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THUMPER |OT| THE BEETLE'S ROCK BAND - HIGHWAY TO HELL!

Stoze

Member
I'm sweatin' over here guys.
gdznCCm.jpg
 

dochuge

Member
This game is absurd in VR. Just absurd. I'm completely gone from the real world and in the zone.

I agree. I'm not into rhythm games that much but in VR it's like a psychedelic roller coaster ride and it plays extremely well. In VR it's easy to see upcoming turns. Played it on the demo disc a few times and decided to get the entire game. Favorite rhythm game by a long shot.
 

EVO

Member
A few pages back I was ready to throw in the towel, so I can't believe I just beat this fucking game. What a ride.
 

wapplew

Member
Hit a wall in level 5. Tapping rapid notes is my weakness, I'm exposed.
Some note just don't match with the music, not my tempo!
 

Eridani

Member
So for playing this on PC, how is it running? I have a 970 and this seems straight up my alley but I don't want to worry about chugging. It's really damn pretty.

I played it on a 570 and it was pretty much constantly at 60 fps, with some small drops when a lot of things were on screen. So it's really well optimized for older hardware - the best I've seen in a while. A 970 should be perfectly fine then, though I don't know if the small drops persist regardless of hardware. Probably not though.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
You guys are off the chain. There's no way in hell I'm going to come close to finishing this.

Just now beat the level 4 boss. Stages 1 and 2 didn't give me much trouble, but getting the rhythm of releasing the A button early enough to be able to switch tracks in time for the next beat took a bit of doing in Stage 3.

Stage 4 only took me two tries, the latter of which was one of those freaky moments where it feels like someone much more capable has suddenly taken control of your limbs.
 
You guys are off the chain. There's no way in hell I'm going to come close to finishing this.

Just now beat the level 4 boss. Stages 1 and 2 didn't give me much trouble, but getting the rhythm of releasing the A button early enough to be able to switch tracks in time for the next beat took a bit of doing in Stage 3.

Stage 4 only took me two tries, the latter of which was one of those freaky moments where it feels like someone much more capable has suddenly taken control of your limbs.

Those moments are the best part in any rhythm game. I always lose my flow when I actually start thinking about what I'm doing.
 

Stoze

Member
how the shit does an A ranking have more than BOTH S ranks?

Ranks correspond to how well you do in each segment (1-4,1-5, etc), score corresponds to how well you do across the entire level. You have to S each segment in a level to get an S as the final ranking, but every time you reset to the previous checkpoint, you lose your no miss, no damage, and base note/point multiplier that runs constantly across the all segments in the entire level.

I don't actually know what truly constitutes an S-rank since there is no scoring for individual segments, but typically you want to play each segment almost as perfect as possible which requires lots of resetting to the last checkpoint. If you screw up in a short segment you're basically guaranteed an A, but in medium to longer length segments you can probably still be fine getting hit once or missing a note, especially if you're doing extra stuff like perfect corners and chaining flight -> thumping. The way it is now though you don't want to chance it and basically have to restart from checkpoint even if you only mess up once on the later levels no matter what.

Secretcartoonland probably just beasts the entire level without stopping, occasionally missing a few notes or taking damage so they lose the S rank, but they keep the multipliers up most of the time which dramatically increases score.
 
After beating level 4 and further and getting more acquainted with the game's mechanics, I suggest revisiting the first levels with your increased knowledge. It should make a world of difference. You'll see scoring opportunities you didn't see before. Stringing a long combo together to the beat of the unrelenting music is just an incredible feeling for me in this game. When I get in the zone, this game provides an experience like no other. Too bad it hasn't clicked with you. I do hope you aren't just surviving an are actually going for maximum scoring, such as chaining together jumping/pounding and perfect-turning as much as you can. That's where the game is.

I mean I'm trying, but there are points where it does feel like I'm just surviving. As soon as I hit something it tends to go to all hell. The way it handles the players errors is a bit odd in my opinion. Giving you invulnerability then turning it off while you are in the middle of a wall or something like that? Games like Dyad and Amplitude have better systems for player error, Dyad rewinds the game slightly, Amplitude causes you to fail the 'bar' and you just continue on the next.

Either way I think I'm enjoying it a bit more. The beat does get more interesting as the levels get faster and more challenging, and I do enjoy some of the mechanics like perfect cornering. I seem to miss many of the flight sections though, as I don't react to the blue rings as quickly as I react to hazards like walls or barriers.

Are many of you playing in VR or just normally? As a VR game Thumper is fairly underwhelming, it's a definitely a visual spectacle but there are no merits to it as a VR experience. There's nothing to look around and see, if you look left, right or behind, it's just black, VR is very much tacked on here.
 
Are you guys actually using music as an audio queue in this game? To me it seems like most of the information I'm getting is visual, but then I remember the timing in regards to audio if I fail.

The music doesn't seem to inform me with regards to what to press very often, and I could definitely play the game without sound if I wanted to.
 

dext3rr

Member
I agree. I'm not into rhythm games that much but in VR it's like a psychedelic roller coaster ride and it plays extremely well. In VR it's easy to see upcoming turns. Played it on the demo disc a few times and decided to get the entire game. Favorite rhythm game by a long shot.

Exactly my thoughts. I'm gonna buy this today!
 
Are you guys actually using music as an audio queue in this game? To me it seems like most of the information I'm getting is visual, but then I remember the timing in regards to audio if I fail.

The music doesn't seem to inform me with regards to what to press very often, and I could definitely play the game without sound if I wanted to.

I think you're using the audio as a cue and might not realize it. It's pretty subtle. The orange lines have a lower tink sound, the blue circles have a higher tink sound, the musical tracks themselves will often have a warbled synth sound when a series of turns is coming, the laser gateway squares have a very distinct bass sound, etc.

You're welcome to try it muted and prove me wrong but I think it'd be significantly more difficult on later levels when the speed increases. Playing becomes almost instinctive and I'm not sure if the visual stimuli alone would be enough.
 

PJV3

Member
The game is amazing to look at, like the most fucked up bobsledding nightmare. I'm tempted to buy the full game but I'm useless at it.
 

jett

D-Member
Are you guys actually using music as an audio queue in this game? To me it seems like most of the information I'm getting is visual, but then I remember the timing in regards to audio if I fail.

The music doesn't seem to inform me with regards to what to press very often, and I could definitely play the game without sound if I wanted to.

Every single perfect turn is tied to the beat of the music. Every single one. You can play mute... I guess, but man why would you want to. It's actually helpful. :p
 

totowhoa

Banned
I have a question about level 6.

I noticed this starting in level 5, but level 6 opens specifically by taunting you with those blue rings that you don't seem to have enough flight time to hit.

Is there a mechanic here I'm misunderstanding? Should I be able to hit these?
 

jett

D-Member
I have a question about level 6.

I noticed this starting in level 5, but level 6 opens specifically by taunting you with those blue rings that you don't seem to have enough flight time to hit.

Is there a mechanic here I'm misunderstanding? Should I be able to hit these?

I figured it out.

If you hit two pads in a row while holding up it'll give you enough juice to be airborne longer.
 

totowhoa

Banned
I figured it out.

If you hit two pads in a row while holding up it'll give you enough juice to be airborne longer.

Another question for you or anybody else, actually. So for example, early in level 6-3 among other places, there are blue rings right after a turn. It seems like turns 100% of the time knock me out of the air.. Like I hit up+x on a pad, keep holding and switch to side+x when I hit a turn and fall out of the air :( So, I miss the blue rings coming out of the turn.

Do I need to hit a perfect turn to maintain flight maybe? Still getting the hang of the finer points of this game.
 

Messiah

Member
Another question for you or anybody else, actually. So for example, early in level 6-3 among other places, there are blue rings right after a turn. It seems like turns 100% of the time knock me out of the air.. Like I hit up+x on a pad, keep holding and switch to side+x when I hit a turn and fall out of the air :( So, I miss the blue rings coming out of the turn.

Do I need to hit a perfect turn to maintain flight maybe? Still getting the hang of the finer points of this game.

Yeah, you have to hit a perfect turn. Also, you don't have to keep holding up to stay in the air. Might make it a bit easier to deal with turns.
 
Another question for you or anybody else, actually. So for example, early in level 6-3 among other places, there are blue rings right after a turn. It seems like turns 100% of the time knock me out of the air.. Like I hit up+x on a pad, keep holding and switch to side+x when I hit a turn and fall out of the air :( So, I miss the blue rings coming out of the turn.

Do I need to hit a perfect turn to maintain flight maybe? Still getting the hang of the finer points of this game.

Yep, perfect turn keeps you in flight.

Finally beat the game, that final final boss was some bullshit. Phew
 

jett

D-Member
I continue to be impressed how much progress you can make just by playing normally. Got 400k on level 6, not that great I guess but better than the 140k I had before. :p When you get in the groove this game just feels spectacular. Doing well score-wise in level 7 is still beyond me though.

Oh damn. Thanks!

Went back and replayed 6-1 again to get the hang of it. This feels awesome.

I think that the feedback this game provides could be unparalleled among all of gaming.

Another question for you or anybody else, actually. So for example, early in level 6-3 among other places, there are blue rings right after a turn. It seems like turns 100% of the time knock me out of the air.. Like I hit up+x on a pad, keep holding and switch to side+x when I hit a turn and fall out of the air :( So, I miss the blue rings coming out of the turn.

Do I need to hit a perfect turn to maintain flight maybe? Still getting the hang of the finer points of this game.

Like others said, you need to practice dem perfect turns. Follow the beat the of music and it won't be as hard as it seems.
 

totowhoa

Banned
Haha yep got it. Made it happen. Working on trying to tie everything together at the moment. Have honestly been more worried about survival than perfect turns so far, but going back and playing previous levels is really helping me better understand how to link everything together a little less sloppily. Level 6 really demands a good handle on the mechanics so far to link things up well.
 

Stoze

Member
I just got the global high score for level 9. A couple days ago I literally wouldn't have even considered this as a possibility for myself.

I think that's due to Thumper's near perfect difficulty curve and a gradual introduction of mechanics and depth, the game eases you into surprising yourself and constantly pushing your limits. Also it was confirmed by the devs, the levels do correspond to the time signatures playing in each of them; 1 is 1/4, 5 is 5/4, etc.
 

Stoze

Member
Congrats dude. I noticed you're #2 on campaign as well. GAF represent.

Thanks man. I finally managed to S-rank everything as well, gave me some good practice.

Man I want to play this game in VR.

I wish you could rent hardware today like you used to be able to in the 90s.

There's a certain moment near the very end of the game that I'd really like to see in VR, when
you go inside the boss' mouth
. I'm curious how much easier the game would be in VR as well.
 
Will I like this game if I liked Frequency/Amplitude?

I actually discovered the game today because a Frequency/Amplitude fan was showing me amplitude on ps4 last night, and I needed to scratch my rhythm game itch on pc. I think you'll definitely like it, with the caveat that it will seem a little simple at first.
 
Are there any substantial differences between the ps4 and pc versions (not getting psvr so that's not a consideration). Thinking about picking this up and have $8 in PS store credit but wasn't sure if one version is significantly better or anything.
 

jett

D-Member
Are there any substantial differences between the ps4 and pc versions (not getting psvr so that's not a consideration). Thinking about picking this up and have $8 in PS store credit but wasn't sure if one version is significantly better or anything.

They're identical.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
So just me, or is the
Level 5 final boss
weirdly easy? I breezed through the first three stages expecting some crazy difficult fourth stage, and then it just... wasn't.
 

Donos

Member
Man I want to play this game in VR.

I wish you could rent hardware today like you used to be able to in the 90s.

Here in germany (Berlin) you can still do this at the video rentals. Only the bigger chains are somehow "surviving" though. They have all consoles.
Thought about renting VR for a weekend.
 
This game is absurd in VR. Just absurd. I'm completely gone from the real world and in the zone.

Yeah both this and Rez do that for me. Immersion is a word that gets thrown around a lot when talking about gaming, but these two games have it.
 
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