RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

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TonK
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RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by TonK »

Anyone know the basics?
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-Bridget-
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by -Bridget- »

Allright, I'm gonna try to explain some of this as best I can, but I dont ENTIRELY understand all of this. This is just what I've been able to figure out so far. I'll try to make this as non-confusing as I can, but I'm not good at writing this sort of thing up.

There seem to be two main ways of scoring.

1, the multiplier, which multiplies the values of enemies killed when it's active,

and 2, the medals, which are produced by using either the Rose Cracker, or what I'm calling the "Rose Rocket" to cancel bullets or lasers.

The multiplier is pretty simple; the idea is to strike and destroy alot of enemies (or things like missiles) at once WHILE the Rose Cracker is active on the screen. I'm not ENTIRELY sure if the Cracker itself has to destroy them, it seems that your normal shots work too for starting the multiplier, so long as the Cracker is still there.

The more things you destroy at a time in this way, the higher the multiplier goes, up to x64. Once the multiplier is active, it becomes something of a "chaining" thing. The circular meter around the multiplier display will quickly empty, but competely refills anytime you destroy something. Cancelled bullets with the Cracker do not count. If the meter runs out, the multiplier resets back to x1.

Then there's the medals. This is where things get a little strange.

As in the main game, the Rose Cracker is also used to cancel bullets and lasers. Cancelled bullets/lasers will become 1000-point medals. It seems most beneficial to cancel lasers, because these produce *alot* of medals for as long as the Cracker is being struck by them. Lasers are definitely the best way to get alot of medals here.

And then there's the "Rose Rocket", for lack of a better name.

When you start the game, you will have Rose Hips right away, and there's a little flower icon near the multiplier display that shows how many "rockets" you have; you start with just one. You fire the Rocket by holding the button for the Cracker until you see these strange light beams coming out of your ship, and what appears to be rocket exhaust coming out the back. Letting go of the button launches the Rocket; it flies upwards rather slowly, and after a time will burst; I'm not sure exactly what determines when it will burst. When it pops, it leaves this large red orb, with a red "stem" going downward from that to the bottom of the screen. Sort of a giant rose, I guess.

This "rose" will stay on the screen for some time; it will cancel any bullets/lasers that touch it, as well as damage/destroy enemies that come into contact with it. Cancelling with THIS, as opposed to the Cracker, appears to be the only way to produce the 2000 and 3000 point medals. Massive amounts of points seem to be possible by firing the rocket at something that uses numerous laser attacks at once, and then grabbing the tons of high-point medals that come from it.

The problem, is that there doesnt seem to be any way to gain Rockets except for dying. The number of Rockets you have carries over from one stock to the next; it doesnt reset back to one. So, you start the game with one, and if you should die before you use it, you'll have 2 of them on your next life. If there's any other way to get more of them, I havent found it yet. This means that occaisional suiciding may be of use for scoring in this mode.


Optimal scoring for this mode would appear to consist of properly starting up the multiplier, while at the same time cancelling many bullets/lasers (note that the medals are not affected by the multiplier), and then chaining enemies until the Cracker is ready to fire again. Saving the Rockets for very specific sections where they will produce the most medals is also important.

Also, there's definitely some boss-milking with this mode. I advise ONLY using the Cracker (or the Rocket, if you see a good use for it on a boss) to attack the boss, not your normal shot. Fire the cracker into a large concentration of bullets/lasers coming from the boss, and repeat. As the Cracker's damage level is pretty high, the bosses WILL go down after a time.

Oh, and you can use your normal shot AND the Cracker/Shield at the same time. Almost forgot to mention that.



This is everything I've been able to learn about the mode so far. I've found that I very much enjoy this mode, so I will keep at it and if I find anything else, I'll post it here.
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chempop
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by chempop »

Thanks Bridget! Am I correct that the regular medals are not in this version, only the 1000, 2000, and 3000 point ones?
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TonK
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by TonK »

I kinda got that much.

Thanks for clearing up the Rocket part.

I need to work on the multiplier.
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-Bridget-
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by -Bridget- »

chempop wrote:Thanks Bridget! Am I correct that the regular medals are not in this version, only the 1000, 2000, and 3000 point ones?

Indeed, 3000 is as high as it goes. And unlike in the Arcade mode, there is no penalty for missing medals.


Also, I think I've figured out what produces the 3000 point medals over the 2000 point ones. When the rocket turns into the giant rose, the actual flower-ish part at the top seems to cancel anything it touches into the 3000 point medals; wheras the stem turns them into 2000 point medals.

Also, I have found that the flower-bit will actually stick to large targets (like bosses and midbosses) and can actually be seperate from the stem as a result of this. Both pieces will still last for some time.
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Kiken
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by Kiken »

-Bridget- wrote:The multiplier is pretty simple; the idea is to strike and destroy alot of enemies (or things like missiles) at once WHILE the Rose Cracker is active on the screen. I'm not ENTIRELY sure if the Cracker itself has to destroy them, it seems that your normal shots work too for starting the multiplier, so long as the Cracker is still there.
The Rose Cracker needs to destroy the enemies in order to raise the multiplier value.
-Bridget- wrote:The more things you destroy at a time in this way, the higher the multiplier goes, up to x64. Once the multiplier is active, it becomes something of a "chaining" thing. The circular meter around the multiplier display will quickly empty, but competely refills anytime you destroy something. Cancelled bullets with the Cracker do not count. If the meter runs out, the multiplier resets back to x1.
You can also pause the circular meter by releasing a Rose Cracker (it doesn't have to be hitting anything).

-Bridget- wrote:And then there's the "Rose Rocket", for lack of a better name.
That would be the Hadou Gun.

You begin with one and gain one each time you die. You can store up to a total of 4 at any given time. They function exactly the same as in Ibara. Once the Hadou Gun is released, it'll travel up the screen leaving a destructive wake. If it collides with a large target, it'll explode into the 'burst' (which will stick to the target).
-Bridget- wrote:When you start the game, you will have Rose Hips right away, and there's a little flower icon near the multiplier display that shows how many "rockets" you have; you start with just one. You fire the Rocket by holding the button for the Cracker until you see these strange light beams coming out of your ship, and what appears to be rocket exhaust coming out the back. Letting go of the button launches the Rocket; it flies upwards rather slowly, and after a time will burst; I'm not sure exactly what determines when it will burst. When it pops, it leaves this large red orb, with a red "stem" going downward from that to the bottom of the screen. Sort of a giant rose, I guess.

This "rose" will stay on the screen for some time; it will cancel any bullets/lasers that touch it, as well as damage/destroy enemies that come into contact with it. Cancelling with THIS, as opposed to the Cracker, appears to be the only way to produce the 2000 and 3000 point medals. Massive amounts of points seem to be possible by firing the rocket at something that uses numerous laser attacks at once, and then grabbing the tons of high-point medals that come from it.

The problem, is that there doesnt seem to be any way to gain Rockets except for dying. The number of Rockets you have carries over from one stock to the next; it doesnt reset back to one. So, you start the game with one, and if you should die before you use it, you'll have 2 of them on your next life. If there's any other way to get more of them, I havent found it yet. This means that occaisional suiciding may be of use for scoring in this mode.


Optimal scoring for this mode would appear to consist of properly starting up the multiplier, while at the same time cancelling many bullets/lasers (note that the medals are not affected by the multiplier), and then chaining enemies until the Cracker is ready to fire again. Saving the Rockets for very specific sections where they will produce the most medals is also important.
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flux
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by flux »

I've gotten enemies to leave behind roses after I destroy them sometimes but then fail to do so on the next play. Does anyone know how to get enemies to drop roses?

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out. If you destroy a big enemy with the Rose Cracker, it'll drop rose(s). They're worth quite a bit, so working those into getting the x64 chains is probably ideal.
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Acid King
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by Acid King »

I gave this a real play earlier and it's basically a less anal version of Battle Bakraid since every enemy is chainable as well as some enemy fire. Both bombing and dying pause the chain and scoring well appears to require a similar thought process as Bakraid; build your chain then figure out how to keep it going with judicious rose cracker use and figuring ways to get x64 multipliers on the bosses. For example, you can carry an x64 multiplier into the mid boss by bombing or dying with it active and hold it by destroying his destructible shots. On the first stage boss, weaken the arms and body of the and wait for him to fire the rockets from his arms. Drop a rose cracker, build a x64 chain from the rockets and x64 both arms and the core.
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Jeneki
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by Jeneki »

I noticed that if I don't have any Hadou shots left, I lose the rose hips. May be good to note, if you want to get rid of them or want to keep them.

Is there rank in arrange mode? There aren't powerups and I can't mash B to spin the hips, so some of the rank increasing strategies aren't there. I keep thinking that arrange would be hilarious with max rank, since I can still shoot with the shield going non-stop and fire rose crackers every couple of seconds.
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RNGmaster
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by RNGmaster »

Jeneki wrote:I noticed that if I don't have any Hadou shots left, I lose the rose hips. May be good to note, if you want to get rid of them or want to keep them.
Performing Hadou-guns requires at least 1 rose-hip, and each Hadou-gun consumes one rose-hip.
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HalfEmpty
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by HalfEmpty »

I might dig this mode. the Hadou-Gun is one of those throwback mechanics from the original Ibara, it's just one of those techs u really only used at certain points in that game though
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by Dave_K. »

So I finally sat down last night to play a few rounds of Arrange for the first time. Definitely had a fun time learning how to x64 stage 1 midboss's destructible bullets! And here I thought original game was a milk fest, this Arrange mode takes milking to a whole new level!

I'm seriously debating if I should enjoy learning to milk things on my own or watch high score replays to learn their strategies. Like Bakraid, I can see people burning out on this mode quickly if they can't x64 things right off the bat, restarting tons of times, and eventually giving up if they can't get scores in the same order of magnitude as top players. For this reason, I wish Cave would have hidden or disabled leaderboard replays for at least a month or two, so people could enjoy trying for the 1CC first.
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Jeneki
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by Jeneki »

RNGmaster wrote:Performing Hadou-guns requires at least 1 rose-hip, and each Hadou-gun consumes one rose-hip.
That doesn't appear to be true, based on my testing.

1) start game: three lives, 1 hadou shot, two rose hips. If I fire the hadou, I have zero rose hips remaining.

2) start game and suicide once: two lives remaining, two hadou shots, two rose hips. If I fire the hadou once, I still have both rose hips. If I fire the second hadou, I have zero rose hips.

3) start game and suicide twice: one life remaining, three hadou shots, two rose hips. If I fire the hadou once, I still have both rose hips. If I fire the hadou a second time, I still have two rose hips. If I fire the hadou a third time, I have zero rose hips.

It appears to me that as long as I have one or more hadou shots, I get both rose hips. But if I use my last hadou shot I lose both.
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brokenhalo
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by brokenhalo »

one thing i noticed is that the multiplier value is applied to the boss value. so try to kill the boss with a x64 multiplier for a big bonus.

for instance, if your optimally milking the first boss, you'll destroy his arms while milking the rockets they spew. when the boss loses both arms, his stomach opens up and spews rockets. you want to rose cracker the rockets to get the x64, then kill the boss before you lose it.
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Jeneki
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by Jeneki »

I was traveling with my 360 last weekend and played some Sweets on a non-tate display. So I got to see the rank meters during gameplay for the first time.

Anyone figure out how to raise rank quickly in arrange mode?

The techniques used in the arcade mode mode to raise rank (use the rose cracker a lot, collect all items, etc) don't seem to apply to arrange mode. The only thing I've witnessed is destroying all parts of a midboss/boss seem to raise it more than going for a quick kill. Anything else I should try?
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by CStarFlare »

As far as I've been able to tell, rank in Arrange is mostly based on survival and even then it doesn't rise very fast. If there weren't a meter to indicate otherwise, I'd suspect there was no rank at all. There's no benefit to cranking it up; medal values from enemy bullets are tiny compared to getting and keeping x64 (even if you're getting the 3k ones with your hadou gun) and you don't get "tick" points for shooting enemies, so enemies who take longer to more damage kill are universally a bad thing.
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Re: RQ: Pink Sweets Arrange

Post by Some-Mist »

kind of a dumb question, but I realized yesterday that I was limited to 5 max live stock.

I was entering stage 3 with 5 stock lives, hit another extend and got a 1up item and should have had 7 lives, but was limited to 5. I should have assumed since I believe non-arrange mode also limits you to 5 lives.

my question is - do you get an extra hadou gun if you hit an extend/1up with 5 lives in stock if you're not already maxed with 4 hadou guns? or does that extend just disappear and have no affect on your character? I'm assuming the latter which would force me to start suiciding when I'm close to an extend.

----
to answer my own question, I messed up in one of my runs and the extend just disappears with no added stock to the hadou guns (even with the gun being at 3 stock)
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