April 2019 Shmup Club - Einhander

[MetalFRO]

Stage 2 boss is reasonably easy, if you take out the flamethrower first. Also, you can quickly take out its "headlight" thing if you concentrate fire on it as it approaches. But definitely take out the flamethrower quickly, then dodge its other attacks, and keep firing away at its head. You'll take it down quickly enough. That stage 3 midboss is a real jerk. The stronger the weapon, the faster you can get past its initial laser phase, and get into the 2nd phase.

[Addicted]

Right before the spider mid-boss fight in stage 3, an enemy will drop a grenade launcher. Use it to quickly take out the spider.

[MetalFRO]

Right before the spider mid-boss fight in stage 3, an enemy will drop a grenade launcher. Use it to quickly take out the spider.

I've found that the weapon drops before the midboss are inconsistent. I often see a Canon or Vulcan weapon. I think it might depend upon either which weapon you have currently stocked, OR which you have as your chosen default gunpod(s). Both may factor in, somehow.

[MetalFRO]

I managed to reach the mid-boss in Stage 5 on a single credit last night, and got my highest score so far (on Easy difficulty):
[img width=640 height=480]https://i.imgur.com/TDteVvsl.jpg[/img]

Also, I happened to beat the game last night! It only took 9 credits, but I pulled it off. I'm hoping this means I'm closer to an actual 1CC, once I learn the patterns of the later levels and bosses more specifically.

[zoydo]

Also, I happened to beat the game last night! It only took 9 credits, but I pulled it off.

Good job!

I haven't tried to beat the game yet. I played easy mode once, but mostly i kept on trying to beat my score in normal mode. Still unsuccessfully...

The alternate path in Stage 1 seems to work nice for scoring. One time i got all the bonuses and did some good chains, so i could finish stage 1 with ~1.510.000 pts. Unfortunately i screwed Stage 2 completely and didn't even make it on the scoreboard...

I also came across this website with some cool trivia about the game:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwi...i.php/VideoGame/Einhander

[Jam Master J]

Hey, I just started listening to the podcast since the Zanac episode and wanted to join in for the Einhander playthrough.

Einhander is one of my favorite shooters. I remember playing it on a demo disc. I liked what I had played up to the point that I had reached the end level boss. But it was that circular explosion I saw after defeating him that captivated my attention and I've loved this game ever since. It just seemed so stylish in a way I had never seen before.

It has a special place in my heart because it surprised me with its fairly robust gameplay mechanics. The weapon selection was pretty staggering for its time. It seemed like I was always discovering a new weapon well after the first stage had ended. I adored that the game actually let me blow up passive enemies in the background when you had the Wasp missiles in homing mode.

Besides that, the shifting camera angles in key moments were breathtaking and thrilling at a time when you never saw that in a shooter (except maybe RayStorm). Thinking back on it, I think Squaresoft was applying their dramatic RPG skills to give us the superbly unique Einhander.

Great show guys, keep it up!

[MetalFRO]

Hey, I just joined RF Generation in time for the Einhander playthrough. Count me in (if it's not too late). I'll drop a comment with my thoughts on the game later.

Absolutely! Still a few days left in the month to play, and give some thoughts

[MetalFRO]

Hey, I just started listening to the podcast since the Zanac episode and wanted to join in for the Einhander playthrough.

Einhander is one of my favorite shooters. I remember playing it on a demo disc. I liked what I had played up to the point that I had reached the end level boss. But it was that circular explosion I saw after defeating him that captivated my attention and I've loved this game ever since. It just seemed so stylish in a way I had never seen before.

It has a special place in my heart because it surprised me with its fairly robust gameplay mechanics. The weapon selection was pretty staggering for its time. It seemed like I was always discovering a new weapon well after the first stage had ended. I adored that the game actually let me blow up passive enemies in the background when you had the Wasp missiles in homing mode.

Besides that, the shifting camera angles in key moments were breathtaking and thrilling at a time when you never saw that in a shooter (except maybe RayStorm). Thinking back on it, I think Squaresoft was applying their dramatic RPG skills to give us the superbly unique Einhander.

Great show guys, keep it up!

Some good observations here! I would agree that the mechanics are pretty robust, and yes, the weapon selection is pretty extensive. The unlockable/secret weapons also make the game that much more robust, and the presence of so many secret bonuses really give the game a lot of replayability. The shifting camera aspect thing, and some of the game's early set pieces are a bit Blade Runner inspired, and one has to wonder if Einhander was taking a page from Sony's early attempt, Philosoma. There are a handful of parallels between the 2 games, and it's hard to see past those w/o thinking they're more than just a coincidence.

[coin_tengoku]

My two cents review..

Game is okay but failed to really make me want to come back to it to continue playing. In totality I just had a really tough time seeing the bullets and having fun playing the game. I think the controls are good, graphics are okay, and sound is good. I couldn’t really make it past stage 3 and have no scores worth posting up that outrank any previous posts by other members. I’m going to give this one a 6.5 out of 10.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MetalFRO]

Thanks for weighing in, coin_tengoku! I would still encourage you to post a score, even if it's not very high, if only to chart your own progress here alongside others, but I understand. It's important to play games like this, that have had many years of praise heaped upon it, because ultimately, you don't know if you like it until you try it. That's definitely a benefit of an endeavor like this - we get to play these games, and see which ones resonate with us, and which don't.

I had one run last night where I was pretty on fire, and I topped my best score (Easy difficulty) yet again:
[img width=640 height=480]https://i.imgur.com/MAdwyW6l.jpg[/img]

[MetalFRO]

2 days left to submit scores for Einhander, so anyone wanting to submit a score for any difficulty level should try and do so before the end of the day tomorrow, so we can get you recognized in the podcast!

[MetalFRO]

I managed to top my high score AGAIN last night, and actually broke 10 million on a single credit!
[img width=640 height=480]https://i.imgur.com/T3tvsGbl.jpg[/img]

As you can see in the screenshot, this is on Easy. I might switch back to Normal again tonight, for my final stream/run, and see what I can accomplish.

[coin_tengoku]

@MetalFRO that’s amazing!  Congrats.  I’m so straight to the point that I didn’t even know there was an easy mode. I’ve been playing normal all month. DOH!!  Oh well. Here is my best on normal.  Best of luck for the rest of the crew! That dang roller boss always gets me at end of stage three. [img width=700 height=933]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190501/4fa438b1bb6e47033439ada54c539fbf.jpg[/img]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MetalFRO]

Thanks, everyone for participating! Hoping to see more folks jump into Gradius III

[zoydo]

@MetalFRO: this score is awesome, good job man!

Sorry i'm late, but here are some final thoughts:

I really like the design of the game. The developers really put some effort in creating a nice plot and cool cutscenes.
The atmosphere of the game is amazing and the great soundtrack supports that also.
The german voicesamples felt a little weird to me, but i found it quite funny.

As i said already, i often had problems with seeing the bullets or differing if enemies are in the background or on the same layer as my ship. So i often crashed into stuff or was hit by bullets that i didn't notice.
The respawn points and the unskippable cutscenes make the game feel chunky to me somehow and all that really started annoying me after a few runs. Playing for score felt frustrating for me, so that's why i didn't spend too much time playing it and only played 2 or 3 runs every two or three days (i also have to admit, that i was distracted by Ketsui Deathtiny a little bit, because i got my copy of the PS4-port this month and its awesome).

Maybe i wil return to Einhänder some time and play through it in Free Play mode, to see the rest of the game (haven't played Stages 5, 6 and 7 yet) and the ending.