GD: Akashicverse

[LtC]

Also known as ∀kashicverse -Malicious Wake. A game very similar to HELLSINKER in a lot of ways.

Links:
Trial download link: http://endless-shirafu.com/akashicverse/av_web_03.zip (Mirror: http://ll.la/XKXX)
Website: http://endless-shirafu.com/akashicverse ... e_web.html
Developer twitter: http://twitter.com/endless_shirafu

Config.exe translation:


A quick translation on Webtrial 3 rules.html manual:
Please report any mistakes.

【 MENU SCREEN - ROOT CONSOLE　】

[ MENU STRUCTURE]

┏　CHANNELING━━━━━━━━━━━┳　START
┣　OPTION━━━━━━━┓　　　　　　　　┣　STAGE SELECT
┣　AKASHIC RECORD　　　.┃　　　　　　　　┗　TUTORIAL　━┳　Different tutorials...
┗　QUIT　　　　　　　　　　　　┣　KEYCONFIG　　　　　　　　　　...┣　・
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ┣　VOLUME　　　　　　　　　　　　　┣　・
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ┣　SHIELDBUTTON　　　　　　　　 ┣　・
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ┗　SHIELD_START


[ SIMPLE MENU EXPLANATION ]

＜CHANNELING＞　　Begins 'Observation Operation', the main game.
　　　　　START: Full game.
　　　　　STAGE SELECT: Stage select
　　　　　TUTORIAL: Tutorial. It is recommended to take tutorial before playing the game for the first time.

＜OPTION＞　　Configuration. You can also change different settings from the external Config.exe
　　　　　　　　　　　Particularly Key Config is important so please set it to your liking from the very beginning.

＜AKASHIC RECORD＞　　High Scores only. For now.

＜QUIT＞　　Quit Observation. End game.


【 BASIC RULES　】

[ BASIC OPERATION ]

Use both this instruction card as well as the in-game tutorial to get good understanding on the game mechanics.

Directional keys control movement。Menu screen entries are selected with ↓ and ↑ keys。
A(SHOT)Button … Shoots regular shot. Rapid fire is performed by holding down the shot button. You can change this setting in the configuration.
B(SHIELD)Button … Switches between SHIELD ON/SHIELD OFF. (When selected so in configuration)
C(SLOW)Button … Allows focused/slow movement. Focuses regular shot directly up front.
D(COMMAND)Button … Movement becomes slow and Antibody field(Delay Field) is deployed.
START(PAUSE)Button … Game can be paused.

[ BASIC RULES ]

Take various measures to take down enemies.
In the end of each stage is a boss. Take various measures to take down these bosses and proceed to the next level.
You will die no questions asked when being hit by a bullet when the SHIELD is not deployed. Be careful of One-Hit GAME OVER.
PLAYER character's hitbox is displayed in the center of the character.　


[　SCREEN EXPLANATION　]


・1　…　PLAYER ：　PLAYER character's hitbox is displayed in the center of the character.　

・2　…　WING ：　When enemy bullets pass through (SYNTHESIS) the wings recover the Method Gauge　

・3　…　ENEMY BULLET ：　In SHIELD ON state getting hit by a bullet will reduce the Shield Gauge. In SHIELD OFF state getting hit by a bullet will result in GAME OVER.

・4　…　ENEMY ：　Enemies are divided into two variety by general classification: ANONYMOUS CLASS enemy (Faceless Swarm) and ORCHID CLASS enemy. Take down enemies by shooting them until they die.
　　　　　　　　　　　　

・5　…　GAUGES ：　METHOD GAUGE and SHIELD GAUGE. The numerical values of the states of each GAUGE are displayed to the lower left and lower right.
　　　　　　　　　　　　METHOD GAUGE graph is also displayed in circular graph around the character. SHIELD GAUGE state is also displayed by the state of the wings.
　　　　　　　　　　　　In case of MAX SHIELD GAUGE『IRONCLAD』 is displayed.

・6　…　METHOD SCREEN ：　Shows METHOD commands. Usable METHOD commands are displayed in bright green, the METHOD commands not available are shown in pale red.
　　　　　　　　　　　　Each METHOD command, GAUGE usage and command input are shown in here.
　　　　　　　　　　　　The number of total available 『ELIMINATOR』 uses is also displayed to the right of the command.


・7　…　INFORMATION DISPLAY ：　Displays current sampling information (Score) and scaling factor (RATE)。
　　　　　　　　　　　　Score increases by defeating enemies. By defeating enemies you will acquire crystal items that will act as amplifying the increase of score.

・8　…　LOG ：　Lists and records all action done.




【 SYSTEM DETAILS　】

[ ONE-HIT GAME OVER SYSTEM and SHIELD ]

Getting hit by a bullet when shield is not deployed results in instant death.

The concept of remaining lives does not exist in this game.
Getting hit in SHIELD OFF state will result in instant GAME OVER.

To prevent One-hit GAME OVER PLAYER character is able to switch into using SHIELD (B-Button)
Getting hit in SHIELD ON state does not result in GAME OVER but the shield GAUGE decreases.

[　SHIELD GAUGE RECOVERY and CONTINUE ]

From the left; METHOD GAUGE at 3 with SHIELD at MAX, METHOD GAUGE at 8 with SHIELD at 13% and METHOD GAUGE at 8 and SHIELD broken.

SHIELD GAUGE recovers automatically over time.
Also, in SHIELD OFF state the recovery is a lot faster compared to SHIELD OFF state.
In SHIELD OFF state (later mention) the wings automatically unfold.
Also, in SHIELD OFF state the the rate of item accumulation is ten-fold.
When SHIELD drops down to 0% SHIELD BREAK will occur and until shield recovers back up to 50% you will be unable to utilize the SHIELD (Like in the rightmost picture).
During SHIELD BREAK the WING GAUGE becomes red and you are forced into WING state.

The remaining SHIELD GAUGE is visualized in upper left corner of the screen by the wing icon.
The remaining shield percentage is also displayed near the player character (lower right).
GAME OVER moves you into CONTINUE? screen.
Select by pressing either Y/N (Yes or No).
The amount of continues is not restricted but by using continue RATE will be halved.




[　REGARDING WING and METHOD GAUGE METHODs　]

Depending on the situation this game has great diversity of technique (METHOD) available for use.
Using these techniques you are able to advance through the game.
By using METHOD commands, depending on the cost of the technique, METHOD GAUGE will be consumed.
Each METHOD consumption is unique and by using them, various results will take place. (Later mention)

Current METHOD GAUGE is displayed in upper left screen as well as around the PLAYER character.
Initial GAUGE value is 8, meaning you have 8 units of GAUGE available for consumption.
In case of insufficient METHOD GAUGE you will not be able to use the METHOD command.




[　SYNTHESIS (RECOVERY OF METHOD GAUGE) ]

SHIELD ON（Wings not deployed）state (Left picture)、SHIELD OFF(Wings deployed) state (Right picture)

There are two ways to recover the METHOD GAUGE:
・Enemy bullets pass through the wings
・Hit enemy by your own attack

METHOD GAUGE recovers when bullets go through the wings.
The amount of METHOD GAUGE recovered depends on the state of the SHIELD.
With SHIELD OFF state (Wings deployed) the recovery is substantially faster.
With SHIELD ON state (Wings not deployed) the collision detection of the wings becomes miniscule.
The amount of recovery also considerably decreases.
The METHOD GAUGE also recovers after being hit by enemy bullets but do not expect big amounts of effectiveness.




[　METHOD USAGE RULES　]

Example of METHOD command: Annihilator::Chaser -> Stinger -> Seed's 3 phase attack.

Antibody field will be developed when inputting commands. (Later mention)
Specific method commands are performed by inputting the directional keys.
（To input command hold down the COMMAND Button, input required directional key inputs and press SHOT button）
Remember the METHOD Command will not activate until you press the shot key.
By succeeding inputting METHOD command, the GAUGE will be consumed and the inputted METHOD command will be performed.
Failing to input the correct command will result into nothing happening so please be careful.




[　ANTIBODY FIELD(Delay Field)　]

Antibody field developed. The command input direction will be shown by ▽ symbol

When holding down the D-Button antibody field (DField) will be developed around the player character.
The speed of enemy bullets inside Dfield will decrease.
（When you cancel the DField enemy bullet speed will return back to normal）
When DField is deployed the movement speed of the PLAYER character drops down to very slow.
Holding down the C-Button (Focused/Slow movement key) and while developing the Dfield the movement of the PLAYER character completely freezes.

Continuing to develop the DField will result in consumption of the METHOD GAUGE.
METHOD GAUGE will be drained before long by continuing to develop the DField so please be careful.
METHOD commands are activated by inputting the directional key inputs during the development of the DField.
Only enemy bullets will be slowed down by the DField. Lasers will be unaffected.




【 METHOD　】

This section is unfinished. Please refer to the in-game TUTORIAL for more detailed reference.

[ METHOD CATALOG]

[ SPECIAL METHOD ACTIVATION CONDITIONS ]

Dread Scissors ACT1、Annihilator Chaser、Annihilator Stinger:
Further METHOD will activate after pressing the fire button in succession.
（Dread Scissors ACT1 ↑↑ + SHOT + SHOT will result in Dread Scissors ACT2.
Annihilator Chaser ↓↓ + SHOT + SHOT + SHOT will result in Annihilator Stinger and Annihilator Seed

Also, the METHOD command ELIMINATOR's activation conditions are some are somewhat different. In addition to needing 7 METHOD GAUGE you will also need to have remaining ELIMINATOR STOCK remaining.

Some METHODs allow using METHODs at the same time while others will only allow you to activate a single METHOD at once.

[LtC]

(reserved just in case)

[drunkninja24]

Just started messing with this game, thanks for the guide!

[CptRansom]

Thanks for writing this up!

My config screen doesn't have as many options as the picture shown. Is that from the trial or...? I've updated to 1.01.

[LtC]

I completely forgot I even wrote this thing.

They added Method and game mode sections to the manual in the full version. Let me know if there's any need for translating those.

Thanks for writing this up!

My config screen doesn't have as many options as the picture shown. Is that from the trial or...? I've updated to 1.01.

Yeah, I wrote this based on the trial.

From the config:

They've removed the effects options and automatic energy recovery option.

They've added background brightness option.

[Avalon]

I'll contribute what I know about the METHOD uses, which I learned through the tutorials.

DREAD.SCISSORS (^^) + SHOT (+ SHOT) DREAD.SCISSORS ACT.3
A pair of energy blades execute a frontal melee attack. The first use is more narrow and upward, extending almost the vertical length of the shield forward. The second use is somewhat wide, about twice the width of the shield when closed.
Blades are much larger, extending to the screen edges from center. Second usage deploys 8 spikes around the player which deal damage to passing enemies.
DETHRONE.SCYTHE: All-coverage attack surrounding the enemy, deals light damage.

MALICIOUS.WAKE: SCAELUS VITA: (Unknown?) Four helixes deployed at right angles from a position in front.
PRISMATIC.SQUALL: Seven large light rays which drop at your position.

ANNIHILATOR.CHASER (vv) + SHOT ANNIHALATOR.BUD
Rays of light pierce the enemies. Damage per shot is low, but every onscreen enemy is struck.
Rays now jump in straight lines to an enemy, dealing higher damage to all enemies crossing it in flight.
REDEEMER.CARNAGE: Same as A.CHASER

ANNIHILATOR.STINGER (vv) + SHOT + SHOT ANNIHALATOR.ANTHESIS
A number of needles deploy behind the wings, aimed at one enemy in front. These needles fly straight from their origin, converging on the targeted spot and dealing damage with slight AOE. Total damage from the attack is quite high if the targeted enemy is hit by the full attack.
Deplys 6 seeking, explosive missiles. The explosions cancel enemy shots.
REDEEMER.SLAUGHTER: Same as A.ANTHESIS

ANNIHILATOR.SEED (vv) + SHOT + SHOT + SHOT ANNIHALATOR.FLOWER
Multiple satellites race across the screen, chasing after and smashing into enemies for a short time. They will then stop wherever they are and perform a laser attack in random directions.
Attack is stronger, and ends with an additional screen-wide laser beam from behind.
REDEEMER.GENOCIDE: Same as A.FLOWER with inverted colors

MALICE.REJECTOR (v> / v<) + SHOT MALICE.REJECTOR: ANOTHER.STATE
A fan of energy erupts forth, dealing damage to the enemy. Also applies a slight refractive force against enemy fire, pushing it away.
Larger frontal shot which deals more damage.
VANDALIZE.SIGNAL: Same as M.R:A.STATE. Countered by using M.R:A.STATE yourself, which causes heavy damage against either target.
(During counter-attack state, tap the Shot button repeatedly to press your attack against the target.)

BANISH.BLAST (No directional input) + SHOT H.STORM
Flash of light removes all enemy fire and deals light damage. Just like a 'bomb' in other STG's.
Includes streaks of light in random places, dealing additional damage to enemies they cross.
DESTINY.TERMINATION: Only uses the light streaks, but which do more damage.

ATTRACTANT.OTHER (>v[v>] / <v[v<]) + SHOT ATTRACTANT.OTHER: FORBIDDEN LOVE
Creates an invincible clone of yourself for a short time. Enemies will always attack your clone while it is active, and the clone will reflect the received shots. When the clone expires it explodes, dealing light AOE damage.
The clone moves, attacks independently, and will employ various METHODs
RESENTEMENT.PARANOIA: Opposing clone that returns shots that hit it as laser attacks.

JAUNTED.DRIVER (<v> / >v<) + SHOT JAUNTED.DRIVER: DANCING.IN.KALEIDOSCOPE
Teleports the player to the chosen spot, dealing heavy damage to enemies at the destination. Hold the D-FIELD button while using the arrows to set the destination, then release D-FIELD to execute.
A lasting field of heavy damage lingers at the destination.
GRANDMASTERS.FEAR: Same as J.DRIVER

DANGER.PROGNOSIS (^v) + SHOT DANGER.PROGNOSIS: GARDEN.OF.DOMINATORS
Extends a much larger, somewhat weaker D-FIELD around the player for its' duration. Bullets within the enlarged field will 'paint' their trajectories as they are travelling, and those inside when it expires will be reflected back at enemies.
Field now extends to the entire screen
(THE) DOGMA.CIRCUIT: Light damage against the player while shielded. Countered by D.PROGNOSIS: G.O.D

ELIMINATOR 'PHAELANOPSIS EXMACHINA' (v<^> / v>^<) + SHOT
Player becomes a powerful, invincible avatar for a short duration. During ELIMINATOR, pressing the various buttons will execute different attacks:

SHOT - A seven-spoke forward fan of fire
SHIELD - Sweeping lasers which pass beneath you
SLOW - Rush forward with charged wing edges
D-FIELD - screen-filling, cleansing light. (Using this attack will end ELIMINATOR prematurely)
NOTE: Not usable in Extra Stage

EDIT: Made a correction in the description for DREAD.SCISSORS - they were the reverse of what they should have been.
EDIT2: Added names for METHOD variations used during STAGE 6. The player's variants are indicated in bold text, while the STAGE 6 BOSS's variants are underlined.

[Cadrin]

Since the Pandemonic Nightmare extra stage is out and pretty fun to score at, I did some testing to determine how scoring works in that game. This also applies to Malicious Wake, except when it doesn't (there might be special exceptions in both games). Hopefully this will be of some use to someone.

First, the score multipliers on your methods.

main shot: x1, BUT gives you some points for just hitting things with it

Dread Scissors: x4 or x6, for reasons unknown the game can't make up its mind about it
Menace Rejector: x3 + gives some points for damaging enemies using it (Doom Bringer: x10)
Annihilator: all 3 stages apparently x2, fitting for a wide area low damage attack
Jaunted Driver: seems to vary wildly with range and maybe direction, point-blanking typically gives almost x20, mid-range seems to only give around x10, and killing things by jaunting from one corner of the screen to the opposite one seems to always give the best multiplier. the main explosion and the lightning trail seem to have different multiplier values
Banish Blast: x2
Attractant Other: x3
Danger Prognosis: apparently from x16 to x3, depending on how early you cancel it (cancelling prognosis instantly after using gives the best multiplier, waiting for it to run out only gives x3)

Eliminator methods:
Blitz Rancer (SHOT): x10
Instant Panishment (SHIELD): x12
Velvet Mutilation (SLOW): x14
Fatal Disaster (COMMAND): x20

Now to the base point values:

Small enemies are generally worth 70 points.
Medium enemies are usually 500 points.
Large enemies - one with destructible turrets on the sides is at least 700 points + 500 points for each turret, I think. The other big enemy seems to be worth 700 points.

Destructibles (missiles, destructible bullets etc.) are usually worth 0 or 1 point, almost worthless.

Bosses need more research. They tend to be worth very little compared to the points you get from enemies.

Hymeno (Stage 1) main body (both health bars): 5,000
Hymeno (Stage 1) wing (x2): 50,000,000 regardless of your rate or method multiplier

Aranha (Stage 2) main body (both first and second form): 1,500
Aranha (Stage 2) foot parts system (x8): 1,200
Aranya (Stage 2) bloom model: 300,000 (completely unaffected by method multiplier) + passively gives about 15,000 (affected by rate) for letting her complete some of her attacks (?)

Tau (Stage 3) r. device system (x4): 1,200 (regenerates)
Tau (Stage 3) main body (first health bar): 7,000
Tau (Stage 3) main body (second health bar): 6,000
Tau (Stage 3) bloom model: 300,000 (completely unaffected by method multiplier)

Hymeno (Stage 4) first phase: 2,500 + 2,000 for completing her attacks

Then I became bored of testing and stopped, but hopefully you can see the general trend that the bosses themselves are hardly worth bothering with.

Rate:

Rate is given by blue cubes that drop from killed enemies and sometimes from bosses when they complete an attack. The cubes automatically funnel towards you from anywhere on the screen. Picking them up with your shields up awards 10% of the rate you would normally get. Eliminator has no effect on the amount of rate you get.

Eliminator:

Eliminator is charged by killing enemies (their size doesn't seem to matter, it's mostly about quantity). The number seems to be about 200-300 enemies to fully charge from 0%. Reaching certain points in the game also seems to give you about 25% charge. Shields recharge is paused while using the Eliminator. You exit it having 0 gauge and about 3 seconds of invincibility.

[Shepardus]

I got similar results when testing the method multipliers. Haven't really tested the point values of enemies yet, but it seems that in Pandemonic Nightmare each phase of the first form of the boss (the attacks you can cycle through) is worth an absolute crapload of points especially if you kill it with Jaunted Driver or Eliminator. After realizing that I've been using Eliminator there to cycle through the attacks as quickly as possible. But sometimes I've noticed that the score stops rising while I'm doing that. I haven't looked into it, but maybe only the first cycle through the attacks is actually worth points?

[shoryusatsu999]

I've been playing around with both Malicious Wake and Alternative Arguments recently, and for lack of a better place to put it, I'd like to contribute what I know of their differences and some minor gameplay quirks I noticed during testing.

DIFFERENCES

Main gameplay difference between the two versions lies in the METHODs. AA lacks ELIMINATOR, but has 7 new METHODs to compensate:

RAINBOW ARROW - Uses old Eliminator motion (V<^>/V>^<+SHOT). 9 rays of rainbow-colored light appear at character's position. After delay, rays separate and shoot up the screen in a screen-clearing attack. Doesn't cancel bullets, but gives brief invincibility at start.

ELIMINATOR CANNON - <V></>V<>+SHOT. Giant gun appears to right of character and shoots 4-second bullet-clearing rainbow laser. Brief invuln on startup. Laser shoots straight up, so left side is unprotected. Gun moves alongside character for duration of laser.

micro black hole - >>+SHOT. Spawns black hole in front of character. Black hole drains enemy health and sucks in nearby bullets. Bullets canceled and enemies killed this way feed the next white hole. Brief invuln at startup.

micro white hole - <<+SHOT. White hole appears in front of character. White hole spews out 5-way circular spread. Duration depends on how many things have been fed to black hole. Minimum doesn't even last a half second. Duration can be extended to 10+ seconds. Much cheaper energy-wise than black hole (1 bar vs black hole's 5). More white holes can be fired after first fed one, but duration seems to decrease and all white holes will disappear at the same time.

FREEZE ENERGY - Double DANGER PROGNOSIS motion (^V^V+SHOT). Time stops for about 4 seconds. Bullets have no hitboxes during timestop, but will regain movement and damage properties once time continues. Moves that affect enemy bullets will continue to do so under timestop (REJECTOR changes trajectory of bullets, but they won't move until after time continues).

------- - ><^>/<>^<+SHOT. Series of rainbow slashes devastate everything on screen. All onscreen bullets canceled immediately and stay gone for duration of move. Basically a super BANISH BLAST, but much more expensive energy-wise (7 bars vs BANISH BLAST's 3).

OVERCLOCK - ^V<>/^V><+SHOT. Also available by using BANISH BLAST command while in timestop. Only usable during timestop. Requires 1 ELIMINATOR STOCK in addition to METHOD gauge. Hyper mode. Powers up most other METHODs in some way. VERY LONG duration. Cancels timestop and all bullets on screen on startup. Timestop disabled for duration of mode. Like with Touhou's invincibility timer, the amount of time left is visible in the form of a spinning circle of Roman numerals. Ring shrinks as time passes.

Known OVERCLOCK bonuses:

• DREAD SCISSORS change color and do more damage.

• MALICE REJECTOR pushes bullets with a lot more force.

• More lasers are fired during A.CHASER.

• A second salvo of A.STINGER needles is fired alongside A.SEED's satellites.

• Decoy from ATTRACTANT OTHER shoots a 2-way circular spread in addition to its usual firing pattern.

• Range of explosion at end of JAUNTED DRIVER increases.

• Enemy bullets move much slower while in PROGNOSIS field.

• R. ARROW has 2 additional salvos of 3 rays that clean up the center of the playfield after the main wave leaves the screen.

• E. CANNON's laser is wider.

• Duration of black hole is massively extended (about 3x as long), and spawning animation is slightly different.

• Duration of white hole also extended. 2 second minimum.

Other noticed differences:

• MW's normal shot travels much faster and fires in much faster bursts.

• MW's PROGNOSIS deals slight damage to enemies inside the field. Takes a little over 1 full-length activation to kill enemies in free training mode. Damage may depend on distance from enemy. AA's PROGNOSIS does no damage outside of reflected shots.

• MW's decoy only shoots 1-way forwards. AA's decoy switches to 8-way circular spread during second half of duration.

• AA has the option to enable SEMI-AUTO METHOD, which activates a method based on the current situation when COMMAND is tapped. MW does not.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Many METHODs have brief invincibility on startup, including REJECTOR, A. STINGER, and ATTRACTANT OTHER. JAUNT and PROGNOSIS have invuln at the end as well.

• SCISSORS ACT1 cancels bullets that hit the blades. ACT2 turns the bullets into reflected bullets from PROGNOSIS and speeds them up slightly.

• SCISSORS don't have hitboxes on the hilts, so they can't affect bullets in your D-Field unless you disengage and quickly move away.

• Shots, SCISSORS and REJECTOR follow your horizontal movements exactly.

• A.SEED seems to cancel bullets in the D-Field. May simply be the invincibility destroying the bullets.

• When ATTRACTANT OTHER decoy is hit by a bullet, it moves slightly in the direction the bullet came from. Lots of bullets = lots of decoy movement.

• BANISH BLAST cancels REJECTOR and PROGNOSIS if either are active.

• METHOD use is restricted during PROGNOSIS. In MW, only BANISH BLAST works during PROGNOSIS. In AA, the new METHODs can also be used during PROGNOSIS, and they don't end it early.

• In MW, if ELIMINATOR is used while REJECTOR is active, REJECTOR's timer and use will freeze until after ELIMINATOR is over.

• Pressing SLOW during REJECTOR will focus the spread of shots fired by REJECTOR just like with the normal shot.