Who is going to take the first plunge on Soldner X?

Iaspis · Post by **Iaspis** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:25 pm

I think there are 3 basic categories that should cover almost every shmup ever made:

1) Retrosmups
2) Modern manic shmups
3) Modern non-manic shmups (aka Euroshmups)

Each category is there to satisfy different gaming needs. Retroshmups (aka 80's shmups) focus on strong (and sometimes truly original) gameplay and often win the bet by having many hardcore fans in their ranks, who in many cases are people in their 30's (like me), or even older. Manics aim at slightly younger ages, offer better graphic quality and are very challenging, which is what makes them so appealing. Euroshmups offer a wide range of eye candy, often some good tunes to listen to during the fight, but the difficulty levels are dramatically reduced (often by the presence of life bars), making them suitable for youngsters or non-shmup players who want to play something different.

In our case, Soldner-X should qualify in category 3. Sure it should seem boring to a manic fan, or too "shiny" and complicated to a retro fan, but what if you are , let's say, a FPS or RTS fan who wants to try something new? It should be a great start in my opinion.

Gwyrgyn Blood · Post by **Gwyrgyn Blood** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:18 pm

This game isn't really that easy though. Even with a life bar, there are sections which are pretty much instant death if you aren't on the ball. Mines in particular will completely wreck you, even on Easy mode.

The problem isn't that it wants to be a euroshmup with a life bar, the problem is that it's a euroshmup trying to be a game played seriously for score, but having terrible balance and pacing in the process. If they got the balance and pacing right, it could be a pretty good game.

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:35 pm

Indeed it is hard....and what makes it harder is that lag because you simply can't stop between two close lasers properly.

In an arcade shump, if you stopped moving to dodge between bullets or buzz, you either stop or you were to late.

I mean the whole concept of buzzing hightlights exactly how precise hardcore players play and how tight the controls have to be.

Its almost like trying to impress for the sake of doing so, yet its got to be said that only 'euroshumps' actually do it.

I think that alone could do it for me. The weapons are on the weak side and theres certainly something fresh(ish) concept to be gained from having extra power with a low shield but as said, it needs extra strength to warrant the risk.

The rocket is also the most pointless weapon i've ever used as it can effectively kills chains.

Gwyrgyn Blood · Post by **Gwyrgyn Blood** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:53 pm

I think the point of rockets is to store them up and spam them on the boss of a world, seeing as your chain gets reset in the next world anyway.

Iaspis · Post by **Iaspis** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:21 pm

Gwyrgyn Blood wrote:This game isn't really that easy though. Even with a life bar, there are sections which are pretty much instant death if you aren't on the ball. Mines in particular will completely wreck you, even on Easy mode.

It's not that hard compared to Jets 'n' Guns, which features the "Fatal Mistake" factor (aka "Touch-that-and-its-byebye"). You have some lives along with the energy bar to aid you too. Mines are not instant killers here.

pixelcorps · Post by **pixelcorps** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:56 pm

It seems playasia is NOT publishing any negative reviews on this game.

nlen83 · Post by **nlen83** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:24 pm

pixelcorps wrote:It seems playasia is NOT publishing any negative reviews on this game.

That's fucked up...all because they are obviously having a hell of a time selling the game at $50, considering the initial 3000 copies that are still up for grabs.

I hope the game is good and all seeing as how its on its way to my house but if someone has some solid criticism which i'm sure most of us here do it should be posted in their review system. I like play asia less now...

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:02 am

P_HAT wrote:Edit
Afterbirth wrote: Trouble Witches plays a f*** awesome hori game.

Trouble Witches!
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/studio-siesta/
http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/tw_screen_shot2.htm

[img]http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/eng/tw_jyake_for_english.jpg[/img]

[img]http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/system/tw_sys_gamen2.jpg[/img][img]http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/screen_shot/20070810_153752.jpg[/img]

That sure looks like a cool game, but then again I could expect nothing less from the creators of Airraid series

I'll be sure to check this out.

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:26 pm

Its about as good as it gets, short of buying PCB's.
Even Studio Siesta's childrens TV shmup AiR RADE was bloody awesome - It kinda stole Cotton's Chain idea but thats said, it plays a mean game.

The music in TW's in sublime as well. All orchestrated like a FF RPGs.
Gives me goosebumps.

pixelcorps · Post by **pixelcorps** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:40 pm

ST Dragon wrote:
P_HAT wrote:Edit
Afterbirth wrote: Trouble Witches plays a f*** awesome hori game.
Trouble Witches!
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/studio-siesta/
http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/tw_screen_shot2.htm

That sure looks like a cool game, but then again I could expect nothing less from the creators of Airraid series
I'll be sure to check this out.

it's very nice and the music is fantastic, and probably cheaper and dfeinitely more fun than ZOLDNER EGGZ!

koda · Post by **koda** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:30 pm

pixelcorps wrote:It seems playasia is NOT publishing any negative reviews on this game.

Wow. That is seriously lame.

pixelcorps · Post by **pixelcorps** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:57 pm

ok, I take that back, they finally published my comments. please disregard.

nlen83 · Post by **nlen83** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:07 pm

Any ideas on how I could purchase their games? I went looking and didn't find anything.

Gwyrgyn Blood · Post by **Gwyrgyn Blood** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:33 pm

If you're talking about Trouble Witches, it's for sale on Himeya here: http://www.himeyashop.com/product_info. ... ts_id/7957

pixelcorps · Post by **pixelcorps** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:35 pm

himeya is pricey, try

http://www.paletweb.com/

usually cheaper, and give away nice freebies.

(oops, seems they dont have it, sorry)

P_HAT · Post by **P_HAT** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:55 am

pixelcorps wrote:himeya is pricey, try

http://www.paletweb.com/

usually cheaper, and give away nice freebies.

(oops, seems they dont have it, sorry)

also Himeya won't work with Ukraine

i hope Paletweb will restock TW soon.

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:04 pm

Anyone know when the OST for this game's coming out? I like the music.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:18 am

Just a heads up on the patch for those who didn't catch it on the 19th...

http://www.strikebang.com/showthread.php?t=3279

ex.machina · Post by **ex.machina** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:49 am

ZeetherKID77 wrote:Anyone know when the OST for this game's coming out? I like the music.

It's included with the PC version when you buy it.

qatmix · Post by **qatmix** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:24 pm

I got mine eventually through the post, havent played it much so not going to post any opinions on it yet other than it seems quite average so far.

One question though is that When I ordered it it said get a special pre-order gift.. I didnt get anything.. anyone else get any such thing or was it a con?

ex.machina · Post by **ex.machina** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:00 am

qatmix wrote: One question though is that When I ordered it it said get a special pre-order gift.. I didnt get anything.. anyone else get any such thing or was it a con?

No, I think what they did was changing the entire release into a limited edition. So basically bonus stuff you got for paying the same price is the soundtrack CD, book, slipcase and certificate. Which number did you get by the way?

qatmix · Post by **qatmix** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:00 pm

number 259, thats cool, I like the soundtrack

koda · Post by **koda** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:36 am

Well, I got the game today.

Put the disc in, clicked Start Game, and nothing. Went over to the support forums to discover that the game does not work witha Vista64 and 4GB of memory. This is apparently not fixable with a patch.

Sigh. =(

monoRAIL · Post by **monoRAIL** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:18 pm

koda wrote:Well, I got the game today.

Put the disc in, clicked Start Game, and nothing. Went over to the support forums to discover that the game does not work witha Vista64 and 4GB of memory. This is apparently not fixable with a patch.

Sigh. =(

It's not often you're told you'll need to downgrade your computer to get the latest game to run.

rtw · Post by **rtw** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:20 pm

monoRAIL wrote:It's not often you're told you'll need to downgrade your computer to get the latest game to run.

Blame Micro$oft and their inferior Vista. As the developers state,
the issue is in the Vista64 drivers.

rtw

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:53 pm

rtw wrote:
monoRAIL wrote:It's not often you're told you'll need to downgrade your computer to get the latest game to run.
Blame Micro$oft and their inferior Vista. As the developers state,
the issue is in the Vista64 drivers.

rtw

That's what happens when a single company and a handful of programmers think they can make a OS to suit the needs of the whole world - delusions of grandeur.

And of course it's your own fault for being stupid and using Vista.

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:35 pm

Ceph wrote:And of course it's your own fault for being stupid and using Vista.

Yes, because whoever uses Vista is stupid. Take my friend who teaches Computer Systems Engineering at MIT, for example. He uses Vista, and is therefore stupid. I should call him and tell him that Shmups internet message board user "Ceph" says so.

koda · Post by **koda** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:38 pm

I love Vista (compared to XP)-- it took some getting used to but this is the first problem I've encountered with it. I don't see how it can be completely Vista's fault, though-- all of my other software runs fine on it.

You'd think that there could've been a way for them to make it work if everyone else has figured one out. They recommended simply pulling two gigs of memory out when I wanted to play-- there's no way I'm going to unplug my computer, crack the case open, and yank two modules just because I feel like running through a little Soldner-X. =/

Oh well. Maybe with SP1, or whatever.

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:42 pm

Shut up you don't know anything. That's why you are stupid. Just listen to Ceph 'cause he's smart and stuff.

ryosnk · Post by **ryosnk** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:58 am

Decent game.