DARIUS BURST CHRONICLE SAVIOURS (STEAM/PS4/Vita)

[FunktionJCB]

For those who are yet to pick up the game (shame on you ), Green Man Gaming currently has it for 20€, after a 20% off coupon:

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/pt/en/p ... -saviours/

Use the code SPRING20 at checkout.

[scrilla4rella]

https://www.taito.co.jp/20160401

ZOMG!! Darius theme park complete with fishing and underwater Zuntata concert?! So much win

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wait, what day is it in Japan?

[trap15]

If any band would do an underwater concert, it'd be Zuntata.

[EmperorIng]

I finally did it; I finally managed a 1CC of this game, doing the CFJ route!

Spoiler

I can't believe after all this time I still cannot do burst countering for shit. The timing truly eludes me, and I have a 2/5 success chance when doing it; it really infuriates me.

Because of this I have played as the Genesis more, because the burst laser is simpler and is a safer way of dealing damage. On the flip side, as I ruefully learned, you lose the ability to dodge a lot of shrapnel the bosses spit out at you.

Mirage Castle is still a nightmare with those dickish red lasers. It's horrendously frustrating that those little red shits come out all over the place and killed me twice with almost no way to properly react or dodge. Since Castle does not spend a long time firing his burst, it isn't a guaranteed fight-finisher like it is the other bosses. Seriously, I think I have to avoid that boss now whenever I play a route, because i don't see myself getting through without losing a life (especially if I can't burst counter).

Hungry Gluttons, by contrast is such an easier boss. Really tense with the blue-lasers inching in on you with all the black bullets (especially with no way to use a laser to cancel them), but much simpler patterns, and far less health.

Phew! Very happy I finally cleared a route in this game. I'm also sad at my slowness - there is more than half of CS mode to punch my way through (I come to it in bursts, no pun intended... I can only refight Hard Wheel so many times before needing a break), more routes, all of EX mode, and I haven't even bothered with Chronicle mode. =(

[DKA_Darius]

I finally did it; I finally managed a 1CC of this game, doing the CFJ route!

Spoiler

I can't believe after all this time I still cannot do burst countering for shit. The timing truly eludes me, and I have a 2/5 success chance when doing it; it really infuriates me.

Because of this I have played as the Genesis more, because the burst laser is simpler and is a safer way of dealing damage. On the flip side, as I ruefully learned, you lose the ability to dodge a lot of shrapnel the bosses spit out at you.

Mirage Castle is still a nightmare with those dickish red lasers. It's horrendously frustrating that those little red shits come out all over the place and killed me twice with almost no way to properly react or dodge. Since Castle does not spend a long time firing his burst, it isn't a guaranteed fight-finisher like it is the other bosses. Seriously, I think I have to avoid that boss now whenever I play a route, because i don't see myself getting through without losing a life (especially if I can't burst counter).

Hungry Gluttons, by contrast is such an easier boss. Really tense with the blue-lasers inching in on you with all the black bullets (especially with no way to use a laser to cancel them), but much simpler patterns, and far less health.

Phew! Very happy I finally cleared a route in this game. I'm also sad at my slowness - there is more than half of CS mode to punch my way through (I come to it in bursts, no pun intended... I can only refight Hard Wheel so many times before needing a break), more routes, all of EX mode, and I haven't even bothered with Chronicle mode. =(

Easy to counter burst in the stage of Hungry Gluttons actually.

[Blattdorf]

I had difficulty with counter-bursting until I changed my mindset about it. After that, I was able to pull it off consistently.

Here's my advice:

Try pressing the burst button to look at the wind-up phase. The wind-up phase lasts about a second, like a one-two. Get a feel for it.

Now, the trick is to get hit by the enemy beam while the wind-up phase is still happening.

The other trick is to forget about any visual indicators. The only thing that interests you is the sound you hear when you get hit.

You want to overlap the wind-up phase with the sound. If you are in the wind-up phase when the "you got hit" sound is supposed to play, you will counter-burst instead.

It's easier to learn counter-bursting through cut-ins instead of through straight deflection because the "one-two-three" ping can be confusing as to when to actually start bursting.

[DKA_Darius]

I deeply believe that the HP of fish group (200pts per unit, group bonues 2000pts) is reduced after the upgrating of DLC mode. So it is definitely easy to destroy more fish group in this version, probably the same HP, comparing to the Japnese DBACEX cabinet.

[boagman]

It's been a couple of weeks, but I was getting my oil changed in my vehicle today, and that meant I was going to be wasting 1 3/4 hours of my life waiting in a dealership's Customer Lounge, while they (slowly) did the job. TIME FOR OUR REMATCH, HUNGRY GLUTTONS!!!!

Finally bested him on my third try, on my very last shield. It really is one of the most satisfying feelings in all of Shmupdom...defeating the enemy on your last breath, for lack of a better turn of phrase. Mmmm, satisfying.

Got a couple other missions blown through, and then Ancient Barrage started handing me my hat and sarcastically asking, "What's your hurry?". Fun stuff, still.

One of the things I'm finding really interesting/gratifying is the constant switching of the preset ships in CS mode, and it's more than just the musical changes, too. The very different way you quickly learn you have to play with each ship (i.e. some ships have burst, others don't) really keeps me on my toes.

[boagman]

So I turned the Vita on again tonight on one of the newly accessed levels, started having a great run...and the battery died.

Gotta love the Giant Middle Finger Of Doom.

[gs68]

Kinda wish DLC mode had by-ship ranking instead of just piling all scores into one table for each stage. Haven't booted the game up in a while, but let me guess: Inter Gray for days.

Also wish there was a "total score" table for CS mode, or some other way of tallying overall performance (since some stages have much higher score potential than others), would probably be a good competitive incentive.

[NickPalmerDegica]

The Sega DLCs are now live on Steam.

You can grab them as a bundle or buy them individually.

Same deal as the Taito DLCs. New levels, you can only use the ships in their levels, but you can use base game ships in the new levels.

The DLCs are: Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, and Galaxy Force II

Have fun!

[Firehawke]

Not so big on Opa-Opa, but the other two are pretty fun. I'll admit I had some questions about what they'd have to do to make Space Harrier work, but they managed to make him work well.

[FunktionJCB]

Not so big on Opa-Opa, but the other two are pretty fun. I'll admit I had some questions about what they'd have to do to make Space Harrier work, but they managed to make him work well.

I'm a bit on the opposite side: of all 6 DLCs, Space Harrier is probably the one I enjoy less (because of the need to stop shooting, and press the opposite direction to where you want to shoot next), and I actually enjoy Opa-Opa (the purchase weapons mechanic seems a bit odd at first, but you easily get the hang of it, and those weapons/power ups are rather powerful).

[Rupert H]

http://silverhawk.html.xdomain.jp/

This is an amazing resource for anybody intent on taking down CS mode.

[boagman]

http://silverhawk.html.xdomain.jp/

This is an amazing resource for anybody intent on taking down CS mode.

Holy stinking crap. I just looked ahead on the map at the "schedule" that is what I believe to be the final mission of Kyokkuho. That's...that's going to be quite an accomplishment. I mean, wow.

I'm about 1/4-1/3 of the way through right now (Narapagua, approximately), and I'm nowhere *near* ready for a marathon of that session. Shoot...I'm just discovering the wonder and mystery that is Fixed Burst!

[amdiggywhut]

Is Kyokkuho the actual last level (in order to see the ending) or like a TLB type of thing? Because I agree with boagman, that doesn't look doable for me.

[Shepardus]

Kyokkuho is a secret mission that unlocks after completing all other missions. The one before it has an ending and staff roll, but Kyokkuho has a different ending.

[DenT4F]

Just played the Sega DLC a little. I enjoy OPA-OPA a lot but I'm not enjoying the other two as much as I thought I would. As mention in a post above, Space Harrier controls are counter intuitive and Galaxy Force is just bland. The music is excellent all around though, so that's a big plus. Still happy about the pack because of the nostalgia factor but overall, I think the Taito pack is much better.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Try-Z looks basic but is pretty powerful, I just took out Great Thing with very little effort. It even seems to have a counter burst but I'm not sure what it does, the shield flares for a short while if you do the missile/dodge thing through a beam.

[Blattdorf]

The problem with the DLC is that I would have loved a separate CS-style map for the lot of them. Beyond, there's just a handful of missions that you can clear however you want, so there isn't even the Preset-like challenge to it.

[boagman]

I do feel the need to say this: this game is, singularly, making me glad I have a Vita. I'm enjoying the ever-living crap out of being able to play this on the go.

One caveat: the Vita's button(s) does/do cut into the finger after playing for a good while, but that's picking nits. This game is making the whole thing worthwhile, and to be honest, I hadn't been impressed with the Vita until now, other than in a "That's a pretty sexy little piece of hardware..." way. This singular game is making it a worthy purchase for me. Rayman Legends didn't do it, Dragon's Crown didn't do it (but that might be at least half my fault)...nothing until now.

Very, very good.

[Malenko]

Snagged this from greenmangaming for $20 worth every penny. I made the mistake of jumping into EX mode right off the bat and did super crummy.

I still haven't figured out how the "life bar" works but I love the art direction with the bosses and the game in general. Absolutely love playing it across 2 monitors, just wish my monitors had a smaller bezel.

[DenT4F]

I do feel the need to say this: this game is, singularly, making me glad I have a Vita. I'm enjoying the ever-living crap out of being able to play this on the go.

One caveat: the Vita's button(s) does/do cut into the finger after playing for a good while, but that's picking nits. This game is making the whole thing worthwhile, and to be honest, I hadn't been impressed with the Vita until now, other than in a "That's a pretty sexy little piece of hardware..." way. This singular game is making it a worthy purchase for me. Rayman Legends didn't do it, Dragon's Crown didn't do it (but that might be at least half my fault)...nothing until now.

Very, very good.

Have you tried Super Stardust Delta on your Vita? It's my favorite game to play on the device. It's not quite as brilliant as Darius but it remains a very good shoot em up in my opinion. Sidenote, it's not PS TV compatible in case this matters to you.

I apologize for going off topic for a minute, I guess I could have sent you a private message but since I'm new here.. it didn't feel right. Please let me know if this reply is frowned upon.

[Durandal]

I still haven't figured out how the "life bar" works

there is none
the only way you can tell how close the boss is to death is how red the boss is, and whether red sparks start showing up around the boss
the Burst series would have really benefited from a life bar, but the devs probably never did it because the other Darius games never had a life bar either
you'll see what I'm talking about when you are trying to finish off the boss with the Gaiden BHB or Assault Counterburst Finish for a higher score multiplier on destroying the boss, only to have that boss's HP reduced to 0.1 HP and fucking up your score

[boagman]

Have you tried Super Stardust Delta on your Vita? It's my favorite game to play on the device. It's not quite as brilliant as Darius but it remains a very good shoot em up in my opinion. Sidenote, it's not PS TV compatible in case this matters to you.

I apologize for going off topic for a minute, I guess I could have sent you a private message but since I'm new here.. it didn't feel right. Please let me know if this reply is frowned upon.

I have not. Unfortunately, I am one of "those people" who almost exclusively always buy only physical forms of games, and if a particular title isn't available for physical release, I'm very, very, *very* hard to get interested in such things. To my recollection, PomPomGames' "Space Tripper" is the only game I've ever bought a DL of, and that was only because I was so very, very impressed with their full demo. Other than that, though? Yeah, I want the ability to hold onto (and therefore have some modicum of control of) the medium. I'm just that way. I don't have/use PS TV, so that's of no consequence.

I'll have to give it a better look. And no: your comments aren't out of bounds, at least not to my way of evaluation.

[CStarFlare]

Good Lord, Opa Opa is fun. A patch to allow the DLC ships in Arcade mode would be unreal.

[gs68]

Unfortunately, I am one of "those people" who almost exclusively always buy only physical forms of games, and if a particular title isn't available for physical release, I'm very, very, *very* hard to get interested in such things. To my recollection, PomPomGames' "Space Tripper" is the only game I've ever bought a DL of, and that was only because I was so very, very impressed with their full demo. Other than that, though? Yeah, I want the ability to hold onto (and therefore have some modicum of control of) the medium. I'm just that way. I don't have/use PS TV, so that's of no consequence.

I'll have to give it a better look. And no: your comments aren't out of bounds, at least not to my way of evaluation.

Any interest in AC mode?

[boagman]

Any interest in AC mode?

Haven't tried it yet, so nothing for or against it.

[gs68]

Is it just because I'm using DLC Mode's SEGA Pack, or is G.T.B easier than G.T.V?

[gs68]

New update patch as of <30 minutes ago.

DBCS r5729 Patch details:
Addition of a "Restart" and "Return to Main Menu" button to the pause menu ingame
Addition of a Zoom function to Darius Odyssey
Fix to GALAXY FORCE II bug that would happen when picking up items while rolling

And yes, this applies to all modes, including AC mode. So if you've been putting off Chronicle Mode because of having to go through a lot of shit just to restart a mission, there you go.