Mushihime Sama Ps2 impressions

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:45 am

Just got my Mushihimesama from playasia a couple hours ago. Arrived within 2 days via EMS. Now guess what game I'm going to go play now....

hikarutilmitt · Post by **hikarutilmitt** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:20 am

Varuga wrote:I like the port with the exception of one thing:it has no digital audio...I had to rip apart my entertainment center to plug the crappy L+R plugs into my television just so I could hear audio.

Why oh why, Taito, must you not pump audio through the opitical port?

ARGH, you just confirmed what I was afraid of.. How the HELL do they not have that in the game? It baffles me that the GAME has to have digital and not just the PS2 being told what sort of sound field to output.

Curse you, Taito! *turns on his tate setup*

Rummy Bunnz · Post by **Rummy Bunnz** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:20 am

MrMonkeyMan wrote:I was all like, "Hurray, a restart option inside the game!". So I use it once, and when I finish that run it's all like, "You used the restart button, you dirty, rotten cheater, no inputting your initials for you!".

Really, why give us the option and then not let me put my initials in? It's as dumb as GigaWing 2 adding a 1 to the end of your score

Or maybe I'm just confused and screwed something up somehow.

Same thing happened to me after restarting on level 1. Odd thing was that after my next game the initial entry came up with my high score from the previous "you restarted, cheater!" game. Very odd.

It's also odd how restart only restarts the level you're on rather than the whole game. Why'd they do that?

Anyone experiment with all the autofire options? Kinda confused by them. Is there a "best" one for exploiting the autofire...uh...bug or whatever it is? I'm still not clear on how that works.

Edit: Jeez, I used the word "odd" way too often.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:21 am

Arrange mode is sickeningly easy. I love it. Your hit box is like 1 pixel big and you autobomb when you're about to get hit (until you run out of bombs, of course). It's the perfect score attack mode.

Encoding up a 17 1/2 minute Arrange Mode run for anyone interested (it's in yoko mode; didn't feel like rotating my display while playing it, though I'll hook up the next video proper. Gotta hurry up before someone with actual skills records a video and I'm no longer able to show how terrible i am!

)

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:59 am

FMK wrote:How's this restart option? You can restart in each level?

If you use restart (even on the 1st level), your score won't be counted. The game over screen will say something like "try to challenge without restart".

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:21 am

Rummy Bunnz wrote: Anyone experiment with all the autofire options? Kinda confused by them. Is there a "best" one for exploiting the autofire...uh...bug or whatever it is? I'm still not clear on how that works.

I've tried setting a button to "turbo rapid fire", or whatever it's called. I set the shot frequency to 10 and doubled my score. It makes the game much harder though as you don't kill anything very fast, but your combo goes crazy, especially in level 3.

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:25 am

I've just put up some info on the chaining system, if you're interested.

And 8 1/2, I answered your 1UP location request question on the HS thread.

TVG · Post by **TVG** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:28 am

i wish i didnt suck too much at the internet and be able to find the iso. and even if i had it i wouldnt be able to make it work.

then again, i wish i could buy the game without having to fast, it seems good, just not good to that point.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:49 am

Let's laugh at Roushi sucking (168 megs, 17 1/2 minutes)

agony · Post by **agony** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 11:14 am

got mine today

and it`s quite great

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:50 pm

Yeah, I'm waiting for one of you guys to post a thesis on the various shot/full auto shot options.

BIG · Post by **BIG** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:51 pm

So,how are you kids liking it so far?

As for me,I'm pretty much satisfied,although the filtered graphics,coupled with the sub-par audio did hinder my experience a little.....

However,I do think that the overall presentation and great gameplay more than made up for these minor shortcomings, though.

Good job,Taito!

B-

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:16 pm

I think the game is great --- but I agree w/ you on the graphics and audio. HOpefully this'll drive the PCB price down. I don't like Arrange mode either, so cost is the only think preventing that now.

Post by **system11** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:26 pm

The audio complaints - are we talking about the lack of digital? Maybe it's different in the states, but to be quite honest over here in SCART land, you need to have pretty damn high end speakers /and/ source, and surround effects for digital to be even vaguely worthwhile.

If it's the style, I'm surprised

This is one of the only modern games where the music has drawn me in like the old ones did, along with Gradius V.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:33 pm

I'm looking forward to hearing the music myself because IIRC the composer said he wanted to make it sound more "...like a game from the 80s."

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:35 pm

visuatrox wrote:To me that looks like the packaging that the limited shikigami figures came in.. And on those you could remove the figures without destroying the packaging.

Correct.

I haven't played the PCB since December last year, and I only got to level 3, but I'm sure it didn't have as much slowdown. Can anybody confirm?

Post by **system11** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 11:20 pm

It's borderline. The PS2 one in lvl3 slows down to the cave-crawl more, but the PCB does a LOT more of the random jitter effect. Overall, it's pretty faithful in that respect.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:01 am

bloodflowers wrote:The audio complaints - are we talking about the lack of digital?

Too me (no where near Scart land... in fact, probably as far away as possible and still be in the northern hemisphere) it seems the audio level is REALLY low. I have to jack up the volume several levels to get it to the same level as my other games.

As for the music... besides level 4, I find it extremely bland and cheesy. Worth noting though, I traditionally hate game music with extreme prejiduice.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:21 am

So it's true low res in TATE then? delicious

teetu · Post by **teetu** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:29 am

i wasn't expecting it to be so damn fast! good stuff

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:33 am

I dig it.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:46 am

All these positive impressions of its speed and crisp TATE'ness are driving me crazy.

gunbird18 · Post by **gunbird18** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:55 am

Thanks for the vid, Roushi! Yours comes through quite a bit clearer than the Maniac-mode replay I downloaded a couple months back!

Still don't have my copy yet, but here in the Midwest they still deliver the mail via Pony Express.

I had a lot of doubts about this port with Taito porting this, but it looks like they delivered a game that the majority of the shmuppers are having a blast with. And I think the PS2 should get some respect for handling all of those golden gems being sucked into Reko, while there are many MANY blue explosions going on at the same time. Looks like the only slowdown comes with the heavy "purple bead curtains", and I'm sure the slowdown is appreciated so you can get between 1mm of clear space!

And Original more difficult than Maniac? What is the reason? Enemies have different shot patterns? More ground/air enemies??? Sorry if this was discussed before...just wondering about the differences.

oxtsu · Post by **oxtsu** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 2:07 am

Neon wrote:So it's true low res in TATE then? delicious

I think it was said earlier that the 'tate' mode is much like the alternate 'tate hosei' in the previous DOJ and Espgaluda ports, where the screen is filtered and cropped to fit the normal TV spec.

Haven't received mine yet...summer slowdown of postal service.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 2:55 am

gunbird18 wrote:And Original more difficult than Maniac? What is the reason? Enemies have different shot patterns? More ground/air enemies??? Sorry if this was discussed before...just wondering about the differences.

I don't own the game myself, but supposedly Original mode plays in a slightly more "old-school" manner in that there are fewer bullets but they move faster, while "Maniac" is more "typical" Cave, with lots o' bullets that move relatively slowly. I guess some people would find the former more challenging if they're more used to the second's style, but then again there are also others who say that the opposite is true in terms of the difficulty. Guess it just depends on your own experience, at least that's what it sounds like from here.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:19 am

oxtsu wrote:
Neon wrote:So it's true low res in TATE then? delicious
I think it was said earlier that the 'tate' mode is much like the alternate 'tate hosei' in the previous DOJ and Espgaluda ports, where the screen is filtered and cropped to fit the normal TV spec.

Haven't received mine yet...summer slowdown of postal service.

Cropped? That doesn't mean a small bit of the playing field is lost in the port, does it?

oxtsu · Post by **oxtsu** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:19 am

^ Sorry, wrong choice of word I guess. "Compressed" might be more appropriate. The full playfield image is still there.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:24 am

oxtsu wrote:^ Sorry, wrong choice of word I guess. "Compressed" might be more appropriate. The full playfield image is still there.

Ah yes, compressed. I understand now. Thanks, oxtsu.

hikarutilmitt · Post by **hikarutilmitt** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 7:23 am

bloodflowers wrote:The audio complaints - are we talking about the lack of digital? Maybe it's different in the states, but to be quite honest over here in SCART land, you need to have pretty damn high end speakers /and/ source, and surround effects for digital to be even vaguely worthwhile.

If it's the style, I'm surprised This is one of the only modern games where the music has drawn me in like the old ones did, along with Gradius V.

I can hear a rather noticeable difference in quality when running Star Ocean 3 through optical than through regular RCA. It has an extra crispness and clarity to it. Not to mention I can play the games and scenes of games in DTS and 5.1 like they "should" be played.

It just bugs me (no pun intended) that they didn't include it, because I actually didn't connect the RCAs on my PS2 compoonent cables. It doesn't matter as much when I switch my A/V connector to play the game on my tate TV, but I didn't want to have to crawl behind my TV to plug the cables in if I ever wanted to play in yoko.

Otherwise the audio sounds fine, to me.

Post by **Ghegs** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 8:23 am

gunbird18 wrote:And Original more difficult than Maniac? What is the reason? Enemies have different shot patterns? More ground/air enemies??? Sorry if this was discussed before...just wondering about the differences.

The enemy placement is exactly the same in all three modes, but yes, shot patterns vary and the bullets are very fast in Original. Think Psikyo games, the last level, at full rank. That's pretty much how it is in Original by stage 3.