Xbox 360: Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (November 2009)

[Skykid]

I bet you're a lot closer to a 1cc than you think.

[moozooh]

You don't need a lot of lives for Larsa if you just use your bombs. They do damage after all. You need 1 on the 1st phase, 1-2 on the second, and 2-3 on the third. So 3 bombs in stock and a spare life should pretty much guarantee your victory.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Stage 5 boss.. forget it

You're giving up because it's too hard? Losing is fun! Practice, and don't give the forum stupid excuses like that.

Not as such, but playing this game is like trying to knock down a brick wall by blowing through a drinking straw.

I think I could easily spend the next year playing this game and still be no closer to clearing it. Frankly it feels like work because all you can do is play the same stage over and over and never seem to get consistently better. It wouldn't be so bad if you could break that up with some scoring runs here and there, but that's not really an option either.

When you look at the task (which is to clear the game in 3+2 lives) and avoid all the stitch-ups on the various stages so that you have many lives left for the last stage and boss.. it seems very unlikely.

Edit: I'll have a look at that guide and try it later

It's 3 + 3 lives if you do everything right. There are extends at 35M and 100M, plus a 1up bonus a little past midway of the 5 level. You have to blow up a background object near the top of the screen. You have to be very quick because it's at the top of the screen during a part where the level is scrolling backwards, and if it goes off screen it's gone for good. I usually just use a bomb to clear the screen and rush to the top to grab it.

[burgerkingdiamond]

You don't need a lot of lives for Larsa if you just use your bombs. They do damage after all. You need 1 on the 1st phase, 1-2 on the second, and 2-3 on the third. So 3 bombs in stock and a spare life should pretty much guarantee your victory.

That's good news! I've yet to make it to Larsa with any spare lives in stock. I know that when that happens I'll get that damn 1CC!

[DrTrouserPlank]

Just did a run.

To Stage 5 with no lives remaining, 112M, had to bomb in loads of places I don't want to because you can't afford to take the risk not to. Although I lost lives at silly points I'd still consider this a lucky run. Would probably take me another 3 or so goes to get to stage 5 again.

No chance of memorising a sequence for stage 4, it's too chaotic so I just have to make it up.
Stage 5 similarly except you get pinned to the side all the time so bombs and lives will go very fast.... never going to have enough lives left for this and the boss.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Just did a run.

To Stage 5 with no lives remaining, 112M, had to bomb in loads of places I don't want to because you can't afford to take the risk not to. Although I lost lives at silly points I'd still consider this a lucky run. Would probably take me another 3 or so goes to get to stage 5 again.

No chance of memorising a sequence for stage 4, it's too chaotic so I just have to make it up.
Stage 5 similarly except you get pinned to the side all the time so bombs and lives will go very fast.... never going to have enough lives left for this and the boss.

It may seem more difficult than it actually is, but you really need to be able to spot small gaps in the bullet streams and quickly cut across the screen left or right and kind of herd the bullets behind you. Don't try to retreat to the a corner of the screen because you WILL get trapped. You want to be be moving a lot in a lateral motion.

It may seem like you're flirting with death, but I find it very effective on the 4th and 5th levels especially.

[Skykid]

No chance of memorising a sequence for stage 4, it's too chaotic so I just have to make it up.

I see what your problem is: you're just feeling overwhelmed by it all.

Honestly, I'd say you're playing the wrong game. If there's no sense in the bullet hell, you have to start with something that does make sense. Everything in M1.5 has an order, it's up to you to push back against the chaos (that's what makes it fun.)

I'd suggest clearing the original Mushihimesama before tackling 1.5, it's easier and will help you to see through patterns.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Well stage 4 is too long anyway and after halfway its just a mess. I sweep across the screen all the time but eventually one of those sweeps gets me pinned by another flock of ladybird, or just too many enemies flooding the screen.

Of course I can sweep around the caterpillars and whatever to clear the screen now and then but it's just relentless and impossible to actually memorise what is coming from where and when, especially when I'm trying to kill things that aren't even on the screen yet.

As for stage 5 I think that doing that in a run where you can't take any risks is beyond ridiculous.

[RNGmaster]

As for stage 5 I think that doing that in a run where you can't take any risks is beyond ridiculous.

Then why have so many people here 1cc'd the game? What does Sapz have that you don't? Oh, that's right, practice. You have no excuse.

[moozooh]

Well, not really, the excuse is then SAPZ HAS NO LIFE AND IS PROBABLY A FAT BESPECTACLED LOSER!!11 I VALUE MY TIME AND AM A BUSY PERSON JEEZ I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN!111 :D

[Skykid]

Well, not really, the excuse is then SAPZ HAS NO LIFE AND IS PROBABLY A FAT BESPECTACLED LOSER!!11 I VALUE MY TIME AND AM A BUSY PERSON JEEZ I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN!111

Even though this is sarcasm, it's worth noting Sapz isn't fat or bespectacled, but a thoroughly nice guy... until you get him on the bumper cars, at which point he isn't afraid to put his Futari skills to the test, weave between oncoming traffic and ram you at full speed.

[StarCreator]

Even though this is sarcasm, it's worth noting Sapz isn't fat or bespectacled, but a thoroughly nice guy... until you get him on the bumper cars, at which point he isn't afraid to put his Futari skills to the test, weave between oncoming traffic and ram you at full speed.

I think I'm going to need to see video of this.

[Sapz]

I regret nothing!

[DrTrouserPlank]

Here's a question.

'Is there any value in runs (as opposed to drilling a stage in practice) even if you aren't clearing the game?'

I've been belittled for my paltry 121M but I still think that's ok. I'll still think it's ok if I score 160M when/if I ever clear the game. I know it's not a good score, but surely seeing some improvement in either how far you get on a run, or how much you score is better than trying to drill a stage to the point where you feel that someone ought to be paying you to play this game such is the monotony involved in making seemingly no progress in practice mode.

[ncp]

practice mode? more like little girl mode

real runs are usually more fun so I stick to those for the most part, unless there's a very specific section I need to figure out...

whatever is fun for you is what you should do.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Well, I don't consider practice mode to be "little girl mode". Without using a method to practice stages at the click of a button, the time to clear a shump would increase exponentially. It's a "productivity tool" as it were. A way to help you clear (in my opinion) a very difficult game.

I find runs more fun although they are not without their problems and are largely 40% wasted time even for me; as the first two stages are trivial for survival. I can play with the scoring a bit and I can come on here and get laughed at when I say I started stage 3 with a new high of 52M etc.

At least with runs (and some practice under my belt) I can at least feel as though I'm making progress when I see my high-score improve. Whilst I appreciate highscore may not be an indication of movement towards a clear, in my case it probably indicates less frequent deaths or deeper progress towards the end as a whole.

[Sapz]

It's fine to play a game either way, I think. However, if I'm consistently messing up a certain stage in a game, I'd usually go ahead and practice it until I feel more confident about it. Again, though, that's only because I find the practice enjoyable. If you find a section overwhelming, it's a good idea to learn the enemy spawn spots and find a route to get rid of them in a manageable way. High scoring replays will usually do a lot of this kind of thing since the shot switching necessarily means you're going to have to be efficient if you don't want to be overwhelmed while still using the correct shot every time, so it's a good idea to study them if you're still having trouble.

[Skykid]

I regret nothing!

I saw x10000 points raining down after that collision.

[RNGmaster]

practice mode? more like skip the boring parts and get to the fun areas of the game and don't waste valuable time restarting mode

FTFY

[ncp]

practice mode? more like skip the boring parts and get to the fun areas of the game and don't waste valuable time restarting mode

FTFY

Executing a difficult section in practice mode is like hitting a home run in a baseball game
Executing a difficult section in a real run is like hitting a grand slam in the world series

Same hit, but one just feels better. Gotta appreciate the excitement that only a full score run can give. I just don't give a damn when I die or do something awesome in practice mode, because there's no consequence for dying so I can just hammer it over and over until I get lucky and dodge it.

Not like I haven't spent some time in practice myself, though. Useful for difficult section that you need to figure out, but if you spend more time in practice mode than real runs, I think you're just robbing yourself of fun.

[ptoing]

That is true, tho sometimes I wish practise mode could be tweaked a bit more. Like if you could choose to play FROM level 3 or something and just skip the first 2 for the sake of practise.

[Icarus]

If you already know what item counts you have at the end of each stage, you can set up practice mode quite easily.

For me (approx total item count, assuming I'm going through my usual no-miss 3-bomb route to Larsa):

st2 start: 6,900
st2 boss: 17,500
st3 start: 18,000
st3 boss: 33,500
st4 start: 34,000
st4 boss: 47,500
st5 start: 48,000
st5 boss: 65,000

[RNGmaster]

...if you spend more time in practice mode than real runs, I think you're just robbing yourself of fun.

Practice mode strips the games down to the parts that are difficult. Is it really "fun" to run through the first two stages hundreds of times, getting sick of the music and losing focus until you run into a bullet and restart again? I wouldn't say so. Some of my best dodges were accomplished during save-state practice or stage select, and that doesn't make them any less valid. In fact, I was able to use replays in StellaVanity 0.22e to play for score at a level much higher than I could in the normal game, and hell yes it was satisfying.

I recall reading in a book a while ago that it's hard to improve any skill (painting, memorizing numbers, etc) unless you force yourself to perform at a higher level of difficulty than you are comfortable with. Only by failing can you discover your weaknesses, and only by discovering your weaknesses can you get rid of them and become better.

[moozooh]

DDP's 1st loop was the first arcade shmup I've cleared without using any kind of practice. It took me — and this is a very conservative estimate! — around 80 hours. Basically it was a game I played on and off since early 2007, and only managed to clear in early 2010.

Futari 1.5 Original, on the other hand, took under 30 hours (and that's counting me playing on all modes of the game, including Arrange and Black Label). Just because I took a couple hours to learn bosses and certain parts of stages 3 to 5 at high rank. It was pretty much the same with DOJ BL since I'd already known how to deal with bosses from Death Label, so stages were actually the more difficult part of the game (mostly solved by point-blank type B autofire).

[NTSC-J]

I beat Futari 1.5 on my second or third try.*

I beat Deathsmiles on my second try.

I beat DFK 1.5 on my second.

And I beat Akai Katana on my fourth.

Either I'm really lucky or these games become easier the more you play them. Perhaps had I whined more about how unfair they are I would've beat them even faster. I mean, would it kill them to design a game I can beat on my first go? I swear I'm cursed.

Seriously though, even after 10 years of playing these games, I still feel pretty inept when it comes to getting high scores. But I take responsibility for that and admit that it's my shortcomings (bad at strategizing, poor attention span, I choke harder than Lebron, etc.) that are the reason that I'm still a gatekeeper/journeyman and not a belt-holding champion.

*(Alright, I had played 1.0 a couple dozen times beforehand, but this was all in the arcade, it's still 'core).

[DrTrouserPlank]

Found I can break up the practicing of stage 4 and 5 with some original runs and some maniac runs for variety.

Managed to get through stage 5 a couple of times but it's not great because I'm getting a 35M repeat which I obviously wouldn't get on a run, and I'm grabbing the 1up; so in total I'm losing 4 lives in order to get to the boss along with a fair bit of bombing when I end up backed into a corner. Still not clearing the boss of course. Haven't cleared it once in practice either

[burgerkingdiamond]

Found I can break up the practicing of stage 4 and 5 with some original runs and some maniac runs for variety.

Managed to get through stage 5 a couple of times but it's not great because I'm getting a 35M repeat which I obviously wouldn't get on a run, and I'm grabbing the 1up; so in total I'm losing 4 lives in order to get to the boss along with a fair bit of bombing when I end up backed into a corner. Still not clearing the boss of course. Haven't cleared it once in practice either

you must focus your mind grosshopper

[DrTrouserPlank]

Found I can break up the practicing of stage 4 and 5 with some original runs and some maniac runs for variety.

Managed to get through stage 5 a couple of times but it's not great because I'm getting a 35M repeat which I obviously wouldn't get on a run, and I'm grabbing the 1up; so in total I'm losing 4 lives in order to get to the boss along with a fair bit of bombing when I end up backed into a corner. Still not clearing the boss of course. Haven't cleared it once in practice either

you must focus your mind grosshopper

Playing stages endlessly in training mode is sure to bore me to tears eventually though, especially if I'm making little progress. I might run stage 5 about five times, then give 4 a couple of goes and do a few more 5's and a boss or two, but at least having a run on original to beat my immense 121M or practicing maniac to try to get the 100M achievement breaks it up and doesn't feel as restrictive.

Ultimately I need to do some runs anyway or else my knowledge of the game will be almost theoretical having been honed in practice mode with little experience of doing a run and the different mindset that comes with it (as opposed to "no consequences" training mode)

[dunpeal2064]

I think breaking up runs with harder modes is a good way to get that stress off. Most of my high scores weren't done after tedious practise, but after I was able to relax myself and just zone in and enjoy the game.

Granted, I was only able to do that after tons and tons of practise.

Been at this game for months, and still haven't hit the 1cc. Not really trying for that as much as I'm going for the high scores

[Icarus]

If you're expecting this game to roll over and die without you putting in even a minimal amount of effort, then you have another thing coming.
What's really amusing, is that Futari 1.5 Original is nowhere near the toughest Cave game available, and I'd hate to think of how much moaning will ensue when you pick one of those up. Swallow your pride and L2P, people have given you enough help and encouragement already. The last step is yours, and yours only.