M2 ShotTriggers DDP Daioujou Rinne Tensei

[hamfighterx]

Re: Amazon.jp shipping, I haven't experienced getting things banged up at all. In fact, I've been impressed at what a great job they've done securing my items to a piece of plastic wrapped cardboard inside the larger outer shipping box - just got Zero Fire recently and was impressed with the packaging as usual. Way better than the haphazard way anything from Amazon US comes to me.

To be fair, Play-Asia also consistently gets me stuff well packed with no damage.

[Yoshi]

Way cheaper, than Amazon JP, thanks!

Interesting, I'm in Europe and the LE costs 85€ at palyasia and 55€ at amazon.jp (w/o the amazon exclusives).
Where do you live? I wonder if the location affects the pricing that much?

I'm located in the USA, total shipped from Play Asia was $55.89 USD. Granted you have to pay upfront when ordering from PlayAsia vs. Amazon JP ($68.57 USD), you don't pay until it ships.

You may be comparing apples to oranges. If you get the version without the exclusive cover, it's only $58.20 shipped from Amazon JP.

[digitron]

Interesting, I'm in Europe and the LE costs 85€ at palyasia and 55€ at amazon.jp (w/o the amazon exclusives).
Where do you live? I wonder if the location affects the pricing that much?

I'm located in the USA, total shipped from Play Asia was $55.89 USD. Granted you have to pay upfront when ordering from PlayAsia vs. Amazon JP ($68.57 USD), you don't pay until it ships.

You may be comparing apples to oranges. If you get the version without the exclusive cover, it's only $58.20 shipped from Amazon JP.

You're right, my mistake! =)

[JDM_STG]

WonderGOO purchases are up: https://shinseidowondergoo.com/collections/top-game

Original Set Includes: 3 Postcards [Set A]
Limited Set Includes: 2 B2 Tapestries, 3 Postcards [Set A], 3 Postcards [Set B]

[Warp_Rattler]

Amazon.co.jp is usually faster and cheaper with shipping, but your shipping box will likely be banged up a bit.

Re: Amazon.jp shipping, I haven't experienced getting things banged up at all. In fact, I've been impressed at what a great job they've done securing my items to a piece of plastic wrapped cardboard inside the larger outer shipping box - just got Zero Fire recently and was impressed with the packaging as usual. Way better than the haphazard way anything from Amazon US comes to me.

I bought the first two volumes of the Toaplan Arcade Garage on Amazon last summer and they came packaged as hamfighterx said, secured to a piece of cardboard in a larger shipping box, very nicely protected.

All this ShotTriggers talk (and mention of the Aleste Collection earlier ITT) inspired me to take advantage of the favorable JPY→USD conversion and grab that one too, which arrived yesterday. I paid for the express shipping option, sent through DHL Express. When the package arrived, I had to remind myself I didn't buy it from Amazon US--the (very thin) box looked like it had been sat on and then horizontally compressed so that the sides were somehow folded over the top of the package. The game itself was securely wrapped in shipping paper and, improbably, undamaged, but wow. Granted this is only a single data point, but I was pretty surprised about the rough condition the parcel was in, especially given the expectations for Amazon.jp shipping (and orders from Japan in general--even some of the smaller cardboard boxes are ridiculously thick).

As a different data point, I've been ordering from CDJapan for years for games and music and have always been pleased with their array of shipping and packaging options, including the very sturdy boxes they use. Zero Fire arrived a few days after release, in perfect condition. They're sometimes a bit more expensive than Amazon, but I've often found better deals than Play-Asia on games. I was holding my breath last fall when I ordered a vinyl record from them for the first time. It was a long preorder and they did contact me a month or so before the item shipped to explain that shipping rates were increasing and that I'd have to fork out another ¥2200 or so for the shipping tier I had selected, which I wasn't super happy about, but it was nice to have the heads-up in advance and everything arrived in immaculate condition. So that outlet comes recommended, if anyone's considering them.

Shipping talk aside, I guess I skipped over this when the editions were initially announced, but I love that there's a hyper item pin included with the LEs. Those little bits that you can use to inconspicuously show off your fandom are growing much more interesting to me as I age than tapestries or all the other little plastic knick-knacks etc.

[KAI]

(especially the soundtrack, I'm hoping for a good arranged version).

Accoring to the stream, the cd included on the limited edition will only have a stereo remaster of the original soundtrack remade by namiki himself, like he did with for Ketsui Extra on the ps3, so I think we wont get a new arranged soundtrack this time (hope at least they can add the ps2 or 360 arrangements to this port).

Daisuke Matsumoto seems like an obvious answer to me, and we've yet to hear a WASi303 arrange on ShotTriggers.

Matsumoto left Cave a few months ago, and the only reason why he arranged the music for the new akai katana port was cause he's the sound director on City Connection. He currently doesnt have any direct connections with M2 or Cave afaik.

[Rastan78]

[kuze]

WonderGOO purchases are up: https://shinseidowondergoo.com/collections/top-game

Original Set Includes: 3 Postcards [Set A]
Limited Set Includes: 2 B2 Tapestries, 3 Postcards [Set A], 3 Postcards [Set B]

Hmm I wonder what the 2 tapestries look like and if they will be the same as the Trader one.

Trader updated their listing and the tapestry they are including is disappointing, I just want one with the new cover on the regular edition game.

[JDM_STG]

WonderGOO purchases are up: https://shinseidowondergoo.com/collections/top-game

Original Set Includes: 3 Postcards [Set A]
Limited Set Includes: 2 B2 Tapestries, 3 Postcards [Set A], 3 Postcards [Set B]

Hmm I wonder what the 2 tapestries look like and if they will be the same as the Trader one.

Trader updated their listing and the tapestry they are including is disappointing, I just want one with the new cover on the regular edition game.

Not sure though I’d like to think their art will be different exclusively. If I understand you correctly, ebten’s purchase will have the new cover art on their tapestry: https://ebten.jp/p/s/7015023120738

[beer gas canister]

As a relative newcomer to Cave's work, what makes DoJ stand out? I've played quite a bit of DFK's various modes on console, and I'm aware that it's quite different. What's the secret sauce that makes DoJ so beloved?

[Lethe]

As a relative newcomer to Cave's work, what makes DoJ stand out? I've played quite a bit of DFK's various modes on console, and I'm aware that it's quite different. What's the secret sauce that makes DoJ so beloved?

It's the DDP game least concerned with excess and most with brutal efficiency. Chaining lines are communicated blatantly by the stage design but are challenging to execute, boss patterns look simple but are endlessly lethal. Playing for score means executing everything perfectly while continually driving the bullet speed up to eventually absurd levels. There are no gimmicks, little is wasted and aesthetic compromises for drama's sake are virtually nonexistent: all the narrative is contained in the player's futile struggle to avoid death at the hand of the cold machine.

It's also full of oversized bullet sprites that drive me up the fucking wall

[EmperorIng]

Even though I haven't cleared it, and probably never will, from playing a lot of cave games and watching a lot of high-level play of them, DOJ is probably the most distilled presentation of their design philosophy and ethos, for good or bad. Only Ketsui can probably lay a similar claim to that distinction. Very punishing, novice-unfriendly difficulty, exacting chains, second loop with even more achingly difficult stages/patterns and a system that seems relatively straightforward but demands a high degree of mastery to achieve.

Plus a glut of bombs that the developer really doesn't want you to use for some stupid fucking reason and locks you out of the ending if you do.

[Jonpachi]

DKF is a game that asks the player how they want to play. You can play defensively, abuse the hyper system, and get the 1CC very quickly if you'd like, but if you want to go for score the game suddenly becomes much more difficult and you start to see the interplay of systems you may have ignored.

DOJ is a game that tells you how to play. You have no chance of survival if you choose to ignore the chaining system, as following it precisely is often the sole safe path through the level.

[Starfighter]

I had to sleep on it because it sure wasn't cheap! (Not looking forward to the import fees which usually adds around 25% plus the post office fee for handling the fee...) But. I finally pre-ordered a copy!

[hamfighterx]

Daisuke Matsumoto seems like an obvious answer to me, and we've yet to hear a WASi303 arrange on ShotTriggers.

Matsumoto left Cave a few months ago, and the only reason why he arranged the music for the new akai katana port was cause he's the sound director on City Connection. He currently doesnt have any direct connections with M2 or Cave afaik.

Ah, I didn't know about Matsumoto's recent changes. But still, I wouldn't think that precludes any involvement with these kinds of guest appearances for arranged soundtracks. It's a pretty small and close-knit community, and we've seen lots of other arranges from composers who aren't directly employed by the publisher or the developer of the original game. Just off the top of my head, ShotTriggers has featured Virt (Ketsui) and chibi-tech (Dangun Feveron, City Connection's recent Batsugun S-Tribute had a whole slew of contributors who aren't City Connection staff: Yosuke Yasui, Shinji Hosoe, WASi303 (at least I'm not aware of him being staff, though he's done several projects with City Connection in recent years).

Sounds a little unlikely to me that City Connection would restrict Matsumoto's ability to participate in something like this (for example, just this year he was on the non-City Connection Raiden III Mikado Maniax OST release), and given his strong connections to the Dodonpachi series it feels like a natural pick to let him take a crack at arranging Namiki's original DOJ music.

I'm also always up for M2 having more chibi-tech arranges. Her Dangun Feveron one is fantastic, and she's done a couple songs for each of the 3 existing Toaplan Arcade Garage releases (menu and arcade challenge screens, with remixes of tracks from the original Toaplan OSTs).

[evil_ash_xero]

This was the first bullet hell I ever played. TERRIBLE place to start , but a really good game. Just not a good "beginner's title".
Really looking forward to the port.

[miwa]

M2 has posted a short new video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMYzFvJ50rs

Also, a DOJ section is up on their M2 Shot Triggers website with direct links to the available pre-order options: https://m2stg.com/daioujou/

[Sengoku Strider]

This was the first bullet hell I ever played. TERRIBLE place to start , but a really good game. Just not a good "beginner's title".
Really looking forward to the port.

I always maintain that the best place to start is with the game you like. It was R-Type that made me like shmups, and it was Gunbird 2 that took me from liking to loving them years later. I still can't beat either of them straight-up.

[davyK]

Have placed a pre-order with amiami. They don't want my money yet so not committed. will see. Long delivery time doesn't bother me as long as it gets here on good condition.

[XoPachi]

DOJ is a game that tells you how to play. You have no chance of survival if you choose to ignore the chaining system, as following it precisely is often the sole safe path through the level.

Ehhhh. Not really. I'm absolutely god awful at chaining and give up the moment I drop my chain after the stage 1 midboss. I dont bother trying anymore.
You can reliably get to the final boss without hardcore scoring or cheap tricks. It takes practice like any game but its really not *that* brutal to get through erm...""casually"".

[pablumatic]

Have placed a pre-order with amiami. They don't want my money yet so not committed. will see. Long delivery time doesn't bother me as long as it gets here on good condition.

Take caution if you do decide to cancel from AmiAmi. They allow it a few times but will eventually close your account if you do it too much, or so I've heard. I treat AmiAmi preorders as uncancellable. You can really only get away with cancellations on Amazon Japan.

[DestroyTheCore]

I can't wait for the DOJ soundtrack to get remastered like they did with Ketsui. It should sound so much clearer than the OST released back then that was based on the original arcade audio quality.

[To Far Away Times]

DOJ is a game that tells you how to play. You have no chance of survival if you choose to ignore the chaining system, as following it precisely is often the sole safe path through the level.

DOJ is a hard game but the score extends are set low enough that you can get them both without chaining. DOJ does have a "golden path" in spots but mostly due to killing enemies quickly so things don't get too dangerous rather than scoring. You can take a lot less risks on a survival route.

[Jonpachi]

DOJ is a game that tells you how to play. You have no chance of survival if you choose to ignore the chaining system, as following it precisely is often the sole safe path through the level.

DOJ is a hard game but the score extends are set low enough that you can get them both without chaining. DOJ does have a "golden path" in spots but mostly due to killing enemies quickly so things don't get too dangerous rather than scoring. You can take a lot less risks on a survival route.

To clarify, I don't mean that you have to nail a 100% perfect chain to survive, but that you must follow the intended route, what you're calling the "golden path." I will disagree though, and say there is absolutely no way that you're going to hit 30mm and get the second extend without learning some chaining. Most players will figure out a decent bit of Level 1, at least enough to carry a Hyper into Stage 2, and then learn how to "Hyper Cheese" that long run in Stage 2 to hit the extends. None of that is super hard, but it takes a lot of routing practice, and, in return, chaining.

[DGR114]

https://nitter.net/M2_game/status/1702502500169896274#m
M2 is hosting another livestream where they will talk about the M2 gadgets included in the game, and preorder/first run bonuses. SPS will appear on the stream as a guest.

[AGermanArtist]

Pleased to see there are a few Arrange modes and an extra Arcade mode, as well as the customary Super Easy mode.

[Ms. Tea]

New game modes looking nice - some really nice customization in that new challenge mode. I feel like I'm going to spend a lot of time in it. They also showed off the WIP version of the Amazon-exclusive cover:

It's by Shohei Sato, character designer on the original game (and also Yanya Caballista).

[bobrocks95]

Interesting, I'm in Europe and the LE costs 85€ at palyasia and 55€ at amazon.jp (w/o the amazon exclusives).
Where do you live? I wonder if the location affects the pricing that much?

I'm located in the USA, total shipped from Play Asia was $55.89 USD. Granted you have to pay upfront when ordering from PlayAsia vs. Amazon JP ($68.57 USD), you don't pay until it ships.

You may be comparing apples to oranges. If you get the version without the exclusive cover, it's only $58.20 shipped from Amazon JP.

$47 here from Play-Asia (before tax) when I threw in Battle Garegga and Ninja Saviors for free shipping. Both may be out of stock by the time DOJ actually ships, but from what I read they will still honor the free shipping. I never get quite the market exchange rate either when using PayPal or my credit card, so probably a bit over $60 for Amazon here.

Don't particularly like Play-Asia but excited for the release and eh I'll save $15 why not.

Does anybody know if any other Japanese M2 PS4 releases have or will get a reprint? Last I checked Ketsui Deathtiny, ESP Ra De Psy, and Battle Garegga were all out of stock and quite expensive. The Battle Garegga version I grabbed on PlayAsia is the Korean release.

[Udderdude]

New game modes looking nice - some really nice customization in that new challenge mode. I feel like I'm going to spend a lot of time in it. They also showed off the WIP version of the Amazon-exclusive cover:

It's by Shohei Sato, character designer on the original game (and also Yanya Caballista).

That illustration is fantastic. I love it.

[EmperorIng]

Can anyone describe these new modes?