STGT '12 Week 3 discussion (Salamander 2)

[ebarrett]

Besides, why are we playing Sala 2 this week, even though it very clearly is not a (pure) hori.

VERT HIJACK LOL

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Could you explain how to properly do the stage 4 one?

[FIL]

I just cannot score in this game at all. I got to the 1-5 boss with a lower score than I got in my previous high score where I died in 1-4. This is even without activating any of the scoring tricks to my knowledge. I just have no idea where the points come from.

[Eno]

I just cannot score in this game at all. I got to the 1-5 boss with a lower score than I got in my previous high score where I died in 1-4. This is even without activating any of the scoring tricks to my knowledge. I just have no idea where the points come from.

From what I gather, there are some 3 forms of scoring besides the tricks and casually blowing shit up:
1- Picking items(300 points per item, usually, not sure if some are different. And yes, all counts here, even bombing just to pick up the seeds)
2- Some enemies(only noticed Brain Golem to date) give points just for shooting them.
3- GOTTA MILK'EM ALL. First level boss' worms, third level things that spit things that shoot annoying bullets and third level boss wall of testicles come to mind(in other words, I suck and only ever got to 1-4 twice).
Besides that there's only bombing whenever screen is full of popcorn, I think.
There must be more into it, I hope.

Now on regards to milking, I actually feel bad for the first boss. Even if you don't shoot him directly, he just implodes eventually. As if he really resents the indignous treatment you give him and says "fuck this life, I'm out".

[Lord Satori]

what's STGT?

[Thanuris]

Salamander Two Glorious Tournament

[Ed Oscuro]

Salamander Two Gets Throated

or "Gets Tiresome," if you want to be accurate...

[RNGmaster]

How dare you, this game is amazing.

I just killed the final boss with 666,000 points. I'LL TAKE YOU TO HELL WITH ME

[Despatche]

Contrary to what I expected, I don't enjoy this game much, and normally, I prefer horis to verts. The whole game feels clunky and inconsistent. Not that it matters much, but artistically, it's also a mess. I'd much rather play any Gradius (yes, even III or IV) or Salamander 1.

posts like this reaffirm my theory that no one knows what any of these words/phrases/concepts mean and/or said words/phrases/concepts do not matter

gradius iv would be cool though

[Hattori Hanzo]

posts like this reaffirm my theory that no one knows what any of these words/phrases/concepts mean and/or said words/phrases/concepts do not matter

You summed up my opinion towards poststructuralism in sociology quite nicely.

Also, Salamander 2 rocks like hell. I managed a 1cc and that's the second game I have done this with. So it is cool.

[Ed Oscuro]

True story: My lively 233k score was in a run where the game awarded me not one but two invincibility kegs within the space of three stages.

[Eno]

True story: My lively 233k score was in a run where the game awarded me not one but two invincibility kegs within the space of three stages.

Once it happened that it dropped another force field while I still had one active, on 1-3. I still managed to lose the whole credit just before the boss, of course.

[ebarrett]

Invunerabilty item seems to send rank nuts, just saying. It's probably best avoided unless you're past the point you know what you're doing.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

yeah. I don't try to grab them. Force Field/Shield increases rank a lot in Konami's games. It's still very useful for their checkpoint based games.

[Ed Oscuro]

Rank didn't kill me, not having enough speed or foresight to get around the battleships did me in

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Invunerabilty item seems to send rank nuts, just saying.

Haven't really noticed much of a rank effect, at least not in the first loop, although I heard that definitely applies to the earlier Gradius games. Regardless of whether I get a shield or not in S2, no-missing up to 1-5 the rank gets hectic there. I wonder if only grabbing 2 options would keep rank low?

[Klatrymadon]

Not for competitive purposes (this ends in a few hours and I'm off to bed), but would any of the higher scorers mind posting your .inp file, if you recorded one? It'd be good to see how you were getting the point bonuses and dealing with rank, etc. Cheers!

(I've seen BGR-44's excellent video, but he's often too quick for me to borrow anything from him, in terms of strategy. )

[BareKnuckleRoo]

.inp file, you'll need a copy of mameplus 0.106 to run it. I'm pleased with it even if stuff like the 1-3 boss scoring is crap (I can't manage to accurately plant those options whenever I try)., so should be up on YouTube eventually unless I manage to do better beforehand (just need to see how to record MAME with VirtualDub).

and video

[Klatrymadon]

Nice one - thanks, mate!