Starting this thread so that I can track my progress and accomplishments - or lack of them. I decided to post it here so that you can read it and be amused, flame me, or maybe even provide helpful information. Having my failness out in the public eye will also encourage me to improve, haha. Anyway, this thread is for fun! I wrote a similar thread about Advance Wars 2 and everyone seemed to enjoy it then. Large post because it's the first one, later ones will be shorter entries.
My setup is a 20" Flatscreen SDTV, Saturn, and a run of the mill MK2 Saturn pad. Nothing too exciting there, but I thought I'd list it so you know what I've got to work with. The TV was a GoodWill find and set me back next to nothing. It even has S Video input, too. One of my better purchases in a while. Still need to upgrade my cables though, got the stock composite ones =(. For games, I've currently got DonPachi, Darius Gaiden, and Thunder Force V at hand.
Of those games, lately I've been focusing on DonPachi Saturn version, practicing it almost every day for at least an hour or so. I'm a little disappointed with the bad sound on the port and the music isn't really all that exciting, but the gameplay itself is really fun. I love how intuitive and fun the focus laser/fast shot mechanic is. There's a lot of strategy involved in chaining the enemies, too. I'm not very good at shooting games in the big picture of things, but I'd like to get better and get some more 1CCs. I decided to start here since I enjoy the game, it seems like a good challenge, and it's available. My current goal is simply to survive and clear the 1st loop, but I'm also adding chains and improving score where it doesn't impose too much risk to do so.
I think this game is well designed in that the first 3 stages or so are pretty manageable - challenging, but not too bad once you know the enemy positions. Then you get to stage 4 and the difficulty spikes like whoa. That difficulty curve ramps up nice and gently... lulling you into a false sense of security right before it drops you off a cliff, haha.
My play record confirms this - I can clear the first 3 stages with 0-1 deaths (sometimes get careless somewhere, it happens). Then I get to stage 4 and it destroys me. I've been practicing stage 4 specifically in score attack mode and at best I lose 7 ships on this level - obviously, there's no way I'll have that many lives, so it ends my runs in arcade mode. This is the best case, too, if everything doesn't go well, it's worse =P. Gotta work out some better strategies for this stage.
Current progress:
Session 0: When I began this game, I could clear perhaps 2 stages on 1 credit and reach the third stage after some initial familiarization.
Session 1: Practiced the game by running through arcade mode. I credit fed a lot to learn the later stages.
Session 2: Now familiar with the game, I sat down and started working on some chains/scoring for the easier first two stages, then worked on survival for the latter 3 stages.
On this session, I had a few important breakthroughs.
Usually I do a "warm up run" at the start of the practice session, with the assumption that I'll screw it up and it'll be a throwaway run. So I picked the green chopper, which I rarely use, and did surprisingly well, getting to the start of the 4th stage and scoring ~2.8 mil! This was farther than I had gotten before, and also a higher score. I finally snagged a points extend before my credit ran out on this run.
After that warm up run, I switched to my usual C Type and failed for most of the session, lol. I did learn a few important things, though. I figured out where more (all?) of the bees are in Stage 1, which gave my score a major boost if I could collect them all without dying. I also more or less mastered the Stage 2 boss. The key was realizing that the small, very fast lasers that would get me before are only fired at the left and right sides of the screen. If you stay in the central area of the screen, they will miss you, and all of the other attacks are much easier to dodge. I rarely die or bomb on this boss now, only if I make a mistake and clip the "curtain fire" machine gun bullets.
I took a break for a while, then at the end of the day decided to put in one more credit before bed. I had a really amazing credit with C Type this time, putting together a lot of the stuff I had learned in the past couple days. 1st and 2nd stages went really well, no miss or bomb and lots of chains/bees. I had a major milestone in finally getting the score extend before losing a ship. Was pretty swell seeing 3 ships in stock in the top left =D. I lost a life to carelessness in stage 3, but cleared the boss without dying. I'm still a bit inconsistent with this boss, so that was good for me. Finally, I focused well and did my best at the difficult stage 4 and got about halfway through it for ~3.5 mil, my current best.
Session 3 and 4: I decided to practice Stage 4 and 5 specifically using score attack mode, seeing as Stage 4 ended my run last time and I'm getting a little more comfortable on the first 3 stages. It's real tough going. Stage 4 started at 12 deaths on average, and I've gotten it down to a best case of 7 deaths. Stage 5 is also bad, around 16 deaths on average to start, and after some practice it's also got a best case of 7 deaths. Obviously I need to work on this area some more if I hope to complete the game.
Current Bests:
Stage 1: No Miss, No Bomb, All(?) Bees. Had ~50 chain once, but it was a fluke and I forgot how. Usually get at least a 30 chain, though. Record on this stage is 834,670, I think.
Stage 2: No Miss, No Bomb. I think I know where all the Bees are, but I'm not sure if I've got them all in one run before. Best chain is ~50.
Stage 3: 0-1 Miss, 0-1 Bomb. Gotta work out the Bee locations for this one and work them in to a scoring route. Best chain is perhaps ~30.
Stage 4: 3 Miss or lower is possible now. It's theoretically possible for me to reach Stage 5 now. Gotta get more consistent at it, though. I can sometimes get an absolutely massive ~125 chain on the end of this level, it's awesome. Bees are all over the place in this level.
Stage 5: 6 Miss. Down from 16ish. Gotta work on that survival, I should be more liberal with bombs, I think. I got ~70 chain at the start of this level once or twice, I need to figure out how to reproduce that. Gotta find them Bees.
Reached: Start Stage 5.
Total score: 6,498,810
This is probably the first "hard" shooting game I've seriously played, and parts of the game are kind of cheap (like the enemies coming from behind at points), but that makes me want to overcome these obstacles and clear the game even more =P.
Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Last edited by Blackbird on Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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BPzeBanshee
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Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Actually this seems like a pretty good idea, and anyone who flames you for posting this has clearly forgotten the definition of "community".
I haven't played much of DonPachi recently but when I was last playing it frequently I got to about the same spot as you had now I believe. If memory serves I think I got as far as the boss and then it did some [cheap nasty trick/suprising move I wasn't prepared for] and I lost my last life to it. It's certainly plausible to get past the first loop (I personally wouldn't bother with second loop but that's my preference) given practice and its not like you've got a terribly bad setup either - I dont even KNOW how big my TV is, I got it from Cash Converters and it screws up whenever there's a bright colour change such as a flash.
Anyhow, good luck with nabbing the 1CCs.
I haven't played much of DonPachi recently but when I was last playing it frequently I got to about the same spot as you had now I believe. If memory serves I think I got as far as the boss and then it did some [cheap nasty trick/suprising move I wasn't prepared for] and I lost my last life to it. It's certainly plausible to get past the first loop (I personally wouldn't bother with second loop but that's my preference) given practice and its not like you've got a terribly bad setup either - I dont even KNOW how big my TV is, I got it from Cash Converters and it screws up whenever there's a bright colour change such as a flash.
Anyhow, good luck with nabbing the 1CCs.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
If you have access to MAME it would be a good idea to practice stages 4 and 5 in it to exhaustion.
The Saturn port is awesome (despite what everybody says), but those loading times can get annoying after a while.
The Saturn port is awesome (despite what everybody says), but those loading times can get annoying after a while.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Amen to that, brother. Unfortunately, my current PC isn't MAME capable. I hope to get a new machine soon to change that. In the meantime, I am happy to play on my consoles, though.Kollision wrote:The Saturn port is awesome (despite what everybody says), but those loading times can get annoying after a while.
Right now it's not too bad because I benefit from running whole stages. There's a long time between loads. It might get tedious if I want to practice, say, just the boss over and over. We'll see if the load times start to wear, haha.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
This game is such a ballbuster, haha.
Began my playtime tonight with the predictable kusofail warm up run. Got only 1 mil with Type C and reached only Stage 2, lol. Run 2 didn't go much better.
I was feeling pretty rusty on Stage 2 and I didn't want to try my luck on Stage 4/5 tonight, so I decided to spend the remainder of my time practicing Stage 2. If I'm just playing for survival, I can no miss/no bomb this stage fairly consistently. So instead of survival, I was pushing score and learning/perfecting chains in this practice session.
In that regard, I did well, although I suffered badly the shmupper's curse: balancing scoring with survival. "Look, shiny Bees and their delicious points! Let's ram bullets!" That said, I pushed onward and came out at the end with a best of 1.64 Mil from just Stage 2. Is that good? I don't know. It felt pretty good. I got several decent chains, all(?) the bees, and didn't die or bomb. Now if I could do this consistently...
After practicing Stage 2, I again tried arcade mode. I had a really good run going, incorporating a lot of the scoring tricks I had learned for Stage 2, when midway through Stage 2 I had some really random graphical tearing... right in the middle of the difficult section with the three heavy planes that spam bullets everywhere >_<. Cue a couple deaths. Argh. I did make a comeback after that and reached the third stage boss with the help of a score extend. I couldn't quite beat it, though - made a careless mistake against the homing bullets. Ended around 2.5 mil, I think? Not my best, but it was better than where I began the night =P.
So, what did I learn, and what were tonight's major accomplishments? Aside from aforementioned stage score:
- I learned what the C button is! Autofire! How novel. Will I actually use this? Well, I probably would if I had a stick. On the pad, though, it's a little awkward. It's true that I can't tap as fast as the autofire rate, but at the same time, would I ever actually need to fire that fast? If I want to do damage, I may as well use the laser. Hmmm. It's not too straining to tap for auto, so I'll just make do for now.
I wish I could assign the buttons in the Saturn version. This feature would be easier to use if X and A were Auto and Shot, for example.
- I got the score extend on the second stage for the first time. This was on a somewhat sloppy run with deaths, too. That chaining practice on Stage 2 is paying off!
- Improved several of my chains in Stage 2, and figured out some new ones. There is a nice ~50 chain I can get at the start of the second stage maybe 25% of the time, and if I break the chain I usually get 40. There is also an extremely nice chain towards the middle of the stage where I delay killing a big ship, so I can chain off it into a wave of popcorn. It's still tricky for me to do, but if I can pull this chain off, I typically reach 53 chain and net over 300k with this chain alone.
I also learned a few new short chains off the bigger ships in the level. Only around 10-15, but because I start on a big target, I get around 40k from them. There's another chain toward the beginning of the level where I chain off a midsize enemy into a 32 chain.
- I got a 26 chain in the early part of Stage 1. Need to figure out how I did that and do it again =P.
That 50 chain at the end of Stage 1 still eludes me. Need to relearn it. More practice tomorrow, gotta get things more consistent =).
Began my playtime tonight with the predictable kusofail warm up run. Got only 1 mil with Type C and reached only Stage 2, lol. Run 2 didn't go much better.
I was feeling pretty rusty on Stage 2 and I didn't want to try my luck on Stage 4/5 tonight, so I decided to spend the remainder of my time practicing Stage 2. If I'm just playing for survival, I can no miss/no bomb this stage fairly consistently. So instead of survival, I was pushing score and learning/perfecting chains in this practice session.
In that regard, I did well, although I suffered badly the shmupper's curse: balancing scoring with survival. "Look, shiny Bees and their delicious points! Let's ram bullets!" That said, I pushed onward and came out at the end with a best of 1.64 Mil from just Stage 2. Is that good? I don't know. It felt pretty good. I got several decent chains, all(?) the bees, and didn't die or bomb. Now if I could do this consistently...
After practicing Stage 2, I again tried arcade mode. I had a really good run going, incorporating a lot of the scoring tricks I had learned for Stage 2, when midway through Stage 2 I had some really random graphical tearing... right in the middle of the difficult section with the three heavy planes that spam bullets everywhere >_<. Cue a couple deaths. Argh. I did make a comeback after that and reached the third stage boss with the help of a score extend. I couldn't quite beat it, though - made a careless mistake against the homing bullets. Ended around 2.5 mil, I think? Not my best, but it was better than where I began the night =P.
So, what did I learn, and what were tonight's major accomplishments? Aside from aforementioned stage score:
- I learned what the C button is! Autofire! How novel. Will I actually use this? Well, I probably would if I had a stick. On the pad, though, it's a little awkward. It's true that I can't tap as fast as the autofire rate, but at the same time, would I ever actually need to fire that fast? If I want to do damage, I may as well use the laser. Hmmm. It's not too straining to tap for auto, so I'll just make do for now.
I wish I could assign the buttons in the Saturn version. This feature would be easier to use if X and A were Auto and Shot, for example.
- I got the score extend on the second stage for the first time. This was on a somewhat sloppy run with deaths, too. That chaining practice on Stage 2 is paying off!
- Improved several of my chains in Stage 2, and figured out some new ones. There is a nice ~50 chain I can get at the start of the second stage maybe 25% of the time, and if I break the chain I usually get 40. There is also an extremely nice chain towards the middle of the stage where I delay killing a big ship, so I can chain off it into a wave of popcorn. It's still tricky for me to do, but if I can pull this chain off, I typically reach 53 chain and net over 300k with this chain alone.
I also learned a few new short chains off the bigger ships in the level. Only around 10-15, but because I start on a big target, I get around 40k from them. There's another chain toward the beginning of the level where I chain off a midsize enemy into a 32 chain.
- I got a 26 chain in the early part of Stage 1. Need to figure out how I did that and do it again =P.
That 50 chain at the end of Stage 1 still eludes me. Need to relearn it. More practice tomorrow, gotta get things more consistent =).
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Pretty cool reading your entry into the genre, great choice with the Saturn Strangely, Donpachi is practically the only Cave game I've never played, not sure why that is, perhaps because the Saturn port gets such flak. As for game recommendations, be sure to check out Soukyugurentai Otokoyu, Layer Section/Galactic Attack, and Gunbird (or Strikers 1945). They are all fairly inexpensive, however, I think it's great how you are sticking with just a couple games to focus on for a while. Remember though, playing a variety of games will make you improve because they will teach you different skills.
Do you Tate your TV? If not I highly suggest doing so (at your own risk). Just make sure you unplug it for a while before and after, and be extremely gentle while rotating it and setting it back down.
I think a big question you should ask yourself is whether you want to improve your skills naturally, or with the assistance of others. Many players seem to immediately study replays and use savestates to improve their ability as fast and efficiently as possible, where others take the more personalized journey and discover their own routes and strategies by trial and error. The first group may have the most clears and highscores, but the second group might get more satisfaction from their accomplishments. There is of course the possiblity of balancing these two "schools of shmupping".
Strangely, Donpachi is practically the only Cave game I've never played, not sure why that is, perhaps because the Saturn port gets such flak. As for game recommendations, be sure to check out Soukyugurentai Otokoyu, Layer Section/Galactic Attack, and Gunbird (or Strikers 1945). They are all fairly inexpensive, however, I think it's great how you are sticking with just a couple games to focus on for a while. Remember though, playing a variety of games will make you improve because they will teach you different skills.Do you Tate your TV? If not I highly suggest doing so (at your own risk). Just make sure you unplug it for a while before and after, and be extremely gentle while rotating it and setting it back down.
I think a big question you should ask yourself is whether you want to improve your skills naturally, or with the assistance of others. Many players seem to immediately study replays and use savestates to improve their ability as fast and efficiently as possible, where others take the more personalized journey and discover their own routes and strategies by trial and error. The first group may have the most clears and highscores, but the second group might get more satisfaction from their accomplishments. There is of course the possiblity of balancing these two "schools of shmupping".
"I've had quite a few pcbs of Fire Shark over time, and none of them cost me over £30 - so it won't break the bank by any standards." ~Malc
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
To answer your queries:
I'm looking into getting a few more 32 bit era shooting games to round out my collection, then I will probably sit and focus on the games that I have for a bit, just as you said. Specifically, I'm looking to get DoDonPachi, Galactic Attack, and Raiden Project at some point. I have plenty to play right now though, so I'm just waiting patiently for a good condition bargain to show up, haha.
I have tried TATEing this TV and it does work, but I'm not doing it right now because I also play Hori's on this setup, and it's a pain to rotate this thing back and forth. It's heavy and awkward to lift. Laziness, really =P.
Regarding how I learn - I read strategy entries to learn more details about how the game works. Stuff that wouldn't be immediately obvious just from playing the game, like how chains in DonPachi are worth more if you start with an enemy worth more points. Some of the deeper aspects of the metagame would elude me if players hadn't taken the time to really dig into the game (or code!) to find out how it works. Rank is another example of a mechanic that's often invisible to the player.
I also watch some other player's videos for ideas on how to solve certain sections. Particularly sections that have me completely stumped. However, I don't really aggressively seek them out. I'm currently trying to figure out chains more or less on my own, because all the DonPachi runs I've seen at this point are largely survival oriented and don't try for chains very much.
So, to answer your question, I'm somewhere in between. I recognize that value of examining other player's strategies, but I also enjoy trying new things and developing my own strategies too. I tend to start with the ideas that I think are best, and then if I see a section where another player's solution is much better than mine, then I'll work it in and then see if I can improve on it. If I had to lump myself into a camp, I'd definitely say that I'm in the "trial and error" camp, though. I get a great deal of satisfaction from figuring out on my own how to beat something that seemed impossible.
I'm looking into getting a few more 32 bit era shooting games to round out my collection, then I will probably sit and focus on the games that I have for a bit, just as you said. Specifically, I'm looking to get DoDonPachi, Galactic Attack, and Raiden Project at some point. I have plenty to play right now though, so I'm just waiting patiently for a good condition bargain to show up, haha.
I have tried TATEing this TV and it does work, but I'm not doing it right now because I also play Hori's on this setup, and it's a pain to rotate this thing back and forth. It's heavy and awkward to lift. Laziness, really =P.
Regarding how I learn - I read strategy entries to learn more details about how the game works. Stuff that wouldn't be immediately obvious just from playing the game, like how chains in DonPachi are worth more if you start with an enemy worth more points. Some of the deeper aspects of the metagame would elude me if players hadn't taken the time to really dig into the game (or code!) to find out how it works. Rank is another example of a mechanic that's often invisible to the player.
I also watch some other player's videos for ideas on how to solve certain sections. Particularly sections that have me completely stumped. However, I don't really aggressively seek them out. I'm currently trying to figure out chains more or less on my own, because all the DonPachi runs I've seen at this point are largely survival oriented and don't try for chains very much.
So, to answer your question, I'm somewhere in between. I recognize that value of examining other player's strategies, but I also enjoy trying new things and developing my own strategies too. I tend to start with the ideas that I think are best, and then if I see a section where another player's solution is much better than mine, then I'll work it in and then see if I can improve on it. If I had to lump myself into a camp, I'd definitely say that I'm in the "trial and error" camp, though. I get a great deal of satisfaction from figuring out on my own how to beat something that seemed impossible.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Phew. Had a spare hour before work today, so I thought I'd put in some more practice. Well rested, well fed, and well focused(?) will I prevail over DonPachi today!?
I even brought my Champagne cola to the task. I roll like a total baller, so you know. What does Champagne cola taste like? Well, it doesn't taste like champagne, haha. It's kind of like cream soda, but not. There's an unidentifiable fruity taste to it, as well. It's interesting, in a good way. But I digress.
First run was looking like predictable warmup kusofail, with clumsy deaths in stages 1 and 2. However, there was a silver lining: I got the score extend in stage 2 for the first time (before end level bonuses are tallied). Meaning it was my best scoring up to that point so far. With this, I was able to focus a little better and make it midway through Stage 3 before losing my remaining ships. Total score around 2.8 mil. Not my best effort, but better than last night's fail =P.
After another run with middling success, my final run went really well. A clumsy death set me back a bit in Stage 2, ruining a good chain opportunity. However, I focused extremely well in Stage 3 and No Missed that stage. I was feeling a bit on edge at this point, so I was a bit clumsy in Stage 4, but I managed to flounder halfway through the stage for a total score of 3,619,510; 41 Chain. A new personal best over my previous 3.5 mil. A small improvement, but a win's a win, haha. This was with generally sub par chaining on Stage 2, as well.
I'll try again later on and see if I can "put it all together" into one good run. The next goal is to break 4 mil, and the one after that is to make it onto the hi score thread.
I even brought my Champagne cola to the task. I roll like a total baller, so you know. What does Champagne cola taste like? Well, it doesn't taste like champagne, haha. It's kind of like cream soda, but not. There's an unidentifiable fruity taste to it, as well. It's interesting, in a good way. But I digress.
First run was looking like predictable warmup kusofail, with clumsy deaths in stages 1 and 2. However, there was a silver lining: I got the score extend in stage 2 for the first time (before end level bonuses are tallied). Meaning it was my best scoring up to that point so far. With this, I was able to focus a little better and make it midway through Stage 3 before losing my remaining ships. Total score around 2.8 mil. Not my best effort, but better than last night's fail =P.
After another run with middling success, my final run went really well. A clumsy death set me back a bit in Stage 2, ruining a good chain opportunity. However, I focused extremely well in Stage 3 and No Missed that stage. I was feeling a bit on edge at this point, so I was a bit clumsy in Stage 4, but I managed to flounder halfway through the stage for a total score of 3,619,510; 41 Chain. A new personal best over my previous 3.5 mil. A small improvement, but a win's a win, haha. This was with generally sub par chaining on Stage 2, as well.
I'll try again later on and see if I can "put it all together" into one good run. The next goal is to break 4 mil, and the one after that is to make it onto the hi score thread.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Had an extremely successful practice today. Warmup run was shite, whatever. I went on to some dedicated Stage 4 practice. After a bit more work and some safer, more conservative strategies in some places, I finally got the best case miss count down to 3. This meant that, if I hadn't lost any ships beforehand, that I could theoretically reach Stage 5.
Seeking to test this idea, I began an Arcade mode run.
The run started really well - I finally replicated that 50 Chain at the end of Stage 1. To get it, you sit on the large tank and laser it to death, then switch to rapid shot and move just a little to the right to tag all those scenery stars. Then you move a bit left of center to tag the tanks moving onto the screen on the left and right. Finally, you move to the right to clean up the remaining tanks. It's tricky and really easy to break.
With the big chain, I got a total score of 834,670 from Stage 1. This is the first time I've beaten "TAR" on the default scoreboard on just the first stage, haha.
After that, I had pretty decent chaining and really good bee collection. I think I was up to 2.6 mil after Stage 2. Botched it a bit on Stage 3, dying once in the stage and once at the boss, I think.
This left me with 2 stock left for Stage 4. I figured I'd just try to get as far as I could with my remaining lives, but I actually did almost flawlessly in Stage 4, beating my practice record and getting a single miss on the stage, I think. I focused well and was able to reach the extend and collect it no problem, leaving me with 2 stock at the boss. Needless to say, this was the first time I reached the Stage 4 extend on one credit. Lost 1 stock to the annoying homing needles that come out of the shield, but I was able to bomb spam my way through the boss and reach Stage 5. At this point, I had accomplished both of my goals, so I was satisfied just being able to get as far as I could with my remaining credit. I ended the run with a lame, stupid death to one of the streaming patterns at the start of Stage 5, ah well =P.
Autofire is actually turning out to be quite helpful. It helped me a lot when there we a lot of medium toughness enemies of the screen and I needed to concentrate entirely on evasion, like the middle sections of Stage 4 where you have kamikaze ships coming from the left and right behind a wall of parked red ships.
My current goals were to break 4 mil and then get on the hi score thread. I shattered both of those goals with this run. Total score was 6,374,040, reaching Stage 5, a new personal best. I used Type C and the best chain of the run was 57. It felt pretty good to get this far and clear a new stage.
Next major goal is to clear the loop, which is a pretty high goal. I think I'll settle for reaching Stage 5 more consistently for now =P. I want to work at this so that this run isn't just a fluke.
Seeking to test this idea, I began an Arcade mode run.
The run started really well - I finally replicated that 50 Chain at the end of Stage 1. To get it, you sit on the large tank and laser it to death, then switch to rapid shot and move just a little to the right to tag all those scenery stars. Then you move a bit left of center to tag the tanks moving onto the screen on the left and right. Finally, you move to the right to clean up the remaining tanks. It's tricky and really easy to break.
With the big chain, I got a total score of 834,670 from Stage 1. This is the first time I've beaten "TAR" on the default scoreboard on just the first stage, haha.
After that, I had pretty decent chaining and really good bee collection. I think I was up to 2.6 mil after Stage 2. Botched it a bit on Stage 3, dying once in the stage and once at the boss, I think.
This left me with 2 stock left for Stage 4. I figured I'd just try to get as far as I could with my remaining lives, but I actually did almost flawlessly in Stage 4, beating my practice record and getting a single miss on the stage, I think. I focused well and was able to reach the extend and collect it no problem, leaving me with 2 stock at the boss. Needless to say, this was the first time I reached the Stage 4 extend on one credit. Lost 1 stock to the annoying homing needles that come out of the shield, but I was able to bomb spam my way through the boss and reach Stage 5. At this point, I had accomplished both of my goals, so I was satisfied just being able to get as far as I could with my remaining credit. I ended the run with a lame, stupid death to one of the streaming patterns at the start of Stage 5, ah well =P.
Autofire is actually turning out to be quite helpful. It helped me a lot when there we a lot of medium toughness enemies of the screen and I needed to concentrate entirely on evasion, like the middle sections of Stage 4 where you have kamikaze ships coming from the left and right behind a wall of parked red ships.
My current goals were to break 4 mil and then get on the hi score thread. I shattered both of those goals with this run. Total score was 6,374,040, reaching Stage 5, a new personal best. I used Type C and the best chain of the run was 57. It felt pretty good to get this far and clear a new stage.
Next major goal is to clear the loop, which is a pretty high goal. I think I'll settle for reaching Stage 5 more consistently for now =P. I want to work at this so that this run isn't just a fluke.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Something a little different this time - a bit of retro goodness away from home. Today a few friends and I had a retro games get together (well, mostly I just brought my Saturn and a bunch of good games for it, haha). They were curious about this "bullet hell" thing I kept talking about, so I brought DonPachi (ok, it's not really a proper bullet hell, but it's the closest thing I've got). I got to Stage 4 on my warm up run. It's not my best, but I considered this a decent run for a couple reasons:
1) I was playing on unfamiliar hardware. DonPachi was pixelated as all get out on my friend's HDTV.
The Sony Bravia I played on seemed to have quite a lot of input lag - it was difficult to make fine movements compared to my SDTV, to the extent that my ship felt "floaty" and somewhat unresponsive.
2) It was my warmup run. Usually my warmup runs are shite.
I actually felt I did quite well to get as far as I did with the input lag.
My friends were initially somewhat unimpressed, but then when the bullet count ramped up around the 3rd stage mark they were like "Whoa, this is crazy!" They enjoyed the wacky sound effects and the awesome bombs especially =D. Then I hit the Stage 4 wall and it went downhill fast, lol. I got one person to try this game, the rest were a little intimidated.
Next up was Darius Gaiden. My friend had specifically asked me to bring this game, so everyone was looking forward to it. The input lag didn't seem quite as bad on this game, or maybe I had just gotten used to it a bit by that point. I haven't practiced this game as much, so I pretty much just ran my average. This game gives you a fixed number of credits/continues, so I usually use them all and just try to practice as much as I can. I usually reach Stage 5 on 3 credits, and that's about where my runs ended with my attempts tonight, Co-Op or not.
Everyone present joined me for Darius Gaiden, and we had a lot of fun playing together. I guess Darius Gaiden looks a little less intimidating to a casual observer than DonPachi. After some initial awkwardness with the extremely similar-looking P1 and P2 ships (I often lost track of which one was me in the hectic moments of the game, haha) we did well. My friends quickly caught on to some of my strategies for the parts of the game that I have mastered. Golden Ogre did not live long once my friends figured out his patterns =D. One of my buddies kept flying into walls though, I don't think he's played a hori before, haha. My friends quickly learned to fear "Vorpal Squid" (Neon Light Illusion) and it's gamut of horrible, horrible attacks.
Everyone enjoyed the overall aesthetic of the game, and especially the awesome boss explosions and bombs. They also commented that the attack patterns for this game were particularly interesting - specifically Neon Light Illusion's homing bullets.
We rounded out the night with Guardian Heroes, which turned out to be a crowd favorite. My friends are fans of RPGs and anime, so the RPG elements, art style, and branching storyline of this game sat very well with them. This game is also easy to get into, so once my friends learned the combos and spells and started shooting awesome lightning and lasers and stuff, they were pretty well hooked. They caught on extremely quickly actually - I played well and my friends avoided danger, so we actually cleared the game on Normal mode on the first attempt. I'm not certain if you could call it a true "one credit clear" because technically you are continuing, but continues are used more like lives in this game. You get free play on Easy, 9 continues on Normal, and 3 on Hard if I recall correctly. In order to complete this game without continuing, you would have to 1 Life clear, which leads me to believe that continues are supposed to be more like lives. In any case, we completed the game and saw one of the game's several endings, and it was one of the better endings at that.
As usual, Guardian Heroes is a ton of fun no matter how you play it =D. It was a great way to wrap things up.
1) I was playing on unfamiliar hardware. DonPachi was pixelated as all get out on my friend's HDTV.
The Sony Bravia I played on seemed to have quite a lot of input lag - it was difficult to make fine movements compared to my SDTV, to the extent that my ship felt "floaty" and somewhat unresponsive.
2) It was my warmup run. Usually my warmup runs are shite.
I actually felt I did quite well to get as far as I did with the input lag.
My friends were initially somewhat unimpressed, but then when the bullet count ramped up around the 3rd stage mark they were like "Whoa, this is crazy!" They enjoyed the wacky sound effects and the awesome bombs especially =D. Then I hit the Stage 4 wall and it went downhill fast, lol. I got one person to try this game, the rest were a little intimidated.
Next up was Darius Gaiden. My friend had specifically asked me to bring this game, so everyone was looking forward to it. The input lag didn't seem quite as bad on this game, or maybe I had just gotten used to it a bit by that point. I haven't practiced this game as much, so I pretty much just ran my average. This game gives you a fixed number of credits/continues, so I usually use them all and just try to practice as much as I can. I usually reach Stage 5 on 3 credits, and that's about where my runs ended with my attempts tonight, Co-Op or not.
Everyone present joined me for Darius Gaiden, and we had a lot of fun playing together. I guess Darius Gaiden looks a little less intimidating to a casual observer than DonPachi. After some initial awkwardness with the extremely similar-looking P1 and P2 ships (I often lost track of which one was me in the hectic moments of the game, haha) we did well. My friends quickly caught on to some of my strategies for the parts of the game that I have mastered. Golden Ogre did not live long once my friends figured out his patterns =D. One of my buddies kept flying into walls though, I don't think he's played a hori before, haha. My friends quickly learned to fear "Vorpal Squid" (Neon Light Illusion) and it's gamut of horrible, horrible attacks.
Everyone enjoyed the overall aesthetic of the game, and especially the awesome boss explosions and bombs. They also commented that the attack patterns for this game were particularly interesting - specifically Neon Light Illusion's homing bullets.
We rounded out the night with Guardian Heroes, which turned out to be a crowd favorite. My friends are fans of RPGs and anime, so the RPG elements, art style, and branching storyline of this game sat very well with them. This game is also easy to get into, so once my friends learned the combos and spells and started shooting awesome lightning and lasers and stuff, they were pretty well hooked. They caught on extremely quickly actually - I played well and my friends avoided danger, so we actually cleared the game on Normal mode on the first attempt. I'm not certain if you could call it a true "one credit clear" because technically you are continuing, but continues are used more like lives in this game. You get free play on Easy, 9 continues on Normal, and 3 on Hard if I recall correctly. In order to complete this game without continuing, you would have to 1 Life clear, which leads me to believe that continues are supposed to be more like lives. In any case, we completed the game and saw one of the game's several endings, and it was one of the better endings at that.
As usual, Guardian Heroes is a ton of fun no matter how you play it =D. It was a great way to wrap things up.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Does the Saturn Donpachi replenish your bomb stock after every stage?
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
I believe it does. It gives you at least a few bombs, if not all.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Yeah and I think it also gives you an extra one if you end the stage with no bombs. Your score will probably end up like shit though lol.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Had a great run a couple days ago, but just posting it now because the hurricane knocked out my power for a while =P.
As you might infer, my hurricane preparations were complete and I felt like getting a bit of last-minute gaming in before the chance of power outage. Does gaming in a hurricane improve your score!? In my area, the hurricane actually amounted to an enjoyable breeze and a nice gentle rain for most of the evening (the wind only got more severe once I was well asleep) so it was actually quite soothing. After a few practice tries, I was able to get in the zone and focus really well. I think being a bit tired actually helped me relax and take in everything that was happening on screen in stride.
I had a death each on Stage 2 and 3, and 2(?) on 4 (but by this point I had the score and item extends so I could keep going). A few improvised alterations to my Stage 4 strategy worked out really well for me. I think I'll incorporate them into my strategy from now on - it should make managing some of the harder sections easier and more consistent.
The sections that give me trouble in Stage 4 are where the red ships come from both left and right and that grueling segment where parked red ships block fast kamikaze green ships that come in from the left and right. My current solution to the first problem is to stream the kamikaze ships from right to left, then advance vertically across the left edge of the screen while firing the laser (taking out the first red ship) then hooking up and over the entering second red ship's bullets to destroy it from behind with my aura. Then I simply strafe back and forth at the top of the screen to destroy the red ships as they come in, point blanking them with the laser.
In the latter section, I've had luck sitting at the extreme bottom right or left of the screen, then simply moving back and forth along the bottom of the screen, pausing my pace as necessary to thread between the central turret guns and the kamikaze plane bullets.
I was pretty calm for most of this, and only got nerves when I got to the Stage 4 boss and was realizing that I might reach Stage 5 again. I think I had one death on the Stage 4 boss (might have run out of bombs during the stage) but I reached Stage 5.
After that, I was determined to get farther than last time. Concentrating on survival, I used my bombs a little bit more liberally, and got farther in the stage than before by more conservative play, use of bombs, and better focus. My run ended when the final large red ship in Stage 5 blew up... but the stupid second component came on screen just in time to ram me >_<. It's hard to get out of the way using Type C... =(.
The final score was a new personal best. A small improvement to 6,498,810, with Type C. The best chain was 56. Pretty much a similar game to my last one, but I got a little farther in Stage 5, so the extra points came from there. I can never seem to pull off the really monstrous chains in a real run, haha =).
As you might infer, my hurricane preparations were complete and I felt like getting a bit of last-minute gaming in before the chance of power outage. Does gaming in a hurricane improve your score!? In my area, the hurricane actually amounted to an enjoyable breeze and a nice gentle rain for most of the evening (the wind only got more severe once I was well asleep) so it was actually quite soothing. After a few practice tries, I was able to get in the zone and focus really well. I think being a bit tired actually helped me relax and take in everything that was happening on screen in stride.
I had a death each on Stage 2 and 3, and 2(?) on 4 (but by this point I had the score and item extends so I could keep going). A few improvised alterations to my Stage 4 strategy worked out really well for me. I think I'll incorporate them into my strategy from now on - it should make managing some of the harder sections easier and more consistent.
The sections that give me trouble in Stage 4 are where the red ships come from both left and right and that grueling segment where parked red ships block fast kamikaze green ships that come in from the left and right. My current solution to the first problem is to stream the kamikaze ships from right to left, then advance vertically across the left edge of the screen while firing the laser (taking out the first red ship) then hooking up and over the entering second red ship's bullets to destroy it from behind with my aura. Then I simply strafe back and forth at the top of the screen to destroy the red ships as they come in, point blanking them with the laser.
In the latter section, I've had luck sitting at the extreme bottom right or left of the screen, then simply moving back and forth along the bottom of the screen, pausing my pace as necessary to thread between the central turret guns and the kamikaze plane bullets.
I was pretty calm for most of this, and only got nerves when I got to the Stage 4 boss and was realizing that I might reach Stage 5 again. I think I had one death on the Stage 4 boss (might have run out of bombs during the stage) but I reached Stage 5.
After that, I was determined to get farther than last time. Concentrating on survival, I used my bombs a little bit more liberally, and got farther in the stage than before by more conservative play, use of bombs, and better focus. My run ended when the final large red ship in Stage 5 blew up... but the stupid second component came on screen just in time to ram me >_<. It's hard to get out of the way using Type C... =(.
The final score was a new personal best. A small improvement to 6,498,810, with Type C. The best chain was 56. Pretty much a similar game to my last one, but I got a little farther in Stage 5, so the extra points came from there. I can never seem to pull off the really monstrous chains in a real run, haha =).
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
What PC isn't MAME-compatible? I've run Dodonpachi smoothly on my friend's toaster of a netbook.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
This thing is total shite. It boots successfully 2 out of 3 attempts, the monitor overheats and shuts off randomly, and running anything that uses the GPU causes the screen to flicker erratically. Even assuming this decade-old Pentium 4 could run MAME smoothly, I wouldn't want to game on this thing, because I could only imagine the rage that would come from a great run being ended by the monitor/GPU crapping out.
I'm really not exaggerating when I say that this thing is useful for surfing the web only, and even then it's not exactly enjoyable =/.
(Yes, I am looking to get this thing replaced soon with MAME-worthy hardware).
I'm really not exaggerating when I say that this thing is useful for surfing the web only, and even then it's not exactly enjoyable =/.
(Yes, I am looking to get this thing replaced soon with MAME-worthy hardware).
-
BPzeBanshee
- Posts: 4859
- Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:59 am
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Wow, that's pretty messed up.
I wouldn't put it to its age though - my legacy machine is older than that (Pentium III, model from 1997) and that runs MAME and Dodonpachi okay. Just avoid running anything above ESPRade for recence or the cutting-edge Taito hardware.
I wouldn't put it to its age though - my legacy machine is older than that (Pentium III, model from 1997) and that runs MAME and Dodonpachi okay. Just avoid running anything above ESPRade for recence or the cutting-edge Taito hardware.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Quick update. I forgot to mention that my TV got -rained on- during the hurricane >_<. The roof actually sprung a leak, right over my setup! Fortunately, both the TV and the Saturn happened to be unplugged at the time, so they didn't short circuit and die instantly (I'm paranoid about electronics leaching power while idle). After drying them out with a fan for a few days, I tested them and they seemed no worse for the wear.
I had a little time for practice last night and focused a lot on Stage 5, as it's the last remaining obstacle to the 1CC. It's a pretty high wall, too - that section with the sniper planes and the lines of turrets is absolutely brutal.
I can see that I am improving because I'm getting more consistent and my ability to improvise is increasing. At the end of the night, my best attempt at Stage 5 had 2 deaths, meaning I can now theoretically get the 1CC. In practice, though, it may take some time, as that run went a lot better than my other ones, and I usually have a couple clumsy deaths in the earlier stages. I'll keep chipping away at it =).
I had a little time for practice last night and focused a lot on Stage 5, as it's the last remaining obstacle to the 1CC. It's a pretty high wall, too - that section with the sniper planes and the lines of turrets is absolutely brutal.
I can see that I am improving because I'm getting more consistent and my ability to improvise is increasing. At the end of the night, my best attempt at Stage 5 had 2 deaths, meaning I can now theoretically get the 1CC. In practice, though, it may take some time, as that run went a lot better than my other ones, and I usually have a couple clumsy deaths in the earlier stages. I'll keep chipping away at it =).
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Been a while since I updated my "blog". So what's been going on? I haven't forgotten DonPachi, but it's on hold for now. The leak in my roof proved worse than I thought. I had to move my console setup into storage, because I couldn't risk leaving it there on the off chance it rained/leaked on my TV again. Unfortunately, I don't have space in another room to set it up in, either. Gotta get that roof fixed...
While I can't play anything on console at the moment, I have finally gotten a computer that is capable of playing games. A brand new, MAME-capable computer with endless possibilities... I wonder what I should play on it first...
...how about that copy of Crimzon Clover that I bought from Rancor, like, a friggen year ago >_<!?
I've had the game seemingly forever, but hadn't yet gotten to play it because I had to RMA so many defective computers!
Yeah, it's time to fire this game up. I know we already have a lengthy thread about Crimzon Clover, so I won't go into too much detail here. Short story: it's awesome! This game is pure adrenaline. As soon as I'm a stage in my heart is pounding - by the end of a credit I'm dripping sweat like I'd been out running. It's challenging, but not unfairly so, and more importantly an absolute blast to play. It's extremely gratifying to go into break mode, then launch homing lasers and watch everything on screen explode spectacularly. I feel like I'm in a Macross anime sometimes, haha. Sound and graphics are amazing.
This is also the first shooting game I've played where continues are not available by default. This has greatly reduced the temptation to use them. I've been playing the game in true arcade fashion - play the game one credit at a time and get as far as I can. When my credit ends, I start over from the beginning and try to get further than last time. Simple. I don't feel like my time on the first stages is wasted, either - I'm still mastering them, and the enemies in this game are always threatening. The scoring system is quite deep, too, so once you get good at surviving a stage, then you simply start adding risks that increase score. Playing the game this way feels very rewarding, because I seem to get a little further every time I play.
To date, I've gotten to the final phase of the third stage boss (on Original mode). Looking to get into the fourth stage soon - I could have cleared the third boss, but I got snagged by a "gotcha" moment. Didn't realize the boss had a hit box when it's third form rises up into the sky - lost a life fruitlessly to an easily avoidable collision =P. Lesson learned!
I doubt I'll be contributing anything of value to the high score thread because we have a lot of very talented gamers submitting scores already, but I definitely see myself playing the heck out of this game. I'm going to keep trying though, and who knows, maybe I'll have something cool to show for it in a little while!
PS: Totally going to show this game to anyone and everyone that will look at it. More people (like, regular gamers outside the shmup community) need to play this!
While I can't play anything on console at the moment, I have finally gotten a computer that is capable of playing games. A brand new, MAME-capable computer with endless possibilities... I wonder what I should play on it first...
...how about that copy of Crimzon Clover that I bought from Rancor, like, a friggen year ago >_<!?
I've had the game seemingly forever, but hadn't yet gotten to play it because I had to RMA so many defective computers!
Yeah, it's time to fire this game up. I know we already have a lengthy thread about Crimzon Clover, so I won't go into too much detail here. Short story: it's awesome! This game is pure adrenaline. As soon as I'm a stage in my heart is pounding - by the end of a credit I'm dripping sweat like I'd been out running. It's challenging, but not unfairly so, and more importantly an absolute blast to play. It's extremely gratifying to go into break mode, then launch homing lasers and watch everything on screen explode spectacularly. I feel like I'm in a Macross anime sometimes, haha. Sound and graphics are amazing.
This is also the first shooting game I've played where continues are not available by default. This has greatly reduced the temptation to use them. I've been playing the game in true arcade fashion - play the game one credit at a time and get as far as I can. When my credit ends, I start over from the beginning and try to get further than last time. Simple. I don't feel like my time on the first stages is wasted, either - I'm still mastering them, and the enemies in this game are always threatening. The scoring system is quite deep, too, so once you get good at surviving a stage, then you simply start adding risks that increase score. Playing the game this way feels very rewarding, because I seem to get a little further every time I play.
To date, I've gotten to the final phase of the third stage boss (on Original mode). Looking to get into the fourth stage soon - I could have cleared the third boss, but I got snagged by a "gotcha" moment. Didn't realize the boss had a hit box when it's third form rises up into the sky - lost a life fruitlessly to an easily avoidable collision =P. Lesson learned!
I doubt I'll be contributing anything of value to the high score thread because we have a lot of very talented gamers submitting scores already, but I definitely see myself playing the heck out of this game. I'm going to keep trying though, and who knows, maybe I'll have something cool to show for it in a little while!
PS: Totally going to show this game to anyone and everyone that will look at it. More people (like, regular gamers outside the shmup community) need to play this!
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Ffffuuuuuu... total rage moment! I brought my notebook downstairs to show a guest Crimzon Clover. Didn't bother with the AC adapter, because I figured I wouldn't play too long - I've been feeling kinda sick, and I was tired, so I didn't think I'd get far. My first couple runs on Original and Unlimited went about as predicted. On a whim, I decided to play Simple mode just to show my guest all three modes.
It went really well. Usually my games on Original end in Stage 3, but I beat the Stage 3 Boss on Simple. Moving into new territory, I had 5 or so lives in stock. Surprisingly, I cleared Stage 4 blind. Moreover, I had 5 lives in stock still (a few deaths, but I got a couple extends from score/stage end). Stage 5 went just as well. Cleared this stage blind also, reaching the final boss with 5 lives in stock. I was thinking "Wait, what? I could actually clear this!". ...and then my notebook decided to hibernate to save battery, crashing the game -_-. Crimzon Clover does not like being minimized, lol. Too bad, I pulled off some pretty slick dodging, so I was going to save a replay.
...I should just turn the power saving features off. I really wasn't expecting to play an extended game, though. I guess all that practice on various shooting games is starting to pay off for me, haha.
Ah well, if I've done it once, then I can do it again. Expect a Simple Mode clear at some point.
It went really well. Usually my games on Original end in Stage 3, but I beat the Stage 3 Boss on Simple. Moving into new territory, I had 5 or so lives in stock. Surprisingly, I cleared Stage 4 blind. Moreover, I had 5 lives in stock still (a few deaths, but I got a couple extends from score/stage end). Stage 5 went just as well. Cleared this stage blind also, reaching the final boss with 5 lives in stock. I was thinking "Wait, what? I could actually clear this!". ...and then my notebook decided to hibernate to save battery, crashing the game -_-. Crimzon Clover does not like being minimized, lol. Too bad, I pulled off some pretty slick dodging, so I was going to save a replay.
...I should just turn the power saving features off. I really wasn't expecting to play an extended game, though. I guess all that practice on various shooting games is starting to pay off for me, haha.
Ah well, if I've done it once, then I can do it again. Expect a Simple Mode clear at some point.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
I had a similar experience with Bakraid some months back. I was showing my sister shmups and no-missed no-bombed up to near the first boss in the cloud level. Normally I'd make stupid mistakes at intervals and crap out in stage 4 or 5 when I was lucky. Then we were running late for a movie and I had to pause it until we got back. Was tired and lost everything in short order. It's only recently that I've been able to get to stage 6 again consistently.
The freaks are rising through the floor.
Recommended XBLIG shmups.
Top 20 Doujin Shmups of ALL TIME.
Recommended XBLIG shmups.
Top 20 Doujin Shmups of ALL TIME.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Both significant progress and rage today.
Making good on my earlier promise, I did indeed 1CC Simple Mode. Man, what a rush! Great feeling getting another 1CC, it's been a bit. The final boss completely roflstomped me though. I think I arrived at the final boss with 9 lives and just barely defeated it. It was really down to the wire. Regrettably, I didn't get to save my initials or a replay because, just after the credits, the game CRASHED. Dammit >_<. I think I scored decently, but I couldn't tell you what I ended up with. Didn't think to look at the final score. Ah well, I'm sure I can do it again. It will only get easier, as next time I will have a familiarity with the final boss' attack patterns.
I also made progress in Original Mode. Reached Stage 4 for the first time, and actually cleared up until just before the Stage 4 boss. Pretty good feeling. I really need to work on that Stage 3 Boss, though. He completely rocks me every time. The first phase is pretty simple to manage, but I lost 4 lives to phase 2. Dammit again >_<.
Making good on my earlier promise, I did indeed 1CC Simple Mode. Man, what a rush! Great feeling getting another 1CC, it's been a bit. The final boss completely roflstomped me though. I think I arrived at the final boss with 9 lives and just barely defeated it. It was really down to the wire. Regrettably, I didn't get to save my initials or a replay because, just after the credits, the game CRASHED. Dammit >_<. I think I scored decently, but I couldn't tell you what I ended up with. Didn't think to look at the final score. Ah well, I'm sure I can do it again. It will only get easier, as next time I will have a familiarity with the final boss' attack patterns.
I also made progress in Original Mode. Reached Stage 4 for the first time, and actually cleared up until just before the Stage 4 boss. Pretty good feeling. I really need to work on that Stage 3 Boss, though. He completely rocks me every time. The first phase is pretty simple to manage, but I lost 4 lives to phase 2. Dammit again >_<.
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Keep up the good work Blackbird! Your shmup diary is really entertaining and helps me keep focus on my own shmup pursuits.
Cheers,
--the F-man
Cheers,
--the F-man
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Making progress on Crimzon Clover. This game is -hard-, but there is also an element of strategy and timing to it that I like.
I had an amazing run in Simple Mode that had a surprising ending. Anyone interested in seeing another Simple Mode run with Type I?
I also had a great run in Original Mode, too. I made further progress into the game, reaching the 4th Stage for the second time so far and finally reaching the 4th stage boss (who promptly rocked me, lol). The main hurdle to my progress in this game is the Stage 3 Boss. He is a huge gatekeeper. I would pretty much reach this boss, then he would take all my lives and end my game. As such, I've focused a great deal of energy on practicing this boss for better survivability. After a lot of practice, I've got it down to one or two deaths per battle. Not great, but if I play decently before that point, then I can at least clear the boss and get further into the game.
I saved a replay of this run as well, if you would like to see it and/or offer criticism. I've been trying to incorporate some strategies from Icarus' run, but it is difficult because his skills are well advanced from mine.
I can No Miss Stage 1 and 2, but not every consistently, usually I make mistakes.
My best run so far is 636 oku(?).
I had an amazing run in Simple Mode that had a surprising ending. Anyone interested in seeing another Simple Mode run with Type I?
I also had a great run in Original Mode, too. I made further progress into the game, reaching the 4th Stage for the second time so far and finally reaching the 4th stage boss (who promptly rocked me, lol). The main hurdle to my progress in this game is the Stage 3 Boss. He is a huge gatekeeper. I would pretty much reach this boss, then he would take all my lives and end my game. As such, I've focused a great deal of energy on practicing this boss for better survivability. After a lot of practice, I've got it down to one or two deaths per battle. Not great, but if I play decently before that point, then I can at least clear the boss and get further into the game.
I saved a replay of this run as well, if you would like to see it and/or offer criticism. I've been trying to incorporate some strategies from Icarus' run, but it is difficult because his skills are well advanced from mine.
I can No Miss Stage 1 and 2, but not every consistently, usually I make mistakes.
My best run so far is 636 oku(?).
Re: Flight Log - A "Shmup Diary"
Finally getting down some boss strategies on Crimzon Clover Original mode. I've worked out a pretty decent strategy that lets me get a 6.4x full lock on all three targets of the Stage 1 boss with minimal risk. The Stage 2 boss is a bit tricky, I find it hard to get score from because it takes a lot of my concentration to dodge it's dense shot patterns. I've made significant improvement against the Stage 3 boss. Instead of owning my face, I can generally clear this boss with a death or so. Occasionally I can even no miss this boss. Huge improvement. Stage 4 boss is tricky, because I haven't reached it very many times and thus haven't familiarized myself with it thoroughly. I find it generally less challenging than the Stage 3 boss, though, because you can evade most of it's attacks by sweeping from side to side.
The most significant advancement, though, is reaching Stage 5! I feel like I've reached a milestone. I finally reached the Stage 4 boss with enough lives to survive the attacks I was unfamiliar with, lol. I'll practice against this boss in stage select to improve on that.
I got pretty far into Stage 5, getting to the Race Car midboss before losing my last ship. Too bad I couldn't see the final boss, but it's big progress regardless.
Disappointingly, despite reaching into Stage 5, I only got 638 oku. Still a new personal best, but only barely =/.
Not really confident enough to say that I could 1CC this soon, because it's taken a lot of effort to get even this far, but it doesn't seem impossible, either. This run was littered with the usual array of crap deaths to stray sniper bullets, and also plenty due to simple unfamiliarity. If I eliminated all the "fail" deaths, I'm certain I could get even farther.
The most significant advancement, though, is reaching Stage 5! I feel like I've reached a milestone. I finally reached the Stage 4 boss with enough lives to survive the attacks I was unfamiliar with, lol. I'll practice against this boss in stage select to improve on that.
I got pretty far into Stage 5, getting to the Race Car midboss before losing my last ship. Too bad I couldn't see the final boss, but it's big progress regardless.
Disappointingly, despite reaching into Stage 5, I only got 638 oku. Still a new personal best, but only barely =/.
Not really confident enough to say that I could 1CC this soon, because it's taken a lot of effort to get even this far, but it doesn't seem impossible, either. This run was littered with the usual array of crap deaths to stray sniper bullets, and also plenty due to simple unfamiliarity. If I eliminated all the "fail" deaths, I'm certain I could get even farther.