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Graceful Explosion Machine |OT| Psychadelic Shmup Action

I'm sure others can explain better but I'll give it a shot.

Multiplier and being "Stylish" are the 2 main things that give you more points.

You want to keep your MP meter going. If you get hit or fail to kill an enemy in a certain amount of seconds, your MP will reset. If you look in the upper right corner where your MP is (within the hexagon), you'll see a timer that goes counter clockwise. It's very faint and blends in with the background. That's the time you have in between killing enemies before it resets.

You want to always make sure there's an enemy nearby so you can continue your MP. That's why sometimes it's good to lure them to each other. If there are enemies that spawn on either side of you but you notice they are somewhat far, you can get close enough where one spawn follows you and then pick them off one by one, while moving to the other spawn. So shoot one, slowly make your way to the opposite side, then shoot another. Keep doing that to group enough enemies in order to earn some stylish points.

Stylish points are when you kill a group of enemies in 1 shot, but this doesn't count when you use your blaster. Only for the other 3 special weapons. IMO, the Energy Sword is the best for this. Get some enemies together and you can kill, for example, 8 enemies with one swoop. Keep doing this when they're around you and you'll rack up the points.

Energy Sword is best when they are surrounding you.

Laser is OK. You can hold down the button then turn left and right to take out enemies. which will keep the stylish counter going, but if you Laser someone then take your finger off the button then start again, the stylish counter will end. Hope that makes sense.

Missiles can get you out of tight spots. My second favorite.

Don't forget to pick up the small, yellow items enemies drop when you kill them. That recharges your meter for the special weapons. They'll be times where you emtpy out the meter and it'll go red, which means you can't use any special weapon for a few moments until it automatically recharges (but not fully). Do your best not to reach that point but if you do, no biggie. Just use the blaster to pick off enemies one by one (slowly..like, shoot one and wait a second or 2 then shoot another) until it recharges.

There's some balancing you have to do between the Blaster and the other weapons. You don't want to kill everything with your Blaster because you want to group up as many of them, but you don't want to go crazy using your other weapons and end up killing your meter.

I hope this helps.

It does, thank you. I have been using my blaster as my main weapon and then using the specials when it overheats, but I think I will "switch" to using the special weapons as my primary and the blaster when those are re-charging, in order to get more style points.

Thanks man.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
There was a treddit AMA from the GEM devs today

https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/656osl/we_are_vertex_pop_creators_of_graceful_explosion/

GoNintendo gave a decent summary:

http://gonintendo.com/stories/27800...achine-devs-say-sales-have-exceeded-expectati

Seems like fixes are incoming for things like camera issues, new content is a possibility and sales have exceeded expectations!

Good to hear. Jonneh3003, could you post an update for the first level tracker, so we can see how much it did (sort of) in its first week?
 
This is my favourite Switch game so far! (I've not played Zelda yet...)

Perfect for dipping in and out of when I have a few spare minutes. I am still nowhere near getting the scores some of you have managed, even on the couple of occasions I've finished a stage without getting hit.
 
Huh, not sure what's going on. For some reason it isn't recording any of my attempts on the leaderboard. I've tried three times now on two different accounts, one which I made just now and it just says "No scores" when I look at the nearby tab.

It's number 4 on the UK eShop at least, I'll try this again tomorrow to see if I can get it working.
 

Plum

Member
Gonna get this along with Lego City so I've got one pick-up-and-play type game and one meatier game on the console.

Quick question, how quick is getting from opening the game from the Switch menu and playing? I didn't think this was an issue until Snake Pass' various logo videos and load times made quick sessions of that quite annoying.
 

Cerium

Member
Gonna get this along with Lego City so I've got one pick-up-and-play type game and one meatier game on the console.

Quick question, how quick is getting from opening the game from the Switch menu and playing? I didn't think this was an issue until Snake Pass' various logo videos and load times made quick sessions of that quite annoying.
Pretty much instant.
 
Gonna get this along with Lego City so I've got one pick-up-and-play type game and one meatier game on the console.

Quick question, how quick is getting from opening the game from the Switch menu and playing? I didn't think this was an issue until Snake Pass' various logo videos and load times made quick sessions of that quite annoying.
Super duper quick. FAST RMX is still the fastest but then again, it's FAST.
 

Poppyseed

Member
I love this game, and so glad I bought it. But is there any chance of making the little multiplier countdown circle a little more visible, or at least an option to? It's almost impossible to see in my opinion!

Thank you!
 
I love this game, and so glad I bought it. But is there any chance of making the little multiplier countdown circle a little more visible, or at least an option to? It's almost impossible to see in my opinion!

Thank you!

Blends in TOO well with the background, lol. Should be easy to fix.
 
I'm pushing through World 3 after a few days away from this game, and while survival is now noticeably more difficult, I actually think the bar to clear for S may be a bit low. I'm hitting S-ranks on my first successful clear on every stage, just for surviving all three phases without restarting from zero at the checkpoint, despite taking three or four hits. Of course, the real tests are the leaderboards (where a sloppy S run is enough to get you in the top 100 or 200, the same kind of rank you can expect today for a low S+ in World 2), but I get the sense that in these later stages, the jump from S to S+ is staggering in comparison to the gradation from B to A or A to S.

To put it another way, if you're able to get through all three phases without taking too many hits in World 3, you're probably also clearing the board efficiently enough to hit multipliers over 30x, or you would be dead. But again, I'm never restarting from the phase checkpoints, and perhaps the lower letter grades are tuned for players who do. It just seems to be a bit of a change from my experience in Worlds 1 and 2, where enemies are few enough and the phases short enough that restarting mid-stage means you probably can't even hit A.
 
Can anyone confirm this?

I was trying to get a low score to see how far down the leaderboard goes but it just says "no scores" when I check the nearby section on the leaderboard. I then continued my playthrough normally and got a good score but this time my score went to the leaderboard.

I think the leaderboard caps at a certain area, can you guys try checking levels were you have a bad rank and see if you can view your score on the leaderboards? A level where I have a C rank also says "no scores" when I try viewing the nearby tab.
 

Plum

Member
Just finished the first world (not going for hi-scores). I absolutely suck at the game, my highest rank is an A on the first non-tutorial level and I die at least once per level. However, damn does it feel good to play and it's a perfect pick-up-and-play game for my Switch. Definitely my 3rd favourite game on the system so far (behind BotW and Snake Pass).
 

goldenpp72

Member
I'm nearing the end of world 4 (been S+ ranking everything) great game but, it has a few things to critique. First, there seems to be no ways to upload a score after the fact. This causes a lot of issues and makes score attacking on the go basically pointless. If say you get 300k in a level but can't upload it, but you had managed to upload a 250k score earlier, you can't upload a score of 280k beating your online score, it HAS to beat the offline score otherwise the option to submit never happens.

It makes playing the game on the go in this method very pointless. I'd also criticize that the challenge mode run through a whole world is simply too ridiculous, while I might be mistaken, it seems to require clearing every level without taking a single hit and not losing the multiplier even once, to S+ rank it. I'd be curious to know more about how an S+ is done, can it be achieved simply by score or does it take other variables?

Otherwise, it's a great game with bad graphics and sort of redundant music, but the actual mechanics are excellent.
 

Mega Man

Member
there seems to be no ways to upload a score after the fact. This causes a lot of issues and makes score attacking on the go basically pointless. If say you get 300k in a level but can't upload it, but you had managed to upload a 250k score earlier, you can't upload a score of 280k beating your online score, it HAS to beat the offline score otherwise the option to submit never happens.

This is a HUGE issue if it is never patched. I'm surprised this was not accounted for prior to launch, taking into consideration the nature of the console.

Personally, I am always playing connected either in my or my girlfriend's apt. With that said, I could see a time when I'm riding along somewhere and I'd like to play a few rounds. Hopefully this is fixed SOON :)
 
Still dipping in and out for this for 20-30 minute bursts pretty much every day.

If there is a particularly "strong" enemy on screen I tend to focus on it, and get taken out by one of the worthless little grunts. This is generally my undoing, along with overheating my blaster at bad moments.

Finished World 1 with at least a C on everything, halfway through World 2. Already feel like I've got my money's worth from this.

I'd love if there was a 2 player co-op mode added in the future - that would be great fun.
 

goldenpp72

Member
So I finished all 4 worlds tonight, I dabbled in some challenge mode stuff but I don't believe i'll ever be able to S+ the whole world runs. Do those require a no hit/no loss of multiplier to achieve? I also got my first no hit/no loss of multiplier run that did not result in an S+ rank in challenge world 2 for the Warp+ level, so very discouraging.

If anyone has tips i'd love to hear, here is my final total for the main worlds at least.

C8xmmM-WAAAhtU_.jpg:large

C87vi8hV0AAf_vx.jpg:large

C95rnKJUQAUEpW_.jpg

C95rtXmVoAEdM1N.jpg
 

Monumma

Member
I somehow just managed to finish the 4th world challenge stuff. I'm currently number 1 in the world, i took a screenshot and closed the game forever. I will always be number 1.

And that is still an S, so I think that even for the challenges you need to keep the multiplier for the whole 30 minutes to get S+. NOPE.

I had a lot of fun playing this.
 

BizzyBum

Member
I beat all 4 worlds and did some challenge stuff but I'm not the type of person who is compelled to grind for S+ ranks and leaderboard scores, so I'm good with just playing everything once.

It's pretty good overall, I just wish the levels were a little more varied on each planet. It's only $10 so you can't really go wrong, and for those who compete for top 10 leaderboard scores you'll be playing this a ton trying to master it.
 

Primate_Ryan

Neo Member
Damn, thought I finally had my last S+ score for world 2 on 2-7, but I didn't beat my previous highscore on that level, so the S+ didn't override the S. :(

Still, a great game. What's with these excellent highscore space games that are released close to launch? Geometry Wars, Resogun, Super Stardust and now GEM.
 

DirtyLarry

Member
Just got my Switch yesterday. Really took a look at the eShop tonight and this game caught my eye as I love Pixel Junk Shooter and the screens reminded me of it. Never heard if it so came to Gaf, searched it, and found multiple threads praising it.
I will purchase more eShop credit tomorrow from Amazon and pick it up. I have a feeling based on what I have read it may wind up being my favorite Switch title yet.
I already have a backlog on the Switch which is just insane as it us nto what I expected and I was okay with that too. Psyched to pick this game up.
 

DirtyLarry

Member
Picked it up. Absolutely love it. Almost wish I did not pick it up as now all I will probably play is it. Is it pretty hard to get A's & S's though or do I just suck right now?
 

Cerium

Member
Picked it up. Absolutely love it. Almost wish I did not pick it up as now all I will probably play is it. Is it pretty hard to get A's & S's though or do I just suck right now?

You'll get better with time. Once you've had your fill, I recommend Puyo Puyo Tetris. There's plenty to play on Switch right now.
 
Picked it up. Absolutely love it. Almost wish I did not pick it up as now all I will probably play is it. Is it pretty hard to get A's & S's though or do I just suck right now?

This game hates me so much. I have never been so bad at something and stubbornly refuse to walk away until I get better.

Fighting games, FPS games I have a limit. This game no limit... I keep going and going and going until madness.
 
Picked it up. Absolutely love it. Almost wish I did not pick it up as now all I will probably play is it. Is it pretty hard to get A's & S's though or do I just suck right now?

If you get in the habit of restarting from the beginning of the stage (rather than the checkpoint at the beginning of the phase you were on) whenever you fail, essentially compelling yourself to finish every stage without checkpoints, it isn't too hard to hit A or higher on every stage. Just survive, and when you clear one cluster of enemies, use the dash to get to the next (the dash slightly extends the time you have before your combo falls off). In the later worlds, stages are long enough that you can afford to take a few hits and still clear the benchmark for S with ease. The jump from S to S+ is much steeper.
 

DirtyLarry

Member
You'll get better with time. Once you've had your fill, I recommend Puyo Puyo Tetris. There's plenty to play on Switch right now.
Was looking at Puyo Puyo Tetris so thanks for the recommendation. Will check it out. Also thanks for just being honest. It keeps me a little hopeful.

This game hates me so much. I have never been so bad at something and stubbornly refuse to walk away until I get better.

Fighting games, FPS games I have a limit. This game no limit... I keep going and going and going until madness.
Same here for real. Same here. I just seem to be awful right now but cannot put it down. Determined to get better.

If you get in the habit of restarting from the beginning of the stage (rather than the checkpoint at the beginning of the phase you were on) whenever you fail, essentially compelling yourself to finish every stage without checkpoints, it isn't too hard to hit A or higher on every stage. Just survive, and when you clear one cluster of enemies, use the dash to get to the next (the dash slightly extends the time you have before your combo falls off). In the later worlds, stages are long enough that you can afford to take a few hits and still clear the benchmark for S with ease. The jump from S to S+ is much steeper.
Thank you for this tip. I kind of figured it out on my own but I was just doing it some of the time (restarting). Now that you share it, it does make complete sense, as it all seems to be about that chain, and that is where I am still struggling. Just doing stupid shit too.
I also apparently need to start using dash more than I do. At first I have to admit I was barely using it at all.


Thanks all for taking the time to give me some advice and some words of encouragement. I just need to git gud is the bottom line. And with that said, I am off to bed, and will probably be playing this in bed (which is magical, used to do it with my Vita all the time), and probably play until the battery dies.
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Bought this a few days ago, game is amazing. It's so addictive, I keep playing 'one more' stage. I had a train ride this morning and the time flew by. I get the impression it's also easy on the battery in handheld mode, played for 2 to 3 hours and still had 40% battery left.

I'm at 4-3 now and the stages are getting pretty hard. I don't mind grades for now, I'm just happy to be finishing the levels. The huge purple enemies with tentacles are pretty annoying since they fill up such a large part of the screen.

I love Geo Wars on the 360 back in the day and this scratches that itch perfectly. I feel myself getting better the more I play. I didn't boost that much in the early worlds, but it's key now in the later worlds to give yourself more room.

Only played in handheld mode so far, feels perfect like this. May switch over to tv for some of these harder world 4 stages though.

So glad I impulse bought this, incredible game.
 
Patch v1.0.2:

Vertex Pop said:
Upload Score Later

We’ve heard from people playing GEM on trains, buses, at work, etc. who get really great high scores, but can’t upload them because they aren’t online. This breaks our collective developer hearts, so for v1.0.2 we’ve added Upload Score Later.

From the Score Screen, choose “Later” instead of “Submit Score” to save your score for uploading later. Then, when you’re back online, go to the main menu and select “Upload Scores” (by pressing X) to upload all the pending scores. (And don’t worry, if it fails to upload you can retry later!)

Screenshake Option

We also added the option to reduce or disable the Screenshake effect. If you have motion sickness related concerns, this should really help. It may not be perfect (our options are limited given what a fast-paced game GEM is), but it’s definitely an improvement!

The offline high score feature addresses my strongest lingering concern about the game. An excellent and swift response just over a month out from launch.
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Patch v1.0.2:



The offline high score feature addresses my strongest lingering concern about the game. An excellent and swift response just over a month out from launch.

My only real issue with the game is now fixed. I hope we get some more levels with new enemies later on, would gladly pay €5 or so for a stages pack. It says they're working on more, so looking forward to that.

Only have Warp 4 to beat, then I'll go back to replaying earlier stages for high scores.

btw those goldenpp72 ranks... props. I got my first S earlies this evening and was over the moon :p
 

jariw

Member
Great with this speedy update!

I'm very impressed with the rapid updates the eShop games get in general, specially compared to how long the waits were for Wii U game updates.
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Cool thing about the 'upload later' update is that it's retroactive. All the levels I beat while offline got uploaded.

I beat warp 4 this weekend and then proceeded to S rank most of the first 2 worlds. Got a bunch of scores in the top 100-500 and that's good enough for me. Taking a break now but I can see this as getting a second life as a stopgap game when I have some time to kill.

I hope this game has done okay and the devs are happy with the sales, because it definitely deserves to do well.
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Jonesing for something cheap-ish and bite-sized in between bouts of ARMS. I think I'll pick this up.
 
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