Raystorm vs Raycrisis

[Pshooter]

I am going to get one of these, which is best? I've heard the levels are more interesting in Raystorm. Which has the most modes, extras, etc ?

thanks

[M0nk3y]

You can get them both on one disk from Play-Asia.

[Pshooter]

You can get them both on one disk from Play-Asia.

That's sweet, i didnt know about that! I would prefer to get crisis or storm US versions though, so i can just grab one at gamestop. which one is better?

[system11]

Storm, Crisis is a bit confused about what it's trying to be (and doesnt look as nice).

[LoneSage]

Hell, I was confused as to what Crisis was trying to be.

Personally I think it's one of the worst shmups I've ever played.

[Thunder Force]

Especially when played through PS2 smooth texture and load times mode, Ray Crisis is one of my favorite shmups. For reasons of gameplay fairness, bullet patterns, music and general ambience. I think it plays better and feels more G.Rev than Raystorm does. Although Raystorm is more epic and definitely has the better graphics of the two, in my opinion at the time of its release it was too much about the eye candy and I never cared for its pacing, which makes Raystorm my least favorite of the Ray Trilogy.

[Ganelon]

What did WD do to the US releases anyway? Make them harder somehow?

[JBC]

I remember hoping my score won that contest. In the end i think it turned out i wasn't even close to the top winner... but i forget what i had.

I prefer Ray Force before Ray Storm... never got to play Crisis, sadly.

[sjewkestheloon]

personally i'd avoid both. although i haven't spent much time with either they jsut seem forced and really routine based. no room at all for improvisation. what makes it even worse is you can't see 90% of the bullets as everything (especially in crisis) is a wishy washy neony shade

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I haven't played raycrisis but I thought the slanted camera view of raystorm was a bit too much. Instead get Galactic Attack/Layer Section which is awesome despite the hitbox being a bit too big for my tastes and it sometimes seems that it is overly difficult to defend the ship against attacks from the side. Has a fun scoring system that anyone can get the hang of also.

You might also like Soukyugerentai. I think alot of the bullets in that one are overly obscured by larger explosions though.

[Shatterhand]

If we are talking about the PS1 version..

Raystorm is a lot better than Raycrisis. I find Raycrisis confusing and boring, while Raystorm is very cool and fun to play.

I've heard many times that Raycrisis is a lot better in the original arcade version, but I never played it, so I cant comment.

And surely, Rayforce is better than both games.

[Dylan1CC]

Storm, Crisis is a bit confused about what it's trying to be (and doesnt look as nice).

I thought Crisis was the one which was confused? Random levels, neon/day glo colored VR world vs Raystorm's non stop epic destruction set pieces which focuses more on frantic gun play than just locking on? C'mon. Raystorm is easily as good as both Layer Section and even Souky IMHO.

I'm also mighty iffy on the encroachment meter but I am game to try it again. Been a few years since I played the game.

[Marc]

I only have crisis, but think it's utter shit to be honest. The sort of game that went 3D because it could, not because it needed to.

[Salem Witch Trials!]

I own raystorm and I think its probably the worst shooter I've ever played. It doesn't even feel like a shmup to be honest. You drift back towards the center when you're over to the left or right and let go of the joystick . That, plus a horribly awkward hitbox, plus really unfair bullets makes it not very fun for me.

[Neo Rasa]

It doesn't even feel like a shmup to be honest. You drift back towards the center when you're over to the left or right and let go of the joystick .

So is Axelay not a shmup?

[Salem Witch Trials!]

I wasn't saying it wasn't a shmup. I definitely consider both of them to be shmups. But they do both feel kind of awkward.

But axelay doesn't do the same thing as raystorm. Axelay has a free environment. You can move far to the left, and then the screen moves over slightly later so that you're in the middle again, but if there are any enemies/little floating islands/anything else on the screen at the time, you can see that you don't move back with respect to their position. The movement is just the screen moving to catch up with you since you can go very far left and very far right. The environment is more free. But if a bullet is fired at you, and you tap left and then let go, the bullet still passes you.

In raystorm though, it feels more like you're hanging from the top of the screen from your laser like its a string. It doesn't have a free environment, and the movement isn't the screen catching up to you and the rest of the enemies, its actually your ship drifting back to the middle which is really really weird feeling.

Even so, I still consider them both shmups, despite the unusual feel. Raystorm just feels more like one of the bonus levels in metal black to me.

[highlandcattle]

I actually like raystorm I had the disc for years but never really played it untill I read an article in www.gamersquarter.com read that! it's issue 3

[Salem Witch Trials!]

I haven't played the game in awhile, but looking back on the whole lock on system, it was a really great idea, and I would love to play rayforce. I've heard its much better. At least with raystorm though, I think it was a game with a good premise that was kind of ruined by the way it felt. The "drift back" thing made weaving through patterns feel awkward.

[Randorama]

To be honest, Raystorm has an incredible gameplay, if you can learn how to cope with the whole 3D engine, and did some of the groovy things like: strategical bombings, complex chains, mix of first weapon and second weapon, a bit before other famous titles. Again, this is something that may never shine if you can't cope with the 3D engine.When i was younger, i could (and i had great scores as well), now i wonder on how Earth i was able to play it properly.

Raycrisis also introduces a few influential ideas (Dynamic rank/encroachment,i.e. difficulty to vary accrording to your momentary perfomance,strong difference in ships' approaches to attacks,no challenge without hunting down a score), but it is surely a bit puzzling. I happen to adore its BGM, though.

[Salem Witch Trials!]

With all this raystorm talk I may have to bust out the old playstation copy and check it out again. Last time I played it I definitely didn't enjoy it, but in the last year or so I've completely changed my opinion of several shmups (namely r-type leo, 19xx, guwange and a few others), so I may have to give this one a second chance. I remember liking the lock on system a lot, but some things like cheap-o lasers that appear almost instantly, and of course the weird drifting back to the center thing struck a bad note with me at the time. Is there any purpose of the drifting thing? And is it present in force/crisis? Also, is this one of those games where as you get used to the positioning of upcoming enemies, it becomes a LOT easier because you can do lots of pre-emptive strikes (like guwange)? If so then it may just take a bit more playing time

[Randorama]

Most lasers are easy to dodge once the 3D engine is absorbed, mainly when you get the timing right (they take a a few tenths of a second to reach your plane). Also, pre-emptive strikes are not convenient at all for scores - many chains are about understanding which enemies have to move and where, so you can keep the chain going (X-Gray 02 mainly). Stage 4 is a piece of genius, design-wise, but the reasons are better to be discovered by players, i'd say. The drifting is absent in Raycrisis, and i also wonder of its rationale, yes

In general, Raystorm really makes sense if played for score, especially with X-Gray 02.Sooner or later i'll write an ST, at any case...

[BulletMagnet]

The drifting is absent in Raycrisis...

If it's the automatic "drifting" towards the screen's center that you're talking about, I think that there is still some of that in Crisis, though IIRC there's less of it than there is in Storm. If i recall incorrectly my apologies, it's been a while since I've played either...

[Salem Witch Trials!]

Hmm...interesting. I'm definitely gonna have a second look at this game.

Also, is Rayforce emulated anywhere under any of its many names? If I like it I would definitely buy the home version, but I just wanted to get a taste of it first.

[Fighter17]

I am going to get one of these, which is best? I've heard the levels are more interesting in Raystorm. Which has the most modes, extras, etc ?

thanks

Raystorm is soooo much better than Raycrisis!


Music is so much better on Raystorm than Raycrisis.

[Randorama]

Hmm...interesting. I'm definitely gonna have a second look at this game.

Also, is Rayforce emulated anywhere under any of its many names? If I like it I would definitely buy the home version, but I just wanted to get a taste of it first.

Gunlock is the original name of the game (bleh!). the rom's name is gunlock, as well. The differences between roms are non-existant, of course.

As per drifting: i can't check either, so i think it's a collective , BM

At any case, there is surely less drifting and a different movement speed in Raycrisis, aside the movable lock-on...

[Salem Witch Trials!]

Ok i got rayforce. The problem was that I had been looking for Gun Lock, not GunLock. Silly me. Anyways this game is really really cool. The pattern where the last boss shoots a bunch of green lasers is amazing. The black hole shot he does made me feel like I was playing raystorm (hehe), and that concentric circles pattern he did was completely beyond my understanding. But yeah, this game is great. Nothing in it (except the circles pattern at the end) seemed unfair or impossible. And I like that there were no bombs in the game. I'm definitely partial to no bomb games (even if they have some kind of gimmick that gets rid of bullets like mars matrix) because they make you actually learn every part of the game. That's all for now. This game is quality stuff.

[ROBOTRON]

They are both pretty cool shmups...but kinda weird...its like your being steered...not following your own path. Sorta the feeling I got when I played Silpheed on the Sega CD.

Different, but Definately worth looking into.

[straight]

I enjoy both Raystorm and Raycrisis. I play them on a PC with an emulator (ePSXe). The graphics are much crisper and everything is much easier to see. Fun games.

[ST Dragon]

RayStorm was the sol purpose I bought the PSX back in Christmas 1997!
It totally blew me away when I watched a preview on some French TV channel.

RayCrisis has slightly better controls; graphics are some what crispier as enemies & Bosses are better animated with more details.

But the level layout in Crisis is a bit confusing & music is nowhere near as cool as the epic / dramatic soundtrack of RayStorm.
The PSX port of RayCrisis would have been arcade perfect if TAITO hadn’t removed the 2Player option.

In that sense PSX RayStorm is a better port, featuring 2-player option, Arcade & Extra mode & an arranged kick-ass soundtrack.
RayCrisis also has 2 modes of play & the ability to choose the level order.

The Saturn port of RayStorm features some FMV cut-scenes, not present in neither the PSX nor arcade version, but graphics are inferior to the PSX, while it suffers from severe slowdowns.

There are also 2 very good PC ports of RayCrisis & RayStorm, which are beasically the PSX versions ported onto the PC.

The story line of RayStorm is an epic battle of war, heavily influenced by the Punic wars between Rome & the Mighty Carthage, which adds a lot to the overall theme.
The names given to the Bosses of RayStorm, are of some of the greatest enemies of the Roman Empire.