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[adversesolutions]

Interesting tweet from Grev president Maruyama today:

https://twitter.com/#!/hiro_maruyama/status/183099361297829888

"In an odd turn of events I've been playing Sine Mora before its release. That's a good game! If you like old-fashioned shooters I recommend it! By the way there will be some interesting news in the coming days..."

Grev/Grasshopper collaboration incoming...?

 

[danmaku]

My point isn't that being different is bad, but that there seems to be little research backing the changes they have made. Changes to the FPS genre didn't happen overnight - it was a process of gradual evolution based on player feedback. If you're going to shake things up I feel there should be sufficient reason to do so.

I think there are good resons behind most design decisions in this game. The confusion between background/foreground objects and bullets is irritating (more for newbies than for experts, I'd say), and obviously it's due to the dev's lack of experience with the genre. As for the rest, I think that their choices make sense, even when I don't like them. Example: each enemy gives you a time bonus, so a giant wave of popcorn enemies would've been the equivalent of a dozen of extra lives raining down on you. Too easy.

As for the time mechanic, which is the only real innovation in this game, I still can't wrap my head around it. It's almost invisible, from what I've seen so far. Yes, sometimes I'll die for a time over, but it happened because I got hit multiple times so... is it really different from a lives system? you can't control the scrolling, so the only thing you can do to get more time is kill everything and avoid getting hit... which is something you'd do anyway in a shmup.

 

[V_Arnold]

Updated the OP with a few reviews, also added a question to the Q/A section regarding the language spoken during the game

 

[Sapphire Dreams]

Buying only for Yamaoka's music. it is still good isn't it ?

 

[Tokubetsu]

Yea I was a bit down on the weapon system at first, but it's just because it's almost painful playing with anything less than lvl 6 weapon. Everything basically becomes your bitch above that. I got to the giant crane/buzzsaw boss with a level 7 weapon IIRC, and basically killed every stage of the fight as soon as they started.

Buying only for Yamaoka's music. it is still good isn't it ?

Honestly? I've yet to hear anything that stands out and I'm a Yamaoka fan.

 

[Himself]

Buying only for Yamaoka's music. it is still good isn't it ?

This is one of the main reasons I bought it and i haven't been disappointed. The music is very ambient subdued electronic stuff(so far, 2 chapters in). It doesn't seem like it was meant to stick out just to set the mood/atmosphere. There are some preview tracks somewhere on the Internet if you want to check it out first.

 

[legbone]

i'm really digging the music. it's like yamaoka meets john carpenter. nice moody synth stuff.

 

[Tokubetsu]

The last story stage has a nice hip hop style beat for a bit that i dig.

Side EDIT: About the story, anyone care to help me make some sense of it?

Spoiler

I get that the dad, ended up going back to avenge his sons death and it all was for nought as he was alive and the son ended up killing him. I don't get the other story though. The one with the race of feline like creatures. It ends with her killing her race? I thought her race was already dead and she was avenging them?

 

[Himself]

This game is awesome. Just started Chapter 3 and loving the art style, graphics, soundtrack, characters, story (I'll be back to talk about this after I finish), and controls. I'm digging the moody pacing of the whole thing. The bosses are cool and I've come across some pretty surprising attacks/bullet patterns.

My review: I'm having fun.

 

[Strummerjones]

Just played the trial, and am somewhat heartbroken. Aesthetically it's absolutely thrilling - indeed appropriately enough it really is like having a glimpse into another dimension where conceptually games aren't just compromised, globalised, homogenous lumps designed by focus groups for hypothetical 13 year old American children, but can still be imaginative, strange and draw on cultures outside of apeing Hollywood. There's clearly so much love and effort put into its world and the effect is stunning.

Unfortunately the time travel angle extends as far as it also playing like a euro shmup from 1994. The exact same design flaws and frustrations. Exact. Same. Enemies that blend in with the background. Backgrounds that may or may not be fatal to the touch with no way to distinguish the two. Overly sensitive controls that move you way too fast across the screen. Power ups that fly straight off the screen often leaving you no chance at all to get them. Getting hit resulting in loss of weapon power, that combined with the aforementioned items quickly moving off screen means getting hit near the left side of the screen will often result in the game effectively being over as you lose them for good, and in turn your ability to further survive. This is all such basic stuff to get wrong.

For all of the flaws I did enjoy the demo and wanted to see more with what they do with the characters and how the setting unfolds, but good christ it's annoying to actually play. It's still tempting enough that I think I will still get the full version but only when it inevitably drops to half price.

 

[V_Arnold]

I feel so good about myself. Was frustrated yesterday because I was not able to finish chapter one on hard without a death - simply because I refused to lose my score multiplier, lol...

Trained on the Matuschka bossfight a lot because of this, and I managed to find a way to do it without powerups. So I slept on it.

Today? I was talking to some friends on Live, and bam, I realize that while I never went to stage 2 before on Hard Arcade, but now? I am already at the END of stage 3/b...dear lord.

Which, of course, put me also into the top40 in the leaderboards for the mode, and also rewarded me with an achievement (for getting S rank on stage one. Nice. That one was a requirement for a certain rank.)

The game is very addictive. 18+ hours now. Ultimately, stage 3-4-5-6 is still alien to me in hard mode. Cant wait to see them in action.

 

[Tokubetsu]

Sad no one seems to have bought this. I beat normal yesterday with 1 continue left and got ranked 256 on leaderboards (I'm like 338 now iirc). I'm like above average on my best of days in regards to shmups.

Anyone unlock the other paint jobs yet?
What's everyone's favorite capsule?

 

[V_Arnold]

Sad no one seems to have bought this. I beat normal yesterday with 1 continue left and got ranked 256 on leaderboards (I'm like 338 now iirc). I'm like above average on my best of days in regards to shmups.

Anyone unlock the other paint jobs yet?
What's everyone's favorite capsule?

Unlocked one last night but I actually forgot to check it out, lol.

And I am definitely going with the Reflect capsule. It turns certain bossfights into a piece of cake situation, but it does not let me run after my lost powerups in slow-motion, so...there is a trade-off, if we assume that we are going to get shot.

Got top10 on challenging/story mode finally, 260mill is good, but if I had not lose that ONE score piece around stage 5... things would be different, and I would be top5 easily.

I am waiting for more filter unlocks, this retro one is good as well, but I would not put too much hours into that color mode

 

[Tokubetsu]

I was trying Arcade mode earlier and kept running out of time. Very embarassing ='(

Also, how come Hard and Insane are my only options for score attack and arcade? And whats the idea behind picking a "chronome"?

 

[V_Arnold]

I was trying Arcade mode earlier and kept running out of time. Very embarassing ='(

Also, how come Hard and Insane are my only options for score attack and arcade? And whats the idea behind picking a "chronome"?

The chronome is a simple shortcut for choosing the combination of ship-pilot-capsule.

 

[Garcia Hotspur]

Unlocked one last night but I actually forgot to check it out, lol.

And I am definitely going with the Reflect capsule. It turns certain bossfights into a piece of cake situation, but it does not let me run after my lost powerups in slow-motion, so...there is a trade-off, if we assume that we are going to get shot.

Got top10 on challenging/story mode finally, 260mill is good, but if I had not lose that ONE score piece around stage 5... things would be different, and I would be top5 easily.

I am waiting for more filter unlocks, this retro one is good as well, but I would not put too much hours into that color mode

I haven't gotten too in depth, played through story and attempted a few score attacks, so excuse me if this is obvious. But what were the requirements for unlocking new paints and filters?

 

[Tokubetsu]

I can seem to get the Prologue trophy. I'm assuming you have to go the experience path and get all the turrets?

 

[V_Arnold]

I haven't gotten too in depth, played through story and attempted a few score attacks, so excuse me if this is obvious. But what were the requirements for unlocking new paints and filters?

Well, I am not sure on this one. The filter was unlocked after playing through the story mode in second difficulty. The paint I earned when I went "deep" in the arcade mode, but maybe that was just some internal trigger going off from a promotion.

I can seem to get the Prologue trophy. I'm assuming you have to go the experience path and get all the turrets?

Yes, as the novice path contains unkillable (shielded) enemies.

 

[Hispanicguy]

Just beat story on challenging.

Working on using 100 continues to get my next achievement.

Anyone else unlock a gamer picture? I'm not sure how I got it. It popped up after I played a round of boss attack on the last boss. Don't know if it was that or a combination of things.

I'm loving the game and will be playing more in a few.

 

[JEKKI]

maaaaaaan I've freakin Game Over'd twice already!!

jus coz every now and then the game throws something random at u that makes u insta-die 6 times and u're like "oh."

also I hate the stages that move on their own!!

like I'm trying to stay still n steady but the stage is throwing all these walls at me and I gotta keep moving n adjusting while still avoiding bullets n shyt.

other than that tho the game's aiite.

 

[TTP]

I knew the second this turned into an Xbox 360 exclusive that it was going to be good.

 

[Hispanicguy]

Anyone having trouble with the final attack of the last boss? I found a spot where you won't get hit:

http://youtu.be/22s2aRHW0AQ?hd=1

Looks like you can also do this on the top left.

Just got the Salva Veritate achievement. Going through Arcade mode looks like it's going to be a pain for me.

 

[Teknoman]

I was wondering this.
No English switch or other languages, right?

Btw, the demo was <3
After Deathsmiles and Jamestown another shmup i need to buy. (with Dodonpachi and Akai)

Strania is a good choice too.

 

[Himself]

If anyone actually gets 200/200, post it. It seems absurdly difficult/time consuming. I can't even get to the second rank! The best I've ever gotten is a C on a level.

There are so many nice little graphical touches that I didn't catch the first time like the little silhouette people all over the stages, the white flag that pops out of one of the things you destroy. The graphics and art design really are gorgeous, especially when you

Spoiler

revisit some of the stages at different points in time

.

After playing through the story mode twice I think the story makes sense to me. I didn't realize all the overlapping dialogue the first time through that signified simultaneous events happening.

I like how Yamoaka's soundtrack seems to slooooowly build over the course of the entire game until the culmination of Koss' story.

Game is great. Crazy that my two favorite games so far this year are downloadable titles, the other being Journey. Time to try Arcade mode.

 

[Himself]

A few more thoughts about the game:

Alternate Story Mode: Now THIS gave me the biggest nerdchills possible. The new monologues are really, really showing interesting sides of characters (and overall concepts) that I always wanted to see in games. Amazing, really.

What is the Alternate Story Mode? I loved the Story Mode.

 

[V_Arnold]

What is the Alternate Story Mode? I loved the Story Mode.

Same stages, different narration before and after each chapter.

 

[Tokubetsu]

Anyone having trouble with the final attack of the last boss? I found a spot where you won't get hit:

http://youtu.be/22s2aRHW0AQ?hd=1

Looks like you can also do this on the top left.

Just got the Salva Veritate achievement. Going through Arcade mode looks like it's going to be a pain for me.

Haha yea, there is a spot near the middle of the screen on the leftside where he couldn't hit me either.


Currently, the train boss is pissing me off on story mode HARD. too many fucking stages to this fight =/

 

[Himself]

Same stages, different narration before and after each chapter.

Ahh gotcha. It has to be unlocked by completing a harder difficulty, which i haven't done yet.

 

[Gaspode_T]

If anyone actually gets 200/200, post it. It seems absurdly difficult/time consuming. I can't even get to the second rank! The best I've ever gotten is a C on a level.

There are so many nice little graphical touches that I didn't catch the first time like the little silhouette people all over the stages, the white flag that pops out of one of the things you destroy. The graphics and art design really are gorgeous, especially when you

Spoiler

revisit some of the stages at different points in time

.

After playing through the story mode twice I think the story makes sense to me. I didn't realize all the overlapping dialogue the first time through that signified simultaneous events happening.

I like how Yamoaka's soundtrack seems to slooooowly build over the course of the entire game until the culmination of Koss' story.

Game is great. Crazy that my two favorite games so far this year are downloadable titles, the other being Journey. Time to try Arcade mode.

Some Japanese shmup experts were posting on 2ch that they can 1 cc most games but having super hard time with this one...even on normal (to 1cc) no idea if that is required, but if it is we are in trouble

 

[Himself]

Some Japanese shmup experts were posting on 2ch that they can 1 cc most games but having super hard time with this one...even on normal (to 1cc) no idea if that is required, but if it is we are in trouble

This game is tough yet never feels cheap, which is nice. Well...some of the achievements seem a bit ridiculous, but the game itself never feels like it's being an asshole.

 

[V_Arnold]

1cc on Normal mode is easy.
I can already easily get to arcade stage 3 on hard without death, if that is any indicator.

The switch to analogue control really helped me, though. And that my pure gametime has just passed 20 hours.

 

[Hispanicguy]

Normal 1cc isn't bad. I just checked and apparently I did it, lol.

So far, at 8 achievements.

Speaking of achievements, I just got the inter caecos regnat strabo achievement and one of the challenges in that was to beat story mode by using just your primary.

Ok...so I started story..playing with only my primary..then when I beat the boss on stage 3, the achievement poped up...but I was only in the middle of the story. Glitch? Did I beat the second half of the story with my primary at a different time but not the first half until now? And it just added them both together? Not sure what just happened.

Btw, for this challenge, you can't use ANYTHING but your primary. That means no speed up/rollback/reflection either.

 

[matm666]

Any chances of this coming on PS3? I dont have a 360

 

[Himself]

I'm bummed that more people aren't talking about this game. It's so good. Its my second GOTY right behind Journey. I'm just in my fifth hour or so of playtime and it keeps getting more fun, more intuitive.

What set up are you guys using for arcade? I'm using Magusa with the shield secondary. Still can't get pass the huge robot in the canyon boss.

 

[Tokubetsu]

I'm bummed that more people aren't talking about this game. It's so good. Its my second GOTY right behind Journey. I'm just in my fifth hour or so of playtime and it keeps getting more fun, more intuitive.

What set up are you guys using for arcade? I'm using Magusa with the shield secondary. Still can't get pass the huge robot in the canyon boss.

Can't speak for arcade mode but some of the bosses seem very dependent on you reaching them wtih 6+ weapon power to be able to kill them in a reasonable enough time.

 

[Hispanicguy]

I use the GE-22 ship with Ytoo as the pilot (because of that drill sub weapon) and reflection. I do want to try other sub weapons though.

For story mode, I have 999 continues. I think this was because of the

Spoiler

killer piano

you randomly find(which is a challenge when you do find it). On my first time, there was no change in credits but on the 2nd encounter, it went up to 999.

I haven't encountered that during Arcade mode yet but I wonder if you do, will it also give you 999 credits for that mode? Would make playing Arcade a little easier.

I've unlocked 2 other paints for the Merenstein. I believe I got them after stage 1&2 of arcade. I also have that art filter. Wonder if there's any more. May turn it on and beat the game with it to see what happens.

4 achievements left and it looks like arcade mode will be getting much playtime. Very hard because of the time...also cause of the random item drops. I always pray for those weapon upgrades.

 

[madkiller]

Gametrailers Review: 9.1

 

[Out of Working Order]

Man, score attack mode is hard. Just scraped 180th on the leaderboards earlier. Hoping for first eventually (yeah, right)!

 

[JEKKI]

Gametrailers Review: 9.1

daaaaaaaaang.

the skill of the player in that vid is more like a 1.9

 

[Tokubetsu]

Man, score attack mode is hard. Just scraped 180th on the leaderboards earlier. Hoping for first eventually (yeahll right)!

Pretty every mode outside of story is hard lol

 

[Papercuts]

This game is really fun. I'm not usually into shmups but I think the visual style really grabbed me. Story is manageable and I actually feel like I might try to get really good at this.

Any chances of this coming on PS3? I dont have a 360

No.

 

[Monumental]

If I read "years of gameplay evolution" one more time, I'm gonna vomit.

I hope this game does well and gets mainstream attention. Elitists who can't even appreciate that a significant effort is being put into a shoot'emup (a practically dead genre) can go screw themselves. Like bitching about the game not being designed for a stick rather than a gamepad (what 90% of the players are going to use). Ugh.

 

[Tokubetsu]

If I read "years of gameplay evolution" one more time, I'm gonna vomit.

I hope this game does well and gets mainstream attention. Elitists who can't even appreciate that a significant effort is being put into a shoot'emup (a practically dead genre) can go screw themselves. Like bitching about the game not being designed for a stick rather than a gamepad (what 90% of the players are going to use). Ugh.

To be fair, while I'm not shmup elitist, some of their complaints are valid. Stick/accurate dpad controls would be better and the extremely random nature of the game (drops etc.) kinda kills alot of the appeal to go for good score runs since at the end of the day you have to get "lucky."

 

[Gaspode_T]

Isn't setting sales chart on fire, even Peggle was higher on best selling chart yesterday.

 

[Out of Working Order]

Pretty every mode outside of story is hard lol

That's true actually, yeah!

This game is really fun. I'm not usually into shmups but I think the visual style really grabbed me. Story is manageable and I actually feel like I might try to get really good at this.

Story is quite chilled compared to other modes - I almost find it to be a little too easy after trying the other modes.

 

[Tokubetsu]

That's true actually, yeah!



Story is quite chilled compared to other modes - I almost find it to be a little too easy after trying the other modes.

Yea, the hardest part about the other modes is the time stuff. The most nerve racking sections are boss fights, and when there are no enemies on screen!

 

[Mandoric]

No stick support, no sale. :| Never mind preference, it's the only working 360 controller I even have.

 

[JEKKI]

No stick support, no sale. :| Never mind preference, it's the only working 360 controller I even have.

huh?

stick is supported, I played thru the whole game with it.

u can use both the analog or dpad to move.

I think ppl jus saying it plays better on analog than digital

 

[kanugo]

Well, EDGE just posted their review of the game - 8/10.

Sine Mora doesn’t just push the mechanical boundaries of scrolling shooters on home consoles; with its training and story modes it lowers the high barrier to entry, offering a feature set worthy of a boxed release and with the production values to match. It’s another shining example of a European developer handling Japanese IP with care, remixing and refreshing the genres Japan’s native developers often struggle to enhance and honour.

 

[StarCreator]

huh?

stick is supported, I played thru the whole game with it.

u can use both the analog or dpad to move.

I think ppl jus saying it plays better on analog than digital

It's not really "supported" if you are feature limited by using it. The game doesn't offer the ability to change your movement speed unless you're using analog controls, which is only possible via the thumbsticks. Arcade sticks are purely digital input.