shmups.system11.org

Ha!
Well actually... The last time I had to make a new account on this board, pretty much the exact thing happened the first time someone disagreed with me (I'd almost want to say it was the same poster but I really don't remember).

So... no?

Anyways, I apologize in that I was going to respond to your post with possibly some semblance of intelligent discourse (or at least an object example, or at least arrogant). But, I rather just let BareKnuckleRoo "win" the thread with the above gem. Carry on...

The game this most reminds me of is Guardian Legend on the NES.

Monolith is currently on sale on Steam as a Halloween promo: https://twitter.com/team_d13/status/1188867707875274753

(but buy it on GOG cause DRM sucks)

Super excited for the DLC expansion next month, had no idea the team was still working on it!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1180 ... _the_Past/

Nice; wonder if they'll be putting it on itch too.

Really hope they fix that Linux AMD bug one of these days.

This is out on Steam now. The devs say it'll be on GOG in a few days. They haven't responded when asked if it's coming to itch, but the youtube page says that on other stores it's 'Coming Later'.

They were having issues with the Itch store as it doesn't support DLC style purchasing or something nicely.

TL;DR Buy it.

Happy to report that this feels like a proper expansion pack, like those you could get 20 years ago. There's something new to see at every turn.

I thought the original game was lacking for content, I just couldn't help but compare to Isaac or Gungeon. This version still doesn't quite reach that level, but does better justice to the rock solid gameplay. There is now a healthy dose of variety to each run -- not to be confused with Isaac's BS randomness. I like how the player's decisions and skills are still at the forefront. I won't go into more details for the time being; I'm rusty and can't survive shit, I've only seen maybe half of what's on offer.

On the downside, the new lore I just don't care for. There is a lot of it, it sounds deep and ominous, but it just doesn't make any sense.

Quick heads-up that the expansion is now on GOG. I'll have to try it out later on...

I wish this was out on Mac. Anyone heard anything about that?

One thing that's bugging me is that with the added ship upgrade options, it's a very real possibility that you won't ever see Teleport Dash in a run. Actually, I'm pretty sure I've done significantly more runs without it than with, it's a luxury to find Teleport. That makes later stages hell and leads to unfair damage, too. I wouldn't mind if they made Teleport the default dash.

I by far prefer the bullet patterns being designed to not require invincible dash (ie. require real dodging, and make the patterns fair). Sorta sick of games built around invincible dash like Furi and Nex Machina, they end up having the same bullet pattern archetypes where you need some wall flying at you constantly to reset cooldowns and actually force player to navigate through bullets.

In monolith that upgrade feels too strong to be a random upgrade. It's either a core mechanic or you randomly dont get it.

Yeah, totally agree, take it out.
I mean you can still jump into danger, it's not the massive get out of jail free card that it is in some other modern twin stick shooters, but it's bad enough.
Like you say, the game is designed well, it doesn't need it.

I always avoided it assuming that it was like the warp button on asteroids where you'd teleport to a random place on the screen then I took it one day when the other two upgrades were junk and I was like "well, this is pretty OP"

Blink is clearly the best upgrade in the game, and the boss designs are such that everything is dodgeable without a teleport dash, which is the way it should be. However, some of the rooms feel like you can get rushed and cornered by enemies easily, which is where Blink really comes in handy. There's also just enough of a slide at the end to make it feel challenging and satisfying to learn and control.

I think it's a case of it being fun and useful simply because Monolith doesn't force you to use it exclusively to dodge stuff, as Enter the Gungeon does with its dodge roll. Monolith is a shmup that happens to have a dash for added mobility now and then, rather than a shmup built around its dash as a mandatory evasion technique.

I agree that it's way too strong of an upgrade to be random. As much as I like Blink, it should either be always active, or never active. Newer players avoid Blink because it's an upgrade whose usefulness entirely depends on player skill, but when you recognize how good it is, it makes it somewhat frustrating not to get it because it really changes your options for how you can move around a room.

Yeah, you're right actually, I agree with that, it's implemented well. I took it last night and like you say, it's really handy in some rooms when it gets hectic, I was just thinking about the bosses.
Maybe it could come with a downside like it halves your regular weapon damage or something or maybe it could be a perk of one of the ships you can choose.