Caladrius - Xbox 360 shmup from MOSS

[O. Van Bruce]

This game

I don't get it

[BIL]

About the only reason I've been paying attention to this game until now was the sight of those sniper tanks in early pics. Looking really lethargic in those vids. I hope they still pack the classic murderous Seibu velocity+accuracy one way or another, either via rank or difficulty selection. Raiden III and IV certainly do.

[BulletMagnet]

Cero D? Is this really that much worse than Otomedius?

[chempop]

Gameplay looks decent. My feelings towards this game has decreased a good deal since the first batch of screens. I do like the setting, backgrounds and enemies that is. I might wait on this for a while, especially if there isn't an "arcade mode" that strips the dialogue and cinemas. Also, being able to turn wallpaper off and use a 4:3 display would be crucial for me too.

[shmuppyLove]

Cero D? Is this really that much worse than Otomedius?

None of the girls clothes rip off in Otomedius.

unfortunately

[BulletMagnet]

None of the girls clothes rip off in Otomedius.

They don't have to; the Caladrius girls are simply downgraded to Otomedius' default wardrobe equivalent as the battle progresses.

[Hagane]

I liked what I saw in the videos. Seems the type of STG I enjoy.

[ciox]

Bullets gained a lot of speed during boss fights, doesn't look too bad.
Some nice Bacura too.

[EmperorIng]

I'm about done with that one tearing me up on the Stage 3 boss.

When you've mastered the wiggle, you've mastered the st3 boss.

[Skykid]

I'm about done with that one tearing me up on the Stage 3 boss.

When you've mastered the wiggle, you've mastered the st3 boss.

Wiggle? Do tell. I've beaten the STG3 boss a few times purely on memorisation, but boy, he's harsh. Takes forever to die.

[Tokyo-J]

Anyone know if this will have 4:3 tate / vertical mode?

[BulletMagnet]

Anyone know if this will have 4:3 tate / vertical mode?

I'm pretty sure this one's built for a horizontal display to begin with, a la Mars Matrix, so there's no need to worry about that.

[NTSC-J]

I played this yesterday at a location test. I had intended on posting about it as soon as I got home, but I completely forgot all about it until today which I think may be all you need to know about Caladrius.

- Graphics are fine. I think the only impressive thing about them are the bosses which move around a lot and are pretty detailed.
- It's pretty tough, even on the default setting. The ship I used had what seemed to be the weakest of the bullet-canceling sub-attacks and ended up getting me into more trouble.
- I really do not like shooters with lots of buttons. Here you have a regular shot, bullet-cancel, bomb, and two different element shots. I was thoroughly confused the first time playing and felt like they could've done without a couple of them. My credit ended when I hit the wrong button.
- I couldn't tell what the scoring system consisted of, but there are 3 different meters on the bottom of the screen, plus a rate value. It could be that it's the most finely tuned and nuanced scoring system yet designed, but I couldn't tell from what little I played.

All in all, give it a try and you might like it, but I personally won't be purchasing a copy at full retail price.

[EmperorIng]

I'm about done with that one tearing me up on the Stage 3 boss.

When you've mastered the wiggle, you've mastered the st3 boss.

Wiggle? Do tell. I've beaten the STG3 boss a few times purely on memorisation, but boy, he's harsh. Takes forever to die.

Um, it's nothing special. It's just usually all of those huge spreads of the large variety are dodged Psikyo-style, wiggling back and forth.

[Ed Oscuro]

I played this yesterday at a location test. I had intended on posting about it as soon as I got home, but I completely forgot all about it until today which I think may be all you need to know about Caladrius.

- Graphics are fine. I think the only impressive thing about them are the bosses which move around a lot and are pretty detailed.
- It's pretty tough, even on the default setting. The ship I used had what seemed to be the weakest of the bullet-canceling sub-attacks and ended up getting me into more trouble.
- I really do not like shooters with lots of buttons. Here you have a regular shot, bullet-cancel, bomb, and two different element shots. I was thoroughly confused the first time playing and felt like they could've done without a couple of them. My credit ended when I hit the wrong button.
- I couldn't tell what the scoring system consisted of, but there are 3 different meters on the bottom of the screen, plus a rate value. It could be that it's the most finely tuned and nuanced scoring system yet designed, but I couldn't tell from what little I played.

All in all, give it a try and you might like it, but I personally won't be purchasing a copy at full retail price.

Cool, good to hear from somebody who's seen it closer-up than I did. Who knows, I might've slagged Raiden Fighters graphics if I was judging from screenshots like I saw above. Sounds like it might not be a terrible flop after all.

"End credit" button Such a thing might actually be useful for a Cave game, though.

[emphatic]

Man, I hate +4 button games. Maybe this is why I never play fighters?

[O. Van Bruce]

I played this yesterday at a location test. I had intended on posting about it as soon as I got home, but I completely forgot all about it until today which I think may be all you need to know about Caladrius.

- Graphics are fine. I think the only impressive thing about them are the bosses which move around a lot and are pretty detailed.
- It's pretty tough, even on the default setting. The ship I used had what seemed to be the weakest of the bullet-canceling sub-attacks and ended up getting me into more trouble.
- I really do not like shooters with lots of buttons. Here you have a regular shot, bullet-cancel, bomb, and two different element shots. I was thoroughly confused the first time playing and felt like they could've done without a couple of them. My credit ended when I hit the wrong button.
- I couldn't tell what the scoring system consisted of, but there are 3 different meters on the bottom of the screen, plus a rate value. It could be that it's the most finely tuned and nuanced scoring system yet designed, but I couldn't tell from what little I played.

All in all, give it a try and you might like it, but I personally won't be purchasing a copy at full retail price.

This is interesting for me ! I like complex STG's with lots of different buttons a la Hellsinker. Thanks for the info NTCS-J

[Zaarock]

This is interesting for me ! I like complex STG's with lots of different buttons a la Hellsinker. Thanks for the info NTCS-J

I feel the same about complexity but 5 buttons sounds too much. Radiant Silvergun has 7 attacks with three buttons. Mars Matrix has four with one button.. Hellsinker has 4 buttons and the slow button is completely optional.

[Hagane]

- It's pretty tough, even on the default setting. The ship I used had what seemed to be the weakest of the bullet-canceling sub-attacks and ended up getting me into more trouble.

That's nice to read. I feared it would be way too easy from looking at the videos.

As for the buttons, I don't think having 5 will be an issue. Street Fighter has 6 and everyone gets used to that quickly, so I don't think this will be an exception. I really liked the controls in the US version of Daioh, too.

[trap15]

Street Fighter has 6 and everyone gets used to that quickly, so I don't think this will be an exception.

I have never gotten used to 6 button fighters. 6 buttons is far too many for my feeble mind.

I really liked the controls in the US version of Daioh, too.

To be fair, that's closer to 4 buttons than 6. 3 shot types and their respective bombs.

[chempop]

To be fair, that's closer to 4 buttons than 6. 3 shot types and their respective bombs

3+3 = 4

I'm curious if Caladrius has more than 1 control scheme. Seems like 5 buttons (shot, "shield", bomb, element 1, element 2) is going to be somewhat clumsy, especially for those of us who typically only use 3 fingers while using sticks. Still on the fence with this one.

[ciox]

Street Fighter has 6 and everyone gets used to that quickly, so I don't think this will be an exception.

I have never gotten used to 6 button fighters. 6 buttons is far too many for my feeble mind.

I really liked the controls in the US version of Daioh, too.

To be fair, that's closer to 4 buttons than 6. 3 shot types and their respective bombs.

You're not supposed to get used to 6 buttons, just your chosen character's best attacks, that's a much more organic development and doesn't even necessarily end with you using all 6 buttons.

Anyway yeah, this game could use with having less buttons and more button combinations, or even context-restricted abilities (hyper taking precedence over bomb in DOJ), but the latter obviously isn't going to happen now.

[trap15]

To explain better: it doesn't feel like 6 buttons. It feels more like 3 buttons + bomb.

[Hagane]

You're not supposed to get used to 6 buttons, just your chosen character's best attacks,

Somewhat off-topic, but you still have to get used to 6 buttons for pretty much with any character. Even if for some reason the character has absolutely worthless normals of a certain strength (it's rare that you never use at least one version of a normal attack), you still have to count special move strengths and some button combinations (like Third Strike for example), mash/piano techniques, etc.

If one can get used to 6 buttons in a fighter, I don't see how it would be that hard in a shooter.

[ciox]

You're not supposed to get used to 6 buttons, just your chosen character's best attacks,

Somewhat off-topic, but you still have to get used to 6 buttons for pretty much with any character. Even if for some reason the character has absolutely worthless normals of a certain strength (it's rare that you never use at least one version of a normal attack), you still have to count special move strengths and some button combinations (like Third Strike for example), mash/piano techniques, etc.

I agree you have to get used to it, but it's absolutely pointless to try it early on, given how long it takes to internalize a normal and know when it's really meant to be used, it's a long slow process that's completely different from a shmup where not knowing the "bomb" button right off the bat is a disaster.
Still people will try and be intimidated and give up, should just stick with the heavy attacks since that'll give results the fastest.

Oh and I think the problem with 6 buttons in shmups is, controlling movement is a lot more involved in a shmup than in a fighter, so 6 buttons with a function each feels like it adds more of a burden in a shmup.

[Special World]

I'm perfectly fine with six-button fighters, but even four-button shooters throw me. I think it has something to do with arrangement: In fighting games, the button layout is so sensible. A row of three punches and a row of three kicks, in order of severity. In shooters, on the other hand, there's nothing intuitive about the arrangement. Shot/Bomb/Rapid/Hyper. Where's the sense in that? Sometimes it feels like I'm twisting my hand in knots. There's nothing complicated about it really, but I can kind of play my hand over the buttons in a fighter, whereas in a shooter I have to constantly hold rapid, then toggle shot with my ring finger, keep my middle finger finger hovering over bomb (which I often just forget about somehow), and then be prepared to tap hyper/special with my pinky. I think it's maybe just the amount of fingers that does it - screw using my pinky finger for anything, he's got no moxie.

[Friendly]

All in all, give it a try and you might like it, but I personally won't be purchasing a copy at full retail price.

Same, not pre-ordering. Doesn't sound like my cup of tea. May pick it up if/once the price drops.

[O. Van Bruce]

Using more than 2 or 3 buttons is easier when you are using a controller: you have 4 buttons with relative ease of reach using your thumb and 2 other simultaneously with the triggers.

Caladrius may have been developed with a controller in mind.

[Squire Grooktook]

What Perfect World said. I can play 6 button fighters with ease, but I'm always hitting the wrong button by accident in games like Radiant Silvergun or Gundeadligne.

Also it's worth noting that 6 button fighters, if anything are less complex then 4 or 3 button fighters. In 4 or 3 button fighters, you have to cram more moves into one button. medium punch + forward might be a completely different move then medium punch + neutral or medium punch + back. You have a lot more to remember as opposed to say a 6 button set up where you don't have to remember any additional directions, you just press punch or kick with the desired strength.

[Formless God]

The bullets could've been bigger, especially if there are glows underneath them. They also seem a bit slow.
I'm not sure if I really I want this at the moment. Probably need a couple footages of the harder modes to decide.