Espgaluda II

[StarCreator]

Does anyone else get a small pop at the part where the ending song loops, as if the repeat position is slightly off?

I'll probably play some more when I'm not sleep deprived... I managed to score less on a novice score attack run, actually trying for score, than I did on my initial dry run. Clearly I'm doing something very wrong.

Hopefully my LE will arrive soon, since the SE will probably be leaving my possession in the afternoon.

[evil_ash_xero]

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.

Their DonPachi and DoDonPachi ports for Saturn left something to be desired. At least these look nice.

[StarCreator]

By the way, the SE disc installs to 657MB on the hard drive, and the entire install process took less than half a minute. It's even smaller than Mushihimesama Futari's install.

[Dandy J]

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.

Thing is the boss track on espg1 is so bad that it brings the whole thing down cuz u hear it every single stage.

[everlust]

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.

Even though i have no idea what I'm doing in the game, it's incredibly fun.

Also agreed, absolutely love Black Label!

[Zweihander]

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.

For me, the problem with 2's soundtrack is that none of the tracks embodied that "epic" feel of the first, third, and fifth stages of 1's soundtrack. The dramatic feeling that the music conveyed; as though you were truly fighting for some kind of cause, and embarking on an important quest to decide the future of the realm. 2 didn't seem to have any of this. Hell, even the crappy Mushi 1 soundtrack had the awesome stage 4 music, and the TLB music that I swear Hitoshi Sakimoto had a hand in. 2 didn't have anything that made me want to keep it on my hard drive.

[BIL]

Thing is the boss track on espg1 is so bad that it brings the whole thing down cuz u hear it every single stage.

Yeah... that really is a fucking dreadful boss track. It'd be okay without the "YEAH" "OOH OOH OOH"s... should've chucked in a "BUSTIN' MAKES ME FEEL GOOD" to cancel those out.

[ex.machina]

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.

Never played the PCB before. Apart from the crappy soundtrack the game is great. Especially visually it's a big step forward. I just need more practice (and time I guess) to understand and play all the modes.

[GaijinPunch]

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

Will Farrel playing the cowbell > Namiki

The game also never says "PLAESE WAIT", in any mode.
It is dead to me.

This is a thread winner --- glad to see I'm not the only one that missed it.

[drunkninja24]

Thing is the boss track on espg1 is so bad that it brings the whole thing down cuz u hear it every single stage.

Yeah... that really is a fucking dreadful boss track. It'd be okay without the "YEAH" "OOH OOH OOH"s... should've chucked in a "BUSTIN' MAKES ME FEEL GOOD" to cancel those out.

I must be one of the few that liked Espg1's boss track.

[BIL]

I guess. Even fans of the OST don't seem to rate it very highly, at least here. DOJ and Ketsui's from the same hardware stomp it.

[skink]

I kinda like galuda 2's soundtrack. I always get really pumped up around stg 3 midboss when the music gets goin. OK, maybe that's the only memorable soundtrack place for me,but it makes up for some of the rest haha. Should have my 360 copy on Monday. I haven't listened to any of the remixed tracks yet. Hopefully they're good.

[Kiken]

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

To be honest, it's just weird and makes the game feel like it's on speed. There are a couple of spots where it is beneficial to the player, but it's not earth-shattering that it's gone. What most certainly does directly affect the game's difficulty though is the missing slowdown during specific bullet-heavy attacks from the later bosses (revenge of Wehaha and Seseri immediately spring to mind). There are several patterns that cause momentary bullet volume slowdown in the PCB.. those are pretty much gone. The effect is that these patterns now come out crazy fast!

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

The port is decent. Out of all of Cave's games, I'd argue that the slowdown in ESP2 is the most complex and therefore the toughest to replicate accurately. What you end up with is a slightly more difficult version of the PCB with 5 additional modes.

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.

No thanks. I'll stick to Arrange and Omake. Arrange is bullet cancelling lunacy and Omake is like Galuda 1 on horse steroids.

[Kiken]

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.

You get back 50% of your meter when you hit 1000 gold, which then resets your gold to 0. The object is to have a full bomb meter and then get 1000 gold and 500 gems. At this point you'll hear the zesshikai chime and a reticle will appear around your character that looks sorta like the Hyper-Standby circle in DDP DFK. Now you activate 'zesshikai' for Super Happy Fun Bonus Time!

[schnoo]

mushi futari's boss BGM>>>>>> esp2's
epically intense BGM (360 version)

[Shelcoof]

To be honest, it's just weird and makes the game feel like it's on speed. There are a couple of spots where it is beneficial to the player, but it's not earth-shattering that it's gone. What most certainly does directly affect the game's difficulty though is the missing slowdown during specific bullet-heavy attacks from the later bosses (revenge of Wehaha and Seseri immediately spring to mind). There are several patterns that cause momentary bullet volume slowdown in the PCB.. those are pretty much gone. The effect is that these patterns now come out crazy fast!

I see, I didn't fully understand your post earlier regarding the issue but I understand now. It's pretty much what people have complained about in previous Cave ports on the PS2.

Thanks for clearing it up.

[TLB]

mushi futari's boss BGM>>>>>> esp2's
epically intense BGM (360 version)

Interesting opinion. I believe the reverse. I like Descend's beat better. Futari's sounds a lot more like some kind of tribal jungle shit. Fits the theme, but the synthy bass doesn't save it for me.

[chempop]

Some more (useless?) thoughts from someone who never played the PCB

- as most of you probably already know, there aren't as many screen settings for fine tuning like there are in Futari, doesn't bother me because the game looks really nice and smooth on my CRT and I'm using the crap stock composite cables (i could use an s-video cable...)

- I find it a nuisance that each mode needs to be set up, but once it's done it's done

Playing with a stick I am most comfortable with this button configuration
A: Laser
LT: Rapid Shot
B: Kakusei
RT: Shield/Bomb

Playing with a Pad I change it to this
A: Laser
RT: Rapid Shot
X: Kakusei
B: Shield/Bomb

- Slowdown is pretty rare as people have stated, for some reason the beginning of stage 2 has some even though there isn't much action on screen. Why, I don't know. I have mixed feelings on slowdown, it seems really crucial for some games but in Futari Maniac I was going nuts with how often the game would jump-start back into full speed resulting in "accidental" deaths. I've only managed to see up until midway through stage 4 in Galuda2, so I don't know if missing slowdown is going to be game-breaking towards the very end.

- Zesshikai is probably going to frustrate people a bit at first, especially those accustomed to Galuda1. I'm still struggling to get it working consistently because I'm so used to just tapping Kakusei. Also, I often am holding down Rapid Shot even when using Laser, and having to also hold down Kakuei is making my brain kinda freeze. Using Zesshikai effectively will take a lot of practice.

- Black Label feels like a completely different game (was there a PCB of this?). Some are going to love it, some will hate it, and many will be confused. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's safe to say that the mechanics here are BY FAR the most complicated out of any cave game yet.

- Arrange mode has been the topic of much hype (YGW) around here, but I'm not sure that the Elite Cavemen are going to be very interested in it. Somewhat similar to Futari's Arrange, the premise here seems to be milking. Fans of Dimhoo and Ikaruga should enjoy this mode a lot.

- I don't know what Omake mode is.... in the main menu screen I only see
Novice
Novice BL
Arcade
360
BL
Arrange

[honorless]

1up posted levels 1, 3 and 5 of an Ageha BL run that's less scrubby than the other videos I've seen so far. (Probably recorded off an XBL replay...)

I don't know what Omake mode is

Beat the game, and you'll find out.

[Jockel]

Omake is piss easy, an absolute joke.
Regarding Black Label, can somebody explain to me how the bullet splitting works and what the two additional bars are for?

[Special World]

Is there a thread somewhere that details Omake mode? I'm not sure what it is and I'm very curious.

The comment that it's "like ESP 1 but on horse steroids" intrigues me just because of the fact that I think ESP2 might be a little overcomplicated for me (I havent played it so I'm not really sure) and I'd be pretty happy if there was a mode which de-complicated things back to ESP1 levels of complication.

ED: Also, whats up with people in vids grinding up against bullets Psyvariar style? It doesnt seem to be affecting their score any (?) so is it just showing off or is it just a side effect of getting closer to do more damage and get more gold or something? Or maybe it's bullet leading of some sort I guess?

[MSZ]

Will Farrel playing the cowbell > Namiki

Namiki > Will Farrel > your mom

[chempop]

...and what the two additional bars are for?

There is a decent summary of BL in the strategy section. I can't really be of much help but if you are talking about the bottom right hand side bar it is your bullet catch/deflect meter. I have sneaking suspicion that it only works on bullets coming at you from the front though, I'm probably wrong though.

Omake is piss easy, an absolute joke.

Let me guess, Okame is for people who struggle with Novice

[Phellan Wolf]

Well to be honest I think that most purists should take the missing slowdown in the port as something great because it implies a harder challenge.
But man can wait to put my hands on it. Those waiting days are going to last months!!!!

[Plasmo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0zNpbv8NO4

Hilarious video of a girl playing Espgaluda II and screaming her way through it. The latter half is the best.

Same guys who were testing Futari a few days after its release.

[StarCreator]

Plasmo: That's the Play x Play video from the JP XBL spotlight. It's already been linked here.

I actually thought Omake was a lot of fun. I think Kiken has dived into Omake's mechanics the best so far, but it's pretty easy to figure out once you start playing it.

It seems to use the Arcade/360 Mode bullet patterns, but there's a lot of bullet cancelling as well, thus the comment of it being easy.

[ncp]

asada's hair gets more and more fabulous every time i see him

[BIL]

I like the guy on the left. Looks like a slightly baked Jin Kazama.

[StarCreator]

I like the guy on the left. Looks like a slightly baked Jin Kazama.

That's Asada. He made the game you're playing.

[BIL]

...he made Metal Black?