Stella Vanity V0.2 & 0.21

[Aliquantic]

Alternatively, try adding some random non-ASCII character in your comment body, like Japanese characters or anything out of Unicode, and it'll go through.

[RNGmaster]

On a random note, here's a replay for those having trouble scoring in 0.22e. Not a 1cc, but pretty good performance on my part.

[Never_Scurred]

I just played V.022e....SWEET!

[RNGmaster]

I just played V.022e....SWEET!

The game is pretty damn sweet. My replay, not so much. Lots of room for improvement, especially with Stage 4 - fucking boss milking...

Oh, and BTW TRIS-GRAM is trying to upload a video but is having trouble with the file size. Expect new content soon!

[RNGmaster]

Hay guise, NEW VIDEO FUCK YEARH

The Counter Burst mode on bosses can essentially turn any attack phase into an IN-style Last Spell - bombs are disabled and dying merely kicks you out of the mode with a small bonus.

[O. Van Bruce]

Do you mind explaining me, how does the game works in more detail? I have some idea but there is a lot of things there that i don't understand.

[RNGmaster]

Do you mind explaining me, how does the game works in more detail? I have some idea but there is a lot of things there that i don't understand.

You know, I haven't the faintest idea. Check the devblog - he wrote up a bit of an explanation about 1 month ago.

[Aisha]

That explanation was written for version 0.300, so it probably doesn't apply to the old trials. Tris-Gram said that he changed the game's systems drastically after deciding to bring it back from the dead.

[RNGmaster]

That explanation was written for version 0.300, so it probably doesn't apply to the old trials. Tris-Gram said that he changed the game's systems drastically after deciding to bring it back from the dead.

I don't know if our friend Mr. Van Bruce is referring to 0.300 or one of the earlier trials, though.

[O. Van Bruce]

I'm refering to the 0.300 video.

I haven't played older trials... can't find the download links

I t would be nice if someone gave me a link to the trial, i can't find it on the blog...

[Aisha]

Ah, my mistake then.

Anyway, the one-stage 0.300 trial hasn't been released yet. Tris-Gram recently said that it would be out before the 19th of the month, so it should be released any time now. Unfortunately part of me wouldn't be surprised if it were delayed again; it was originally planned to be released back in mid-May.

[Observer]

I would rather wait until things work properly just in case... I don't mind waiting, guess it's part of the lore of doujin games. We can't forget most do them in their free time.

That new video of Stella Vanity was brutal. Seems everyone got the hint from Crimzon Clover and began pouring brutal bosses that do more than sit on the upper screen shitting bloody rainbows.

[RNGmaster]

Anyway, the one-stage 0.300 trial hasn't been released yet.

How do you know it's just 1 stage?

[Observer]

Trist-Gram said it was gonna be a system trial with 1 stage IIRC.

[Aisha]

Yeah, in the development road-map he laid out he mentioned that the first trial would only be one stage long and that its main purpose is to get feedback on the gameplay mechanics. He reaffirmed that in the description of the newest Youtube video he uploaded.

That new video of Stella Vanity was brutal. Seems everyone got the hint from Crimzon Clover and began pouring brutal bosses that do more than sit on the upper screen shitting bloody rainbows.

Makes me wonder if Pandemonium difficulty will rival Crimzon Clover's Unlimited.

[RNGmaster]

New update on Twitter. He says he's ready to release and will distribute it this week, but he has to look over once more to make bug fixes. He forgot to pack in the English manual with the file, so he'll be releasing it on his blog after the trial is complete.

[Aisha]

System Trial ver0.30a is out: http://stellavanity.seesaa.net/

You want to get the one marked with フルパッケージ in the 07/25 post. The link right above it is for a small bugfix patch that you don't need unless you happened to grab ver0.30 that he uploaded earlier in the day.

[RNGmaster]

Holy SHIAT! I was expecting at least another week.

[Aliquantic]

This is pretty amazing so far, and even makes me regret STGT is happening right now!

[RNGmaster]

Not sure what I think. Looks great, but I had a crash that wiped all my saved data (I had leveled up and gotten Blade, so kind of a pity). Digging the Overkill bonus, though.

[Mischief Maker]

Not so sure about the "Automatically close in on an enemy and sword them, then automatically zoom to the back of the screen" move though.

[SFKhoa]

Not so sure about the "Automatically close in on an enemy and sword them, then automatically zoom to the back of the screen" move though.

Doesn't that only happen in certain big enemies like the giant yellow crystal? You're invincible while you're doing that anyway.
If that type of mechanic worked for Homura (as in the "special attack animation then returning to your previous position on the screen" mechanic), I'm sure it can work here too; though I can understand if it's not many people's cup of tea.

[Aliquantic]

Yeah that move doesn't look so bad to me I still can't really understand the scoring system properly though... the best I can get in Rule is 30m or so, and I'm getting pretty much zilch for coins/jewels. Is anyone having better luck? TRIS-GRAM says he can get 60m on Easy and 1k coins, and I simply can't see how

I can't keep up an Overkill combo though which may be the problem... is there a way other than Ethereal Shift to keep killing stuff with the lock shot? The Blade runs out after a few uses and I'm not sure I really understand how to use Ethereal Shift on the stages either (it seems to be awesome on bosses).

[Aisha]

ver0.30b is up; more bugfixes.

Yeah that move doesn't look so bad to me I still can't really understand the scoring system properly though... the best I can get in Rule is 30m or so, and I'm getting pretty much zilch for coins/jewels. Is anyone having better luck? TRIS-GRAM says he can get 60m on Easy and 1k coins, and I simply can't see how

I can't keep up an Overkill combo though which may be the problem... is there a way other than Ethereal Shift to keep killing stuff with the lock shot? The Blade runs out after a few uses and I'm not sure I really understand how to use Ethereal Shift on the stages either (it seems to be awesome on bosses).

Tris-Gram also posted a basic scoring manual in English.

Overkill with Assault and Blade allows you to set a combo bonus. A high combo bonus will allow you to acquire more coins and jewels. Once you set a high combo bonus, start a Delayed Shift or Ethereal Shift. Doing so will freeze the combo bonus gauge so you don't have to chain for the Shift's duration. Tris-Gram writes that you use Delayed Shift to acquire jewels, and Ethereal Shift to acquire coins. It seems to be possible to trigger both Shifts at the same time, but he doesn't explain what you gain by doing so, and I haven't had the opportunity to check myself.

While you have a Delayed Shift going, destroying enemies (I think) increases your Counter from NG to 3. It's represented by the pink middle gauge in the top-left, and its level is also denoted in the bottom-right. Pressing the Delayed Shift button while your Counter level is above NG cancels your Delayed Shift, but produces a circular wave that clears the screen of bullets by converting them to jewels. It's better to end your Delayed Shift by letting the screen flood with bullets and wiping them away with a Counter, instead of letting the Delayed Shift expire naturally. I think the Counter's level affects the radius of the circular wave.

Tris-Gram also stresses that maintaining a balance between coins and jewels is important, but I'm not exactly sure what he means by that. He also doesn't explain the significance behind coins and jewels changing colors: In this video, jewels eventually become diamonds and coins turn blue. Reminds me of Progear.

You can turn Auto-Assault on by pressing the Assault key twice. Pressing it once turns it off. Blade doesn't run out during an Ethereal Shift.

[Aliquantic]

I've just seen that video (I'd completely overlooked it the first time around) and I think I've figured out Ethereal Shift... it gives you autobomb, autoshoot and unlimited Blade so you can go around and pointblank things in impunity, giving you lots of coins (which go up in value), as opposed to Delayed Shift which is more like regular Kakusei for jewels.

It's still pretty hard for me to keep up an Overkill chain, and it seems to work best if you use manual lockshot (he does that at times in the video) but good luck with that! Surprisingly Blade doesn't seem to work very well to actually keep a chain going, but Raid seems to be the only way to really raise the combo value (when you "rush" a large enemy with the sword).

On bosses it's pretty straightforward compared to the stage yes, with Delayed Shift and cancelling and Ethereal Shift at the very end of phases for "extra time" of Overkill... bonus points if you can pointblank the boss or keep meleeing it without dying

I can't figure out why you'd want to use both Shift modes at once either, and I'm not sure about the use of the Overdrive button either (hold down Bomb to get a temporary firepower bonus... it might come in handy for milking?). It's looking like a pretty tight system so far but that Hard video is scaring me... and it's only stage 1, with two higher difficulties to unlock

[O. Van Bruce]

I think the Delayed Shift on the bosses is less rewarding than in the stages. TRIS-GRAM should do something to make it more profitable in a boss due to the high risk that you take when you activate it in a pattern. The only thing you win is some jewels if the gauge is emptied or you counter (force the end of the delayed shift)...

At least that's what i think...

[Aliquantic]

Delayed Shift on the boss is pretty rewarding with a high jewel count and is usually worth more than Ethereal Shift for me (on Normal or Hard anyway), but it's admittedly a lot worse for survival than Ethereal... it's definitely rewarding if you've done a full stage though, and it's free points! I think Delayed makes survival a bit easier most of the time too, and you can always cancel it before you have Counter ready.

What I find odd is that bombing barely hurts your score on the bosses, but given how bad the stage 1 boss is on Hard already, that may be a good thing!

[O. Van Bruce]

That last pattern ...

BTW replays don't work or it is just me?

PD: Hope someone translates the description of the shop items...

[Aliquantic]

Replays do work for me if you use the Restart option in-game (second one), otherwise they desynch. If they don't work still and you're using 0.30c, you probably should mail TRIS-GRAM.

I'm really not sold on Story mode with grinding, though items could be interesting if there are choices... but given how expensive they are it might take a while to unlock them anyway! It shouldn't be too hard to translate them when the final version is released (I think he'll want to add items anyway).

I can score about 70-75m on Normal and 45m on Easy, 50m might be doable with some luck... can anyone do much better than that? Hard is pretty tough for me already so not much scoring there, and definitely nothing like his 160m!

[Observer]

I think what you can do it trigger the Delayed Shift, then engage the Ethereal shift for the extra time during a boss pattern, which also involves more bullets on screen. Cancel Delayed with a counter 3 and then let Ethereal shift run out after milking the pattern as much as possible. This also disables Raid since the Etheral Shift puts you in some sort of Break Mode where you autofire against everything with extra firepower. Profit? No idea, the game has so many possible combinations...