You really need to play Eschatos

[mastermx]

I keep getting the error message "Failed to initialize sound device" as soon as I press start on steam. The application refuses to work. I've tried uninstalling, reinstalling. I've disabled all sound devices, reinstalled sound drivers. Deleted the config file. It never ends. And it's the only game I have doing this. All my other steam shmups work fine. Can anyone help with this?

EDIT: I managed to get a pirated version to work. But it's quite sad. Dunno why I should pirate a game I've purchased! This is why I hate PC gaming so much, because of all this troubleshooting that comes with it.

EDIT2: running the pirated version of the game seems to have fixed the steam version!! I think I figured out the problem. The problem only occurs when I change the music version from "original" to "arranged". Dunno why this is happening, iirc i paid extra for the arranged sound!

I guess moral of the story. Piracy saves the day. lol

[rtw]

My Steam version works but the moment I select arranged music in the menu the game crashes

If anyone has a fix for this I would be very happy!

[mastermx]

My Steam version works but the moment I select arranged music in the menu the game crashes

If anyone has a fix for this I would be very happy!

I have the same issue, I'm still trying to figure it out. Weird because it was working perfectly fine last week with arrange music.

[mastermx]

Weird. Arranged is working today!!! I changed nothing!

[mastermx]

Well this explains everything!

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[rtw]

Well this explains everything!

Nice to see it is fixed, strangely the steam update info is kind of silent about it!

[Jasonbartfast]

In normal mode, what are the icons that appear in the bottom-right corner?

edit: nvm I figured it out soon after posting - they indicate the area number.

[Sima Tuna]

Eschatos is way cooler than I thought it would be. I watched all the shill videos ages ago but still didn't understand until I played it. I'm playing Original mode so I don't know if Advanced is better or worse.

[Arino]

I read the first post on page 1 and I am so convinced now. I will go and play it now. Sorry for not playing it sooner.

[To Far Away Times]

Eschatos is way cooler than I thought it would be. I watched all the shill videos ages ago but still didn't understand until I played it. I'm playing Original mode so I don't know if Advanced is better or worse.

Original is where it's at, in my experience.

[Sima Tuna]

Eschatos is way cooler than I thought it would be. I watched all the shill videos ages ago but still didn't understand until I played it. I'm playing Original mode so I don't know if Advanced is better or worse.

Original is where it's at, in my experience.

Seems like it. I did a quick tour in Advanced and I don't like it. Power ups just create Gradius Syndrome. Original using the floating bullet clear items is pretty elegant. It's like Turbo Force if Turbo Force was good.

[Some-Mist]

Get those normal clears and post a score on the hi score boards! It rips and is super doable

[samspot]

After reading this thread, buying, and playing for a few hours I feel you guys are underselling this. The rapid fire waves are such a thrill. And getting the two older games along with this for $13 USD is a steal.

[Arino]

And getting the two older games along with this for $13 USD is a steal.

Yeah I love how you can play the two WS games this way.

[Some-Mist]

After reading this thread, buying, and playing for a few hours I feel you guys are underselling this. The rapid fire waves are such a thrill. And getting the two older games along with this for $13 USD is a steal.

I think it's regarded pretty well on here tbh. after all it landed in the top 25 shmups of all time this year

[ratikal]

>Big post

As a previous avid scored of this game (56M in Hard), I have to agree with a lot what you said.

There really isn't much of a benefit for the time bonus except for 3 instances IIRC.

Area 2: If you use an F-bomb as soon certain enemies appear on screen, you can insta-kill them and get the max time bonus of 10,000 x multiplier (10)
Area 4: Same situation, 10,000 x multiplier (18)
Area 14: The 3 big balls. Each time you kill one, the timer resets. Therefore, you want to weaken all 3 and then take them out in quick succession. 200,000 x multiplier. Stage 3 is the hardest stage to keep your chain in because of Area 13.

The big issue is the time score bonus decreases so quickly. For Area 14, you have 1 second until it start's decreasing. But at 2 seconds, its already at 100,000. They really want you kill stuff quickly but the game never allows you kill these waves as quick. The only option is the F-bomb which is trade off. Enemies killed with F-bomb do not give any points. There is one section in Stage 5 that requires you have an F-bomb to pass it on Hard mode.

There's also conflicting strategies where it's better to just milk enemies with your high multiplier than to kill them quickly. Stage 1 boss, a section in stage 2, and Stage 4 boss come to mind. Original is all over the place with its direction.

The whole time aspect appears to be done much better in the time attack mode since you are scored purely on time. This allows you to let enemies go if it is quicker to do so.

I also agree with the WonderWitch's. At least with the DDP games, those hidden bee's are in the same place each time. The WonderWitch's can be swapped horizontally based on where you are when they spawned.

In the past, Eschatos was pretty special to me because it was "my" game in a way. It was the first game I did something monumental by taking a top score in the world at the time. However, your thoughts echo mine in the reasons I haven't really gone back to it since.

[maximo310]

>Big post

The big issue is the time score bonus decreases so quickly. For Area 14, you have 1 second until it start's decreasing. But at 2 seconds, its already at 100,000. They really want you kill stuff quickly but the game never allows you kill these waves as quick. The only option is the F-bomb which is trade off. Enemies killed with F-bomb do not give any points. There is one section in Stage 5 that requires you have an F-bomb to pass it on Hard mode.

Is that the first/second enemy wave for area 23 ( spinners/laser drones/spiral pattern enemies) or the one after? I'm never really sure how they expected people to do both without getting an F-bomb on both sections, especially as Hard/Hardest versions of that stage are pretty bullet-dense.


I do like how Hard patterns make you use your utilize a lot more for survival, but yeah some sections can be annoying for scoring either for certain random spawns ( like the missiles on 7/13) or just having to wait for a minimum amount of time for enemies to pass, which is handled better in other games like TD2 or Dangun Feveron. Dunno if I'm going to mess around with OG Hardest, but I've liked the time I spent with the game so far.

[M.Knight]

[...]

Interesting insight into the scoring! I wasn't fully aware of how fast the time bonus could decrease, and how the F-bomb shenanigans are necessary. It does seem like Time Attack might be more fitting for scoreplay indeed, though I imagine some of the quirks with randomness are still gonna be there. On the other hand, having to sometimes milk instead of speedkill sounds fun for extra variety of situations if it's not too frequent, but at the cost of that pure focus on speed yeah.

[Sima Tuna]

Is there a reason why Qute never made another arcade shmup like Eschatos again? Ginga Force and Natsuki Chronicles are very different experiences. I know Cardinal Sins was kind of experimental as well. I just find it interesting that Judgement Silversword and Eschatos are both very good conventional/caravan shmups and then after that, Qute didn't make more caravan games.

[hamfighterx]

That is a great question. But if we never get any clear answer, at least in my head I can just explain it as Qute unleashing Eschatos into the world and just... mic drop. Can't top that, so they just walked away at the top of their game.

[Steven]

I was under the impression that Qute is primarily a healthcare/consulting company or something like that and just makes games as a side thing just for the hell of it, so they make whatever they feel like making. They are working on first-person VR stuff for Natsuki Chronicles, last I checked, but that game does have a more traditional arcade mode (that I haven't played lol).

[Arino]

I was under the impression that Qute is primarily a healthcare/consulting company or something like that and just makes games as a side thing just for the hell of it, so they make whatever they feel like making. They are working on first-person VR stuff for Natsuki Chronicles, last I checked, but that game does have a more traditional arcade mode (that I haven't played lol).

You ever been to a Konami gym in Japan? There is nothing game related, is there?

[BrianC]

Reminds me of Bally. They used to be a pinball and video game company (and were partnered with Midway for awhile) and there was later a gym named Bally Total Fitness that had nothing to do with games.

[Sima Tuna]

That is a great question. But if we never get any clear answer, at least in my head I can just explain it as Qute unleashing Eschatos into the world and just... mic drop. Can't top that, so they just walked away at the top of their game.

It's hard not to agree with this answer. I love caravan shmups. Probably my favorite kind of shmup. If somebody came up to me to argue that Eschatos was the best caravan shmup of all time (some hardcore motherfuckin' gangbanger on the streets, getting in my face about shmups yo! ) I'd have nothing to say.

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

i agree w/ the thrEad title.

and tHat'z my opinion on the matter.

[Vexorg]

Reminds me of Bally. They used to be a pinball and video game company (and were partnered with Midway for awhile) and there was later a gym named Bally Total Fitness that had nothing to do with games.

Bally's primary business has been gambling for some time now (they run 17 casinos throughout the US, and also online gambling platforms and back-end systems for casinos.) I remember seeing the Bally Total Fitness gyms, and around the same time I also saw Bally branded exercise equipment being sold in stores. Their name is also now on what used to be the regional Fox Sports Networks as Bally Sports, but it appears that's more of a situation where they bought the naming rights and the actual networks are still being operated by the companies that Disney divested them to in their merger with Fox.