A shmup RPG!!

[Captain]

Ahahah it looks like a run'n'gun Guilty Gear. Millia and Sol Shootan Gaem!

The graphics are done by the same people who made guilty gear.


Also, an actual Guilty Gear shooting game/run 'n gun...now that would be something worth my time.

[Zaarock]

If folk want to rag on a shit outsourced Contra game, try this pile of ass:

Oh come on, Uprising wasn't a great game but calling it shit is pretty stupid. For some reason I think you'd be the only person on this forum to say that, a lot of people here have enjoyed it to some extent for various reasons. Mediocre at worst IMO. Didn't really like the mode with the upgrade shop though so doubt I'd like that system in a shmup rpg.

[cj iwakura]

Hard Corps: Uprising was also a great game.


Geez, what kind of standards do you people have?

HC had amazing music, intense boss fights, a variety of playstyles(Sayuri is basically Strider), etc.

It was a better Contra game than most games with the actual name attached to it.

[Captain]

People hate it because of air dashes, period.

[Skykid]

If folk want to rag on a shit outsourced Contra game, try this pile of ass:

Mediocre at worst IMO.

Fair enough, I'll happily meet you at mediocre. I was just exaggerating for effect tbh.

Hard Corps: Uprising was also a great game.

Except it isn't.

Geez, what kind of standards do you people have?

Recognising and being vocal about poor games so developers stop making them.

HC had amazing music, intense boss fights, a variety of playstyles(Sayuri is basically Strider), etc.

It was a better Contra game than most games with the actual name attached to it.

The music was terrible. Unless you like elevator music with guitars in it, which is basically all J-Rock really is.
Some of the boss fights had really good scale and opportunities for intensity (the last boss fight is visually amazing) although they usually fell flat because of how drawn out the battles are and the horribleness of the controls. The game is best when you actually make it to a boss fight without sacrificing a weapon that actually does some damage to a pad-throwingly cheap hit; but on arcade mode the progress is so slow and repetitive (and the stages so overlong) why would you care? It's meant to be fun, not hard work, which is exactly what Uprising is. You may as well stack breeze blocks on your back, walk halfway down the street, collapse under the weight, start over; it's basically the same process.

My favourite boss was the one on the river, my least favourite the stage 2 boss in the trees (the guy who designed that battle deserves a beating.)

I can't think of any outsourced Contra that's as poor as Uprising, not even that shitsy one on the PSX.

[cj iwakura]

I won't drag this out in an off-topic thread, but I will say that I'd hardly call Ishiwatari's music(or this track) 'J-Rock'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F17rjk-wn10

Always got my blood going. Beyond that, we'll agree to disagree and leave it at that.

[Estebang]

The music was terrible. Unless you like elevator music with guitars in it, which is basically all J-Rock really is.

If we can take "J-Rock" to mean "Japanese rock..."

Well.

[Skykid]

^ Actually that boss theme was one I was always ok with (the other one sucked.)

I think Shattered Soldier's OST outrocked Uprising by a considerable margin, however.

The music was terrible. Unless you like elevator music with guitars in it, which is basically all J-Rock really is.

If we can take "J-Rock" to mean "Japanese rock..."

Well.

Nah, I kind of pigeonhole J-Rock with J-Pop, so commercial nonsense mainly. Like elevator music with guitars in it.

[iconoclast]

Some of the boss fights had really good scale and opportunities for intensity (the last boss fight is visually amazing) although they usually fell flat because of how drawn out the battles are and the horribleness of the controls.

Complex controls != horrible. Everything you have access to (sprint, air-dash, bullet reflect, vault, tackle, free aim, strafe, etc.) has a purpose - it's up to you to learn how to use them properly. The controls are as precise and responsive as any game I've come across, so I assume you're just complaining about how many options you're presented with.

The game is best when you actually make it to a boss fight without sacrificing a weapon that actually does some damage to a pad-throwingly cheap hit;

If you're not confident enough to go through a stage while using a powered up weapon (a lvl 3 Machine Gun or Laser for example), then don't use it. You have two weapon slots, so you can keep it in reserve if you think you'll lose it before reaching the boss. The peashooter (and whatever weapons you come across) are more than enough to get you through each stage, and the bosses can be burned down extremely quickly with the Machine Gun and/or the Chain Laser.

What is cheap, exactly? Enemies are always in the same positions, they always have the same patterns, and their patterns always have the same counters. When people call things 'cheap', to me it always sounds like they're trying to blame the game instead of themselves for their mistakes. See DrTrouserPlank.

but on arcade mode the progress is so slow and repetitive (and the stages so overlong) why would you care? It's meant to be fun, not hard work, which is exactly what Uprising is. You may as well stack breeze blocks on your back, walk halfway down the street, collapse under the weight, start over; it's basically the same process.

Don't play arcade mode exclusively then. Turn off the overpowered junk in Rising mode, pick the stages you're having trouble with, and learn the game that way. Make believe you're playing a shump and it's labeled as 'training mode'. No difference. And yes, the game is challenging, but you get what, nearly thirty lives throughout the game? There's an absurd amount of room for error if you're only aiming for a 1cc.

If the game is too slow, sprint through the easy parts. That's what I do, and it's fun. I agree that the game is longer than it needs to be, and there are a few sections they could've trimmed down or cut out entirely, but it's still a great game and I enjoyed the time I spent with it. Arcade mode really should've had autofire for the peashooter though.

[mice]

Is this the contra thread now?
Would have loved to read more about opinions regarding the rpg-shmup-mashing.

[cj iwakura]

Well, you could reverse the two; rather than have an RPG with shmup mechanics(random battles = shmup fights), maybe a shmup with RPG mechanics, where you level up your ship, and have towns and equipment building in between stages.

Or something like that.

[Skykid]

@ iconoclast:

Not ignoring your post, but I don't wish to do a TLB an dissect it individually. I did read it though, and I basically disagree with the entire notion that the game isn't fundamentally flawed and its my fault for not dedicating a disproportionate amount of time to learn its foibles.

I don't subscribe to the idea that games can become magically better if you invest time to become good at them. It's always fulfilling to master something - I could master Cheetahmen if I wanted to, it wouldn't change its value as a piece of software.

Uprising lacks an all important intuitiveness that has been part of Contra since day one. I'm not talking about challenge - I like challenge - I'm talking about a being able to quickly grasp the concept, the controls, the weaponry, and introduce on-the-fly skill. Uprising fails on all of this criteria. It is interspersed, to its credit, with flashes of inspiration: but critically marred by poor design decisions. It does not have the same pick up and go pacing of its Contra forebears, it does not qualify as Contra even as a reboot, and it's shackled with far too many annoyances to make it a worthy investment of anyone's time.

I'll pick up on two pertinent points you made just to close the argument:

The peashooter (and whatever weapons you come across) are more than enough to get you through each stage

Only at the expense of life itself. The peashooter is one of the games largest flaws, the sort of shit that could be caught by an elementary game tester at the earliest possible stage. It's fascinating to me that this passed quality control.

Arcade mode really should've had autofire for the peashooter though.

And again: the peashooter is not the only issue with the game, there are many; but for me it defines the problems with Uprising's entire production. That small but all-important misstep is a good summary of the game's general awkwardness. Arcsys fucked it, basically, in everything except the graphics.

I genuinely believe this is offers superior playability out of the box:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MA6xKjTs5Q

[Ed Oscuro]

Uprising versus Nightmare Busters?

Discuss.

(I only tried to play NB for a little bit, and awkwardly, via bsnes, and got my backside handed to me, but the style of action seemed a bit engaging, even if it seems "red light-green light" in style. Haven't played Uprising so I have no horse in the race, but no autofire on the default weapon? Eh...well, neither did the original Contra games, although it may have been necessary for a game like Uprising.)

[Ed Oscuro]

Would have loved to read more about opinions regarding the rpg-shmup-mashing.

How many times do you want to read "this game is bad?"

If you really want it...I suppose I could part with my copy, cheap, only $40, a very modest markup considering the power of awesome I will likely be sacrificing in the name of spreading the love!

Well, you could reverse the two; rather than have an RPG with shmup mechanics(random battles = shmup fights),

That's Sigma Star Saga. Totally random, totally awful shmup segments. You still can get punked on the area maps by alien critters in a non-random way, though.

Wayforward added some goofy shit like a type of bomb that you kick out of your shoe.

maybe a shmup with RPG mechanics, where you level up your ship, and have towns and equipment building in between stages.

Bits and pieces of this have been done many times. The shop...well, sheesh: Fantasy Zone and on out. Ship REVEL UP is pretty old-fashioned too...EXP even.

[Zaarock]

Uprising lacks an all important intuitiveness that has been part of Contra since day one. I'm not talking about challenge - I like challenge - I'm talking about a being able to quickly grasp the concept, the controls, the weaponry, and introduce on-the-fly skill.

These arguments would be false if you were using Sayuri which makes the game play like Strider (+ charging a slash shoots a strong projectile) with no powerups and with the dash mechanics of course. Too bad it's DLC but I'd say it's one of the rare XBLA dlcs worth it because it makes the game play completely differently. I used her 90% of the time and using the other characters was intuitive having learned the stage layouts.

I remember randomly giving the game another go some months ago, joined a game where a guy wanted to speedrun the game in coop on rising mode, we were both using sayuri and got some great times and did some crazy stuff on some levels. Heh, I think I'll play the game a bit again.. hate stage 1 though.