Deathsmiles PAL release (DATED: Feb 18th)

[Sumez]

The Gorge and Death Mode 2 Castle is damn challenging.
The 6 starter levels are the easiest thing Cave ever made though, even on rank 3.

[Casper<3]

So in the unlikely event that you're in my shoes and used to have DS NA with a US 360 but sold it when upgrading to a JP 360, yet greatly miss MBL 1.1 I have good news. Despite what has been stated on these forums, you can just buy MBL 1.1 for 240 MSP and it will work! You don't have to waste 20$ buying points for MBL.

[StarCreator]

Do you have the Platinum Hits release of DS JP, or the regular one?

[Casper<3]

I have the original release Limited Edition.

If I try to go to normal MBL it wants me to buy it. Go to MBL 1.1 and it works just fine.

[Aliquantic]

I assume DS Arcade still has a lot more of the slowdown than 360 does right, like on the JP and US releases? Is there a trick to making Arcade mode look bearable on a big LCD screen? It's... almost gross otherwise, but I'm going to assume there's no real work around there (and I don't own my current screen and can't easily get another one due to moving all the time)

How relevant is the slowdown difference outside of having a much easier time letting skulls break? Though given how MBL's slowdown is pretty weird too, it may be better just to try and get used to the faster speed of 360... decisions, decisions

[powersoul]

For the Vanilla mode, I'm faithful to the arcade mode as a PCB player. The 360 mode runs a little too fast at certain points for my taste. On MBL, I would do 360 mode, since I paid for it hehe, and I never played it on Arcade before.

Currently a holder of the NTSC-J Deathsmiles Platinum Hits edition. Anyone knows which one is it to update to MBL 1.1 (I only have MBL), and where do I redeem my Full Voice DLC code?

Skull breaking in MBL is fine, since they reduced the absorb range of any non-skull items.

[Aliquantic]

To redeem your code, I'd recommend going on the xbox.com website, My Account -> Use Code, or just follow this link if it works... much easier than typing it on the 360 itself, but I think you'll need a Japanese gamertag to do that for the voice DLC. https://live.xbox.com/en-US/RedeemToken

MBL 1.1 is 240 MSP and the file is pretty huge in the hundreds of mbs, so it shouldn't be very hard to miss, or I can give you a link straight to it through Xbox.com if you want.

And thanks 360 doesn't feel so bad in MBL and I hear it has better slowdown on some of the later stages, whereas Arcade is more faithful still to the first 6, but yes I wish I could play DS Arcade mode, if not for all those pixels (the TV I'm using is 30" but even on a much smaller LCD it's pretty awful).

[deexor]

Is there a trick to making Arcade mode look bearable on a big LCD screen?

The trick for me was turning off smoothing. The crisper graphics look fine on my 46 inch LCD. Smoothed looks way too messy.

[Aliquantic]

Oh nice, I hadn't thought of turning off Smoothing! I'll try that in a couple of weeks when I get my 360 back and see how it goes, thanks (I'm used to having to switch on smoothing for MMP/PS and Guwange)

A completely random question, Casper deals most damage while pointblanking with the familiar (and it being apparently aligned with her main shot?), but at long range her shot is better than her laser, is that right? I have to 1cc this game with her at some point and she looks like she might even be an interesting character to use for scoring, if... a little bit painful at times

[hzt]

This may not be the answer you're looking for but I only play Casper (now) and basically the only times I don't kill things by point blanking with laser is if they need to be killed with lock or shot or if moving quickly is more important. I spend the majority of the time right up in the face of whatever I'm shooting, including bosses - the only one of the first six I don't get up close to is Sakura (on the last two I lock shot Jitterbug because I suck and just get close where it's possible on Tyranosatan and I haven't really learnt the Canyon boss). I think laser is still more powerful at long range but I don't honestly know for sure, it doesn't seem like a question that matters playing Casper.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I don't suppose that the JP release has a training mode that lets you practice the last boss without having to go all the way through the last stages does it?

The inability to go straight to the boss really makes this very difficult to even think about clearing.

[powersoul]

Casper is strongest at really point blank ranges, but I think Rosa on the Vanilla mode still pwns in damage. Windia is just crap before MBL, although I can play with her. Follet's still my favourite character for all versions of the game and its sequel.

If I play Casper, it's usually for achievements. I can't seem to get used to her reverse mechanics.

[Aliquantic]

Thanks for your answers And yes, I was wondering about what to do when not pointblanking due to the safety factor involved in pointblanking all the time, haha... what's your best score out of curiosity hzt with Casper? I've yet to break 100m with her even if she's my favorite in DS2

Training mode is identical in all releases, so no direct access to the bosses, and Deathsmiles is Cave's easiest if you play no more than 4 stages at rank 3 and don't go to any Extra stage, so it wouldn't change things much... if you're happy to put in some time into learning to play the games (scoring is also relatively approachable). If you have little interest in working on a game then yes, you aren't going to clear anything (and that's perfectly okay, but you need new goals then, and banging your head repeatedly on various threads isn't the way to do it!).

[DrTrouserPlank]

The difficulty of the game isn't the issue as such. I do however think it's progression is completely wonky, and the lack of a decent practice mode doesn't help to correct that.

I'm not playing this anyway. Without being able to practice bosses which follow two fairly long stages it's a waste of time even thinking about it.

[hzt]

the safety factor involved in pointblanking all the time.

Yeah the way I play is not the safest but it's definitely entertaining. At least Casper is fast enough to get out of most bad situations if you have good reflex dodging.

My best score is not good, 107 million. I think I should be able to get around 150mil by playing the same route semi-competently and not making stupid mistakes all the time. More than that would probably require a new pattern or some serious dedication (there's a 300mil+ Casper replay somewhere using essentially the same pattern as mine, just played a lot better). I got burnt out with the game though and haven't played for ages. I'm waiting till we get it installed in Casino.

@DrTrouserPlank
Not being able to practice the bosses has definitely pissed me off before but it's not so bad with this as it would be with other games where you really need a stricter pattern to consistently defeat bosses. If you just want to clear it it's pretty easy to get to the end with a lot of lives left, and then if you lockshot and make sure you use bombs well Jitterbug goes down quickly and Tyrannosatan you can deal with if you watch a replay so you know what to expect and what not to do on his weird attacks. I got the 1CC the second or third time I made to the end, mostly by bombspamming.

In fact the reason it's pissed me off is only because I can't consistently no bomb Jitterbug for the cake (at least not without losing a life or two anyway...) and I want that so I have more margin for error earlier on, or room for a bomb restocking suicide. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be bothered.

I don't know why I'm giving you advice though, I like it that there's someone who whines about games even more than me and I wouldn't want that to change.

[JOW]

The difficulty of the game isn't the issue as such. I do however think it's progression is completely wonky, and the lack of a decent practice mode doesn't help to correct that.

I'm not playing this anyway. Without being able to practice bosses which follow two fairly long stages it's a waste of time even thinking about it.

If you avoid death mode (i.e. 4 or less stages at level 3 and avoid the canyon) this game far, far, far easier to clear than Futari 1.5 (which understand you've come pretty close to clearing).

Also, the final bosses are pretty easy too. If you use lock shot on Jitterbug quite a lot of slow down is induced which makes no missing him straight-forward (I'm not a great player but I reckon I no-bomb, no-miss him 95% of the time).

And, if you no bomb Jitterbug you get two extra lives to fight Tyrannosatan - so you are basically guaranteed 6 spare bombs to nuke him with

I also think you'll be missing out if you dismiss the game just because there is no boss selection in the practice mode. It's a truly great game and quite unique - it's easily one of my favourite shooters.

[powersoul]

This game is easy, the bosses aren't ridiculous. Sometimes I even found Death Mode lvl2 Hades Castle tougher than Jitterbug's second form. In fact, all the bosses have some sort of "easy-way-out". Once I get a recorder, I will compile all cheese for Vanilla and post them here.

The lack of a boss training makes you practice the stage hard. No use training for a boss if you can't clear the stage well, imo

[Tyjet]

The inability to go straight to the boss really makes this very difficult to even think about clearing.

Tell me about it. That canyon boss at lvl999 is a nightmare.

(This may or may no help.) If you want to practice bosses or the stage, you can try my method:

Don't play on score attack. In the game options, set the lives to max, set the enemy & bullet damage to 1, bombs to 6. BS your way through until you get to the desired stage/boss, practice practice practice, restart to anytime before the stage ends. By setting the damage you can ram into bullets and enemies at least 6?-7? times before you lose a life leaving you plently of room/time to study patterns.

It's a LONG method but you don't have 3 live and default damage as in training.

[powersoul]

The inability to go straight to the boss really makes this very difficult to even think about clearing.

Tell me about it. That canyon boss at lvl999 is a nightmare.

(This may or may no help.) If you want to practice bosses or the stage, you can try my method:

Don't play on score attack. In the game options, set the lives to max, set the enemy & bullet damage to 1, bombs to 6. BS your way through until you get to the desired stage/boss, practice practice practice, restart to anytime before the stage ends. By setting the damage you can ram into bullets and enemies at least 6?-7? times before you lose a life leaving you plently of room/time to study patterns.

It's a LONG method but you don't have 3 live and default damage as in training.

+1 on this one, but he won't learn much if he tried the easy way. Practicing on each stage, along with some video replay, will help. Check out how the top player of each character plays, and learn a bit from them.

Tip 1: Learn how the mechanics of the game work. Know the limits of your hitbox (ie what you can squeeze through, what you can't) and character movement speed. Normal and power-ed up modes generally have different speeds

Tip 2: If you are doing anything just for the sake of survival (ie Bombing or power-ing up for bosses), you are doing it wrongly. Playing the game for score (casual or competitive) seems the best way to survive this game on the hardest mode

Tip 3: You can say that this game's boss patterns are best memorized. Some of them don't really home in on you, some do. Some have gaps wide enough to fit both you and your option in, some can be totally avoided by surpassing it at the top or bottom (Forest boss). Abuse mechanics! (these are said to be patched in MBL and all 1.1 modes)

Tip 4: Playing this with a Hori is much easier than with the Xbox Controller

Tip 5: Unless you are playing on the NTSC U/C system (check Tyjet's youtube video on comparisons of slowdown), the Arcade mode usually has more slowdown than the 360 mode. Use that to hone your skills.

Tip 6: Don't forget Tip 1 to Tip 5

[StarCreator]

Tip 5: Unless you are playing on the NTSC U/C system (check Tyjet's youtube video on comparisons of slowdown), the Arcade mode usually has more slowdown than the 360 mode. Use that to hone your skills.

The slowdown on the NTSC U/C version has been patched, so this is no longer relevant.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

I bought a new slim less than a month ago and since I bought all the PAL / RF CAVE shmups awhile back Ive got some catching up to do. However since ive been playing Bayonetta, Fordza 3 and Rez HD, genres I never played as a PC gamer. ive still yet to properlly play the CAVE STGs since I want to invest alot of time and energy into them. However DS (XB360 mode) I picked to play as a casual shmup to play a quick credit before I have a long session of something else.

However I just havnt been able to get into it propperlly and rarly play it. And have yet to 1CC it (I know I could just bomb through the final boss but I dont want that). So it feels abit meh as its just too easy playing through the normal stages untill the difficulty spike at the last boss. It just doesnt have that standard easy and boring 1st stage with stages 2 - 5 ramping up in difficulty which makes 1CCing a shmup so much fun. More like stage inbetween a stage 1 or 2 untill the last stage (execpt Sakura).

Just now ive had the thought that maybe im playing it wrong as im playing for survival, with just rudimentry scoring for extends (Im only hitting double the 2nd extend mark as my score). Normally I would play for score and the 1CC at the same time but since I burnt myself out doing this I told myself ild stick to 1CC and ignore score routes unless ild beaten it.

It seems that I picked the wrong shmup to play for survival. I should be playing for score just to keep the easy stages intresting. It looks like I dont need to take any extra risk unlike other shmups its all in the timing of the special.

How many bombs would I need for the instant special recharge trick for an average score run in the first 6 stages? (Rosa)

[BPzeBanshee]

What Level are you running at for the stages? 3 all the way or 2s and 1s here and there?

[dan76]

If you want survival challenge play all rank 3. Do the port town first - that's the boring first stage as there's no scoring opportunity. The next 3 stages try and score a bit - the more you try and score, the more difficult it will become. From then on you will have suicide bullets which ups the survival challenge. Once you get used to clearing all rank 3 try scoring on the suicide bullet stages or go through the Canyon.

Castle and Canyon with suicide bullets are very difficult. It's often expressed that Deathsmiles is one of Cave's easier games - but played at max rank it isn't. I should also say that it's easier to get a good score (200mil) by avoiding suicide bullets... but to stand a chance of a great score (300mil+) you'll need them.

Alternately just play MBL at rank 999 purely for survival. Good luck with that.

[JOW]

I know I could just bomb through the final boss but I dont want that

...why not? CAVE games are hard - if you get a chance to put one to the sword do it ruthlessly and move on - e.g: look at scoring or Death Mode. If you pussy foot around and have unclear goals it's bound to feel a bit meh.

Personally, I think the scoring is where it's at with Deathsmiles - I've certainly had many hours of fun with the game that mostly came after my first clear. If you are playing for score you have a clear reason not to bomb Tyrannosatan - i.e. to improve your clear bonus. This clear reason will then motivate you to learn TS's patterns properly.

As it stands your reason for not bombing TS seems unclear so there's no wonder you can't be arsed

[TrevHead (TVR)]

What Level are you running at for the stages? 3 all the way or 2s and 1s here and there?

Normally I play rank 3 with 2s so I dont have to bother with suicide bullets (no extra stages), im not really a lover of them in other games

...why not? CAVE games are hard - if you get a chance to put one to the sword do it ruthlessly and move on - e.g: look at scoring or Death Mode. If you pussy foot around and have unclear goals it's bound to feel a bit meh.

You have a point there, its a restriction im imposing on myself considering my initial aim was to just play for the 1CC and possibly move onto score. Best just to get the 1CC out of the way asap and start exploring the game.

@Dan76 Thx for your suggestions. Normally I would this order Chap1, Chap 3, Chap 2 then Final with C2v2 and C1,V1 or C2V1 at rank 2. My problem isnt that the game as a whole isnt challenging, its that C1 and C3 less so C2 is boring atleast played for survival. Unlike a normal shmup theres no gradual progression in difficulty, no middle ground.

Im definitely not writing the game off as crap. I just need to modify how I approach the game. Im gonna get the 1CC out of the way asap and get into score. Maybe suicide bullets / extra stage/ MBL / v1.1 later

[powersoul]

It's not an embarassing move to 1cc on all level 1 maps, but you should move on. Playing every map on level 3, along with the extra stage, and yet 1cc it would be your ultimate goal, or lvl999 if you are on the black label

[moonwhistle]

I've read hundreds of posts about Deathsmiles in the various threads it has and I've not found a any detailed character guides yet. Are there any out there?

[MJR]

I think I'm ready to try harder mode, I've been playing every level on rank 3 except the last two, to avoid suicide bullets. As a result I was able to 1-life my way to jitterbug. Tyrannosatan took 3 lives but that was me being stupid and not using bombs.

So I guess suicide bullets will make this more entertaining. I also finally managed to recharge, took me ages until I realized that it's better to use lock-on shot to multiply the items when you are running out of charge.

[Aliquantic]

I've read hundreds of posts about Deathsmiles in the various threads it has and I've not found a any detailed character guides yet. Are there any out there?

What are you looking for exactly? There are guides describing the game mechanics and the differences between characters, but no in-depth guide for any character since it's a pretty fluid game (and at higher levels, guides are "try and copy what top Japanese players do" ). Casper is the only character that plays significantly differently and has fairly different routes, though.

And MJR, lockshot also makes your counter deplete a lot faster, which makes it easier to time the recharge properly... I'm not sure if you are explicitly aware of that, but the counter depletes at different speeds depending on the buttons you're holding down (and bombs of course).

[dannnnn]

I've read hundreds of posts about Deathsmiles in the various threads it has and I've not found a any detailed character guides yet. Are there any out there?

This thread tells you all you need to know about the character differences.