Futari BL or Futari 1.5?

[moozooh]

As of this moment, I strongly prefer BL.

For the record, I agree with EOJ's description of the differences, but I just feel that BL is designed to be much friendlier compared to 1.5: character selection is simplified and there are no useless/underpowered shot types now, speed is rebalanced so Reco doesn't feel sluggish anymore, there's that chime when shot type needs to be switched in Original, there's no brick wall that is Ultra, and there's more slowdown where it's needed (aside from the parts where it's not needed at all). I just feel there's more things to like about it than there are to dislike. It's definitely a full-fledged Black Label like other similar games: more tightly balanced, easier for beginners to get into, nearly impossible to max out score-wise.

(I kinda wish the original Mushi and Ketsui would receive a similar treatment?)

[skykid]

It's a great game - just not for me... Got my 1.5 kit back.

So 1.5 it is.

That was an unexpected turnaround.

I imagine Ketsui doesn't do much for you then. I guess I could see that.

No need to be facetious, the two are completely different experiences, not that that really needs pointing out.

[Strider77]

I wasn't......    I was just mentioning that both use proximity as a scoring mechanic. I never said they were the same game. But if you like like point blanking in Ketsui u may like BL Futari.

[skykid]

I wasn't......    I was just mentioning that both use proximity as a scoring mechanic. I never said they were the same game. But if you like like point blanking in Ketsui u may like BL Futari.

Yeah but you know I love ketsui! 

[TimingTripod40]

I prefer Black Label by a wide margin. It's seems pretty generally agreed God is much more fun and accessible than Ultra so I won't go into that. I also haven't spent much time with either Maniac modes so I admit 1.5's might be better. But how can anyone enjoy 1.5 Original? It's horrible. The first 2 stages are really boring and your character is way too slow and weak for the fast bullets in the later levels. The limited and frustrating scoring doesn't help. I usually ragequit at Stage 3 boss.

[EOJ]

But how can anyone enjoy 1.5 Original? It's horrible....your character is way too slow and weak for the fast bullets in the later levels.
The limited and frustrating scoring doesn't help.

[Blue_Rei]

^WTH? 

Add another vote in for Black Label!

[Sapz]

But how can anyone enjoy 1.5 Original? It's horrible....your character is way too slow and weak for the fast bullets in the later levels.
The limited and frustrating scoring doesn't help.

This post made my day.

At any rate, Original 1.5 is the most fun mode for me, but I enjoy all modes in both versions quite a lot (although it takes a pretty masochistic mood to attempt to play Ultra seriously). BL Original is also a lot of fun, but it's incredibly frustrating since it's really easy to screw up in seemingly stupid ways - I often find myself accidentally ramming enemies or failing to try and avoid bullets at all past the 100k counter. Overall, it's definitely 1.5 for me - the tougher enemies make it that much more satisfying to finally kill them off and watch the whole screen turn to gold.

[ProMeTheus]

From my experience I feel that Futari BL is much more fun to play if you are casual about it, because it allows you to survive and even score right after you pick it up, without precise memorization of levels, even in God Mode. It is a great game to introduce someone to scoring, which is what makes shmups so much fun !

However, if you are going to play Futari in a more serious way (long term and regularly), then 1.5 seems to be definitely the better version, because scoring is way deeper, which also causes it to be less accessible. The balance makes more sense, patterns are cooler, it looks better and gameplay is tighter. The only highlight of BL, then, is having access to God Mode which provides an intermediate between Maniac and Ultra of 1.5.

Since I only play this game at meets, I always prefer BL. But if I were to start playing it seriously at home, I would definitely be playing 1.5.

Summary :
BL = very accessible, but kinda casual
1.5 = less accessible but higher quality, especially for competitive players

(I don't know anything about Original modes of both versions though, don't like to play them)

[SomeMist]

I dunno what it is about original 1.5, but that's the mode I've sunk the most amount of time into. a 1CC feels extremely satisfying in this mode, although I can only do it with palm.

[TimingTripod40]

It seems pretty clear to me Black Label Original and God are much deeper than their 1.5 counterparts unless you're counting Ultra's brutal difficulty as depth.

[moozooh]

It's true. Only Maniac is more relaxed in terms of actual scoring system, the rest requires more getting out of the way of survival to score better, compared to 1.5.