RQ: Avoidnig tunnel vision when getting overwhelmed

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Obscura
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RQ: Avoidnig tunnel vision when getting overwhelmed

Post by Obscura »

So, I know from Icarus's guide to looking at the screen in a shmup that I should avoid staring at the area around my ship for more than a second or two at a time. My question is, what should I do when I've missed a kill or two and am getting swarmed by bullets from every direction that I need to make constant, careful dodges through? Obviously, staring at my ship through this isn't good (since by doing that, I can't get the kills I need, so I just get further behind and overwhelmed), but if I scan the screen a lot, I can't make the tight dodges I need to. Should I just bomb if I find myself in this situation? If I don't have bombs, should I go ahead and tunnel vision try to survive and hold out as long as I can in the hopes of some magic happening, or should I look up the screen, play super aggressive to try to catch back up, pray for the best, and if I die try to use the invulnerability as best as I can?
Erppo
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Re: RQ: Avoidnig tunnel vision when getting overwhelmed

Post by Erppo »

These are things you eventually learn to do instinctively so it's pretty hard to put them into words. I think what I roughly do is quickly taking a look of one element of the attack coming at you and determine where the safe zones for that are going to be and pick one of them to use. Then I find another element and see where its safe zones are and which of them I can still use with my current limitations, and so on. In short, prepare in advance for what's coming.

If you find yourself in a situation where you can't see a way out, bomb. If you can't and have to try to dodge, the best approach is often to move as little as possible. The more you move, the more you subject yourself to potential danger zones. You can concentrate on your sprite at this part, and move only if you see an immediate danger. This is of course all assuming you can't make a fast large movement to get out of the most dangerous area.
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Deca
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Re: RQ: Avoidnig tunnel vision when getting overwhelmed

Post by Deca »

If you're using tiny movements while dealing with any sort of aimed attack make sure you're always moving toward the larger part of the screen. It can be easy move the wrong way and end up cornered when you have to react from the center region of the screen,

As for making tiny dodges through stuff, you'll develop a feel for that such that you won't have to pay such close attention to the ship to make it through. Just through playing you'll eventually develop a better instinct for how bullets move/where they'll end up and also get better at hitbox awareness. Really getting comfortable with your hitbox can make a game feel MUCH more open.

For now don't worry about having to focus on your ship a bit to get through hairy situations, just make sure you're shooting glances around the rest of the screen as often as you can manage. As your skills develop this will sort of reverse.
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Obscura
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Re: RQ: Avoidnig tunnel vision when getting overwhelmed

Post by Obscura »

Deca wrote:If you're using tiny movements while dealing with any sort of aimed attack make sure you're always moving toward the larger part of the screen. It can be easy move the wrong way and end up cornered when you have to react from the center region of the screen,
Does this mean that as soon as I cross the middle of the screen if I'm streaming a bunch of crap that I immediately need to set up my cutback?

For instance, Ketsui stage 2, the part with the two turrets that look like they're "sitting down" with the bridge and all of the tanks in between, where the big helicopter enters from the right about the time the first turret leaves the screen if you haven't killed it. The most consistent strategy I've found here is to start at the right, tap dodge all the way across, tap dodge up, and there will be a break after the second helicopter's second volley that I can squeeze through. Is this the wrong way to go? Whenever I've tried setting up a cutback by making a sharp jerk at a 45 degree angle up to the left side of the screen after hitting roughly the screen middle, I've ended up getting pinned there by the spawning of the first helicopter and killed.

Also, I've seen a lot of people refer to "U streaming" or "infinity symbols (especially with regards to Futari)", but have never managed to find a good description on how to execute them (hell, the only actual description of streaming techniques I've ever found was on the freakin' Touhou wiki!). Is there a good source for descriptions of these techniques and how/when they should be executed?
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Deca
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Re: RQ: Avoidnig tunnel vision when getting overwhelmed

Post by Deca »

It depends. It's generally going to be the safe bet if you aren't sure what's coming, but once you know the stag layouts you'll understand how long the enemies keep coming and whether you can just take it to the edge or if you'll have to cut back. I'd need to refresh my memory on that part of ketsui, I really haven't played it much.
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TrevHead (TVR)
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Re: RQ: Avoidnig tunnel vision when getting overwhelmed

Post by TrevHead (TVR) »

Imo which streaming technique you do depends on the speed, size and density of the bullets as faster bullets tend to favour U stream as the quickly move off screen. Its the slow, oddly shaped bullets that linger on screen that you have to get creative with steaming.

DFK has some creative streaming in it.

Also if you are facing complex bullet patterns that you cant visualise, you can try streaming with a section of the pattern which will make the pattern simpler to see. ie 2 bullet circle patterns criss crossing each other, but if you stream 1 pattern you only have to dodge the other
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