Espgaluda II

[Schrodinger's cat]

I haven't listened to a lot of Galuda II's soundtrack yet outside of the promo vids, but how could it be a step DOWN? The first game just had tiresome dancey electronica that sounded like the demo track off a cheap keyboard.

Yeah, I think I'm one of the few people here who actually prefer Galuda II's soundtrack way over the first one. I don't get why there's so much hate for the OST.

Holy fuck! Both Arcade and 360 Arcade mode feel like I'm playing with WAIT OFF! The slowdown that is normally caused by transitioning enemy states is pretty much gone. It's apparent right off the bat at the beginning of stage 1: on the PCB, when you kill the large enemy that drops down from above there's a moment of slowdown as he dies.. not there in either arcade mode. There's normally also a little bit of slowdown that occurs as one boss form is damaged... gone. Also, I swear that the zesshikai bullets behave ... differently... it's hard to describe.

I've been reading a lot about the slowdown issues for this port. Would you say that the game is significantly harder due to the inaccurate slowdown? Or is it just annoying since you've been playing on the PCB for a while?

[Shuurin]

So I take it that despite the soundtrack taking a step down from the first game, this is in every other way the better game, and more challenging?

I haven't listened to a lot of Galuda II's soundtrack yet outside of the promo vids, but how could it be a step DOWN? The first game just had tiresome dancey electronica that sounded like the demo track off a cheap keyboard.

After a few dry runs before work, stage 1 and 2 have some pretty uninspired bgm. Stage 3 is slightly catchy but I'm not sure if i was just thankful for a slight change of sound comparred to the first two. Need to play it some more and see if it grows on me.

[yyr]

I haven't listened to a lot of Galuda II's soundtrack yet outside of the promo vids, but how could it be a step DOWN? The first game just had tiresome dancey electronica that sounded like the demo track off a cheap keyboard.

After a few dry runs before work, stage 1 and 2 have some pretty uninspired bgm. Stage 3 is slightly catchy but I'm not sure if i was just thankful for a slight change of sound comparred to the first two. Need to play it some more and see if it grows on me.

Am I the only one, then, who absolutely adores the soundtracks for both games?

[MSZ]

Other than stage 4, the entire Galuda I soundtrack sucks. EII is so much better it isn't even funny.

[Zweihander]

So I take it that despite the soundtrack taking a step down from the first game, this is in every other way the better game, and more challenging?

I haven't listened to a lot of Galuda II's soundtrack yet outside of the promo vids, but how could it be a step DOWN? The first game just had tiresome dancey electronica that sounded like the demo track off a cheap keyboard.

After a few dry runs before work, stage 1 and 2 have some pretty uninspired bgm. Stage 3 is slightly catchy but I'm not sure if i was just thankful for a slight change of sound comparred to the first two. Need to play it some more and see if it grows on me.

This. The Galuda 2 OST has its moments, but IMO the only forgettable track from the first game was the boss theme. Stages 1, 3, and 5 contain some of my utmost favorite music in all of gaming. Guess I'm in the minority, though.

Other than stage 4, the entire Galuda I soundtrack sucks. EII is so much better it isn't even funny.

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man. I found it to be even more forgettable than the Mushihime-sama OST by the time I deleted the ESPGaluda II OST folder.

[Gwyrgyn Blood]

stuff

Cool. If you've got time, jump over to the ST thread and help me finish fleshing it out. Won't get my copy until early next week.

[nZero]

So I take it that despite the soundtrack taking a step down from the first game, this is in every other way the better game, and more challenging?

I haven't listened to a lot of Galuda II's soundtrack yet outside of the promo vids, but how could it be a step DOWN?

Streamed Manabu Namiki soundtrack. The man did some excellent work on limited hardware (esp. boss themes for Raizing and PGM h/w Cave games wow!) but everything he's done after that has been pretty boring and forgettable imo.

[evil_ash_xero]

I haven't listened to a lot of Galuda II's soundtrack yet outside of the promo vids, but how could it be a step DOWN? The first game just had tiresome dancey electronica that sounded like the demo track off a cheap keyboard.

Yeah, I think I'm one of the few people here who actually prefer Galuda II's soundtrack way over the first one. I don't get why there's so much hate for the OST.

I prefer 2's also.

[Gwyrgyn Blood]

So in Omake mode, if you get 1000 gold, your bomb meter refills. You can get gems by bombing bullets. You can use gems to get gold. I think you can see where this is going.

[ex.machina]

I haven't listened to a lot of Galuda II's soundtrack yet outside of the promo vids, but how could it be a step DOWN? The first game just had tiresome dancey electronica that sounded like the demo track off a cheap keyboard.

I can't remember the music in the first one, but the music in this game unfortunately ranges from boring and forgettable to annoying (those boss tunes annoy even more the more often you play ). Too bad, it's really the biggest down part of the game.

[Kiken]

Holy fuck! Both Arcade and 360 Arcade mode feel like I'm playing with WAIT OFF! The slowdown that is normally caused by transitioning enemy states is pretty much gone. It's apparent right off the bat at the beginning of stage 1: on the PCB, when you kill the large enemy that drops down from above there's a moment of slowdown as he dies.. not there in either arcade mode. There's normally also a little bit of slowdown that occurs as one boss form is damaged... gone. Also, I swear that the zesshikai bullets behave ... differently... it's hard to describe.

I've been reading a lot about the slowdown issues for this port. Would you say that the game is significantly harder due to the inaccurate slowdown? Or is it just annoying since you've been playing on the PCB for a while?

I think there definitely are several points in the game that are more difficult as a result of the missing slowdown.

[Udderdude]

I thought only 360 mode had the missing slowdown. Is it arcade mode, too?

I will prob. be sticking with arcade mode (I also stick with arcade mode on the Futari port, since I feel the 4x resolution increase makes the game a LOT easier)

[chempop]

After a handful for credits my thoughts...

Arcade mode

- looked like crap until I turned smoothing on (in DOJ I didn't use smoothing, but here it was needed)
- soundtrack is alright (stage 1-3), hard to say if I like it more than the Galuda1
- I couldn't get bullets to spawn in kakusei mode like it shows in the tutorial

360 mode

- basically the same as arcade, differences are probably going to be above my head as I haven't played the PCB and I've only played an hour since turning it on

Black Label mode

- wtf, why am I catching bullets??
- wtf, why are bullets disappearing
- wtf, why aren't bullets disappearing
- music is much better
- clearly I have much to learn about Black Label

Arrange mode

- haven't tried yet

[Udderdude]

- I couldn't get bullets to spawn in kakusei mode like it shows in the tutorial

You have to hold down the kakusei button longer to go into that mode.

[Shelcoof]

Ok, got this earlier today and spent the last two hours or so playing Arcade, 360 Arcade and Arrange.

Holy fuck! Both Arcade and 360 Arcade mode feel like I'm playing with WAIT OFF! The slowdown that is normally caused by transitioning enemy states is pretty much gone. It's apparent right off the bat at the beginning of stage 1: on the PCB, when you kill the large enemy that drops down from above there's a moment of slowdown as he dies.. not there in either arcade mode. There's normally also a little bit of slowdown that occurs as one boss form is damaged... gone. Also, I swear that the zesshikai bullets behave ... differently... it's hard to describe.

So is that a good thing or bad that the transitioning enemy state is gone?

[MSZ]

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man. I found it to be even more forgettable than the Mushihime-sama OST by the time I deleted the ESPGaluda II OST folder.

Well, that's your opinion.

I would say Daifukkatsu's OST is better than Galuda I too...in my opinion.

[third_strike]

I would say play ESPII was shmup dream since I watched one replay of game. In order of play this:
- I worked hard in last year for got one jp360 for play this game.
- Bought mushi futari only training bosses in order of get any skills.
- Have watched the galuda II replay later days for memorize.
- Played one couple of first galuda in later year.

And now I read this:

Holy fuck! Both Arcade and 360 Arcade mode feel like I'm playing with WAIT OFF! The slowdown that is normally caused by transitioning enemy states is pretty much gone. It's apparent right off the bat at the beginning of stage 1: on the PCB, when you kill the large enemy that drops down from above there's a moment of slowdown as he dies.. not there in either arcade mode. There's normally also a little bit of slowdown that occurs as one boss form is damaged... gone. Also, I swear that the zesshikai bullets behave ... differently... it's hard to describe.

"I have the PCB, and the xbox 360 version has a lot of spots where the slowdown is messed up."

"For this game, the Esgaluda 2 port is like an "Omake" (i.e. bonus) mode. The title screen says 'Espgaluda II BLACK LABEL', after all. If you're looking for an exact port of the Espgaluda II arcade game, it's not here, so go play it in your local arcade instead."

My first reaction was get pissed and sad, but thinking well I have only little more than 2 years of shmup experience then still there is too many game for play mainly of takumi and skonec, then I don't need care about Galuda II any more. Now I am cool and want only:
CAVE VÁ TOMAR NO OLHO DO CÚ!

[Domino]

Did people bitch about the slowdown on Death Smiles as well?

[skink]

I'm not really digging this new trend with all the bullet cancelling (DFK, Futari Arrange, new galuda 2 modes).

[chempop]

I'm not really digging this new trend with all the bullet cancelling (DFK, Futari Arrange, new galuda 2 modes).

In some ways I agree with what you are saying. A big part of me wishes for an Arrange mode like Galuda1's, which is THE BEST Arrange mode yet (for a Cave game). Another part of me likes having a bizzaro-invincible-mode that I can play no matter how messed up or tired I am.

You have to hold down the kakusei button longer to go into that mode.

Thanks for this, I was too eager to play to read the strategy guide first.

[SFKhoa]

Holy fuck! Both Arcade and 360 Arcade mode feel like I'm playing with WAIT OFF! The slowdown that is normally caused by transitioning enemy states is pretty much gone. It's apparent right off the bat at the beginning of stage 1: on the PCB, when you kill the large enemy that drops down from above there's a moment of slowdown as he dies.. not there in either arcade mode. There's normally also a little bit of slowdown that occurs as one boss form is damaged... gone. Also, I swear that the zesshikai bullets behave ... differently... it's hard to describe.

Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for Mihara to shred this port apart in his blog again.

[Domino]

So the moral of the story is that Cave can't even port their own games.

[StarCreator]

The game also never says "PLAESE WAIT", in any mode.

It is dead to me.

...

Joking aside, just gave this a shot tonight, and I'm instantly reminded of why I barely play it despite owning the PCB. Hopefully this time I'll stick with it rather than shelve it for another year, but the game is so far beyond a playable difficulty for me that I get pissed off at it relatively quickly.

[Phellan Wolf]

So for those who've already played it, is really that bad the port?

[evil_ash_xero]

Well, actually, we are getting a lot of people who have played the PCB who are comparing it to this port.

I would like to hear more from people who had never played it, and what their thoughts are of the game's quality.

I hear DS MBL is really quite inaccurate, but I had never played the PCB, so it didn't matter to me, and I love it.

[StarCreator]

Honestly, aside from the fact that the game appears to have less slowdown judging from Kiken's writeup (thus making the game harder than it was originally), if you aren't already used to the PCB it probably won't matter to you.

As I mentioned, I own the PCB but haven't spent nearly enough time with it to be able to tell the difference between the versions. And both of them just kick my ass to the point that I can't play them for very long.

[Phellan Wolf]

Honestly, aside from the fact that the game appears to have less slowdown judging from Kiken's writeup (thus making the game harder than it was originally), if you aren't already used to the PCB it probably won't matter to you.

As I mentioned, I own the PCB but haven't spent nearly enough time with it to be able to tell the difference between the versions. And both of them just kick my ass to the point that I can't play them for very long.

I am not used to the PCB but I tried the game back when I visited Japan for the last time and I fell in love with it, but you're right my memories are fading away so It won't matter to me since I am not used to teh PCB

[adversity1]

People, play Black Label.

There's a reason they named the fucking port EspGaluda II: Black Label!

Black Label may be the most original and interesting CAVE game I've played since Futari.

[DC906270]

If you're looking for an exact port of the Espgaluda II arcade game, it's not here, so go play it in your local arcade instead."

Probably so the developer has a get-out clause when the shmup-fans start howling about "er, the slowdown is inaccurate". shit, imagine how long it must take to accurately replicate the slowdown? just make a new version, so it doesnt have to be "accurate".

[Plasmo]

So the moral of the story is that Cave can't even port their own games.

We know that since Mushihime and Ibara for PS2. But at least they're better than 5pb.
I don't think it's fair to compare it 1:1 with the arcade original, just enjoy the game as it is for $500 less than the PCB.