[fw.net update] STGT '07 Replays

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:07 pm

twe wrote:Do you understand my point now?

Absolutely, and this is what I was asking you about the whole time, that I (not being a linguist expert by any means) could be wrong only if somehow the Japanese took the exact Chinese language but the Chinese changed with time or both languages changed with time, the latter case being the one you just explained.

It had previously been my belief that the Japanese chose to adopt different sounding versions of Chinese words for whatever reason but it seems that's not the case. If it did occur as you say (assuming you were actually using an real life example), then I can certainly see that Japanese took the Chinese language as faithfully as they were used to pronouncing, but that it was changes in time that rendered the 2 languages quite dissimilar. A logical explanation indeed for why Japanese did "take" the Chinese vernacular as well.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:20 pm

"Japanese and Finnish happen to have similar phonotactic structures"

Yeah, I've definately noticed that. Thanks for the info twe!

IlMrm · Post by **IlMrm** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:32 am

Just want to add that issue #59 has ads for GWG, Sol Divide/Dragon Blaze, and Insanity DVD The Onslaught Raiden Fighters, and The Madness Battle Garegga(I enjoyed typing those names

).

If only the Mushihimesama maps are in color. Right now it's hurting my head.

Post by **Icarus** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:05 am

Time for a completely new replay.

First up in a short Technosoft replay series, is Blast Wind. This is a ALL Clear run, taking a preferred, optimal scoring route, and is a No Miss to boot, ending the game with an excess of 7 lives for a total of 4.7mil.

I have a short series of notes taken during my quick three day session on the game, regarding tricks, tactics and theories. I'll post them up later on (nearly 4am, need to sleep, work in the morning

)

As usual, BitTorrent clients required to download. I've halted seeding on some torrents, only Bakraid, Raycrisis and DDP Special Version replays still seeding. Will reseed any in the short list posted a few posts above, on request. (Apologies for the slow upload speed

) The torrent file is available off the tracker, or from the frontpage.

I'll probably drop a small selection of music tracks up in the enxt few days, once I catch some much needed shuteye, and grab an extra hour's break from work to update the frontpage.

Darkcomet72 · Post by **Darkcomet72** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 12:49 am

Icarus wrote:Time for a completely new replay.

First up in a short Technosoft replay series, is Blast Wind. This is a ALL Clear run, taking a preferred, optimal scoring route, and is a No Miss to boot, ending the game with an excess of 7 lives for a total of 4.7mil.

I have a short series of notes taken during my quick three day session on the game, regarding tricks, tactics and theories. I'll post them up later on (nearly 4am, need to sleep, work in the morning )

As usual, BitTorrent clients required to download. I've halted seeding on some torrents, only Bakraid, Raycrisis and DDP Special Version replays still seeding. Will reseed any in the short list posted a few posts above, on request. (Apologies for the slow upload speed ) The torrent file is available off the tracker, or from the frontpage.

I'll probably drop a small selection of music tracks up in the enxt few days, once I catch some much needed shuteye, and grab an extra hour's break from work to update the frontpage.

THANK YOU for breaking that ice.

I finally get to see Blast wind in action...

Post by **Icarus** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:03 am

Hot on the heels of the Blast Wind replay is the second in the Technosoft replay series, Thunder Force IV.

This one is done on Normal difficulty, and is a No Miss ALL, for a total of 6,265,430pts. The video is kinda big at around 360MB, and 40mins in length, but is an almost perfect execution of weapon technique and speedy boss and enemy destruction (in my opinion, anyway

).

After spending the past week playing this, I realised how much I prefer TFIV and it's weapons and stages to the unbalanced weaponry of TFV. I still love TFV though

I'll consider doing a Maniac difficulty replay in the near future. Hyper Duel and TFV up soon.

As usual, a BitTorrent client is required to download, and any help with the seeding of the Blast Wind and TFIV replays is greatly appreciated. The torrent file is available off the tracker, or from the frontpage.

Happy downloading!

Darkcomet72 wrote:THANK YOU for breaking that ice. I finally get to see Blast wind in action...

You're welcome

It's not the most manic of verts, but then again, I haven't tried it on Very Hard yet

Post by **Icarus** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:03 am

They say a picture is worth a billion points.

The third of the Technosoft replay series is Thunder Force 5. This is a Normal difficulty ALL Clear, a No Miss, and a maximised score counter to boot. The torrent is now available on the tracker (after several failed attempts to encode the replay, which was tracked down to an access violation caused by a corrupt frame. Fixed

) Bittorrent client required as usual.

I'll continue to seed the Bakraid, Blast Wind and TF4 replays. Others on request.

Enjoy the replay.

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:27 am

*shakes fist at Icarus* Damn you and your TFV prowess.

Hopefully the TFV replay will download faster than the TFIV one. That took about two days before it even found a peer, then another 3 days before it fully downloaded. This one found a peer right off the bat.

Incidentally, you maxed out the onscreen counter, but is there a theoretical maximum score? I haven't seen the replay yet, I doubt you got the full multiplier on every enemy.

Post by **Icarus** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 8:27 am

alpha5099 wrote:Incidentally, you maxed out the onscreen counter, but is there a theoretical maximum score? I haven't seen the replay yet, I doubt you got the full multiplier on every enemy.

I missed quite a few 16x, and some enemies I could only manage 15x or 14x. With a bit of calculation, a possible maximum of 1.2bil is achievable if you really push and maybe achieve about 95% of all 16x.

It's very difficulty though, as you'd need to be playing at pointblank range with the Free Range all the way, with exceptional shield and CRAW management. I had to play this credit safe, as several times before I had come close to no-missing the game (with a much higher potential score) only to be whacked by one of the virtually unavoidable attacks of the last boss' third form. The last boss is probably worth even more points to push the theoretical max even higher, but getting even over 10x is difficult on the last two forms.

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:46 am

Bravissimo. I tip my hat to you, Icarus. Quite the impressive replay.

I was delighted to see that your weapons usage was pretty much the same as mine. I had just come up with strategies on my own, many of them were designed for survival, to avoid use of Free Range in tricky spots where I would be fucked if I lost it later. I thought my hunter use was amateurish, but apparently not. Luckily, it seems there won't have to be much modification to my tactics if I'm going to take you on (which I will).

I was surprised to see the wave. I don't think I ever used it. But it looks effective, I'll have to experiment.

The one thing that really left me confused was why you just stopped dead during the fight with The Guardian, slowly pelting her with hunter. It was like a minute solid of just nothing. Considering how fast you felled some of the other bosses, I was completely dumbfounded as to what you were accomplishing.

Question: Is it even possible to get 16X on the giant serpent in No Blue? 8 or 9 seems par for the course, I've probably hit double digits a few times.

Minor nitpick: During the ending, with the computer voice combining words, I swear I cannot hear her say "destroyed by me." Just "destroyed by you." All the other ones, I can hear both parts being said.

Post by **Icarus** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:29 am

Okay, to answer your post;

alpha5099 wrote:Bravissimo. I tip my hat to you, Icarus. Quite the impressive replay.

Thanks. First comment on my replays I've had.

alpha5099 wrote:I was delighted to see that your weapons usage was pretty much the same as mine. I had just come up with strategies on my own, many of them were designed for survival, to avoid use of Free Range in tricky spots where I would be fucked if I lost it later.

I never worry about losing the Free Range, since the whole of the game up to the Guardian is a bit of a cakewalk. It's the last form of the last boss that I have the most problems with, due to it's erratic movements and almost unavoidable attacks. I'm currently experimenting with attack patterns during the first two forms to try and conserve CRAW energy for the last form.

alpha5099 wrote:I thought my hunter use was amateurish, but apparently not.

If the weapon wasn't meant to be used, I wouldn't use it

In this respect, I find Twin Shot/Blade the most useless of weapons, only requiring them for one or two small sections of the game. Free Range and Hunter all the way.

alpha5099 wrote:Luckily, it seems there won't have to be much modification to my tactics if I'm going to take you on (which I will).

Look forward to seeing an updated score from you. Will give me incentive to play it again.

alpha5099 wrote:I was surprised to see the wave. I don't think I ever used it. But it looks effective, I'll have to experiment.

Like in TF3, Wave is only useful in some situations, where you need piercing wide ranged weaponry. It's too weak to be used effectively anywhere else though.

alpha5099 wrote:The one thing that really left me confused was why you just stopped dead during the fight with The Guardian, slowly pelting her with hunter. It was like a minute solid of just nothing. Considering how fast you felled some of the other bosses, I was completely dumbfounded as to what you were accomplishing.

CRAW regeneration, and to time out the first form. With a full set of CRAWs, it makes it easier to get 14x to 16x on the rest of her forms.

alpha5099 wrote:Question: Is it even possible to get 16X on the giant serpent in No Blue? 8 or 9 seems par for the course, I've probably hit double digits a few times.

Not entirely certain. You would need to find some way to get the serpent to coil around you so you can hit it with a Range 1 Overweaponed Free Range. Best I've had is 11x.

alpha5099 wrote:Minor nitpick: During the ending, with the computer voice combining words, I swear I cannot hear her say "destroyed by me." Just "destroyed by you." All the other ones, I can hear both parts being said.

There was a frame error in the source capture which stopped me from encoding a tiny (two or three frames worth) part of the ending. I had to delete a small chunk, and mask out the rest. the sound missing from the ending might attribute to that.

Good luck with the score hunt

I know exactly where I went wrong in the replay, so it shouldn't be much problem to try to increase my record.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:55 am

I am watching your TF4, and I think it's phenomenal. I've stopped after the boss with the flies because I haven't gotten far into the next level yet, and I don't want spoilers. I'm d/lding TF5 now, can't wait to watch that. BTW, I'm willing to seed the vids now and then when no one else in my network is using the internet (to avoid me being disconnected for slowing down everybody).

Post by **Icarus** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 4:32 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:I am watching your TF4, and I think it's phenomenal. I've stopped after the boss with the flies because I haven't gotten far into the next level yet, and I don't want spoilers. I'm d/lding TF5 now, can't wait to watch that.

Thanks for the kind comments

To tell you the truth, the TF4 replay took me the better part of a week relearning the game, and it's the 8th stage boss - the one with the flies - that caused the most problems. Not because it's particularly resilient to damage, but because of the lack of screen space in which to maneuver.

My original strategy for the first form - the two tentacles - was to hit each tentacle with Thunder Sword for a one-hit kill. The only risky thing about it was that if you missed, you were instantly hit by a tentacle, depleting a shield hit (or killed if you had no shield). To counter that, I developed the FreeWay method to take out one tentacle in safety, using the safe spots at the top and bottom of the screen.

The second form - where it floats about caried by the flies, and then peroidically dropped to the floor, firing around the screen - was also a problem, as if you attacked prematurely, the flies would be damaged and drift right at your ship, exploding in vertical jets of air which push you to the ceiling. The flies are easy to avoid usually, but if a whole cluster of jets catch you, it's instant death by ceiling. Waiting until all the flies gather on top of the boss, and then attacking with Thunder Sword, or when the boss is flying around, makes it a bit easier to dodge the air jets from the dead flies.

The third form - the boss carried by an erratically flying moth - gives you even less space to work with. The only key here is to attack the moth full force and quickly before it gets a chance to go crazy around the screen. Blade, Railgun, FreeWay and Thunder Sword work best here.

The fourth form - when it sits on the ground, screetching and firing air jets at you - is nothing to worry about. If you can get to this point without dying, then the rest of the game is not a problem

I'm quite pleased with the TF5 video, but I made a few minor errors during that run which resulted in a few missed 16x. But I know where to improve my run if I want to chase a higher score. Hopefully you'll enjoy the replay as much as I enjoyed making it

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:BTW, I'm willing to seed the vids now and then when no one else in my network is using the internet (to avoid me being disconnected for slowing down everybody).

Thanks for all the help, it's much appreciated. I'm still distributing TF4, TF5, Blast Wind and Bakraid. Hyper Duel and Thunderforce AC coming soon.

Post by **Icarus** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 2:43 am

The fourth and final part of the Technosoft replay series is Hyper Duel. This one, unlike the others, is not a No Miss, just a plain and simple high scoring ALL (2.17mil). I used my personal favourite, the BG02G Hi-Mustang (the red one), as it's the fastest, and has the best type of special attack for both ship and mech forms.

There were a few mistakes in this replay:

Took two Tracers to the fifth stage (Planetfall) by accident, even though I tried my hardest to get them killed during the battle with the Black Angel (stage 4 boss). As a result, they disrupted my strategy for medal generation on stage 5 :/
Got trapped in the corner during the battle with Nightmare (sixth boss) and lost my first life.
Missed the stage 7 100% destruction bonus.
Lost the remaining spare life stock on the Hyper Duelist (final boss) due to the erratic and random attacking patterns, and that godawful satellite laser beam.

I'm providing the replay as is though, and I'll consider updating it in the near future.

I'm not going to bother with TFAC and TF3 as I find them far too easy, and not much point since anyone can No Miss them with a bit of practice. Next up (and by request) will be a few clips from Harmful Park. Maybe an ALL replay

Now to find something to play.

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 4:10 am

Icarus, you are an inspiration.

What about Elemental Master? Or you could no miss Dragon's Fury. If anyone can beat a TechnoSoft game that has no end, it's you.

Post by **Icarus** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 1:46 pm

Ha. Ha. Ha. Hilarious.
</sarcasm>

kid aphex · Post by **kid aphex** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 7:53 am

I can't get the Hyper Duel replay to work --- just freezes my PC. Any advice?

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 9:34 am

I use XviD, and in particular, Koepi's beta binaries. Get them here: http://www.koepi.org/

tabithaboof · Post by **tabithaboof** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:01 pm

I dont suppose any wonderful person would consider seeding the Alucard GB2 run for a while? I am trying to learn that game and a vid would be oh so helpful. I am seeding the NAI DDP run which is the only thing anyone seems to need at the moment. But I check the traker evey now and again and try and help out as I can.

Just out of interest, I am sure most of us have stacks of replays on their HDs has anyone thought of setting up a page of Emule/donkey links? I have Emule running pretty much all the time for something where as I dont put on bit torrent to often as it seems to hammer my bandwidth.

elbarto · Post by **elbarto** » Mon May 02, 2005 8:55 am

Excellent Hyper Duel and TFIV runs! I can see I'm closer to the end of Hyper Duel than I thought now.. think I'll dig it out later on and give it another go.

tabithaboof wrote:I dont suppose any wonderful person would consider seeding the Alucard GB2 run for a while?

Yeah, if anyone could seed this, I'd appreciate it too. I'm currently seeding the Bakraid and Gradius III replays.

Post by **Icarus** » Sun May 08, 2005 1:15 am

The new site design has been held back for a few more days while I tweak it, and finish up some new graphics. For now though, I've released the scans from the new issue of Arcadia, no. 61.

What's featured?

Homura
Under Defeat
an interview with Cave's two programmers working on Ibara (more info in this forum thread)
strategies for Raiden 3
a huge guide to the character attack patterns in Senko no Ronde
the beautiful Ibara Graphic Arts concept art featurette.

All available from the frontpage.

I'm looking for a translator to help translate the Cave interview. Can anyone please help?

elbarto wrote:Excellent Hyper Duel and TFIV runs! I can see I'm closer to the end of Hyper Duel than I thought now.. think I'll dig it out later on and give it another go.

Thanks for the comments

Glad you enjoyed them. I made a few mistakes in the Hyper Duel run, but I'm pleased with the final result. I'll probably pop the stage 5 video with the correct method of medal generation up sometime soon.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun May 08, 2005 1:23 am

Awesome, thanks Icarus! I finally get to see what the man behind Garegga looks like. Shinobu Yagawa + Cave = best team up ever. Can't wait for the translation of the interview.

gunbird18 · Post by **gunbird18** » Sun May 08, 2005 5:24 am

Wow!

I know it has the Naomi/3-D look to it, but I am actually looking forward to Under Defeat!

A cross between Zero Gunner 2 and Ketsui can't be all bad, huh?

Post by **Icarus** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 1:35 am

Raiden DX replays available! These are from my current score records on the highscore thread, Training 8.8mil, and Novice 5.4mil No Miss, both on Normal Difficulty.

I've stopped seeding Progear, TFV and Hyper Duel to make way for these, and they can be reseeded on request.

Site design forthcoming, Arcadia 62 and 63 scans as well. A little behind schedule here

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:23 am

The new site design is now online and available to view. It's a bit work in progress but is functional, so please feel free to critique.

Just a few things to note:

The Scans section is not available yet as I haven't finished scanning in the shmup stuff from Arcadia 62 and 63. Have patience.
Work will begin on archiving the strategy discussion at Click-Stick.com for Mushihimesama, which will be available at FW.net. DEL might be adding to the archive with a short players guide, in time for the PS2 release (and subsequent highscore thread mania).
Ibara is coming home soon, and so will a strategy guide
The site might have issues with specific browsers, namely CSS, images and things. I need to tweak the design a bit to fix those issues, so bear with me a bit. Very busy ATM
Got some new tunes up as well.

New replays and stuff will be forthcoming, after I finalise the design. Until then, please enjoy what's up, and remember, the tracker is still available

MrMonkeyMan · Post by **MrMonkeyMan** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:43 am

Your new site design is killing my computer. It takes multiple seconds just to scroll up and down a page.

But it looks nice.

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:02 pm

MrMonkeyMan wrote:Your new site design is killing my computer. It takes multiple seconds just to scroll up and down a page.

Yeah, I am aware of that. I think it's the background fixing done in CSS that's causing the stuttery scrolling. Ever since they removed the HTML tag to do the same thing, it's been screwing up all sorts of potential designs. CSS is for text formatting, not images

I'm reworking the design, it should look a bit cleaner, and will probably remove the CSS background fixing in the next revision. I wanted to keep away from a techy looking site as they come ten to a penny for games sites, but it looks like I might have to do that kind of design after all

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:05 am

A new new site design is now online. I've tweaked the design a bit, and fixed a few formatting and display problems. There may be a few browser-specific issues, but I can't be bothered to install Opera, Netscape, Firefox etc to test and fix them

Also, the Scans section is now online with Arcadia issues 62 and 63 available. All the scans have been reuploaded so there shouldn't be any partial files now.

Stuff's on the frontpage. Enjoy!

zakk · Post by **zakk** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 6:45 am

I just added a torrent for Clover-TAC's ESPrade superplay video. I'll continue seeding this for a while, so start grabbing!

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 6:52 am

If I get a chance I might work on the Ibara articles a bit, but I'm in the middle of moving out of my apartment and trying to get back to the US, so I might not have time...