How often do you find yourself restarting on the first stage

[Squire Grooktook]

A lot of times when I have an hour or so to play, I sit down intending to get several runs in, but end up wasting like 10-15 minutes restarting the first 2 stages or so due to trying and failing to get the full chains/max multiplier/no miss no bomb/etc. Eventually, I get to the part where I'm more focused on just doing well and not necessarily playing perfectly, and than it's usually a lot smoother sailing.

Is this normal, do most people find themselves restarting a few times on the first few stages or so trying to get near perfect scores/performances? Or do you find that as you get better or sink more time into the game that getting a perfect run of early stages becomes a lot more consistent and less effort intensive? Or perhaps am I just shooting too high at the moment?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I restart like 5 times on the first couple of stages whenever I sit down to play shmups cause I'm constantly dying to something early and something stupid. At least it feels that way. I don't really restart if I mess up a scoring segment, usually because I know that there's areas in the game later on that I can improve on and if I do, my high score will be beaten anyways.

[Wyrmnus]

This happens to me alot. Probably because of frustration. Take today. I recently downloaded Triggerheart Exelica for the 360. Once I started to get a grip on scoring, I decided to concentrate on that. Too bad the game is as brutal as most Raizing STGs. Because of this, I end up trapping myself right into the path of a peashooter enemy bullet and I get hit, ruining my scoring for the stage and I just get pissed and I immediately end the game. Same happens whenever I get hit on ANY STG.

[chum]

It usually takes me about 30 minutes to clear the first stage of Fairy Wars, I'd say I reset around 90% of my runs before I get to the midboss. Once I'm at the boss I only reset if the slip-up is major (defeating an attack too early, mistiming a bomb, dying more than once on the second non-spell...)

30 minutes is not a lot in my opinion. I've seen clo-naga stream PCB Normal attempts and he can spend hours resetting stage 1. Of course you will have to reset a lot if you are shooting for a respectable run, unless you are playing some game where optimization is trivial... In my experience the resets become more plentiful the better you get at the game. It also depends on how much room for optimization there is. Sometimes the early game is very simple.

On the other hand if you don't have big goals in mind then maybe you should cut down on the resets and experience the game. Everyone has a different way of playing, some people like to learn a game in chunks and others experience the full game over and over.

[RNGmaster]

When I notice I've reset like 10 times in a row I just force myself to do a no-reset run. If I've got some crazy score goal I don't reset whenever anything happens that prevents me from making it, I just hope I get a new personal best. You gotta progress slowly but surely, that helps stop you from getting the shakes when you're doing really well.

[Squire Grooktook]

In my experience the resets become more plentiful the better you get at the game.

That's actually really interesting. I was expecting it to be the other way around, but I guess with really deep games there's more and more room to shoot higher as your goals get bigger and bigger.

[RNGmaster]

In my experience the resets become more plentiful the better you get at the game.

That's actually really interesting. I was expecting it to be the other way around, but I guess with really deep games there's more and more room to shoot higher as your goals get bigger and bigger.

Yeah, if you're most people your standards get higher and you're shooting for goals with less leniency, so you pretty much have to reset a ton.

[Pteriforever]

Most first stages are easy enough that I rarely make any major mistakes on them. I've never really done any intensive scoring play on any game with chaining, so I'm not upset over chain drops. In most games, only maybe 10-15% of resets are on the first stage, the majority happening around the midpoint of the game or shortly afterwards. The exceptions are games with unstable equilibrium systems like Go Beryllium or CRS, where being perfect in the early stages helps with survival in subsequent stages.

What I tend to do is set out a plan for how many lives I'm willing to lose on each stage. If I go over, I reset. If I lose fewer lives than the plan says, the leftovers get reassigned to the current stage. For instance, with XOP Black Ultra on Advanced mode, my plan is 0-1-1-1-2. If I start playing for score or begin going for a 2nd loop or something, I gradually slash the numbers until I end up with something really brutal. However, in these cases, if I'm really late in the game, I'll usually press on to the end even if I lose more than I intended.

[Trevor spencer]

I am a nightmare for this, its my OCD setting in and wanting every thing perfect. Ive also noticed ill only do it upto stage 3 after that I can deal with it lol

[Casey120]

A lot when playing Ibara for the first time after a long break and then I settle in .

Bombah

[Plasmo]

90% restarts on the first stage for me. There are a few exceptions where the first stage really is nothing too difficult like Garegga.

[DEL]

That's why the site's called Restart Syndrome.

[Captain]

Usually play stage 1 of Hellsinker about 6 times just to get used to the game again, then I proceed to make it at least to stage 6 boss, usually stage 8 boss. (although I did many clears and a single no-miss)

[Squire Grooktook]

I do find though that I tend to have to restart less when I'm on my "A game".

Like if I just managed to beat a high score or 1cc further than I ever have before, than I usually find I can that perfect stage 1/2 run pretty quickly. Other times it takes what seems like an eternity to get back into the groove.

[royalfan84]

I do it a bit; probably not as much as many of you do. It depends on the game and what my experience is with it. I've found that in Mars Matrix I reset almost every time I have a silly death in stage 1 or 2. And I recall starting over after a death or two in Radiant Silvergun several times...I think resetting instantly after a death gives you a fresh start with what recently took you down in the forefront of your mind.

[KAI]

All the time.

[CStarFlare]

I tend to restart fairly often on games where pointblanking is a big deal. I feel comfortable doing it in the first stage or two then back off, but dying in the first couple stages usually pisses me off and I restart. In games that don't encourage such high-risk behavior I tend to live longer and restart less.

So I haven't really had Restart Syndrome since playing Futari Black Label's Original mode.

[Illyrian]

So for me it's normally on the first stage. Examples of this are primarily if I haven't played a game for a while and come back to it, and tend to get hit a bunch of times on the first stage while I get back into it.

Futari Ball is a classic one for this with me.

With Yagawa games I tend to let 1 lost life go and carry on as I'm not good enough at any Yagawa game where rank management or scoring tricks are prevalent in my play. The exception to this is Pink Sweets where extends are harder to come by.

[Nick420]

Way too much

[blackoak]

I don't usually play for score outside of the clear and getting extends, so I almost never restart. If I lose a life in the first or second stage it sometimes has the benefit of relaxing me for the later stages, and I've cleared games that way too. Other times I treat the run as a chance for experimenting with new tactics.

[Nick420]

Yeah I do the tactics thing myself sometimes. I feel it's the best option for me. Rarely does an early death run work out well for me. Don't think I've ever got a clear like that.

Edit, although I do often do well when I'm on my last life. Sometimes I get a boost of concentration when down to one life and end up playing much better than I did for the rest of the run. I think it's also got something to do with the patterns being more difficult by the time you are down to your last life thus requiring more attention and concentration. You know how we get complacent in the earlier stages on the 3,547th run of a particular game or in a game with easy first two stages.

And then there's just pure auto pilot. I've often cleared entire stages on set routes and feeling like my hands are just moving in a remembered rhythm without me even really thinking about what I'm doing. I get this in ddp mostly..so many runs...Lol going off on a tangent now. Just thinking out load

[XoPachi]

Only in DoDonPachi 4 and 5.
I restart at least 7 times each. 5 I can't seem to master anything in this game. I don't see a 1CC in the future.

4 isn't a matter of dying, but just it's stupid scoring system that makes me feel forced to go on that hidden route. I try a specific hyper strategy that I see others do, and no matter what if I use hyper before I get on the hidden route, I can't access it. Period. I almost want to say it's a glitch. I've had the game since launch and I just CAN'T access the hidden route if I use hyper beforehand. It's never happened. So, I restart whenever I try in vain. I don't get it. And sometimes it's just a matter of me dropping the combo (Jesus Christ I sound like a Marvel player) for...whatever reason.

[Wyrmnus]

Only in DoDonPachi 4 and 5.
I restart at least 7 times each. 5 I can't seem to master anything in this game. I don't see a 1CC in the future.

4 isn't a matter of dying, but just it's stupid scoring system that makes me feel forced to go on that hidden route. I try a specific hyper strategy that I see others do, and no matter what if I use hyper before I get on the hidden route, I can't access it. Period. I almost want to say it's a glitch. I've had the game since launch and I just CAN'T access the hidden route if I use hyper beforehand. It's never happened. So, I restart whenever I try in vain. I don't get it. And sometimes it's just a matter of me dropping the combo (Jesus Christ I sound like a Marvel player) for...whatever reason.

^ Just like me . Infact, I often think the Hidden route in DFK is EASIER than the normal route!

[XoPachi]

But like, I'm told it's the only way to score properly because there's more bees.

[Wyrmnus]

Hidden route leads to certain enemies that fire more bullets, which you can cancel out via hyper, which add to your chain. That much I know. Honestly, I suck when it comes to raw chaining in DDP. Highest chain Ive ever nabbed was in Novice 1.5, where I had a 16kish chain in Stage 5.

[trap15]

You need to have a full hyper before the "end" of the oil tanks in order to access Ura route. If this means you need to not hyper before then, then so be it.

[Mortificator]

It ruins the fun for me if I restart more than a couple of times, so I don't.

[steveovig]

I don't like to restart but I usually do. It usually frustrates me too much and it ruins the fun. I don't play the score heavy games much, like a lot of you guys though. I can't imagine my frustration if I played those more.

[Jeneki]

Playing Zed Blade lately, and I can definitely see multiple restarts being required for high score runs. For optimal stage 1 scoring, you need to double-suicide immediately for extra powerups (two powerups per suicide). The catch is, one of the powerups may randomly be a bomb instead around half the time. So you have to be lucky and get all powerups and no bombs, which requires multiple restarts until that combination appears for both suicides.

Yeah, don't play Zed Blade for score.

[trap15]

And then the rest of stage 1 is sitting literally as close to the bottom as possible, and bombing your way through environmental hazards.
It's quite a silly game, but it's great.