Ghost Blade HD (PS4, Xbox One, Wii U and Steam)

[jandrogo]

It seems is on sale in Eu store

[DoomsDave]

I just got my copy delivered and trying it out. It's ok so far...

Is there anyway to map shot to tap and focus to hold on a single button?

[guigui]

Is there anyway to map shot to tap and focus to hold on a single button?

None that I know.

[DoomsDave]

Well that's kind of shit. Thanks for the reply.

[Doctor Butler]

It's good. And soon to be ridiculously expensive, because there's only 3000 of them

[DoomsDave]

More than retail for sure but I don't know about the ridiculous part, it's going to be interesting to see how all these limited releases fare now that the matket is getting flooded with them. There's now Play Asia, LRG, SRG and iam8bit all doing these limited releases regularly. In 10/15/20 years how many people are going to care? I don't think any of these games will stay at huge prices compared to limited releases on past consoles.

Anyway that's way off topic. I played a couple more credits and still kind of neutral on it. It's not that bad but there's not really anything memorable about it either. OST is all good.

[system11]

Play-Asia are selling the physical PS4 version really cheap at the moment. I picked up a copy at the same time as Shikondo, having never even looked at footage of this game before I'm really pleased with it. And oh wow I love the music and that title screen.

[Stevens]

Bought it on the DC and was impressed with what they were trying to do, but the system simply lacked the horsepower to get it done. Figured it would shine on PC.

Soundtrack is really good too.

[mrmccormo]

I had a fun time 1cc'ing this on Normal. Might be fun to do a 1cc on Hard since the bullet patterns are denser. I love the soundtrack, too.

[Faith]

Just saw someone bump the High Score thread for this game @_@"...

So finally decided to look into it... again... lol... since, somehow, this game is being so pesky and always appearing in my sight somehow >.<!~

Would be more enjoyable if there weren't so many damn pickups on the screen

I watched a 1CC Hard on YouTube...

I think... problem with this game is... it seems so... hmm, hang on... Faith need dictionary for this...

...anaemic -_-"...

The stars and other items move so slow to your ship, and overall pace also seems on slower side even if few other things look a bit interesting.

You see, in like Crimzon Clover, and Gunvein... stars are big and plentiful... but your ship sucks them up very super fast.

Regardless, since more time has passed... thoughts on this game?

[Jonpachi]

Mid Dodonpachi clone. 6/10. A fun little "Sunday Afternoon" shmup to play through and never think about again.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Playing Ghost Blade on the Sega Dreamcast console in tate will utilize the entire 16:10 screen aspect ratio if played on a 1080p gaming monitor setup via Dreamcast VGA Box or Dreamcast Japanese 21-pin RGB/Euro Scart cable output method (which is rare in console-based stg releases but with GB, it's the "norm rather than the special exception" in this particular case of tate -- you get to see more of the actual game stage background scenery on the top & bottom portions of a 16:10 widescreen monitor setup).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Lemnear]

Just saw someone bump the High Score thread for this game @_@"...

So finally decided to look into it... again... lol... since, somehow, this game is being so pesky and always appearing in my sight somehow >.<!~

Would be more enjoyable if there weren't so many damn pickups on the screen

I watched a 1CC Hard on YouTube...

I think... problem with this game is... it seems so... hmm, hang on... Faith need dictionary for this...

...anaemic -_-"...

The stars and other items move so slow to your ship, and overall pace also seems on slower side even if few other things look a bit interesting.

You see, in like Crimzon Clover, and Gunvein... stars are big and plentiful... but your ship sucks them up very super fast.

Regardless, since more time has passed... thoughts on this game?

For me, Ghost Blade HD is one (if not THE) perfect entry level for anyone wanting to try their hand at the Bullet Hell subgenre. It has the typical ships common to various titles, some of the most used patterns from many Bullet Hell titles, and it has that subtle slowdown when using the "laser."
The only flaw is that the bosses have a lot of HP, and it's strange to see them go through the entire pattern twice, but indirectly this helps with understanding and memorizing them.
So yes, Ghost Blade HD is an excellent training ground, before moving on to heavier stuff, up to the heavyweights. I think it's very good for teaching the basic principles of bullet hell.

[Angry Hina]

I'll take this opportunity to write something about it, since I also posted the high scores mentioned.

I see it the same way as Lemnear, but I'd like to go a bit further. What makes the game also special is that it requires far less routing than other games, even if they aren't on the harder side. You're very rarely confronted with snipe bullets, but instead with slow spreads that you have to maneuver through. You get into it quickly, it doesn't feel like too much work, and yes, if you're not yet comfortable with Danmaku attack patterns, you can definitely practice here.

As for the length of the boss fights, I don't see any problem. I feel like the corresponding attack patterns are designed to work for longer periods. They don't require overly precise actions and often thrive on the duration of the fight. Furthermore, I guess it's not uncommon for attack patterns to take a bit longer or repeat themselves on other more popular games. So that wouldn't be a critical point for me.

And it's no more of a Dodonpachi clone than so many other games out there. Of course, it draws on many of the elements that made Dodonpachi popular back then, but it's much more focused on the slow spread patterns.

[Creamy Goodness]

It has not been an easy game for me for all the wrong reasons. There is just too much stuff on the screen and a lot of it blends in with the backgrounds. Plus most of the bullet patterns are just haphazard. It just seems like a who lotta slowly moving RNG bullets. I'm sure if I put in a slight bit of effort I could clear it, but the annoyances I feel kill any motivation for it.

[Nugs]

I agree with most of the comments here.
It doesn't do anything great, but does most things OK.
As a whole I find it enjoyable if not captivating.

[BEAMLORD]

I gotta give it credit for helping me get into the genre back when I was starting out, as it was one of the first "modern" bullet hell style shmups I had played. For a while, I also had the top score in Normal mode on the Switch leaderboards, without getting a 1CC, which gave me my first taste of the thrill of scoring. Nothing special about scoring in Ghost Blade, iirc, simply point-blanking for larger medals.

But yeah, it's not one I ever feel inclined to go back to, even to salvage that 1CC.

[Faith]

I'll take this opportunity to write something about it, since I also posted the high scores mentioned.

Hello! Thank you for reply!~

I added game to my list to buy for next batch of games!~

I think, overall, it looks interesting enough to be worth time to play and get all clears.

But, also really appreciate all the other comments, and it seems no matter what, there is still interest in Ghost Blade!

[Starfighter]

I remember part of the charm was that it was on Dreamcast. Like "ooh, look, a new Dreamcast game, cool huh?". When it showed up on modern consoles (as "HD") I wasn't as interested. But I haven't played it since it came out (I played it for a day or two that week and that's it), I think I'm going to try it out again once I get my Dreamcast setup sorted (at the moment the space in front of my CRT:s is occupied by a lot of boxes and junk).

[Angry Hina]

Sadly, if I got that clear, is that the DC version has no hard mode and I like the hard mode in HD.

[Starfighter]

There's very little on this game online in general, isn't there? There's nothing on Shmups Wiki, there's no real videos on youtube on it (apart from some reviews, runs and the commentary from Shmuptopia). I guess that confirms the notion that this game is pretty unengaging. Now I'm even more interested to give it a second chance!

Edit: Well, since my Dreamcast setup still is inaccessible I opted for the HD version - and it turned out I've already done everything in it, platinum and everything. Huh.

[Faith]

Just started this today!~

Managed to get Normal Difficulty 1CC quite fast (think 1+ hour)... buuut...

Honestly, a bit of a frustrating experience X_X"...

1. No "Restart" button? Why? Every time restart need to: select exit... confirm exit (and default selection is "no")... reach game start screen... press button to spawn main menu... select normal mode... select character... select difficulty... then wait for Stage 1 to start. Really??? Especially on Hard difficulty where will restart more... very annoying.

2. Almost impossible to reflex bomba. There seems to be some delay when pressing bomba vs bomba activation. Never had I ever play an STG in my life where I go "wtf I did pressed bomba why did it not activate" and my ship baboom. Happens over, and over, and over again. Very consistently the bomba is unnecessarily delayed.

3. Visibility problems. Bullet comes in too many different colors and types, and very often they clash with either background or things that are going on around you. You have green bullets, but you also have those stupid green blobs that are always homing into your ship to collect to refill bomba.

4. In addition to bullet visibility problems, very often also find that enemies can hide in dense bullet patterns, appear from side, somehow sneak their way to lower part of playing area, and crash into you... and it is not obvious, because they often blend into bg too.

5. What is this devs obsession with the spinning kidney bean bullet style??? Normally I don't have problem with any style of bullet... until it is super overused. Popcorn enemies spam it. Medium enemies spam it. Then you reach the boss... and guess what? They spam even more of it! It's a poor type of bullet to overuse, especially when the hitbox is big.

6. I swear that some bullets the hitbox is actually maybe 1 pixel bigger than the sprite... when it should be the other way around. In this game you really fear going anywhere near bullets, because you cannot graze past them in the same way as with most other STG. Even for Cave you can usually touch the edge of the bullet no problem... or even go into its glow. Here you will die. This is especially a big problem when you combine it with point #5 above, because it makes the bullet hitbox area much bigger than it should be when you have 100's of stupid spinning kidney beans lol.

So, I need to disagree that this game is good for newer STG players >_<!~

For new player, Gunvein is better. Has none of above problems, has better graphics, sound, music; and a very good tutorial (this game have none).

But, glad I tried it. Not sure if will do Hard... haha. Will see I guess @_@"...

[Starfighter]

Yeah, I did another 1CC yesterday just to refresh my memory and I absolutely felt "I didn't touch that bullet!" most of the times I died. There's something really weird about the hitboxes. I felt like I wanted to macrododge everything because of how often I died from something I didn't see or wasn't really that close to. I thought I was just imagining things, but now you confirm you felt it too. Hm...

[Faith]

Just to add a few more complaints, and these are more major:

7. Suicide bullets spawned by enemies are not consistent color, this is bad design. Sometimes blue, sometimes green??? Suicide bullets must always be same design/color.

8. You cannot negate suicide bullets by pointblank killing enemies... most (all?) other STG prevent suicide bullet spawn if you PB. This is a big problem because if enemy get close to you (which is common in this game because shot power is actually quite weak (especially wide shot))... it is very easy to get cornered by enemies. So on Hard especially, if enemy is near you, you have to bomba. Otherwise if you PB it the suicide bullet will spawn right in front of your face and is impossible to dodge.

9. The biggest most catastrophic problem of them all: I managed to 2CC Hard (so, I used 1 Continue)... and my score was submitted to the online leaderboard as "ALL" clear??? I checked with another friend, and indeed... the online leaderboard does not tell you if the clear is a 1CC or not. This makes everything completely pointless.

[Angry Hina]

The Blue Bullets have a much bigger Hitbox. I Would say they are as big as the sprite. This was hard to learn

[Creamy Goodness]

Yeah, I did another 1CC yesterday just to refresh my memory and I absolutely felt "I didn't touch that bullet!" most of the times I died. There's something really weird about the hitboxes. I felt like I wanted to macrododge everything because of how often I died from something I didn't see or wasn't really that close to. I thought I was just imagining things, but now you confirm you felt it too. Hm...

When I first played this game it felt like the ship's hitbox was bigger than the sprite. I picked it up after a while of not touching it and that felt improved. Thought maybe they patched it. But overall even though the game is a bullet hell micro-dodging just does not work. You can't play it like a normal bullet hell.