STG Weekly #73: Varth

[Aquas]

Here's the Twitch highlight to today's episode. Twitch's Youtube exporter is currently down.

Well, it was a fun one. I think I did okay on audio mixing, think I'll have it perfect next week since I recently changed some of my stream's settings.

http://www.twitch.tv/stgweekly/c/3116085

If anyone has any specific Halloweeny shmups to suggest for next week, please feel free. So far, we have: Sinistar, a Cotton game that isn't Cotton 1 Arcade (but which?), X-Multiply, but surely there are more that fit the theme... right?

If not, it may turn out to be a feature on X-Multiply with Iast, and then the others games as bonuses.

[iast]

Just as a heads-up, you may not want to eat anything before next week's STG Weekly. Maybe not afterwards either, depending on your constitution.

[CIT]

If anyone has any specific Halloweeny shmups to suggest for next week, please feel free. So far, we have: Sinistar, a Cotton game that isn't Cotton 1 Arcade (but which?), X-Multiply, but surely there are more that fit the theme... right?

Harmful Park has an entire Halloween/Haunted-mansion-themed stage.

[Aquas]

And it's up on Youtube now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7KzG2algEg

[RNGmaster]

PROGEAR WHEN

[Jeneki]

That was a fun episode. Reading through the credits on older games like those can be hilarious.
Although one could argue spreading emphasis across six different games doesn't give enough time to each (there wasn't much info on 5 and 6 especially).

I was surprised to hear the hosts state they have not played Soukyugurentai. That game definitely deserves an episode.

[Aquas]

Current episode: #40: All Hollow's Shmups
Scheduled for Sunday, October 27th, 3:00pm CST
Guests: iast, ChibiUFO, tokyobassist?, Soda, Frenetic (AKA Party!!)

Various Halloween related STG, clips and commentary, PARTY!

[Aleksei]

Deathsmiles 2?

[beatsgo]

Deathsmiles 2?

It's too early for Christmas man

[Aleksei]

Deathsmiles 2?

It's too early for Christmas man

I guessed right, DS2 was the first game shown.

[Aquas]

Deathsmiles 2?

It's too early for Christmas man

I guessed right, DS2 was the first game shown.

Well, I'm glad you mentioned it. It ended up being a late edition to the line-up

Episode is up on Youtube in glorious HD. Soda did an amazing job producing this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCnNIzXVrxo

[Aquas]

Current episode: 41: Ketsui
Scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 9th, @ 3pm CST
Guests: ResumeDPosition

Covering Jaimers 2-ALL Ura + a little bit of Omote as well.

[emphatic]

Current episode: 41: Ketsui
Scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 9th, @ 3pm CST
Guests: ResumeDPosition

Covering Jaimers 2-ALL Ura + a little bit of Omote as well.

Awesome!

[ZaKa-tokyobassist]

Oh man Ketsui is my current jam! Can't wait for the episode.

[drunkninja24]

Oh hell yes, can't wait for this one. Ketsui is my shit

[Emuser]

Call me Emuser :p

I'm excited to finally be going on, I am a little nervous as there is a lot to cover and hope that nothing big is skipped over. Looking forward to doing this.

[nasty_wolverine]

Call me Emuser :p

I'm excited to finally be going on, I am a little nervous as there is a lot to cover and hope that nothing big is skipped over. Looking forward to doing this.

Hey, It would be great if you can go over some survival topics as well. Like where a beginner player might need to bomb, where to forget chaining and just kill the damn suckers... From my experience, stage 1-2, dont need any bombing, at stage 3 only place a bomb is necessary is at the end before the boss with the B2 bomber, but stage 4-5 I am not really sure where to bomb, so i just end up panic bombing my way through... also may be easy tactics to do against the midboss and bosses for a faster kill. I know for sure that if you dont kill the stage 4 boss fast enough, it starts using some very nasty patterns.

[Jonst]

Stage 4 boss has brutal attacks whether you kill it fast or not.it's a pig! Fucks me up every time.

[nasty_wolverine]

Stage 4 boss has brutal attacks whether you kill it fast or not.it's a pig! Fucks me up every time.

Like the first form, if you dont destroy it quickly enough, it goes to the bottom (cant lock shot, if you let go of it), then starts spamming a net + hook to catch you, if that fails goes back right up, causes bullet spam rain. I usually end up emptying about 4-5 bombs there.

[Emuser]

Call me Emuser :p

I'm excited to finally be going on, I am a little nervous as there is a lot to cover and hope that nothing big is skipped over. Looking forward to doing this.

Hey, It would be great if you can go over some survival topics as well. Like where a beginner player might need to bomb, where to forget chaining and just kill the damn suckers... From my experience, stage 1-2, dont need any bombing, at stage 3 only place a bomb is necessary is at the end before the boss with the B2 bomber, but stage 4-5 I am not really sure where to bomb, so i just end up panic bombing my way through... also may be easy tactics to do against the midboss and bosses for a faster kill. I know for sure that if you dont kill the stage 4 boss fast enough, it starts using some very nasty patterns.

A lot of the game is memorizing everything, but I will try my best with this. The first 3 stages should honestly be pretty cake just for survival before the 1-3 bomb carrier anyhow, assuming someone is playing the game for the first time and spends a week or 2 playing it. After that it comes down to "do you know how to handle this? y = no bomb, n = bomb!" since getting a 1-ALL and bomb spamming is very generous at that point. I know what you mean though and from the perspective of someone playing it recently and looking for random pointers for the rest of the 1st loop, there are definitely a few things I have in mind that should be of use.

[nasty_wolverine]

Also, on the topic of empty locking. I know from experience that pressing auto then shot has a different effect than pressing shot then auto.
I use the first method to empty lock the large planes in the first stage before the midboss for the multiplier boost. the second method I use right at the beginning of stage one to get 30/35 chips instead of the usual 20/25 or so. The second method has some kind of damping effect on the shot, so that fewer shots are released right before going into lock shot. So, may be do a 5-10 minute how to and when to on this?

[Emuser]

Also, on the topic of empty locking. I know from experience that pressing auto then shot has a different effect than pressing shot then auto.
I use the first method to empty lock the large planes in the first stage before the midboss for the multiplier boost. the second method I use right at the beginning of stage one to get 30/35 chips instead of the usual 20/25 or so. The second method has some kind of damping effect on the shot, so that fewer shots are released right before going into lock shot. So, may be do a 5-10 minute how to and when to on this?

Yes we're going to cover pretty much everything, but I'm really not that proficient with empty locking since I never really focused on it. There are obvious spots when to do it but I/someone else will cover this stuff as we go. If you ever watch an SPS replay you can see that he'll pretty much empty lock anything he can whenever he can. Should be one of the last things to focus on after becoming familiar with everything else.

[Aquas]

Episode is live tomorrow (Sunday) at 3pm CST.

[ZaKa-tokyobassist]

Damn I missed the live stream but I caught the archive.

Very informative and it should help me out a bit since I still can't 1cc the game. Maybe now I might make it to URA loop.

[emphatic]

A nice episode this week. I know too much already about the game to really appreciate it though.

[Crafty+Mech]

Enjoyed this weeks episode, not really knowing much about Ketsui going in it was very interesting to hear about the two different loops. I wish more Cave titles had 2nd loops!

[broken harbour]

Thanks for the Ketsui episode, I didn't really understand the game as I hadn't played it much, but I liked it anyways.

Now I sort of understand how it works, tho the empty lock / lock thing I'm still kind of confused on.

[nasty_wolverine]

Thanks for the Ketsui episode, I didn't really understand the game as I hadn't played it much, but I liked it anyways.

Now I sort of understand how it works, tho the empty lock / lock thing I'm still kind of confused on.

Its a feel thing, very hard to explain in words without actually doing it... and also requires perfect timing... the basic gist of it is, press auto, damage enemy, press shot while holding auto just as the enemy is about to explode, and and lots of five chips burst out. watch some superplays, the first two large planes are always empty locked, get a hang of the timing.

[MrMonkeyMan]

For people who don't have a basic knowledge of the scoring systems of Ketsui the empty lock is something you really shouldn't concern yourself with. But I'm going to try to explain it here anyway.

Enemies release three sets of chips

1. Destroy an enemy with the normal shot
2. Destroy an enemy with the lock shot
3. Have the lock shot active as well as the chip timer active and the enemy will release bullets from the explosion

You can't combine the chips from 1 and 2. Normal chaining would get you the chips from 2 and 3. Empty lock combines the chips from 1 and 3 without dropping your overall chip count. Set 3 also tends to be the biggest set of chips, and one you would normally miss out on unless you're chaining enemies the normal way.

The timing for the empty lock is different for every enemy. Some enemies only drop one extra chip and it's immediately after they are destroyed. Some enemies like the helicopters in stage 2 will drop chips the entire time they're exploding. The most obvious example of this though is the stage 3 midboss. He blows up for a long time, and the entire time he will release chips if you have the lock shot engaged and a chip chain active.

Empty lock works because you're destroying an enemy with the normal shot which starts a chip chain and nets you chip set 1, at the same moment you've switched to the lock shot as it explodes so you also get chip set 3. Small enemies tend to require incredible timing, but most larger enemies will release chips for a while after, or have a secondary explosion where they release the extra chips.

Here's a video of stage 2 before the midboss where you can see the helicopters releasing extra chips as they spiral and crash into ground. You can also see the large turrets a few seconds later that release some chips when first destroyed and then explode again releasing an extra set of chips. This particular video doesn't really demonstrate the empty lock, but it should help to understand how that third set of chips and empty lock works.

Here's the stage 3 midboss showing the most obvious example in the game. The midboss is destroyed and isn't really releasing any chips, then a chip chain is initiated on the small boat left over. Now simply activating the lock shot will cause chips to pour out of the midboss until your timer runs out, or the midboss stops exploding.

And here's the example in stage 1 that people are always talking about. The empty lock is used on both large planes twice (I actually miss on the final one and only get set 1), and then the building and the turret immediately after. I actually miss the turret too, destroying it with the lock shot getting chip sets 2 and 3, but dropping my chip total a bit.

The reason empty locking is beneficial for your score is because it lets you build up your multiplier a lot quicker, so you can save your chips for the higher scoring sections, while also building your boss multiplier at the same time. It's basically free chips.

Now I understand some enemies don't give you both sets 2 and 3, like the small helicopters at the very beginning of the game. The only way you can only get two chips from them is with empty lock. Intentional design, or maybe the timing for those two sets overlap so you can't get them both, I don't know.

Well, hope that helps.

[jepjepjep]

Well, hope that helps.

Thanks for that explanation.