Shmup Club January 2020 Game & Year-Long Scoring Competition - Ketsui!

[shamanix]

Hi, new guy here.
Casual player who really enjoys the podcast and thought since i have this for PS3 i would play along this month, but this game aint no cakewalk!
The bullet patterns are so chaotic it makes it really difficult for me, can't even get through stage 2 on easy mode hehe.

Do you guys play arcade mode or x mode? X mode seems easier to score high, atleast at this point.
Start with 3 ships? Also difficulty and extends on standard settings? Are there any rules?

The only thing i figured out yet is to shoot the enemies close range for higher score, something to do with the chips getting higher, what they do to the score i don't really know but close range equals high scores it seems.

Will maybe post some scores later if i can get somewhere.
Good luck to you all.

[MetalFRO]

I don't have the PS3 release (yet), so I'm not familiar with X mode, but if you want to play that, go for it! Just make sure you note which mode you're playing, when you post your screenshots. And yes, the key to scoring is point-blanking enemies, to get the 5 chips. In a nutshell: shoot a couple enemies at close range to set your chip counter to 5, and then switch to focus shot right away for other enemies in the group to keep that chain going, and continue to get 5 chips, even if you need to pull back to dodge bullets. Rinse and repeat, and that's the basic approach. There's more nuance to it, but that's the core mechanic. Also, welcome to the site, and welcome aboard! Glad to have another player in the mix, and thanks for listening to the podcast!

[shamanix]

Hi MetalFRO and thanks for the advice, i noticed this mechanic when playing last night and working on balance between letting some enemies stack up for chaining and not letting too many of them start to shoot or it will be hard to dodge all the bullets. I think there are other mechanics at play here aswell, something to do with the lock-on but think i will deal with that later on. I feel this game grows on you.

For consistencies sake i started to play on default settings all around.
Arcade mode
Normal difficulty
3 ships
extends 1st 20 000 000 2nd 45 000 000

So far i have just gotten 5 376 804 points this way, dying on stage 2 hehe, but I'm working on it!
Inspired by the scores posted before in the thread, 40 mil, wow great work.

ps. How do you guys recommend grabbing screenshots? Use a camera on the tv is what im thinking.

[kz_the_kusoplayer]

Best stream run from Tuesday:

[MetalFRO]

Looks like you're doing well!

[MetalFRO]

Hi MetalFRO and thanks for the advice, i noticed this mechanic when playing last night and working on balance between letting some enemies stack up for chaining and not letting too many of them start to shoot or it will be hard to dodge all the bullets. I think there are other mechanics at play here aswell, something to do with the lock-on but think i will deal with that later on. I feel this game grows on you.

For consistencies sake i started to play on default settings all around.
Arcade mode
Normal difficulty
3 ships
extends 1st 20 000 000 2nd 45 000 000

So far i have just gotten 5 376 804 points this way, dying on stage 2 hehe, but I'm working on it!
Inspired by the scores posted before in the thread, 40 mil, wow great work.

ps. How do you guys recommend grabbing screenshots? Use a camera on the tv is what im thinking.

Yeah, I pretty much just use my phone to grab a photo of my TV, and I usually drop it in the RFG Discord in the #shootthecorecast channel, then I download it to my PC and add it to the post. If you type in your text, and hit the Preview button, the next screen that comes up has an "Additional Options..." link you can expand, which allows you to browse your computer to add a photo.

[MetalFRO]

I managed to get a new high score in Arcade, and even though I didn't reach the Stage 2 boss this time, it's still improvement. I'm finding more ways to milk 5 chips from enemies, to better my score. I'm also taking myself off the moratorium on bombing. It's not as detrimental to your score, and I want to progress further.

[zoydo]

@MetalFRO: good job, that's a nice score before reaching the boss!

@shamanix: Hey shamanix and welcome! ✌🏻😊

I usually take screenshots with the share button (PS4), upload them and embed them here in the thread (or post em via twitter). Easiest way might just be taking a photo with cam or smartphone.

What i know from X-Mode is, that you need to shoot the marked enemies to get bullet cancels and start the chip-counter. After that, shoot small enemies with focus shot and you will get chips as long as the counter is counting down. You can chain between the marked enemies to keep the counter going.
You can also wipe the tiny pink bullets with your focus shot.

@kz_the_kusoplayer: awesome score man! It's more than twice of my PB at the same stage. Just great scoring!

[shamanix]

I realised i need to focus on survival for a while and find some good routes and make it past stage 2 then work on the scoring.
I get thru stage 1 with no death and no bomb so its coming along!
Sorry no screens yet but really low score anyhow so, will post photos on next post promise.
So far..
Arcade Normal 9 303 124.
Have a great weekend all.

@kz Awesome score man.
@MetalFRO Yours are pretty awesome too

[kz_the_kusoplayer]

I'm super frustrated at my scores actually. My individual level scoring puts me at 95-97m after stage 3 so I'd really like to get that in a full run. After that I'll go for 130m after stage 4.

[MetalFRO]

@zoydo - X-Mode must be on the PS3/360 release, as it's not included on the PS4 port, as far as I can tell. I'm curious to hear more about that, because I don't own that version...yet

@shamanix - sounds like you're already making great progress, if you can no-miss/no-bomb stage 1, and that's a great early score! Definitely looking forward to watching your progress as you get deeper into Stage 2.

@kz_the_kusoplayer - yeah, I know it's frustrating, but keep in mind, you're well on your way to the Ura loop scoring requirement with that, so unless you're looking to wring absolutely every possible 5 chip out of loop 1, I wouldn't get too hung up on it at this point. There's always room for optimization. Always.

[Ze_ro]

Finally got around to starting on this one... Still trying to get a feel for the controls and attack patterns and whatnot, focusing more on staying alive rather than scoring... My best arcade mode score is a measly 6.2m at the moment. Strangely, I seem to have more trouble with the mid-level bosses than with the actual bosses.

I tried out Deathtiny mode a bit too, but I have no clue what the strategy is here. Need to do a bit more research to figure this out... seems a heck of a lot easier though, and I was able to get to level 5 with a score of 114m.

For the hell of it, I tried out Super Easy mode too, and it's definitely as advertised... managed to finish the game on a single credit on the first try. Nice to at least be able to see each of the levels so you know what you can expect, but the bullet patterns are nothing compared to the real thing so it's not like this is even valid practice.

--Zero

[dtungsten]

I've been playing this too, don't have any scores handy to report at the moment, but I will. I have one question, though, could someone explain how to get this trophy on the PS4 version? It's the only one I don't know what to do to get.

絆グランドマスター
絆育成モードで全員のグラフィックをアンロックした

Google translate returns this in English:
Kizuna Grand Master
Unlocked everyone's graphics in bond development mode

Thanks!

[MetalFRO]

@dtungsten - this is all I have been able to find: https://forum.psnprofiles...%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC/

Finally got around to starting on this one... Still trying to get a feel for the controls and attack patterns and whatnot, focusing more on staying alive rather than scoring... My best arcade mode score is a measly 6.2m at the moment. Strangely, I seem to have more trouble with the mid-level bosses than with the actual bosses.

I tried out Deathtiny mode a bit too, but I have no clue what the strategy is here. Need to do a bit more research to figure this out... seems a heck of a lot easier though, and I was able to get to level 5 with a score of 114m.

For the hell of it, I tried out Super Easy mode too, and it's definitely as advertised... managed to finish the game on a single credit on the first try. Nice to at least be able to see each of the levels so you know what you can expect, but the bullet patterns are nothing compared to the real thing so it's not like this is even valid practice.

--Zero

There's still validity to running through Super Easy Mode a couple times, if only to see initial enemy placement, so you can at least begin to plan routing, once you reach the later stages in Arcade. Plus, even though you know it's really easy, it can still be a bit of a lift to get a 1CC in that mode, if Arcade is punishing you pretty hard. Regarding Deathtiny strategy, this thread has a quick and dirty guide:

https://shmups.system11.o...topic.php?f=5&t=63694

[dtungsten]

@MetalFRO

Thanks, that's actually helpful, as I didn't know what the requirement was. Now I have a target to shoot for. This release of the game is designed and built as a trainer, as I suspected during one of your streams. I still can't get very far in the game, but to my surprise, I have improved and gotten higher scores as I continue to play it. I say to my surprise, because I think to myself, "that's impossible, even for a computer!" I don't know how I'm doing it, but I'm doing it. I like the many different modes available. The Arcade Challenge mode and the Bond Development mode are the best for practicing. I haven't gotten a no-miss clear in Super Easy mode, so there is still plenty of reason to play that mode.

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