Deathsmiles 2 [CAVE PCB, 2009]

[HVL]

The slowdown looks pretty bad in stages 4-5. It's jerky as hell.

[antares]

I really don't want to sound blasphemously but whenever I see DSII gameplay this game comes to my mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4kSkSzwCeA

[cstarflare]

I don't see the similarity

maybe it's because the themes could not possibly be more different

[EOJ]

That video has changed my mind, Death Smiles II looks way better than the first one imo. I really like the style of the last stage. Fighting chess figures is just too awesome!  

While great, I personally find the first one to be better. You need to play that already, Plasmo.
I do think DSII is better than DSMBL, though. So for me, DS>DSII>DSMBL.

Scoring in DSII is somewhat like Espgaluda II, as you can likely tell from the video. So if you like EII scoring you'll like DII scoring, I'd think.

And in regard to the slowdown, it's smooth throughout the game. So maybe the jerkiness you see is a result of the video encoding?
The only Cave arcade game I've played with really jerky slowdown is Futari BL God mode.

[antares]

I don't see the similarity

maybe it's because the themes could not possibly be more different

Yeah, the themes are completely different of course. But both games look very dilettantish from a technical view and both seem to be self-parody.
Maybe DSII is just Cave's version of Parodius

Of course I have only seen videos and maybe it's just like EOJ said and I would change my mind if I actually played the game.

[Plasmo]

While great, I personally find the first one to be better. You need to play that already, Plasmo.
I do think DSII is better than DSMBL, though. So for me, DS>DSII>DSMBL.

I've played the first one and MBL a couple of times already. It's diffcult to like a game which doesn't appeal to you at all, so, as expected, I didn't find both games too interesting.
Death Smiles II on the other hand has definitely caught my interest now and I'd actually buy a port if there ever is one. First I have to buy an XBOX360, of course. Still waiting for that Pink Sweets or Muchi Muchi Pork port announcement, which would make it a no-brainer for me.  

[adverse]

Yagawa ESPII mode isn't a no-brainer?

[Plasmo]

Haven't read too much about it yet, probably because there's not much information out anyway. I wasn't impressed with the original ESPII, Yagawa has to fix a lot to give it the Raizing feel. 

[adverse]

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=631.msg12021#msg12021

Cheggit

[Lunchbox]

Any pic or vid of  4.00? (I've been searching but find nothing)
I'm curious to see how the graphics looks like. Think they are the weak point of DSII because the game is quite fun!!

[EOJ]

Check the video link thread. I posted some links the other day. The graphics look the same really. I don't notice any real difference.

[EOJ]

Death Smiles II on the other hand has definitely caught my interest now and I'd actually buy a port if there ever is one. First I have to buy an XBOX360, of course. Still waiting for that Pink Sweets or Muchi Muchi Pork port announcement, which would make it a no-brainer for me.  

Futari 1.5 Ultra & God modes aren't reason enough to buy an Xbox 360? Come on now, don't be silly.

[skykid]

I can't comment on the play, although from the vid it looks like a lot of fun even if there's not much actual 'shooting' involved at all. I can see the zesshikai reference in there too - lotsa lovely points.

But play aside, Cave must have hired two down and out 3D coders off of the street for this. I know they're not the richest of companies, but it looks like a fucking Net Yaroze game half the time. Only the 3rd stage (in Sin's run) has any kind of character. I'm not going to turn down any Cave game based on graphics, but I can't believe I'm going to be playing something that looks so out of date on my 360 next year. At least all the sparkly points will detract from the averageness of the models.

And what's with that crummy last stage - I was expecting a winter wonderland castle or something. The whole Christmas theme just went right out the window somewhere along the way.

Respect for the Ave Maria remix track though, that was awesome.

[EOJ]

But play aside, Cave must have hired two down and out 3D coders off of the street for this. I know they're not the richest of companies, but it looks like a fucking Net Yaroze game half the time. Only the 3rd stage (in Sin's run) has any kind of character. I'm not going to turn down any Cave game based on graphics, but I can't believe I'm going to be playing something that looks so out of date on my 360 next year.

It looks better than any other 3D shmup released on the Xbox 360 so far (Otomedius, Raiden IV, Shiki 3, Triggerheart, Mamoru-kun, etc) except Ikaruga.

[adverse]

Raiden IV looks better IMO.  Better effects and more intricate bosses.

[Megalixir]

Unofficial mirror of the DS 2 Superplay

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JT6KE50L
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G2J0FD4P
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WPQSIFX2

I like how they named the third boss after Mihara.

Can someone explain how tracing bullets dissolve in this game? Is it the same recharging thing that the original had?

[EOJ]

You have to let off of the lock-shot, then quickly reapply it right as the counter is counting down to zero (I do it when it's around 50). Reabsorb the crowns and continue in fever mode.

(if you were referring to how to use the tracing bullets to recharge your counter)

[EOJ]

The official site was updated with info on Lei:

http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/deathsmiles2/index.html#

Looking at the stage map here:

http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/deathsmiles2/field.html

There is a big spot in the bottom right and upper left. Both are likely new stages to be revealed.

[Third_strike]

...I wasn't impressed with the original ESPII...

I will can say play EspGaluda II is my shmups dream. I played even any rounds in fist version early this year only for prepare myself.
I would love know why you hate this serie.
Cool!

[Plasmo]

I'm not particularly hating either one of the series, they just never clicked with me. Espgaluda is ok, but it really is too easy, you have a 1cc with 40mill+ in no time and to get really high scores it's all about milking and doing weird stuff.
Espgaluda 2 is imo worse than it's prequel. The bosses look boring and all very similiar, the bullet patterns don't seem original at all and the scoring system is overly complex (not really an argument here) with 2 kinds of Kakusei modes. I don't like to focus on two different counters. On top of that, you have to deal with suicide bullets that have a VERY strange behaviour and build up very messy patterns which I strongly dislike.
But hey, this is already the second post in this topic, in which I write about my opinion of other Cave games.  Off-Topic galore!
It's all about taste anyway.

[antares]

it's all about milking and doing weird stuff.

Isn't that what Battle Garegga is all about? 

[skykid]

But play aside, Cave must have hired two down and out 3D coders off of the street for this. I know they're not the richest of companies, but it looks like a fucking Net Yaroze game half the time. Only the 3rd stage (in Sin's run) has any kind of character. I'm not going to turn down any Cave game based on graphics, but I can't believe I'm going to be playing something that looks so out of date on my 360 next year.

It looks better than any other 3D shmup released on the Xbox 360 so far (Otomedius, Raiden IV, Shiki 3, Triggerheart, Mamoru-kun, etc) except Ikaruga.

Don't think I agree with that, I even think Otomedius, with it's bland and fairly sparse graphics, at least has a design solidity that DS2 lacks. DS2 looks really cobbled together - the only thing distracting are the points bonuses, which look very nice.

[EOJ]

Well, you haven't seen DS2 running on an HD display, in person. It makes a big difference. I've seen Otomedius on such a display too, and it's nowhere near as nice.

[EOJ]

I played ver 4.00 today for a bit, and I tried out the new character Lei. Wow, does he suck. I hate the way he controls, it's all loosey-goosey, and too fast. He plays similar to Sakura in DSMBL, but his dual options are about 10x harder to position because they jerk around too fast. He's also not that strong, and you can't just go in power up mode and blast things away to score like in the AOU show version. You have to use the lock shot and what not, just like the other characters. All in all a big letdown for me. I played as him twice then went back to Windia and Casper.

The game feels basically the same, but harder. Maybe it's just my imagination, but some bullet patterns in the stages are a bit denser. The section where there's the bookshelves, if you go into power up there, I could swear there were a ton of more bullets than in ver 3.00. I couldn't reach the last boss in the 5 credits I played, whereas in 3.00 I made it there basically every time. Maybe I'm just rusty, but it felt harder.

Graphics, etc are the same basically. I couldn't notice any differences.

I was the only one at A-cho arcade playing this game while I was there. On a busy saturday night. Keep in mind they have two DSII machines sitting next to each other (I played on both, just to spice things up), and the nearby Futari 1.5, DDPDFK 1.5, and EspGII machines were constantly being played. There was a really good Futari Maniac/Ultra mode player, who was fun to watch. He had earplugs and a briefcase.

[skykid]

Well, you haven't seen DS2 running on an HD display, in person. It makes a big difference. I've seen Otomedius on such a display too, and it's nowhere near as nice.

I did see it at the AOU 2009 in person. I thought it looked really lacklustre then, but it may have improved since?

[throne_of_wolves]

Yeah, from what I've seen so far I'm definitely not a fan of the visuals. With that said though, I'm not overly taken with 3d graphics in shooters, period, so I may be a tad biased!

[EOJ]

I gave Lei another go, and figured out how to use him. Actually, he's pretty fun. So I take back what I wrote earlier. Got a 485mil clear on my second credit.

Basically, you can get a good score just by tapping shot on large enemies (just tap once) - it creates a three-part dagger that lingers on the object, and continually sprays back crowns for you to absorb. No other character can do this, so playing with Lei really feels different.

[EOJ]

SIN's been playing with Lei recently. Current best (and likely current WR):



from: http://sinmoon.blog.shinobi.jp/Date/20091123/1/

[EOJ]

SIN is apparently messing around with adding text overlays in his vids, for a more superplay feel. For example:



He uploaded a test version (DSII ver 4.00, 290mil Ruins stage w/ Lei) in this latest blog post:

http://sinmoon.blog.shinobi.jp/Date/20091221/1/

Awesome replay, but I can't get the Japanese text to display properly. Maybe someone else can figure it out.

[GaijinPunch]

Well he's got a questionairre asking you if the text displayed properly which tells you there might be some cockery going on.