Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[pokemon123]

Nothing. Having a really hard time commiting to anything at the moment. Was going to try for a thunder force iv clear but the length puts me off then thought about a doj clear... But I have to finally accept that, although bastard hard I just don't enjoy the game I never have. I've tried to love it but I just can't

it's okay jonst. I feel the same way about a lot of "popular" games (assume that's what you meant by saying that you tried to love the game),

maybe play something more casual and it might get you want to tackle the "harder" games?

[Stevens]

Nothing. Having a really hard time commiting to anything at the moment. Was going to try for a thunder force iv clear but the length puts me off then thought about a doj clear... But I have to finally accept that, although bastard hard I just don't enjoy the game I never have. I've tried to love it but I just can't

There is no reward for playing a game you don't enjoy, least I don't think there is. I kind of feel this way about Ikaruga, although you could say my reward for playing it was learning to not spend an excessive amount of time with a game you don't really like.

Maybe spend some time with an old favorite you haven't played in a while?

[Jonst]

ACSeraph, I tried to get into eschatos a few times. It's fun but doesn't hold me for long... I seem cursed to be a complete cave fanboy... And seem unable to enjoy other shmups anywhere near as much, although I do like other shmups...

Pokemon, I don't have a problem with hard games, it's just a problem when it's not fun. I spent a lot of time last year with ketsui, it was hard work to clear and nearly drove me nuts but for the most part I always had fun playing it. there isn't much about doj that I like.

Stevens, I'll find something... I sort of feel like I have to keep moving on... I've got plenty of games to try still. It's just finding the right one to settle on, I try to give the cave stuff a rest but I just don't seem able to!

[LordHypnos]

So, played a bit more of Eschatos and Futari, now. I've been using 360 mode in Futari, b/c I can't seem to get the geometry to match up in arcade mode, which is odd because I have a 4:3 monitor. It might be something goofy with my geometry in 480p mode, because I did seem to have a bit of weird stuff going on. Especially odd since I haven't noticed anything odd when my Dreamcast was through there. I'll have to check that out tomorrow, some time. Anyway, my assessment so far is that Futari is definitely a pretty fun game. I think Abnormal Palm is my favorite, so far. Also, I did try Arrange Ultra and it was pretty weird, and amusing. As for Eschatos, I'm having trouble getting used to the way that the shield only protects you right in front of you, and the way you get pushed back by the larger bullets, but otherwise seems cool. I just need a bit more time to accustom myself, probably.

@Stevens: Too many good games on the 360, I don't need such a big backlog! I was definitely planning on checking out Valkyrius, btw, mostly due to your promotion of it. Haven't gotten around to getting any points yet, but when i do, both Under Defeat and Valkyrius are pretty high up on my list. As of now, I'm still planning on going for the UD challenge, though, and looking forward to it

[Shepardus]

Another PB in Garegga, second time reaching stage 7. Almost made it to Black Heart II but accidentally ran backwards into a set of turrets I left alive.



I feel like I'm reaching stage 6 a lot more often now than I used to, which is nice since I expect to be running through those stages many more times trying to get that clear. I still game-over a lot in the first two stages, but I'm even getting a little more consistent at that too. I've also recently started targeting the front propeller on Nose Lavagghin (stage 1 boss) and timing the milking until just before timeout, and just figured out the timing for milking Earth Crisis (stage 3 boss). Still need to try Earth Crisis a few more times to make sure I can actually time it consistently though, as part of my timing largely relies on "wait until it feels right."

[Squire Grooktook]

Played some Akai Katana Slash, patterns felt kinda generic and dull till midway through stage 4. I'm sure it's better if you play for score, but eh I'm not really a fan of games that don't start being fun till you play them for score (unless scoring is deeply intertwined with survival ala most Yagawa games).

After that, played a ton of Strania Side Vower. Actually had a ton of fun, unlike my previous attempts at the game. Nice fast dodging and cool environmental hazards. I just wish the stage 1 boss wasn't the stupidest gimmick ever.

[Jonst]

Akai katana is all about score!

[Stevens]

And eye bleeding goodness!

I find it funny Jonst that as you are trying to take a break from all things Cave, and I finally find myself enjoying what they have to offer.

For that reason I like when we throw challenges at each other - it makes us play things we wouldn't have touched otherwise.

[Jonst]

Well it hasn't been complete cold turkey... Messed about with some sdoj last night But not working on anything seriously...

It's cool when you finally discover the joys of something you previously weren't into but being issued a challenge really stresses me out!

I'm really glad you're enjoying ak though!

[Stevens]

Almost but not quite with AK.

Getting to Emperor Douche regularly. Should have been able to do it, but the usual happened: I had gotten further than before with more lives and I wound up dying twice on stage 6. I rarely die at all on stage 6 let alone twice. I'll get it.

Messed around with Futari a bunch today. Palm normal seems to be my go to ship, I like his speed when focused better. After getting to stage 4 a few times I decided to try novice ultra since someone mentioned it earlier today. I wound up clearing it on my first try.

My eyes need a rest.

[Jonst]

Yeah man, I don't doubt you'll get this clear for a second! ( futari also )

I swear I see cave patterns when I close my eyes at night...

[Shepardus]

Got savestates for BH2 and Glow Squid now.

[Bananamatic]

Palm normal seems to be my go to ship

palm normal is total garbage

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I rather like Palm Normal. His laser damage is the worst in the game but has great movement speed and some wide coverage for popcorn. His rapid shot damage is comparable to his laser, so you can freely switch between both according to the colour of the meter.

He'a harder to use for a straight 1CC though, but I find that appealing.

[Stevens]

Palm normal seems to be my go to ship

palm normal is total garbage

Note to self - spend time with all ships before deciding on a main:D

Edit - I like Abnormal Palm's laser a lot but wish he was a tad faster when focused, although that would probably be OP.

I wish I could focus on one game for longer than a minute.

[broken harbour]

Started Mars Matrix for the first time and HOLY BALLS IS THIS HARD! I after using 3 credits and game overing on the first stage I went back and set the difficulty as easy as it would go and made it to stage 3. I thought Giga Wing was a bit rough wow was I wrong. Feels like a heavy memorizer, especially some of those boss patterns Jesus. Is there a way to slow the ship movement down? My copy is japanese so I can't read the manual. I find the denser patterns fought to dodge because the ship is so twitchy.

[LordHypnos]

Started Mars Matrix for the first time and HOLY BALLS IS THIS HARD! I after using 3 credits and game overing on the first stage I went back and set the difficulty as easy as it would go and made it to stage 3. I thought Giga Wing was a bit rough wow was I wrong. Feels like a heavy memorizer, especially some of those boss patterns Jesus. Is there a way to slow the ship movement down? My copy is japanese so I can't read the manual. I find the denser patterns fought to dodge because the ship is so twitchy.

You could try the red ship, it's slower, and therefore easier to control. The ship also gets a little slower if you can level it up to level 5, though that's probably not something you should be worrying about. Game over on stage 1 seems extreme, though, most people make it to the stage 2 boss or so (which is a lot easier than it at first seems) Perhaps there's something you're not getting...? You do know that slow tap (or L trigger) will give you a short range very powerful attack, right? and holding the A button will activate the shield (like in Giga Wing, though the shield can be used for as short as you want). I also really don't recommend using the normal shot autofire (X), though it's not terrible or anything, just a little slower to activate the shield (same with the piercing cannon autofire, but it does make things a bit easier anyway). The lower difficulties don't actually make it much easier, IMO.

The secret to survival is mastering the tap shield technique (meaning holding down the shield for a split second to get rid of the bullets directly around you. It recharges pretty fast if you keep the duration short).

Also, should be noted that the bullets tend to be way sparser than almost any other bullet hell game. We're talking ship-size or greater gaps most of the time.

If you want, my 1cc video might be helpful, though There are others that are much more survival focused such as Captain Ransom's, or if you have a niconico account, this one (neither of these players is using autofire, Ransom's is the CPS2 version in MAME, but the differences are small)

The strategy videos that you can buy in the shop are also pretty useful.

[broken harbour]

Thanks, I'll have to watch your video in the next little bit.

I only played for about 20 minutes, all I had time for, and I didn't realize the reflect shield regenerated faster if you didn't use the whole thing. I was holding it down thinking I'd lose it either way.

Is there a good writeup on how this game works on the internet? I fail at google.

[LordHypnos]

Thanks, I'll have to watch your video in the next little bit.

I only played for about 20 minutes, all I had time for, and I didn't realize the reflect shield regenerated faster if you didn't use the whole thing. I was holding it down thinking I'd lose it either way.

Is there a good writeup on how this game works on the internet? I fail at google.

I'd say Randorama's ST is probably about the best you'll find, though there was some gamefaq walkthrough that I read at one point that had one or two helpful tidbits. Also, feel free to ask me (this goes for anyone trying to learn MM, btw), if you do end up getting into it, about any specific problems you might be having.

Thinking that you need to hold down the shield until the gauge is completely exhausted is a common mistake, btw, I think just because that's how the Giga Wing shield works. Also note that you get a little window of invulnerability after every use of the shield (it's tiny, but you do end up learning to take advantage of it with enough practice). Finally, don't forget that the enemies have no collision hit box.

[EmperorIng]

I haven't played too much recently. Some semi-attempts with Soukyogurentai, Guardian Force, and Cotton 2 (more and more mixed feelings on this one).

After lots o'practice I can finally consistently make st4 on ESPGaluda, sometimes even st5. Stage 4's boss is currently beyond my abilities.

[Shepardus]

Can someone get rid of Black Heart II's sweeping vulcan attack for me so I can actually clear this game?

Maybe I should just try to get a letter score with this clear. I've still got some easily-improvable areas, such as adding stage 4 boss milking and bombing the medal rails.

[ciox]

Can someone get rid of Black Heart II's sweeping vulcan attack for me so I can actually clear this game?

I think you can escape it completely if you are very careful? Superplayers do it but you might need Gain ABC speed, see if you can pull it off in save states. Still you're probably better off learning how to stay in it so you can do more damage and kill BH2 faster.
Nice progress either way, makes me want to give it another shot since I never got past st6.

[Stevens]

Mushi 1.5. Sorry AK -I'll be back.

I worked a solidish survival route for stage 3 yesterday (thank you training mode) in 3 or 4 tries:D

Why does it seem like in most shooters stage 3 gives me the most grief?

Stage 4 by comparison seems way easier - a lot of herding.

[horaceappleton]

Can someone get rid of Black Heart II's sweeping vulcan attack for me so I can actually clear this game?

Maybe I should just try to get a letter score with this clear. I've still got some easily-improvable areas, such as adding stage 4 boss milking and bombing the medal rails.

For me, drilling save states helped a lot with the sweeping vulcan. I also (YMMV) had a lot of improvement when I switched my dodging heuristic to visual cues instead of a rhythm; I dodge BH1's vulcan rhythmically, but that didn't work nearly as well on BH2. That said, I think it's easier to consistently reach BH2 with lives than to consistently no-miss it.

(Phantasmagoria Trues Advanced Mode is proceeding. Gonna put up a scoring route for Area Unseen 3 once I get a good run of it.)

[Loris Biaggi]

Fire Shark on megadrive

[LordHypnos]

So, finally got Under Defeat HD, and am mostly enjoying it, but I gotta say, I'm having a hell of a time trying to get through stage two O_o
Also was wondering about bomb pickup frequency. Can I feel safe using 2 or 3 bombs in stage 2, or should I really be trying to reduce that a bit more?
Also, are there any replays around that use reverse turning?

Still, feels good to be trying to actually learn a stage again, I felt that way with Omega Fighter, too.

Other stuff in the rotation includes Eschatos (getting a little better at this one. Actually made it past the second stage boss once), Futari, Mars Matrix, and to a lesser extent Zero Gunner 2 (sorry Dreamcast laser!). A nice variety, but definitely way too many games to be playing at once. lol.

Does Eschatos have a practice mode, btw? I couldn't seem to find one.

Also worth noting that I figured out a way to marginally increase my chain in MM stage 3 (to around +1600 if all else went well, maybe a little more if I kept it going at the end of the stage a bit longer). It's entirely possible that that is how I managed to get such a high st. 3 chain in my 3 million experience run.

[Shepardus]

I think you can escape it completely if you are very careful? Superplayers do it but you might need Gain ABC speed, see if you can pull it off in save states. Still you're probably better off learning how to stay in it so you can do more damage and kill BH2 faster.
Nice progress either way, makes me want to give it another shot since I never got past st6.

Yeah, I just tried a bit and it's definitely possible to avoid the attack (I'm using Miyamoto C so I've got more speed than I need) but I still need to get better at recognizing when it's going to do that attack. Staying in the attack's difficult thanks to Miyamoto's speed making precise dodges next to impossible but it seems that moving up close to BH2 makes the dodging more manageable despite the taps actually needing to be smaller (I've seen Kamui do that sometimes with Gain).

When I manage to successfully survive it I get so surprised that something else kills me...

[Stevens]

So, finally got Under Defeat HD, and am mostly enjoying it, but I gotta say, I'm having a hell of a time trying to get through stage two O_o
Also was wondering about bomb pickup frequency. Can I feel safe using 2 or 3 bombs in stage 2, or should I really be trying to reduce that a bit more?
Also, are there any replays around that use reverse turning?

Awesome.

You get 9 bombs from your 3 ships. There are an additional 9 that can be picked up in stages 1-5 for a total of 18.

I bombed a lot on stage 2 when I was starting too. Every time I got overwhelmed which was pretty often.

There are spots I always bomb (once each on bosses 2-4, there are other spots too), and spots I sometimes bomb like stage 3 in between the first bomb pick up and the mid boss. I sometimes get into trouble there. No trouble? No bomb used!

With that in mind I pretty much bomb at the spots every time I play in hopes that I'll get to the last boss with a good safety net. Through practice you'll figure out what those trouble spots are for you.

The bombs in UD are more defensive than offensive though, a sort of counter measure if you will. It will cancel bullets and make short work of popcorn but they do shit damage against bigger enemies.

Reverse vs. Normal

This might seem odd coming from me since I learned and cleared it originally with reverse - when you are comfortable learn normal.

When I was going for the clear on hard reverse wasn't cutting it, so I forced myself to learn normal. Doing so allowed me to dispatch certain enemies quicker due to normals more aggressive style. That allowed me to get the clear.

When I went back to the default difficulty I couldn't get over how much easier it had become with normal controls.

Also rocket. Always. No exceptions!:D

[Stevens]

AK zestu this morning - two runs to the last boss.

Futari most of the day, last credit made stage 5 with a score of 141,742,790. My counter topped out at a little over 21,000 during stage 3. I can get both extends which is awesome cause if I can get both I can clear it.

I have a suspicion I will clear this before AK.

I really like the scoring system in original. The green/blue is great and there is no chaining. Mind you by the 3rd stage score goes out the window:D

[Jonst]

Stevens=cave...