Help, I'm stuck!

[Zayon]

Right, a short time ago I couldn't care less about shooters really. Then I got to play my first Cave-game, ESP Ra. De. and I was hooked. I purchased a cab (Egret II) and the PCB. I started playing and got better with every credit. However, lately I find myself completely stuck. I usually get to around stage 4, sometimes I manage to get to stage 5 and once have I been to stage 6, all with one credit of course. My best score so far is around 8,7 mil. Now, that's all good, I'm happy with my score and I'm happy with stage 6. The bad thing is, my average is more likely around maybe 5 mil, heck I even have times when I die before I reach 3 mil. Same with the stages, sometimes I die on stage 2.

This is getting really frustrating. I love the game to death and when I stunk I didn't really care if I died. However I now consider myself at least half-decent and these lousy runs happen far to often. Ok, so I got almost 9 mil once and I got to stage 6 once, but it's hard to not consider it a fluke.

So, I'm sure at least some of you recognize this. What do you do to remedy it? Just keep on training, or maybe play something else for a while? I'm afraid I'll get even worse if I stop playing for a week or so.

I would also like to add that I never 1cc a shooter before, maybe ESP Ra. De. wasn't the best choice.

[Nemo]

Let me put it this way, I got to the final boss in ra. de. in 2 days, and it took me another 3 weeks to finally 1CC it (though in that time I had a handful of flukes that kept me from clearing it). The lost boss is a pain, especially the final form with the hands. The key to this game is be aggressive and confident. With practice it will all the levels will be second nature. It also always helps to play something else (Zing is a good choice) when you get burnt out. Trust me, unless you go without playing for a month or more, you won't lose your technique.

[iatneH]

Holy crap Nemo, it took me several months just to reach Stage 4 consistently, I'm still not getting to Stage 5 half the time. Then again, I only played maybe 6 games or so every week back then.

My advice is to learn the chains and the high scoring strategy, because you will need the 4-million life extend (looks like you're getting that already) and be sure to pick up the 1-up in Stage 4, and if you've practiced then you should also aim for the 8-million life extend.

The big tank boss of the mall level has a 1st form that is easy and safe to milk so you can grab some extra points towards your 1-ups there.

[Zayon]

Yeah, I usually play Yusuke as it is now though. On a normal game I get the 4 mil extra life somewhere on stage 3. I get the life in stage four about 90% of the times. Sometimes an unfortunate death ruins it for me, which is painful since you're basically losing two lives at once.

Trust me when I say I really want the 8 mil extend, I've only gotten it once though so it feels pretty far away most of the times. Fact is, I've only been above 7 mil three times so far.

[zakk]

Where'd you get an egret 2!? You must tell me this information, the world's safety depends on it!

[Zayon]

Where'd you get an egret 2!? You must tell me this information, the world's safety depends on it!

I got it from Arcaderick in Germany. I hear from alot of people that they are supposed to be shady. I'm not sure why really, my experience with them was very good. Fast and friendly e-mail replys, cab was sent 2 days after payment and arrived after another 5 days.

Sure, the price for the cab was a bit on the high side, almost 800 euro, but there's really no choice if you want one of these cabs and you're in Europe. I spoke with Coinopexpress and sure, their Egret II's were alot cheaper, around $400 I believe, but they wanted $900(!) to ship it. The shipping from Arcaderick was very reasonable at 150 euro from Germany to Sweden. Oh, and the cab was in very good shape. Overall a very smooth deal.