∀kashicverse -Malicious Wake

[BPzeBanshee]

So one can actually get the text to appear if they set their non-Unicode language to Japanese? Cool. I'll try it out later on.

EDIT: Worked.

[Cadrin]

What's this?
Well, looks like a preview of the upcoming arrange album of the game's soundtrack. Since the OST itself sounds like a remix of a soundtrack... This is almost like a remix of a remix, right? Chill and Nicolai (the guys behind the original soundtrack) made some of the tracks as well.

I have also found this. I don't think it has been linked to anywhere on Endless-Shirafu's blog yet... Looks like an advert for the C84 version of Akashicverse called the "Akashic Box". A "collector's edition", so to speak? As per usual, I cannot get through the kana, only through the Times New Roman, and it seems like it's 4 CDs, including an arrange album, a CD with Himeno Striker and Akashicverse on it (with the upcoming summer patch), and a 2CD edition of the game's OST that apparently includes some remixes not included in the arrange album as well.

I must say, this looks very interesting. I can't wait till C84 comes around. It's a limited edition, but I'd love to get my hands on it.

[SuperSoaker360]

The Stage 5 - Boss 2 song has a fancy title similar to ]-[_-34(#! as Hibachi from Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu.

∀[V]4|_@1V<3Я 41V07#312 AA1>< = AMALANCER ANOTHER MIX

[BPzeBanshee]

1337 Speak showed up well before DFK and was already popular in other areas (I started seeing it in primary school 2006 in popular flash games like Diseased Production's output).

With that being said it is very nice to see the reference though and I personally find the game very inspiring, enough so to take the Omake idea a bit further than what vanilla Akashicverse has done.

[Cadrin]

Yeah, it's their own weird brand of 1337speak.

So, there's a promotional video for the Akashic Box/Summer Special Box around minute 29 in this compilation. It mostly showcases Himeno Striker. What can I say, it's just a horizontal cute-em-up. There also is just a tiny bit of gameplay of the new modes in Akashicverse - in glorious 5 frames per second! Let's talk about the upcoming modes for a bit.

Abyss is apparently going to be the ultra-hard mode. I don't know, maybe with even more bullets, and perhaps adding the annoying mechanic from Another where you get a game over if you get hit with your shields down. It would be cool if it finally made the extra stage boss actually challenging and invulnerable to exploits, but I wouldn't bank on that. It kinda is the circle's style to just seek band-aid solutions, as evidenced by substituting the replay feature for Twitter integration. And by buffing the boss instead of nerfing certain aspects of the Phase Shift.

As for Abnormal, it's probably ultra-easy mode with a twist. Why else give the player something like 2000% shields? Seems like the shields don't regenerate at all while they are up, encouraging aggressive gameplay. The method gauge seems to fill up passively at a very rapid pace, though.

Then there is CHAOS mode. The video only shows about one second of it (specifically a huge attack similar to Stage 6 boss' melee one), but I have a feeling this mode is going to be good. From the developers' blog page, translation courtesy of Google Translate:

Mode you are not sure of the last "CH ∀ OS" is a mode of feeling to fight the enemy of ∀ byss mode in the aircraft of ∀ bnormal mode.

I think it's straightforward enough, despite only using the machine translation. It's probably the mode which all the bads, myself included, were looking for: one that puts you on steroids while making the enemies Abyss-level tough. So, basically, a for-fun mode with maximum firepower available to both sides. The gameplay is just a few frames, but I'm pretty sure I can see the player depleting stage 3 boss' entire health bar in a single attack. Sure, why not...

I just hope it will be possible to combine these modes with Asterism. In fact, is there a reason not to make Asterism the new default mode instead? It gives you two additional methods during the regular game, and I think that's pretty much it. It also buffs the extra stage boss' power level into stratosphere. But, as we all know, once the initial shock wears off, the boss can still be cheesed in a variety of ways.

Well, at any rate, we will find out no sooner than August 12th.

EDIT:

I personally find the game very inspiring, enough so to take the Omake idea a bit further than what vanilla Akashicverse has done.

May I ask what you mean by that?

[BPzeBanshee]

May I ask what you mean by that?

I meant "a bit further in my own game project". 4|\|71(|-|R1$7 is just the first I made, there'll be one for every stage with different requirements when it's complete - more or less like what I thought Akashicverse would've lead to with future updates.

[Zaarock]

Fairly big interview with the devs of Akashicverse: http://gs.inside-games.jp/news/425/42551.html

Seems like they go through a lot of stuff and reference various games, would be nice to see a translation or summary

[Cadrin]

The article is written by Shinimai. He has an account on this very forum, and I saw him speak in pretty fluent English in the Hellsinker thread. Maybe he could at the very least provide a summary in English if someone asked him kindly - but I am not going to do that, because I hate pestering strangers.

Just dropping by to point out that Akashic Box does not contain the full version of Akashicverse. Well, I'm pretty sure it doesn't. It's just Hymeno Striker and the summer patch, without the full game. It's still apparently only 1000 yen for the OST and an arrange album on top of that, so it's a bargain for lots of fan stuff.

And I'm pretty sure the blog entry says that there is only 50 of these boxes, so they're probably going to sell like hot cakes. I'm getting too hyped up for this sh-

EDIT: and I know I am a fool to try to extract any meaningful information from the interview using google translate, but the output gave me the world "sequel" a couple times. I want to believe!

[shinimai]

Hi everyone.
I'm Shinimai, the writer of this interview.
Recently I haven't check this forum.
But I'm happy to know foreign shumps fans enjoy with Akashicverse.

My English is unskilled.
However if English speakers read this interview, I'm happy, surely.
The interview is very big, so I can't translate all in English.
But If you would like to know about this article, I may tell a little of that in English.

BTW Akashic Box does not contain the full version of Akashicverse.

[Cadrin]

I would love to know about this article, and I think I am not the only one, but I just don't know what to ask about, because I don't understand Japanese at all and I am not sure what the topics of the interview were...

Ok, let me try. I'm very sorry in advance for asking so many questions. I'm not the best person to ask you them, because I don't know how to keep them short and simple. Please, answer as many of them as you want.

You guys talked a bit about the story in the game, is that correct? On the game's website it is still listed as "UNDER CONSTRUCTION". Did Nicolai, Hart and LuCK (ver.2) say what this game is about? Why the main character of the game is fighting with all these flower girls? Or who the girls are? And did they explain why there are so many references to flowers (orchids) in the game? Or references to DNA / sperm, the 7 cardinal sins and butterflies in stage 6?

Did they explain what "Akashicverse" means? Or the weird names of the music tracks? What was their idea of a game? Did they just want to make a cool game first, and think of a story later?

I also wanted to know what the members of the doujin circle said about their future. They made Akashicverse, then they made Hymeno Striker. Do they plan to make more STGs in the same universe as Akashicverse?

I don't know, I think these are the most often asked questions by the foreign players. Was there anything else interesting said about the game?

Sorry once more for so many questions and so many unnecessary words.

[nasty_wolverine]

Did they explain what "Akashicverse" means?

I always thought it meant this, but I am not to sure though what the devs thought it meant.

[shinimai]

You guys talked a bit about the story in the game, is that correct? On the game's website it is still listed as "UNDER CONSTRUCTION". Did Nicolai, Hart and LuCK (ver.2) say what this game is about? Why the main character of the game is fighting with all these flower girls? Or who the girls are? And did they explain why there are so many references to flowers (orchids) in the game? Or references to DNA / sperm, the 7 cardinal sins and butterflies in stage 6?

They talked about the story, but a little.
This story is inspired by horticultural science which LuCK major to.
For example the idea of Wing is photonic synthesis.

However happy news for fans of them.
They have a project of sequel!

Did they explain what "Akashicverse" means? Or the weird names of the music tracks?

Unfortunately, I forgot this question...
Maybe Akashicverse is coined word, akashic is derived from Akashic Records, verse is Universe.
Track names may be nonsense.
But this linernotes is the secret content of Akashic box which Nicolai wrote.
http://endless-shirafu.com/c84/secret/linernotes.html

What was their idea of a game? Did they just want to make a cool game first, and think of a story later?

The core concepts of this game, for example fighting game like method and sudden death came to LuCK.
But he is less fond of shmups, he like Rogue-like and music game like Beatmania.
The story and setting of this game belongs to LuCK, and he is inspired by Fromsoftware's games like Armored Core.

On the other hand, Nicolai is very fan of shmups, arcade, doujin, indie all!
Especially he love Japanese indie shmups like Choreshya68k, Hellsinker. RefRain, you know.
So details of the game design and mechanics belong to Nicolai.

Hart is main programmer, very tough works.

I also wanted to know what the members of the doujin circle said about their future. They made Akashicverse, then they made Hymeno Striker. Do they plan to make more STGs in the same universe as Akashicverse?

Main member are LuCK, Nicolai, Hart. Three!
Answers for other questions set forth above.

[SuperSoaker360]

However happy news for fans of them.
They have a project of sequel!

Great news!

[murquiel]

We could get pestro or someone to translate the interview or the liner notes.

[Cadrin]

Thank you Shinimai for answering the questions!

Do you guys know what about the special summer patch? It is going to be released at a later date for download, maybe?

There's one video on Niconico showcasing the CHAOS difficulty Stage 6 (here) (EDIT: video removed...). It looks incredibly intense.
There's also a playthrough of Abnormal up on YouTube. Check it out.

It looks very interesting, like a complete rework of the game's core mechanic. Abnormal and CHAOS seem to give you loads and loads of shields, but no auto bombs at all (except at 50% and 0%) and you only regenerate the shields above some threshold if you cancel bullets or kill enemies, or gather the blue things that increase your rate, or something obscure like that. On the upside, that's a lot of shield power to gather in each stage, with seemingly no hard cap on the amount you can get (except in Stage 6, where it's capped at 2000%). Basically, it's like scoring on Advent taken to its logical extreme, where you almost don't have to worry about dodging, have massively enhanced gauge recharge rate, and can pretty much have your shield down all the time and destroy everything with ease. But, what good is a bullet hell with no focus on dodging, where offense really is the ultimate defense?...

Also I really hope Danger Prognosis and Jaunted Driver have finally been nerfed. Apostasia Ex Machina is brutal, and the Malicious Wake looks like a nightmare on CHAOS without these two methods. But then again, it's based on Abyss difficulty, which is designed to be harder than Akashic.

[shinimai]

We could get pestro or someone to translate the interview or the liner notes.

I would like to translate my interview and the liner.
However now I'm busy with other works.
If someone translate the interview into English, I'm happy.

BTW, I hope foreign shmups fans know Japanese Doujin shumps.
In 2000, Japanese Doujin Shumps give smashing results.

If possible, I would like to make something about this scene, for example the documentary.

[Abadd]

I wonder if this+akashic box can get ported by someone like nyu-media. I'd love an english translation.

[Cadrin]

@Abadd: I'm not sure, but I think the Akashic Box was a limited edition and is now all sold-out. Also, I think the circle announced that the special summer patch really breaks the balance of the game and will not be distributed online, or something like that. But of course I only use machine translation to try to understand what they write on their homepage and on their Twitter account, so maybe I'm wrong. I'd really like to try out Abyss and CHAOS modes, as well as the added methods.

We could get pestro or someone to translate the interview or the liner notes.

If you can contact this person and if they might want to do the translation, then by all means, go ahead. That would be very interesting.

---

I ran Akashicverse on Windows 7 with non-unicode program language set to Japanese and for the first time I saw the text in Akashic Records. The "Document" section seems to contain a lot of interesting information about the game's universe. Some names are written in english, like the locations (Aranya's Orchard, Himeno's Woodlands, Himeno's Sky Territory, Altar of the Traitor, Subaru's Sanctum, etc.). I guess the circle really wants to commit to developing the universe since they're making a sequel.

Also, the full names of Eliminator methods. Blitz Lancer, Instant Punishment, Velvet Mutilation, and Fatal Disaster.

And by the way, did you guys notice that since patch 1.30, nobody has completed the game on a difficulty harder than Advent and recorded it? Even on niconico, there are no videos of Another or Akashic 1CCs of Asterism mode.
Wait, someone uploaded a 1CC of Another Asterism on niconico, two days ago. What I said above is no longer true.
I just wanted to say that I've finally beaten the game on Another Asterism today.


I thought that maybe the game's ending is different on Asterism. And I was right! The credits sequence is a bit different. I will not tell you what it looks like. I did not expect what I saw.
Just one final thought: the Extra Stage is very stressful, especially on Another, if you don't use Danger Prognosis or Jaunted Driver. You can get hit with your shields down only if you are using Attractant Other, but it's really hard to see sometimes if the clone is still alive. It's very different than fighting the boss in stage select, because getting hit once will ruin the run and make you waste 30 minutes of your life trying to get to the end. That's very cool, and gives the player that adrenaline rush.

I would like to translate my interview and the liner.
However now I'm busy with other works.
If someone translate the interview into English, I'm happy.

We would be very grateful if you translated these.

BTW, I hope foreign shmups fans know Japanese Doujin shumps.
In 2000, Japanese Doujin Shumps give smashing results.

If possible, I would like to make something about this scene, for example the documentary.

I think that people know at least a few Japanese doujin STGs, but probably not many. I'm not talking about Touhou Project, because everyone knows these games.

Since they are only distributed locally, in Japan, and not many people know Japanese, it's really hard for us to buy these games. Thankfully, there are places like Tokyo Shmups, where people can buy imported Doujin shmups.

But if a game is not translated, it's hard to play and to understand. The more fans the game has, the faster and better the translation is. But it's hard to get people interested in an independent shmup with only gameplay and no story.
I'm a bit sad that Touhou is so popular. It's not a bad series, but I wish more people focused on other good Doujin STGs.

[shinimai]

I think that people know at least a few Japanese doujin STGs, but probably not many. I'm not talking about Touhou Project, because everyone knows these games.

Since they are only distributed locally, in Japan, and not many people know Japanese, it's really hard for us to buy these games. Thankfully, there are places like Tokyo Shmups, where people can buy imported Doujin shmups.

But if a game is not translated, it's hard to play and to understand. The more fans the game has, the faster and better the translation is. But it's hard to get people interested in an independent shmup with only gameplay and no story.
I'm a bit sad that Touhou is so popular. It's not a bad series, but I wish more people focused on other good Doujin STGs.

sh

I think too. Japanese STG community is very niche too. So we communicate with each other beyond countries.
If I can, I would like to make the community of English-Japanese STG fans.
Is this another topic, don't you?
So I may make the topic about this.

[KAI]

But it's hard to get people interested in an independent shmup with only gameplay and no story.

A translation for the menus it's more that enough for this kind of games. Shmups are all about gameplay.

[Lord Satori]

Not always. If the story is more elaborate, people want to know about it.

Btw Cadrin, what's that quote in your sig from?

[SuperSoaker360]

Not always. If the story is more elaborate, people want to know about it.

In my opinion the best shmup stories are the ones that are presented to you through the gameplay itself. A great example is Rayforce.

I think his sig is referring to one where you game over on Akashic after the first patch.

The formula is "To be continued... See you _________"

[pestro87]

We could get pestro or someone to translate the interview or the liner notes.

If you can contact this person and if they might want to do the translation, then by all means, go ahead. That would be very interesting.

I PM'd my translation a little while ago but I realized now that I forgot to post it in this thread, sorry about that :/ I don't know anything about the game so I tried to translate certain parts as literary as I could.

EDIT: Ok, I realize now that the text that I was PM'd was just a small section of the entire interview... Ah well, it's better than nothing I suppose

1.
Game*Spark：
たしかに序盤から殺しにかかった感じですよね。あと演出面でも凝ったことをやっていますよね。例えば、二面では背景の植物の模様が回転して消えたりしますが、あれはどういった演出なんでしょうか？
It was indeed something that we felt like we had to scrap early on. To elaborate further on doing the visual development (for the game); if, for example, the two surfaces with the botanical background design were to rotate, then it would disappear. I said "how can this be presented”?

Nicolai：
背景が変わるところですね。最初は葉っぱなどの植物が流れてくるんですけど、そこから文字の羅列が流れてきます。あれが一応意味の無いデータの羅列という意味で砂漠を表しています。基本的に情報世界という設定なので。
It’s when the background changes. Initially, plants such as leaves were washed away and it was from there that the enumeration signs/characters seeped through. That is one significant place where there was an enumeration of meaningless data that displayed the desert (tr note: I'm not sure what he is referring to here since I don't know much about the game so I decided to translate "desert" literary). It is essentially constructed to be referred to as the world of information.

2.
個性的なグラフィックス、音楽、世界観
Unique graphics, music and world.

Game*Spark：
全体の世界観は未だ不明の部分が多いんですが、ゲームやったことない人にこういう世界観でこういうストーリーなんだということを簡単に説明していただけますか？
Often, portions of the entire world are hidden. Could you explain briefly what the story is for the people who haven’t played the game?


ボスにもそれぞれ背景となる設定があるという。
There is also a new background for each boss.


Nicolai：
簡単に説明すると……愛は勝つ（笑）！
Briefly describe it... (people) love to win! (laughs)

LuCK：
最終的には愛は勝つなんですが、まだ全容が出ていません。実は続編のこと考えています。もし続編を作る場合、シナリオを補完していく感じになります。現状は穴抜けが多いです。
Ultimately, you love to win. However, the entire story hasn’t been revealed yet. In fact, I think that it’s for the sequel. If a sequel is made, you’ll feel that it complements the scenario. There are currently many gaps (in the story).

Nicolai：
脳内補完をして楽しんでいただけると。
You can enjoy seeing the core (lit: brain) completion.

hart：
フロム脳で（笑）。
From the brain. (laughs)

LuCK：
設定はあるけど語らない。そこはプレイヤーの想像をもって完成させるみたいな感じですね。全体の世界観としては、もともと地球に近い世界の生命体がいろいろあって情報世界に移住したような話です。
Some of the settings weren’t told. That’s up to the player’s imagination to complete it in whatever way that he/she wants. The overall view of the world is that in the beginning, life forms were living close to the earth and various information in the world states that people immigrated there.

Game*Spark：
その点で園芸との関係はあるんですか？
Is there a relation to horticulture at this point?

Nicolai：
あっ！園芸とこれ超関係があります。
Ah! There is a strong relationship to horticulture things!

Game*Spark：
では、良いとこ突いたということですね（笑）。
So, you could say that it’s a good thing that it stood out. (laughs)

Nicolai：
彼は遺伝子系の事を大学でやっていますので、それに関係します。ぶっちゃけ、システムの根幹は園芸だよね。ウイングのシステムとかも含めて。
Because he is doing this Genetic Systems thing in College, it’s related to that. To be blunt, horticulture is the foundation of the system. Including things such as the system’s wing(s) (lit: System of Wing).

LuCK：
そうですね。あれは実は光合成をイメージしています。
That’s right. In fact, it’s an image of photosynthesis.

Game*Spark：
なるほど。ウイングを開いてエネルギーを貯めるのが光合成というわけですね。あとはメインビジュアルのジャケットが植物をモチーフとしていますよね。
I see. Photosynthesis is meant to save the energy to open the wing(s). Afterwards, the main visual motif on the jacket is a plant.

Nicolai：
ジャケットはすごいネタバレです。あのジャケットは制作二ヶ月位前に勝手に描きましたが、いろいろなものが詰まっています。ジャケットで世界観を表現したかったのです。
The jacket is a great spoiler. I drew that jacket on my own (without asking for permission) two months before production. Various things are jam-packed on it. I wanted to express my view of the world on that jacket.

Game*Spark：
ゲーム全体のビジュアルからしても、意外と珍しいデザインですよね。例えば、2Dのグラフィックスですが、色がマットですよね。
It’s a surprisingly unusual design compared to the overall visuals of the game. For example, the graphics are in 2D but it has a mat color.

Nicolai：
あれは私の作風と言えばそれまでですが、洋楽のPVや3Dの作品を観て、色々と影響を受けています。あと水口哲也さんの『REZ』や『Child Of Eden』に影響を受けています。
That’s it. Speaking of where my style came from, I’m affected in various ways by watching western PV and 3D works. I’m influenced by Tetsuya Mizuguchi-san’s REZ and Child of Eden.

Game*Spark：
なるほど。どちらかと言うとSF的な世界観のSTGゲームだと、メタリックなデザインが多いですよね。だけど本作はアブストラクトでフラットでパキッとしたデザインはモダンなデザインだと思いました。またインストカードのフォントなども自作でしょうか？
I see. Having that said, you could say that it has more of an SF (tr note: Science Fiction?) basis rather than an STG game world as the design is mainly metallic. In the abstract for this work I thought that the design of the flat Paki had a modern design. Moreover, was the font on the install card self-made?

[Cadrin]

Thank you Pestro! It's indeed but a small part, but it's better than nothing. By the way:

(tr note: I'm not sure what he is referring to here since I don't know much about the game so I decided to translate "desert" literary)

Yeah, it's a desert of scrolling/rotating arrays of letters. It's the background of the final portion of Stage 2 in the game. The BGM even changes to reflect on the nature of the environment a bit.
And yeah, I'm pretty sure that by "SF", Shinimai meant "science-fiction". This game is heavy on mixing technological motifs with floral/horticultural and magical ones.

So maybe now someone would like to translate the liner notes? It feels like everything about the game has now been translated and/or understood at least a tiny bit, but the soundtrack is still an unknown to most of us. And it's an important part of the game after all, as it strives to synchronize itself with the action on the screen as best it can.

---

I guess there is currently no way to buy the game OST, as it was part of the C84 limited edition, and you pretty much had to be there to get it. So to start off, I'm going to echo Komugi's request from a few pages back:
∀STERISM SOUNDTRACK PLZ

I'm way too lazy to figure out how to use Audacity or Movie Maker and upload the things myself, but if someone is up to this: you just need to 1CC the game once on Another or Akashic Asterism to get full access to the music room, I think. (The 1CC part might be easier said than done.) Just record the Stage 2 Bonus Boss BGM and Viendfrorld (the surprisingly nice music that plays in the ending you get for 2+CCing the game) without looping, let the Apostasia Exmachina BGM and the Innocent Affection one loop twice (if you obsess about the details, take note of the fact that these two are looped a bit improperly) and add a nice fade out effect at the end, at the beginning of the third loop, and you're golden.

I think too. Japanese STG community is very niche too. So we communicate with each other beyond countries.
If I can, I would like to make the community of English-Japanese STG fans.
Is this another topic, don't you?
So I may make the topic about this.

An entire community? That's an interesting idea, but could you tell me more about it? I don't know how you think it would work. The one problem I can see is that there are not many people that speak both English and Japanese, so this community would probably be very small.

But it would still be great if such a place existed, I think. There are so many Japanese STGs that could be translated better and get some recognition abroad. Akashicverse is just one of them.

I think that's how Touhou became famous internationally. It probably started off very small, too. Foreign shmup fans noticed TH6, they liked its gameplay and the soundtrack, but they were curious about who the little girls were and what they were saying to one another, so they translated the story. They made videos of the game and showed them to their friends.

Can you imagine it if instead of Touhou, it were Akashicverse, or Hellsinker, or Stella Vanity, or another Japanese indie shmup?

I think his sig is referring to one where you game over on Akashic after the first patch. The formula is "To be continued... See you _________"

Yeah, Akashicverse has about 40 such messages. They also appear if you game over on the extra stage on any difficulty, because it doesn't allow for continues. That's how it worked in v.1.01, at least.
Some of these messages have a nice ring to them. I've spent quite a few hours trying to beat the game on Akashic Asterism recently, and as a result I've seen these "to be continued" messages a lot. I decided to put one of them in my signature. I like the "false memory syndrome" one because of how nonsensical it sounds. Fixed width is unnecessary, though.

That being said, I managed to 1CC the game on Akashic Asterism the other day, but I'm not particularly proud of the way I did it. Danger Prognosis is broken exactly the same way Doom Bringer used to be, but to a lesser extent: it grants you a 1 second period of invulnerability after dispelling it, and during that time you gain the normal amount of method gauge by grazing bullets. Unlike the Doom Bringer, you can use it as soon as in Stage 1 to break open some of the enemies. As usual, the patterns involving a constant stream of numerous bullets, particularly ones that are emitted out in a concentric circles fashion, are very susceptible to being exploited that way. Hal loves these, and it really comes back to bite her in the posterior sometimes. Bloom Mode Aranha's final attack is suddenly not very scary. The Caladenia folds like a house of cards. (Its second form has low health to begin with, but the Danger Prognosis exploit can crush it in about 3 seconds flat.) Same thing about the Pterostylis' second form. You almost never have to dodge during Stage 4 as you alternate between clearing half the screen of bullets and moving up for a second to dip your wings into the sea of danmaku to instantly replenish your method gauge.

So yeah, that's a pretty cheap way to beat the game.

On a related note, the D.P. exploit obviously doesn't work on Subaru because the reflected bullets deal laughable damage to her obscenely large health pool, but you can still faceroll the first form really fast by spamming Annihilator Bud and Anthesis. If you're lucky with what attacks she randomly picks, you can DPS her down in about 20 seconds, before the crazy background starts to cycle through the previous stages. Hovering above her when she's using Vandalize Signal is one such good way to get a lot of method gauge over a respectable period of time for mashing the down arrow and Z buttons repeatedly. Just be wary that you are extremely likely to get hit by Dethrone Scythe as soon as Vandalize Signal ends.

---

Here's some fun things to try after beating the game on all difficulty levels:
Quickly bring down the Stage 5 boss in boss select mode to 2 health bars using methods on Akashic difficulty (this triggers the hardest possible attack patterns) and then try to time it out... and THEN time out Freak Out: Euthanasia without using your methods.
Time out the Stage 4 boss on Akashic on Rank 200.
Try to beat the game on any difficulty level (preferably Another or Akashic) while getting as little score as possible.
As a corollary to the above, do a pacifist run of the game with or without methods allowed. (It's possible not to kill anything all the way until Stage 6, where two of the final attacks have infinite duration. Using your Eliminator's Fatal Disaster counters Stage 4 Ophrys' Indiscriminately Eclipse.)

Of course mixing none or some of the above with trying to play with your shields down at all times is SUPER FUN on Another and Akashic (where "SUPER FUN" means you will be dying every 10 seconds)

[murquiel]

So, has anyone unlocked all the encyclopedia entries yet?

[KAI]

I've finally reached the 6th stage and fought that super duper flashy boss. Time to play 4 scoar.

BTW, I've submitted the CDs included in the ∀kashic Box to VGMdb
∀kashicverse-Malicous Wake- Original Soundtrack
∀kashicverse Compilation Album -Amor Platonicus-

[Aisha]

The DL version of Akashic Box is now available for those who missed out on the physical package: http://ameroad.net/l/PEi

This contains all three music CDs and Himeno Striker, but not the Summer Special Edition patch for the original game.

[Jade Lingo]

Um, hello everyone...! I'm so nervous posting on only my second forum... I'm not even sure this is the right place for one's first post...
I am an avid fan of foreign languages, card games, and shmups, and I couldn't help but notice a translation request in this thread for the "Liner Notes"... Please allow me to offer my services. The song titles are nonsensical as Shinimai-san mentioned earlier; far be it for me to even try to make sense of most of them, so they'll be left as is. For all of you seasoned shmuppers, these notes provide a wealth of references to other shooting game titles; it's very interesting.

∀kashicverse - Malicious Wake - Liner Notes by Nicolai Souvlaki
"To start with, simply picking out and talking about just the music out of all the things in the completed game system may seem a bit boorish, but if you've been looking into this game with interest for this long, then why shouldn't I give out a few tidbits on what went on behind the scenes. I truly hope you enjoy looking upon these so-called "Liner Notes." There's a very good chance I'll end up talking about things other than this game's music though...." —Nicolai Souvlaki, July 2013—

WARNING!!
These Liner Notes will contain certain spoilers regarding the game progression of "∀kashicverse: Malicious Wake." For those of you who don't want to be spoiled or otherwise have no interest in behind-the-scenes extras, please do not read these notes!

Preformizer
Track #00: Promotional Video Theme
A song that feels like one of my "failed creations" (What the hell is this, all of a sudden?!). Even though this track was made for the sake of advertising our game, it still feels too dark. Even if I took all the musical phrases that pop up in my head and attach the proper coding to each of them, there would still be dark undertones emerging somewhere down the line.... However, I still believe this song portrays the kind of high speed you would expect to find in a game like "∀kashicverse." I'm pleased with the second half of this song because the continuous high-pitched synthesizers feel like a festival from a different country(?).

Forkshed
Track #01: Route Console (Main Menu) Theme
I had LuCK actually write the song while I was in charge of mixing. This was one of the songs we finished in the early stages of development. I remember there were so many requests for what direction we wanted this song to go in, like having it "feel like we're inside an aquarium" or having a reference to "that song in Raystorm that plays after you insert credits." It may sound a bit unstable at first, but once you get used to it, this track gradually makes you feel like you're being brainwashed.

De-Ordorle
Track #02: Stage 01 Theme
Generally speaking, this track starts off with the feeling of racing down a dark back alley. Stage One themes in most shmup games tend to be catchy, I think, with the sense of pumping up the player's motivation to get to the middle or the second half of the stage, but with this theme I dared to do the exact opposite. Even the stage background is dark! After being lost in the shadows for a while, the moment the midboss emerges, and the stage theme shifts to something a bit brighter, but since I lack the talent, I couldn't convey such an explosive moment adequately... orz (<—Bowing in failure and shame...)

Stuldropped
Track #03: Stage 01 Boss Hymeno's Theme
I composed this track with the idea of making something profound with a little bit of fantasticality and a fast-paced hook. I am relatively pleased with the result. This song was made between the three of us, LuCK, Yamakou, and I. This is not the only song in this game that is "two-faced" as it changes from the melodious to the minimal. In addition, this concept of "duality" is prevalent not just in the music, but has become a keyword for the entire game overall. The only part where I think this song fails is that the Stage 1 boss is so weak that you get almost no chance to hear this song's high-point. I would be very happy if players would at least wait until the hook of this track begins before crushing the boss.

Majallakubia
Track #04: Stage 02 Theme
The background animation of this stage was made to give you a feel of traveling from a forest zone into a flower garden and later crossing a vast desert. You probably won't understand it at first glance, but the reasoning behind the long strings of assorted English letters swaying to and fro in the second half of the stage is to create a scene of seeing "a digital desert mirage in the middle of a world of data" (hence the letters have no meaning to them). The music this time around flows from an "Indonesian style"(?) to more of a Near-and-Middle Eastern flavor. Why the "forest area" of the stage is associated with Indonesia is a bit of a mystery. Well, much of the intended flavor is missing anyways.

Inconxlenble & Fastmyth: Noncut Version
Track #05a: Stage 02 Boss Theme (unused in game)
In reality, the song for the second boss was this long! Just as the "noncut" in the title implies, the glitched section of the track is cut out and replaced with a piano piece. The reason the piano section was nixed from the final game was because it didn't mesh well with the "glitched" boss presentation; tearfully, I had to take it out. Afterwards, I fussed over the first half of the theme (Inconxlenble), what parts to cut and/or preserve, and the overall balance of the song...
...Just setting up a scene. ALL OF THE ABOVE IS LIES.
The real story is that after I ended up making two boss songs for Stage 2, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I started adding things in and experimenting, and after some suitable tampering this alternate version is the result. I edited it with wasteful intentions. My apologies.

Inconxlenble-Fastmyth
Track #05: Stage 02 Boss Aranha's Theme
"Inconxlenble" is the theme that plays in the first half (First Form: Eliminator "Caladenia") while "Fastmyth" plays in the second half (Second Form: Phantasmagoria "Fake Theater"). I simply mixed and mashed the two songs together in a DJ style....
Or I'm just setting up another scene. "What the hell were you talking about up until now, then?!" you might ask. Anywho, this song was another creation between the three of us, just like the boss theme from Stage 1. Collaborations are fun. The Soflan* parts of "Fastmyth" were a result of Yamakou doing whatever he felt like doing for the "glitched" part of the battle. As a result of this, the game programmer went crazy.
*Translator's Note: the "Soflan" in this passage is an abbreviation of the phrase "Soft Landing" (ソフトランディング Sofuto-Randingu —> ソフラン Sofuran). In Konami's "Beatmania IIDX: 2nd Style," one of the songs listed in said game, "Soft Landing on the Body," was infamous for having extreme changes in sequence speed and beats-per-minute during and throughout the song. The song "Do You Love Me?" featured in Konami's "Beatmania Complete Mix 2" also had a so-called "Soft Landing Remix" with the same extreme characteristics mentioned. Ever since then, BEMANI fans have used the coined term "Soflan" to refer to frequent and sudden pauses or changes in speed and BPM in the middle of a soundtrack. Popular songs from the Dance Dance Revolution franchise such as "Chaos," "Fascination MAXX," and "Pluto Relinquished" are prime examples.

Platenocrypt (Remastered)
Track #06: Stage 02 "Omake" Boss Theme
An inspired parody of a hidden boss theme... remastered to fit the style of ∀kashicverse. Originally, this song was written by an acquaintance of mine for a game he created for his circle of friends, but as fate would have it, I had this song rearranged for this game, resulting in the remix heard in the next track. This song had high value when first revealed to the public.

Platenocrypt: Disasterisk Remix
Track #07: Stage 02 Hidden Boss Theme
This game's true hidden boss theme: a harshly remixed version of the earlier song "Platenocrypt." The concept of defeating the boss of Stage 2 while meeting certain conditions to reveal the secret boss (the person within the mech) was inspired by Hellsinker, of course. Well, unlike Hellsinker, this secret boss battle doesn't end after only twenty seconds....
Besides this, I also put in other references to other shmups, like the blue sky background scrolling at high speed (Evaccania DOOM from CAVE's Ketsui: Kizuna-Jigokutachi), then having it turn red and scroll in reverse, making it look like the boss is chasing you (Hibachi from CAVE's DoDonPachi series)... Hey! If I'm the one making my own shooting game, then by all rights I should be able to do whatever the hell I want with it! Hahaha!

Forthecolida
Track #08: Stage 03 Theme
For the third stage, I wanted to give the sense of a speedy start leading up to an all-out massive battle, but the final product isn't so "massive," is it? The melody of this track changes once the battleship enters the screen, so I also had the background change accordingly. It's almost like an unspoken promise to always have battleships on the third stage. I wanted to replicate the feeling of that epic mid-air dogfight against the giant battleship like in Stage 5 of Raizing's Battle Garegga, but as my responsibility as chief programmer was so great, I determined that this likely wasn't something worth fussing over, so I scrapped that idea. I am however pleased with how the stage theme mellows out once you reach the warship's bow.

Thifiler
Track #09: Stage 03 Midboss Theme
For this song, I wanted a lively beat (like the boss theme from CAVE's Mushihime-sama) as well as take a minimalist approach; how was it? The midboss is the warship's central power and control system, so of course once it's destroyed, the whole ship comes crashing down. Since the player character can't break through the central system's high-power shield, I had the boss of Stage 3 come in unexpectedly and destroy the midboss for you. I am quite proud of the scene where the burning airship crumbles around you as you try to escape, and the backdraft of the ship's explosion flies outward from behind you. Well, it is an homage to ChoRenSha 68K's Stage Zero, after all.

Urtinaum Frellor
Track #10a: Stage 03 Boss Theme (unused in game)
This is a Soflan-less version of the third stage boss theme that is not used in the actual game. I completed this theme in the very early stages of development. How early, you ask? This song got finished before I started work on the Stage 1 Boss theme. This track as well as Stage 1's theme defines the specific musical direction shown in ∀kashicverse. I'm personally quite satisfied with this song, but it got a lot of bad rep among the development team for being unable to compare to the Soflan sections of the Stage 2 Boss theme or the evolution of the Stage 4 Boss theme. Hmmm.....
A lot of love was put into the character and attacks of the Stage 3 Boss, so please watch and enjoy.

Urtinaum Frellor: Chaos Bullet Mix
Track #10: Stage 03 Boss Tau's Theme
This is the version of "Urtinaum Frellor" you will hear in ∀kashicverse -Malicious Wake-. I like the part where the bullets stretch out in time with the song.
By the way, in his character settings, Tau can't talk (he lacks the ability of verbal speech).

Shiwasticked
Track #11: Stage 04 Theme
Some snippets of Hymeno's theme are mixed into this track. All the songs in this game are choreographed to go along with the stage visuals, and this theme is no exception. However, compared to the rest of the songs in this game, the Stage 4 theme in particular has such a severely high synchronization level with the stage itself that as soon as your processing unit starts dropping frames or lagging, there's a good chance the stage and the music and stage end up shifting out of sync with each other.... Sorry about that.
Since this is essentially the last full stage (that is, one with a journey to get to the boss), I put in more stuff that I like just for fun, like the rotating bee bit zone as an homage to CAVE's DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu and adding terrain features you would find in Treasure's STGs. The difficulty of these areas are relatively much easier by comparison.

Devastimare
Track #12: Stage 04 Boss Hymeno's Theme
The boss theme of Stage 4... ENEMY LEVEL UP!!
We were warming up to the idea of having an enemy power up in time with the music for quite some time before working on this stage, so this idea took shape quite quickly. The boss theme for Stage 1 is being used at every point of this track, so it might be fun to listen and compare the two themes.
I didn't realize that the latter half of this track sounds a lot like the final boss theme of Final Fantasy VIII until after I finished composing the song. But perhaps giving this song a "last boss smell" turned into something good.

咒薨爻華 Jukou-Kouka (Cursed Demise in the Blossoms)
Track #13: Stage 05 Theme
...AND SUDDENLY WE'VE GOT JAPANESE KANJI!!!
This is the theme for the Fifth Stage (Assuming you can call it a proper "stage"...?). This track is a collaboration between me and LuCK—actually, it's more 60% LuCK and 40% me. LuCK's hobbies and interests are fully unleashed in this song. I think the song also succeeds in distinguishing itself as different from the Stage 4 boss theme. It felt like we were faced with the question: "We already brought things to a climax with the fourth boss, so where we do go from here?" So we changed direction with this stage with great results. Unlike the other previous bosses, the boss of this stage fires off strong attacks with a very distinct originality. I hope you enjoy this unique-feeling stage together with the theme.

Amalancer
Track #14: Stage 05 Boss Hal's First Theme
The boss theme for Stage 5. After the Stage 5 main theme, there was a vacant blank space there for about two months; it was a hassle coming up with something to fill the gap.** This track is an arranged version of the Stage 5 theme. I wanted to compose a piece while keeping the concept of "duality" (in this case, "passive vs. active" with the first half being more fast-paced and the second being more peaceful), but with my paltry skills, the only ideas that came to mind were sequences of sudden surges and pauses....
For the time being, this fifth boss is the final boss of the game, but listening to this song alone, it doesn't feel like a last boss at all. Aha...
I'm particularly fond of the high-speed note phrases in the first half of the song as they give a sort of "foreign energy" to the theme.
**Translator's Note: I am not too confident in the translation of this sentence; please take it with some grains of salt.

∀[v]@|_41V<3Я (41V07#312 AA1><)
Track #15: "Freak Out: Euthanasia" (Stage 05 Boss Hal's Second Theme)
...4N) $V))31V|_`í VV€'\/₤ 60+ 1337!1! (...And suddenly we've got Leet!!!)
This is the second Stage 5 boss theme where he "goes berserk." For those unfamiliar with Leetspeak, the title reads "Amalancer (Another Mix)." This is yet another arrange mix of the main theme of Stage 5. It takes the base setting of Hal's theme while mixing in passages from "Platenocrypt" (Stage 2 Boss theme) and "Urtinaum Frellor" (Stage 3 Boss theme). You can catch the tune of "Platenocrypt" easily, but it may be hard to understand where the "Urtinaum Frellor" parts begin. The truth is, parts of the Stage 3 Boss theme play throughout this track from the very beginning; it's just mostly buried beneath the other instruments.
"Amalancer" (the normal boss theme) doesn't sound like much of a final boss theme because this song was prepared to be more fitting of a final battle by comparison. ...At least, that was my original intention, but in the end, even this song doesn't have that last boss feel... \(°Д°;)/

Viendfrorld
Track #16: Ending Credits Theme
In comparison to how long this theme is, the ending sequence unfortunately ends so quickly that you don't get to hear the whole song. This soundtrack finally brings that to light. This is the only track in the game that uses a mellow guitar; the guitar is used here as a symbol that the harsh battles are now over. The sneaking-in of the Stage 1 theme in the second half of this credits theme is there because, well, since this is the end of the game, I wanted to add in a musical phrase that could be a symbol of the whole of ∀kashicverse.... Maybe this song could be better if I had percussion with more reverb, and gave the theme a more empty feel.

Zodark Dethightrue
Track #17: Extra Stage Theme
The theme for the path leading to the True Last Boss. I wanted to have a stage where a beautiful melody is accompanied by a relentless storm of danmaku, so that's exactly what I did. Pairing this theme with the visuals and attacks of this stage almost seems unfitting to the point of being cruel, but the song by itself is something I'm proud of.

∀kashicverse
Track #18: True Last Boss Subaru's Theme
The title of this theme holds this game's namesake. Code progression for this song went in the same direction as the main stage theme; in any case I wanted to try my hand at a harsh remix. The background animation for the True Last Boss battle changes from the Extra Stage to Stages 2, 3, 5, 4, and finishing with Stage 1. "Where's the Stage 1 background? I can't see it!" you might say, but if you look carefully, Stage 1's animation is there. Though you probably don't have the time to try and find it with the True Last Boss wailing on you.

Primityforce [∀kashicverse: ∀postasia Remix]
Track #19: True Last Boss Subaru's Eliminator (Apostasia Exmachina) Theme
A remixed version of "∀kashicverse" (Track #18), arranged by LuCK. The melody is now more hardcore! The enemy's attack is now more fearsome! This track is listed in-game as "∀kashicverse: ∀postasia Remix," but "Primityforce" is its true title.
LuCK told me he wanted to have the music change when the Eliminator emerges so I told him, "OK, I'll give you the project file and let you handle the remixing~!" And voilà! This track was born. Ahh, having other people remix your songs feels great!

4D616C6963696F75732057616B65
Track #20: True Last Boss Subaru's "Malicious Wake" Theme
The True Last Boss's "Insanity Mode." The main theme of this song is "a stillborn baby." It's a heavy theme that pierces right through the heart of this game.... This is truly the game's ultimate battle, so I took the Stage 1 theme (what I think is the game's "main theme") and made yet another arrangement, only this time I added in various places snippets of various songs I have made for ∀kashicverse up to now, plus some unused discarded files (songs that didn't make it to the final product)... In other words, this song is an expression of "the lingering grudges of a miscarried fetus." Afterwards, to enhance this bizarre feeling, I added an irregular rhythm and mixed in a pulsing heartbeat and a baby's cry played in reverse.

0 Afx
Track #21: Top Secret Method Theme
The song that heralds your certain victory. The title can be read as "Innocent Affection," the same name as the final method you earn. It would be foolish of me to talk about this in further detail, so I'll just end here.

[Cadrin]

That store requires you to have a Twitter account to make a purchase, but if you have it, the rest is simple. You click on the large green shopping cart icon, then you choose the payment method, you log in on Ameroad via Twitter, then on PayPal to authorize the purchase, then you click the download icon (you might need to refresh there if it takes a while for the shop to update), then you wait 20 minutes to download a 300MB .zip file because if you live in central Europe then you're downloading something from the other side of the planet. The price is listed as 800JPY, but the shop also charges you some money. The total was 938JPY for me.

The version of the OST available on Ameroad also contains the Alternative Arguments version of Stage 1 and Stage 2 BGM. I'd rather have the summer patch, because Abyss difficulty might be really fun. (Think we could ask the developers to release Abyss mode in a separate patch?)

Hymenostica is the compilation of the three short tracks playing in Hymeno Striker, mixed into a 6 minute track. Urtinaum Frellor is St3 boss BGM without those weird music skips in the in-game version, and Chaos Bullet Mix is the version from the game. Inconxlenble/Fastymth Noncut Version sounds very different from the current version of St2 boss BGM, it's slower and less frantic, like the old version of Platenocrypt. My guess is, the circle originally went for a more classic/Touhou-esque feel before introducing giant machines as bosses and remixing the hell out of the boss tracks. Also, here's a list of composers for all of the tracks. Looks like Nicolai did most of the job.

The entire OST sounds a bit... different. I'm not sure whether it's supposed to be higher quality than the in-game versions, or the other way around. Either way, that's odd.

So, has anyone unlocked all the encyclopedia entries yet?

I'll be working on it. To the best of my knowledge, the requirements to unlock these entries are not listed anywhere, so I'll just have to play the game until it gives me the remaining ones. I'm pretty sure one of the requirements is to play the game for about 6 hours (I saw a new entry pop up for some player in one of the videos on Niconico, with the message similar "20000 sec immortal time" on it).

I think I have most of the entries, with only a few still locked.

[KAI]

Thanks for the composers credits Cadrin. Do you know which one of those tracks is the Tutorial BGM? I've identified all the tracks except that one.

!!!!!!?

Many thanks Jade Lingo for translating the liner notes. So many tributes/references.
This game's soundtrack got a lot of attention, it's strange no one is talking about Chillaxing Monkey's label and their CDs.