No bomb diary - or How I'm declaring war on fun in STGs

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Not everyone's as good as you, haha. I imagine most people just getting into the second loop, especially if it's under bombing/life requirements (hello Ketsui) would be much less hesitant to use their bombs once they're in the second loop if they're just looking to learn it or try to clear it (not that I'm sure the OP is at that point, he lists a DDP 1cc in the hiscore thread, but I suspect he means 1-All?). Obviously games with scoring multipliers for stocked bombs are ideally done with little to no bombs or deaths, but going through a second loop alone is no trivial matter, let alone with bombs or not.

[Erppo]

Ah, okay. I was confused by the "generally played" bit, since generally people bomb in the first loop too so I assumed you were just talking of normal optimal play.

DDP especially is very much a no-bombing game since most of the score is in the max bonus and most of the max bonus is in the second loop.

[7711]

I haven't played that much the last few days but this playstyle definitly brought up some improvements, especially in my methodology. Playing no bomb is considerably harder than before, even more than I was expecting (especially on games like Ketsui), but it also helped me thinking about what could make it any easier.
Thats some things I could have done long ago, but I guess I needed that "boost" to really open my eyes.

First, the way I'm holding my stick. For some reason I used to believe that finding a way to do it and then stick to it no matter what would help me reduce input mistakes, even if that was something else I had to focus on. I did a few runs not thinking about anything, just letting my hands following the game (much in the same way I play TGM) and could already see some improvements, especially on some really thight patterns where I normally get very stressed about it.

Then, the way (most especially the height) I'm sitting always troubled me. I have very poor balance, sometimes I'll have vertigo when going down stairs or just looking down from 10 cm from the ground, and I thought maybe reducing the height of the chair I'm sitting on and ensuring that I feel really stable would help. It did.

Where to focus on the screen was the last thing, I trained yesterday for this one and its sooooo much better now. By keeping my eyes on the upper half (well more than half but I don't know the english term for it. At the top...) 80/90+ % of the time and only going back to my character for really hard patterns and bosses is perfect since it prevents a lot of accidental deaths where you had no idea you were about to get hit. Then when you quickly go back to the bottom you can actually focus on your hitbox a lot better since you automatically know the bullets position/behavior on the rest of the screen.
So forcing myself to play that way ALL THE TIME really has two advantages, and I'm glad I already got used to it.

Hope I'm not looking too stupid, I'm guessing this should be pretty obvious to most of you but I'm pretty pleased with myself and the improvements I'm making feels really good.

[Spirit X]

I think this is a commendable idea. I'm still a newb at shmups but just from a gamer's perspective I think it's good to go against the grain for a while, even if the result is just a better understanding of the path of least resistance. Mixing it up and trying new things with a clear goal in mind will only ever bring about positive progression in one way or another. You will no doubt learn a lot about what is and isn't possible/ probable/ likely in given situations and in future will have a more acute sense of when you're in trouble.

My one caveat to this encouragement is that your sig looks a bit scary. Never is a long time and personally I would say that perhaps a vow not to use bombs for a year or so would have the desired result of improving your play, scores, dodging skills and hopefully enjoyment of the games.

I once taught a frustrated guitarist who felt he had plateaued and wasn't progressing his knowledge of the fretboard anymore. We made a pact that I would offer him half price lessons for a year on the condition that during that year he was not allowed to play any standard bar chords or blues scales. He kept up his end of the bargain and just over a year later he was teaching jazz theory at a local college.

Best of luck to you.

[7711]

Thanks !

your sig looks a bit scary. Never is a long time and personally I would say that perhaps a vow not to use bombs for a year or so would have the desired result of improving your play, scores, dodging skills and hopefully enjoyment of the games.

The thing with that is once I start something... there's just no way I'm going to change back, thats the way I am.
But I came up with something else, maybe I should spend a day every few months playing with bombs just to check my progress using that method.
Before starting this I've 1-All Dodonpachi once, and came close to doing it again a few times. But since these few last days I've reached the stage 5 boss many times using no bombs, so I'm sure I've already made some progress and should be able to 1CC the first loop much easier than before.
Thats what I was going for, and now that I pretty much know that its the way that works best for me there is no real reason to change :)

[LastDancer]

Well, good luck. You might want to try Gradius or R-Type. No bombs for those games anyway.

[BrianC]

I made the mistake of trying to avoid bombing in Raiden Fighters, before realizing how essential they are to the game.