*** Updated Aug 10, 2008 ***
Note: The
Arcadia record holder for Chibi Fumiko uses Type 2, not Type 1 as I thought. I'll leave the original post below intact, though.
. . .
A postmortem. I have cleared the game for each character in the following order:
- Kim (Type 2)
- Niigi (Type 2)
- Chibi Fumiko (Type 1)
- Kuga (Type 2)
- Fumiko (Type 1)
- Roger (Type 2)
- Sayo (Type 1)
- Hyuga (Type 2)
This is roughly how I would rank, from easiest to hardest, the difficulty of clearing the game for each character. This list includes only the character types that the
Arcadia record holders used (I'm guessing on Fumiko's type, though). But except possibly for Niigi, the type for each character in the list is the better type for survival.
Now, a few surprises. First, I cleared the game with Niigi sooner than expected. Her type 2 shikigami is tough to use at first, mainly because I run into the bullets that I wanted to block with the shikigami. But after about ten hours of practice, I was able to control it well enough to clear the game.
By the way, I'm hesitant to recommend Niigi's type 1 shikigami for players who don't care about scoring at all. It does have a shield fixed in front of the character, so it's much easier to use. I'm just concerned about the boss attacks that come from the sides. It's probably not a big concern, but I need to test it to be sure. And I don't feel like doing that.
Second, I cleared the game with the two Fumikos much sooner than expected. I think players are afraid of standing still while aiming the shikigami attack. Notice, however, that the bosses take a while to start their attacks for each of their forms. So Fumiko can unleash a few shikigami blasts before she needs to actually start moving. And from there, the boss takes less time to beat than that used for the characters ranked lower in the list.
It looks strange that Kuga is wedged in between the Fumikos. I did use Kuga after clearing the game with Kim, but I had problems beating bosses comfortably with him. So I gave up on him for a while. When I tried using Fumiko after clearing the game with Chibi Fumiko, I found out that Fumiko needs to dodge attacks that Chibi Fumiko doesn't need to dodge (Chibi Fumiko has the more powerful shikigami attack, which is more useful than the more powerful shot that Fumiko has). That was when I returned to Kuga, and I stuck with him because I was close to beating the game with him.
But when I returned to Fumiko, it didn't take me long to clear the game with her. I'm tempted to switch Fumiko's and Kuga's positions in the list because of this. But I want to play Fumiko and Kuga more extensively before I decide what to do with their positions.
Now for the rest of the characters. Roger is tough to use because he can run into bullets with his fast movement speed. So it's tough to remain vertically aligned with a boss. But in between boss forms, I can stick in one shikigami attack before the boss starts attacking. Then I can finish off the boss with Roger's powerful high tension shot. So bosses go down rather quickly if the player's lucky enough not to run into any bullets.
Sayo has the same problem of needing to stay vertically aligned to a boss, but she has more weaknesses that the player needs to overcome. Unlike Roger's normal shot, Sayo's shot is very weak from long range. And, unlike Roger and the Fumikos, Sayo does not have the ability to simultaneously attack with the shikigami and shot. So overall, bosses take a much longer time to beat with Sayo than with the other characters.
As for Hyuga, I have my reasons given here:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 402#381402
But most importantly, he has one glaring weakness that the other characters do not have: a weak bomb. Basically, it likes to lock onto things that are not the boss itself (even air!), so overall, bosses take less damage than usual.
It was nice to experience the breadth of characters in
Shikigami no Shiro II. And I liked that the things I learn for one character carry over to other characters. I hope to still enjoy this breadth, because even though I'm going for a high score now, I'll still be trying out all of the characters to determine which one is right for me. It'll just be on a deeper level from here.
Bernard A. DORIA (retired)