Since I want to play this game I have bought it from http://www.videogameimports.com. They had it in stock, I got a Kraken plush toy and it's already shipped with a tracking number!
I have just sent redspotgames a request to cancel my order and refund my money.
Last edited by rtw on Wed May 22, 2013 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Duranik have posted a few things on their Facebook page:
They promised us to take care of their facebook page again this week, they are still catching up with everything
And then there's this:
Play Asia or videogameimports (the ebay seller) are just regular resellers. Of course RSG should fullfill all preorders asap and we are really pissed the way the treat their customers by not responding or sending tracking numbers.
and this:
Hi, sorry to hear you did not receive it yet. We have the sneaking suspicion not all games were send at release date, perhaps it was simply to much for them to handle, as a lot of french guys received their games yesterday its still possible to drop in your letterbox the next days.
I'm somewhat relieved to have mine, because it sounds like copies were shipped to resellers before they were shipped to people who had pre-ordered the game. My DHL tracking number didn't work either, but it did arrive via courier so wasn't a postage con. The sheer level of not responding to any support tickets is customer service suicide and utterly disgraceful.
I sent them an inquiry a few days back, which I did not get answered yet either. I appreciate they're a small company and probably struggling to keep up with demand, but when you've pre-ordered - and paid for! - a game over two years ahead of it's eventual release ... and are thus effectively helping finance it ... you don't expect to have to wait a whole month to have it delivered, you do expect a simple shipping confirmation email (or a logged shipping date on the website when you log in, not just order 'completed'), and you do expect a brief reply when submitting an inquiry. Or at least, I do. I hope they learn from this and improve their customer service in future.
Anyways... I'm looking forward to booting up the game tonight, finally.
(EDIT: OK so to be fair, their customer support just got back to me. It took about 5 days, but at least they did write back.)
Last edited by LSU on Fri May 24, 2013 5:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I got my LE today (US EC). My original order was in Nov. 2011, and I upgraded to an LE in May 2012. The shipping box was a bit beat up but the game box was undamaged. I didn't need to pay extra so I don't mind the delay.
I didn't receive a confirmation email or a response to my status question a week after the game's release but once the order status changed to "Completed" one month ago, I figured the goods were sent. My experience was positive but I sympathize with folks here who wanted more communications.
My LE copy just Arrived without my STD edition.
I guess that may be not too far away.
The outer box was severely crushed but enough bubble wrap to not have harmed the Game at all.
There was a sticker by Australia post which states "Dear customer, This article was received in Australia in this condition and has been carefully rewrapped by Australia post"
I ordered Fast Strikers from RSG sometime last year. RSG never listed when the item was shipped and didn't actually ship the item until I filed a complaint with paypal and had the amount held. The date listed as getting mailed was after the date I filed with paypal.
First thing you'll notice is that the graphics are very nice, a lot of attention to detail has clearly been put into this and it has some lovely effects. Feels to me like it's trying to emulate a little bit of Gradius V's grandiose style at times, it doesn't ever quite get there of course but it's very impressive considering the limited resources they must have had.
Six buttons are required which as Davy said makes the pad feel more natural than a stick, at least at first. Maybe I can practice that but it's not immediately easy for me.
Not grabbing me as much as Fast Striker on my first evening's plays. I found Fast Striker to be more compelling right off the bat.
Indisputably has that Euro feel... not a fan of the 'soft' hits to the player ship and so forth I have to admit... have to get used to that. (In some ways it feels a little bit like playing today's equivalent of X2 No Relief.)
But it's good to play something that feels a little different to the usual fare, it's nice to have a new hori to play through and of course a new Dreamcast STG. It's got high production values and despite a few, not exactly insignificant, niggles I'd say it's well worth picking up as long as you know what style of game you're buying into. Worth the wait? For me, just about.
Well I have been playing this for around a week now and I'm getting to level 6 in arcade mode (final level). I'm playing maybe 2 or 3 games a day at normal level. I suspect real shmup heads will eat the arcade mode up but I'm enjoying it.
After dipping into main mode I think that arcade mode is made up of the first level of each world. The x.2 levels and above in the two worlds I have experienced in main mode are far more interesting and more challenging so - I consider arcade mode really as an appetiser.
The shine hasn't worn off - still really enjoying this. Score wise - I'm getting 700K on a good day on level 1 , and I've scored 1m on level 2 - so I'm knocking on 1.8m going to level 3 but then only having a score of around 2.5m at the start of level 6. I'm guessing there is room for improvement - maybe up to 6m for a runthrough. The level bonus stars you collect seem to be some sort of multiplier as the star count resets to 1 at the start of each level or at life loss.
The end of level screen is pretty comprehensive : shows level and total score, level and total bonus stars collected, bombs used, charge shots used, enemies destroyed , ship hits and percentage use of the 3 weapons - so I have no idea which of those is used to calculate the end of level bonus that is applied (you see the score jump up after a short delay after the boss is defeated before going to the level end screen).
Have noticed in the demo play some way of generating 2.5K score pickups - there's one at the start of level 1.1 in the demo I haven't been able to generate - might be to do with hitting >1 enemy at once - not sure though.
Last edited by davyK on Thu May 23, 2013 7:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
STURMWIND - A HIGH FALUTIN, PONCEY GAMING RETROSPECTIVE
I still remember the date. 22 April. Or 23rd. Might have been the 24th. Whatever.
To be honest, it's so long ago it's a detail that is of little consequence. The precise time and date are irrelevant.
It's an era; bygone days of my not-youth mispent not playing a game. A game so not-here I still don't play it to this very day.
Sturmwind.
Ah, even the name itself brings back vivid non-memories. Of not getting to open a dreamcast game box for the first time in something like 20 years. Of not getting a whiff of that uniquely Dreamcast new game manual smell. (Has it changed, I wonder? From 20 years ago? I can't be sure. You know, due to not fucking having actually had the second experience to compare to the first, I mean.)
Of not putting the non-disc into my slightly-brown Dreamcast, and not hoping that it would not perhaps not not-work. Or something.
But it did.
Not work, I mean. In fact, it did not work so well, I had to check again to make sure that I hadn't actually accidentally put an actual disc in the drive.
But I hadn't.
Because I didn't actually have the game. It's kinda requisite. For fucking playing one.
Yeah. If there's one lesson to take away from this it's that if you don't have shit, it kinda limits the shit you can do with said shit.
Put another way, doing shit with shit is only really viable if the shit you want to do shit with is in your possession.
But anyway, back to the not game. Back to the not Sturmwind. Not back to Sturmwind? You get the fucking point.
Let me tell you what I didn't see. Oh, let me tell you.
Dumbfounded, I sat there in awe of the Dreamcast startup screen, with those bouncing animated icon things. "Look how far things have come!" I thought, as I totally didn't weave some shiny spaceship thing between some whatever-the-hell-is-the-baddie-in-this-game-I-still-don't-actually-fucking-physically-own-yet-so-fuck-everything.
Somewhere - deep within - a high, piercing voice replied: "Fucking nowhere! Heh, that's progress, brother."
"P'TEW P'TEW!" I shouted back - partly to drown him out, partly in some pathetic attempt at simulating just how it would feel, had this game ever fucking actually arrived. I vainly flapped at the joypad too, for a bit. I'd imagine it might well have played as pretty as it looked.
You know, from my recollections of watching grainy footage on that there youtube, sort of thing.
And the sounds! Oh, the glorious sou- wait, I forgot the "not".
And the not-sounds! Oh, the glorious
Anti-sounds?
And the non-sounds! Oh, the glorious non-sounds! (Still not happy with it, but whatever.)
People might tell you this is all very Euro-shmuppy, but I tell you: they're talking out of their arses, these people who actually have legitimately played the game for real. The music and sound effects perfectly complement the on-screen action; all driving beat, meaty explosions, and metal-frying lasers...
I'd imagine. I only ever watch youtube shit at work, and I never have the sound up. Anyway, take it from someone who hasn't played it. Or someone who played the not version of it. I DON'T REALLY CARE WHO'S NOT READING THIS BY NOW, BY THE WAY.
Eventually I stopped not playing, that first day I had without the game, the usual fortnight I'd normally expect to wait after despatch. Whenever it was. Or wasn't.
I don't know, I think I had to go out, or something. Can you remember everything you did three whole fucking weeks ago, wiseguy? Yeah, exactly.
I pretended to take a disc out, and - as per usual - realised I'd stupidly misplaced the non-existent disc box for this particular non-disc. Fuck sake, every time I do this? I think I put the total-fucking-lack-of-a-disc-jesus-mary-and-joseph-preserve-me-from-a-sudden-and-unprepared-death in the box for Crazy Taxi. I probably had to check through at least half of my DC games collection the next time I wanted to not play Sturmwind.
Which, as it didn't turn not out, wasn't not too not long away.
Hang on... yeah... yeah, I think that's right.
Stevas still isn't playing Sturmwind, even now. How many Dreamcast not games can YOU not say that about, eh?
Wait... yeah. Think that bit's right too. Though maybe... no. Okay...
Yeah. Fuck it - that'll do.
One hardly has to be a "graphics fanboy" to appreciate 480p (and do DC games justice). Right now there is a window of opportunity to snag a Kuro/Hanzo ($39/$49 + $6 S&H) and if your TV doesn't have a VGA input (but HDMI) get one of these or something like it. As someone already mentioned there are also Cabou's VGA cables but those are a bit pricier as he does customizations.
Unfortunately, with everything currently plugged into my T.V (WiiU, Wii, DC, 360, PS3, P.C and a Chimaera Headset), the below scenario (If I've worked this out correctly) would be the only way for me to do it.
And then as all my HDMI's are in use, another one of them to go into my HDMI box.
It's a hell of a lot of kit to make a few games look better.
Because my compo slot is permanently in use (Red and White Phono leads. Think they're called RCA in America) so a standard cable is a no go. And the ones with the 3.5mm jack, would mean unplugging it from the awkward to get to jack slot everytime I want to use something else (or I'd have no audio).
Are there any long plays for Normal mode floating around? Or at least a list of the levels? It looks like every stage has a different number of sub-levels in Normal mode.
Competed arcade mode today.....only 2.4m though. Top score online is currently 3.6m and my won top score is 2.5m I scored a few days ago when I first reached the final stage (level 6).
Getting the wave bonus multipliers seems to be the way to score well. I don't think there is an end of level bonus - just that the multipliers apply with everything you shoot including the boss which I think gives you 10K x wave bonus stars. Still haven't figured out how to activate the score pickups so I don't know if the multiplier applies to them too.
Finally arrived. I entered a service ticket about 2 weeks ago. Redspot did get back to me about 8 days later and offered a refund if the game didn't turn up, but assured me it was on it's way. I won't be giving them great marks for communication but it arrived as promised and my faith is restored.
Anyway, I'm sick of this game now, guys. Fuck you, Sturmwind.
Time to get rid, I think.
FOR SALE
One never-actually-fucking-received copy of STURMWIND, for the SEGA DREAMCAST.
Title: STURMWIND
Format: SEGA DREAMCAST
Genre: SHMUP
This item is NON-FUCKING-EXISTENT
Condition of Disc: NON-FUCKING-EXISTENT (but probably with some tiny scratches)
Condition of Case: Some tiny non-existent scratches - whatever
Condition of Instructions: Maybe
Non existent Spine Card: Very much so, yes
For the record, it was ordered from Play-Asia, and I have pursued it.
It's being "investigated". I've never had anything not delivered from PA, so I'm not really sure of what happens from now.
