Thunder Force VI, Subpar, Bad Game!!!

[ST Dragon]

Is it just me or is Thunder Force VI a really bad game?!
I played it yesterday and completed it in less than 20 minutes!
The levels are so short, the enemy waves are un-inspiring, the Boss design is very rough and minimal (Especially the hilarious Final Orn-Emperor Boss), the weapons feel powerless and the music is horrible!

This was such a cheap way to capitalize on the Thunder Force series.

I had the impression that the Broken Thunder Soundtrack was going to be used in TFVI, pity I was wrong... However I doubt it would have saved it in any way...

Seriously now, is TFVI any better than that Doujin shooter "Broken Thunder" (I have not played it my self). Cause it certainly feels like a very rushed game to me!

At least the intro is good.

[indstr]

I played it yesterday too and I wasn't impressed either, but I'm not a fan of the original thunderforce series or hori's in general or non-manic shooters in general so .. There ya go, my opinion doesn't really matter

[Skykid]

Shit, 20 minutes?!:shock:

I'm glad I cancelled that pre-order now.

Are you sure it wasn't an easier mode? Something like Bakraid or Batrider where you have limited amounts of levels?

[ST Dragon]

I’m afraid not! I played it with the default settings in normal mode using the phoenix ship through all 6 levels and yes it was very short!
Especially the 1st ocean stage I was able to reach the 1st level Boss in no time!

Note that I was half asleep and I was just pressing the fire-button and over-weapon, so I really didn’t put much skill into completing it!

Thunder Force V is vastly superior to this!

But the music is the biggest disappointment; I was expecting a much better soundtrack from the RayForce, Raiden music devs!

[Guardians Knight]

surely you arent talking 1cc?

[Skykid]

Well I'm surprised. The guys in the other thread seemed to be really into it, but if what you say is true, I was definitely expecting more.

I'll wait a while for a 2nd hand copy to come up and might give it a shot.

[MX7]

Did you 1cc it already?

[Rob]

I played it yesterday and completed it in less than 20 minutes!

So as long as Thunder Force III then?

[ST Dragon]

No I did not 1cc it, I just used continues.
However I can verify that Thunder Force III is a longer game than this!
Only the 1st jungle stage of TFIII is about as long as the one in TFVI, the rest of the TFIII stages are longer.

I was expecting a lot more!

Also I don't quite like the story-line, the way it mixes up Earth with the Galaxy Federation & Orn Empire war, it just doesn’t make sense..
It would have made more sense if the events of TFV were just a side story and completed with the total destruction of Vasteel at the conclusion of TFV.
After all, Guardian was supposed to have completely wiped out the Vasteel technology considered as dangerous & unsuitable for humans with evil motives to wield, so how did they create the Phoenix fighter?

[MX7]

20 minutes is fine for a shooter. I understand console shooters are longer though, but I think that having aspirations towards being a 'console shooter' are generally not a good thing. Spend some more time with your game and you might start to enjoy it.

[Ghegs]

I don't mind the game's shortness one bit. In fact, I rather like it as opposed to 60-minutes marathons a la Gradius V. The default difficulty could be harder, this is true (I 1CCed it after about an hour of playing) but I'm still playing it at harder difficulties and generally having fun with the game. Unlock Neo Style, crank the game up to Maniac and go at it.

As for the story, I guess that's what the unlockable reports would answer. 'course they're all in japanese. I can start taking screen captures if somebody's interested in translating them.

[SFKhoa]

This game is better than Broken Thunder, that's for sure.

[Observer]

No I did not 1cc it, I just used continues.
However I can verify that Thunder Force III is a longer game than this!
Only the 1st jungle stage of TFIII is about as long as the one in TFVI, the rest of the TFIII stages are longer.

I was expecting a lot more!

Also I don't quite like the story-line, the way it mixes up Earth with the Galaxy Federation & Orn Empire war, it just doesn’t make sense..
It would have made more sense if the events of TFV were just a side story and completed with the total destruction of Vasteel at the conclusion of TFV.
After all, Guardian was supposed to have completely wiped out the Vasteel technology considered as dangerous & unsuitable for humans with evil motives to wield, so how did they create the Phoenix fighter?

You know, I always thought about the awesome Panzer Dragoon references in TFV, which made me think if both teams were eventually going to make a joint work and release a shooter based on both worlds, tying the stories somehow. Now you are telling me Earth is put in the mix, that pretty much kills the 'alien'/strange vibe I loved so much...

I mean, could you imagine a final boss that comes with Shelcoof, a couple of Guardian Dragons and a gigantic super computer/other alien surreal spaceship while being assisted by a late evolution of Lagi releasing guided laser missiles while the background portrays the universe evolution, the cat from HellSinker shows in and a ship with six wings and a reflecting shield comes to say hi? (ok, I admit it, been playing too much RefleX, which has a lot of nice references)

Still, the game looks definitely fine and as I stated on the other thread, I will get it as soon as the hype dies or it gets an american release.

I knew I was right. The author of Diadra Empty pretty much nailed it with a picture showing Ether Vapor next to Thunder Force VI. Now try to scratch that doujin feeling (Touhou is omnipresent as well, with the Yukkuri atrocities and a Reimu down there)

This game is better than Broken Thunder, that's for sure.

Agreed!

[ST Dragon]

I always thought about the awesome Panzer Dragoon references in TFV

Interesting! I've completed both Panzer Dragoon & ZWEI but strangely I don't remember any references to TFV, please feel free to point them out!

Now you are telling me Earth is put in the mix, that pretty much kills the 'alien'/strange vibe I loved so much...

Yes, in the intro of TFVI you can see the earth's fleet battling those Alien Orn battle-ships from the 1st level of TFIV on the Genesis. Strangely enough the earth's fleet consists of battleships that look exactly the same as the Sword Fleet (controlled Guardian in TFV) that blasted and annihilated the human cities from orbit in the 1st war against the Guradian. But that doesn’t make sense as that entire fleets as well as the Judgement Sword Flaghsip, were all destroyed at the conclusion of TFV.
Also the Sword Fleet looked a lot more formidable and sinister to those Orn battleships, so I don’t see how the earth fleet could have been defeated so easily.
So again all this is an obscure mixture of plot elements and just don’t make sense.

Here is a small reference to the TFVI story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder_Force_VI

[BulletMagnet]

This probably should have gone in the existing TFVI topic...

[ST Dragon]

I did, but no one replied there...

[Observer]

I did, but no one replied there...

I replied you there now so you might as well continue there? =P

(People got a bit carried by the sales stats so maybe they skipped the post)

[nimitz]

Yes, the game is too way easy, took me about 5 tries to 1cc normal (and that is NOT because I played well), as soon as you know where the extra lives are its instant 1cc.

heres a VERY short review of the main aspects:

Music - The music is some kind of poor electro jazz and doesn't fit the game.

Difficulty - The, normal difficulty level is a joke and the higher ones feel unbalanced, seems like the game was built around "normal" setting then adjusted to hard and maniac. also the bosses die way too fast if you use the "over" weapons (about 10seconds on average) and cant throw patterns since they die so fast

Level Design - I found the design pretty generic, especially the first 3 levels (level 4 and 5 are better).

Scoring - The scoring system is WAY too simple, pretty much kills = points plus the TFV mutiplier. For the bosses, kill them in 5 seconds using "over" weapons for max multiplier and as a "bonus" you dont have to dodge anything.

[yojo!]

People used to bitch a lot about R-Type Final being the biggest waste in shooter history and a classic example on how to end a great franchise with a lame attempt; I think Thunderforce VI just claims that spot now.

[professor ganson]

There is a place for easy, short games too. But blah level design I could do without. I'm planning on playing this a bit next weekend, and now am just a bit less excited. But I've never been a huge Thunderforce fan to begin with.

[ST Dragon]

People used to bitch a lot about R-Type Final being the biggest waste in shooter history and a classic example on how to end a great franchise with a lame attempt; I think Thunderforce VI just claims that spot now.

R-Type Final might have not been perfect as the difficulty level was not very balanced, but it was certainly not a waste!
It featured many qualities! Graphics were superb, cool multi path levels, multiple endings, 100s of ships, nice soundtrack, immense & epic Boss fights, all add up to a very memorable game!

Thunder Force VI however, yeah that can be considered a great waste!

[Ceph]

"I played it yesterday and completed it in less than 20 minutes!" - "Did you 1cc it already?" - "No I did not 1cc it, I just used continues."

[Gungriffon Geona]

this almost sounds like a bad trolling attempt if it didn't honestly know better. also he's playing Normal, which everyone's in thorough agreement that that's probably the least interesting mode to play in.

[ST Dragon]

This is a reply to ST Dragon in the other thread (which should be merged, locked or something I guess) So skip to the "In short" part

I always thought about the awesome Panzer Dragoon references in TFV

Interesting! I've completed both Panzer Dragoon & ZWEI but strangely I don't remember any references to TFV, please feel free to point them out!

Now you are telling me Earth is put in the mix, that pretty much kills the 'alien'/strange vibe I loved so much...

Yes, in the intro of TFVI you can see the earth's fleet battling those Alien Orn battle-ships from the 1st level of TFIV on the Genesis. Strangely enough the earth's fleet consists of battleships that look exactly the same as the Sword Fleet (controlled Guardian in TFV) that blasted and annihilated the human cities from orbit in the 1st war against the Guardian. But that doesn’t make sense as that entire fleets as well as the Judgement Sword Flagship, were all destroyed at the conclusion of TFV.
Also the Sword Fleet looked a lot more formidable and sinister to those Orn battleships, so I don’t see how the earth fleet could have been defeated so easily.
So again all this is an obscure mixture of plot elements and just don’t make sense.

Indeed, the Sword ships were and looked amazing, with a design that I think inspired the dudes who did Homeworld (the 2nd game Hiigaran's heavy cruiser is all long and sleek in design, full of turrets/ion cannons and the Progenitor's ships also look alien and animé-like... yeah, I love Homeworld series)

If I'm not wrong, someone already spoiled us and posted a picture of a giant freaky head... That's the final boss right? If so, it falls short and I concur it belongs to Contra rather than TF.

About the PD references: as generic as an 'oceanic' opening scene became, TFV first stage and Panzer Dragoon 1 both start with similar camera angles over a sea, going from a close up of your character/ship to a pan angle and then to the game itself. Both feature highly bombastic tunes: Legendary Wings for TFV and a full orchestral piece called "Flight" for PD. They are probably some of the coolest tunes ever gracing a game.

There is also a similarity in the style: one goes for surreal alien-organic creatures/mechanical Da Vinciesque anti gravity ships, the other goes for almost the same but replaces the retro-hitech for a strange hi-tech.

Saturn shooters used to have heaps of those lock-on indicators I tend to love so much (Macross fag/fan here!), as well as the infamous guided laser missiles. These ones feel like subtle references, perhaps not intended but enemies showing up in TFV appear with lock-on signs. Almost made me wonder if they were trying to include a guided missiles feature to attack stuff in the background and decided to go for Free Range.

The biomechanical sea serpent of stage 1 shares similarities with the acid-spitting sandworms of PD's stage 2. It almost seems as if that is the original species adapted to sea life. Perhaps an indicator that this was indeed an alternate universe fusing both worlds in an epic combo of techno-surrealism.

The obvious and famous one is the Golia Hunter midboss you fight in the forest stage (it's the monkey-like biomechanical creature). That was way too cool and ignited my imagination. I almost expected Guardian Dragon or Shelcoof towards the end.

edit: here it is



The tunnel section (can't remember the stage) obviously reminded me of the fast tunnel sections from both PD games, sans the huge mecha that attacks you.

I'm wondering if Technosoft shared some enemy designers 'cause everything looks cool in both series.

Maybe there were more...

In short: yeah, all of the above sounds crazy and/or delusional but I'm not sure TFVI was able to catch that 'thing'/feeling from the old ones.

And who cares, right? A shootan gaem is a schmukmup. It looks great and is even quite accessible, which is the main gripe/criticism the games get from the mainstream and the credit-feeding population. This is not Cave so we knew beforehand we weren't getting a top-down scrolling bullet hell inferno...

And I'll put my claws on it sooner or later.

Plus I want it to be successful if that will allow more shooters to be released as part of this STG Project thing. Heck, we could even get a new acid-induced Darius!

Yes you're right about all those similarities!
Especially the Golia Hunter mid-boss in the jungle stage in TFV, I had completely forgotten about that guy!
Generally that jungle stage looks identical to the Zwei jungle stage, even the faint sun rays passing through the tree tops into the jungle basin are featured in both games!
The 1st water world stages & music in both stages are very similar. Even though the sea-serpent doesn’t quite resemble the acid-spitting worms from the desert stage in PD, those look more like the worms from Dune.

As for that head, yeah that was the last Boss in TFVI and looks terrible!
By far one of the worse final Bosses of all time, in shmup history!

I’ve never played Homeworld so I couldn’t comment on the Hiigaran's heavy cruiser or the Progenitor's ships… if you have any links please post them.

Yes now that you mention it, maybe SEGA was trying to fuse the TFV & PD universe at the time, hence all these striking similarities!

However, I don’t think TFVI was able to catch that 'thing'/feeling from the old ones.

As for those lock-on and the infamous guided laser missiles, don’t forget that they also appear in the Ray series RayForce, RayStrom & RayCrisis) which greatly resemble the guided/bending laser missiles from the Gall Force Anime series and the immense battles that are featured there. It’s obvious that these are Japanese Anime/Game stereotypes rather than SEGA/TechnoSoft characteristics.

[iatneH]

Is it just me

[ST Dragon]

??

[Observer]

Yup, the bending lasers are part of the Ray series' charm and why I love it. And, well, that's one stereotype (the bending lasers+missile barrages) I like =P

Anyway, for some Homeworld 2 imagery here you have three old screens I took years ago:

Sajuuk (pretty much THE Progenitor ship, almost referenced as a god in the game, the ship is firing at a Planet Killer): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/Wyrm/ss00041.jpg

Heavy Cruisers attacking (more like a lot of ships shooting at each other, there are two at the background): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/Wyrm/ss00030.jpg

Heavy Cruiser + Progenitor Capital Ship (can't remember the exact name, it's the first one you salvage in the campaign, you can also see the top-down schematic of the Heavy Cruiser in the interface): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/Wyrm/ss00018.jpg

To conclude, I'll save the 'final judgement' once I get to play TFVI.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

I'm confused with some of the comparisons made here. For all R-Type Final's many faults, difficulty balance was never an issue. Are we sure this guy knows what he's talking about?

As for TFVI - As with V, it just looks like another big tribute to TFIII. Someone thought low difficulty and 5 second boss battles was a good idea and should be a mainstay of the series.

From the Youtube videos I've seen, pacing seems to be a bit like Darius Gaiden. Short, simple levels punctuated by epic boss battles. Except the boss battles aren't so epic.

I'm not saying the game looks bad, I think it looks very good - certainly a step up from TFV. 3 ships and this "Neo Style" thing will add longevity to the game. Still disappointed with the weapon layout though. Rynex can switch between Twin Shot and Blade? Seriously, they should have let one ship have Free Way and the other have Hunter, then let them have Firey and Snake.

I think we're lucky someone bothered to make this game, seeing as most developers forgot how to make a decent hori about ten years ago, and even the guys who do know how (Treasure) dont exactly cater to everyone's tastes.

[ST Dragon]

Yup, the bending lasers are part of the Ray series' charm and why I love it. And, well, that's one stereotype (the bending lasers+missile barrages) I like =P

Anyway, for some Homeworld 2 imagery here you have three old screens I took years ago:

Sajuuk (pretty much THE Progenitor ship, almost referenced as a god in the game, the ship is firing at a Planet Killer): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/Wyrm/ss00041.jpg

Heavy Cruisers attacking (more like a lot of ships shooting at each other, there are two at the background): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/Wyrm/ss00030.jpg

Heavy Cruiser + Progenitor Capital Ship (can't remember the exact name, it's the first one you salvage in the campaign, you can also see the top-down schematic of the Heavy Cruiser in the interface): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/Wyrm/ss00018.jpg

To conclude, I'll save the 'final judgement' once I get to play TFVI.

I see you like immense Starfleet battles as much as I do!
You’ll love the Gall Force trilogy; it features some of the most epic / dramatic& memorable starship battles, planet destroyers, huge battle cruisers, missile barrages & awesome bending laser blasts! On par, if not more impressive that the Macross series!
Definitely your cup off tea!

By the way, those cool shots you posted, are they from the 1999 PC game Homeworld or Homeworld 2 (2003) ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeworld

[Acid King]

??

It's just you.