Raiden V for Xbox One in 2015

[Durandal]

Jesus christ, those constant cheevos on the left side on the screen gets on my nerves. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
Grabbing a fairy says GET FAIRLY on the cheevo pop-ups as well

To be fair, the first stages in any Raiden game are pretty slow compared to the rest, so the later stages seem to have more going on there
Also there seems to be some dialogue constantly happen in the background, although I do not how you are expected to read the dialogue while dodging loads of bullets. Maybe that's why there aren't that many enemies

[NTSC-J]

Jesus christ, those constant cheevos on the left side on the screen gets on my nerves. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
Grabbing a fairy says GET FAIRLY on the cheevo pop-ups as well

Those aren't achievements, they're "cheers". I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I think when other players are online you get little boosts that eventually add up to some super attack (maybe when you accomplish the little goals that pop up, like destroy 400 enemies?). You can also see the player names above each "cheer".

Thankfully this ill-conceived system seems to only be a part of the story mode.

The amazon.jp reviews seem fairly positive. Good, not great. One person said it feels like Caladrius 2.

[xxx1993]

I wonder how you could get through the game by staying on the S path? I hope you don't have to do a lot like in Raiden Fighters Jet...

[NTSC-J]

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to get it over with without too much effort.

[xxx1993]

Difficulty of choice doesn't matter either, right? I don't want the game telling me I have to do this or that on the hardest difficulty because I intend on playing on Normal Mode the first time I play this.

[hien]

The OST sounds a lot like that of Caladrius, which isn't that surprising with the composer being Kudou.

[MachineAres 1CC]

Well, I just got my copy today and finished arcade (story, whatever) mode, and there's a lot of impressions.

First, everyone was wrong about difficulty. Once you finish stage 2, things basically become just like Raiden 4 difficulty and keep getting progressively worse. By level 5 (at least on the S route,) I'd say the game is much harder than Raiden 4 and the bullet patterns are much faster and more complex, especially on the bosses. I actually read in the interview with the developer that the first 2 stages are basically like "training" stages to get used to the mechanics, then the game really takes off. And this was all on normal difficulty. I just credit fed to the end so I could see all the stages and bosses. There's also 8 stages, which IIRC is longer than Raiden 4, even if the first stages are a bit easy, it's a longer arcade mode in general. It's gonna take a LOT of memorization to dodge a lot of these patterns at all.

Many of the boss bullet patterns remind me more of modern/CAVE danmaku, with the bullets being many different colors and forming interesting visual shapes instead of just a large/fast bullet spam like Raiden is traditionally known for. Most of the bosses past stage 3 have really visually creative patterns while also being fun to try to dodge, though some are absurdly fast and punishing.

There's kind of like 2 different "views" the game will switch between, which essentially just amounts to it zooming out and there being a bigger playing field with enemies more spread out and makes your ship feel like it's moving slower, even though it's technically not. It's kind of interesting how it switches between the two and is a little disorienting at first, but it's cool that it changes the gameplay just a little bit.

Weapon choices and controls feel great and give a lot of options for your play style, just like previous games. There's now 10 levels of power for each weapon (keeps track with gauges in the bottom corner for each of your 3 shot types,) and to be able to survive most of the later levels, it feels like you kinda have to choose the one you want very early on and level it up to max by the time you're on level 4 or so if you want to have any hope. Using lower level weapons on later levels is a big no.

The OST is fantastic and has lots of variety. It even has some vocal tracks with operatic and choral vocals, and a lot of the "dueling guitar" harmony sound that you heard in the trailers. Also lots of dramatic orchestral stuff that fits the stages and mood very well.

My only major gripes so far are 1.) that the medals that are constantly dropping from enemies in large amounts blend in with the yellow bullets from enemies a lot, so the bullets visually get lost in a big group of medals. Granted, there's also many enemies that have blue or red bullets, but most are yellow and get lost easily. It's kinda hard to adjust to and will take some more time to get my eyes used to it, but I also think this might be entirely due to being color-blind, so hopefully everyone else won't have this issue. And 2.) the sections that scroll really fast also make it hard to keep track of bullets, even though they're usually short, it's really visually hard to keep track when you have bright HD backgrounds scrolling at 100mph in the background.

Also, for those wondering, both the game and the soundtrack are physical discs, and both are put on the same spindle inside the case with a thin piece of soft paper between them so they don't scratch each other. See below:


I can answer any other questions about arcade if you have any and I'll be streaming more in about 8 hours from now and checking out the boss rush mode and other options.

You can follow or tune in later at: http://www.twitch.tv/idolingneo

[qmish]

Any spider mechas? (sorry , now it's my fetish in shmups)

[MachineAres 1CC]

Any spider mechas? (sorry , now it's my fetish in shmups)

Unfortunately no, it's mostly Raiden type bosses, like ground tanks, railguns on train tracks, big space ships, boat ships in the water, and the final boss is a really strange cyborg person/machine hybrid ship. Spider bosses are pretty rad, but didn't see any here.

[drunkninja24]

So is there any kind of tate mode at all? I imagine not with stuff being pushed to the sides and the aspect being different, but curious.

[MachineAres 1CC]

So is there any kind of tate mode at all? I imagine not with stuff being pushed to the sides and the aspect being different, but curious.

Didn't see any options for it, but you can move around and zoom in or out on some of the elements on the screen and customize a little. I can post screen shots later of what you can customize, but I didn't see tate. Might be patched in later if they get enough feedback on it.

[Durandal]

Some earlier screenshots for Raiden V showed branching stages.
Since story mode seems to have 8 stages, is this the case with another mode?

[MachineAres 1CC]

Some earlier screenshots for Raiden V showed branching stages.
Since story mode seems to have 8 stages, is this the case with another mode?

Well, there's multiple routes, which I think is what they were referring to. There's always going to be 8 stages total in story mode as far as I can tell, but it could be a very different set of stages within those 8 depending if and when you meet the requirements for the alternate routes, etc. I think I triggered the S-route in stage 3 or 4, but I don't know specifically what the requirements were. I think that each ship/country also has different beginning stages or maybe different stages entirely, but since I only did one run so far, I can't confirm it quite yet.

[xxx1993]

There has to be a way to beat the game on the S route, right? That's gotta be where the final boss and ending is. I don't want to struggle too much with this game after having beaten Project X Zone 2.

[MachineAres 1CC]

There has to be a way to beat the game on the S route, right? That's gotta be where the final boss and ending is. I don't want to struggle too much with this game after having beaten Project X Zone 2.

You mean with all stages on S route? I'm not sure what you're asking. And not sure if you can trigger it until a certain stage, since I haven't found further info on how to trigger it.

And what does Project X Zone 2 have to do with playing shmups?

[trap15]

There has to be a way to beat the game on the S route, right? That's gotta be where the final boss and ending is. I don't want to struggle too much with this game after having beaten Project X Zone 2.

Dude just fucking play games to have fun holy shit.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

So, it sounds like the game is better than we initially thought it would be. Interesting to see how the game really does ramp up the difficulty to a higher degree than Raiden IV. Also, are there any tracks on the OST that have any throwbacks to the older melodic Raiden style? I'm surprised they didn't arrange Gallantry for the anniversary though

[Phellan Wolf]

Thanks for the first impressions. By the way can we play the game being offline??? Since there's been so much buzz for the azure servers being used for the game, I din't like the idea off being always connected , but does it's due to the lack of internet where I currently live

[MachineAres 1CC]

Thanks for the first impressions. By the way can we play the game being offline??? Since there's been so much buzz for the azure servers being used for the game, I din't like the idea off being always connected , but does it's due to the lack of internet where I currently live

Yeah, you can play everything offline, it will just say "not connected" up in the little side window where it would normally be showing the cheers and other stuff it's logging online.

[Alfred]

How many players are on the online leaderboards and is there online co-op play?.

[MachineAres 1CC]

How many players are on the online leaderboards and is there online co-op play?.

The servers are pretty wonky at this point and it won't show past the first 200 entries on the leaderboard, but you can tell there's more there, it just stops loading properly. I can't even view my own score yet cause I'm past that 200 mark. And there's not even local co-op play, someone bitched about it in this thread already.

Speaking of leaderboards, it shows only one person on the leaderboards has 1CC'd Normal mode so far.

Also found a little more about the branching stages, at least how many there are. Still haven't figured out how to trigger them, but stage 1 is always the same, stage 2 has two routes, then there's 4 routes for each stage after 2. Here's a chart that shows most of them:
http://account.xbox.com/en-us/screensho ... 27379aeb37

I also made a short video of the Stage 5 boss fucking destroying me with it's super fast blue patterns, just to give you an idea. And this boss is absolutely nothing compared to Stages 6-8 bosses: http://account.xbox.com/en-us/gameclip/ ... 27379aeb37

I'm also starting a stream in a few minutes for the next hour or two where I'll finish a previous run of Normal, try out Easy and Boss Rush modes. Come watch if you're interested: http://www.twitch.tv/idolingneo

[xxx1993]

There has to be a way to beat the game on the S route, right? That's gotta be where the final boss and ending is. I don't want to struggle too much with this game after having beaten Project X Zone 2.

You mean with all stages on S route? I'm not sure what you're asking. And not sure if you can trigger it until a certain stage, since I haven't found further info on how to trigger it.

And what does Project X Zone 2 have to do with playing shmups?

I mean, I want to find an easier way to get to the S-route in Raiden V, like how I went through the shortest way to get to the final stage in Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours. And I only brought up PXZ2 because I struggled with one chapter in the game.

[EmperorIng]

Thanks for the impressions, MachineAres. I'm hoping for a PC port down the line like with Raiden IV OK; i can't imagine MOSS would want to wait on that for too long given the Xbone's poor performance in Japan. My biggest complaint is the cluttered HUD; are there ways to tone down the visual information on-screen?

[qmish]

MOSS interview
http://www.inside-games.jp/article/2016 ... 296_2.html

[MachineAres 1CC]

I mean, I want to find an easier way to get to the S-route in Raiden V, like how I went through the shortest way to get to the final stage in Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours. And I only brought up PXZ2 because I struggled with one chapter in the game.

There's only 8 stages, there's no need to rush anything. S route is actually the only route where you fight the TLB, who is a huge bitch, so I think if you're trying to do things for the sake of time or survival, you actually want to avoid stage 8-S as much as you can.

Thanks for the impressions, MachineAres. I'm hoping for a PC port down the line like with Raiden IV OK; i can't imagine MOSS would want to wait on that for too long given the Xbone's poor performance in Japan. My biggest complaint is the cluttered HUD; are there ways to tone down the visual information on-screen?

It's hard to say on the PC port timing thing, since it technically took them like 7 years to port Raiden 4 to PC, but of course the gaming ecosystem has changed a bit since when 4 came out, so you never know. You can actually move the score counters and bomb/cheer gauges completely off the screen if you want, but none of the other stuff actually gets in the way, it's all completely out of the way from the play field.

I did a lot on the stream earlier, I know a few of you guys tuned in and most people had pretty good things to say about it.

I messed with the Boss Mission mode a bunch, which is not just a simple boss rush mode, it's actually a mission mode that gives you certain parameters and restrictions on each stage to make the boss fights challenging in different ways, and there's like 50 missions in this mode.

Also tried out the new "flash laser" weapon where you can charge it up by not shooting for a few seconds and then unleash a DoDonPachi style gigantic hyper laser that lasts for a few seconds and covers half the screen. It'd take a lot of practice to get the technique down right for this but has a lot of potential for people who like alternate play styles.

Also did a run on Very Hard mode to see what it was like, and stage 3 and after really delivered on destroying me pretty quick. Even the zako bullets go from top to bottom of screen in less than a second, almost no time to react.

[Spyke]

I've noticed on videos a shield gauge on the bottom left. Raiden was always one hit one kill. Has that changed in V?

Ant

[MachineAres 1CC]

I've noticed on videos a shield gauge on the bottom left. Raiden was always one hit one kill. Has that changed in V?

Ant

Technically the shield replaces your life/ship stock now. You can choose in the options how many you want from 1-7 I believe, it's just like choosing how many lives you want to start with. Once your shield is gone, it's game over/time for continue. The Fairy now refills your shield gauge a bit if it's low, so it's basically a 1-up/extra life now.

[Spyke]

Thanks for clarifying.

Sounds wierd. Why does everything we like suddenly have to be wierded?

Very interesting thread though. Thanks for all the info.

Ant

[xxx1993]

I mean, I want to find an easier way to get to the S-route in Raiden V, like how I went through the shortest way to get to the final stage in Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours. And I only brought up PXZ2 because I struggled with one chapter in the game.

There's only 8 stages, there's no need to rush anything. S route is actually the only route where you fight the TLB, who is a huge bitch, so I think if you're trying to do things for the sake of time or survival, you actually want to avoid stage 8-S as much as you can.

I do intend on fighting the TLB, actually. Is there a way to get to it? I'll just tone down the difficulty. To Normal. Besides, I already fought Gigantic Bite in Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours and the Queen System in Astebreed.

[Cuilan]

Sounds wierd. Why does everything we like suddenly have to be wierded?

Because unfortunately, the genre is on life-support, and needs to adapt in order to attract a broader audience.