Raiden III - PS2 version

ThirdStrike · Post by **ThirdStrike** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:12 pm

I 1CC this game last night. Seems very easy and Raiden like.

The gallery mode is really cool with the ability to view your ships and enemies in 3d any which direction you want. The illustrations and fan drawings are really cool as well. I love boss rush mode and replay mode is cool for sitting back and watching the comp show you the way (Which I did not need because I 1CC this already hehe)

Anyone into shmups and own a Jap or modded ps2 I say pick it up it is worth the play.

Taito RULES!!!!!!

TalkingOctopus · Post by **TalkingOctopus** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:38 pm

I 1CC this game last night. Seems very easy and Raiden like.

Raiden is very easy?? I have a hard time with Raiden 1 and 2, but I suppose I am at a much lower skill level than most of the people on the forum.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:14 pm

Neon wrote: I'll get it if Rando/Rob likes it.

I'm waiting for Rando's impressions for curiosity's sake, but for me I think this will be an unnecessary game since I could put a lot more time into the proven greatness of DX. I'm also waiting for Homura, which I will buy immediately.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:48 pm

Excellent port of a slightly above average, enjoyable shooter.

I like the ship speed (not fast like Cave, but not Raiden I & II slow), and the difficulty is set just right for the average player. I made it to level 4 on 1C within the first couple plays. Intensity picks up level 5-7.

I dislike how everything is so stock and vanilla (backgrounds, enemy designs, lack of detail). All the classic shooter level cliches are here as well: the fly over the forest level, destroy the asteroids level, the battleship sea port level, fly through the vertical spaceship column thing level, etc. etc.) This game is about as original as Trizeal.

Still, it’s fun to play and that’s what really counts I guess. I'm keeping my pre-order.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:25 am

angrycoder wrote: Honestly the horrible port of GigaWing Generations and the medicore Trizeal both feature better gameplay.

Just goes to show there's more than one kind of shmup fan. I loved Trizeal and Gigawing Generations has its fans too (see 'just put a bag over her head and do her'). And to even further ram this point home, I didn't like Mushi.

talking octopus wrote: Raiden is very easy?? I have a hard time with Raiden 1 and 2, but I suppose I am at a much lower skill level than most of the people on the forum.

I think they are two independent statements. 3rd Strike is saying it is very raiden like AND that it is easy (I know, I find these contradictory as well, but still...)

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:03 am

ThirdStrike wrote:I 1CC this game last night. Seems very easy and Raiden like.

How on earth have you 1cc'd it already? I have 4 credits and I still died in level 7.

Shearie · Post by **Shearie** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:20 am

Out of the three main Raiden games, I think this is my new favorite as for as gameplay is concerned. So many of the enemy and shot patterns are completely lifted from part 1 and 2 but everything feels more refined to me. More frantic throughout than part 1 yet still has around the same difficulty unlike the hard as hell right from the beginning of part 2. I like what they did with the toothpaste laser too making it more of the middleground between Red and Blue.

The music is pretty good too as far as video game music goes but definitely not as good as part 1. The art direction and the quality of the graphics I have a little bit of a problem with. It's all so low poly with bad textures. When you fly over the forest it looks like it was made with one giant polygon with a crappy tree leaves texture on it.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:33 am

The music is typical Japanese techno/trance style, many western people won't like it for sure.

And the game is above average. But still a fun game to play, right now I can only get to stage 3 in one credit.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:06 pm

Mine was shipped today.

jiji · Post by **jiji** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:43 pm

How's the scoring system in this? Does it take any kind of influence from DX (countdown medals, hidden items) or the Raiden Fighters games (destroyed at a time, quick shot)?

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:10 pm

Play-asia alleges that they shipped mine this morning, so...

I should have it in a couple of weeks or so

postman · Post by **postman** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:24 pm

Comments:

Overall I think the game has great packaging: boss rush, 3-D models, excellent graphics and color scheme, and the ability to play both ships using one controller (I got it to work......). This ability alone makes for a great port in my opinion.........

Now for the bad part.....I have to agree that the gameplay itself is totally uninspired. The bullet patterns absolutely suck. Most every shot is just a tracer shot, aimed directly at your ship. Only the bosses vary in bullet patterns, and it's usually only a variation of a spread pattern. I know the Raiden series is based on simple dodging/gameplay tactics, but after playing so many doujin shmups with creative bullet spreads, this is just very lackluster to me.........

So overall a great package containing a sub-par game, IMHO.

Naiera · Post by **Naiera** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:25 pm

Heh, MadSteelDarkness, I was about to make the same type of post

I decided to give PA one more shot, because right now I really don't care when I get the game as I'm busy with University stuff, but it would of course still be nice if it came as quickly as stuff before Mushihime-sama did...

sffan · Post by **sffan** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:41 pm

I've always had quick shipments from Play-Asia, EMS or otherwise. For this one I chose EMS so I'll probably get it friday.

Post by **Icarus** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:17 pm

Play-Asia just confirmed shipping of mine via EMS. Should arrive in the next few days ^_^

jiji wrote:How's the scoring system in this? Does it take any kind of influence from DX (countdown medals, hidden items) or the Raiden Fighters games (destroyed at a time, quick shot)?

From what I understand there is a proximity multiplier present. The closer you are to an enemy when you destroy it, the high the multiplier is incremented. It starts from 1.0x and goes up in 0.1 increments up to 2.0x.

postman wrote:Most every shot is just a tracer shot, aimed directly at your ship.

So it has the same kind of bullets as every old-school Raiden, then. I'd rather they use either the old-school or a Raiden Fighters variation than attempt to make it a bullet hell game.

futurespa · Post by **futurespa** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:10 pm

undamned wrote:
futurespa wrote:I have it, bores straight from the box.
The CD-R box?
-ud

Ya, that's right. Good one btw, did you made this one up or did ya copy / pasted it from a mature forum. No seriously, it's a shite game (wich I downed luckily)

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:26 pm

It would be hypocritical of me to be looking down on teh omg priates since I have also downloaded the ISO...

I had momentarily thought I should have pre-ordered from play-asia after hearing all your guys' copies have shipped, but mine should ship from yesasia within the next few days. For some reason I was still under the impression that the release date is still a week away

Isn't there also a $10 difference between yesasia and play-asia's price?

Post by **Ghegs** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:01 pm

Icarus wrote: From what I understand there is a proximity multiplier present. The closer you are to an enemy when you destroy it, the high the multiplier is incremented. It starts from 1.0x and goes up in 0.1 increments up to 2.0x.

The multiplier is based on how fast you destroy the enemy, not your proximity to it, I believe.

Judging by the videos I've seen there's only one type of medal to collect, Aside from the speed multiplier the score consists of bonus points you get after every level. 5k for every bomb in stock, 10k for every ship in stock and 10k for every medal collected.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:49 pm

i plan on buying when i can afford it. from what i've seen it looks like a good time. admittedly, i am hardly a Raiden conneseur (read: fiend, so you can pretend i spelled it correctly), my crowning raiden achievements include getting to level 2 of raiden 2 in one credit, getting to level 2 stage 3 in raiden fighters, and 1cc... yes 1cc the painfully easy raiden flash.

anyway, it looks like fun. and double play looks like a blast.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:47 pm

I play a lot of Raiden III today. I wish there were more polygons so the game would look a lot better (Level one, the forest, and that small city at the start of level one). I love the idea of Duel mode, controlling two ships at the same time is hell. Next week is my brithday (YAY!!!), so I have enough money to purchase Raiden III! I'm going to order the game from ncsx.com. The price tag: $66.50 (with shipping).

Anyway, I give this game a 8/10.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:09 am

It's $49.49 at yesasia, with free shipping...

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:15 am

I really don't trust them. I don't trust anybody in Hong Kong. I perfer some guy in the US to give me the game (even if it cost more).

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:01 am

yesasia came through with my Mushi, sure the free shipping took a couple weeks, but it IS free. game was, of course, brand new and perfect.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:23 am

captain ahar wrote:yesasia came through with my Mushi, sure the free shipping took a couple weeks, but it IS free. game was, of course, brand new and perfect.

I'm doing three day shipping with mine. $58.00 for the game, $8.50 for three day shipping = $66.50. Plus, I don't have to wait for weeks for just one game.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:01 am

In case it matters to anyone, I've ordered twice from YesAsia, both times with free shipping, and both times everything went fine...

As for the game in question, Raiden's never really floated my boat in general, so I'll wait for the price to drop, at least.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:26 am

Fighter17 wrote:I really don't trust them. I don't trust anybody in Hong Kong. I perfer some guy in the US to give me the game (even if it cost more).

Some people perfer cheaper prices and free shipping, and I am one of those people.

Yesasia is one of the most realiable site from the Asia area, all of my purchases from them arrived in perfect shape.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 4:01 am

Fighter17 wrote:I really don't trust them. I don't trust anybody in Hong Kong. I perfer some guy in the US to give me the game (even if it cost more).

Yesasia ships games to US addresses from their US (San Fran) office, not from Hong Kong. They get the imports like any other US import shop.
Paying more than their price for no good reason is just silly, but hey, it's your money. Feel free to throw it out the window.

They also ship in a timely manner and offer USPS priority mail shipping.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:51 am

I bought my copy at a local store yesterday, costs US$46. But my LM1881 circult for the PS2 RGB cable is not yet complete. So I haven't tried it yet.

Burnout three LM1881 now, and still not able to connect to my acrade monitor...

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:59 am

Just here to put in another good word for YesAsia. Ordered stuff (movies, games, music) from them many, many times and never had a problem.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:04 am

I just check some things out from yesasia, I'm thinking about ordering the game from them. I'm going to use priority mail for the game (5 bucks extra). Question, how long they take to ship the game out from their office?

One reason why I want to order the game from NCSX is that it only takes three days to get the game to my house. They also ship less than 24 hours (which is really good). I'm one of those guys who just want the game now, I can't wait for three weeks until I get the game from the mail. I NEED IT NOW!!!

If you compare yesasia to NCSX:

yesasia: $56.00 (priority shipping, 2-5 days)
NCSX: $66.50 (Three day shipping, cost about $8.50)