its broke difficulty, don't really feel like it. >_>)
