GD: Ibara

For posting and requesting strategic gameplay tips on shmups!
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Ord
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GD: Ibara

Post by Ord »

Yep, i'm in need of help. This beautiful game is kicking my arse in all kinds of ways. I know a few people have this, so any hints would be great.
I know not to pick up the heavy weaponry unless I want the rank to go up and slaughter me, but any more tips.
What's the deal with all the rose medals? Anyone got a list of all the bosses different behaviours acording to which rank they're on. Any boss stratagies?
Well you get the idea. Any infor would be great.


<changed RQ to GD -inc.>
Ikaruga review now up in PLASMA BLOSSOM
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

I'll pop up a small batch of info at a later date. Right now, I'll link to a set of Stage 1 replays I made with my digital camera in video mode. Sorry for the poor quality.

Player // Icarus, using Bond (ST) :
> Stage 1, 1mil and MAX Medals before boss (DIVX - 20MB)
(NOTE: Completed MAX Medals before Meidi showed up. Video also includes Meidi - scoring method, double suicide, hadou finish strategy)

> Meidi - scoring strategy, boss No Miss (DIVX - 12MB)
(NOTE: boss strategy for scoring. No Miss attempt.)

Many thanks to rjpageuk and snacky or ikaruga.co.uk for the hosting!
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Ord
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Post by Ord »

:P Brilliant vids there Icarus. Man i'm such a wimp at this game, I just can't use up all my bombs like that. When I get to the bosses, I end up using the Hadou gun, as I just crumble, when they unleash hell.
Ikaruga review now up in PLASMA BLOSSOM
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

It depends on how you want to play. If you are looking to score, then using up the bombs rapidly (like I do in the clips) is necessary, as every flying enemy will drop an item if bombed. If you are playing safe, then just hoard bomb fragments ^_-

Also, if you want to destroy Meidi quickly and safely, then aim for the central fuselage of her aircraft, and ignore the side and wing turrets. The more turrets you blast off, the faster and more rapidly the sword-shaped fanwave will fire. You only need to tap to dodge the fanwave though, as it is pretty much aimed in your direction (think stage 1 boss in Garegga).
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oxtsu
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Post by oxtsu »

Ran across this and thought maybe you guys would be interested. Here are some nice replays of Stage 4 (currently up) -

http://home.r00.itscom.net/archer/

Click on "CAVE STG" on lower left to access the Ibara video page.

p.s. Excuse me if this is old news.
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Post by egret »

oxtsu wrote:Ran across this and thought maybe you guys would be interested. Here are some nice replays of Stage 4 (currently up) -

http://home.r00.itscom.net/archer/

Click on "CAVE STG" on lower left to access the Ibara video page.

p.s. Excuse me if this is old news.
Cheers.

Downloading Stage 6 now.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

Icarus wrote:It depends on how you want to play. If you are looking to score, then using up the bombs rapidly (like I do in the clips) is necessary, as every flying enemy will drop an item if bombed. If you are playing safe, then just hoard bomb fragments ^_-
Question from the peanut gallery: if this game's rank works like Garegga's, wouldn't that "indirectly" come back to bite you later on? Since suiciding (or at least having enough lives in reserve so that you're able to afford dying every once in awhile) is a vital part of rank control, and scoring well is vital to having enough extends to be able to die enough to do it, would using bombs defensively instead of for scoring give the rank too much of a chance to climb too high, since you won't be able to suicide as much? Just a thought...
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Post by Icarus »

BulletMagnet wrote:Question from the peanut gallery: if this game's rank works like Garegga's, wouldn't that "indirectly" come back to bite you later on? Since suiciding (or at least having enough lives in reserve so that you're able to afford dying every once in awhile) is a vital part of rank control, and scoring well is vital to having enough extends to be able to die enough to do it, would using bombs defensively instead of for scoring give the rank too much of a chance to climb too high, since you won't be able to suicide as much? Just a thought...
You're given plenty of bomb fragments in this game, way more than Garegga, Bakraid and Batrider. For example, you can enter stage3 without a single fragment, and after collecting all the fragments in the stage, NOT bombing and NOT dying, you end up with about 3 and a half to 4 full bombs.

Ibara WANTS you to bomb a lot, especially with the hadou. In stage1 flying enemies drop items when bombed. I've seen replays where the player maxes out the Medals before the first of the three buildings that hold large stashes of Medals, and ends the stage (after destroying Meidi) with around 1.8 - 2.5mil. Suicide all the Extends you have spare going from the boss to the start of stage2, and that's plenty of rank decreases.

Oddly, Extend hoarding is slightly more evident in Ibara than it is in Raizing games, you can afford the odd accidental death, just as long as you have a full bomb to back up your other attacks.

As discussed in past threads, Ibara's systems are similar to Garegga's, but not identical.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

Icarus wrote:Ibara WANTS you to bomb a lot, especially with the hadou.
Well, yeah, that's the thing: Garegga wanted you to bomb a lot too, but it wanted you to bomb for score, not for defense, so that you'd be able to build up enough extends to keep suiciding and keeping the rank down. It seems that Ibara wants you to do much the same thing, but to an even greater extent, since you aren't supposed to use your bombs so much on specific pieces o' destructible scenery, but on regular ol' common enemies, which would explain the greater abundance of bomb icons, or so it'd seem anyways. At least from what I hear so far (maybe if I get ahold of the PS2 port I'll notice other stuff not mentioned here, especially if the "rank-o-meter" is added as in the screenshots), there doesn't seem to be much indication that Ibara is built for bomb hoarding much more than Garegga is.

Btw, slightly off-topic, but I don't think I've seen anyone ask it yet: how is the hitbox in Ibara? Is it the Cave micro-box, or the slightly larger Raizing style?
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Post by Ramus »

I don't understand how to use the bomb. The instruction sticker shows different bomb usage. How do I do them; I don't get it.
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

Bomb usage is like Garegga, you pick up fragments to create full bombs. When you have full bombs in stock, you use them first, and once you expend the full bombs, you use up whatever fragments you have in stock. The strength and range of the partial bomb is determined by the amount of fragments you have.

By just tapping bomb, you use the standard napalm style bomb wave.

You can also use the hadou (wave cannon) bomb, which takes up a full bomb. To use the hadou, you hold down the bomb button instead of tapping it, and to fire the hadou, you release the bomb button. The hadou travels straight, and follows the targeting trail in front of your ship when activated. Anything that touches the hadou's vaportail and the ball-shaped explosion will be destroyed, and bullets will nullify and turn into Rose Medals.

One other thing, the ship type you select at the start determines your standard bomb type. Regular Bond (1P selected by just pressing Start) has the 8-way napalm wave, while Bond selected by holding down Shot and Bomb when pressing Start has a shortrange ball explosion similar to Gain's bomb in Garegga, or the Bakraid/Soukyugurentai explosive missiles. The hadou is the same across all eight ship types.
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Post by Ramus »

Ahhh! Thanks :)
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Post by BulletMagnet »

Actually, aside from the stuff I already asked above, another thing I'm interested in...is there a delay before bomb usage a la Garegga here as well, or is it instant for either the "regular" bomb or hadou thingy? Also, do bombs here give you invincibility, or just eat through bullets they hit, like in BG?
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Post by Icarus »

Regular bombs are almost instantaneous (depending on the ship type you have selected). They do not make you invincible, like Garegga, so caution must be exercised.

There IS a delay with the hadou, as it needs to be activated and then released. The hadou missile moves very slowly as well, so it is not used as a panic weapon, but more of a scoring weapon, since it can be used to destroy large groups of drones that drop items, and to generate Rose Medals from nastier boss patterns.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

One more thing, while I think of it (sorry!); if the regular bomb is "napalm style" as you said above, in BG you could guide the direction that the Silver Sword's napalm traveled in to some extent, can you also do that here, or does it travel in a fixed direction?
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Post by Icarus »

The regular Bond's (1P) standard bomb is a forward firing napalm wave, the eight-stream blast you see in some screenshots. You can select an alternate version of Bond which has the Silver Sword-style directional napalm wave. This napalm wave is more narrow, and is controlled in the same manner as the Silver Sword's napalm.

The problem being, I've not actually managed to get it to work -_-;;

Also, to answer your previous question about the hitboxes, they're Raizing-sized. From tests, it appears that the central section of the ship (minus the wings) is the main hitbox, with a few pixels shaved nose and tail.

For reference, the different ship types are:
For Bond, Icarus wrote:
  • Default (ST)
    • Shot: Twin firing stream, upgradeable to double threeway.
    • Bomb: Wide Napalm. Amount of bomb fragments affects width and travelling distance - up to half-bomb gives two streams, more than half-bomb adds one extra stream to each side
    • Option: All Options are fixable upon holding the A button
    • Speed: Faster of the two default ships
  • (A)
    • Shot: Twin firing stream, upgradeable to double threeway. Bullet size seems bigger than default. Shot Reinforced power?
    • Bomb: Concentrated Napalm. Amount of bomb fragments affects travelling distance and width as default. However, according to a Japanese forum, this bomb can be controlled like the Silver Sword's Napalm in Garegga. So far, I haven't ben able to do that though :?
    • Option: All Options are unfixable.
    • Speed: Slightly slower than default.
  • (B)
    • Shot: Gets a penetration bullet with higher Shot levels
    • Bomb: Homing Twin Napalm. Two homing missiles are fired which leave a trail of napalm in their path. Amount of bomb fragments affects homing missile travelling distance.
    • Option: Side Options are fixable, while the back Option is free.
    • Speed: Slightly faster than default.
  • (A+B)
    • Shot: Shot is wider than the default.
    • Bomb: Area blast attack, similar to Gain's Weapon in Garegga. Amount of bomb fragments determines how long the bomb "burns" for.
    • Option: The back Option is fixable, while the side Options are free.
    • Speed: Fastest of all subtypes.
For Dyne, Icarus wrote:
  • Default (ST)
    • Shot: Three way, upgradeable to five way (?)
    • Bomb: Wide Napalm. Speed of napalm is a lot slower than 1P, but burns longer. Amount of bomb fragments affects napalm cluster width and burn length.
    • Option: All Options are fixable upon holding the A button
    • Speed: Slowest of the two default ships
  • (A)
    • Shot: Bullet size seems bigger than default. Shot Reinforced power?
    • Bomb: Fast short ranged cluster bomb, similar to the yellow cluster bomb in Raiden DX, but fired ahead of the ship.
    • Option: All Options are unfixable.
    • Speed: Slowest of all subtypes (ack -_-;; )
  • (B)
    • Shot: Shot width becomes a lot more narrow and concentrated.
    • Bomb: Short ranged cluster bomb, similar to the yellow bomb in Raiden DX, but dropped underneath your ship (like in Raiden DX).
    • Option: Side Options are fixable, while the back Option is free.
    • Speed: Slightly faster than default.
  • (A+B)
    • Shot: Shot is wider than the default. Much, much wider -_-;;
    • Bomb: Area blast attack, similar to Gain's Weapon in Garegga. Amount of bomb fragments determines how long the bomb "burns" for. Dyne's area blast is a double explosion, while Bond's is a single explosion. Apparently, this is the strongest bomb out of al subtypes, even at minimum bomb fragment amount.
    • Option: The back Option is fixable, while the side Options are free.
    • Speed: Faster than default.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

Icarus wrote:The problem being, I've not actually managed to get it to work -_-;;
Wonder if the Japanese players are playing tricks on us again. ;)

Raizing hitbox, eh? Hmm, and (apparently) no way to shrink it, as Garegga had...thanks for the info.
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Post by ptoing »

Icarus wrote:
For Bond, Icarus wrote:
  • Default (ST)
    • Shot: Twin firing stream, upgradeable to double threeway.
    • Bomb: Wide Napalm. Amount of bomb fragments affects width and travelling distance - up to half-bomb gives two streams, more than half-bomb adds one extra stream to each side
    • Option: All Options are fixable upon holding the A button
    • Speed: Faster of the two default ships
  • (A)
    • Shot: Twin firing stream, upgradeable to double threeway. Bullet size seems bigger than default. Shot Reinforced power?
    • Bomb: Concentrated Napalm. Amount of bomb fragments affects travelling distance and width as default. However, according to a Japanese forum, this bomb can be controlled like the Silver Sword's Napalm in Garegga. So far, I haven't ben able to do that though :?
    • Option: All Options are unfixable.
    • Speed: Slightly slower than default.
  • (B)
    • Shot: Gets a penetration bullet with higher Shot levels
    • Bomb: Homing Twin Napalm. Two homing missiles are fired which leave a trail of napalm in their path. Amount of bomb fragments affects homing missile travelling distance.
    • Option: Side Options are fixable, while the back Option is free.
    • Speed: Slightly faster than default.
  • (A+B)
    • Shot: Shot is wider than the default.
    • Bomb: Area blast attack, similar to Gain's Weapon in Garegga. Amount of bomb fragments determines how long the bomb "burns" for.
    • Option: The back Option is fixable, while the side Options are free.
    • Speed: Fastest of all subtypes.
For Dyne, Icarus wrote:
  • Default (ST)
    • Shot: Three way, upgradeable to five way (?)
    • Bomb: Wide Napalm. Speed of napalm is a lot slower than 1P, but burns longer. Amount of bomb fragments affects napalm cluster width and burn length.
    • Option: All Options are fixable upon holding the A button
    • Speed: Slowest of the two default ships
  • (A)
    • Shot: Bullet size seems bigger than default. Shot Reinforced power?
    • Bomb: Fast short ranged cluster bomb, similar to the yellow cluster bomb in Raiden DX, but fired ahead of the ship.
    • Option: All Options are unfixable.
    • Speed: Slowest of all subtypes (ack -_-;; )
  • (B)
    • Shot: Shot width becomes a lot more narrow and concentrated.
    • Bomb: Short ranged cluster bomb, similar to the yellow bomb in Raiden DX, but dropped underneath your ship (like in Raiden DX).
    • Option: Side Options are fixable, while the back Option is free.
    • Speed: Slightly faster than default.
  • (A+B)
    • Shot: Shot is wider than the default. Much, much wider -_-;;
    • Bomb: Area blast attack, similar to Gain's Weapon in Garegga. Amount of bomb fragments determines how long the bomb "burns" for. Dyne's area blast is a double explosion, while Bond's is a single explosion. Apparently, this is the strongest bomb out of al subtypes, even at minimum bomb fragment amount.
    • Option: The back Option is fixable, while the side Options are free.
    • Speed: Faster than default.
I printed this out yesterday and played a bit.
I recognised that on both the B types the Options were fixable just like for the A types.

Also the Silver Sword thing definately works for Dyne's B type.
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Post by Monk 0 Nuggets »

This is my first cave game and I suck. Real bad. I don't understand the ranking thing and I also don't understand what the roses do exactly. Other than that, the game is incredibly fun, it just kicks the crap out of me. I can't make it to the third stage most of the time.
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Post by Tigershark »

Hi all,

Just got this game and have read the two main threads here. The trouble is the threads assume a basic knowledge of the game's mechanics and terminology that I just don't have. Anyone know of a walkthrough or something similar I can look at?

Cheers.

TS.
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Post by beam »

Read the Battle Garegga thread, it's pretty similar.
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Post by auryn »

For Tigershark:

I also got this game recently, and unfortunately I can't read the manual, so here's a short list of the basic gameplay mechanics I found out about:

Fighters:

There's two fighters: Player 1 gets a red fighter (faster, with concentrated shot) and player 2 a blue fighter (slower, with a spread shot). You can also select different fighter types in the options menu, which changes the characteristics for each fighter a bit (there's a good low-down on this elsewhere on the site).

Weapons:

You've got your normal gun, which has autofire. If you tap the firebutton really rapidly and then hold, autofire speed will increase. You power up by collecting small and big powerup icons. Collecting them will cancel any bullets near to the collection point; the area is very small but useful.

You can pick up add-on weapons dropped by the enemy. Where you will equip them depends on which part of your ship they touch when you collect (i.e. right side of ship -> right option).

Best weapons for a beginner are the rockets and the five-way guns, which you can both pick up in level 1. If you're struggling try for 2 five-ways on either side and a rocket in the rear. After collecting those, just concentrate on dodging. Steer clear of the machine guns, they're not very useful (but unfortunately also dropped constantly).

You'll also be able to collect other weapons later on (gatling, burner, homing), figure out yourself which ones suit you best.

Bombs:

Destroying ground targets yields bomb fragments, collect 20 for a full bomb. There's two bombing options available:
1: tapping bomb button quickly will release a regular bomb. You can use this even if you don't have a full bomb in stock, but the bomb will be weaker the fewer fragments you have. what type of bomb you get depends on the fighter type you've chosen in the options menu.
2: hadou bomb: by holding the bomb button, taking aim and firing, you release a hadou missile. This is very powerful (one will destroy the first guardian outright if aimed at the center). It also leaves a trail which lingers about 10 secs in which all bullets are cancelled. So if you stick in the trail you'll be safe from bullets.

Rank:
in short: the better you do, the higher the rank you'll attain, and the more difficult the game will become (more + faster bullets). When you die, rank goes down a bit.

I think that's about the basics... the scoring is discussed in detail elsewhere, right now I'm just trying to survive.
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Post by beam »

2 recap I made from various posts on this forum :
Ibara arcade mode wrote:[PLAYER TYPE]

PCB ---- PS2
Default (Start) Type A
(A) Type B
(B) Type C
(AB) Type D

On PS2 you select your ship type in the options menu

For Bond :

* Default (ST)
o Shot: Twin firing stream, upgradeable to double threeway.
o Bomb: Wide Napalm. Amount of bomb fragments affects width and travelling distance - up to half-bomb gives two streams, more than half-bomb adds one extra stream to each side
o Option: All Options are fixable upon holding the A button
o Speed: Faster of the two default ships


* (A)
o Shot: Twin firing stream, upgradeable to double threeway. Bullet size seems bigger than default. Shot Reinforced power?
o Bomb: Concentrated Napalm. Amount of bomb fragments affects travelling distance and width as default. However, according to a Japanese forum, this bomb can be controlled like the Silver Sword's Napalm in Garegga. So far, I haven't ben able to do that though Confused
o Option: All Options are unfixable.
o Speed: Slightly slower than default.


* (B)
o Shot: Gets a penetration bullet with higher Shot levels
o Bomb: Homing Twin Napalm. Two homing missiles are fired which leave a trail of napalm in their path. Amount of bomb fragments affects homing missile travelling distance.
o Option: Side Options are fixable, while the back Option is free.
o Speed: Slightly faster than default.


* (A+B)
o Shot: Shot is wider than the default.
o Bomb: Area blast attack, similar to Gain's Weapon in Garegga. Amount of bomb fragments determines how long the bomb "burns" for.
o Option: The back Option is fixable, while the side Options are free.
o Speed: Fastest of all subtypes.


For Dyne:

* Default (ST)
o Shot: Three way, upgradeable to five way (?)
o Bomb: Wide Napalm. Speed of napalm is a lot slower than 1P, but burns longer. Amount of bomb fragments affects napalm cluster width and burn length.
o Option: All Options are fixable upon holding the A button
o Speed: Slowest of the two default ships


* (A)
o Shot: Bullet size seems bigger than default. Shot Reinforced power?
o Bomb: Fast short ranged cluster bomb, similar to the yellow cluster bomb in Raiden DX, but fired ahead of the ship.
o Option: All Options are unfixable.
o Speed: Slowest of all subtypes (ack -_-;; )


* (B)
o Shot: Shot width becomes a lot more narrow and concentrated.
o Bomb: Short ranged cluster bomb, similar to the yellow bomb in Raiden DX, but dropped underneath your ship (like in Raiden DX).
o Option: Side Options are fixable, while the back Option is free.
o Speed: Slightly faster than default.


* (A+B)
o Shot: Shot is wider than the default. Much, much wider -_-;;
o Bomb: Area blast attack, similar to Gain's Weapon in Garegga. Amount of bomb fragments determines how long the bomb "burns" for. Dyne's area blast is a double explosion, while Bond's is a single explosion. Apparently, this is the strongest bomb out of al subtypes, even at minimum bomb fragment amount.
o Option: The back Option is fixable, while the side Options are free.
o Speed: Faster than default.

[ITEM]
Shot -> Medal -> Shot -> Medal -> Machine Gun weapon ->
Shot -> Medal -> Shot -> Medal -> Machine Gun weapon ->
Shot -> Medal -> Shot -> Medal -> Machine Gun weapon ->
Shot -> Medal -> Shot -> Medal -> Machine Gun weapon ->
Shot -> Medal -> Large Shot -> repeat from start


[BOMB]
By just tapping bomb, you use the standard napalm style bomb wave. Regular bombs are almost instantaneous (depending on the ship type you have selected). They do not make you invincible, like Garegga, so caution must be exercised.

You can also use the hadou (wave cannon) bomb, which takes up a full bomb. To use the hadou, you hold down the bomb button instead of tapping it, and to fire the hadou, you release the bomb button. The hadou travels straight, and follows the targeting trail in front of your ship when activated. Anything that touches the hadou's vaportail and the ball-shaped explosion will be destroyed, and bullets will nullify and turn into Rose Medals.
There is a delay with the hadou, as it needs to be activated and then released. The hadou missile moves very slowly as well, so it is not used as a panic weapon, but more of a scoring weapon, since it can be used to destroy large groups of drones that drop items, and to generate Rose Medals from nastier boss patterns.

[SHOT]
Garegga style: rapidly tapping the Shot button, then holding the Shot button will alter the firing rate. Also known as Shot Frequency, covered in detail in the Garegga ST.

The stronger the weapon is, the higher rank is increased by it.
From lowest to highest (this is speculation:):

* Machine Gun
* Homing [weak, but rapid and seeking]
* Five Way [higher in power due to five shots, great at point blank(?)]
* Rocket [piercing]
* Gatling [faster Machine Gun, think Juno in Einhander]
* Burner [slower to fire, high powered]
* Napalm [slow firing, explosive missile, high power, residual damage]

If you're going to go with weaker weapons, you might need to raise your Shot level up a bit to compensate. You seem to be able to get a lot of Machine Gun, Rocket and FiveWay in the game, so I don't think that waiting for these weapons to appear is going to be a problem.

[FORMATION]
* SEARCH: Drop five small bomb fragments, then pick up an Option powerup.
All the equipped options will lock onto and fire at enemies within range. Usually targets boss main weakpoints.

* WIDE: Drop five Option powerups, then pick up the sixth Option powerup.
The side Options will point out to fire into a wide V shape (similar to Dyne Type D's main Shot), while the rear Option will retain it's usual behaviour depending on your ship subtype.

* ROLLING: Drop five Medals, then pick up an Option powerup.
Your Options will spin around while firing. Goddamned useless >_<;;

* BACK: Drop five small Shot powerups, then pick up an Option powerup.
Your Options will point to fire at your tail, in a formation similar to TFIV's unpowered up Tailgun, or Silvergun's Back-Wide (about 30degrees out back). Again, also useless >_<;;

[SCORE]
If you use an Option to pick up a powerup, it will change that side's weapon. You can also exploit this to get 10,000pts for identical powerups. It's a little messy though, so don't always rely on it, as it can swap weapons around.

[1UP]
The only 1-up item in the game (not sure) can be obtained by taking apart level 4's mid-boss. You must damage both wings to the point they are shooting 3 long rows of bullets at you before destroying the boss.
Destroy all parts of the stage 4 midboss before destroying the main body to drop the Extend, the only one available in the game.

[MEDAL]
Before the medal value can go up, you must have the screen absolutely, positively clear of medals. If you just blew up a large 4x4 building and now have a pile of 5000 medals, you'll need to get them all cleaned up before a 6000 one will appear. Otherwise the next medal that shows will be the current value, 5000.

[RANK]
The more important things to consider are how long you've played without dying, how many lives you have in stock and what weapons you're carrying. The longer you play with a couple of lives, napalm and burner options the faster rank goes up- if you know you can make it to the next extend it's best to plan a suicide early and often.
Also, the higher rank gets the less effect an eventual death will have so you should plan periodic suicides and keep rank as low as you can while still scoring well.

[TIPS]
Grabbing weapon change items gives a moment of invulnerability similar to Zanac Neo. Bullets will be turned into roses if you come into contact with them during this. That's the "aura flash". It only happens for a split second when you collect a new subweapon, or when your ship increases Shot power level. The aura is very very shortranged, and it is not a recommended strategy to rely on constant weapon changes a-la Zanac Neo. That "aura flash" will do huge amounts of damage to bosses too. If you get killed on a boss make sure you grab your power ups right on top of them.
You get 50,000 pts for waiting for the little ship to drop off the stage 1 boss and destroying it before it leaves the bottom of the screen (not so sure you have to wait for it to fall).
The Ground turrets in stage 2 will not fire at you if you fly close to them, or you can take them out just as they are appearing on screen. Their effective "blanking" range (the minimum range you can be within for them to stop firing) shortens as rank increases. At default range, it's likely to be around 1/2 to 1 1/4 ship lengths.
Ibara arrange mode/black label wrote:General differences between OG Ibara and Black Label

Extends are given out every 10 million (as opposed to 1 million in OG Ibara).
You receive 1 full bomb upon dying (as opposed to 1/2 a bomb in OG Ibara)
The ship's hitbox is smaller, standard Cave size.
Holding the fire button slows your movement, and significantly increases the firing speed of the main shot.
Sub-weapons are selectable once collected, and fire from all three options.
Option formations are selectable, you can choose from Normal, Back, Wide, Rolling (spinning), and Search (lock-on).


Ship Types

For the differences between ship types, refer to Icarus's last post in this thread. The lists retain the A,B,C,D order of the PS2 menu. The only difference is that option control is of less consequence in Black Label because of selectable formations. For reference, here is how the ships' speed compare to each other.

P1 Type D [Fast]
P1 Type C
P1 Type A
P1 Type B -\ These two have
P2 Type D -/ identical speed
P2 Type C
P2 Type A
P2 Type B [Slow]

I've been using P2 Type D, and sometimes P1 Type D because I like their bomb for catching patterns, and P2 Type D is as slow as I can handle while still being able to chain medals for the most part. I haven't really experimented with the other ships, so post and let us know what you think about the other ship/bomb types.


Rank system

In Black Label, rank can increase much, much faster than in OG Ibara, and can decrease just as quickly. Collecting powerups, bomb fragments, sub-weapons, and medals will increase rank. Powerups and bomb fragments add a small amount, while sub-weapons add a bit more. Medals increase rank based on how much they are worth; a 100-point medal will add none (or almost none), while a 10,000-point medal will add 10~15%. Destroying parts of bosses increases rank significantly. Survival time and using stronger sub-weapons may increase rank, but it is a completely insignificant amount if they do. Collecting roses decreases rank, and dying resets rank to 0.


Scoring system

The central scoring system in Black Label revolves around the multiplier (up to x300 for max rank) applied when you cancel bullets into roses by bombing. The roses in turn decrease your rank and the cycle starts over. So you should try and increase your rank as quickly as possible, then wait for a big pattern to cash in on your x300 multiplier. Medal chaining still exists, and it is still very important for scoring. Not because of the points they are worth, but because of the rank they are worth. The higher level
medals you can collect -> the faster your rank will recharge -> the more often you can cash in on a big multiplier. Destroying bosses/boss parts and certain enemies/buildings will also trigger all on screen bullets to be canceled into roses. For example, all the big square white factories in stage 1, or the beige tanks in stage 2. It's important to learn which things trigger it, since it's a free fullscreen cancel and you can save your bombs.

It's really all about the multiplier. If you have a high multiplier, but you bomb a not-so-juicy bullet pattern, it's still worth it for the most part. You won't cancel that many bullets, which means your rank won't go so far down, which means you'll soon have a high multiplier again. The only downside is that you wasted a bombing opportunity. But if you bomb a big pattern with 0/low rank, it really doesn't matter how many bullets you canceled, at x1 it's simply insignificant. Though the only time there are usually big patterns with low rank are boss fights.


In-stage rose triggers/scoring opportunities

Stage 1 - White factories (they always appear beside or close to the cranes with rocket launchers). When bombed, they will spawn a large number of medals (12 I think). I usually use these to max my rank right before the last factory on the right, then destroy it to cancel the last enemy swarm before the boss. Optimally you can end up with about 5 million before the boss, and 6.5 entering stage 2, though usually I end up with around 5 million after the boss.

Stage 2 - Beige tanks. These have 2 forms, the first fires straight rockets, then when the uns are destroyed they will fire a simple ball pattern. There is a point where there are falmethrowers on each side, with a tank in the middle. It seems a bit tough to destroy the tank early enough to catch both flames without risk. A better idea seems to be destroy the tank's guns, then destroy each flamethrower's first form. They will start shooting the ball/spread pattern from behind you and you can destory the tank then. You can get a lot out of the flamethrower pattern, but it takes a little finesse. You can alternately bomb the pattern with two turrets (one in the middle shooting twin sets of 3 rockets and one shooting a ball pattern) that comes just before it. The last pattern before the boss is also a big scoring opportunity. There are mechs on the left, railroad turrets on the right, and a twin rocket turret in the center above them. There are also two turrets on each side of that which will come into view a little into the pattern which should fall into your bomb.

Interesting fact: if you have every weapon in the game in stock (full selection of weapons), every flying enemy will release an item if shot.

---------------------------------------------

There are a few differences between Ibara Arrange and Ibara Kuro that make them both completely different games. This is what I know:

The similarities:
- Both feature the Rank Bar, increased by collecting items (small increase) and Medals (large increase for 10k Medals)
- Both feature the Rose Multiplier controlled by the Rank Bar, up to a maximum of 300x
- Rank does affect the amount of bullets fired by enemies and bosses
- Most bullets can be cancelled with a regular bomb to create Rose Medals
- If a hadou is fired, any bullets that hit the hadou missile as it flies up the screen will change into a Medal

Now for the differences:
- Ibara Kuro features a rapidly incrementing scratch counter which adds scratching points to your score, when you come up close to bullets. I assume that the higher the scratch counter (up to +9999) the higher the amount of points you get per scratch. I'm certain that dying is the only thing to reset the scratch counter. I believe that scratching increases rank, as well.
- Ibara Kuro has magnetic items, while Ibara Arrange does not.
- In Ibara Kuro, a high rank affects both the amount of bullets fired by enemies and their speed. Maximum rank patterns are both dense and extremely fast.
- The differences between Ibara AC and Ibara AC PS2 also affect Ibara Arrange and Ibara Kuro: for example, the late appearance of the three large tanks in stage5, missing small enemies in particular stages etc.

There are quite major differences in the gameplay between Arrange and Kuro that affect total score, I'd bet. I've heard RAM getting 190mil in Ibara Kuro (possible maximum 200mil+?) while Ibara Arrange is probably set to an estimated maximum of 160mil+.
finally the Cthulhu post in this thread may be of some sort of interest
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daf911
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Post by daf911 »

Thnx Beam for the summary, had to switch too much between the 'search' function too much :?
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beam
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Post by beam »

You're welcome :) and enjoy the groovy (:twisted:) Ibara rank
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jonny5
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Post by jonny5 »

this game is fucking tough.......although i was way off on some of the ranking features and scoring tactics.....and i couldnt figure out how to use my hadougun....lolz

gonna give this some more time today and see if i can do any better with this new info.....

awesome game tho.....but a very different scoring/rank system than i have encountered in previous cave games

thanx for all the info
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beam
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Post by beam »

jonny5 wrote:awesome game tho.....but a very different scoring/rank system than i have encountered in previous cave games
This is more a Yagawa game than a normal cave one, explains the "difference".
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DEL
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?

Post by DEL »

Quick question - I notice that Gakidou uses full locked on hadous on bosses and generally doesn't fire. The Bosses seem to die very quickly this way. Is this true? Should I not fire after I've locked on a bomb on the later bosses?

Plus there seems to be a timing thing on the first form of the Stage 3 Boss, Gakidou times a bomb in the centre of the boss and releases it at the moment its about to commence its first attack. The hadou seems to destroy the first form in a split second and continues to do damage to the second form. This is a neat trick, it saves a hadou. Reminds me of the Stage 5 Boss trick on R-Type where a full bomb released on the amoeba as it first rushes on screen can wipe out half the globules in one go.

Respect to Gakidou's Dyne replay. 2.2mil from Stage 1, 1.4mil extra leeched from the final form of the Stage 2 Boss, Archer-type double hadou placement on the Stage 5 tanks for 3 extra hadous - great stuff!
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elfhentaifan
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Re: ?

Post by elfhentaifan »

DEL wrote:Quick question - I notice that Gakidou uses full locked on hadous on bosses and generally doesn't fire. The Bosses seem to die very quickly this way. Is this true? Should I not fire after I've locked on a bomb on the later bosses?
The moment you activate your hadou, there is a short "explosion" which has as much fire power as a bomb, and also makes you invincible (for a couple of frames). Very useful in various situations.
Plus there seems to be a timing thing on the first form of the Stage 3 Boss, Gakidou times a bomb in the centre of the boss and releases it at the moment its about to commence its first attack. The hadou seems to destroy the first form in a split second and continues to do damage to the second form. This is a neat trick, it saves a hadou. Reminds me of the Stage 5 Boss trick on R-Type where a full bomb released on the amoeba as it first rushes on screen can wipe out half the globules in one go.
If you you place the hadou correctly (fly up and fire right in the middle) the front shield will be destroyed.
But it doesnt work 100% for me.
You can destroy the whole boss with 2 single hadous
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freddiebamboo
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Re: ?

Post by freddiebamboo »

DEL wrote:Quick question - I notice that Gakidou uses full locked on hadous on bosses and generally doesn't fire. The Bosses seem to die very quickly this way. Is this true? Should I not fire after I've locked on a bomb on the later bosses?
Oddly, in Ibara not shooting while a bomb is doing its thing does more damage than if you shoot during it.

Very useful for taking down the later bosses in the game.
DEL wrote:Archer-type double hadou placement on the Stage 5 tanks for 3 extra hadous - great stuff!
Yeah, the first time I saw this I was in awe, haven't managed to get it to work yet though - I never have the bombs to do it when I get to the tanks.

You mentioned the 1up in the other thread DEL - you're right, destroy the sides before you kill it and it gives you the extra life. The spinning blades are a bitch, especially if you accidentally kill them - they drop 4 medals that are usually very hard to pick up during the fight.
Last edited by freddiebamboo on Mon May 05, 2008 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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