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The Mega-Cave Shooter Post, because they're totally awesome and sweet

danmaku

Member
lol, Saidaioujou is still ridiculous (arcade). I can't do the second boss without bombs. I still catch myself dying on the stage one boss! I might break down and switch to C-S because stage 3 as A-S is overwhelming.

Try the laser ships. Your worst enemies are the big ones that spam tons of bullets on screen (especially in stage 3) and laser gets rid of them faster. It also makes boss battles a little easier.
 

Tain

Member
I've briefly tried laser but that was a while ago. I have a better idea of the stage now, so maybe.

I would strongly recommend you use D-L, or even D-S.

Just press the Back button on the ship select screen.

I would if I were letting myself mess with non-arcade stuff yet. :x
 
I feel like Ketsui has some of Cave's best patterns, both in boss battles and the wicked aimed shots that enemies spray during the stages. But the scoring system is one of those that, even though it's very solid, doesn't get my blood moving. It's one of Cave's only games that feels to me like it doesn't matter how well I'm scoring, I'll never see significant gains. That's obviously not true, as I'm terrible at getting up close starting in stage 3, but it feels that way. And the Tiger Schwert is just too damned slow.

Great game though. Not my favorite, but definitely above the midline as far as Cave goes.
 

Kainazzo

Member
You can use Type-D in Arcade HD if you buy the 3000G "mystery" item from the shop.

Question about that. I'd heard that to enable Type-D, you had to push in the right control stick? Maybe I'm just remembering nothing, but then how would you select it with only an arcade stick?
 
Question about that. I'd heard that to enable Type-D, you had to push in the right control stick? Maybe I'm just remembering nothing, but then how would you select it with only an arcade stick?

They changed it with the patch after realizing how incredibly dumb that was.
 

japtor

Member
A little too difficult for my liking, even the Novice mode which I really like. I've kinda hung up the game...maybe in a year or two I'll get back to it.
Novice is pretty accessible with autobomb or just being good with survival bombing in some later parts. Granted it probably helps that I play 1.5 the majority of the time, but for me Novice has a sort of balance of decent challenge without ever feeling too impossible (Novice-Expert is another story, haven't messed too much with that one).
I've briefly tried laser but that was a while ago. I have a better idea of the stage now, so maybe.
I use C-L myself, definitely helps just knowing the stage cause the screen clearing turret/building parts on the right side. I still struggle with it but can clear semi consistently with conscious use of the hyper and getting to those turrets/buildings in time when the harder patterns come out.
I feel like Ketsui has some of Cave's best patterns, both in boss battles and the wicked aimed shots that enemies spray during the stages. But the scoring system is one of those that, even though it's very solid, doesn't get my blood moving. It's one of Cave's only games that feels to me like it doesn't matter how well I'm scoring, I'll never see significant gains. That's obviously not true, as I'm terrible at getting up close starting in stage 3, but it feels that way. And the Tiger Schwert is just too damned slow.

Great game though. Not my favorite, but definitely above the midline as far as Cave goes.
Try the Panzer Jager, the speed makes it more fun when combined with playing like a mad man. And with the way the levels are the lack of spread shot isn't that big of a deal until like mid way through stage 5.
 
Novice is pretty accessible with autobomb or just being good with survival bombing in some later parts. Granted it probably helps that I play 1.5 the majority of the time, but for me Novice has a sort of balance of decent challenge without ever feeling too impossible (Novice-Expert is another story, haven't messed too much with that one).
I've tried Novice-Expert only once and it felt on-par with Arcade, at least in the last levels. Although the density of bullets might be higher, they are relatively easy to dodge.

So how is everybody doing? Anyone close to a 1CC yet?
I've been playing pretty much only the Arcade mode with C-L, but rarely do it the whole way through and try to memorize enemy locations by constantly replaying small parts of each level in training mode instead. This has helped me to get through stage 3 and 4 with much more ease than before. I'm still dying a lot, but most parts seem to be quite managable after training some more. Right now I'm getting close to the 7CC-achievement and I haven't really tackled any of the bosses yet and basically rely on bombing and bullet cancelling when fighting them, so a lot can still be done. The last level is also still pretty messy and I lose more lives during it than all the other stages combined.
 

hongcha

Member
Asada also says he's developing games on next gen consoles and one will be announced soon. He doesn't mention what company he is working for. I'm looking forward to hearing about it, whatever it may be!
 

cuilan

Member
Asada also says he's developing games on next gen consoles and one will be announced soon. He doesn't mention what company he is working for. I'm looking forward to hearing about it, whatever it may be!

There are rumors that he's joining Microsoft's Osaka studio.
 

gunstarhero

Member
I'm really surprised there is so little talk on X360 mode in DDP Sai - seems like everyone is focused on the arcade and novice modes...

Am I the only one who love X360 mode? I think it's so much more fun than the original - it has a deeper gameplay scoring mechanics and the difficultly seems the same as arcade mode. It's only flaw is no character select and that annoying background (which can be shut off).

Am I missing something in Arcade mode? Seems so vanilla compared to the new mode...
 

cuilan

Member
I'm really surprised there is so little talk on X360 mode in DDP Sai - seems like everyone is focused on the arcade and novice modes...

Am I the only one who love X360 mode? I think it's so much more fun than the original - it has a deeper gameplay scoring mechanics and the difficultly seems the same as arcade mode. It's only flaw is no character select and that annoying background (which can be shut off).

Am I missing something in Arcade mode? Seems so vanilla compared to the new mode...

I mostly agree with you. I've been playing 1.5 and 360 modes mostly, and sometimes Novice Expert. I don't see much of a reason to play Arcade mode when the more polished 1.5 mode and more unique 360 mode are available. I actually kind of like the background in 360 mode.
 

dog$

Hates quality gaming
I have no idea if it's something that's merely a mental issue now that I've read about it, or that the circumstance is in fact true, but I find the hitbox in Saidaiojou to be rather strange; but I don't want to blame it all on lag if the issue is my skill. The collision point is in the middle of the ship but in practice I feel like it's closer to its ass end. I find myself backing into bullets about as often as getting hit by bullets approaching me. I also feel that playing point-blank is rather unhealthy, as trying to reclaim the bottom area once enemies are behind you seems to be an assured death sentence.

I find 360 Mode to have a much more engaging score mechanic which compels you to constantly put yourself at additional risk.
 
I like 360 a lot, but right now I'm more into Novice and Novice Expert. I love the music in those too, so that's a big draw. I'm sure you can switch the soundtrack for 360 mode, but I'd rather keep them distinct.

Also, how do you get rid of that garish background? I hate it.
 

cuilan

Member
I have no idea if it's something that's merely a mental issue now that I've read about it, or that the circumstance is in fact true, but I find the hitbox in Saidaiojou to be rather strange; but I don't want to blame it all on lag if the issue is my skill. The collision point is in the middle of the ship but in practice I feel like it's closer to its ass end. I find myself backing into bullets about as often as getting hit by bullets approaching me. I also feel that playing point-blank is rather unhealthy, as trying to reclaim the bottom area once enemies are behind you seems to be an assured death sentence.

It's not just you. A lot of players have been saying more or less the same thing (myself included). The size of the player hitbox might also be playing a role, as might the speed and hitbox size of the bullets. On top of that, SDOJ is confirmed to have some amount of input lag (1~2 frames iirc), and even the arcade release had it.

Also, how do you get rid of that garish background? I hate it.

Just change the size of the game window in 360 mode's option menu.
 

gunstarhero

Member
I mostly agree with you. I've been playing 1.5 and 360 modes mostly, and sometimes Novice Expert. I don't see much of a reason to play Arcade mode when the more polished 1.5 mode and more unique 360 mode are available. I actually kind of like the background in 360 mode.

Has anyone listed out the differences in 1.5 - I havent touched that mode yet - sort of saving it for when I get board of 360 mode. What did they change?
 

japtor

Member
I have no idea if it's something that's merely a mental issue now that I've read about it, or that the circumstance is in fact true, but I find the hitbox in Saidaiojou to be rather strange; but I don't want to blame it all on lag if the issue is my skill. The collision point is in the middle of the ship but in practice I feel like it's closer to its ass end. I find myself backing into bullets about as often as getting hit by bullets approaching me. I also feel that playing point-blank is rather unhealthy, as trying to reclaim the bottom area once enemies are behind you seems to be an assured death sentence.

I find 360 Mode to have a much more engaging score mechanic which compels you to constantly put yourself at additional risk.
I'm ok with it now, but for me I noticed I was playing like the hitbox was the cockpit, probably cause it stood out color wise, and the laser turret at the front screwed me up for a while too. Basically I was getting distracted by two different higher objects that stood out as well as the actual hitbox. Turning off the hit marker helped me out for whatever reason for a while, I think cause I'm used to not having one at all.
I actually like playing 1.5 over Arcade because of that. More crazy-ass shit more often is a good thing.
Yeah I find it a lot more fun, they build up fast enough that I use them to boost the chain more often than just holding on to a high level one (and usually dying before getting the chance to use it or just having to use it in a bad place for survival). It's another change that makes it feel less strict and more fun for me, like the chaining changes vs the older games.
 

Beckx

Member
Mushi HD is seriously the single best region-locked game. So fricken' gorgeous. You will have so much fun.

I finally came around to Mushi HD and fully support the above. Took a while though. ;)

It's official.
Asada has left the building.

Some good news though in his last post, he mentions that Furuhata, the guy who ran the CAVE matsuris will be taking over the dev diary blog from here on out and "plans to update it regularly".

Well, I suppose this is good, though if he's really going to MS it's not so good for me.
 

SOME-MIST

Member
Well, I suppose this is good, though if he's really going to MS it's not so good for me.

man... my guess was pretty damn close.

yes - I did see the part about him shutting down his blog. I know what that's implying and it does seem more likely, but that doesn't mean CAVE is shutting their doors for good, does it? Did he say "I think Saidaioujou will be the last port" or "Saidaioujou will be the last port"?
Maybe him closing the blog down means that he's stepping down and someone else will be taking charge - could that possibly be one of his last blog posts?

I'm just saying... I always take what CAVE says with a grain of salt as it can go either way. Espgaluda II was the last region-free title? DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu was the last 360 port?
I knew that him shutting down his blog didn't mean it was the end of cave shooters.

anyway... anxiously awaiting the return of my super gun as I'm pumped to sink more time into progear no arashi. furthest I got was 2/3rds the way through stage 4.
 

4444244

Member
I have a strange question - (well it's strange because I should know the answer).

I have, in my iTunes music folder what appears to be the OST and an AST for Ketsui (both are just labelled simply Ketsui and were put on in 2009).

Now it's definitely been ripped from a CD because the files are in AAC (must have forgot to set the importing to mp3 - I've done that a fair bit).

Now, I don't recall getting the Ketsui OST and it doesn't appear to be the one that came on the Ketsui 360 port (I have that separately).

In addition I don't think I got the DVD superplay for Ketsui, which no doubt also came with the OST and ACT.

Did the Ketsui OST /AST come with anything else?
 

GhaleonQ

Member
I have a strange question - (well it's strange because I should know the answer).

I have, in my iTunes music folder what appears to be the OST and an AST for Ketsui (both are just labelled simply Ketsui and were put on in 2009).

Now it's definitely been ripped from a CD because the files are in AAC (must have forgot to set the importing to mp3 - I've done that a fair bit).

Now, I don't recall getting the Ketsui OST and it doesn't appear to be the one that came on the Ketsui 360 port (I have that separately).

In addition I don't think I got the DVD superplay for Ketsui, which no doubt also came with the OST and ACT.

Did the Ketsui OST /AST come with anything else?

http://vgmdb.net/search?q=ketsui

This is your best bet, unless it's a gamerip (and you say it's from a CD). Since it's not http://vgmdb.net/album/39138 , I would guess http://vgmdb.net/album/617 . That's bizarre, though. A quick cursory search didn't bring up any other times it was packed in.
 

4444244

Member
http://vgmdb.net/search?q=ketsui

This is your best bet, unless it's a gamerip (and you say it's from a CD). Since it's not http://vgmdb.net/album/39138 , I would guess http://vgmdb.net/album/617 . That's bizarre, though. A quick cursory search didn't bring up any other times it was packed in.

Cheers for the links, although I decided to turf through all my stuff to try and find out once and for all.

After creating a massive mess of open storage boxes and finding out that I had multiple copies of games (oops), I finally found the superplay DVD that came with the soundtracks. - I never thought I bought this, I must have gotten in, ripped the CD and stored it away and forgot about it.
 

Tain

Member
whoo~

Thanks to an early birthday present from the GF I have all the arcade ports! The menus and load times with this are pretty bad, as I had heard, but the port itself seems solid! The development history of this is still pretty mind-blowing to me.

Revisiting the game, it seems more my pace than Saidaioujou. I'm probably going to roll back and play this for a bit.

bo2oxxecqaaiibcokuxi.jpg
 

Yes Boss!

Member
That was my first Cave game/disc/play/everything. Will always have fond memories of it.

Even though I got my original japanese 360 for RFA and Otomedius, that one sealed the deal.
 

Pouh

Member
Thanks to an early birthday present from the GF I have all the arcade ports! The menus and load times with this are pretty bad, as I had heard, but the port itself seems solid! The development history of this is still pretty mind-blowing to me.
The loading times are a bit shortened if you download the patch. :) (but yeah, they don't disappear either)
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I'm really curious how the Ketsui port will turn out, or if they're adding anything to it. The 360 port was fantastic, so I dunno. We'll see!
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Should be identical.

Could be surprised with some better image tweaking, hopefully.

One thing is for certain: 5pb is going the distance. Don't really understand the hate. they've been far more proactive in the shooter scene this gen than most others. The stealing code thing just seems silly for foks to get all twisted over. I doubt the whole story is out there...and the fact that both their Cave games are readily available, to this day, and that it was patched with help speaks larger than fan speculation, in my mind. Ultimately, it is the product on the shelf that is the final word.

Looks like up to a four disk set on the LE, with a Superplay I'm actually interested in checking out.

I went cold on shmups for the last month, shelved the 360 title a couple months ago, so I'm sufficiently amped. Looks cool, seeing Cave game on PS3.

One more week!

(Speaking of Cave...it has been almost a year since the last iOS release. Looks like they are done with that platform, sadly)
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
People still only hate 5pb because of the whole Daioujou bullshit, right? Which only happened cuz they hired Aquaplus to do the port, and they fucked it up... but yeah, as far as I'm concerned, 5pb themselves have been nothing but good.
 
I actually have a lot more confidence in the PS3 Ketsui port after I found out that SPS, the current world record holder for Type A Ura loop, is the port director.

I would be really surprised if he let input lag, and other issues from other PS3 ports, affect this one given how personally invested he is in the game.

Gotta admit I'm curious to see the superplay blu-ray as well...
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I actually have a lot more confidence in the PS3 Ketsui port after I found out that SPS, the current world record holder for Type A Ura loop, is the port director.

I would be really surprised if he let input lag, and other issues from other PS3 ports, affect this one given how personally invested he is in the game.

Gotta admit I'm curious to see the superplay blu-ray as well...

Interesting. Didn't realize that bit about the port director was the case. Well, I'm sure the shmups forum will have the lowdown pretty much immediately upon release.
 

BOTEC

Member
I'd just love to see a high image quality on the captured gameplay footage for the super play disc. I remember getting my first super play DVD (Raiden Fighters) and being super bummed out at how terrible it looked. It was as if dudes were capturing to VHS, then just burning that footage to a disc. All super play DVD's I own look fucking terrible. I want the next generation of super play footage, and I hope 5pb brings it.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Guys I don't have it in my budget to snag Ketsui at launch, do you think there's a risk of it getting rare/expensive pretty fast or I can count on a The BEST/GH/Platinum release down the road?
Goddamn :(
 
Guys I don't have it in my budget to snag Ketsui at launch, do you think there's a risk of it getting rare/expensive pretty fast or I can count on a The BEST/GH/Platinum release down the road?
Goddamn :(

Ketsui on 360 nosedived in price really quickly after release (though you needed Japanese contacts to take advantage as most overseas resellers did not discount their existing stock), then prices slowly rose back to where they were at launch. There's no way to know if the same thing will happen here, but that's the history.
 
(Speaking of Cave...it has been almost a year since the last iOS release. Looks like they are done with that platform, sadly)

No I think they're just lagging getting releases out.
Their latest IR report came out today:

http://contents.xj-storage.jp/contents/37600/T/PDF-GENERAL/20130717912605.pdf

At the bottom of Page 19, there's a "social shooting native app" listed which is supposed to be released by November. Hopefully those images are very temporary...

Edit: other notable bits: apparently SDOJ and the CAVE shooting collection sold above expectations, and are both listed on page 12 as highlights of the quarter.
 

BOTEC

Member
Serious talk. How big is Shin Megami Tensei Imagine for Cave? I'm a little worried that if (when?) Index goes under, and whoever takes over SMT decides to pull the plug on the MMO, Cave could take a big hit.
 

hongcha

Member
At the bottom of Page 19, there's a "social shooting native app" listed which is supposed to be released by November. Hopefully those images are very temporary...

I think you're referring to this:

I8YmbEE.jpg


Title starts with a "do" and ends with "n". Looks colorful and in a similar cute-em-up style as Muchi Muchi Pork. It doesn't say anything about it being "Social shooting", they just say it's a new type of shooting game aimed at people in their 30s~40s who have frequented arcades.

They're also making a new smartphone puzzle game aimed at women.
 

Tain

Member
wait, so they just straight-up announced a new STG in a IR report? Nice.

Can I assume from that description ("people who have frequented arcades") that this WON'T be an arcade game? Or is that jumping the gun?

Edit: Oh, I missed the app part. I'm dumb.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
No I think they're just lagging getting releases out.
Their latest IR report came out today:

http://contents.xj-storage.jp/contents/37600/T/PDF-GENERAL/20130717912605.pdf

At the bottom of Page 19, there's a "social shooting native app" listed which is supposed to be released by November. Hopefully those images are very temporary...

Edit: other notable bits: apparently SDOJ and the CAVE shooting collection sold above expectations, and are both listed on page 12 as highlights of the quarter.

Whew, well that is good news! I'm a very big fan of anything they do on iOS.

Good to see that they list sales as solid. CAVE Box seems like it was a shrewd decision. One of the best deals for $250. Nice to give something back to the fans after a couple of years of support.
 
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