professor ganson wrote:congrats, sjewkestheloon. Now that you've gotten pretty familiar with the game, what do you think of it? I guess it must at least have been addictive, if nothing else. Two years!
well there were probably period of frustration where i didn't play for 3 months and basically undid a lot of work...
familiar may well be the word though hehe i know the first stages inside out pretty much and i've got to say it's definately one of my favourite shmups design wise. i love the approach of small stages, each with about 5 set pieces that you have to approach in a different way. some of the game though is without a doubt unbalanced and hard as hell. how anyone can claim that this game is easy i'll never know.
my main example? stage 6 is one of the most difficult shmuping stages i've ever seen. whereas other stages have one boss and some distractions, that one just pummels you from start to finish and it's not enough to just memorise patterns and input movements on the fly as there are so many aimed shot from popcorn enemies and turrets.
the final boss in stage 6 is also impossible for me at my current skill level without losing a life and bombing at least once. the fast spam shape that he does is managable from his first location, but as he moves i fail lol
the last stage i can one life without too many problems however, which is a problem.
the great thing about this game for me is that i could quite easily put another few years into it to get the two loops and some more 1lcs with some of the other characters.
i think one of the main things that kept me coming back to this game was the lack of gimmicks or overl;y complex rank rules etc. after playing ikaruga for 10 hours i just need to be able to get back to something in which my memory and some twitch skills will get me to at least stage 5. also the music is brilliant (imo) and the gfx charming. nothing brings a smile like 'i am trump' followed by a mild boob shot and a boss battle against a jouster popping out of a giant turret. some games just take themselves too seriously.
i'd very much like to talk to some of the others who have played through the first loop or even the second loop of this game to see if there are any tricks that i've missed or scoring opportunities that have failed to materialise.
oh and thanks for the thanks
(but i only play like once a week so there's the problem 
)
