Thunderforce V opinions?

[jp]

King's Knight?!
I never thought anyone would remember this old 1986 Nes vertical shooter...
Actually the game is quite interesting. You get to play as a knight, a sorcerer, a dragon or a kid (kid-icarus style)

That was the first NES game I ever owned other than Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt. I actually beat it... and I still like it.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

Free range is broken (sometimes won't lock on), overweapons are too powerful, too hard without charged up CRAWs for overweapon use and shot blocking, too many enemies coming from out of the plane into the flying and attack plane, too repetitive behind the back attacks just before a midboss or boss attack--the same enemies over and over again for almost 15 seconds.

Yes, I know, persistence is the key to many shooters but this... is an off-balance game. Pause the game to change ship speeds--there isn't enough time at the beginning of the stage to press and hold the ship speed button in this game before enemies attack. Once I get Hunter the first stage is pathetically easy--unless I get hit by not paying attention. Still can't pass the Wood stage 2. However, got to the boss of Stage 3. Glad I can select Stage 1 then Stage 3 and save stage 2 for last. I'm also trying to play this game without using free range because of the annoying aiming that is the reverse of the controller direction plus unreliable lock-on. Lots of off screen Danger crap where an attack is coming out of nowhere--but still quite easy to avoid.

Good graphics, though, even if some of the backgrounds tend to be repetitive. Nice soundtrack too, something I would definitely listen to outside of just playing the game. But it's a game I play four or five times in one sitting, then it sits on the shelf for six months or longer before I play it again.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Took maybe 2 or 3 days to get the no miss.

[Captain]

For some reason I actually prefer thunder force 6, perhaps it's because you can't tank everything with free range.
And I prefer not to use overweapon in either game, just so you know.

[Estebang]

TFV would simply be an okayish, too easy shooter if not for the utterly stellar visual narrative and production values.

Did Working Designs mess with the US release of Perfect System? They were notorious for jacking up the difficulty of games for no good reason, and at the expense of playability and balance. Oh yeah, and they put "SPAZ" on the box (which is considered hate speech towards the mentally disabled in the UK).

[Captain]

SPAZ is some sub-company thingy,not an insult.

TF5 Perfect System is not more difficult.

[Limbrooke]

Took maybe 2 or 3 days to get the no miss.

Says the gentleman who no-missed PS1 R-Type, so I'm not surprised at the outcome - perhaps it should've taken less time.

I think it's a good game albeit shorter and as a consequence easier at times than it's predecessors (excluding TF3). I've never bothered with the PlayStation version outside bleem! on Dreamcast so I don't know how it stacks up compared to Saturn. I enjoyed the time spent in TF5 and look back on it with less frustration than the other games.

[Icarus]

The game's a little easy until you get to the last boss, then it's a test of shield conservation as you pick off the three main forms. The main challenge in TFV (Saturn version) is maxing the score counter.
Hyper Duel is a much more fun game to play.

[Limbrooke]

The game's a little easy until you get to the last boss, then it's a test of shield conservation as you pick off the three main forms. The main challenge in TFV (Saturn version) is maxing the score counter.

Yeah, the race to 1 billion is not bad. Agreed.

Hyper Duel is a much more fun game to play.

Do not pass go. Disa-fuckin-gree. Cannot win them all.

[Captain]

To say Hyper Duel is bad is blasphemy in the LEAST.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Took maybe 2 or 3 days to get the no miss.

Says the gentleman who no-missed PS1 R-Type, so I'm not surprised at the outcome - perhaps it should've taken less time.

Are you talking about the original via compilation or Delta? cause if you're talking about the original, (or even the 2nd) I think it's way easier to 1cc it that way.
Thunder Force has, and always will be a poor man's Hellfire.

[J-Manic]

Hyper Duel is a much more fun game to play.

Do not pass go. Disa-fuckin-gree. Cannot win them all.

Ditto.

[Limbrooke]

Are you talking about the original via compilation or Delta? cause if you're talking about the original, (or even the 2nd) I think it's way easier to 1cc it that way.

If you checked the quoted users signature you'd see the following: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 20#p359420
Looks like R-Type 1 to me. I don't know which stop you got off somehow placing clear challenge/difficulty of the first two R-Types as being easier (regardless if it's a no-miss) compared to Delta but that's some joke, man.

Thunder Force has, and always will be a poor man's Thunder Cross.

That's better.

To say Hyper Duel is bad is blasphemy in the LEAST.

Wrong topic, dude. Nobody said it was bad, I just don't agree with it being fun which is accurate.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

You misunderstood me. I wasn't making any comparisons between the other R-Type games. I was simply stating that no-miss clearing the older ones is nothing special as I usually go about clearing them that way anyway thanks to Gradius syndrome. Don't see the connection to Thunder Cross Thunder Force has, but then again, I've never played Thunder Cross. >_>

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

It took 15 years to no-miss R-Type 1. And that was the PAL version - the extra 5 frames of reaction time makes all the difference.
And of course a no miss is easier as arriving at the final boss with x2 bits means you dont have to dodge anything, just sit in the safe spot center rear of the screen and let the force do it's work.
2All, checkpoint milking and R-Type Delta are all beyond my abilities.

[Estebang]

Hyper Duel is only not fun if you play for score, which means never moving, only fidgeting now and then to adjust aim and slip by bullets.

[BPzeBanshee]

Whoever's blaspheming about TF V should go and kill themselves. [/ElixirStyle]

Besides, Broken Thunder is much much worse and none of you have had the balls to actually play it so don't talk.

[Captain]

I played Broken once,It was NOT the worst game I played, it striked me as intermediate.

[BPzeBanshee]

See the "shmups stinkers" thread for games worse than Broken Thunder, there is quite a few. My point was that TF V isnt nearly as bad as most of the haters that have been on this thread say.

[Raytrace]

The Crystal stage has walls that refract your laser weapons all over the place. Bosses taunt you ("You think you can beat me with THAT? Loser!") Little things like that make the game pure classic.

If you don't like Gradius though, Gaiden won't change your mind.

yeah that bit UTTER amazed me (the crystals)

there are people who don't like Gradius??? o_O :'( :/

[Captain]

I agree completely with you, Banshee.

And I think you got the wrong thread, Raytrace.

[mjclark]

Besides, Broken Thunder is much much worse and none of you have had the balls to actually play it so don't talk.

I went on a quest to find and play Broken Thunder a couple of months ago and actually it's only shit cos it's so incomplete and unfinished - it it had been properly developed before release it could've been a contender...but then again, I quite enjoyed TFVI on PS2 so maybe I should shut up... but not before saying that TFV is very pretty and my favourite of the series

[Captain]

I prefer Thunder Force 4.

Heres how I arrange TF games by liking from best to worst.

TF 4
TF 6
TF 5
TF 2
TF 3
Broken thunder
TF 1 (yes,I actually found a download somewhere)

[Raytrace]

I agree completely with you, Banshee.

And I think you got the wrong thread, Raytrace.

I think you're right - dunno how that happened

[Limbrooke]

You misunderstood me. I wasn't making any comparisons between the other R-Type games. I was simply stating that no-miss clearing the older ones is nothing special as I usually go about clearing them that way anyway thanks to Gradius syndrome. Don't see the connection to Thunder Cross Thunder Force has, but then again, I've never played Thunder Cross. >_>

Thunder Cross 1 & 2 are alright, TC1 is in MAME and PS2 (Oretachi Game Center series) while TC2 is MAME/arcade only if you're inclined to investigate. I'm simply kidding around with the quote edit, I don't think TF stacks up well as any poor man's [insert name] which is all I was suggesting.

[Estebang]

The PS2 version of Thunder Cross 1 you mentioned is literally a MAME rom on a disc, like all the Oretachi Game Center releases.

[Despatche]

I think some of you should be defending TFVI and not V, haha.

They were notorious for jacking up the difficulty of games for no good reason, and at the expense of playability and balance.

I don't know about that "for no good reason, at the expense of", but Silhouette Mirage is there for you anyway.

Oh yeah, and they put "SPAZ" on the box (which is considered hate speech towards the mentally disabled in the UK).

That was a label of Working Designs, seemingly for "action" games (e.g. shmups), though it wasn't used for very long. It has mostly different connotations in the States (Working Designs being an American company), and I'm not entirely sure which connotation they were going for here (probably something a bit older).

[BPzeBanshee]

Besides, Broken Thunder is much much worse and none of you have had the balls to actually play it so don't talk.

I went on a quest to find and play Broken Thunder a couple of months ago and actually it's only shit cos it's so incomplete and unfinished - it it had been properly developed before release it could've been a contender...but then again, I quite enjoyed TFVI on PS2 so maybe I should shut up... but not before saying that TFV is very pretty and my favourite of the series

Exactly.

I found via looking at the files carefully the name of at least one of the programmers responsible for Broken Thunder, put his name into Google and came up with a website that was all Touhou crap. And I mean crap. Whoever made this clearly thought he was making a typical Touhou-like Bullet Hell game before getting told late in the development phase what it was REALLY meant to be and what you see now is a half-assed wedge of somewhere in between. That said there are indeed far worse games on the stinker's list, the music and movie really is a saving grace for Broken Thunder.

Oh, and as for the original Thunder Force.....LOL. I've played that one too. Xevious gone eight-way with your Air-to-Surface weapon offset from the ship. I can't get past the second stage on that thing, II's heaps better.

[Captain]

I think some of you should be defending TFVI and not V, haha.

Well I am, anyway.

[LSU]

I like V a lot. I prefer the Saturn version, for the more detailed graphics and the nicer direct access to the main weapons via the six face buttons on the Saturn pad. I can live with the extra slowdown on this version for those. (Does that make me a graphics whore?)

Personally I'd rank the games in this order:

IV
V
III
VI
II

I love 'em all though... I have to admit I've never played part I, although I do know someone who owns a real copy!