TARGET FOR THE WEAK POINTS OF '8TH STG THREAD'. DO YOUR BEST YOU HAVE EVER DONE.

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

I fucking hate the first boss of Futari.

I am getting tired of getting killed by the first boss on God mode.

150 - 160 million going in. 16,000 - 20,000 multiplier going into the boss usually. Then I die to either the first part. The part where it's shooting fire, or to the second part of the lifebar while trying to dodge the first phase of it.

Then the 2 times I actually got past the damn thing today I derped up with a game over on stage 2 midboss without ever bombing and a game over just past the midboss without ever bombing.

[Sapz]

Erppo: Ahaha, I have to try that sometime. Sounds awesome. :V

Enigma: Yeah, it's often a bitch. A tip for a lot of his attacks though are to stick to very near the screen's side edges; if you're right against the wall only the bullets from the arm near you will be appearing, making the pattern a lot simpler to dodge.

[DarkslimeZ]

Hey guys, anyone have any idea when the second extend is in Donpachi? I know the first is at 2 million; is the second at 6 million? I made it most of the way through stage 5 before game overing, and I had about 5.6 million. :/

If I could clear the first three stages without dying, this wouldn't be so difficult, but I always always do something stupid -_-

[Sapz]

Hey guys, anyone have any idea when the second extend is in Donpachi? I know the first is at 2 million; is the second at 6 million? I made it most of the way through stage 5 before game overing, and I had about 5.6 million. :/

If I could clear the first three stages without dying, this wouldn't be so difficult, but I always always do something stupid -_-

Donpachi only has one score extend. The other is a hidden one most of the way through stage 4. That's your lot, I'm afraid. :V Keep at it, you're almost there; stage 4 is the hardest part of the game, IMO (at least with Type-A).

[Aisha]

I get freaked out every time I see Guwange played at a high level. Launching my shikigami takes ages whereas these guys appear to be able to get it to come out on demand; their control with it is also so precise that their characters never sidestep into bullets. Then during boss fights, the shikigami is left out and the player is able to somehow rapidly alternate between the shikigami's shot (that follows along the chain) and the normal shot; I'm completely unable to do this.

I have to be missing something here. Guwange never clicked with me because of these things. :\

[Aliquantic]

Are you using auto-fire at all? You need to enable it first if you're using MAME (hold F2 to access the service screen, and it will be under Configuration). Holding the fire button allows to get the shikigami out faster and is key to the "coin leech", where you hold auto-fire and slowly tap A to get the shikigami out and keep the skull meter gold (it only works when your skull meter is over 1,000 and flashing gold).

You can do it without auto-fire too but it will give you a lot less coins and it's harder to perform. It's not anywhere near as effective on Blue Arrange either on the 360 since the skull meter just plummets when the shikigami is out. Be warned it can be a fairly frustrating technique to use, though

... says I who has yet to reach stage 6 or 4 million in Guwange Arcade.

[Aisha]

No, not that autofire; like a retard I thought you were supposed to use MAME's built-in autofire. :V Turning it on in the service menu makes a huge difference, even though I'm absolutely terrible at controlling the shikigami and making sure not to talk into a bullet while it's out during a stage.

Thanks!

[Zengeku]

Works well enough to 1cc God mode with.

Just give it time, you'll get used to it. There's also this if you're desperate, which helps a little bit, but honestly I have no complaints with it, it's what I use for playing exclusively. I like it much more than a keyboard, at any rate.  You'll be good with it in no time, it has all the precision you'll need... maybe not the 'common decency' given the fix linked, but eh. :V

Check if your TV has input lag first. That was one of the main gripes I had with control in the end.
The controller is fine, although mine had some issues with the right and up sensitivity. But I could fix it by scraping the edge around the d-pad a bit away, giving it more room.
Also, putting some ~~friction tape~~ on the d-pad to get more grip on the thing helps too.

Probably  :V

The problems are many. If i for example want to move to the right i would often by accident move a bit up too because i end up hitting both the right and up directions. That would never happen on a keyboard because its keys are seperated. But i admit some getting used to might be the key to sucess. Its way different having to control with a thumb instead of three keys assigned to each their direction.

And that thing about friction tape might not be so bad. I might try that out. Also, Jaimers. I've got no idea how to check if its the TV that got input lag. How'd you do it?

[Aliquantic]

Good luck with trying to adapt to a pad! (Especially the 360 one) I know I'm a lot worse on it compared to my boring HRAP EX-SE stick as pads have never clicked with me.

There's a promotion this weekend on Xbox Live where you get 400 points back if you spend 1600 points on selected games (details are here). The eligible games include Ikaruga for STGs in particular, if someone other than me has been living under a rock and only very recently got a 360.

And I'm nominating Vasara 2 for the next STGT vote to stick with Guwange's theme. It plays quite differently from most STGs with its bullet-cancelling melee attack, though.

Aisha: Let's have a friendly fight for last place then

[Aisha]

Yeah, I was about to suggest getting an HRAP EX-SE stick as well. I purchased one specifically for the 360 because every time I had tried using a pad for shmups in the past, I could just never get the hang of it. The nice thing about the EX-SE (and presumably other 360 sticks as well) is that it also works on the PC. I still prefer using a keyboard for things like doujin shmups and MAME, but one day I plan to be moving my stick back and forth between the 360 and PC so I can specialize in just one single input method.

I never really had the time to fully get the hang of the stick, and I haven't played a shmup seriously in about three months now, so it's back to square one with learning how to use the stick, I guess. :V

[Jaimers]

Also, Jaimers. I've got no idea how to check if its the TV that got input lag. How'd you do it?

I kind of... sensed it at some point really. And comparing the input speed between DOJ xbox and DOJ on the PS2 emulator kind of made it really clear.  :V
There's also this test that you can do that Khoa posted a while back, but I can't seem to remember what that was. :<
HD TV's in general are pretty horrible to play shmups on in any case.
Also, Dangun Feveron 1cc uploaded~

Part 1
Part 2

[ebarrett]

There's a promotion this weekend on Xbox Live where you get 400 points back if you spend 1600 points on selected games (details are here). The eligible games include Ikaruga for STGs in particular, if someone other than me has been living under a rock and only very recently got a 360.

Offer available Worldwide, excluding Italy & Japan

 :/

[DarkslimeZ]

Donpachi only has one score extend. The other is a hidden one most of the way through stage 4. That's your lot, I'm afraid. :V Keep at it, you're almost there; stage 4 is the hardest part of the game, IMO (at least with Type-A).

I see. So five lives max, huh... Maybe I should kick scoring to the curb and get my bomb capacity to max as soon as possible XD

Also, for all of you playing a game on MAME, what kind of controls are you using? I've got a PS2 controller hooked up to my computer, and I'm using the analog stick because it feels a little more like an actual arcade controller. >_>

[ebarrett]

I use keyboard only for MAME - for some weird reason the stick interferes with sound (!). And keyboards >>> everything else anyway.

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

Don't know if I'm going to get a Guwange score in. Every time I've played this week I just derped.

That and Futari God mode has more of my interest now.

Also, Stage 2 second half and stage 3 second half including both midbosses. How do you do these without bombing?

[Erppo]

Also, for all of you playing a game on MAME, what kind of controls are you using? I've got a PS2 controller hooked up to my computer, and I'm using the analog stick because it feels a little more like an actual arcade controller. >_>

I'd say using an analog stick for any shmup without analog controls (=every arcade-style shmup) is a bad idea. On the other hand, if you're using a PS2 controller, the d-pad in that is probably not very comfortable either.

I always just use the keyboard when playing on Mame. I've been planning to get a proper arcade stick though, preferably something I can use for both Mame and Xbox. With the Xbox, I've been happy enough with the d-pad in the standard controller. I can't see any difference in my performance between that and a keyboard.

[KOA]

I kind of... sensed it at some point really. And comparing the input speed between DOJ xbox and DOJ on the PS2 emulator kind of made it really clear.  :V
There's also this test that you can do that Khoa posted a while back, but I can't seem to remember what that was. :<
HD TV's in general are pretty horrible to play shmups on in any case.

http://sites.google.com/site/hdtvlag/ourtest
HDTVs are horrible, yeah. If they have a "Game Mode" on the TV, it helps minimize input lag to a very playable state, but it won't completely eliminate it.

[Aliquantic]

Also, more people need to try playing Arrange for score. It's actually pretty fun.

Do you do coin leech for scoring? As far as I can tell it still exists in Arrange 360 though in a slightly different way (hitting things with the main shot only, so wiggling the shikigami around) but I'm not sure how necessary it is.

[Erppo]

Do you do coin leech for scoring? As far as I can tell it still exists in Arrange 360 though in a slightly different way (hitting things with the main shot only, so wiggling the shikigami around) but I'm not sure how necessary it is.

I didn't do any of that. Since you always have the weak shot in addition to the shikigami, you coin leech the bosses automatically. It might increasy your chain in the bosses by a little bit if you try to avoid hurting them with the shikigami too much, but the amount of coins you can get in the stages is so huge it probably won't matter very much. Mainly I just tried to kill things as slowly as possible and let the screen fill with bullets to turn into coins.

[Jaimers]

Perfect 1.5 Maniac Larsa.

Yeah I agree, when exactly did this get so easy?  :V

[Erppo]

Yeah I agree, when exactly did this get so easy?  :V

Ultra Mode. Go!

[Aisha]

Managed to chain the first stage of Guwange after a few tries. It's a bit more fun now that I know what I'm doing. I don't think I'm generating enough coins though; the counterstop replay I'm following hits 1000 just before entering Sounetsuka Mansion, whereas I could only finish the stage with about 800.

[Sapz]

Alrighty, time to start thinking about next week's game. So far the games nominated are:

Strikers 1999
R-Type Leo
Thunder Dragon 2
Truxton/Tatsujin
Donpachi
Eight Forces
Strikers 1945 (maybe?)

If you guys have any games to nominate, you have until I get back home later today and set up the poll to say so. :V

[Aliquantic]

Sorry, I'd posted that a bit too early on:

I'm nominating Vasara 2 for the next STGT vote to stick with Guwange's theme. It plays quite differently from most STGs with its bullet-cancelling melee attack, though.

[Sapz]

Alrighty, +Vasara 2 it is. Time to put up the poll.

Also, guess who just got a rotatable monitor stand. Tried Ketsui in tate, didn't 1cc but got 115m without even reaching the final boss, which is definitely the best score with regards to distance I've had so far.

EDIT: Poll's up, go vote, etc.

[Azinth]

lol, why the hell is Strikers 1945 on that list, that game sux :V

also Donpachi ftw

[Sapz]

lol, why the hell is Strikers 1945 on that list, that game sux :V

You're crazy, it's fun. :V

Also, messed around some with DDP today, actually started making progress on the stage 4 chain. So far I've managed up to where the second tank bursts out of a building, with 270 hits or so. At this rate I'll be able to full chain the stage by next Christmas or so. :derp:

[Aliquantic]

I didn't do any of that. Since you always have the weak shot in addition to the shikigami, you coin leech the bosses automatically. It might increasy your chain in the bosses by a little bit if you try to avoid hurting them with the shikigami too much, but the amount of coins you can get in the stages is so huge it probably won't matter very much. Mainly I just tried to kill things as slowly as possible and let the screen fill with bullets to turn into coins.

I can't score with anything like consistency myself... my stage 1 score can fluctuate by 20-30% for a comparable amount of coins, though for some reason my end score always seems to hover around 140 million! Of course I lose a lot of points because of mistakes (yay for bombing or missing health items), but there still seems to be another element to scoring.

I've only had a short look at the top scoring replay for now, but it seems coin leeching is fairly weak (but present), and the key seems to load up on the "big" coins (during boss breaks or when destroying things with shot) since they're worth a lot more. The guy ended up with only a few thousand more coins than me, so I don't think this alone would account for a 100 million gap.

Did I mention how much I loathe the stage 5 boss yet and its fast, unpredictable bullets? That sounds just like the second half of Donpachi... fun!

[Vanishing Sock Puppet]

Batsugun!

Freaking Batsugun!

I love freaking Batsugun!
Especially when I credit feed.

Hell yeah Batsugun!  :getdown:

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

Worst run of Deathsmiles ever for me.

Tried playing again after quite a while. Picked level 3 every stage. Saved volcano for last. Didn't even enter it with 1,000 on the counter. When I did get 1,000 I powered up then bombed a few seconds later cause I messed up.

Game over on first part of final stage. 31,582,942. Terrible derpy run that I have no idea how the hell that happened.