Xbox 360: Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (November 2009)

[Gus]

So I finally decided to buy the BL DLC since it was on sale. Futari BL would be awesome were it not for all the point-blanking.

That's kind of like saying "Dodonpachi would be awesome were it not for all the chaining." Really, if you don't like pointblanking you should probably find a different game.

[Cuilan]

You can hit all the score extends and have a lot of fun without pointblanking in Futariball, you know man?

I know, and I am. But thinking of what could have been is a bit depressing.

[Gus]

Tell me "what could have been." I personally think the pointblanking is a great idea in God mode in terms of giving you freedom to plan out a route and recover from deaths and Original pretty much lives and dies by the pointblanking. You take it out and you're pretty much left with a game that's fun for a while but doesn't have the depth to have much lasting appeal.

[Cuilan]

Tell me "what could have been." I personally think the pointblanking is a great idea in God mode in terms of giving you freedom to plan out a route and recover from deaths and Original pretty much lives and dies by the pointblanking. You take it out and you're pretty much left with a game that's fun for a while but doesn't have the depth to have much lasting appeal.

It could have been replaced with something else. Some sort of grazing system sounds more appealing to me.

[spineshark]

The rank changes are pretty extreme. It's fun while it goes up, but then you die and it completely changes the character of the game. I like everything about BL Original except the feeling that I'm not really learning how to play the game after a death or two because of how much everything slows back down.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Out of curiosity, what's the difference between the shot types from 1.01 to 1.5? I remember reading somewhere Palm Abnormal was really weak/useless or something before the update.

[AntiFritz]

Out of curiosity, what's the difference between the shot types from 1.01 to 1.5? I remember reading somewhere Palm Abnormal was really weak/useless or something before the update.

Don't you mean 1.00? I thought 1.01 was 1.5 with 1.0's patterns.

To answer your questions i wasn't aware the shot types changed at all but I'm probably wrong. I thought only the patterns/slowdown/score mechanics changed a bit.

[moozooh]

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=748.0

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I wonder how much stronger Palm Normal used to be. Probably not 1.5 Abnormal strong but still.

Sounds like Reco Abnormal's unchanged; was she the strongest shot type before the update then? You'd think the hardest shot type to use would have the biggest payoff in terms of damage potential, but in 1.5 if you don't have any of the option beetles locked on her focused shot does less than Palm Normal's laser, and even with full lock it's less than Palm Abnormal. Very strange that she's not stronger than PA in 1.5.

[Special World]

The rank changes are pretty extreme. It's fun while it goes up, but then you die and it completely changes the character of the game. I like everything about BL Original except the feeling that I'm not really learning how to play the game after a death or two because of how much everything slows back down.

I think Original is amazing, but from what I gather it's much too harsh on your score if you die, ever.

Been moving onto Maniac recently. I love all of Black Label.

[finisherr]

So I finally decided to buy the BL DLC since it was on sale. Futari BL would be awesome were it not for all the point-blanking.

Who said you had to? I mean, are you going for an amazing score or something? It's only required here and there for survival.

[finisherr]

Fuck, it's just SO easy to make a mistake playing God Mode. I feel like I'm getting a better understanding of the levels, with the exception for Stage 5; I almost never see it, and when I do, I get clobbered by those exploding lamps. Even with my progress, it's often like, "oops, moved a millimeter to the left...lost a life." I must say it does feel exhilarating to No Miss a level in this mode though. Feels like I'm doing something that is basically impossible.

I might try giving Reco a try. I'm normally a fan of the quicker shooter, but in this case, I think her options and whatnot might make it easier for me to just get through the mode.

We shall see...

[finisherr]

Okay, this seems A LOT easier with Reco. Gotta figure out where to cash in and all that now that it's a new character but somehow I think this mode might be within reach. Not projecting TLB and all that, but maybe I'll clear all 5.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Yeah, Reco's BL shot type basically rapes everything. It's comparable to the way Palm Abnormal tears through stuff in 1.5, except it's even stronger and you also get massive spread. It helps that your hitbox is reduced in Black Label too, makes those tricky dodges a bit easier.

Pretty sure the strategy to take on the lanterns in Ultra/God where they launch suicide balls is to actually stop shooting, move on top of them, and destroy them while you're right on top of 'em. Obviously that takes some memorization.

[finisherr]

Yeah. I just No Miss/No Bombed Stage 3 in God Mode for the first time. I'm sticking with Recco for God Mode. The difference in characters is like a different difficulty setting all together. Why didn't I try this earlier!? Stubborn I guess.

[Cuilan]

Spent some more time with it. BL Original feels like a step sideways relative to 1.5 Original overall, BL Maniac feels way better than 1.5 Maniac, Ultra/GOD modes are like "yeah whatever".

I can make it to about the same place in both BL and 1.5 Original (around the middle of stage 4), but BL could really use a smoother difficulty curve, like something in between 1.5 and BL in overall difficulty would be nice. BL Original's gem counter is way better, both in the time it takes to switch shot types and in communicating to the player when it's time to do so. I also prefer BL's streamlined characters. Aside from the difficulty curve, the only changes I would have preferred are replacing the point-blanking with some type of grazing system, and moving the gem/multiplier counters to the bottom corners of the screen with a 50% reduction in font size.

Who said you had to? I mean, are you going for an amazing score or something? It's only required here and there for survival.

Once I know how the scoring system in a shooter works, I can't not play for score. Playing for survival has little-to-no appeal for me.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

moving the gem/multiplier counters to the bottom corners of the screen with a 50% reduction in font size

You know you can fix this in the 360 port, right? Unless you're playing it tated I guess.

[Special World]

Eh, I don't really like grazing. The proximity in Futari BL is pretty cool, and if you don't like intense point blanking you can always play Maniac and God, which seem to deemphasize it for the most part.

[iconoclast]

BL Maniac is too watered down compared to 1.5, and they ruined all of the bosses. I really don't see why people say it's better.

[spineshark]

Because you get more points, I think. I totally agree with you though, it's a bit too streamlined and the boss fights don't feel very substantial. Original and God are still great though. I do like Ultra a bit more in theory but it's still a bit much for me.

[Gus]

BL Maniac is too watered down compared to 1.5, and they ruined all of the bosses. I really don't see why people say it's better.

I'd say it pretty obviously does come down to the watered down scoring and easier survival difficulty. TBH I don't really think either of them are that great anymore after seeing that style done earlier and better in Espgaluda 2.

[spineshark]

It's kind of funny like that, because it's like they were trying to go for a similar thing but without the slowdown...but when you're waiting for the screen to fill up with bullets so you can really cash out, the game still slows down a lot.

[iconoclast]

Espgaluda II is similar, but I think it's still pretty different. That game is more about extended bullet cancel chains, whereas Futari is an immediate cash in. I prefer the way Futari does it, but I still need to put more time into Galuda II because that game is definitely amazing as well.

[charlie chong]

i went to play mushi futari 1.5 black label today and the option to play that mode is all greyed out despite me having bought it years agoooo. i tried plugging my xbox360 to the internets to log in and see if that made it work but no joy either..
do i actually have to have a current xbox live gold/silver account to play black label or something??(i don't have one or want one as i'm not gonna be playing mutiplayer online games on 360 anytime soon)
anyone know what the problem could be???
annoying if i can't play my favourite mode anymore

[CloudyMusic]

i went to play mushi futari 1.5 black label today and the option to play that mode is all greyed out despite me having bought it years agoooo. i tried plugging my xbox360 to the internets to log in and see if that made it work but no joy either..
do i actually have to have a current xbox live gold/silver account to play black label or something??(i don't have one or want one as i'm not gonna be playing mutiplayer online games on 360 anytime soon)
anyone know what the problem could be???
annoying if i can't play my favourite mode anymore

Nope, you don't need a gold subscription or anything like that. A couple things I can think of:

- You don't have the DLC installed
- The account that owns the DLC isn't present on your console
- You're playing on a different console than the one you bought the DLC on (this page might help in that case)

If all else fails, try checking everything on this page.

[charlie chong]

thanks for the possible reasons and solutions..

in the end i checked my download history and the dlc was no longer installed on my xbox despite me never having uninstalled it all working now