No love for G.Darius

thesuperkillerxxx · Post by **thesuperkillerxxx** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:37 am

come on people the best hori out there give me a reason to beat your scores!!!!!!

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:19 am

G. Darius is my fav hori ever followed closely by the great ragtime show. I worship this game....i just cant manage to 1cc it....gah damn giant whale!!

Alpolio · Post by **Alpolio** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:44 am

I love Darius. But I was never a big fan of G. Darius. I never thought that the polygonal graphics were all that great and some of those boss battles are just too long and drawn out. The bosses aren't hard to beat (the game is actually rather easy), it just gets boring hammering away at one giant fish for several minutes waiting for it to die so you can go to the next level. IMO, G Darius tried to do too much by trying to please too many people and it missed on what made the series great.

I think that the greatest Darius is Darius Gaiden. This is the game that sold me on the Saturn in 1996! When I saw it sitting on the shelf in Hastings, I pushed the PSX out of the way and I grabbed a Saturn. It has beautifully hand drawn graphics, 28 super insane zones, and one of the coolest weapons that I've ever seen in a shmup - the black-hole bomb. I can still remember when I first got to zone B and that giant horseshoe boss (Ancient Dozer) came out plowing down trees! (pic) It was just the coolest thing that I had ever seen! And I think that I unloaded every one of my bombs at it and then it flew in the air and popped me one. Damn, that was a fun afternoon.

Well, anyway... Darius Gaiden is why I use the Silver Hawk as my avatar. Well, that and the fact that my first Genesis shmup was Sagaia, aka Darius 2!

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:32 am

Alpolio wrote: The bosses aren't hard to beat (the game is actually rather easy

I trust you mean the psx version with mass slowdown? because i'm playing the arcade version on Taito Memories and some of the later bosses are complete bastards. In comparison I can 1cc Darius Gaiden rather easily.

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:14 am

i plan on getting back to this now that i have a 60hz version with no slowdown (legends 2 rather than the ps1 pal) and picking up where i left off. i used to be able to make it to the stage 3 boss and sometimes the beginning of stage 4 on the top path without too much practise so i might go for a top path clear and a reasonable high score...

great game but as has been mentioned i think the graphics are quite unappealing. great music though and the overall presentation is good.

tizerist · Post by **tizerist** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:52 pm

there is TOTAL love for this game.
i love the bosses, and the scenery (as long as you put the ps2 smoothing effect on)and i really dig the charge beam and capture system.
i havent clocked it yet, but its nice to see a hori with different paths too.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:39 pm

I'm a fan, though I would disagree that the bosses are easy. The last boss is particularly troublesome for me, though most of the bosses along the way are tough.

Smraedis · Post by **Smraedis** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:32 pm

I actually posted my score in the old G Darius thread, but its not there anymore..

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:38 pm

no love for g-darius?

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=8316
^ its not about g-darius, just a shooter that is not just under appreciated (which is debatable about g-darius), but almost not appreciated period...

this is my bitter face... sorry. :6

J-Manic · Post by **J-Manic** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:21 pm

I will always have a special place in my heart for G. Darius. The game is one of the reasons why I got into the genre in the first place.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:18 am

The major problem with me is that the PSX versions loads so much, that there's no music in certain places. This ruins the game for me.

The arcade version is almost perfectly emulated, except there's no music.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:55 am

I see G.Darius the same way I see Einhander, R-Type Delta, and Thunder Force V: One of the very best shmups to grace that little grey box.

2DGaming · Post by **2DGaming** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:17 am

G-Darius rocks. The Taito Memories version I find to be much harder thanks to the lack of slowdown but man I am getting use it now.

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:33 am

FRO wrote: The last boss is particularly troublesome for me,

Which one?

captain ahar wrote:http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=8316
^ its not about g-darius, just a shooter that is not just under appreciated (which is debatable about g-darius), but almost not appreciated period...

My conclusion that it was 1 rank Under Defeat. LOL

/end off-topic

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

G. Darius is one of the most interesting and best shmups I've played. They took the concept of Darius Gaiden's mid-boss capturing and went crazy with it. Then they went crazy with the boss sizes by definitely making you look puny when pitted against them.

Alpolio wrote:some of those boss battles are just too long and drawn out.

Well, it's pretty hard trying to take down HOMEWORLD'S BATTLESHIP CLASS STARSHIPS IN THE SHAPE OF AQUATIC LIFEFORMS with figher craft weaponry. That's why the game made you feel like you can take down these monstrous things by capturing enemies/mini-bosses and converting them to Alpha Beams (how many ion beam pulses does it take to destroy a battleship/heavy cruiser in Homeworld?), and then making you go on a power-trip by countering their Beta Beams to make your Alpha Beam even bigger.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:46 am

2DGaming wrote:G-Darius rocks. The Taito Memories version I find to be much harder thanks to the lack of slowdown but man I am getting use it now.

I was wondering people, is the Taito Memories pack plays more like the orginal arcade version?

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:47 am

Yes, there is no slowdown.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:30 pm

dai jou bu wrote:
FRO wrote: The last boss is particularly troublesome for me,

The big seahorse guy. Man, he sucks. For whatever reason, I ALWAYS get caught when he's rolling around. No matter how hard I try I can't seem to dodge that. Also, his laser attacks are pretty difficult to dodge. I still have trouble w/ lower-level bosses, though. I mean, if I'm playing & I screw up on the first boss, I know it's over. I usually suicide at that point & start completely over. If I can beat the first 2 bosses, then I've found my rythym & can generally do well for the next 3 or 4 rounds, but that last seahorse guy just hands me my butt every time. I beat the game once (top path, top path w/in the stages as well) by credit-feeding just to say he was dead, but I really want the 1CC. Then I have to go & do it all again on another path.

Alpolio · Post by **Alpolio** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 7:07 am

I'll have to try out Taito Memories if it doesn't have the slowdown. I've never seen the arcade version and as mention, the Mame version is messed up. The game may actually be interesting if that slowdown aspect is fixed. Too bad that I didn't get to play it before I cast my vote for best shmup.

And Macaw, you can easily 1cc Darius Gaiden? You're better than I am! I can do it too, but not easily by any means. I don't feel too bad about it because the person who wrote the Xenocide review had a hell of a time trying to finish it. (link)

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:46 am

Alpolio wrote: And Macaw, you can easily 1cc Darius Gaiden? You're better than I am! I can do it too, but not easily by any means. I don't feel too bad about it because the person who wrote the Xenocide review had a hell of a time trying to finish it.

Well I can 1cc it easily as long as I avoid Titanic Lance and Great Thing

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:37 am

Macaw wrote:followed closely by the great ragtime show. I worship this game....i just cant manage to 1cc it....gah damn giant whale!!

What a truly bizzare game! Yet again shmups.com comes to the rescue to deliver me the names of obscure games that are must-plays. I'm going to be putting some hours into that one!

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 4:40 am

Alpolio wrote:The game may actually be interesting if that slowdown aspect is fixed.

No kidding, without the plague of slowdown that ruined the playability of the home port on the Playstation, the brilliance of this game can now finally shine through on PS2.

I think G.Darius (PS2) should have been on my Top 25 this year.

Too late to change things now, of course, but there's always next year.

gs68 · Post by **gs68** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:38 am

Is G Darius easier compared to Darius Gaiden? I've never played GD and I'd like to see whether I will like or if it'll force me to use hundreds of dollars worth of credits just to get halfway through the game.

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 10:37 am

In general it is much harder, but if you want the game to be easier take a higher route, as the lower stages are much more difficult. The main focus of this game is the bosses, and some of them require a huge amount of memorization otherwise you will die a whole lot.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 1:20 pm

Just out of curiosity, are there any big fans of the early Darius games here? I tend to share the popular opinion that they're a bit iffy, but it'd be nice to know that there are some staunch supporters out there.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 1:55 pm

Bal-Sagoth wrote:Just out of curiosity, are there any big fans of the early Darius games here? I tend to share the popular opinion that they're a bit iffy, but it'd be nice to know that there are some staunch supporters out there.

They definitely didn't age well, but were great game nonetheless (in the literal sense too

). Darius 2/Sagaia has a lovely "end of the '80s" style as well.

Smraedis · Post by **Smraedis** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:13 pm

Bal-Sagoth wrote:Just out of curiosity, are there any big fans of the early Darius games here? I tend to share the popular opinion that they're a bit iffy, but it'd be nice to know that there are some staunch supporters out there.

Yeah, I used to be a big fan of the first 2 games, but I put them down a few years ago, seeing as I couldn't make any improvements to my score.

If you haven't seen it already, I put a Darius vid of mine on the Super-play website

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 4:16 pm

Awesome, I'll be downloading that. Nice one, guys!

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 5:00 pm

I dunno what I think about the graphics for G Darius (the backgrounds look like super low poly versions of Phantasy Star Online arenas), but the guide is to die for.

I think Darius Gaiden is a work of art. I need to try G Darius some more, though, 'cuz the gameplay's pretty solid.

On the subject of early Darius games - I have a widescreen laptop with a sharp screen that's just begging me to play Darius (should try Rastan Saga III and Ninja Warriors on it as well).

Danny · Post by **Danny** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:46 pm

I brought the PSX port of this game used finaly after many years of wanting it for £2 in my local game store which was cool. I play G Darius on the PSX emulator (ePSXe if you are wondering) mainly because it eleminates the slowdown (I love the FPS control functon!) and makes playing the game an absolute dream. Speaking of "dream" I think everything about this game is "dreamy" from the gameplay right down to the presentation, awesome game!