Xbox 360: Akai Katana Shin (May 2011)

[ratikal]

It's weird to me because sometimes, when I first use the katanas, I get between 1000,0000 and 4000,0000 points. I don't how to make it consistent since I'm usually doing the same thing each time.

[moozooh]

Do you remember to bullet-cuddle™? :)

[Sumez]

It's weird to me because sometimes, when I first use the katanas, I get between 1000,0000 and 4000,0000 points. I don't how to make it consistent since I'm usually doing the same thing each time.

I'm getting between 4 mil and 12 at most - I still have no idea where I'm going wrong. Someone respond to my post where I try to recap the scoring system and tell me where I'm wrong!

It seems to me that when you send out your "orb attack" or whatever shortly after activating ninja mode, it actually ruins your potential "katana attack" score because it doesn't leave suicide bullets.

And what's "bullet cuddling" if it doesn't mean grazing? (which there's nothing of in this game as far as I'm informed)

[-Bridget-]

It's weird to me because sometimes, when I first use the katanas, I get between 1000,0000 and 4000,0000 points. I don't how to make it consistent since I'm usually doing the same thing each time.

I'm getting between 4 mil and 12 at most - I still have no idea where I'm going wrong. Someone respond to my post where I try to recap the scoring system and tell me where I'm wrong!

It seems to me that when you send out your "orb attack" or whatever shortly after activating ninja mode, it actually ruins your potential "katana attack" score because it doesn't leave suicide bullets.

And what's "bullet cuddling" if it doesn't mean grazing? (which there's nothing of in this game as far as I'm informed)

Really, I dont think the game's scoring is all that hard to grasp at all; like in many Cave games, the challenge is in actually DOING it. After about an hour's worth of playing this, I've managed about 80 million, on my last run. That might have been higher if I hadnt RAMMED STUFF twice somehow. One of these days I'll get over my bad habit of crashing directly into foes, lol.

Anyway, as I understand it, the "flow" of scoring goes something like this:

1. Build up your "energy" meter, the green orbs, while AT THE SAME TIME not dropping your chain (producing blue orbs). I find that, in the sections of the levels where I'm specifically trying for the energy orbs, the trick is to pop a whole buncha foes real fast with the concentrated shot, but before the combo falls off, destroy a popcorn foe with a quick burst or two of normal shot. Sorta alternating between the two modes correctly seems to be the trick here; that part takes practice/experience to do correctly.

2. Build up your, er, "red" meter. This "meter" is actually around your plane. The more blue orbs you get, the more little red spheres appear around your plane; you can have quite alot of them. You want as many of these as you can possibly get. Again though, you wanna be doing this WHILE building up energy... at least, until you think you have enough energy, then you can JUST concentrate on producing blue orbs and chaining.

3. Enter "Ninja Mode". This is where you need all them little red spheres. When you enter Ninja Mode, they pop out from around your plane and surround your character; they look a little like the blue spheres you've been collecting up to this point. Now, I'm not ENTIRELY clear on exactly how this next bit functions.... maybe someone else can explain the finer details.... but this is how I've found it best to do this part: ideally, you want to have these blue orbs surrounding you, after having entered ninja mode, WHILE there's a whole buncha bullets coming at you, preferrably in a linear fashion. Use your concentrated shot for a moment to launch the spheres forwards; they'll plow through all those bullets, cancelling them. They'll also plow through enemies. Something here, during this attack, also adds to your hit count (and can add alot). Not sure if it's the cancelling, the enemy-striking, or both. After all this is done, you'll suddenly have a pile of giant katanas floating with you. Again, how many you have at this point is directly related to how many of those red orbs you'd had before entering ninja mode.

4. Use your concentrated shot to kill enemies to produce suicide bullets. The concentrated shot also keeps your hit count going, so it's doubly important in Ninja mode. Get as many bullets as possible onscreen at once, and then...

5. Launch the katanas! Just hit the transformation button again, and send them flying. They'll cancel bullets, smash the hell outta enemies, and in the process, produce huge amounts of big gold items for you. These will also increase your hit count by a great deal if you've done all this right. You basically just want to strike as many things as possible with this attack; bullets AND enemies.


Anyway, this is the process as I understand it. It's possible I may have some details wrong; someone feel free to correct me if you know otherwise.

Either way, I really honestly think this scoring system is pretty easy to grasp. I really love it so far. This is both interesting AND challenging. I can really see myself getting into this one quite easily, once the full game is out next weekend.

This whole game reminds me *alot* of Progear, too. From the stage design, to the artstyle, to the shot-type-switching based scoring system. A good thing, definitely, since Progear was bloody awesome.

REALLY looking forward to the actual release now. This demo will be getting some good playtime from me until then.

But really, my main point on this topic is that I personally don't think the system of Shin mode is entirely too hard to grasp, and think it's on par with most Cave titles in terms of intricacy and enjoyment.

[Sumez]

Well, everything you write basically matches the way I get it, too.
But still I'm not able to score more than ~70 million - people in here seem to easily go into the hundreds of millions, and that expert demonstration from Cave leaves me really convinced that there is a bunch of stuff I'm still not getting. I don't expect to be anywhere near as good as that guy, but even then it's confusing that he's able to hit more than 60 million in a single katana attack, while I usually can't hit more than 5!

And some times it feels like I'm doing really great even though I end up getting only ~3-4 million from my first katana attack, while at other times I get more than 12 million without knowing what I do differently.


So yeah, the score system sounds simple in theory, but obviously there's a lot of stuff I'm not getting. Really, this couldn't be further from Progear IMO (and I agree on the point that Progear is bloody awesome)

[Dronevil]

And some times it feels like I'm doing really great even though I end up getting only ~3-4 million from my first katana attack, while at other times I get more than 12 million without knowing what I do differently.

I feel a bit like that.. for example, the first katana attack i do in the first stage.. i can get from 13 million to 30 million and most times i can't really tell where's the diference. The score system seems relatively easy to grasp once you start playing.. but there are lots of subtle aspects i haven't realized yet (i haven't played that much lately, actually).

I think Bridget's post above sums the scoring mechanics pretty well. The only thing i missed is the point blanking. Gives you a lot more items (orbs and Es) and that's bloody important in order to score high.

Really, this couldn't be further from Progear IMO (and I agree on the point that Progear is bloody awesome)

Agree. The only things on AK Shin that reminds me of Progear are.. it's a hori. There are old planes and tanks.
I love progear and IMO it's a better game.

[-Bridget-]

And some times it feels like I'm doing really great even though I end up getting only ~3-4 million from my first katana attack, while at other times I get more than 12 million without knowing what I do differently.

I feel a bit like that.. for example, the first katana attack i do in the first stage.. i can get from 13 million to 30 million and most times i can't really tell where's the diference. The score system seems relatively easy to grasp once you start playing.. but there are lots of subtle aspects i haven't realized yet (i haven't played that much lately, actually).

I think Bridget's post above sums the scoring mechanics pretty well. The only thing i missed is the point blanking. Gives you a lot more items (orbs and Es) and that's bloody important in order to score high.

Really, this couldn't be further from Progear IMO (and I agree on the point that Progear is bloody awesome)

Agree. The only things on AK Shin that reminds me of Progear are.. it's a hori. There are old planes and tanks.
I love progear and IMO it's a better game.

I think the scoring system will be more enjoyable once we DO understand all the little confuzzling bits.

I'm pretty darn sure that 2 things are very important when firing the katanas: 1, current chain count, and 2, the number of bullets in the path of the katanas.

I am actually finding that my scoring IS relatively consistent. I havent really had much in the way of moments of "Why in the world DIDNT that score high right there?"

It reminds me of Progear for a couple of reasons: 1, yes, the hori + old planes bit, but also 2, the fact that the game seems obsessive over switching shot types at the right time. Progear's scoring was very much about that. It ALSO seems to be big on making sure there's alot of enemy bullets in the right place at the right time... another thing Progear did.

Comparing the two though.... hmm. My one big, big problem with Progear did indeed have to do with the scoring. That game had a similar problem to that of Giga Wing. Now, I love Giga Wing... that's the game that got me into the genre.... but I dont really play it for score. Why? Because scoring in Giga Wing is way too dependant on you magically knowing how to do all these really wierd little tricks in order to produce medals from places that make no sense. I remember watching superplays of that to try to figure out why I was scoring so low, and thinking "Wait, why in the world does it spit a million medals at him when he does that? And now why is he doing THAT? How is anyone supposed to figure this out on their own?". And if you watch Progear superplays, there seems to be a good deal of that sorta thing in that game as well. At least, as I remember it. That was always a flaw with the game, as I saw it.

.....mini-rant on Progear aside, I think this game has quite alot of potential.

I doubt it'll beat out DFK or Futari for me, but it might come darn close.

[DragonInstall]

I usually get around 150 per run, and that's without really studying the game. Once it's released I will put more time into it, but for now I'm really impressed with this game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh7BRf2foJM

This was my run I recorded. Not by best, but really didn't want to record again. I think my mistake is not massing enough bullets and point blanking enough. Also I think I should move closer when collecting the items... probably missing out on a lot of points there.

It's so weird how the end of the stage counts as the bulk of the score.

[Vally]

Scoring system as I understand it.

1) Use hold shot and auto shot to build up your energy gauge and orb gauge respectively. The more orbs, the better. The more energy, the longer you can switch modes for. Proximity effect plays a big part here, the closer you point blank the more you pick up.

2) Switch modes.

3) Fire off orbs with hold shot. Any orbs that touch an enemy will turn into Katanas.

4) Switch modes to fire off katanas. Anything that the katanas touch will spew out gold. Once again, proximity effect is in full swing so as soon as the gold coins spawn, point blank all of them and pick them up as close to where they appear as possible for maximum score.

That's about it. Found it very simple.

[evil_ash_xero]

Famitsu:

8/8/8/9

[Zeron]

Famitsu:

8/8/8/9

They thought Bullet Soul was fantastic so I can't say their words mean much.

[Special World]

Well, I think they mostly judge shooters on how nice they look.

So I bet it looks pretty nice!

[DragonInstall]

Meter management, point blanking, and timing your attack is going to be so crucial in your score. Seems like the more ninja meter you have the faster your orb meter builds and when you destroy a boss when he's shooting his lasers, it'll turn the laser into meter or orbs depending on your shot type.

So for bosses you want to make sure to get enough ninja meter without doing too much damage so you can score some orbs. In order to make sure you get as much as possible without hurting the boss too much, you'll be up at their face most of the time. Then make sure you kill them with the katanas when the lasers are out while shooting them, so you can start the next part with meter already built up. Timing will be pretty important in that respect.

The scoring mechanic is really fun imo.

[evil_ash_xero]

Yeah, I know their scores mean nothing, when it comes to shmups. I just thought I would post it.

[Special World]

Watching videos of this, everything looks great except for boss health.

They seriously last 1000 years.

[DragonInstall]

Watching videos of this, everything looks great except for boss health.

They seriously last 1000 years.

Yeah they last long when you're going for score, but if you don't care too much about that, they die really fast in ninja mode.

[drunkninja24]

Watching videos of this, everything looks great except for boss health.

They seriously last 1000 years.

To be honest, I kinda like that. I'm not a fan of ridiculous milking like, say, Ibara Stage 2, but I like my boss battles to have a bit of length to them.

[Special World]

I'm fine with some pretty crazy boss battles, but they're just so long @_@

And it doesn't look like there's much going on scoring-wise, but I haven't played the demo so I don't know.

As long as it manages to play with the scoring some and make you think the whole time, then I'm fine with it.

[DragonInstall]

I think my mistake is not massing enough bullets and point blanking enough. Also I think I should move closer when collecting the items... probably missing out on a lot of points there.

Meter management, point blanking, and timing your attack is going to be so crucial in your score. Seems like the more ninja meter you have the faster your orb meter builds and when you destroy a boss when he's shooting his lasers, it'll turn the laser into meter or orbs depending on your shot type.

So for bosses you want to make sure to get enough ninja meter without doing too much damage so you can score some orbs. In order to make sure you get as much as possible without hurting the boss too much, you'll be up at their face most of the time. Then make sure you kill them with the katanas when the lasers are out while shooting them, so you can start the next part with meter already built up. Timing will be pretty important in that respect.

Well took my own advice and more than doubled my last demo run. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr7HOO4oE_0

[Elixir]

Preserving thread, 21/05/11.

[StarCreator]

So the game releases this week! For those of us watching tracking numbers like a hawk, please remember we have a thread dedicated to pre-order updates. Let's keep talk in this thread about the game itself :3

[DragonInstall]

I don't know if anyone noticed this, but there is no NO MISS bonus at the end of the stage, and dying doesn't reduce your item tally bonus at the end either.

Dying is extremely bad for scoring though, because it increases the size of your meter, making it take longer to fill up to the max. When your meter is maxed, that's when you get tons of orbs to build katanas quicker.

It's like a double edged sword... on one hand you have more meter to survive, but on the other hand building full meter takes much longer and hurts your score.

[Elixir]

Mihara's a flying getter! Cave gifted him a copy of the game.

http://twitpic.com/51s4ar

[ex.machina]

I picked this up today. Not sure if this was posted here before, but first thing I noticed was that all menus are 100% in Japanese only. Shouldn't be a big problem for most people used to playing imports, but still worth mentioning I thought...

[StarCreator]

Yeah, we talked about the menus a bit back when the game was first announced and the trailer provided a glimpse. Previous Cave port menus have been in English so this might be a bit jarring, but I hear it's pretty functional. I am liking how Novice is now a toggle rather than a separate mode - keeps things from getting too cluttered especially when there are three base modes to begin with.

[Skykid]

Mihara's a flying getter! Cave gifted him a copy of the game.

http://twitpic.com/51s4ar

Lucky bastardo. Cover art is v.nice.

[chempop]

I'm curious if each mode needs separate screen adjustments the way MMP/PS did, that was an unbelievable pain in the ass. Kinda baffled that they went with jpn option text, will make it more difficult to put on GoD later on.

I'll be likely starting off with arcade mode on my newly acquired 24" CRT. In the past I've always used 19" CRTs and playing a letterboxed 16:9 game on them was too cramped for comfort.

Once Child of Eden ships I'll absolutely need a 16:9 HiDef TV, any recommendations for a good size to play shmups on? I sit directly in front of the display but not really sure what the ideal setup would be.

[StarCreator]

I'm curious if each mode needs separate screen adjustments the way MMP/PS did, that was an unbelievable pain in the ass. Kinda baffled that they went with jpn option text, will make it more difficult to put on GoD later on.

I'll be likely starting off with arcade mode on my newly acquired 24" CRT. In the past I've always used 19" CRTs and playing a letterboxed 16:9 game on them was too cramped for comfort.

Once Child of Eden ships I'll absolutely need a 16:9 HiDef TV, any recommendations for a good size to play shmups on? I sit directly in front of the display but not really sure what the ideal setup would be.

If you intend to have a display you'll be sitting directly in front of, I'd actually suggest getting a 23" monitor with HDMI input, like the so-called "Evo monitor" (ASUS VW236H) and desktop speakers since the built-in speakers will invariably suck and you'll want the hardware volume control anyway. Going the PC monitor route gives you the option of actually having a PC nearby to switch to, plus they will generally do less image processing to the HDMI input than a TV would, meaning a cleaner visual with less added lag.

[Strider77]

[chempop]

Go my copy too, never played the demo so I'm figuring things out slowly. The options are indeed in Japanese but aren't too bad figuring out.

Problem is that I can't get Arcade mode to fit my 4:3 TV. I've switched to wide mode and adjusted so it fits just right in the screen options window, but when I start playing parts of the edges are cut off regardless of how much zoom I tweak. Hopefully an easy fix, otherwise it's an awesome game!

[edit] so it would seem that all the zoom and other screen setting adjustment only function when in 16:9. If you use a 4:3 and set to "wide-mode" like in MMP/PS and Guwange it will enlarge the game for you, but won't let you make any other adjustments. < sigh >