STGT08 Week 1: Thoughts

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:26 pm

dex wrote:It was a great game until I started wishing I could hate it to death.

popular stgt voter's remorse

i scored a non-participation point for team feelings

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:58 pm

A popular misconception about 19XX is that you have to one-life it. No, unless you're definitely going for a 15M+ ALL, you don't. Losing lives is only critical in stages 3 (after the waterfall medal vault) and 5 (after the stalker fight), otherwise you can make up for that by surviving another stage (just surviving is often enough!). And getting an ALL with some bad mistakes throughout is still going to net you at least ~7M points in total, which would put you in the top 30% of the scoreboard.

That being said, I enjoyed the game. It wasn't stellar, but its simplicity and relaxing music made it similar to Darius Gaiden, which was one of the STGT'07 games I enjoyed the most.

innerpattern · Post by **innerpattern** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:13 pm

Pros:
-cool level design on stage 5
-music is OK, for about 30 mins.

Cons:
-frustrating scoring system makes every level a chore, except stage 1 because it's one of the easiest stages in any shmup ever...zzzzzzzz
-stage 1-3 are long, boring, easy, and boring in terms of bullet dodging and excitement.
-generic graphics/art style
-stupid between-level cutscenes that you can't skip (atleast I could only speed them up)

so yeah, I didn't like too much, and I'm glad it's over but I am enjoying STGT08

think I will give Varth some more attention now...

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:33 pm

Games like Blazing Star and Twinbee had the benefit of me not playing them before. Unfortunately, I already knew how bland and uninteresting of a challenge 19XX is. Miss one plane on a stage and that will make a dent in every other completed stage that follows. Seems like Giga Wing for retards.

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:09 pm

The bomb feature was great though.

fast response - check
panic bomb (weak) - check
planned bomb (strong) - check
time limit before bomb explodes by itself - nice

The bomb feature in varth, where the bomb stock filled up automatically, was also pretty cool!

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:15 pm

I thought it sucked, and also I only played it for like an hour, before getting sick of playing it. Next week I will start playing the game on day 1 instead of the night before the deadline. That way if I don't like it, I can take time between runs to feel like playing it again!

-Bridget- · Post by **-Bridget-** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:09 pm

I enjoyed this one. Always liked 19XX, but this was the first time I played it really seriously.

Had I had more time to do that, instead of just a week, probably coulda gotten a higher score than what I actually did, but, still, that was a pretty good score for me on this one.

At least this one had a scoring system I didnt absolutely despise.

AKA, no chaining.

The week we do a game with Cave-style chaining (if that should happen) is a week I dont bother with......

Also coulda done a bit better if I coulda stopped having idiotic deaths at some point in stage 3.

Post by **Icarus** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:19 pm

sven666 wrote:it saddens me that were just 1 person away from beeing another marp competition..

The only difference between us and MARP is that MARP requires replays with each score submission in their tournaments.
I'd be interested to know if there were any other players outside of the top three this week who recorded replays.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:15 pm

I made an INP in MAMEPlus. I don't bother tinkering with AVI files as I have no way to upload it at 1kb/s. It isn't worth hours upon hours (and inevitable disconnect induced restarts) just to make some paranoid and distrustful players' feel better.

Anyway, I enjoyed 19XX. The scoring was vicious at times (namely, the level 2 boss... fucking bastard), but overall, I liked the game. Didn't do too badly considering I'd never played it before last week.

Post by **Icarus** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:19 pm

The Coop wrote:...just to make some paranoid and distrustful players' feel better.

Who said I was being paranoid and distrustful? :p
I'm just interested in other people's plays. And since MAME inputs are tiny when zipped up, they are easy to share with your teammates.

msm · Post by **msm** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:26 pm

DMC wrote:The bomb feature was great though.

fast response - check
panic bomb (weak) - check
planned bomb (strong) - check
time limit before bomb explodes by itself - nice

i didn't put much effort into learning about the game last week, shame as it would have definitely been useful to know about this bombing stuff!

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:29 pm

Icarus wrote:
The Coop wrote:...just to make some paranoid and distrustful players' feel better.
Who said I was being paranoid and distrustful? :p
I'm just interested in other people's plays. And since MAME inputs are tiny when zipped up, they are easy to share with your teammates.

Oh I wasn't referring to you. I was referring to folks who run contests under the assumption that if it's not recorded, INPed, witnessed by five people, and filmed by someone standing behind the player and witenesses, then it's fake. However, if you are one of those people, then I guess I was referring to you

I sent a number of INPs to my team (via MAMEPlus). Whether they were able to play them might be a different story, but I sent them. Seemed easier to show tactical ideas and special spots, than to try and write them out.

Post by **Icarus** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:42 pm

The Coop wrote:I sent a number of INPs to my team (via MAMEPlus). Whether they were able to play them might be a different story, but I sent them. Seemed easier to show tactical ideas and special spots, than to try and write them out.

I tend not to trust many of the other MAME builds for playback (as I learned in '06 with Blazing Star, even if you have the same version used for recording, it tends to desync). However, WolfMAME seems to play back fine on all tests, and I've used Wolf+ 0.106 since.
And agreed, though I tend to prefer using video clips to demonstrate written strategic ideas - better to have the explanation of the strategy as well, since scoring techniques in some games can be obscure and complicated.

RGC · Post by **RGC** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:22 am

Icarus wrote:I'd be interested to know if there were any other players outside of the top three this week who recorded replays.

I recorded my best run (5.9mil

) using wolfmameplus-099-vc. Not of much use to anyone else, especially as it was recorded the night before the deadline, hence I didn't bother posting it. It's just a habit I've acquired for my own personal satisfaction.

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:29 am

I also recorded my run, updated my post in the hi score thread.

KNTain · Post by **KNTain** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:37 am

I was the slacker of my team (lots of unexpected stuff going on in my life this week), and I'd like to step it up for the next week. Here's hoping.

RemyK313 · Post by **RemyK313** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:45 am

The game is more or less enjoyable (on the plus side of generic) however, the scoring bonuses are kind of lame.....

I'm not a fan of super-quick boss kill bonuses, or especially the amount of button-mashing required to play the game.

It was this weird double-layer: on top was a pretty standard shmup with great graphics for the time, and an amazing waterfall level.. but then underneath is a game trying to make up for not really having much of a scoring system by forcing the player to grab giant, consecutive bonuses for being completely anal.

What also gets me is that the game's scores balloon about as much as the difficulty.

Still, I think the game was okay... but definitely not a favorite.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:30 am

I'm agreeing with the people who said the score system was anal and frustrating (that is part of the reason why I never increased my score, FUCKING RESTARTS drove me mad).

Before the week:

"I WILL VOTE FOR THIS GAME CUZ VARTH IZ 2 LONG"

After the week:

"I SHOULDA VOTES 4 VARTH CUZ TOO MANY RESTARTS"

hello and welcome to obvious world where the obvious is obvious and even poor players saw it coming!

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:48 am

I refuse to restart even when I fuck up. I think I would kill myself if I ever started playing like that

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:19 pm

MX7 wrote:I refuse to restart even when I fuck up. I think I would kill myself if I ever started playing like that

I normally feel that way too, and the fact that this game drove me to restart after mistakes says a lot.

I don't think I'll ever again play this purely for score.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:47 pm

MR_Soren wrote:
MX7 wrote:I refuse to restart even when I fuck up. I think I would kill myself if I ever started playing like that
I normally feel that way too, and the fact that this game drove me to restart after mistakes says a lot.

I don't think I'll ever again play this purely for score.

Yeah, if I ever saw it in an arcade or a bar (lol, no chance), I would be delighted to shove a few coins in for a laugh, but I just don't have the patience to play games like this for score.

Ruldra · Post by **Ruldra** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:51 pm

MX7 wrote:I refuse to restart even when I fuck up. I think I would kill myself if I ever started playing like that

It's not like you have a choice when playing for the top scores.

JoshF · Post by **JoshF** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:10 pm

It's going to get worse in doujin (maybe) and manic (definitely) week with crazy scoring requirements. Try to picture the danmaku-gata guy stressed out, then imagine how quickly he would've killed himself and loved ones from the overwhelming overwhelming stress of a one-week deadline.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:17 pm

Ruldra wrote:
MX7 wrote:I refuse to restart even when I fuck up. I think I would kill myself if I ever started playing like that
It's not like you have a choice when playing for the top scores.

Yeah, I guess I don't get the top score, someone will amputate my leg.

Seriously though, isn't this hobby meant to be fun? Would you shit on your pizza because someone promised you a trophy?

RGC · Post by **RGC** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:22 pm

An e-trophy, no less. You can't even polish or parade it.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:27 pm

*Cough*, not that I'm not trying my hardest, boss

Better score next week, for great justice!

RGC · Post by **RGC** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:53 pm

Royale...ho! (not you, MX7)

x4 team banner post spam chain!

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:16 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:I'm agreeing with the people who said the score system was anal and frustrating (that is part of the reason why I never increased my score, FUCKING RESTARTS drove me mad).

Before the week:

"I WILL VOTE FOR THIS GAME CUZ VARTH IZ 2 LONG"

After the week:

"I SHOULDA VOTES 4 VARTH CUZ TOO MANY RESTARTS"

hello and welcome to obvious world where the obvious is obvious and even poor players saw it coming!

The only obvious thing about last week was that Varth was the worst choice of the games available

dmzach · Post by **dmzach** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:31 pm

I dont know how to record input files in mame

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:43 pm

dmzach wrote:I dont know how to record input files in mame

When you first start MAME, under "File", there's an option called "Play and Record Input...". Click on that, MAME will start, and it'll make an INP file for you as you play. Keep in mind that hitting F3 (restart) screws up INPs, so if you really want to make one, you'll have to exit MAME and pick that same option again if you want to start the game over.