a few questions on Blazing Star

[VicViper_Mk2]

i been playing this awesome game for the past few days, in order to understand all the mechanics. i found a few puzzling questions.

you know that event angel thing, the round circle with wings. it starts out as yellow, but if ignore it and let it fly off screen the next time it appears it will be a different color, until you see one thats a flashing rainbow color. also i have encountered one where the kanji for "dream" (the first character of the developer "yumekobo" so what does these things do? they follow you for a while when you touch them, and flies off after a set time. are they some kind of score multiplier? or maybe you won't lose a power level if you die?

Has anyone else noticed that while the rapid fire is suppose to be stronger than the normal, yet in Aryustailm's case, the laser bolt is extremely weak. we're talking so weak that it cannot even destroy a one-hit fighter. so whats the point of this weapon anyway, is there a special way to use it, or its just Yumekobo giving us a big slap in the face and laughing at us?

at the ship selection screen, each ship is labeled to be a specific type. please tell me if my translation for it is accurate

Hellhound: Standard
the ship is balanced in both speed and power, with wide shots and tracking missiles.

Windina: Simple
Its simple because it has no extra weapons, just a simple yet powerful wave.

Aryustailm: Offensive
the ship's laser weaponry is very powerful, thus labeled offensive

Peplos: difficult
lack of coverage and low power weapon makes it difficult to shoot down stronger enemy.

Dino 135: Technical
my guess would be the two drones with their ability to block bullets, otherwise i don't know whats so technical about it

Dino 246: Defensive
with the addition of the pod and the drones, the ship is very well protected.

please correct anything that might be wrong or if i missed. much appreciated

[Shatterhand]

Actually, I believe that if you are using auto-fire, Peplos would be one of the best ships, as its firepower becomes incredibly strong. It's not the best ship for scoring, but it will destroy enemies very quickly, making survival easier.

[VicViper_Mk2]

you're right about using autofire, because its just too hard to rapid fire by tapping quickly. actually they should have made the default auto, or at least give an auto function.

[Shatterhand]

yeah, it ridiculous. Peplos "auto-fire" is nearly impossible to activate by actually tapping the button.

[BulletMagnet]

you know that event angel thing, the round circle with wings...are they some kind of score multiplier? or maybe you won't lose a power level if you die?

The first one is right, IIRC - if you get the "kanji-ed" one, as long as it lasts onscreen every enemy you shoot down will be worth the maximum multiplier (x128 I think).

Aryustailm: Offensive
the ship's laser weaponry is very powerful, thus labeled offensive

In addition, to do the most damage (and score highest) you have to use the close-range charge shot, which requires a risky, aggressive play style.

Dino 135: Technical
my guess would be the two drones with their ability to block bullets, otherwise i don't know whats so technical about it

You can also change the direction the drones shoot depending on the direction you move in, which gives you the ability to hit stuff on any side of you, though it can be tricky to do.

[VicViper_Mk2]

ok, so i know what the event angel is for (even though the kanji one doesn't really show you the multiplier on the screen) which leads to: how do you trigger it? at first my guess was to ignore all of them until the flashing one appears, then ignore that one and the next one would be the kanji one. but i remember seeing one in the first stage, and sometime i would even get 3 in a row. is it scored influenced (certain amount of score needed to trigger one) or its just random appearance.

In terms of normal shots i believe the Aryustailm's is the strongest, but too bad i cannot auto fire it with a auto trigger, as auto trigger would fire the rapid shot, which is the crappy laser bolt (disappointing because it looked so cool)

[zakk]

Pick up one of the floating angel items. Do not shoot while you have it. It will go away/time out, and the next one should be a rainbow+kanji one.


If you have a charge shot 'held' when you pick up the first angel, you can release it and it won't count as shooting.

[VicViper_Mk2]

i just found out the real purpose of the kanji one. when i have it, every enemy i shoot down gives a power-up (the one that power-up your main shot) quite awesome, the other angels gives score multiplier like bulletmagnet said. normally you only get multiplier by using your charge shot, i guess this is for those that like to use their main shots often.

and i did test out the method zakk mentioned. it does work. but i thought at the moment: if i don't shoot, how do i kill an enemy and get one? turns out i can shoot after the angel disappears. but this means i'll won't be able to shoot certain enemy, especially for those lucky panels.

[zakk]

The angels appear at regular intervals (of which I forget exactly what that interval is determined by)

It's just a matter of planning when to grab it, usually with a charge shot armed.

[VicViper_Mk2]

here is something else i discovered while playing. each ship has different way to gain the multiplier. For Aryustailm, any enemy destroyed during the charge shot is counted all the way up to 128. Hellhound and Peplos have to use their charge shot to destroy a group of enemy in one go, and after that the multipliers reset. For Windina i think the energy wave left by the fireball gets you the multiplier. For both the Dino's ship i think the green energy shots may count (thought it could just be the charge shot alone)

[shoe-sama]

It's all charge shot.

Windina has fastest multiplier build rate but cannot be reaimed once fired, Aryustailm has a lower build rate but charge shot lasts a long time, Hellhound and Peplos don't last very long but are ranged.

The Dinos can pointblank with pods in addition to charge shot. Pointblanking and Dino 246's Bomber Break have a really low maximum multiplier value though.

[Icarus]

Actually, I believe that if you are using auto-fire, Peplos would be one of the best ships, as its firepower becomes incredibly strong. It's not the best ship for scoring, but it will destroy enemies very quickly, making survival easier.

Not really. Peplos is B& in Japan as the rapid fire shot is so powerful it makes milking the babies on the last boss a breeze. Not even Windina can do that with any kind of efficiency.
Last time I heard, Peplos was counter-stoppable, while Windina could only go up to around 70-75mil tops.

[VicViper_Mk2]

interesting, i should get autofire back and try it out.

meanwhile, i still need an answer on Aryustailm's laser bolt. is it intentionally made weak, or is there a special way to use it that i'm not aware of yet?

[SFKhoa]

Not really. Peplos is B& in Japan as the rapid fire shot is so powerful it makes milking the babies on the last boss a breeze. Not even Windina can do that with any kind of efficiency.
Last time I heard, Peplos was counter-stoppable, while Windina could only go up to around 70-75mil tops.

You know how useful this could've been for last year's STGT?!

[Ghegs]

You know how useful this could've been for last year's STGT?!

This was known last year. I clearly remember Edge (or somebody else from the STGT staff) stating that the reason Peplos wasn't banned from our tournament was because their take on the subject was "If somebody's good enough to get that far and milk the last boss, he deserves the points".

[Shatterhand]

Yeah, I didn't manage to reach the babies that week, so it didn't make much of diference. That's why I stated Peplos isn't the best for scoring, because I personally couldn't do that trick.... anyway, I didn't know you could counter-stop the game with it... so thanx Icarus for correcting me anyway

[VicViper_Mk2]

whats counter-stop mean?

[CIT]

The score counter reaches it's highest point and cannot add another decimal point.

e.g.: 99,999,990

[VicViper_Mk2]

ok, thanks for clearing that up for me. I did a test with Peplos on autofire, and it is very strong, perhaps even stronger than Aryustailm's normal laser.