Is there really no way to skip the cutscenes in Gradius V?

[Drum]

Because fuck that. Best game in the series my bum.

[Klatrymadon]

There isn't, sadly. There are only two, though, and the second one plays at the end of stage 7. Without apologising for this oversight, it does become significantly less of a pain in the arse as you get better at the game.

[Drum]

There isn't, sadly. There are only two, though, and the second one plays at the end of stage 7. Without apologising for this oversight, it does become significantly less of a pain in the arse as you get better at the game.

No it doesn't >:(

[Klatrymadon]

You have to sit through reruns of the st2 cutscene in less rapid succession, that is.

[MathU]

Kind of surprising that Treasure would make that kind of mistake actually.

[Skykid]

Kind of surprising that Treasure would make that kind of mistake actually.

Iuchi can't help but force his cinematic ambitions on everyone.

Easily forgiven in light of the game's quality imo.

[Drum]

Kind of surprising that Treasure would make that kind of mistake actually.

Iuchi can't help but force his cinematic ambitions on everyone.

Easily forgiven in light of the game's quality imo.

It's ok, but it's not a patch on Gaiden.

[Skykid]

Kind of surprising that Treasure would make that kind of mistake actually.

Iuchi can't help but force his cinematic ambitions on everyone.

Easily forgiven in light of the game's quality imo.

It's ok, but it's not a patch on Gaiden.

Each to their own. Gradius V gives me a videogame orgasm, I just wish it wasn't so bloody long.

[stryc9]

Never mind the cutscenes, the thing I take issue with is that damned green gas in the level that rotates all around. After trying to second guess hitbox detection thru that section of the game, the fact Gradius V has a couple of short unskippable intermissions seems to pale into insignificance

[burgerkingdiamond]

I really LOVE Gradius V. I can regularly no miss up to the part of level 4 where you have to shoot through the organic flesh wall thingys. I always die there and it just disgusts me to the point where I don't want to play. It sucks because it's a long game and to spend 20 minutes to get to that point perfect and die everytime is fucked.

[Zaarock]

I can regularly no miss up to the part of level 5 where the boss

Just wish the game was much more compressed. (and yeah lol cutscenes)

The idea of playing training mode feels stupid since I never do it for vertical shmups. The levels before the part I have trouble with will be fairly boring anyway because of the lack of a scoring system.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Practice mode differs from regular stages in that you start without any power-ups, which is hardly ever the case during regular runs.
My theory why the cutscenes are unskippable - the data streams while cutscenes play, thus the alternative would be a loading screen. Therefore the fault lies not with the unskippability, but with non-playability, i.e. the fact you can do nothing during those cinematic sequences. The trick to make games seemingly loadingless for the sake of cinematic feel is to always let the player do SOMETHING. In J&D games, for example, even as you take the lift, you can walk around all over its confined space. In God of War you push levers or walk stairs while data streams. Of course in an arcade style game even this would be considered as padding, but Gradius V doesn't fare that well even in the cinematic category.
Ōkami brought the most loveable workaround to the table.

[NzzpNzzp]

It's ok, but it's not a patch on Gaiden.

It's pretty unreasonable to expect most games to be as good as Gaiden, though.

[Nick420]

Not bothered by the cutscenes here. I like the story line in gradius V, clever, well executed and well voiced. I love gradius V! Probably my second favourite shooter and for me it is leagues ahead of any other gradius game. I do like gaiden very much, and it's soundtrack is excellent. But to me it pales in every way compared to V. I also agree that the game is a tad too long. Maybe that's just cuz I can't 1cc clear it though I can reach stage 7 fairly consistently, that's if the stage 5 boss doesn't rape me haha. Finally getting to grips with the fast section however the mid boss bouncing lasers off the wall just after the fast section is like a brick wall atm(and pretty much the rest of the stage actually) Any tips? I use Type b by the way.

[Aquas]

I really LOVE Gradius V. I can regularly no miss up to the part of level 4 where you have to shoot through the organic flesh wall thingys. I always die there and it just disgusts me to the point where I don't want to play. It sucks because it's a long game and to spend 20 minutes to get to that point perfect and die everytime is fucked.

Training mode my friend. (And konami code)

Cutscenes are fine. It's a time to sip your drink or adjust your seat etc.

Great game, haven't played it in quite a while.

[evil_ash_xero]

There's only two, and they're really short. I mean, you should be able to skip them, but it's not a big deal.

[Nick420]

I really LOVE Gradius V. I can regularly no miss up to the part of level 4 where you have to shoot through the organic flesh wall thingys. I always die there and it just disgusts me to the point where I don't want to play. It sucks because it's a long game and to spend 20 minutes to get to that point perfect and die everytime is fucked.

Yeah I don't do that section properly, I just go to the far right hand side of the screen and stay there. It's safe there all you have to worry about is the odd bug thingy crawling into you but you can usually kill em before they get to you. Try it, it's kinda cheap but hey, it works.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

My theory why the cutscenes are unskippable - the data streams while cutscenes play, thus the alternative would be a loading screen. Therefore the fault lies not with the unskippability, but with non-playability, i.e. the fact you can do nothing during those cinematic sequences.

And yet it's still a significant flaw, if they intended the cutscenes as unskippable for loading purposes they should have also put Loading... somewhere on screen.

The other flaw, though more minor in severity, is that for all the dramatic explosions when a boss is defeated they didn't even put something like Stage Clear when the screen fades to black, then there's a short loading delay for the next stage, and then the next stage starts.

Given these flaws, I'd suggest that even Silpheed The Lost Planet had a better overall presentation than Gradius V: shorter cutscenes that were skippable, the Report after each stage served as a Stage Clear notification, Now Loading... being displayed for the short black screen delay, shots that are actually visible with all the action (vs. the small white cross shape shots in Gradius V that get obscured from time to time). Still isn't as good as the original Silpheed, of course, but aside from slower gameplay and somewhat easy difficulty, it doesn't seem to have glaring flaws.

[Skykid]

My theory why the cutscenes are unskippable - the data streams while cutscenes play, thus the alternative would be a loading screen. Therefore the fault lies not with the unskippability, but with non-playability, i.e. the fact you can do nothing during those cinematic sequences.

And yet it's still a significant flaw, if they intended the cutscenes as unskippable for loading purposes they should have also put Loading... somewhere on screen.

The other flaw, though more minor in severity, is that for all the dramatic explosions when a boss is defeated they didn't even put something like Stage Clear when the screen fades to black, then there's a short loading delay for the next stage, and then the next stage starts.

Given these flaws, I'd suggest that even Silpheed The Lost Planet had a better overall presentation than Gradius V: shorter cutscenes that were skippable, the Report after each stage served as a Stage Clear notification, Now Loading... being displayed for the short black screen delay, shots that are actually visible with all the action (vs. the small white cross shape shots in Gradius V that get obscured from time to time). Still isn't as good as the original Silpheed, of course, but aside from slower gameplay and somewhat easy difficulty, it doesn't seem to have glaring flaws.

You use the word 'flaw' 3 times, all erroneously. None of what you cite are bona fide flaws at all: they're just design decisions not to your taste. I'm sure most people would agree not having 'now loading' slapped over the cutscenes is for the better.

And how did Silpheed: TLP have shorter cutscenes than Gradius V?! Some of them drag on forever.

[Mortificator]

Unskippable cinematics are a flaw, but I agree it's bizarre to describe the lack of "stage clear" text that way. Gradius managed 19 years with soft segues between stages and I was not aware anyone considered that a problem.

I'm not convinced that the time-warp scenes have anything to do with loading, either, though it's not a bad theory.

[Skykid]

Unskippable cinematics are a flaw.

Yes, but they're no way near long enough in Gradius V to constitute one.

[mrsmiley381]

I fucking love those cutscenes, even after playing the game for all these years. The game is long enough that the minor plot points give you a nice little break to crack your knuckles and shoot the goddamn core. I'll toss in another vote for the data streaming theory, as it does make a good deal of sense. I have no way of confirming it, however, so I suppose it's still just a theory.

This thread should really be titled, "Where the hell is Lord British?"

[Skykid]

I fucking love those cutscenes, even after playing the game for all these years. The game is long enough that the minor plot points give you a nice little break to crack your knuckles and shoot the goddamn core. I'll toss in another vote for the data streaming theory, as it does make a good deal of sense. I have no way of confirming it, however, so I suppose it's still just a theory.

This thread should really be titled, "Where the hell is Lord British?"

I kind of think the data streaming thing is incorrect. There are only scant instances of cutscenes in the game and it has no trouble moving from one stage to the next, loading free, at any other point.

I'm with you though. This niggle is trifling in light of how awesome a game it is. The cutscenes are about 30 seconds tops, and they give you a little dramatic build up. Hardly worth getting twisted knickers over.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I believe most classic shmups have data streaming dressed up as powering up interludes and the likes, Gradius games being no exception. Lack of interaction is what makes those two cutscenes unique, as if the designers couldn't have come up with enough filler gameplay à la waiting for the gate to open in Stage 3.
I don't think it's a coincidence that both cutscenes occur before the boss ship rolls on.

[ptoing]

...classic shmups...streaming...

Most classic shmups are not on disk, hence no streaming required, and it's not like the amount of stuff loaded in most shmups is a lot anyway. Also for streaming done well you do not need intermission stuff like this. I think it is just Iuchi wanting to plop in some story and whatnot.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Most classic shmups are not on disk, hence no streaming required, and it's not like the amount of stuff loaded in most shmups is a lot anyway.

Most classic shmups don't have unlimited RAM. Neither has Gradius V.
Try playing cracked Taito Type X shmups (technically comparable to Gradius V and - in case of Homura anyways - well portable to PS2) on a PC with less RAM than PCBs have and you'll see what I'm talking about. PC versions of Raiden III an and Shikigami no Shiro III are optimised to not load everything at once when there's not enough RAM it seems. Minuscule hiccups Raiden III (PC) gives me now and then with 1 GB's worth of RAM would indicate it.

[dunpeal2064]

Wow, I think even Treasure would be insulted by the Silpheed comment.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Wow, I think even Treasure would be insulted by the Silpheed comment.

don't remind me of that POS

[dunpeal2064]

Wow, I think even Treasure would be insulted by the Silpheed comment.

don't remind me of that POS

I couldn't believe it when I saw a game done by Game Arts and Treasure, and ported by Working Designs.

They even reference Silvergun and Lunar on the back of the game.

pretty disappointing

[ptoing]

Most classic shmups are not on disk, hence no streaming required, and it's not like the amount of stuff loaded in most shmups is a lot anyway.

Most classic shmups don't have unlimited RAM. Neither has Gradius V.
Try playing cracked Taito Type X shmups (technically comparable to Gradius V and - in case of Homura anyways - well portable to PS2) on a PC with less RAM than PCBs have and you'll see what I'm talking about. PC versions of Raiden III an and Shikigami no Shiro III are optimised to not load everything at once when there's not enough RAM it seems. Minuscule hiccups Raiden III (PC) gives me now and then with 1 GB's worth of RAM would indicate it.

I was not talking about PC ports, I was talking about arcade and older console (cartridge) stuff.
There probably is some streaming in Gradius V, the question is whether those cutscenes are needed for it. I would guess no.
Also Treasure did some funky tricks in the past, like having the data on the Ikaruga disc for DC on the very outside so that the laser does not need to move as much resulting in faster loading. HAX!