Radirgy 2 (PS5/PS4/SW)

[Samuray]

Aw dammit... I really wanted to see Shizuru and Tadayo again. Guess that's gonna have to wait for a while... I wonder what's gonna happen to Devil Engine: Complete Edition and Air Twister now...?

Uh…why's that? How are those related to Radirgy 2?

[xxx1993]

I'm just curious if those two will be delayed as well considering that Radirgy 2 has now been delayed. And considering the controversy surrounding Devil Engine...

[hamfighterx]

I don't think the mention of Devil Engine and delays is too off topic, since both it and Radirgy 2 are among the small handful of games published by Beep Japan. And Devil Engine just received a delay of its own not long ago, so it's not crazy to wonder if there is some common theme.

Air Twister is kind of its own thing to me though.

[Ms. Tea]

It's confusing, but Beep Japan and BEEP the computer store are two completely unrelated companies. Beep Japan is the one publishing the new Devil Engine and BEEP is the one publishing Radirgy 2.

[hamfighterx]

Oh wow, didn't realize that. Thanks for the correction!

I thought all of these "Beep Japan" published releases were just BEEP the store's publishing arm - especially since both have just started publishing relatively niche games fairly recently (BEEP's first that I was aware of being Cotton Reboot).Very confusing indeed, so... never mind my previous comment. Though I could see how others would make the same mistake I did!

I'm not super up on Japanese trademark laws, but wow that's awfully confusing and I'm surprised two companies operating in such a competitive space have such similar names.

[Steven]

There is also a game company called Happymeal.

I am quite surprised that McDonald's hasn't sued this company out of existence yet.

[dmk1198]

Have I missed this release guys? Was it well reviewed? How can I buy it please?
Thnx in advance

[Steven]

I think it got delayed or something.

[xxx1993]

Yes. It's now releasing March 28, 2024.

[dmk1198]

AHH sweet cheers

[m.sniffles.esq]

[xxx1993]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX8UqYTUIoE

Is this a new trailer?

[mojilove]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX8UqYTUIoE

Is this a new trailer?

Yeah it's a new upload, but it seems to be almost identical to the TGS trailer from 6 months ago (this one only mentions switch at the end, as i think it is intended for use in the eshop)

[AyeYoYoYO]

Does this succeed or precede the OG and/or Swag, on the Radirgy timeline ? (Is there such a thing?)

[mojilove]

It's "a few months" after the OG, based on the game's website. In Swag (which is also like half a year after the OG), Tadayo says she hasn't seen Shizuru for a while, so I think 2 might take place after both (because I'm guessing that Shizuru will meet Tadayo in 2, but she might not!)

[jehu]

Reminder that this bugger is out today in JPN. Looking forward.

If any Japanese speakers run into any important info of the less obvious variety, do consider deigning to drop some knowledge on your filthy gaijin brethren excitedly groping through the game in the dark. Moji's last informal guide helped me get somewhat unmired from the last RS34 Swamp.

[cfx]

It's weird that Beep never updates the webpage: https://www.beep-shop.com/sap/radirgy2/

By now you'd think they'd at least have something on the System page.

Edit: Now that I wrote that, the System page has beeen updated: https://www.beep-shop.com/sap/radirgy2/system/

Annoying that they only show the Switch controls. I don't believe anything else on the site has changed.

[KAI]

the GOTY is finally out

Spoiler

Hope to see some full run footage today, cause im sure i wont be playing this game anytime soon
All clips i've seen so far look really good. nice to see this series going back to being regular shmups after 14 years.

[jehu]

I got through to the credits on a single credit.

I think I was at the top of some leaderboard?

I have no idea what’s going on.

The second ship feels like easy mode because the twin stick one has some esoteric demon-worshipping 666 weapon system going on, idk.

God protect me.

I have to assume there’s more content hiding behind corners of the game I don’t yet understand.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I have no idea what’s going on

So it's a RS34 game...

I got through to the credits on a single credit. [sic] I have to assume there’s more content hiding behind corners of the game I don’t yet understand.

I'm going to assume this is probably the same deal as Swamp (which I still have yet to pop the shrink wrap on) where everyone was "I got to the credits the first time I played. What the hell?" and it turned out they had only completed a path giving them access to like 1/10 of the actual game

I got a shipping notification from Amazon. Shipping only cost like $9,000, so it should be here today.

Edit:
And I guess it's already on sale?
Amazon just sent me an email saying that even though they've since marked it $12 cheaper (¥1,800), I pre-ordered, so they're not giving me that discount (I didn't ask for one, but whatever). Anyway, if you were on the fence...

[Bear78]

This has no English support correct?

[jehu]

I'm apparently the least confused out of all the confused suckers playing this game, cuz I'm way ahead on a few of the leaderboards. No idea what categories I'm excelling in, though - might be ahead for most 1337 gamer award or biggest loser, dunno, jokes on me.

The more I play, the more the game seems balanced around the twin-stick ship. The more trad ship is pretty brainless, even on the higher unlockable ranks you get for clearing. If you want to farm money or just get a sick score, just park the trad ship at the top of the screen and just bomb the fuck out of everything. You basically never get out of your I-frames except on bosses. It's boring, but the game rewards pretty handsomely for it. Hopefully at some point the game puts a control on this mechanism, but I haven't seen that yet.

The twin-stick ship - thankfully - is much more interesting. Still figuring out the mechanics there, but what I do understand is pretty cool. A number of orders require it, too, so it's not a totally voluntarily ascetic enterprise to pick it. It's fun - I'm having fun. Recommend for people who know they like Milestone, a pass for those who don't. This game isn't going to change any minds on that account I gather.

I'm still only around 25% completion, so there's still a lot lot I don't understand. Whole category of orders that I don't have access to. If anyone else is playing, let me know and we can put our heads together for some of the orders.

EDIT: Oh yes, and no - there's no English support. Wading through all the shitty Japanese to English translations with my iPhone camera feels aesthetically cohesive with all the other esoteric shit the game asks you to do, so it doesn't bother me much. Might bother you, though.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Wading through all the shitty Japanese to English translations with my iPhone camera feels aesthetically cohesive with all the other esoteric shit the game asks you to do, so it doesn't bother me much. Might bother you, though.

Seems 'on brand'

I'll ask the obligatory "hows the Radirgy port?" question
I mean, you don't have to break out the atomic frame calibrator, or anything. Just along the lines of "does it seem more or less okay?"

[Some-Mist]

Glad to see KAI made it out

And thanks for the impressions jehu. My copy is still in preparing order status but I hope to join you in a couple weeks when it finally arrives. I keep getting surprised at how low the cost is when I login to check on the status

[jehu]

OG Radirgy port seems good to me. Unlocked straight from the go on the main menu - no bullshit involved.

I’m setting this one aside for awhile now. I’m at 40% completion now, and that last 15% wasn’t any new content but just ‘kill X enemy with Y weapon from Z ship’ etc. The number will just tick up from playing more - it’s nothing compelling. A Banjo-Kazooie-style collectathon caravan twin stick STG-like if you will.

The big mystery in the game is a series of esoteric collectibles that can be found in the wide, wide stages (they each scroll left and right a long long way). The game wants you to find these non-descript ‘round things,’ ‘vertical things,’ ‘sparkly things’ etc. There are hints in the dialogue logs about what these ‘things’ might be, but the machine translations I’m getting obscure them into meaninglessness. I’ve found an handful of the ‘sparkly things,’ but getting them all in one run would require a decent amount of patience and routing. Easter season or not, I’m not inclined to go on a scavenger hunt for all this - especially alone. I’d come back if it turns out there’s some meaningful content locked behind these ‘things,’ but I’m slightly skeptical. A task for a more intrepid explorer than myself.

Still proudly atop a couple of the leaderboards. I have a good handle on the scoring mechanics of both ships now. Confirmed my impression that the twin-stick ship is mechanically deeper and more fun to play. I’ll see these accomplishments toppled in no time, I’m sure, but it’s been fun. If anyone does discover what some of these secret things are, do share - I’ll, of course, do the same.

[Steven]

Oh yeah, I forgot about this. If everyone says it's good I'll go buy it eventually™. I wonder if any of the stores by my house have it. Maybe I'll go check when I'm not busy, which will take several days.

[To Far Away Times]

How is this game? Do you play the whole time invincible at the top of the stage reflecting shots or is it a bit more traditional?

I liked the art style of Radirigy 1 but wasn’t really into the gameplay.

[mojilove]

I'm really enjoying it. However, handheld mode on switch gets quite a lot of slowdown (framerate dips), especially when playing with the wooden "Kojirou" ship and using lots of bombs, which is a shame. I think it's a bit better in tv mode. Seems like there is a lot less slowdown in the playstation versions.

I haven't figured out the "round things" yet, but the "long things" are the rows of purple boxes in stages 3 and 4. There are two columns of boxes in each stage, and it seems like you need to destroy only one of the two columns in each stage to do that order. I haven't done it yet - it looks tricky.
as mentioned above, "shiny things" will take a lot of routing because I think there are exactly three of them in each stage so you need to hit all of them in all stages, in one go (continues are allowed at least though)
It seems like you get more "traces of Tadayo" (the round items with a bow on top - I call them "Tadayo items" because they increment the counter with her face on it) if you complete more orders, so it seems like a Swag situation where you need to play the game a lot to be able to get to the actual stage 5 boss, instead of a repeat of one of the previous bosses. Speaking of which, I can confirm that you get the stage 1 boss at the end of the game if you have 0 to 5 Tadayo items, and you get the stage 2 boss if you have 6 or more. I haven't finished a run with more than 10 so far (I've been working on the special orders), but extrapolating from that, you'd need 21 tadayo items to get the actual stage 5 boss. I'll report back once I play the game more (I'm at like 42% now and I'm gonna keep chipping away at it).

I found out on twitter that the "customization keys" in the shop add options to the button customization menu. for example, the default sword button will trigger the strongest attack you can do at your current G level, but with the added customizations, you can use the weaker sword attacks as long as they are useable at your current G level (this helps with grinding the "destroy enemy X with attack Y" orders, and maybe the "long things" order as well)

You unlock higher ranks as you play the game as well. You start on rank 0 but eventually you can bump it up to rank 2 in the settings menu to get more enemies and points.

How is this game? Do you play the whole time invincible at the top of the stage reflecting shots or is it a bit more traditional?

It is an invincibility fest during the stages with the second Kojirou ship once you get used to it. You can't bomb your way through bosses though. Also, you don't get max multiplier with that ship if you bomb all the time, so high-level scoring may require more deliberate play (I'm not at that level of optimization yet). The first ship is more technical from the outset and may take time to get used to because of the non-traditional twin-stick controls (but I personally enjoy the complexity)

[Steven]

I'd be quite interested to see a comparison of Radirgy's performance on NAOMI/Dreamcast/PS4/PS5/Switch/whatever else it's on (Wii I think?).

It looks like the price of Dreamcast copies of Radirgy has already increased by a lot, judging by what I have seen online. They used to be about 8000~10000 yen, but the copies I am seeing on Amazon and Surugaya are double that. Trader in Akiba usually has better/non-insane prices on everything, so I might go check to see if they have any copies out of curiosity when I get some time. I'm pretty busy lately, so it might take a while to get some time to go over there. Online prices are almost always inflated anyway; I can find the same stuff cheaper in town.

[locoBro1196]

I ended up panic buying what looked like the last available copy in Amazon JP (通常版 【Amazon.co.jp限定】version) for Switch.
I find it quite amazing that the game is already sold out for NSW and PS4 in Amazon JP. Are there really these very few copies available? As I doubt the game is popular at all outside of the shmup community...

Regardless, I've enjoyed Radirgy a lot (maybe except for the Swag iteration) since the Wii days. Really looking forward to playing this one.