TFV vs. rest of the series

[The Coop]

Ask and ye shall recieve good sir:





As you can see, same weapons as from TFIII. So yes, it IS the Fire Leo and it plays exactly like it does in TFIII, same weapons and all.

Just wanted to point out that the ship is called Styx (aka Fire Leo-03).


And as nice as the slowdown-less TFIV in GP2 is, the sound effects hurt it. There's virtually no bass in them for whatever reason, so everything sounds tinny.

[Strider77]

*GASP*

LIES!!!!!



Actually I dunno, never paid attention. I have both but got the GP2 not to long ago, I have only beat the cart.

[J-Manic]

Nothing tops Yunker Matai's work from the early days and Hyakutarou Tsukumo's work from the later days. I don't think anyone in the shooter industry has come close to those guys.

I couldn't agree more. Tsukumo's work > Matai's work, IMO.

[jp]

Nothing tops Yunker Matai's work from the early days and Hyakutarou Tsukumo's work from the later days. I don't think anyone in the shooter industry has come close to those guys.

I couldn't agree more. Tsukumo's work > Matai's work, IMO.

Ouch, thats a close one for me man. I mean, Blast Wind DOES have the single greatest soundtrack of any 2D shooter ever made, and Hyper Duel's soundtrack is excellent as well...

But goddamn, TFIII and TFIV do have some tunes that can compete. Mmm... I think I agree with ya, but its still close.

Just wanted to point out that the ship is called Styx (aka Fire Leo-03).

Well aware. Just... I dunno, felt like calling it by its model name. :p

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

TFIII is good.
TF IV is great until it starts playing like RType in the end.
TF V isn't bad.

[Limbrooke]

Despite being score driven around Free-Range, I still like Thunder Force 5 and as of late have enjoyed it moreso than in the past. Shallow be damned, it can still provide some hours of interest to anyone new to it. The soundtrack isn't terrific but I can't find any real issues until at least St6 anyway and as such I think it's mostly in the green with this respect.

This may have been the first Thunder Force game I ever played, if not Thunder Force 3, and that might skew my view. I do believe I ended up logging more time in Thunder Force 4 before really setting a pace in 5 and altogether that may explain my neutral attitude.

If anything, TF5 until later on (with heavy FR use) is not too difficult, although if playing for score, I still thought it was interesting to find ways to destroy bosses quicker and for a better score. Unless it's a clear within the time limit, benefits of stock don't really play a role unlike previous entries.

One thing I prefer TF5 over TF4 is the element of randomness (although mostly linked to rank). In 4 & 5 the bosses have a certain element of random behaviour when it comes to opening attacks and movement in general (mostly this is the case in TF5). Although, it's extremely seldom in TF5 that rank affects (or that I'll notice it has changed) the way the game behaves outside the bosses while TF4 it's very noticable and sometimes annoying. Maybe I'm just not 'that' familiar with TF4 yet, but I find I die more often in TF4 since there is a larger margin for error and perhaps a bit higher difficulty curve.

Having said that, TF4 may be more of a memorizer than TF5 and being longer and more challenging not to mention having a more balanced (although I'll argue F-R is very potent in TF4 anyway) weapon array may explain some of the heat.

They are similar in lineage but they are far from the same game and given how much they changed from 1992 to 1997 it's not totally fair to compare them as one in the same. I enjoy them both and at the moment I'm working on TF4 now for some practice. As long as this one doesn't get locked, I may log more input in the future.

[jp]

I certainly hope this doesn't get locked.


Anyways, you raise an interesting point actually. You mention that TFV is quite possibly the first TF you played.

Maybe if you played TFV first then you just didn't notice how less well-designed than the previous entries it was. For me, growing up Thunder Force III and IV were always the best shmups ever made, just because the level design, weapon systems, bosses, music, etc. left everything else out at the time in the dust.

I would never complain about TFV's soundtrack though. While the new kids at Tecno Soft could never quite match the guys who made TFIII and TFIV, Tsukomo did a superb job of going toe-to-toe with Matai's soundtracks. And honestly, for me the single redeeming value of TFV was the soundtrack. Well, and the fan service was kinda cool too.

[J-Manic]

Nothing tops Yunker Matai's work from the early days and Hyakutarou Tsukumo's work from the later days. I don't think anyone in the shooter industry has come close to those guys.

I couldn't agree more. Tsukumo's work > Matai's work, IMO.

Ouch, thats a close one for me man. I mean, Blast Wind DOES have the single greatest soundtrack of any 2D shooter ever made, and Hyper Duel's soundtrack is excellent as well...

But goddamn, TFIII and TFIV do have some tunes that can compete. Mmm... I think I agree with ya, but its still close.

It IS a close one. But I was just sayng if I had to choose one, it would be Tsukumo and his arrangements. They just kick way too much ass.

[jp]

Yeah, nothing compares to the final boss of Blast Wind. That shit is epic yo!

[JoshF]

Anyone notice the SEWER SURFIN stage in Shinobi III sounds like a Technosoft?

[J-Manic]

Yeah, nothing compares to the final boss of Blast Wind. That shit is epic yo!

The TFIII and TFIV arrangements, dude. Phenomenal is the only word I can use to describe them, especially TFIII's "His behaviour inspired us with distrust". Come on now!

[jp]

True enough man! True. enough!


Alright, since it seems all the TFV heathens have dispersed, lets get some real Techno Soft discussion going on here.


So... topic:

TFIII vs. TFAC

Interestingly enough, for the longest time I thought they were the exact same game aside from two changed levels. When I went back and played TFIII this morning (since I've ONLY played TFAC since getting TF Gold Pack 2) I was stunned to see that not only are the graphics different (waaaay better in TF AC), but the level design in general was different as well.

I haven't decided which I truly find superior yet. The underground level in TFIII is incredibly designed, and the waterfalls towards the end look amazing. But at the same time I do have a soft spot for the "different" levels in TF AC (I LOVE the remake of the TFII level and the asteroid level).

Of course, TF AC is also a good bit more difficult, and Sever is dumbed down in it (hence why ole' dude comparing Sever to fucking FREE RANGE was kind of confusing to me), but Sever was definitely insanely powerful in TFIII.

I can't decide at the moment. Need to 1CC them both back to back a few times.

Edit:

Also, bit of an error on my part, but Toshiharu Yamanishi was the music composer for TFIII. Yunker Matai's stuff was TFIV, though that could just been sound effects. Not sure. Need to go 1CC TFIV again. Bah!

Though oddly enough, in the Gold Pack they give Tsukumo the credits for the music in TFIII. No clue whats up with that.

[The Coop]

TFIII for me. The new level in TFAC isn't all that great of a replacement (nor is the level from TFII), and the ending in TFIII is better (and more satisfying... and more humorously worded). The redesigns of some of the enemies aren't as good as the original ones (a solid gold Hydra boss?), and the controls feel... mushy, in TFAC. Like there's a slight delay or something.

As for the graphics and music, they're a bit tougher to choose. Some spots in TFAC have a little more color used (like stage 1), while other spots haven't been changed hardly at all. So for me, they're pretty much on the same level. And while some tunes sound a little better in TFAC, there are others that sound better in TFIII. So that too is on pretty even ground.


And if Sever is weakened, it must only be slightly. I can kill the Hydra boss just as fast in TFAC, as I can in TFIII with it (before Gargoyle ever gets a chance to let loose with the fireball spread).

[jp]

Na, its considerably weakened. My comparison comes from the final level. I killed both of those bosses in seconds this morning with Sever, that never happens in TF AC.

[The Coop]

Na, its considerably weakened. My comparison comes from the final level. I killed both of those bosses in seconds this morning with Sever, that never happens in TF AC.

Then perhaps they toughened the final bosses in TFAC. The Gargoyle boss dies at the same speed on both games, which suggests to me that something else was altered.

[jp]

Yeah, probably just made the bosses harder.


Though the King Fish and the glacier boss are both more durable in TFAC. As well as the core of the ship.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

TFIII vs. TFAC

Very surprised that anyone would find TFAC more difficult. Seriously, never noticed any difference in how long sever takes the bosses down.

Powerup placement seems much easier in AC - you're given two severs on the first level (it's hidden behind the tree on TFIII). Shield appears twice on level 2 (in case you get hit once while trying to go for that 1up next to the lava) and is handily placed just before the speed section on level 5 and there's an extra one in the orn base.

No bouncing projectiles appear at the final boss on AC.

I'm playing MAME on full defaults - I wonder if Gold Pack was tweaked in some way?

[fireleo4]

Nothing tops Yunker Matai's work from the early days and Hyakutarou Tsukumo's work from the later days. I don't think anyone in the shooter industry has come close to those guys.

Ehm. Matai aka Naosuke Arai just did the Sound FX for TF2 and TF3, but not the score. I chatted with him a few month ago about his work on Thunderforce. He supervised and produced Thunderforce II-V and did the SFX besides his work as producer. Mostly of the storylines and concept drawings were also provided by Matai/Arai. He´s a very nice guy and i´m planning to do an interview with him later this year about Tecnosoft and Thunderforce. If everythings works out like planned then this interview will be found on "Shmup Almanac 1" published on Blu Ray, which features all important 2D Shmup Console Releases from 1979 to 2012. I´ve been working on this now for almost 2 years.

Regards,
Rynex

[Makoto Sei]

....I'm way to late by date when reading this posting........

Anyway, aside from the discussion about TF V's game system, level design and track comparison, I'm agree with ST Dragon about TF V's story aspect. Comparing game story with Hollywood class movie story.....I don't think it's quite appropriate ^^; even if it's compared to other game beyond shooting game. But if it's compared to the same genre, that would be different story ~♪

I'm type of player that "always thinking the meaning of the story" of every game, and TF V is the first (side scroll shooting) game that make me so (Later on, Xenogears strengthen my way of thinking. Weird sequences ? I know. I grow-up with action game, not RPG ). That way make me decide, if I ever create a side scroll shooting game, the story have to be worked as serious as the game system (and the enjoyment of playing the game too). This idea would be pointless for some gamer, but my purpose is to please as many people (gamer) as much, not All (because it's impossible).

Back for the main topic, I haven't found any translation about the text data of TF VI until this day. Do any of you are by any chance have it ?