Your weaknesses...

llaoyllakcuf · Post by **llaoyllakcuf** » Mon May 30, 2005 9:07 am

bullet or enemy patterns that clog up most of the screen;
I'm just not good at handling them.

those level-restarting checkpoints are pretty rough too.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon May 30, 2005 10:38 am

My weakness is against bosses with no energy bar. I cannot stand it when I cannot see the damage I am doing.

Some bullet patterns cause brain meltdown because I just see everything in one go

I can never think "hitbox", only see the sprite as a whole hitbox. Causes lots of deaths.

Distractions. Any distraction will kill me guaranteed. I need perfect dark and total silence surrounding me. I always do my best in these conditions. Get someone to watch and I am useless.

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Mon May 30, 2005 7:40 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
alpha5099 wrote:I hate bullets that defy the laws of physics.
You must hate Ketsui then. The bullets have very organic movement. Cool... but a bit frustrating.

I've only played it once, when I was in Japan a few summers ago. Don't really remember much about it. I'm a sucker for playing as a helicopter, so I'll give it another chance as soon as I can.

8 1/2 wrote:Almost any game with restarts after you die are my worst enemy. I guess I'm spoiled, but I really struggle with games like Truxton that knock you back and take away your power-ups. It's not even the difficulty that gets me so much as just a feeling of apathy toward having to redo what I've just done.

I don't mind Shienryu quite as much, because it doesn't use restart points on bosses. That's the worst, having to defeat the boss in a single life. No, the worst is having beaten a boss, and then some dinky little drone comes out of no where when you think the level is done and your home free, and you start over, before the fucking boss. What kind of a fucktard makes you beat the boss twice? It's happened in Truxton once or twice.

I also hate games that don't grant automatic invincibility once the boss is dead. Unless it's like Guardian Knight, where it's going to blast off an uber death ray as it expires. But when the screen is full of bullets, and the boss dies, all of those bullets should be rendered harmless. Yes, it doesn't make logical sense for those bullets to be benign now, but fuckin' A, nothing is worse than killing the boss, only to find that I've relaxed too soon and a stray bullet has killed me.

ED-057 · Post by **ED-057** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:42 pm

My weakness is having a slow ship amongst fast moving obstacles. In older games like Raiden sometimes a bullet will be coming at me and I won't be able to make up my mind on which way to go and I'll smack right into it. Also in newer games I'll find myself in the wrong place without enough time to move, like during the chase sequence in RSG. I haven't seen Kyoko Fukada in a shmup yet but that situation could be challenging too.

SFKhoa · Post by **SFKhoa** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:48 pm

My weakness...is that in almost every shmup I play, I ALWAYS forget that bombs exist.

Ex_Mosquito · Post by **Ex_Mosquito** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:55 pm

Endurance, i can only play for about an hour before getting restless and turning the game off.

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:03 am

bullets. lol

no really i love psikyo games but i'm terrible at them. i don't think i have a hope of ever 1ccing one of them. the random first levels confuse the hell out of me, and i'm almost guarenteed death on the final of the random stages. i can handle tough stages if i can find a definitive pattern through them but when you have a rotation of four bastard stages (strikers II) and you need to learn all of them i'm screwed.

the biggest cause of boss death for me is the sweeping back and forth in a circular wave bullet pattern. kind of hard to explain but you have to dodge through them diagonally in one direction and then position yourself for an opposite diagonal movement almost immediately = my head pops, making a right mess

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:27 am

Item greed is my worst shmupping trait. I can't resist all that Gold, or that powerup that is dancing around the screen, and in my haste to grab it, I get shot down

Trying too hard to work on scoring tricks and runs is another. It often pays to sometimes play conservatively, and not push myself to score too high. When I do push too hard, stupid, totally avoidable deaths occur.

russ · Post by **russ** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:48 am

Alright, a few small things to note here...

I CANNOT handle patterns that move towards each other and overlap in layers - a GREAT example is the Stage 3 Boss in DOJ, his final pattern with the blue crossing bullets. I don't know, I just can't see any openings and usually just end up taking a leap of faith.

Another thing I can't stand is spread-shots (usually from popcorn enemies) whose bullets are so close together that you cannot squeeze between them and you are forced to dodge wide. Examples are most of the enemies in Stage 4 of Ketsui, and the bee guys in DoDonPachi's Stage 6.

And yeah, I too seem to have the "death without bomb-usage" thing going for me.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:50 am

Candy, pizza, cookies and cream ice cream, and sexy vixen/snow leopardess/wuffess tails. (Kidding, kidding. Just messing with you all.

)

Manic Shmups. I can't really handle them. I just really don't know how a human being without cyborg implants can actually get a decent score at those. And wanting to play like the pros and not being able to. I am too hard on myself.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:55 am

Specineff wrote:Candy, pizza, cookies and cream ice cream, and sexy vixen/snow leopardess/wuffess tails. (Kidding, kidding. Just messing with you all. )

Manic Shmups. I can't really handle them. I just really don't know how a human being without cyborg implants can actually get a decent score at those. And wanting to play like the pros and not being able to. I am too hard on myself.

Wow, sounds like what I've been thinking to say all along.

IlMrm · Post by **IlMrm** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:37 am

ED-057 wrote:I haven't seen Kyoko Fukada in a shmup yet but that situation could be challenging too.

Especially when she's wearing a bikini.

Just to add another weakness: Overconfidence. Feel pretty good about a situation, next thing you know, the F-word, then restart.

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:01 pm

My weakness is the the sort of "claustrophobic" levels that are common to R-type and Gradius games. Level 6 of Gradius V is my personal hell. Give me a billion bullets on screen, i'm fine, but make me maneuver sideways/backwards around multiple obstacles and I eat it.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:12 pm

bomb hoarding and a general lack of focus. i don't play one thing enough to actually be proficient at it.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:01 pm

captain ahar wrote:a general lack of focus. i don't play one thing enough to actually be proficient at it.

I'm exactly the same

I'm also going to say manic shmups (credit feed)

The Bullet Dodger · Post by **The Bullet Dodger** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:44 pm

Icarus wrote:Item greed is my worst shmupping trait. I can't resist all that Gold, or that powerup that is dancing around the screen, and in my haste to grab it, I get shot down

Good call. I too share this weakness. Especially in games like DDP, Giga Wing 1 & 2, Mars Matrix and Shikigami No Shiro 2. I tend be greedy when I see all that gold, rather than focus on survival.

flux · Post by **flux** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 10:23 pm

I'm going to add inconsistency on to mine in both score and survival.
I go from getting to 1-4 to not being able to ever get to 1-3 all the time.
I go from getting 1,200,000 points to getting 600,000 in a matter of one game.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:04 pm

The Bullet Dodger wrote:
Icarus wrote:Item greed is my worst shmupping trait. I can't resist all that Gold, or that powerup that is dancing around the screen, and in my haste to grab it, I get shot down
Good call. I too share this weakness. Especially in games like DDP, Giga Wing 1 & 2, Mars Matrix and Shikigami No Shiro 2. I tend be greedy when I see all that gold, rather than focus on survival.

Then they have served their purpose well.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 1:40 am

Overestimating my ship's hitbox

Panic Bombing whenever an easy pattern shows up

Dying with too many bombs in stock

Not having the right weapon at the right time.

Ok, so I suck but I keep playing anyway because shmups are fun.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 1:59 am

Ord wrote:Fast bullets do my head in. And my timing truly sucks when it comes to combo shooters like Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun and the Dodonpachi series.

Yeah, I tend to prefer the relatively slow pace of the bullets in SNS2 or ESPGaluda. The bullets in Gunbird 2 are simply too fast for me.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:59 am

oh yeah...

craft-seeking beams that turn at a 90-degree angle. i can handle the ones in stage 5 of R-Type Final, but the ones that turn MORE than once in your direction i absolutely HATE. >_> fortunately, the only games i've encountered those in are the Darius series. ^^; so yeah... this would fall under the "bullets that defy the laws of physics" category. ^.^;;

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:21 pm

What kills me is hitbox estimation, I can't seem to figure it out in layer section, is the ship one giant hitbox? dam its hard to 1CC.

Ikaruga stage 4 can chain the other stages pretty well wihtout seeing any replay vids but argh the spiraling sections with lots of black and white ships does my head in I can handle the bullets but chaining that satelite is mental, If only I could treat the level as a shoot-em up and not try to chain I'd maybe be able to do it!

Xiga radiant silvergun arcade mode how the hell do people 1 life that.

Battle garegga ALL

TVG · Post by **TVG** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:23 pm

eyesight

Dartagnan1083 · Post by **Dartagnan1083** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 6:53 am

-Multi-turreted large enemies that appear on one part of the screen, with an entire squadron that appears on the other[s] when you're busy with the big one.

-fast bullet spam

-judging the hitbox.

-trying to dodge when I don't have too (resulting in death)

-Just about ANY boss that confines you to a smaller space with mega-lasers or a stupid fucking roll cage with turrets deployed on any area the boss touches. the exceptions to this are the laser core/icing core from Gradius III, V, and Parodius, then the mini-boss parade encountered in the 3rd level of Radiant Silvergun.

The Bullet Dodger · Post by **The Bullet Dodger** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 8:20 pm

Rob wrote:
The Bullet Dodger wrote:
Icarus wrote:Item greed is my worst shmupping trait. I can't resist all that Gold, or that powerup that is dancing around the screen, and in my haste to grab it, I get shot down
Good call. I too share this weakness. Especially in games like DDP, Giga Wing 1 & 2, Mars Matrix and Shikigami No Shiro 2. I tend be greedy when I see all that gold, rather than focus on survival.
Then they have served their purpose well.

yeah, no shit

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:30 am

Alright, it's been two years...let's see where everyone's at. Thread necromancy? Yes, please!

I still have my same problems. Psikyo patterns and long-ass levels. I suppose both of these would be non-issues if I worked at a game, but it just so happens I'm not incredibly fond of the games that use them.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:35 am

i always go for score

is that a medal dropping inside an inpenetrable hail of bullets?, im there!!

also noticed a new flaw with ketsui (also score related) in 95% of the cases i die from a kamikaze-popcorn enemy because im waiting for teh screen to fill up for big multiplier points, i have no problems seeing/dodging the bullets but my eyes sort of filter out teh enemy sprites.

its also hard in games like gigawing generations where there 345678different colour variations on the bullets

ed: might have something to do with me being colourblind

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:45 am

russian roulette tricks where there is a slim chance that you will die

in the case of a decent player the odds are roughly one in six but in my case it's five in six

heurhface · Post by **heurhface** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:47 am

My weakness is bullets.

CHI · Post by **CHI** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:40 pm

im abit old fashioned (mistake).....
i rarely use bomb (big mistake).....
i intend to keep my finger on the shot button destroying everything which i dont know whats coming (another big mistake).....
but with bullet dodging, thats the fun of shmupping.....