STGT'12 planning thread

[Naut]

If that's the way you score in that game, you just have to deal with it. I agree it's a bit crappy

This is why we shouldn't have fucking played it. If the scoring system is shit then don't force it to be played in a competition judged via score.

[mesh control]

casuals aka people who don't have 16 hrs of freetime to dissect some random game.

[Erppo]

[21:47] <azinth> how long until a 'we're not loozer's who play 10 hrs a day like you are' post

Less than one hour apparently. This forum is so easy.

[dunpeal2064]

So, if others complain about the game, they are just bitching casuals, but if you complain and others disagree with your complaint, then the wrong still lies with everyone else, because they didn't care to take the game apart and realize its offputting scornig system?

Does every single game have to cater specifically to high-end players, and any complaints that don't concern high-score play are just whining?

I realize its a score competition, but it seems also like a good opportunity to play some obscure games, some of which will have very obscure "scoring systems" that probably weren't meant to be implemented the way they are.

[mesh control]

[21:47] <azinth> how long until a 'we're not loozer's who play 10 hrs a day like you are' post

Less than one hour apparently. This forum is so easy.

Re-read that.

[Illyrian]

Holy shit you guys will argue about anything.

Gokujyou Parodius was awesome.
Diaoh and P-47 were craptacular.
Blade Buster wasn't much better.
Loop Master was pretty god awful.

The point is, even though most of the games were proper shit, the competition in general was still really good fun. It was excellent to see so many people from the forum coming together to play games and argue with each other. It's one of the two times since I joined this forum (the other being the london shmup meet) that I've really seen the positive power of this community at it's best.

So can we maybe, possibly, PLEASE stop arguing and enjoy looking forward to another awesomely fun STGT? Even if all 5 games this year are arseburgers on toast, we're all eating the arseburgers together, and that's the point.

[Bananamatic]

Parodius was pretty shit too and it just went downhill until blade buster

[Erppo]

Does every single game have to cater specifically to high-end players, and any complaints that don't concern high-score play are just whining?

You already said it. In this context, yeah, pretty much. I think I gave some proper arguments to back my view of the game up and everyone else is of course free to do the same. I'm sure there are better options for testing how well some unknown oddities work for competitive scoring.

the competition in general was still really good fun.

Indeed.

[trap15]

Daioh owned.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'm uploading the picture by assent of neither the preson who took it, nor the person depicted.

[shmuppyLove]

devilishly handsome chap

I'm uploading the picture by assent of neither the preson who took it, nor the person depicted.

I don't really get the joke, but I'm still laughing.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

I would have called Gokujou Parodius pretty bad during STGT, but I need to give it another try. I'm definitely more of a fan of Da! though despite it being a looping game since there's no purple bells.

[Deca]

Loop Master was the only one I actually couldn't stand playing last year, I burned out about halfway through the week. I really WANTED to like that game but I just couldn't.

[shadowbringer]

if my memorization was a little better... I would be able to start making use of save states for practice earlier (as in, during the playing weeks :p) and have avoided dying to Daioh's 1-7 boss with 4 bombs in stock and avoided not summoning the golden Pow item in poop master (and maybe be able to reach Gokuparo's stage 4 more than once -- or twice? --, to know that the enemies at the start of the stage fire suicide bullets at high rank (screw you, 3rd stage boss too, how am I supposed to dodge your tight laser pattern with a condom on my face?)

[1up]

90% of the fun in these STGTs are the shit flinging in the game/week reveal threads.

[spineshark]

Feeling bad about not liking Loop Master is dumb. It is a bad game that is dumb.

[Despatche]

i still don't understand why 1944 became the target. you can complain about... the music... maybe? and there are still tons of people who prefer listening to that over something like progear (which is a shame).

stick to daioh, there's actually something to criticize even if it means nothing to you.

[FIL]

It's better than 19xx that we played in 2008 surely. The scoring there was shoot everything and don't bomb or die ever because everything hinges on end bonuses. Not a terrible game but not a great one to start from scratch with because of the huge dependence on survival.

[moozooh]

Voting, huh. So...

The less popular Gradius games week (Salamander, G2 GnY, Salamander 2)
The somewhat good Toaplan games week (Dogyuun, V-V, Batsugun)
Cave TCFC week (Espgaluda, Espgaluda, Espgaluda, because the other two are totally not a week-long compo games)
Taito week? (Metal Black, Raystorm, Raycrisis? No idea.) We've only played what, two Taito games so far? Probably for a good reason, though, but I'm ready to be surprised.

I'm not too big on Raizing, Psikyo, Seibu or Capcom weeks. Their best games have either been tried at this point, or aren't emulated sufficiently well yet. Besides, we've had quite a few of them already, at least three of each or something. I wouldn't even do Cave week either, but TCFC games are among their best, and they had to be offered for a choice at some point.

If you're up for a small experiment, how about a non-arcade game week? I'm thinking of a choice between an NES, an SNES, and a Genesis game. Popular emulators for these systems are piss easy to setup (way easier than MAME), easily available for every major platform (in multiple choices, even), and they cover all performance tiers there are. The ROMs are also easy to procure via BitTorrent, like with MAME.

Also—since I believe it's important to remind people about this option—please consider allowing negative votes. They won't hurt anything, yet will help avoiding the situations where a bad game ends up winning because the majority of the votes is evenly split between the other two (yeah, that's happened before).

[RNGmaster]

I'm not too big on Raizing, Psikyo, Seibu or Capcom weeks.

What are you saying, man, Gunbird 2 week would kick ass.

[moozooh]

Meh. They all feel like the same game with the same art assets and patterns and shit, all characters are too slow and/or underpowered for the game to be fun, Dragon Blaze is out, and Zero Gunner 2 isn't emulated well as far as I remember (even if it does, it's very unlikely it'd be chosen anyway). Those two are the only two Psikyo games I'd enjoy playing for score, the rest don't feel like I'm exploring something new or uncovering the depth of something underrated; the opposite does take place.

[Vamos]

Yawnnnnnnnn same old tired psikyo criticism .

[FIL]

I don't know if Taito week would go smoothly, we've only played Rayforce and Darius Gaiden so that leaves quite a few of their 'good' titles left to pick from but I can't see any of them being popular choices, even as a bit of a general Taito enthusiast.

I guess some people might get a kick out of Gun Frontier, and Raystorm isn't a bad game and I suppose there's always G-Darius but other stuff like the first 2 Darius games, Gekirindan or Metal Black don't have a lot to offer by way of scoring.

I think there are still a lot of suitable games out there, but they might not all fit nicely into manufacturer themed weeks.

[moozooh]

I think there are still a lot of suitable games out there, but they might not all fit nicely into manufacturer themed weeks.

That's what I was thinking. Some developers don't have enough games to offer a choice to begin with, such as Takumi which has only one MAME game we haven't played yet, IIRC. But I guess they can still be grouped under "General Good Game" week. It even lends itself to a fancy abbreviation. :P

[Despatche]

there are very few "week-long competition games". to take that concept seriously is to play caravan-type things nonstop.

It's better than 19xx that we played in 2008 surely. The scoring there was shoot everything and don't bomb or die ever because everything hinges on end bonuses. Not a terrible game but not a great one to start from scratch with because of the huge dependence on survival.

games that have a reward for avoiding such huge mistakes are good games. there is nothing wrong with that design in any context.

If you're up for a small experiment, how about a non-arcade game week? I'm thinking of a choice between an NES, an SNES, and a Genesis game. Popular emulators for these systems are piss easy to setup (way easier than MAME), easily available for every major platform (in multiple choices, even), and they cover all performance tiers there are. The ROMs are also easy to procure via BitTorrent, like with MAME.

it's incredibly hard to find a great playing console game. people would try to vote neo geo and they would be absolutely right for it.

[moozooh]

Neo-Geo is an arcade platform in the first place, can't classify that as non-arcade. Anyway, the point is that not all of the STGT games we play are great per se, and we've already played virtually all the better ones. It doesn't mean less great games—or systems—don't deserve some attention. But knowing how generally poor the emulation of post-16-bit platforms is, and how conservative most of the users are, I can't expect them to fiddle with any system newer than the SNES or GBC.

[Despatche]

oh yes you can and someone will do it by god

no, i shouldn't have used "great", i should have used "playable". give me 10 non-arcade console games you would actually consider for stgt, then give me 10 including arcade ports. i want to see this.

[moozooh]

The amount of console-only shmups I've played for over five minutes won't make the amount. I'll still try naming some of the better ones I know...

NES: Terra Cresta, Recca (the 100 lives mode?), probably Zanac (can't say I'm a fan, though).
SNES: Axelay (start on Hard mode, default autofire—plays like a proper arcade game that way), probably Super Aleste (too long and easy?).
Genesis: no idea. Gleylancer? TF4? Gynoug? Yeah, that's it I guess. Of those I've only played TF4 and didn't like it at all.

[Vamos]

Of those I've only played TF4 and didn't like it at all.

You're not a fan of great games are you?

[Despatche]

terra cresta is an arcade game, and we may as well play that

super aleste has near-infinite checkpoint milking (surprise surprise, tbf i think 1-life would solve it)

tfiv is yet another game with terrible counterstop milking nonsense... like most console games