Played DDP DOJ for the first time.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:31 am

I love it. This is a nice way to treat myself after 1CC'ing Batsugun over a week ago after 3 months of just one shooter.

Anyways, my short inital impressions after having just played the first two stages:

I thought the game was going to be like Mars Matrix bullet patterns but so far the bullet patterns seem much the same as the first game's, but I can tell the stage 1 and 2 are just fattening me up for the kill. Bullet grazing is very intuitive, even with the not so perfect PS2 pad.

Love the helicopter boss and the stage 2 lava/industrial farm setting. The graphics are beautiful and the bosses have an almost, slightly shiny rendered look them. I love the eery yet lovely appearance of the elemental dolls (got a sealed copy of the game so I have the nice mini poster, whoo) Joker Jun's art is as always, unforgettable. His characters and art never fail to leave an indelible visual mark in your memory.

Music is very nice so far. The cheesy "heads up! Look out!" voice was forgiven once I heard the beautiful female vocalist near the end of stage 1's track.

All in all, another masterpiece by Cave. This and Mushihime will be my top games this summer followed by Radiant and Progear. I can't wait to see how vicious the game gets and how it lives up to its infamy.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:35 am

Yeah, I love this game. When my interest in shmups was faltering a couple years ago this game revitalized it. I have to continue like mad to play through it, but I still love it.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:59 am

I'm going to play this game for the first time on my 36th birthday coming up next week.

Very much looking forward to it.
Glad you liked it, Dylan1cc. I don't suppose you have aspirations to 1cc this one as well?

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 2:07 pm

Congrats, Dylan! I knew you'd like it.

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 7:30 pm

I am doing a series profile of the Donpachi games.

Should I include Dodonpachi II?

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 7:33 pm

icycalm wrote:I am doing a series profile of the Donpachi games.

Should I include Dodonpachi II?

Yes of course. Even though it's not by Cave, they still recognize it as part of the series. That's why DOJ is "Part 4" in the Donpachi series.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:02 pm

I haven't been able to rank in yet, got about 5 and a half million before going to work. So far the doll with the bonnet seems to have the most balanced main shot. Do the dolls have names btw?

professor ganson wrote:I'm going to play this game for the first time on my 36th birthday coming up next week. Very much looking forward to it.
Glad you liked it, Dylan1cc. I don't suppose you have aspirations to 1cc this one as well?

Yup, this one is on my 1CC list too.

I am sure you will really enjoy the game, feels just like the first but more fierce, has a "DDP: The Director's Cut Edition" feel to it if that makes sense.

MadSteelDarkness wrote:Congrats, Dylan! I knew you'd like it.

Thanks, it's the perfect game to keep me busy before Mushi's release in a month.

ForteMP3 · Post by **ForteMP3** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:17 pm

I love DDP DOJ as well, even if it does kick my ass constantly.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:22 pm

My fave part so far is when you blow up that big, swirling power station in the middle of stage 1. That's one time when slowdown is welcome IMHO and truly feels dramatic.

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 12:50 am

Dylan1CC wrote:Do the dolls have names btw?

The pink one with the bonnet is Shotia. The red one with the black hair is Leinyan and the purple boyish one is Exy. It says it on the Doll Select screen. Shot, Laser, Expert (mixed).

Shotia is great for beginners, but once you start focusing on chaining she becomes pretty tough to get by with (you'll see what I mean soon enough). I'd recommend getting into using either the B-L or the A-E when you start to get the stages down a little bit.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:20 am

I've seen people in arcades here do really well with all of em', but most of the people who are crazy-good pick the shot/laser type, as they don't use the bombs much. For those of us who are still mere mortals and need to bomb sometimes (myself included

) shot or laser type seem to be just fine.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:28 am

8 1/2 wrote:
Dylan1CC wrote:Do the dolls have names btw?
The pink one with the bonnet is Shotia. The red one with the black hair is Leinyan and the purple boyish one is Exy. It says it on the Doll Select screen. Shot, Laser, Expert (mixed).

Shotia is great for beginners, but once you start focusing on chaining she becomes pretty tough to get by with (you'll see what I mean soon enough). I'd recommend getting into using either the B-L or the A-E when you start to get the stages down a little bit.

Thanks, 8 1/2. And I am gonna make sure to make a note of the doll/ship combos you recommended.

For now though I am gonna go gun crazy with cute 'lil Shotia.

And is it just me or does she remind anyone of Baby Bonnie Hood? ha

BIG · Post by **BIG** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:32 am

Dai-ou-jou is a friggin' awesome game,in which many people fail to realize

For beginners (such as myself),I strongly suggest using elemental doll: Exy.

Best of both worlds.

B-

japtor · Post by **japtor** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 8:45 am

All in all, another masterpiece by Cave. This and Mushihime will be my top games this summer followed by Radiant and Progear. I can't wait to see how vicious the game gets and how it lives up to its infamy.

do you have ketsui? just mentioning it cause i feel its a better game. hell, i think its caves best actually, but i havent played galuda, mushi, or ibara yet (im leaning towards mushi having a chance to topple it).

if you play for survival, you should make some quick progress once you learn the levels a bit. for me the big difficulty jump comes in the 2nd half of stage 4 (with another one for 5). not that the rest of the game is easy, but its not evil or anything, unless you decide to use a hyper on a boss. then you gotta prepare for a bit of hell. i only do it on the first boss, sometimes on the 2nd, usually not on the others if i have a choice (not sure if midbosses rank up with a hyper though).

and as for myself, i use a-exy, just cause i like a quick ship and use shot/laser pretty equally, and dont bomb much. the low bomb stock bites me in the ass later in the game, but for now i just deal with it.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:00 pm

japtor:

Thanks for the gameplay advice. I am still using type A Shotia, I just help but like her killer spread shot.

No, I do not own Ketsui. I definitely would like to though.

Also, I have been playing stage 3 a lot (the space station setting is killer), I love it, my fave stage yet. A very nice take on the original DDP's stage 3 with its destructible heavy cruisers.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 3:43 am

Finally played it, and it completely blew my mind. Perhaps it doesn't look quite as good as ESPGaluda, but I found it even more fun to play. Who knows, this may end up being my favorite shooter ever, if the difficulty doesn't end up frustrating me too much.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 5:11 am

I love this game too. But it is real hard. I use A-Exy disbite I play really bad.

You won't powerdown that much when you die...

I can reach the final boss in ESP galuda on Normal in 1cc. But I can only reach Stage 3 boss in DOJ at Easy. This game is really hard...

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:35 pm

professor ganson wrote:Finally played it, and it completely blew my mind. Perhaps it doesn't look quite as good as ESPGaluda, but I found it even more fun to play. Who knows, this may end up being my favorite shooter ever, if the difficulty doesn't end up frustrating me too much.

Glad to hear it, professor.

Which level do you enjoy the most so far? I now like stage 3 the best now, haven't allowed myself to continue past it (no credit feeding for now).

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:22 pm

Dylan1CC wrote:
professor ganson wrote:Finally played it, and it completely blew my mind. Perhaps it doesn't look quite as good as ESPGaluda, but I found it even more fun to play. Who knows, this may end up being my favorite shooter ever, if the difficulty doesn't end up frustrating me too much.
Glad to hear it, professor. Which level do you enjoy the most so far? I now like stage 3 the best now, haven't allowed myself to continue past it (no credit feeding for now).

Yeah, I'm avoiding credit-feeding for the foreseeable future, and so, after about an hour of play, I've only seen levels 1 and 2 so far, both of which are great (no favorite so far). Getting to level 3 seems entirely manageable, given some hard work/play. I'm happy to hear that level 3 is something to look forward to.

Whether I will ever get beyond 3 without credit feeding is perhaps doubtful. I think Bloodflowers once wrote that the level of difficulty skyrockets around that point.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:32 pm

^^^

You will love stage 3, beautiful space station setting.

gs68 · Post by **gs68** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:23 am

I'll never beat this game with <7 continues.

BIG wrote:Dai-ou-jou is a friggin' awesome game,in which many people fail to realize

For beginners (such as myself),I strongly suggest using elemental doll: Exy.

Best of both worlds.

B-

Exy gives you both powerful shot and laser but aren't you forgetting her bomb stock (or lack thereof)?

japtor · Post by **japtor** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:08 am

Whether I will ever get beyond 3 without credit feeding is perhaps doubtful. I think Bloodflowers once wrote that the level of difficulty skyrockets around that point.

its hard, but not unmanageable once you play it a bit. in the 2nd part of 4 theres a pretty big jump, its the first noticeable one for me, definitely bigger than 2->3 for me.

Exy gives you both powerful shot and laser but aren't you forgetting her bomb stock (or lack thereof)?

lack of bombs builds character.

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:47 pm

Yes, stage 4 is the hellbeast of this game. Ask anyone who's played this a lot and they'll likely tell you it's their most hated/feared stage. At first it's hard just to survive it... then you try to learn to chain it.

ill6 · Post by **ill6** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:40 pm

8 1/2 wrote:Yes, stage 4 is the hellbeast of this game. Ask anyone who's played this a lot and they'll likely tell you it's their most hated/feared stage. At first it's hard just to survive it... then you try to learn to chain it.

You can get to level 4... Hell I only got to level 3 so far! Hopefully the PCB will fix this.

Palmer Eldritch · Post by **Palmer Eldritch** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:01 pm

Does a translation of the story/manual exist?

--Michael

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:08 pm

I actually need to take back what I've said elsewhere about DDP; the type 1-L ship is by far the best ship to use. I used to completely advocate type 3-S, but switching back and forth a bit today, even without the spread, the increase in speed was enough to give me a massive advantage over the type 3. I also find myself easily getting to and part way through level 4 (though not to the end yet.)

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:16 am

I need to play DOJ one more time before Mushi consumes my life.

TVG · Post by **TVG** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:14 am

i absolutely hate stage 4.

i think i need to focus on just surviving it without bombing, instead of (hopelessly) trying to chain it.

maybee i need to record myself trying to chain stage 4, just for a cheap laugh.

gaaah

the second part of stage 3 is a bitch to perfect too, i figured out most of it, but the end right before the big 2 pillars come, when there's about 40 drones swinging wildly at you gets me most of the time, makes me lose my 3-4 stocked hypers and cry.

not to mention the last seconds of the 3rd boss, being there on high rank, with the extra pressure of carrying 3 hypers and a max bomb bonus just isnt cool. i need to figure shit out with this, sometimes its easy as pie but sometimes i get stuckt like a dumbass.

i also gave up hypering the stage 2 boss for now, at least if rank is as high as it should be, serves me no purpose other than dying fast.