chempop wrote:
I hope people start getting their copies of ESPG2 soon, seems like I was one of the few that got theirs on friday.
Got mine on Friday as well, never played ESPG2 before...so the style is really different and complex for scoring than I am use to so its kicking me bum for the time being. I'll post a score once I can handle it with a bit more grace.
Got mine today, and i LOVE THAT GAME MAN!!!... at 1st i went to it like it was mushi futari, but then i noticed that its nothing like it... and, well, i guess have to play some more if i wanna get good at it, cuz this game can kick your ass like theres no tomorrow... and its easier than DDP DOJ! (WTF!?).
i wish ketsui was region free or was announced to come to america this year... but since its proly not gonna hapen, i guess im gonna have to get a J-X360 (i know i've said this b4, but its really startin to itch really bad now)...
SuperPang wrote:Where DOJ rapes you, DFK grabs your boob then runs away.
I would have assumed that Futari and ESPII are running on the same emulation engine, so I'm wondering why they didn't port the Futari screen options over to their new release.....
It's because Futari was ported by M2 and ESP2 was ported by Cave.
Port being the keyword. They're not emulated.
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
Gwyrgyn Blood wrote:The PS2 port has slowdown, but it only triggers with a lot more stuff on the screen (IE really big medal showers on the last boss and stuff like that).
I see - probably explains why I've not noticed any! Glad to know there's at least some in there at extreme points.
Zweihander wrote:So wait... Is this game indeed harder than Espgaluda 1? Because my only complaint with the classic Espgaluda was the incredible lack of difficulty.
I'd say it's easy to see how much harder it is just watching any video online. Also you can kinda... make it harder on yourself.
Zweihander wrote:So wait... Is this game indeed harder than Espgaluda 1? Because my only complaint with the classic Espgaluda was the incredible lack of difficulty.
Everything is more complex: scoring, patterns, you name it. You can dumb down the difficulty by sacrificing your gems (kakusei slow bullets) but there are times when you'll quickly run out. The last boss is an asshole as well.
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
Speaking of the difficulty, I'm interested in CAVE, but I'm still rather new to genre. I've managed to miraculously 1cc both battle bakraid and progear (both US versions), but more consistently I can only make it to their final stages. Would it be worth getting this game, or futari for that matter? Would I stand a chance at either?
Exarion wrote:Speaking of the difficulty, I'm interested in CAVE, but I'm still rather new to genre. I've managed to miraculously 1cc both battle bakraid and progear (both US versions), but more consistently I can only make it to their final stages. Would it be worth getting this game, or futari for that matter? Would I stand a chance at either?
Can't speak for ESPII just yet as I've just started playing, but Futari BL especially original is an easy 1cc.
I was really excited to get my hands on it because I enjoyed the first game so much. I realize that Espgaluda is definitely on the easy side of Cave's repertoire, and is easy enough for some of the folks here to even find it boring, but for me, it was my gateway drug. I'd never played a Cave game before, and after just one credit, the addiction had begun.
I loved the first game because even as it submerged you in bullets, it gave you lots of ways to stay in the game. Like Kakusei's bullet-time mechanic, the very flexible Guard Barrier, and opportunities for 3 extra lives. If you managed your resources even somewhat carefully, you would almost always have either Kakusei or the GB to help you...it was totally unlike the usual "3 bombs, then it's up to you" fare. And the risk vs. reward scoring mechanics were both original and a lot of fun... at least, I thought so!
I still have not 1CCed the first game--I've only reached the final boss--but in my 30 years, I've played countless video games across all genres, and if I had to come up with an all-time top 10 for myself, it would be on that short list. So when the sequel was announced well over three years ago, I was already excited about it. The frothing demand only increased up until today, when I finally got my hands on it. I enjoy Futari a lot but really, this was the one I was waiting for.
Is it awesome? Well of course it is. But yes, it is MUCH harder than the first game. Part of this is the fact that I find it impossible to play solely for survival; I have to go for score. However, at least right now, I am finding Zesshikai to be a complete mindfuck. I already knew from watching videos that except for the (very) few places it makes the game easier, it causes the world to hate you and throw bullets. But I've entered Zesshikai in places where there were few bullets on the screen and came away with 10-20 million points in a short time. Conversely, I've gone in when the screen seemed filled with bullets, and came away with virtually nothing, except occasionally a shot in the face. =) The explanation in the strategy thread sounds like it makes sense, but in the heat of battle... thus far I've choked. I don't intend to give up though. I love this game.
Knowing when to use Kakusei in the first game was fairly easy. This seems like more of a puzzle... and in true Cave style, one that must be solved while dodging bullet hell. And while I found Futari's Novice Ultra mode to be at least slightly educational, Novice mode in this game is completely unhelpful because you can 1-life it in your sleep, and there are virtually no bullets onscreen until very late in the game. So you need to grow balls and actually figure it out... what a concept, heh... =)
I don't even think I'm going to touch Arrange, Omake or Black Label for a long time...
Question: do the gems get smaller (therefore being worth less) if you take longer to pick them up? Basically, what determines their value...is it proximity to the enemies at the moment you kill them, the speed with which you pick up the gems, or a combination of both? I'm finding that I'm always running out of gems and I can't seem to get that counter up with any regularity.
Also: I see in the strategy post that by raising the Over level, you'll get both more gems and gold. But does this cause the game to be more difficult also, like the first? I didn't see any mention of that in the first post.
http://www.yyrgames.com
I exclusively make arcade-style games. Now available for Steam and Xbox =)
Zweihander wrote:So wait... Is this game indeed harder than Espgaluda 1? Because my only complaint with the classic Espgaluda was the incredible lack of difficulty.
Everything is more complex: scoring, patterns, you name it. You can dumb down the difficulty by sacrificing your gems (kakusei slow bullets) but there are times when you'll quickly run out. The last boss is an asshole as well.
FUCK YES. The last boss in ESPG1 looked cool, spat out some nice patterns, had plenty of forms, but ultimately was the easiest I've seen from CAVE so far if you count TLB's (since ESPG didn't have one, I can only compare that DICK of a final form to its "TLB") I found myself needing to use Kakusei for survival just as much as scoring in the last two stages, so I'd like it if ESPG2 pushed me a bit more. Thank you.
Schrodinger's cat wrote:Yeah, "shmup" really sounds like a term a Jewish grandmother would insult you with.
Exarion wrote:Speaking of the difficulty, I'm interested in CAVE, but I'm still rather new to genre. I've managed to miraculously 1cc both battle bakraid and progear (both US versions), but more consistently I can only make it to their final stages. Would it be worth getting this game, or futari for that matter? Would I stand a chance at either?
or you could try to play Bakaraid for points then hate yourself for trying ...
Question: do the gems get smaller (therefore being worth less) if you take longer to pick them up? Basically, what determines their value...
<<<incoming a pathetic attempt to explaining>>>
Being in close proximity to the enemy while destroying them gives you a large gem where are being far away give you small gem (a little different than ESPG1 when the difference was determined based on if you were in the top area of the screen). When you enter Kakusei mode the red circular "time" gauge around your character fills (while your green gems deplete), it will do this several times until the Kakusei gauge disappears all together. Each time that red circle completes a rotation enemies will drop more green gems when destroyed (while your NOT in Kakusei mode). So it might be wise to instantly start the game and activate Kakusei, then let it charge all the way up before re-entering regular mode because then it will be easy to rapidly fill up your gem meter.
"I've had quite a few pcbs of Fire Shark over time, and none of them cost me over £30 - so it won't break the bank by any standards." ~Malc
Got my copy today. I forgot how smooth the Galuda games are. Compared to Futari, where balancing spastic shifts in speed was the norm, this game flows like ice-cream soup.
If you don't one-life Omake mode on your first try, hand in your shmup-o card and retire.
Very good game. Much more difficult than the first. Probably one of their harder efforts. Not sure where it would rank.
I was struggling terribly to get past the 3rd stage boss, and my Hori pad started doing that "left glide" thing, and I had to put it aside. Hooked up the PS2 controller via converter, and made it to the 4th level boss(crazy tank head).
So, i'm getting more into it now.
Last edited by evil_ash_xero on Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
yyr wrote: However, at least right now, I am finding Zesshikai to be a complete mindfuck. I already knew from watching videos that except for the (very) few places it makes the game easier, it causes the world to hate you and throw bullets. But I've entered Zesshikai in places where there were few bullets on the screen and came away with 10-20 million points in a short time. Conversely, I've gone in when the screen seemed filled with bullets, and came away with virtually nothing, except occasionally a shot in the face. =) The explanation in the strategy thread sounds like it makes sense, but in the heat of battle... thus far I've choked.
I have to agree with this.
For the Arcade/360 version of this game, I currently get a tad confused on where and when to use Zesshikai. It just doesnt make as much sense as I'd like it to, which makes it not as enjoyable to me. With something like Futari's God mode, it all makes perfect sense, and I can easily come up with my own tactics and strategies for scoring high, which is what I like to do. I dont really like having to learn by mimicing replays. But for this game, Im having alot of trouble doing that.
On the other hand though, Black Label, THAT makes sense to me. I've learned how most of it works at this point, and it all just makes sense. And it doesnt feel as "strict" to me as the other mode does. It seems like there's more room overall for me to come up with my own ways of doing things; I dont HAVE to do everything in one specific way (which is why scoring in games like DoDonPachi irritates me).
So far, I prefer Black Label to the original version, just due to what I think is a much better scoring system.
You want to activate Zesshikai right BEFORE the bullets start to pile up on the screen. The reason is because this mode causes a lot of patterns to double their bullet count. You also want to give the bullets plenty of time to pile up once you've done this, so don't flip in, kill the enemy, and flip out, like you would Kakusei.
Also on bosses, when you kill them with Zesshikai, they continue to spawn bullets for a bit after you've killed them. So the timing becomes a little more tricky. Same basic idea though, activate a bit ahead of time, wait for bullets to pile up, kill them a little early.
The other thing is that canceling respawned bullets repeatedly is very valuable, so a smart plan is to cancel a ton of normal bullets, then slowly tap individual enemies every time the bullets respawn. It takes some practice due to how they respawn though, they don't all come back in at once so you have to wait longer than you'd expect. You can rack up around a million with each cancel like this, so even if an area doesn't have a lot of bullets to begin with, if you stock up enough gems/gold, you can still make some pretty solid points.
i would say the best/easiest place to practice the basics of Zesshikai (im not an expert myself) is on level 3. you can use the first bit of the level with the popcorn and tanks to build up gems then go into kakusei mode to destroy the first mid size ship in the air to get a load of gold. then stay in normal mode till the second mid size ship not long after and activate zesshikai. when you pop the mid size ship a shit load of bullets will appear and you just want to try and escape /herd these away from you while shooting a popcorn enemy at intervals to cancel the bullets everytime the screen gets full.
So if you're playing on a CRT don't turn Smoothing "OFF" for any modes. I assumed this was just some dumb filter, but without it on the background is segmented into horizontal bars and brings back horrors of bad PS2 ports.
Also, why no proper Tate option that fills the screen? Having to zoom to 140% seems awkward and quite unintuitive.
Thanks Gwyrgyn Blood for that brief explanation on useful Zesshikai tactics.
Also, why no proper Tate option that fills the screen? Having to zoom to 140% seems awkward and quite unintuitive.
I have a feeling it's because screens are all slightly different in proportions and whatnot. I only need to zoom 135% for full screen. Another possibility is that since many people have 16:9 it allows them to get things the way they want, I dunno really.
"I've had quite a few pcbs of Fire Shark over time, and none of them cost me over £30 - so it won't break the bank by any standards." ~Malc
8 1/2 wrote:So if you're playing on a CRT don't turn Smoothing "OFF" for any modes. I assumed this was just some dumb filter, but without it on the background is segmented into horizontal bars and brings back horrors of bad PS2 ports.
D:
Should have this in an hour or so when the mail gets here. I'll get to see how it looks on my cab firsthand.
I zoom to 148%. But I have analog controls as I'm on an arcade monitor. I really like having the zoom by percent option, as I can setup all games to display correctly without having to adjust my monitor.
Well, tried some of the tips on Zesshikai, and....
Aaaagh. So far, I dont really like the original version of this game very much.
Black Label is buckets of awesome. So far though, Arcade/360 just makes me wanna kick something. The scoring system seems..... obnoxious.
I mean, not that I expected too much from the scoring; before DeathSmiles and Futari, the only Cave game with scoring I didnt totally hate was Progear, but still.
My main problem with it is the same as my main problem with alot of their games, what seems like the hyper-strict-ness of this system. It's like, ok, I've got some gems, lets go into the other mod- THEYRE GONE ALREADY. And then Zesshikai makes you have to worry about gold as well. Ugh.
And unlike with BL, I dont see the use of Overmode in this one.
Maybe Im missing something here, but so far, it's just plain irritating. I think I'll just stick with Black Label on this one, at least for now.
I really like Elixer's Mushi Futari 1.5 thread with all of the pics and what not of the various editions/swag... do you think it's possible to edit this thread with the same sort of format?
so its kicking me bum for the time being. I'll post a score once I can handle it with a bit more grace.
| My games - http://www.emphatic.se
Glad to know there's at least some in there at extreme points.
