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[LiK]

Love the EspGaluda II one bunches. Listen to it often.

Ah, I need to check it out. I keep forgetting

 

[Drahcir]

You guys were right. I LOVE THIS GAME.

For a minute I thought I had to play the game in that little screen. :lol Until I found the screen settings.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Finally got my copy. I hope to dig in this weekend!

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

Looks like my amazon order is finally gonna show up today! Can't wait!

 

[Kukumalu]

Ordered this along with Deadly Premonition from AxelMusic and apparently they are on backorder with the supplier.
Ordered them both on the 28th and still waiting.
Anyone with the same experience?

PS- I'm in Euroland and yes, I know both games are not Region-Free neither do I have an NTSC 360 but I ordered them both anyway

 

[Coldsnap]

This game is taking forever to get to me

 

[Kobiekun]

I was finally able to open up and try out the game after having it sit in my closet since last Friday. I'm really enjoying it! It's like Section Z and Ghosts N' Goblins had a baby! Although I haven't gotten too far yet, it definitely feels easier than either Espgaluda II or Mushihimesama Futari. Kudos to Aksys for bring this game stateside.

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

Does this arranged soundtrack suck? I feel like it does. I wish it was the OST

 

[Mr. Spinnington]

after sin and punishment 2 found it's way into my budget, the only arcade game to reel me in closer now is this one

every.single.day.

 

[MiniBossman]

Been playing this a ton since I opened it on Friday. Great job by Aksys with the localization. Hopefully more Cave games will come stateside.

 

[conman]

Noticed that Metacritic included a low score from Deathspank in its average of Deathsmiles! How's that for "accuracy"? :lol

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/deathsmiles

 

[luka]

I went all over town looking for this today. Most stores never even heard of it and gave me funny looks when I tried describing it. Other like EB only got a single copy which was long gone.

What the fuck.

 

[InfiniteNine]

I went all over town looking for this today. Most stores never even heard of it and gave me funny looks when I tried describing it. Other like EB only got a single copy which was long gone.

What the fuck.

You should have looked sooner! *pats his copy he can't play and his Japanese copy*

 

[conman]

I went all over town looking for this today. Most stores never even heard of it and gave me funny looks when I tried describing it. Other like EB only got a single copy which was long gone.

What the fuck.

Yeah, I live in a major coastal city and the GS in the middle of the downtown shopping district only received two copies total. You'll probably have to order it online.

Judging by the leaderboard numbers, sales are incredibly low (just over 500 entries on the most popular game mode). Pretty much the definition of "niche title."

 

[luka]

You should have looked sooner! *pats his copy he can't play and his Japanese copy*

I only just got a US 360 though (won it at a university gig). It's not my fault! D:

Yeah, I live in a major coastal city and the GS in the middle of the downtown shopping district only received two copies total. You'll probably have to order it online.

Judging by the leaderboard numbers, sales are incredibly low (just over 500 entries on the most popular game mode). Pretty much the definition of "niche title."

That's what people like to call "self-fulfilling prophecy." If they only give each store one copy, they are only able to sell one copy! Goddamnit Aksys.

 

[Mattlikewhoa]

I was the only one to pre order it at my local shop...They guys had no clue what the heck it was in the first place :lol

 

[InfiniteNine]

I only just got a US 360 though (won it at a university gig). It's not my fault! D:

Well I guess I'll forgive you then.

Spoiler

Add me on Live my tag is InfiniteNineJP.

 

[JKTrix]

Amazon said I wouldn't get it until July 20th, but I got it today.

It likes playing with my feelings.

 

[NonexistentK]

ordered mine yesterday around 2pm with free shipping and today i got the girls. Amazon love <3 <3

 

[sixteen-bit]

Yeah, I live in a major coastal city and the GS in the middle of the downtown shopping district only received two copies total. You'll probably have to order it online.

Judging by the leaderboard numbers, sales are incredibly low (just over 500 entries on the most popular game mode). Pretty much the definition of "niche title."

Battle Fantasia (360 retail disc) sold only 6500 units its first month in North America. I wonder if this can beat that :/
poor Aksys, I really like them as a publisher

 

[conman]

poor Aksys, I really like them as a publisher

No reason to feel bad for them. It's because they take risks with niche titles that they're so good.

I'd love for them to continue to succeed, but if they're not failing every so often, then they're not doing their job.

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

So when I play this in 360 or arcade mode what difficulty should I be using? I've noticed that if you use level 2 it makes you choose lvl 1 or 3 after two stages. If I'm aiming to beat this on one credit should I be playing every level on 3 for it to "count"?

 

[danmaku]

So when I play this in 360 or arcade mode what difficulty should I be using? I've noticed that if you use level 2 it makes you choose lvl 1 or 3 after two stages. If I'm aiming to beat this on one credit should I be playing every level on 3 for it to "count"?

If you are aiming for the 1CC achievement, the rank doesn't matter, you can choose whatever rank you prefer. In arcade mode you are forced to choose rank 2 or 3 in at least 2 levels or so (can't remember exactly, but you can't play the whole game at rank 1), in 360 mode there's no limit.

edit: Kotaku review http://kotaku.com/5587795/deathsmiles-review-shmup-complex
Some stupid comments, as expected, but at least it's good advertising for Aksys.

 

[conman]

edit: Kotaku review http://kotaku.com/5587795/deathsmiles-review-shmup-complex
Some stupid comments, as expected, but at least it's good advertising for Aksys.

Brian Ashcraft's been one of the more prominent proponents of Cave games. Glad to see he did a review and that he had so many positive things to say.

 

[Tain]

I am not a fan of that review.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Jesus it's like they don't even try.

 

[Ricker]

Played a bit last evening but i`m experiencing some pretty bad slowdowns at times...is this normal or a problem with my LCD(I never have any problems in games with lag and stuff like that usually)it`s one of those new 120hz Motion Flow Sony`s(55 inch)...

Also I think I remember people saying they stretched the game so it would fill the screen...I don`t see any options to do that in game...did they mean stretching with the zoom features of the TV or from the game?

 

[conman]

Played a bit last evening but i`m experiencing some pretty bad slowdowns at times...is this normal or a problem with my LCD(I never have any problems in games with lag and stuff like that usually)it`s one of those new 120hz Motion Flow Sony`s(55 inch)...

Also I think I remember people saying they stretched the game so it would fill the screen...I don`t see any options to do that in game...did they mean stretching with the zoom features of the TV or from the game?

There's a big difference between "slowdown" and "lag." The game is designed to slow down when the bullet density gets particularly heavy. Makes it much easier. Lag, however, means there's a delay between controller input and action on screen. Lag could be caused by any number of things (TV, AVR, cabling, etc).

As for "stretching," you can adjust the horizontal and vertical ratios manually in the game's options screen. By default, it gives a pixel-perfect picture. But you can either expand it and keep the true ratio, or you can expand each individual dimension (but then you distort the image). I just used the expand option that still maintains the true ratio, but is big enough that it just touches the top and bottom of my screen. You'll have to do this for each version of the game independently.

 

[Flek]

did the EVER say anyhting about bringing this to europe ?

 

[Daigoro]

im finally starting to figure out how to play this damn game.

been spending all of my time with Arcade mode as opposed to 360 mode lately. it is good. finally getting the hand of doing Level 3 on most stages.

came within a hair of 1CC Arcade but wasted some bombs on Tyranosatan and screwed it up.

using Rosa mostly. a little Folette too but im not quite competent with her yet.

great game.

 

[conman]

Tyranosatan

The more I hear this name, the more I'm convinced it's the best boss name ever.

I mean, he's like the king of the freaking lizards and the prince of darkness. That's seriously badass.

 

[antiquegamer]

Do I always want to use the rapid fire mode?

Also playing rearrange version and it's just not working out well using stick, so I guess I will stick with 360 mode for now until I understand the game a bit more.

 

[Daigoro]

Do I always want to use the rapid fire mode?

Also playing rearrange version and it's just not working out well using stick, so I guess I will stick with 360 mode for now until I understand the game a bit more.

nope. holding down the button is the "laser", tapping is just "shot", and holding both buttons is a "homing shot". different enemies give you different amount of scoring items depending on what type of shot you use on them.

 

[To Far Away Times]

I've been going for the secret achievement

Spoiler

and trying to score 100M points and I can't do it at all. I keep loosing all my lives at the Gorge. I've gotten up to 68M points and thats it.

So frustrating, but in a good way.

 

[Daigoro]

sucks about the sped up gameplay compared to the JP release.

there is a topic about it on the Aksys forums. hopefully we can get a patch somewhere down the line... :/

I've been going for the secret achievement

Spoiler

and trying to score 100M points and I can't do it at all. I keep loosing all my lives at the Gorge. I've gotten up to 68M points and thats it.

So frustrating, but in a good way.

weird we were posting at the same time.

what mode are you playing? the Gorge shouldnt be needed to get the 100m. im at 90 now without it, and without an ALL clear. should be able to nab that easy enough without Gorge.

 

[To Far Away Times]

sucks about the sped up gameplay compared to the JP release.

there is a topic about it on the Aksys forums. hopefully we can get a patch somewhere down the line... :/



weird we were posting at the same time.

what mode are you playing? the Gorge shouldnt be needed to get the 100m. im at 90 now without it, and without an ALL clear. should be able to nab that easy enough without Gorge.

Arcade Mode right now. I've been activating at 2A, 2B, and 2C (all level 3's).

 

[danmaku]

You don't need to learn the Gorge to get 100 million (I got 130 and died ad Tyrannosatan). IIRC I used power up in the Graveyard, Volcano, Swamp and Trains levels (all at rank 3) + 2 times in the final stage (Palace). I played Port and Forest at rank 2 to refill the counter.

Spoiler

As for the 200 and 300 millions achievement... good luck

edit: BTW, I tried some runs in Mega Black Label and it's great! Almost 1CCed it without the bonus stages, you can milk an obscene amount of points from the last stage (I jumped from about 100 millions to 360 millions). It's also a bit easier than vanilla Death Smiles, as long as you don't play at rank 999.

 

[luka]

VICTORY IS MINE

 

[luka]

Argh, damn suicide bullets are responsible for more deaths than anything. D:

Is it possible to disable the wallpapers?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Argh, damn suicide bullets are responsible for more deaths than anything. D:

Is it possible to disable the wallpapers?

you can dim the wallpapers until they're blacked out

 

[Llyranor]

Is there any way to play through all stages at lvl 3 without having suicide bullets? Lvl 2 is getting too easy, but the suicide bullets just increase the diff curve a tad too much for my liking as of yet.

 

[luka]

Discovering that the familiar absorbs suicide bullets made things much more manageable. Tried the arcade mode first, then 360. Playing through the whole thing at rank 1 was shockingly easy. I made it all the way to jitterbug on one credit the first attempt. Such an awesome game and definitely worth the wait. Fun fun fun!

Having to adjust the screen settings for each mode individually kind of sucks though, but whatever.

Is there any way to play through all stages at lvl 3 without having suicide bullets? Lvl 2 is getting too easy, but the suicide bullets just increase the diff curve a tad too much for my liking as of yet.

Can't you disable them completely in options?

 

[Daigoro]

You don't need to learn the Gorge to get 100 million (I got 130 and died ad Tyrannosatan). IIRC I used power up in the Graveyard, Volcano, Swamp and Trains levels (all at rank 3) + 2 times in the final stage (Palace). I played Port and Forest at rank 2 to refill the counter.

Spoiler

As for the 200 and 300 millions achievement... good luck

edit: BTW, I tried some runs in Mega Black Label and it's great! Almost 1CCed it without the bonus stages, you can milk an obscene amount of points from the last stage (I jumped from about 100 millions to 360 millions). It's also a bit easier than vanilla Death Smiles, as long as you don't play at rank 999.

you cant get the score achievements in MBL im guessing?

were you using Folette for that 130mil score? ive been using Rosa, but started using Folette today. somethings are slightly harder, and it was sure a pain getting used to using her option after being so familair with using Rosa's option, but it seems like scoring big with her is easier in some parts. getting the first extend on Volcano came way earlier for me than id does when i use Rosa.

obviously the key to scoring is using power up wisely. takes some practice though. i still have no idea ow to do a recharge either. ive attempted it, but it usually ends in a complete failure.

gotta check out some more replays i guess.

 

[danmaku]

you cant get the score achievements in MBL im guessing?

No, you have to play in 360 or Arcade mode, it would be too easy in MBL MBL has its own achievements, though.

were you using Folette for that 130mil score? ive been using Rosa, but started using Folette today. somethings are slightly harder, and it was sure a pain getting used to using her option after being so familair with using Rosa's option, but it seems like scoring big with her is easier in some parts. getting the first extend on Volcano came way earlier for me than id does when i use Rosa.

obviously the key to scoring is using power up wisely. takes some practice though. i still have no idea ow to do a recharge either. ive attempted it, but it usually ends in a complete failure.

gotta check out some more replays i guess.

No I was using Windia, but Follett is the best character scoring-wise, mainly due to her lockshot.

For scoring: if you want your power up time to last longer, hold your fire! The counter goes down faster when the fire button is pressed, and even faster when you use lock shot, so you should use them only when it's necessary. Example: in graveyard stage, wait for the eyeballs to fill the screen and then kill all of them with a single shot before they go away (remember that you are invincible to enemy contact). Your character position is also important, as you should always let the crowns fall to the ground and split into skulls, but if you are too close to an enemy you'll absorb the crowns immediately.
Another tip: during power up mode, when your familiar's "special" shot touches an enemy, a stream of skulls will start flowing towards you (by "special" I mean Windia's sickles, Casper's boomerangs and so on). You should try to milk every big enemy this way, like ogres, dragons, trains and so on.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Can't you disable them completely in options?

You can, but usually gameplay effecting options usually disable Achievements if you're aiming for those.

 

[Daigoro]

For scoring: if you want your power up time to last longer, hold your fire! The counter goes down faster when the fire button is pressed, and even faster when you use lock shot, so you should use them only when it's necessary. Example: in graveyard stage, wait for the eyeballs to fill the screen and then kill all of them with a single shot before they go away (remember that you are invincible to enemy contact). Your character position is also important, as you should always let the crowns fall to the ground and split into skulls, but if you are too close to an enemy you'll absorb the crowns immediately.
Another tip: during power up mode, when your familiar's "special" shot touches an enemy, a stream of skulls will start flowing towards you (by "special" I mean Windia's sickles, Casper's boomerangs and so on). You should try to milk every big enemy this way, like ogres, dragons, trains and so on.

yep, thanks. i actually know all that sutff, its just being able to put it into practice.

i do know about holding back on the shooting, but thats a good tip about waiting until the screen is full and being able to fly through the enemies. its a little hard to wrap my mind around that part. it gets pretty frantic during power up mode.

positioning is a pain too. im either sucking in too many crowns before they split, or im too far away and waste too many of them. more practice should do the trick. i love this game, so that should be a problem.

quick question about power up mode though: holding down the laser decreases your counter faster than using shot right? but different enemies give off a different amount of crowns depending on the shot type you use. does this still apply in power up mode, or can i just use shot for most things? will it give off the same amount of gold crowns?

great tips, thanks again.

 

[danmaku]

quick question about power up mode though: holding down the laser decreases your counter faster than using shot right? but different enemies give off a different amount of crowns depending on the shot type you use. does this still apply in power up mode, or can i just use shot for most things? will it give off the same amount of gold crowns?

great tips, thanks again.

Yes, with laser the counter will decrease faster, and yes, the shot type rule still applies. Moreover, some enemies should be killed with lock shot in power up mode (and only in power up mode) to get the most crowns. But since lock eats away your counter awfully fast, you should use laser instead and switch to lock shot just before they die (i.e. the snake plants and the floating islands in the forest stage).

 

[iconoclast]

So after dying a few times on Tyrannosatan with Follet (why must you be so weaaaak), I decided to finally try out training mode... and now I see you have to play the entire stage to fight the boss. Worst training mode ever.

Also, can someone who's familiar with the volcano recharge explain it to me? I'm using Follett, and the only way I can get a full recharge is if I skip the first rock geyser and activate at the second one, then bomb at the big rock afterward. Doing that, I'm only seeing a difference of 5,000,000 points or so, which is good, but not as much as I was hoping! So uh, am I doing it wrong or is it only worth 5m? I can't find any good videos on youtube (besides one guy who recharged twice, and I have no idea how he did that) and I can't navigate Nico very well. Plus I wind up getting to the boss with 0 counter, which isn't very good for the next stage I go to.

I'm not too worried about score right now anyway. I'm just trying to 1CC it with everyone and then focus on scoring afterward, but I can't stop myself from trying to milk as many points as I can. :lol

edit: Eh, I think I managed another 8-10 million this time with the volcano recharge. Kinda strange since I'm not sure what I did differently, but I'll take it! Just 1CC'd it with Follett in this run as well, now with a 141m high score. I died like 4 times on one of Jitterbug's attacks; he sends like a wall of bullets at you and you have almost no space to get through it. I guess you're supposed to go around it, but I didn't realize that until just now.

Now to clear it with Casper and I'm all set.

 

[conman]

I'm amazed at how much I'm loving this game. I really thought I was just "tiding myself over" with a "sub-par" Cave shooter because they never make it over to the States.

But I just can't stop playing! Slowly trying to 1cc each character, but I've only managed Rose so far. I keep losing it right in those last few millimeters of Tyranosatan's lifebar. I haven't really been aiming for high scores yet; just high enough to get my two extra lives by the time I get to the final boss.

I finally get what sets Cave shooters apart from the rest of the pack. Great scoring systems, responsive mechanics, and highly "legible" (no matter how much is going on on-screen, you always seem to know exactly what's happening).

 

[Daigoro]

yeah the game is super fun. very replayable as all good shooters are.

Yes, with laser the counter will decrease faster, and yes, the shot type rule still applies. Moreover, some enemies should be killed with lock shot in power up mode (and only in power up mode) to get the most crowns. But since lock eats away your counter awfully fast, you should use laser instead and switch to lock shot just before they die (i.e. the snake plants and the floating islands in the forest stage).

yeah that gets a little convoluted. i guess it will just come with more play time and watching a handful of replays. thanks.

I'm not too worried about score right now anyway. I'm just trying to 1CC it with everyone and then focus on scoring afterward, but I can't stop myself from trying to milk as many points as I can. :lol

i have the same exact problem! i do this in a lot of shmups too. once i learn the scoring mechanic of a game i find it impossible to just play for a clear.

really fucks me up sometimes. :lol nice score btw.