DARIUS BURST CHRONICLE SAVIOURS (STEAM/PS4/Vita)

[brentsg]

@brentsg yeah I didn't think about viewing angle loss on a flat screen that size, so curved makes sense. I have absolutely no idea how a curved screen would affect gaming in a shmup - I only know it would look fantastic with a slight wraparound. I'm just concerned dodging would be marginally difficult to judge depending on your location in the curve and those of the impending bullets.

I don't think it would be noticeable as long as your viewing height is proper. The curve on the smaller ones is pretty subtle so I don't think it'd be anything too aggressive.

[boagman]

Fun. Just utter fun.

So I'm still early in my CS campaign, and I forget what area I'm on, but I get through Alpha Stage with relative ease, and in Beta Stage I encounter Brightly Stare, which is a pretty interesting boss to come across. Probably the first time I've seen him, and he made me fail my mission. I liked him...pretty interesting attacks, pretty fun to take him down the next time I saw him with *zero* shield left on my last ship. Feeling pretty good about myself, considering. For some reason, I was thinking there wouldn't be a Gamma Stage.

Guess what? Gamma Stage...on your last ship, on your last shield. I laughed...I'm obviously screwed and I'll have to battle BS better in the previous stage, right? But holy cow: I stinking make it through the stage itself and encounter Thousand Bullets. With no shield left. I gotta tell ya: I'm feeling kind of good about myself at this point. I mean, hey! I'm the man, right? I just no-hit that stage having never seen it before! I've been through the gauntlet and came out with a *face*. Is there a *chance* that TB is going to be able to be taken down by me? I mean, am I that good? Really?

With his very first attack, TB ushers me to the back of the theater and asks to see my ticket with attacking projectiles I hadn't yet seen. Brilliant. This is *lots* of fun.


EDIT: Changed Gamma Stage's Boss' name to Thousand Bullets. Guess who just got his clock cleaned again? At least I survived 20 seconds or so this time, though.

[Zach Keene]

In other news, the Vita patch has introduced the old Steam bug where Murakumo's options reset back to laser for boss battles.

[boagman]

In other news, the Vita patch has introduced the old Steam bug where Murakumo's options reset back to laser for boss battles.

On that note, is the Vita patch supposed to automatically download? How can I tell which version of the game I'm running?

[Zach Keene]

If you hold your finger on the DBCS bubble for a few seconds a "..." option will appear. Touching that will give you further options like "Information" (which will tell you the version, among other things) and "Update History" (patch notes.)

I had to manually download the update. If you press the PS button while in the game you should see four or five options at the top. Ideally the first one will be an orange globe with a down arrow (this will download the update.) If it's not there, you can touch the circular blue arrows (second from right) to check for an update.

All that said, I have no idea if the patch is actually available for the Japanese version right now.

[boagman]

If you hold your finger on the DBCS bubble for a few seconds a "..." option will appear. Touching that will give you further options like "Information" (which will tell you the version, among other things) and "Update History" (patch notes.)

I had to manually download the update. If you press the PS button while in the game you should see four or five options at the top. Ideally the first one will be an orange globe with a down arrow (this will download the update.) If it's not there, you can touch the circular blue arrows (second from right) to check for an update.

All that said, I have no idea if the patch is actually available for the Japanese version right now.

Oh, so the Vita patch you're referring to was for the digital-only one? I didn't pick up on that. Thanks for the version/patch info, though!

[Zach Keene]

The issue is probably of region more than format (i.e. if the Japanese physical doesn't have the patch then the Japanese digital probably doesn't either.)

[boagman]

The issue is probably of region more than format (i.e. if the Japanese physical doesn't have the patch then the Japanese digital probably doesn't either.)

Gotcha. I'll keep that in mind, too.

[Blattdorf]

Fun. Just utter fun.

So I'm still early in my CS campaign, and I forget what area I'm on, but I get through Alpha Stage with relative ease, and in Beta Stage I encounter Brightly Stare, which is a pretty interesting boss to come across. Probably the first time I've seen him, and he made me fail my mission. I liked him...pretty interesting attacks, pretty fun to take him down the next time I saw him with *zero* shield left on my last ship. Feeling pretty good about myself, considering. For some reason, I was thinking there wouldn't be a Gamma Stage.

Guess what? Gamma Stage...on your last ship, on your last shield. I laughed...I'm obviously screwed and I'll have to battle BS better in the previous stage, right? But holy cow: I stinking make it through the stage itself and encounter Thousand Bullets. With no shield left. I gotta tell ya: I'm feeling kind of good about myself at this point. I mean, hey! I'm the man, right? I just no-hit that stage having never seen it before! I've been through the gauntlet and came out with a *face*. Is there a *chance* that TB is going to be able to be taken down by me? I mean, am I that good? Really?

With his very first attack, TB ushers me to the back of the theater and asks to see my ticket with attacking projectiles I hadn't yet seen. Brilliant. This is *lots* of fun.


EDIT: Changed Gamma Stage's Boss' name to Thousand Bullets. Guess who just got his clock cleaned again? At least I survived 20 seconds or so this time, though.

The fun thing about CS is that with time you will find the early bosses to be piss easy. Just keep at it.

[gs68]

One of the Thousand bosses is an endgame boss, that's why it can take a while.

Still having trouble with them, even at 75 or so areas completed.

[CHI]

I've been having problems getting onto the High Score Rankings online/PC...
Is it just me or are you guys having the same problem

[J0e Musashi]

I've got the burst counter down now. Well 9/10, but thanks for your help everyone.

I've got one more question. Not that I would want to, but how do you continue? In AC>Original Mode>Default Entry it gives me a 20-second countdown upon death. I figured Start would do it, but nothing, even though it clearly says Free Play at the bottom of the screen.

I'd like to know what I'm missing, or if I've gone bananas. I'm playing on Vita/Vita TV if that helps anybody to explain it.

[AxelMill]

I've got the burst counter down now. Well 9/10, but thanks for your help everyone.

I've got one more question. Not that I would want to, but how do you continue? In AC>Original Mode>Default Entry it gives me a 20-second countdown upon death. I figured Start would do it, but nothing, even though it clearly says Free Play at the bottom of the screen.

I'd like to know what I'm missing, or if I've gone bananas. I'm playing on Vita/Vita TV if that helps anybody to explain it.

Select, as Start ticks down the counter, like every other button does.
I still don't understand why they decided to make continuing so counterintuitive.

You needn't continue, for that is an act of treason against your lord.

[boagman]

I'm having difficulty initiating the beam duel, and I'd appreciate if somebody could assist me. So far I am waiting until the third chime, then firing off my burst. I die 7/10 times, but occasionally it initiates. I just can't work out what I'm supposed to do to get it to work. What am I doing wrong?

When you collide with an enemy burst, there is a short period before you actually take damage from it. If you fire during this window, your Burst will turn into a counter.

An example of a cut-in can be found here (thanks Steelix100!); note that the ship crosses the beam almost completely before deploying the Burst.

In that video, is the ship actually taking no damage? I haven't been able to do that yet, I don't think. Also, where's the Burst Gauge meter?

[drunkninja24]

Burst Gauge meter is directly below the ship, can't really see it with the burst activated in that vid tho

[Shepardus]

If you do the counterburst correctly you'll take no damage.

Note that although it looks like you enter the beam, then activate the burst laser, that's only because there's a slight delay after pressing the button before the laser appears (you can activate the regular burst at any time to see for yourself). You actually press the button at the same time or a few frames before entering the path of the enemy's beam. I've got a video where I turned on an input display so you can see what buttons I'm actually pressing and when. I recommend watching that at 0.25x speed.

[boagman]

If you do the counterburst correctly you'll take no damage.

Note that although it looks like you enter the beam, then activate the burst laser, that's only because there's a slight delay after pressing the button before the laser appears (you can activate the regular burst at any time to see for yourself). You actually press the button at the same time or a few frames before entering the path of the enemy's beam. I've got a video where I turned on an input display so you can see what buttons I'm actually pressing and when. I recommend watching that at 0.25x speed.

Excellent video, thanks. The input display is especially helpful. I'll have to endeavor to practice my technique more.

[Blattdorf]

If you want to do a cut-in, one good trick is to pay attention to the sound of getting hit. You want to start bursting at the exact moment the sound would normally start playing.

[Rupert H]

@ Rupert

Thanks for that, now I'm doubly happy that I didn't buy the LE!

I actually like the first print cover best, but there's zero incentive there for me to exchange or acquire additional prints. Smells like Taito milk to me, 3 prints of the same book with miniscule variations. The things they do to shmup fans eh?

But that's a nice comprehensive breakdown, appreciate it.

No worries guy. I honestly don't think there's any intent to milk on Taito's part though. The changes I listed were just the strange minor edits that I thought would be of interest to pedants.

They also include the new CS bosses which I didn't document, but I assumed that would be obvious.

The Dariusburst Original Arrange Album exclusive to the pack is a strange beast too. A bunch of fantastic guest musicians remixing classic Taito and Sega games, without a single piece of Darius music. They're not even done in the style of the Dariusburst series. That's not necessarily a criticism, just an observation at how utterly *not* Darius it is.

P.S I definitely prefer the LE cover because it actually looks like a picture that been composed rather than two unrelated Photoshopped images.

[Skykid]

I was talking about the book cover before, not the game cover. The LE cover is pretty nice.

[Rupert H]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I agree.

[M.Knight]

One of the Thousand bosses is an endgame boss, that's why it can take a while.

Still having trouble with them, even at 75 or so areas completed.

With Legend, Next and Formula, it is possible to reduce the Thousand fights' duration by approaching the boss while its cannon fins are in the middle of rearranging their position, right after the boss rushed at you while firing gray bullets. If you set-up a vertical burst behind you as you point blank the boss, the cannons won't be able to hurt you, and the boss itself doesn't fire anything in front of him so you should be fine.

Steelix100 showcased this technique in this video (where I learnt about it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxzDKFqjjWY&t=4m42s

The trick works in CS mode as well, and it could theoretically be used by other ships but as you'll have to dodge the shots coming from behind it may be trickier to pull off.

[Klatrymadon]

and the boss itself doesn't fire anything in front of him so you should be fine.

The technique sounds great, but you'd still have to watch out for the purple homing lasers or the big green one (on some variants), no?

[M.Knight]

As far as I know, the Thousand bosses don't fire those lasers that early in the fight, so you should be fine.
Buy, yeah, you can't use this technique later on in the battle as the purple laser will mess everything up.

[Klatrymadon]

Ah, yeah, the first phase is risk-free. I think you could pull it off after the homing lasers come out too, if you're careful. If you sit just above the point they're fired from, they pass under you and can't double back...

[Steelix100]

It makes me feel really weird when people cite me as their source for finding out about a technique or something

[Rupert H]

The Thousand Knives quick kill is essential to those seeking the achievement for finishing that particular time attack stage in under 4:00. It's not hard to execute once you know the technique, especially if you're point-blanking with Legend.

[ElOhTeeBee]

finally beat Narataki preset

[CptRansom]

Got a Vita recently and dropped another $40 for mobile DBCS. It's trash. I'm three stages deep in CS mode and I've had four crashes, game won't connect to leaderboards half the time, and it's laggy as hell between stages. I guess the PC version spoiled me. Definitely not happy.

finally beat Narataki preset

Narataki is a rite of passage, so congrats!

[boagman]

Got a Vita recently and dropped another $40 for mobile DBCS. It's trash. I'm three stages deep in CS mode and I've had four crashes, game won't connect to leaderboards half the time, and it's laggy as hell between stages. I guess the PC version spoiled me. Definitely not happy.

Hmmm. Sorry to hear that. Guess that's one advantage of the actual Vita hard copy, because for me, it's been totally stable. No crashes at all. I'll spot the interstage lag appears sometimes, but my Vita (first generation) hasn't crashed at all.