CYGNI: AGB | Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series 2023

[AntiramDSR]

This thread is amazing.

Truly one of the most impressive U-turns on a game that this esteemed site has seen?!

Isn’t it!? Haha!

I’ll share my opinions on the game when my disc arrives. Even if it is entirely mediocre, even if AntiramDSR is some kind of plant, it was worth it for this hilarious thread reversal.

that's the perfect moment to get me some icecold bottle of Krombacher (gilt hier bei uns als ein Bier für Mädchen)

[AntiramDSR]

but in all seriousness... while i take all that with good humour for myself... pls don't really think of the devs beeing some guys that would take such shady moves...

that's really nothing i want them to get called out for, only because of me realizing (far too late) that i went rampaging here like a closed minded idiot.

edit: exactly what a plant would say, damn it

[Samildanach]

Now, the overly suspicious cynic in me can't help but think that AntiramDSR is a very clever plant by the Cygni devs to pretend to mercilessly berate them initally then suddenly find it truly wonderful when they play the full game. It certainly would make us overly suspicious lot take interest. Apologies to AntiramDSR for my likely unfair aspersions!

Doesn't matter as I eventually always buy new shmups to do my bit for the industry, other than all the truly dreadful shovelware crap that the endlessly suffering Sturmvogel Prime heroically inflicts on him/herself. Quite how it's possible to get through them all is another problem, something that new shmup devs I think must have a really hard time against. For example, I have now exactly100 mostly as-yet-unplayed shmups in my backlog, all legitimately bought from the likes of Hamster/M2/City Connection/Capcom etc.; it's a great problem to have, but I am sure I am not alone in the fact that I now have too little time and too many great shmups.

absolutely no need to apologize, totally understandable...

i was just as surprised by this u-turn... also, and that's far more important to me on a personal note: i really began to feel bad about my comments in this thread, right after someone stated how all over the place everything got... and he was right with his complete post. then release-time came and it was really all so good and the more i got to began to like this game the more i began to regret my behavior in this thread... i'm a father of three... i wouldn't like seeing my own kids behaving this way and judge someone or something without really knowing. that's it... that and the fact that this game really is that good! which everyone should see if he really opens his mind for it... there are people on reddit who doesn't even consider trying it because of the length of stage one... that's just closed minded stubborness. that i also needed to get rid of... tbth

also, the baddest way to self-introduce into a forum to ramble on people. :/

The waffle you've quoted above was from me by the way!

Good on you for admitting when you were wrong, the internet could do with more people admitting this (though even better if we all took a moment before posting anything negative in the first place )

Anyway, if this more prominent shmup is good for both the casual crowd and the shmup community then that can only be a good thing.

[AntiramDSR]

ooops, your right... i'm editing posts and quotes on my cellphone. it's clumsy as hell.

[ExitPlanetDust]

but in all seriousness... while i take all that with good humour for myself... pls don't really think of the devs beeing some guys that would take such shady moves...

that's really nothing i want them to get called out for, only because of me realizing (far too late) that i went rampaging here like a closed minded idiot.

edit: exactly what a plant would say, damn it

You’re good, mate. Cheers! Mad respect for being humble enough to come back in here and openly admit your change of opinion.

[AntiramDSR]

but in all seriousness... while i take all that with good humour for myself... pls don't really think of the devs beeing some guys that would take such shady moves...

that's really nothing i want them to get called out for, only because of me realizing (far too late) that i went rampaging here like a closed minded idiot.

edit: exactly what a plant would say, damn it

You’re good, mate. Cheers! Mad respect for being humble enough to come back in here and openly admit your change of opinion.

another bottle of Krombacher on that. Cheers!

[AntiramDSR]

funny on all that... usually it's the complete other way around with me. i waited patiently all the years during R-Type Final 2s development beeing totally convinced that this will be the shmup i'm going to play the shit out of in the future... ignored marcs review and all the critics that came up, bought all it's dlc... really all of them, at full price. even when i secretely found out that something feels odd there, that didn't stop me from buying all the latest dlc they kept coming up with.

in the end i accepted the game beeing a complete failure and one of my most regrettable purchases regarding the amount of money spent. never will touch anything from Granzella again.

i also can't think of any digital released shnup on xbox live and steam that i may have overlooked to buy... but ask me about playtime on most of them

aren't we all some kind of collectors here? <3

all of you, have a good night!

Edit: someone just commented this in my giant wall of text i postet on /shmups at reddit over the day and it's so perfectly simple put that i just need to share it:

"I like it. The bullets seem overwhelming until you realize you're supposed to tank damage and grab the generous shield energy just to dump them into missiles and grab more."

now i stop talking, promised

[Aceskies]

I tried arcade mode, I think it is hard difficulty locked? or else I cant find what it is. Its definitely much more challenging than story, it took me 4 tries to beat stage 1.

I would say the hardest thing in the game is to deal with these sections where tens of enemies and bullets 100% invade the screen, its hard to tell what to do, most of the time I act as if most of the bullets are tracking you but I end up eating damage like a champion.

After reading some reviews its clear that the game is suffering a considerable degree of misunderstanding. So many people (reviewers or steam users) saying the game mechanics are bad but no one explaining why. That is an issue of the game not explaining the gameplay properly (power ups / shields / missiles management) and maybe the ground shooting not being auto lock on. Sad to see this situation but nothing new in the genre.

[-Fish-]

I tried arcade mode, I think it is hard difficulty locked? or else I cant find what it is. Its definitely much more challenging than story, it took me 4 tries to beat stage 1.

I would say the hardest thing in the game is to deal with these sections where tens of enemies and bullets 100% invade the screen, its hard to tell what to do, most of the time I act as if most of the bullets are tracking you but I end up eating damage like a champion.

After reading some reviews its clear that the game is suffering a considerable degree of misunderstanding. So many people (reviewers or steam users) saying the game mechanics are bad but no one explaining why. That is an issue of the game not explaining the gameplay properly (power ups / shields / missiles management) and maybe the ground shooting not being auto lock on. Sad to see this situation but nothing new in the genre.

If you are using a controller something I found helpful is turning the in-game sensitivity up to Max (6) and use the d-pad for movement instead of the analog stick. This will allow you to micro dodge much easier. Or of course use keyboard ftw

Yes you are correct in terms of people misunderstanding the game. It took me a good hour or two to fully understand the controls and power manipulation. It is not a shmup you jump into and press "A" to succeed. It takes practice and understanding of new systems with multiple controls and as we know many players of the newer generation lack patience. I forsee many gamers simply attracted to the graphics, as a moth to the flame, ending up leaving frustrated.

[Lethe]

The concept of reviewers spending so long misrepresenting traditional shmups only to do a full 360° turn right into misrepresenting this one is utterly hilarious.

[m.sniffles.esq]

The concept of reviewers spending so long misrepresenting traditional shmups only to do a full 360° turn right into misrepresenting this one is utterly hilarious.

In all fairness, the career life-span of the average professional video game critic is usually very, very short. So it's safe to say the person that misrepresented 'x' 10-15 years ago, and the person currently misrepresenting the game of the thread title have pretty much nothing to do with each other outside of a job title.

just saying

[fuse]

While I'd not be surprised to learn many folks might've cancelled pre-orders of a disc on the back of the Epic Store freebie coming 2 days after release, I kept mine, only to get an email from Amazon telling me that they're encountering delays shipping my order. Right now they don't even have an estimated date for when it's going to ship. Anyone happen to know what's up?

[soupbones]

I tried arcade mode, I think it is hard difficulty locked? or else I cant find what it is. Its definitely much more challenging than story, it took me 4 tries to beat stage 1.

I would say the hardest thing in the game is to deal with these sections where tens of enemies and bullets 100% invade the screen, its hard to tell what to do, most of the time I act as if most of the bullets are tracking you but I end up eating damage like a champion.

After reading some reviews its clear that the game is suffering a considerable degree of misunderstanding. So many people (reviewers or steam users) saying the game mechanics are bad but no one explaining why. That is an issue of the game not explaining the gameplay properly (power ups / shields / missiles management) and maybe the ground shooting not being auto lock on. Sad to see this situation but nothing new in the genre.

If you are using a controller something I found helpful is turning the in-game sensitivity up to Max (6) and use the d-pad for movement instead of the analog stick. This will allow you to micro dodge much easier. Or of course use keyboard ftw

Yes you are correct in terms of people misunderstanding the game. It took me a good hour or two to fully understand the controls and power manipulation. It is not a shmup you jump into and press "A" to succeed. It takes practice and understanding of new systems with multiple controls and as we know many players of the newer generation lack patience. I forsee many gamers simply attracted to the graphics, as a moth to the flame, ending up leaving frustrated.

I'm guilty of going into this game expecting a traditional shmups of sorts and was taking by surprise when I actually played it. But after spending an hour with it last night, some of it started to click with me. I think dropping it down to Easy Mode is the way to go when first starting this - as the poor explanation of systems coupled with the initial difficulty can be really frustrating. I was definitely saying "WTF is going on here" when first playing. Slowing things down to Easy did wonders.

I'm still trying to understanding the load-out and power-up stuff in between missions - but the L1/R1 balancing of your energy to shields/weapons is actually pretty cool. The graphics are seriously amazing - the whole thing is a spectacle. The music on the other hand, sounds like a mismatch to me - but to each their own.

Great game overall so far -

[-Fish-]

I tried arcade mode, I think it is hard difficulty locked? or else I cant find what it is. Its definitely much more challenging than story, it took me 4 tries to beat stage 1.

I would say the hardest thing in the game is to deal with these sections where tens of enemies and bullets 100% invade the screen, its hard to tell what to do, most of the time I act as if most of the bullets are tracking you but I end up eating damage like a champion.

After reading some reviews its clear that the game is suffering a considerable degree of misunderstanding. So many people (reviewers or steam users) saying the game mechanics are bad but no one explaining why. That is an issue of the game not explaining the gameplay properly (power ups / shields / missiles management) and maybe the ground shooting not being auto lock on. Sad to see this situation but nothing new in the genre.

If you are using a controller something I found helpful is turning the in-game sensitivity up to Max (6) and use the d-pad for movement instead of the analog stick. This will allow you to micro dodge much easier. Or of course use keyboard ftw

Yes you are correct in terms of people misunderstanding the game. It took me a good hour or two to fully understand the controls and power manipulation. It is not a shmup you jump into and press "A" to succeed. It takes practice and understanding of new systems with multiple controls and as we know many players of the newer generation lack patience. I forsee many gamers simply attracted to the graphics, as a moth to the flame, ending up leaving frustrated.

I'm guilty of going into this game expecting a traditional shmups of sorts and was taking by surprise when I actually played it. But after spending an hour with it last night, some of it started to click with me. I think dropping it down to Easy Mode is the way to go when first starting this - as the poor explanation of systems coupled with the initial difficulty can be really frustrating. I was definitely saying "WTF is going on here" when first playing. Slowing things down to Easy did wonders.

I'm still trying to understanding the load-out and power-up stuff in between missions - but the L1/R1 balancing of your energy to shields/weapons is actually pretty cool. The graphics are seriously amazing - the whole thing is a spectacle. The music on the other hand, sounds like a mismatch to me - but to each their own.

Great game overall so far -

There is some pretty in-depth loadout customization in regards to shot patterns spread and also homing shot percentages, the later half of which is accessible in arcade mode.

More importantly, there are also 6 tier levels of shot selections which can be cycled through real time during play. As long as you have enough power diverted to the ships weapons system all 6 selections are available. Starting at shot selection 1 all the way to selection 6 I believe there is a 5% power increase going upwards with each. So for instance you could set the most powerful shot selection (6) to be a narrow shot on both the player ship and on drones for faster boss takedowns. Or alternatively, you could set slot 6 to a wide spread shot with larger percentage of homing shots to have an easier time traversing stages with numerous enemy placements on both side of the screen. Furthermore, you can also actually create your own shot spread patterns in one of the build menus.

It's quite a bit to take it in. I used the Konami code at the title screen to unlock everything instantly so I could play around with it all and to not wait on slowly unlocking everything.

[ExitPlanetDust]

While I'd not be surprised to learn many folks might've cancelled pre-orders of a disc on the back of the Epic Store freebie coming 2 days after release, I kept mine, only to get an email from Amazon telling me that they're encountering delays shipping my order. Right now they don't even have an estimated date for when it's going to ship. Anyone happen to know what's up?

I ordered a PS5 disc from Amazon months ago and the release and arrival dates have held firm. As of now I should have it in hand tomorrow. I’ve seen posts online from others who have had their orders canceled (in the US). Amazon is the only retailer carrying the game now, though I could swear I saw listings through outlets like GameStop and Best Buy about a month ago. Amazon’s delivery date has been pushed back to a week from now if someone orders today.

I’m assuming this was a very low initial pressing and that preorders through other outlets were likely so low that those retailers canceled their listings all together. Hopefully Amazon’s updates are correct and they are getting more in stock.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Cygni: All Guns Blazing works 100% on the Steam Deck -- it's a 20.5gb d/l though.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[AntiramDSR]

omg, those steam reviews and comments from some people... some highlights:

"i can't see anything"
---
"bUt iN cRImZoN CloVeR i mAnAGed to gEt to StaGe fOur wiThOut eVeN getTinG hIT at aLL, tHiS iS GaRbagE"
---
"why so many buttons, skyforce had 2 only"
---
"every indie dev could have done a better shmup with this gfx"
---
"what a pos, refunded after 10 minutes"
---
"why are the controls so complicated, why do controllers even have so many buttons, i can't with so many buttons... help"
---
loud user: "DEVS GIVE US WINDOWMODE WHY CANT I PLAY IN WINDOWED MODE LIKE EVERY OTHER GAME LET ME PLAY IN A WINDOW WHATS THAT I CAN'T BELIEVE ITS NOT POSSIBLE 11!!1?1?!?11%¢£$®"

nice user: "hi, press ALT+ENTER on the Menu-Screen

silent user: "........."
---
0.1 hours on record
"noffing spefial"
---
"It's a modern version of Space Invaders. Not worth the discounted price paid. Wait til it's 10 bucks."
---
Product refunded

"An amazing shmup.
But...
Why is it free on EGS?!
F**k you and gimme my $ back I ain't your cash cow"
---
"only 7 missions, lol"
---
and my absolute favorite:

"However, with that being said I cannot recommend this game simple for this one reason. It maxes out at 60fps. That is a incredibly and dastardly sin against very fast action games such as these. Unforgivable. 60fps should be for ultra maxed out 4k settings on RPG's. 120fps, 240fps, and 480fps are for games like these with 120 being the minimum acceptable standard."

and we worried about gaming-journalists

[-Fish-]

omg, those steam reviews and comments from some people... some highlights:

"i can't see anything"
---
"bUt iN cRImZoN CloVeR i mAnAGed to gEt to StaGe fOur wiThOut eVeN getTinG hIT at aLL, tHiS iS GaRbagE"
---
"why so many buttons, skyforce had 2 only"
---
"every indie dev could have done a better shmup with this gfx"
---
"what a pos, refunded after 10 minutes"
---
"why are the controls so complicated, why do controllers even have so many buttons, i can't with so many buttons... help"
---
loud user: "DEVS GIVE US WINDOWMODE WHY CANT I PLAY IN WINDOWED MODE LIKE EVERY OTHER GAME LET ME PLAY IN A WINDOW WHATS THAT I CAN'T BELIEVE ITS NOT POSSIBLE 11!!1?1?!?11%¢£$®"

nice user: "hi, press ALT+ENTER on the Menu-Screen

silent user: "........."
---
0.1 hours on record
"noffing spefial"
---
"It's a modern version of Space Invaders. Not worth the discounted price paid. Wait til it's 10 bucks."
---
Product refunded

"An amazing shmup.
But...
Why is it free on EGS?!
F**k you and gimme my $ back I ain't your cash cow"
---
"only 7 missions, lol"
---
and my absolute favorite:

"However, with that being said I cannot recommend this game simple for this one reason. It maxes out at 60fps. That is a incredibly and dastardly sin against very fast action games such as these. Unforgivable. 60fps should be for ultra maxed out 4k settings on RPG's. 120fps, 240fps, and 480fps are for games like these with 120 being the minimum acceptable standard."

and we worried about gaming-journalists

Hehe welcome to the Steam forums my friend

I am there as well, in the mix,.but trying to help a few players and communicate ideas to the devs in regards to arcade mode. But yes Steam forums and reviews just in general are a toxic (but sometimes interesting) place.

[BurlyHeart]

Hehe welcome to the Steam forums my friend

I am there as well, in the mix,.but trying to help a few players and communicate ideas to the devs in regards to arcade mode. But yes Steam forums and reviews just in general are a toxic (but sometimes interesting) place.

I see you quite regularly popping up in the discussions and actually often check your reviews before buying a game.

[Aceskies]

I was trying to use a

If you are using a controller something I found helpful is turning the in-game sensitivity up to Max (6) and use the d-pad for movement instead of the analog stick. This will allow you to micro dodge much easier. Or of course use keyboard ftw

Yes you are correct in terms of people misunderstanding the game. It took me a good hour or two to fully understand the controls and power manipulation. It is not a shmup you jump into and press "A" to succeed. It takes practice and understanding of new systems with multiple controls and as we know many players of the newer generation lack patience. I forsee many gamers simply attracted to the graphics, as a moth to the flame, ending up leaving frustrated.

Maximizing the sensitivity did help but I feel that I lose accuracy when using dpad, as weird as it is for a shmup. The point being that you can manipulate the speed with the joystick and that definitely is helpful for some sections, not sure why, feels more natural. I think this is the first time I use controller joystick for a shmup

btw I am working my way through story mode on medium difficulty, it is incredibly fun. The main difference with easy is that in medium, it is mandatory to configure your shot presets (fire angle), and in some stages you MUST kill some ground enemies quickly or you'll be destroyed at some point. @-Fish- provided a great explanation about fire presets, it is very easy to use but the game does a terrible job at teaching you how they work. I didnt know about the 5% extra damage in each tier, how did you realized?

Antother thing I really like is how much decision making you have to do in this game. Im sure some if not all of you have reached the last 10% of a boss with 6 shields and thought: I can fucking BURN all the shields now and kill this bastard with missiles!!!! it is risky but really satisfying.

[-Fish-]

Aceskies,

I looked back through my notes and the damage modifier I initially stated is wrong.

These are the correct damage modifiers according to devs:

Slot 6 - 10% ^
Slot 5 - 8% ^
Slot 4 - 6% ^
Slot 3 - 4 % ^
Slot 2 - 2% ^
Slot 1 - 0%

Yes on many bosses transfering all ship power to weapons and launching off vollies of missiles is a quick finisher.

Something else helpful to remember is transferring all ship power to weapons just before picking up large clusters of power canisters so you instantly end up becoming max level in both shield and weapon power. You may have to stagger the pick up in order to adjust power accordingly. If you turn the hud that surrounds your ship to a permanent on state in the game options its easier to monitor power levels.

[denisb]

Any thoughts on why the developer has chosen to make the game appear less approachable than it needs to be?
I'm thinking about stuffing the (bare bones) tutorial away, setting default options to be visually pleasing but at the cost of usability (screen shaking, no HUD / status not permanently visible), and then having the difficulty at "Medium" being very punishing.

To me this is a missed opportunity. Obviously the game looks really great, even though the cut-scenes are mostly an annoyance after a few times, and could likely appeal to people that don't normally buy shmups. Then I would want the game to convert them to liking the experience, and instead I feel the game gives you a cold shoulder as it is. I think in that sense it's not a good "gateway shmup" at all?

[-Fish-]

Any thoughts on why the developer has chosen to make the game appear less approachable than it needs to be?
I'm thinking about stuffing the (bare bones) tutorial away, setting default options to be visually pleasing but at the cost of usability (screen shaking, no HUD / status not permanently visible), and then having the difficulty at "Medium" being very punishing.

To me this is a missed opportunity. Obviously the game looks really great, even though the cut-scenes are mostly an annoyance after a few times, and could likely appeal to people that don't normally buy shmups. Then I would want the game to convert them to liking the experience, and instead I feel the game gives you a cold shoulder as it is. I think in that sense it's not a good "gateway shmup" at all?

From what I have heard the devs ran out of develeopment time. Though they will be updating the arcade mode with more features to make it complete in future patches. It's definitely not user friendly for a casual though you are correct. It probably needed a longer tutorial area and imbedded explanation videos for the ship build area.

[AntiramDSR]

Any thoughts on why the developer has chosen to make the game appear less approachable than it needs to be?
I'm thinking about stuffing the (bare bones) tutorial away, setting default options to be visually pleasing but at the cost of usability (screen shaking, no HUD / status not permanently visible), and then having the difficulty at "Medium" being very punishing.

To me this is a missed opportunity. Obviously the game looks really great, even though the cut-scenes are mostly an annoyance after a few times, and could likely appeal to people that don't normally buy shmups. Then I would want the game to convert them to liking the experience, and instead I feel the game gives you a cold shoulder as it is. I think in that sense it's not a good "gateway shmup" at all?

From what I have heard the devs ran out of develeopment time. Though they will be updating the arcade mode with more features to make it complete in future patches. It's definitely not user friendly for a casual though you are correct. It probably needed a longer tutorial area and imbedded explanation videos for the ship build area.

also, if the devs are going to read this... there are some onscreen-info-options that should be on by default for more clarity. i'm the sort of player who whenever get's a new game first watch at the settings, but after reading some of the user-steam-reviews some can't be bothered pressing THAT many buttons...

[Nautilus]

Any thoughts on why the developer has chosen to make the game appear less approachable than it needs to be?
I'm thinking about stuffing the (bare bones) tutorial away, setting default options to be visually pleasing but at the cost of usability (screen shaking, no HUD / status not permanently visible), and then having the difficulty at "Medium" being very punishing.

To me this is a missed opportunity. Obviously the game looks really great, even though the cut-scenes are mostly an annoyance after a few times, and could likely appeal to people that don't normally buy shmups. Then I would want the game to convert them to liking the experience, and instead I feel the game gives you a cold shoulder as it is. I think in that sense it's not a good "gateway shmup" at all?

From what I have heard the devs ran out of develeopment time. Though they will be updating the arcade mode with more features to make it complete in future patches. It's definitely not user friendly for a casual though you are correct. It probably needed a longer tutorial area and imbedded explanation videos for the ship build area.

also, if the devs are going to read this... there are some onscreen-info-options that should be on by default for more clarity. i'm the sort of player who whenever get's a new game first watch at the settings, but after reading some of the user-steam-reviews some can't be bothered pressing THAT many buttons...

Hi everyone, and once again thanks for all the support and filling in info when and where we can't.

We have begun a patch list already and one of the things we want to look at is providing more info in general for better accessibility purposes, Some of the points:

1 - More info on weapons and weapon management in upgrades (potentially shifting UI around).
2 - Perhaps a mandatory tutorial before game start or a note at least (many seem to skip this).
3 - If time allows More illustrative info on weapons and general stragety/usage tips.

And more balances, minor bug fixes and quality of life additons we would like to make.

If anyone has preferences please do let us know or keep us a note here, no promises if it'll all pull through, but if its feasable we will certainly want to try.

Best,

[-Fish-]

Nautilus,

Thanks for posting. I've already been annoying enough on the Steam forums with a million suggestions but I'll just jot down a quick list of things I remember mentioning:

1. Add normal and easy difficulty selections for arcade mode with separate leaderboards.

2. Add a very hard difficulty for all game modes. Hard is currently going to end up being easy with a bit of practice.

3. Add a non-looping arcade mode with separate leaderboards. Playing non-stop for 1 1/2 hours is already almost too demanding. Looping on top of that is not fun. If the game was merely 20-30 mins per run then looping would make sense.

4. The players total score in arcade mode should show as accumulating when advancing stages and always display the total on screen. Currently total score is only added up silently in the background.

5. Score and total bonuses need to be displayed in some format between stages and specifically after failure (Game Over) in arcade mode.

6. Arcade leaderboards need a filtering option for player score and Steam friends.

7. Possible addition of more in-depth scoring method in arcade mode. I believe I had mentioned making energy canisters double as bonuses. If the players shield and weapon power are already at max during pickup the canisters would then act like points medals. I'm sure you devs will think of other areas to increase score depth as well.

8. Give an option to remove acceleration from both the digital and analog movement. An immediate 1:1 ratio may feel better to players that are into shmups.


Good luck with game sales and any future updates!

[ExitPlanetDust]

Got my disc in the mail today and installed with the PS5 offline. I’m happy to report that the QOL updates did make it onto the disc. The movement is radically different between the tutorial and the actual game though.

I hopped into the first level for a few waves and a miniboss and yeah… yeah, I can totally see what they were going for here. This is good. I mean this with the most love and respect, but this is wonderful experimental PS1 and 2 era shit. Like “yo we just got access to CD/DVD technology and oodles of storage so let’s see how much we can cram into the AV experience” kind of stuff. I just went full on dual stick, maxing out weapons and carving a path. Analog control is super precise on sensitivity 1, but I’m going to bump it up to see how fast I can get before I’m running into everything. I was able to tap dodge and thread through bullets, but the Orca’s hit box seems large.

I’ll dive in further after this meeting I have to attend.

[Wooph]

Got the game on Epic. Started on medium and completed story mode in one sitting. It's... okay. Pacing feels uneven, first level is very long for some reason. The levels and enemies feel very "samey", with not much variation in bullet patterns. Bosses tend to drag out longer than necessary and aren't particularly exciting.

Tips for new players: Keep your weapons gauge maxed out. Whenever the energy pickups are readily available you should be spamming missiles.

[Aceskies]

Hi Nautilus, glad you are here and ready to listen! how was the launch? if you can provide a bit of info, that would be awesome.

My main issue with the game is the lack of information in general. The difficulty in arcade mode is not visible, the extra damage of each weapon slot is not shown, the tutorial does not talk about shot configuration, it is not clear how to get more points to unlock upgrades, things like that. Most of these you figure out sooner or later but it does not help to get engaged on first contact.

And after beating story mode 3 times i still dont fully understand the upgrades screen. I feel that should be redone entirely somehow.

Another thing is I found not many training options, like practice mode, allowing you to practice a specific section of a stage, or the ability to do credit feed. Not good also that hi scores are lost in story mode when not the highest one, and some type of badges to unlock related to scoring.

[beer gas canister]

The lack of checkpoints is driving me crazy. I don't want to play the first 15 minutes of level 1 again. Maybe I should switch from medium to easy and rack up some upgrades?

The ship feels at once insanely powerful and wimpy, and it's hard to know if my performance is improving. I keep taking runs at the first level, getting a bit further, then dying, half the time from spamming the shield button too fast, and every retry dims my excitement because there's not much point in improving my plan from run to run, aside from a couple of setpieces and bosses. I'm memorizing enemy placements but it isn't helping much.

Although there are piles of popcorn enemies, several waves consist entirely of ships that take multiple hits, and they flit side to side on the screen so fast that I can't tell which to focus on to finish a kill. So I just jam the missle button once or twice and keep strafing, hoping that my errant fire will kill a few. Maybe I'm missing some element of strategy here but it feels like I just flail around a lot and hope for the best.