Senko no Ronde 2

[Depth Charge]

So how is the online in this? Since the majority of the people playing are in Japan, isn't the lag pretty bad? I think the first game is fun, but I can't see buying this if the online is unplayable.

[Burningvigor]

well yeah its pretty laggy when I play japanese. I havent played one person in america yet so im not sure if its lag from the games engine or just long distance.

Anyone wanna try to play me SantaPoring is my GT. I live in southern cali.

[adversity1]

edit: I noticed on gamefaqs theres achievement for commander style? Why would anyways play that? Does anyone play that mode online?

Yeah, commander mode is some bullshit. Not fun, and yet there's a 100 battle achievement for it.

Boring.

[Burningvigor]

Ok i finished story mode and still have 5 secret achievements left. Im going to assume it has something to do with gallery?

Also "Warning a Hi-Rounder is approching fast" achievement

Do I have to beat the game 10 times in arcade and commader mode?

[adversity1]

Ok i finished story mode and still have 5 secret achievements left. Im going to assume it has something to do with gallery?

Also "Warning a Hi-Rounder is approching fast" achievement

Do I have to beat the game 10 times in arcade and commader mode?

You have to do 10 "waiting matches" in Arcade and Commander mode. You can set this in the options before entering arcade mode and then people will challenge you as you're playing.

[mesh control]

Just got my LE copy, probably should have went with the SE and bought the soundtrack. (I had no idea what a drama CD was)

Favorite game this year so far.

I'm fairly acquainted with the first game but I have several questions:

What's the best strategy when going into BOSS mode? button mash or is there a legitimate strategy? Also the barrage from the first one no longer works when you hit M+S; rather it activates the active-field, correct? Is barrage mapped to it's own button?
I am using the arcade stick configuration.

[markz]

I got my copy last Saturday and complete story mode in about 15 hours, also had 5 incredible lag online matches ==

Story mode is quite intresting if you can read a bit…… At end of Ernula's story, game indicate the red hair girl in the middle of LE package names Pidote. According to G.rev's Boarder Down concept, AI of player's 3 ships are Ranatus (green boarder)/ Ernula (yellow)/ Pidote (red), so this explain why Theo's B.O.S.S mode is looks like Boarder Down stage3 boss, and we can presume the world of Boarder Down is the old century for Senko no ronde~

[kusanagi888]

Okay so I should be getting this in the mail on Saturday and I need to know if there's a FAQ available for this game anywhere in English. I own the original but admittedly haven't played it in a while, and I see that there's an additional button, assist characters, etc? Nothing too precise needed, just the basics like which buttons when pressed together do this, what the game systems are, etc. Also, does every character only have the <- -> and 360 special moves? I thought each character had at least 3 specials in the original but I may be wrong. Thanks in advance (adversity1?).

Edit: Also, a menu translation would be awesome too.

[Sarsapari]

Tsubasa did a complete menu translation on the dustloop forums

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showpost ... stcount=48

Also as for the online slowdown. I was having some issues with it as well until I port forwarded my Xbox, then it became barely noticeable!

[Phellan Wolf]

This may sound a bit weird, but since I consider the Senko games very close in style to the Virtual On series, I was just wondering if the twin stick could be used with DUO. Someone knows for sure?

[kusanagi888]

Tsubasa did a complete menu translation on the dustloop forums

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showpost ... stcount=48

Also as for the online slowdown. I was having some issues with it as well until I port forwarded my Xbox, then it became barely noticeable!

Many thanks. Does there happen to be a FAQ anywhere on that site?

[Burningvigor]

can someone give me some insight how commander mode works? I was playing some people online and they seemed pretty advance. They were doing some setups... I also noticed the right bumber makes the assist throw some ball towards the rounder.. not sure what it does.

Oh and the diamond shape meter at the bottom.. what does it mean when it changes colors and the dot in the center moves to different angles?

[Davey]

Tsubasa did a complete menu translation on the dustloop forums

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showpost ... stcount=48

Thank you kind sir! Sadly I've been neglecting this game so far, maybe this will motivate me to try it.

This may sound a bit weird, but since I consider the Senko games very close in style to the Virtual On series, I was just wondering if the twin stick could be used with DUO. Someone knows for sure?

I guess it's technically possible. You could use the left stick for movement and map the other buttons to the turbo buttons and triggers (or directions on the right stick, if you really want to be counterintuitive). But it would be awkward as hell.

Even though the mechanics were borrowed from Virtual On, Senko was designed from the ground up to use a joystick. Given that you don't have to worry about manual rotation or a third dimension, a good joystick should be sufficient, and is probably ideal. Besides, I imagine twin sticks would suck for tap dodging.

[mesh control]

I plan on playing a bit tonight and if anyone cares to battle add me. XBL: mesh control

[Sarsapari]

I went ahead and made an IRC channel!

#snrduo on Rizon

[adversity1]

So this weekend, the Senko no Ronde DUO East Japan championships were held at Club SEGA in Akihabara. This arcade usually has really high Senko play, along with HEY.

Some really good players came out. I'm going to try to make it to the next one, but for now check out the championships:

http://www.youtube.com/user/duoaikai#p/u/6/9TOsDYHhuBE

Really surprising to me that a Leif B would win given how weak he seemed in the initial arcade iterations of the game. Maybe he got beefed up?
He also wins by time-out, so it seems that Leif is not necessarily an amazing character, but this player is really skilled at avoiding getting hit.

Check out some of the other vids on that channel to get a glimpse of high-level DUO arcade play.

[Phellan Wolf]

So this weekend, the Senko no Ronde DUO East Japan championships were held at Club SEGA in Akihabara. This arcade usually has really high Senko play, along with HEY.

Some really good players came out. I'm going to try to make it to the next one, but for now check out the championships:

http://www.youtube.com/user/duoaikai#p/u/6/9TOsDYHhuBE

Really surprising to me that a Leif B would win given how weak he seemed in the initial arcade iterations of the game. Maybe he got beefed up?
He also wins by time-out, so it seems that Leif is not necessarily an amazing character, but this player is really skilled at avoiding getting hit.

Check out some of the other vids on that channel to get a glimpse of high-level DUO arcade play.

Simply amazing. Those japanese guys are really out of this world when they play these games.
If you plan on attending one of those championships adversity the only thing I can wish you is good luck.

[Cuilan]

http://www.youtube.com/user/duoaikai#p/u/6/9TOsDYHhuBE

Really surprising to me that a Leif B would win given how weak he seemed in the initial arcade iterations of the game. Maybe he got beefed up?
He also wins by time-out, so it seems that Leif is not necessarily an amazing character, but this player is really skilled at avoiding getting hit.

Imori is one of the best Senko players in the world (if no the best).

[Enhasa]

Really surprising to me that a Leif B would win given how weak he seemed in the initial arcade iterations of the game. Maybe he got beefed up?
He also wins by time-out, so it seems that Leif is not necessarily an amazing character, but this player is really skilled at avoiding getting hit.

I'm not qualified to speak on DUO, but just watching that vid and talking out my ass, Leif seems like a great character for a defensive playstyle. That zoning move with the walls looks absolutely ridiculous, but maybe the power level in this game is a lot higher overall.

[Cuilan]

I got my copy a couple of days ago, and my first impressions were quite negative. At first, I really disliked most of the changes G.rev has made to the gameplay. Nearly all of my Rev.X strategies are practically useless. I'm not very fond of having to re-learn everything from scratch, not after all of the time I dedicated to Rev.X

Just about every character from the first game has undergone major changes (they may as well be brand-new characters), and the only two that still resemble their original incarnations are Ernula and Sakurako (but even they have been noticeably altered). One of the first gameplay changes I noticed is excessive reduction in the hitstun capabilities of most attacks, which makes it much more difficult to keep pressure on opponents and/or guard yourself effectively from large barrages/certain melee attacks. The reduction in hitstun frequency also reduces the opportunities to perform melee attacks safely, also adding much greater risk to performing melee attacks in general. Certain operator attacks help alleviate the hitstun reduction somewhat, but those attacks aren't available often enough to really compensate. The new M+S melee attack does help with defense somewhat, but I find that it is much too easy to perform it on accident, and when that happens you are left wide open to enemy attacks. All characters now have only Left-Right and 360 motions for their special move input commands, which takes some getting used to after being accustomed to using a greater variety of inputs for different characters in Rev.X

Anyways, after giving DUO a few more chances to win me over, I've managed to come to terms with some of the changes, but I'm still not happy about it. And that doesn't even factor in the inexcusably terrible netcode (which still hasn't been patched). All that aside, everything else about DUO is good (except maybe the presentation). It's just unfortunate that DUO falls short for me where it matters the most.

Rev.X is one of my favorite games of all time, and I was fully expecting DUO to be better or at least just as good. DUO was going to be my game of the year. But now it's looking like it will be my biggest disappointment of the year instead. I dunno, maybe it'll finally click after I spend more time with it, but I'm not very optimistic at the moment. Maybe if I hadn't played Rev.X so extensively for so long, it would have been easier for me to get into DUO. Sigh...

[Kiken]

How the hell do you perform Theo's giga beam? Is it an alternate fire for Sub?

[adversity1]

Which attack do you mean by giga beam? What does it look like?

[Kiken]

Which attack do you mean by giga beam? What does it look like?

I would think that the term "giga beam" is fairly standard shmup nomenclature by now... but I'm refering to the thick purple laser he can fire straight ahead.

[Cuilan]

I would think that the term "giga beam" is fairly standard shmup nomenclature by now... but I'm refering to the thick purple laser he can fire straight ahead.

You have to be in Rook mode (Left-Right M+S motion), and then do shield+M. You'll know you're in Rook mode when the Rounder's appendages are extended, instead of closed (Knight mode).

[Cuilan]

I'm starting to enjoy DUO a lot more, now that I've learned to adjust my play style and tolerate the changes I'm not fond of. I still prefer the gameplay in Rev.X, but I think DUO isn't too far behind now.

Played through the entire story mode and enjoyed it a lot. I only had to adjust the difficulty a couple of times, mainly near the end of the SSS and GSO arcs. The vague storytelling in Rev.X was very nice, since I like games with stories that force you to use your head to make sense of it. But the more direct storytelling in DUO really helps Senko's world and characters come alive, and clarifies many parts of the story told in Rev.X

I wasn't aware that browsing the leaderboards would cause my 360 to freeze, until I found out first hand. As if bad netcode wasn't enough...But at least G.rev is supposedly going to fix all of that in the upcoming patch.

[Shuurin]

I'm starting to enjoy DUO a lot more, now that I've learned to adjust my play style and tolerate the changes I'm not fond of. I still prefer the gameplay in Rev.X, but I think DUO isn't too far behind now.

Played through the entire story mode and enjoyed it a lot. I only had to adjust the difficulty a couple of times, mainly near the end of the SSS and GSO arcs. The vague storytelling in Rev.X was very nice, since I like games with stories that force you to use your head to make sense of it. But the more direct storytelling in DUO really helps Senko's world and characters come alive, and clarifies many parts of the story told in Rev.X

I wasn't aware that browsing the leaderboards would cause my 360 to freeze, until I found out first hand. As if bad netcode wasn't enough...But at least G.rev is supposedly going to fix all of that in the upcoming patch.

It is a shame that much of what made Rev.X a great game is not present at all in DUO. While I took the changes a little easier my main local competition didn't so my overall motivation waned quickly.

I agree that with the storyline this time around it fleshes out the world quite a bit more, but I was fine if they had done story much like Rev.X.

I mentioned a freeze bug a page back but it seemed to go entirely unnoticed or was already well known. Made me think at first my box was going to RRoD when I tried to turn it back on.

[Enhasa]

Rev.X is one of my favorite games of all time, and I was fully expecting DUO to be better or at least just as good.

This is why I'm glad I have a perverse talent for keeping expectations low. I guess I've played enough games to realize that you can't blindly trust any developer, and that you can't know how much you will like any game until you've actually played it.

Rev.X is one of my all-time favorite games too, but because of that, I expect not to like DUO as much as Rev.X. Not even basing that on anything concrete about the game, just regression to the mean, that's just how it works. Accept that and hopefully it'll bother you less.

[Cuilan]

I mentioned a freeze bug a page back but it seemed to go entirely unnoticed or was already well known.

Oh, I remember reading it now, but I forgot all about your post for some reason. Maybe I thought it was just an isolated issue or something.

This is why I'm glad I have a perverse talent for keeping expectations low. I guess I've played enough games to realize that you can't blindly trust any developer, and that you can't know how much you will like any game until you've actually played it.

Rev.X is one of my all-time favorite games too, but because of that, I expect not to like DUO as much as Rev.X. Not even basing that on anything concrete about the game, just regression to the mean, that's just how it works. Accept that and hopefully it'll bother you less.

Yeah, I'm usually like that as well. But for whatever reason, my mind sort of shut out most of the negative impressions others had of DUO. I suppose I had too much optimism, and wanted to experience DUO first-hand with a clear mind.

Anyways, I think the worst of the learning curve has long-passed now. I now feel like it's overall just as good as Rev.X, but as far as the gameplay mechanics go, I do feel Rev.X is superior. I now understand that the changes made to DUO were done on purpose to make it more friendly to beginners, which is good since it will get more people in to Senko no Ronde. It's just unfortunate that those changes can easily frustrate veterans of the original, but I guess you just can't have your cake and eat it too. In conclusion, game of the year.

[dai jou bu]

I now understand that the changes made to DUO were done on purpose to make it more friendly to beginners, which is good since it will get more people in to Senko no Ronde. It's just unfortunate that those changes can easily frustrate veterans of the original, but I guess you just can't have your cake and eat it too.

The first cardinal rule of making videogames for Blizzard is the first part of what I bolded in your quote. Guess how many non-hits this company has prior to the first Warcraft game?

And guess who complained the most about the changes in Starcraft II? It was the vets, who apparently know so much about the RTS genre that they haven't decided to strike out on their own and apply their theory to challenge Blizzard's design principles.

[Cuilan]

The first cardinal rule of making videogames for Blizzard is the first part of what I bolded in your quote. Guess how many non-hits this company has prior to the first Warcraft game?

And guess who complained the most about the changes in Starcraft II? It was the vets, who apparently know so much about the RTS genre that they haven't decided to strike out on their own and apply their theory to challenge Blizzard's design principles.

If there's ever a Senko 3, I think G.rev could satisfy both parties by doing something similar to what SNK did with some KoF games or what Capcom did with SFA3 and the CvS series : allow the players to select their preferred play styles, each with advantages and disadvantages over the other.

And for the record, I thought Rock & Roll Racing and Lost Vikings were great. I think most would consider them hits, though not on the same level as Warcraft, of course.