Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 06, 2009 2:35 am

Didn't know you cared for achievements, EOJ.

Personally, I don't like the ones in Death Smiles. You get rewarded for continuing 50 times, you don't get anything for beating bosses in 1.1, you have to go through a stage without shooting, and you have to time out Sakura. I mean, what the hell. More stuff nobody would go out of their way to do normally.

kk1030 · Post by **kk1030** » Wed May 06, 2009 2:43 am

Elixir wrote:Didn't know you cared for achievements, EOJ.

Personally, I don't like the ones in Death Smiles. You get rewarded for continuing 50 times, you don't get anything for beating bosses in 1.1, you have to go through a stage without shooting, and you have to time out Sakura. I mean, what the hell. More stuff nobody would go out of their way to do normally.

you forgot to mention about watching the bath scene 10 times.....

CStarFlare · Post by **CStarFlare** » Wed May 06, 2009 3:41 am

Elixir wrote:Personally, I don't like the ones in Death Smiles. You get rewarded for continuing 50 times, you don't get anything for beating bosses in 1.1, you have to go through a stage without shooting, and you have to time out Sakura. I mean, what the hell. More stuff nobody would go out of their way to do normally.

I think achievements like "Time Out X" are kind of fun; they take you out of your comfort zone of "kill this bitch asap" and force you to play in a new way, bettering yourself in the process.

Shit like "continue 50 times" sucks if you don't continue, but are easily grindable. You should be able to read a book while doing that one.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 06, 2009 3:50 am

CStarFlare wrote:
Elixir wrote:Personally, I don't like the ones in Death Smiles. You get rewarded for continuing 50 times, you don't get anything for beating bosses in 1.1, you have to go through a stage without shooting, and you have to time out Sakura. I mean, what the hell. More stuff nobody would go out of their way to do normally.
I think achievements like "Time Out X" are kind of fun; they take you out of your comfort zone of "kill this bitch asap" and force you to play in a new way, bettering yourself in the process.

Shit like "continue 50 times" sucks if you don't continue, but are easily grindable. You should be able to read a book while doing that one.

Yeah, see, timing out Sakura is not that difficult. It's pointless and you wouldn't normally do it. It isn't an "achievement", an achievement is where you 1cc the game, beat a boss, or get a certain score/grade/whatever. More importantly, why on earth would you time out Sakura?

Shooting Love 200X has fairly decent achievements in this regard, as you're rewarded for getting to level 99 on some of the tests. Good luck with the dodging ones. But then again, it also has achievements like "pause at 23 seconds into the fourth boss of Trizeal to make him drop a bomb", which is just plain stupid.

DBHashman93 · Post by **DBHashman93** » Wed May 06, 2009 4:10 am

Alright, my copy arrived today! After playing for a bit I have a couple of questions though.

1) Is there a way to upgrade the visuals in arcade mode to HD like 1.1 and 360 mode? I much prefer the original mechanics but I can't seem to find any way to play it besides in a tiny box on my HDTV. I guess I can always hook the 360 up to a CRT, but those HD visuals sure do look nice.

2) I may as well ask here while I'm posting: did they change the item you get from the car in level 3-2 in arcade mode? The strategy thread says you're supposed to get an extra life...all I can seem to get is an extra bomb from the car even on rank 3.

Thanks for the help!

kk1030 · Post by **kk1030** » Wed May 06, 2009 4:35 am

DBHashman93 wrote:Alright, my copy arrived today! After playing for a bit I have a couple of questions though.

1) Is there a way to upgrade the visuals in arcade mode to HD like 1.1 and 360 mode? I much prefer the original mechanics but I can't seem to find any way to play it besides in a tiny box on my HDTV. I guess I can always hook the 360 up to a CRT, but those HD visuals sure do look nice.

2) I may as well ask here while I'm posting: did they change the item you get from the car in level 3-2 in arcade mode? The strategy thread says you're supposed to get an extra life...all I can seem to get is an extra bomb from the car even on rank 3.

Thanks for the help!

1) I thought 360 mode is the same as acrade, just with upgraded graphics
2) It depends on which chapter you are in as well as the rank. For the car, you will only gain an small life if you are in Chapter2/3, rank 2; If you go for Chapter2/3, rank 3, it will yield you a bomb.

Post by **nZero** » Wed May 06, 2009 5:32 am

Elixir wrote:More importantly, why on earth would you time out Sakura?

Because she is your childhood friend (or something) and you would never want to hurt her

Elixir wrote:But then again, it also has achievements like "pause at 23 seconds into the fourth boss of Trizeal to make him drop a bomb", which is just plain stupid.

To be fair, hitting Start never paused it in the original Arcade game

It's more retarded that you have to do stuff like that for score bonuses and bombs in the first place than achievements being made from it.

Crapshoot · Post by **Crapshoot** » Wed May 06, 2009 7:01 am

EOJ wrote:You know there is the "today's hi score" ranking and the all time ranking, right? You press A and left and right to toggle between them. The "today's" scores will always be wiped whenever you exit a mode.

Just want to make sure you haven't overlooked the obvious.

Indeed i have. Thanks for that, I'll get back to me game now then!

Doctor Fugue · Post by **Doctor Fugue** » Wed May 06, 2009 7:56 am

I can't seem to find the answer in this thread:

I pre-ordered the game (non-LE) and stick from Amazon but I didn't get the phone card. Were all copies supposed to have it?

So am I out of luck for getting the full-voice option enabled? (Not that I'm dying to have it, but I would like to know.)

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Wed May 06, 2009 5:27 pm

Doctor Fugue wrote:I can't seem to find the answer in this thread:

I pre-ordered the game (non-LE) and stick from Amazon but I didn't get the phone card. Were all copies supposed to have it?

So am I out of luck for getting the full-voice option enabled? (Not that I'm dying to have it, but I would like to know.)

I have to assume they'll put it up for free download (or maybe a low cost) at some point in the future. Was it a pre-order bonus? I got one, but I don't feel it adds anything to the game. In fact, there seems to be a bug where if you turn them on you can't turn them off again! I've tried...

Guardians Knight · Post by **Guardians Knight** » Wed May 06, 2009 6:23 pm

a score question:

once your counter is at 1000 and then the multiplier goes up, is it best to keep on going till you've max'd out the multiplier then use fever mode, or is it best just to get to 1000 and enter fever mode straight away? also i read something about being able to use your score counter and once its depleted you get it all back again, can someone explain this please?

im in 360 mode btw

Chiaroscuro · Post by **Chiaroscuro** » Wed May 06, 2009 6:34 pm

Got my LE from Play-Asia today, including the DLC card

Now more 7 hours until I can play it.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 06, 2009 9:17 pm

Guardians Knight wrote:a score question:

once your counter is at 1000 and then the multiplier goes up, is it best to keep on going till you've max'd out the multiplier then use fever mode, or is it best just to get to 1000 and enter fever mode straight away? also i read something about being able to use your score counter and once its depleted you get it all back again, can someone explain this please?

im in 360 mode btw

It's possible to stay in fever mode and keep the +10000 bonus, but if you die, it'll get erased. I don't recommend it, instead I'd use fever mode whenever possible.

Recharging consists of you gathering items between the time fever mode finishes and normal mode begins.

TriggerHeartExelica · Wed May 06, 2009 10:30 pm

I like this game but Im a bit confused. Im playing for score yet I can barely get my score over 14,000,000. Is there some sort of trick that I am unaware of?

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:33 pm

The aforementioned recharge.

Anybody got any advice for 1.1 mode? Is it best to get the counter up to 1,000 before hitting power-up, or to go for lots of low-counter power-ups? The extra counter underneath the main one's frying my brain - it's proving to be one extra element too many.

(Not that I'm enjoying 1.1 mode particularly - directly controlling the familiar feels weird and unnatural.)

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:38 pm

For the majority of the time, you only need to control your familiar post-boss, providing you've triggered power up mode just prior to it.

The extra element tells me that dying with a 90k multiplier and losing 30% of it really fucking hurts. You should watch some top replays to get tips as for what to do in ver 1.1. I think EOJ is on the top 10 now.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:43 pm

Hell, I keep forgetting about the downloadable replays. Totally not used to it still, even though all of the 360 shooters have included it. Cheers.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:56 pm

Just to clarify, triggering powerup mode before the boss dies will result in more suicide bullets. Using the lock shot on the boss will raise your power up counter.

So it's generally a good idea to use the lock shot on all bosses (except for maybe Jordan and Sakura's wall attack), trigger it just before they die, then use the option to absorb bullets.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:08 pm

Okay. Having watched the first couple of stages of the current highest score and having a quick go on it myself, I'm taking it that 1.1 mode is absolutely pointless unless you're going to tackle it on rank 3 right from the beginning, yeah? What with rank 3 = suicide bullets and suicide bullets = shitloads of counter points when yr familiar eats them.

Funny, but now that I (sort of) understand what's going on, I think it's kind of brilliant.

corbie · Post by **corbie** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:09 pm

If this has been asked before I apologize. I was curious...what are the three XBL selections you go to when you select either MBL Arcade or MBL Xbox? I know the first one is a game play trailer, but what are the other two things. One is free and one costs 150 Points. Also when will MBL be available?

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:16 pm

That's just the JP marketplace. Two video trailers which are free, and the gamerpics which are 150 points.

And yeah, Rank 3 is definitely a requirement to score high on any mode.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:15 am

Elixir wrote:You should watch some top replays to get tips as for what to do in ver 1.1. I think EOJ is on the top 10 now.

Yes, I'm currently ranked #9 in the "EX Off" ranking of ver 1.1.

GaijinPunch is a few spots behind me.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:39 am

I'm rank 27 or something. That will probably end up meaningless if I don't keep playing, though. I know I can make it into the top 20, I just need to keep practicing.

Sadly I'm enjoying 1.1 way above the other modes. In the vanilla version, I don't like how you can't power up until you're at 1000. MBL is sounding more and more promising as time goes on (sounds like a mix of 1.1 and vanilla, to me) Makes me wonder if CAVE will follow a trend and include an upgraded version of Futari once it's ported. It seems very likely.

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Thu May 07, 2009 2:03 am

Can someone direct me, or post the difference from regular mode and version 1.1?

My play is pretty much 90% on original arcade mode. I have played a few time in Xbox 360 mode but I couldn't care less about HD graphics. The game is great as is. But I am in need of knowing of the changes of the version 1.1. With better understanding of it, I may dive into it more…

Thank You for assistance in this matter.

Chiaroscuro · Post by **Chiaroscuro** » Thu May 07, 2009 2:46 am

Hey, I thought the LE was just a slipcase over the normal edition + CD soundtrack. But the cover of the gamecase itself is also with the same image of the slipcase (not the normal edition cover). I was hoping I could get both covers with the LE (one in the gamecase one in the slipcase) but I guess I was wrong...

kk1030 · Post by **kk1030** » Thu May 07, 2009 2:46 am

Sonic R wrote:Can someone direct me, or post the difference from regular mode and version 1.1?

My play is pretty much 90% on original arcade mode. I have played a few time in Xbox 360 mode but I couldn't care less about HD graphics. The game is great as is. But I am in need of knowing of the changes of the version 1.1. With better understanding of it, I may dive into it more…

Thank You for assistance in this matter.

all the changes has been mentioned in the last page of the game menu

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Thu May 07, 2009 2:57 am

Sonic R wrote:Can someone direct me, or post the difference from regular mode and version 1.1?

As usual, your answers can be found on CAVE-STG.com.

mrtie · Post by **mrtie** » Thu May 07, 2009 3:51 am

Hey I know this kinda a dumb question but how in gods name do you play 2 player, I was sitting there going through every menu and each mode and it only offers 1p start, is it only single player? My and the girl are having fun trading off but would like to 2p action if possible.

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Thu May 07, 2009 4:03 am

EOJ wrote:
Sonic R wrote:Can someone direct me, or post the difference from regular mode and version 1.1?

As usual, your answers can be found on CAVE-STG.com.

Thats exactly what I was looking for. I regret that I do not frequent over there often enough

Thank You!

mrtie wrote:Hey I know this kinda a dumb question but how in gods name do you play 2 player, I was sitting there going through every menu and each mode and it only offers 1p start, is it only single player? My and the girl are having fun trading off but would like to 2p action if possible.

Just start a one player game and when on the character select screen, press start on the 2p controller and that will do it.

Chiaroscuro · Post by **Chiaroscuro** » Thu May 07, 2009 4:50 am

I got some screen resolution bugs. I am running my 360 through VGA cable at 1360x768 resolution. All the Xbox 360 menus and backgrounds are displaced to the left and below, cutting parts of the screen. Once the game begins it is fine, the game screen is centered, but if I pause and get the 360 menu, it is also displaced. I swith to a non widescreen resolution 1024x768 and the problems were gone. I guess if I use component and stays at 720p they will be gone too (will test it tomorrow) but I would like to use my TV native resolution.

Also, the screen size is way big at 100%, cutting the top and botton of the game screen. I have to set it to 92% at 1360x768 resolution.