http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/soutahouse/diary/200808260000/
It's listed there, the same site that listed the Ketsui and DDPDOJBL ports. Spring 2009 release, apparently.
EDIT: Confirmed. Port is being done AND published by CAVE! :o
It's true! Thanks to hirounder over at shmups for posting these pics:
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r283/blueskied/ds2.jpg)
http://img127.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=29791_ds1_122_738lo.jpg
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r283/blueskied/ds1.jpg)
http://img139.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=29798_ds2_122_937lo.jpg
Thank you EOJ for the heads up.Who know who are the developers?
Developed and published by CAVE! Wonder if they'll start porting other games if this sells well? Maybe they've realized they could make some money from it.
Bonus stuff for the port: online rankings, 2p online coop, replay saves, and more.
I'm curious how they're going to replicate all the slowdown in the game. If it's even a bit off, it'll mess up everything. If they do a Mushi-esque job at it, then I won't be playing this port.
FUCK. Now I have to import a 360. :(
OMFG!!
Whoa! Great news!
Nothing useful to say...awesome news!
Are 360's safe to buy yet, or is there still a 70% chance of implosion?
Ha ha! What great news to wake up to!
QuoteAre 360's safe to buy yet, or is there still a 70% chance of implosion?
I don't care too much for the port, but if somebody could answer this, I'd be very happy. I really need to buy an XBOX360 for Ketsui, Raiden fighters, etc.
If this means that the Cave-port drought is going to be over, I?ll have to sell a kidney and buy a 360 and a high-def TV. Oh, how much I DON`T want to buy a new TV you have no idea. But playing these games sounds just so tempting. But nevermind: Very excellent news.
The break-down point for me is when they?ll port Muchi Muchi Pork.
I just hope they don't mess it up. CAVE doesn't have a good track record with ports (Saturn Donpachi & DDP, Ibara, and Mushi).
JP X360s are pretty reliable now, with the Falcon chipset (just make sure to get a Falcon or newer model!). I've had mine for about 5 months now, and it works great.
Quote from: Kaede on August 27, 2008, 05:53:58 AM
FUCK. Now I have to import a 360. :(
What he said.
There are a lot of Deathsmiles PCBs up on YAJ today, apparently due to this announcement. One with a BIN of 75,000yen. Might be a good time to snatch up a cheap PCB, if you're interested in it.
Another bit of info: there will be a regular edition and a LE edition. No word on the LE edition's contents. Info courtesy of sazanami.net
I saw that 75k one :)
Funnily enough this has just started to sell out, well with Legend & now & port to drive prices down. Awsome news
Also, and I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying this, if this sells well, I would be surprised if we do not see Daifukkatsu being ported to X360.
=D
What exciting news this is indeed.
Many great games are appearing on the Xbox 360! I cannot wait?
Quote from: RAR on August 27, 2008, 01:34:02 PM
Quote from: Kaede on August 27, 2008, 05:53:58 AM
FUCK. Now I have to import a 360. :(
What he said.
yep. smiley an' all.
i really don't want to buy a 360 :'(
Unfortunantely I just bought the kit :o Hopefully I will like it after some extended play otherwise I could take a big loss selling it on.
The Japanese guys on 2Ch don't seem too enthused about the port. Here are just two random comments I pulled out, but you get the picture:
"A perfect port is impossible, so I'm really just hoping they make an interesting Arrange mode. If they screw it up like the Ikaruga XBLA port, all the good players will give up playing it after 3 days."
"If CAVE is porting it...it will have excessive load times and mis-timed Cyclops1. I've already given up on them making the slowdown and other aspects accurate, so I just hope they don't make the load times too excessive."
1 This game relies on perfect, split-second timing to refill your counter, and often the counter needs to be refilled on the cyclops, hence his comment.
do you think the price of the pcb kit will drop even more no its comming out on the 360 :-\
It already has fallen a bit. Bare PCBs will probably fall to 60~70K yen this year. Complete, mint kits will probably bottom out at the 90K~100K range, and stay there like the Mushis. If the port is really accurate, the PCB may fall more. If it's shit, the game will likely still command a good price.
Despite the port announcement, I have no intention of selling my kit. If by some miracle they make the port spot-on in terms of the slowdown and all the gameplay, then maybe I'll think of it. But the crisp 240p graphics of the PCB are really gorgeous, and it would be hard to trade that for a blurred, interlaced version (or a scaled 720p version). Like the guys on 2Ch, I'm just buying the port for the Arrange mode (I assume it will have one). It will be well worth the $60 just for that. I wonder if they'll pull an Ibara on this port and release a modified version of the Arrange mode as a Deathsmiles Black Label PCB before or around the release of the port? I'd be up for that. =D
great news! :righton: now i wait for the DDP DF port! it's just a question of time... =D
How is the region protection done on the 360 ? Can CAVE make it region free if they desire ?
Also does a Japanese 360 have proper RGB output i.e. SCART ?
rtw
Quote from: Sperrfeuer on August 28, 2008, 01:49:00 AM
great news! :righton: now i wait for the DDP DF port! it's just a question of time... =D
Well,DS port release is next year,so you probably bought a kit before DDP came out! =D
@rtw: yes, Japanese X360s output RGB. You just need to get a cable.
Theoretically CAVE could make the game region-free, but I wouldn't count on it. As has been stated many times in the past, no Japan-exclusive X360 game released thus far has been region-free.
semi OT
so the 360 can ouput at 15 khz?
im just curious cuz if all these cave ports turn out to be OK i might grab one to throw in one of my cabs....
but im still going to wait and see how the ketsui port affects the PCB price range.....would definitely prefer the PCB for ketsui
but i would be happy with the DS and DOJ BL ports for 360.....have to give it some thought....lets wait and see how good they are first
No, the X360 cannot output 15khz. So the graphics (on a SDTV or cab monitor) will look like the Ibara and Mushi ports - interlaced and blurry. :(
I traded my US 360 for a used Japanese one back in November of '07 when Shikigami III came out and I'm almost 100% positive it's a launch console. The only problem I've ever had with it is that it froze while playing Raiden Fighters Aces once. I've heard that the freezing was simply a bug in the Raiden FIghters software as well.
I'm getting tired of waiting for a decent stick for the 360 though and may just have a custom one made if this many games I want are coming within the next year.
Do 360s require a fancy TV? I don`t have any desire to get an HDTV but the console is getting hard to ignore when it comes to shooters. A DFK port is now just a matter of time.
Quote from: Kaneda on August 29, 2008, 02:07:49 AM
Do 360s require a fancy TV? I don`t have any desire to get an HDTV but the console is getting hard to ignore when it comes to shooters. A DFK port is now just a matter of time.
I use my computer monitor, which although LCD gives a pretty good image.
Really though you can hook the 360 up to anything. You've gotta get an Elite if you want HDMI support
but I've been running it through VGA and am happy with the image.
Quote from: adverse on August 29, 2008, 02:22:04 AM
You've gotta get an Elite if you want HDMI support
No, the normal models have had HDMI output since last year. For example, my Arcade model I bought in April has it.
@Kaneda: Xbox 360 games look best on an HDTV, but they work with SDTVs just fine.
Quote from: EOJ on August 28, 2008, 02:17:51 PM
No, the X360 cannot output 15khz. So the graphics (on a SDTV or cab monitor) will look like the Ibara and Mushi ports - interlaced and blurry. :(
It must be able to ouput 15khz if not you could not use it on a normal TV or with SCART ?
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Microsoft_Official_Xbox_Advanced_Scart_Cable__6554756
rtw
It can do 15khz, it's 240p it can't do
Quote from: rtw on August 29, 2008, 02:55:12 AM
Quote from: EOJ on August 28, 2008, 02:17:51 PM
No, the X360 cannot output 15khz. So the graphics (on a SDTV or cab monitor) will look like the Ibara and Mushi ports - interlaced and blurry. :(
It must be able to ouput 15khz if not you could not use it on a normal TV or with SCART ?
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Microsoft_Official_Xbox_Advanced_Scart_Cable__6554756
rtw
Yeah, sorry. Mixed up 15khz with 240p!
Quote from: EOJ on August 29, 2008, 03:26:30 AM
Yeah, sorry. Mixed up 15khz with 240p!
But supporting 240p is a HDTV screen limitation it shouldn't matter to the XBOX360 ?
rtw
so i should be able to hook it up to the cab then......hmmmmm......might have to look into hacking some pads and finding out if the 360 VGA cable will work with the JPAC....
could be interesting
As I understand it it's not a 'supported' resolution on the 360, none of the development APIs support etc.
Maybe you can do it if you're willing to go around the APIs, but even then you have to consider what the internal scaler is capable of (it's possible it doesn't even output 240p)
Quote from: rtw on August 29, 2008, 07:00:52 AM
Quote from: EOJ on August 29, 2008, 03:26:30 AM
Yeah, sorry. Mixed up 15khz with 240p!
But supporting 240p is a HDTV screen limitation it shouldn't matter to the XBOX360 ?
rtw
According to this blog (http://blog.am-net.jp) Death Smiles black label or something is on way.
Quote from: KOMA on August 30, 2008, 07:09:53 AM
According to this blog (http://blog.am-net.jp) Death Smiles black label or something is on way.
Scan mentions that there is a new character and new stage(s?). Looks like fun!
Edit: Obviously new character is probably Sakura.
Wonder if Black Label will make it to the port or if it will end up like Ibara.
Nice, clear pics up at famitsu.com:
http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1217616_1407.html
Here's a sample:
(http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/__icsFiles/artimage/2008/08/26/pc_fc_n_gs/080829death02.jpg)
The graphics definitely have a slight blur to them, in true CAVE port tradition.
really looking forward to playing this!
getting a JP360 not so much :mad:
but with Ketsui and more shmups coming it seems like the logical choice.
JP X360s should be pretty cheap ($250-ish) and quite reliable with the new chipset by the time any of the CAVE ports are released. So it should not be something you dread, but rather something you look forward to. :)
Wow, didn't see this coming. As soon as those new Jasper X360's are confirmed to be out I'm definately taking the plunge. Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come. Even if the ports are sub-par, it will be better (and more affordable) than nothing for many people.
Quote from: Shalashaska on September 01, 2008, 01:12:44 AM
Even if the ports are sub-par, it will be better (and more affordable) than nothing for many people.
Definitely. For $60 or whatever, it's a no brainer. And the online scoreboard ranking makes it a fun, competitive experience. I just can't view it as a replacement for the original if the slowdown and other intricacies of the gameplay are not faithfully reproduced.
Being a cab owner/enthusiast I think of these ports as a kind of test drive. If you really like it, you buy it (PCB), otherwise it was only $60. I'll probably end up finding some other J and region free 360 games too :righton:
Official CAVE site for the port has opened:
http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/Xbox360/deathsmiles/index.html
The official box art is shown there, along with some new pics.
(http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/Xbox360/deathsmiles/pake.jpg)
It doesn't look like the "mega black label" version will be included with this port.
Also, they have a blog running from the port director (some guy named Asada):
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
He will be updating it every friday with progress on the port. Pretty nice! You can also email him comments/questions/requests (in Japanese!) at the provided email address on that page.
Quote from: EOJ
Also, they have a blog running from the port director (some guy named Asada):
He will be updating it every friday with progress on the port. Pretty nice! You can also email him comments/questions/requests (in Japanese!) at the provided email address on that page.
How about emailing him and asking if it will be region free ? :D
rtw
It will be nice but honestly buying a JPN Xbox360 is the key.
Quote from: rtw on September 01, 2008, 04:31:35 AM
Quote from: EOJ
Also, they have a blog running from the port director (some guy named Asada):
He will be updating it every friday with progress on the port. Pretty nice! You can also email him comments/questions/requests (in Japanese!) at the provided email address on that page.
How about emailing him and asking if it will be region free ? :D
rtw
Already did it! :laugh:
One thing I find a bit disconcerting is that in his blog, the guy doing the port (Asada) says he's "in the middle of entering the CAVE company". So he's a newbie, and this is apparently his first (test?) project. He said he's done something or other with Microsoft before, but that's about it.
Btw, there have been a few region free JPN 360 releases recently, Too Human, Soul Calibur IV and Lost Planet Colonies. I think MS have slightly relaxed their region coding policies for JPN games :cool:
While this won't help for the shmups already released, for future releases I think the odds of region free shmups in future are slightly better now. If Cave/5pb won't be selling western rights to their ports I' d be unsurprised if they were region free.
Those games are only region free because they are not JP-exclusive. There is still no JP-exclusive X360 game that is region free.
Maybe I'm overthinking things, but I wonder if that's not some evolved function of the "western audiences wouldn't get it" mindset of two decades ago that gave us continually reworked RPGs and the original Super Mario 2 almost a decade after its original release. In an era when the interoperability of import games basically hinges on a single option set during the game's publishing cycle, yet only games guaranteed a release outside of Japan are given this freedom-of-export, it seems to me completely backwards that you wouldn't want to lock multiple-region releases to their home region and open up region-specific titles to the possibility of export--more copies sold is more copies sold, right? I still have no clue why--licensing or other legal issues aside, which I highly doubt would apply in this case--Japanese publishers are so allergic to the possibility of more copies being sold outside of the home islands. It's not like Microsoft is following the Gillette model of "Give the razor away for free, make profit on the blades" that's been Nintendo's philosophy with its past two home consoles, so I wouldn't imagine it's some tinfoil hat-esque plot to put more Japanese 360's in homes no matter their location.
It just puzzles me, and not simply in the context of Cave games being freely playable on non-Japanese systems; I just don't understand why a company wouldn't want to potentially expand its market base or sell a few more copies with such a simple system in place for doing so.
Official press release for the port:
http://www.cave.co.jp/ir/archives/ir/pdf/2008/ir0809021.pdf
Anyone else think it's weird that we have Deathsmiles cover art but nothing at all for Ketsui X or DDPDOJ BL?
The blog was updated today. Interesting post about more possible CAVE ports. Basically the guy says they have nothing planned now, and they're just trying to finish Deathsmiles. He says possible contenders for a future port are 2 games that are "as well-known as Deathsmiles". I'd say he's likely talking about Mushi Futari, Espgaluda II, or DDP DFK.
He also said info on the LE items, as well as the extra features of the port (including any possible added mode) will be announced in mid-late October.
Semi OT:
Is there any type of XRGB style device that will input VGA (or Component) and add the fake scanlines?
If I have a 360, I'm sure I'll pick these up for shits and giggles.
Wow, I really really hope the other ports are Esp 2 and DDP DFK. :righton:
Oh, got a big surprise today...was thinking about from where to buy a Jap 360.
Then suddenly a guy at my company said: -We got one jap 360 to test bugs on, we will not send it back, what are we gonna do with it?
I said: I WILL TAKE IT!!! :oogle:
New blog (http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/) is up, I don't understand Japanese but a translator yields this below a phrase that includes the word "transplant" (port?):
Quote1 Mushihimesama Futari second place Espgaluda Ⅱ
3rd DoDonPachi major resurgence
I'm
praying that is a list of potential future ports.
Also
QuoteQ Region will be free?
The current station, Japan (Asia) and I am only going to make.
However, we still have not decided finally asked, so our best wishes.
*prays for Esp 2" =D
More news from the guy at CAVE doing the port who writes a blog for the game:
-IKD will answer some questions once he finishes Mega Black Label. He'll post the replies on his blog.
-He said he's had problems transfering the game to a hi-def system, particularly the character and enemy sprites. But,
things are going well and he can see the finish line now.
-He wants to have lots of fun achievements to unlock in the game, adding up to 1000 points or so, if possible.
-He is currently mulling over what to include as the LE item(s), but should have it decided by October.
-He would like to do Daifukkatsu as a retail release, and Galuda 2 as an XBLA download release. These are just his personal wishes, not something currently planned by CAVE. No mention of Futari.
Judging by what the guy wrote, it doesn't seem like Mega Black Label will be in this port. IKD is still developing it, and this guy apparently doesn't know much of what's going on with that game. This is a very different situation from Ibara Black Label and the PS2 Ibara Arrange mode, which were developed simultaneously by the same guy.
Thanks for the news. :righton:
I can see the problem to convert to high-def.
Just hope it wont turn out like PS2 Ibara, the background so intervenes with the bullets and makes it hard to see them.
And retail Esp 2 please, Game Box ftw. :)
Um... "converting to hi-def". What does that mean?
Am I missing something about this port?
Preliminary faceplate design, possibly to be included with the LE edition of the game:
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/24/test_3.jpg)
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/24/test2_2.jpg)
Source: http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/09/post-11c9.html
Wow, I want one of those! :righton:
Now lets hope the LE version is not so LE... :P
That's very cool....now if only I had a 360. :(
Another faceplate from the blog post on the 25th :)
(http://i33.tinypic.com/2zgyttc.jpg)
(http://i38.tinypic.com/9qky1z.jpg)
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/09/post-488c.html
Official blog was updated again. http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
Highlights:
-The game will have full voiced cut scenes, with the same voice actors from the arcade
-Pre-order bonus will be a card that lets you download some theme packages and icons on the marketplace
He also muses (once again) about the possibility of other ports. He says releasing older games (basically anything pre-Deathsmiles) in a package form is not very realistic, as at full price they wouldn't sell much and at a discounted price they wouldn't make any money from it. He says a double pack of 2 games in 1 might be doable. Either that or an XBLA download, I suppose.
Blog today has an example of the hi-res mode that the game will use:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/10/post-5a83.html
Apparently they're also going to be doing some advertising for the port at HEY next to the Mega Black Label.
Wow, that's awesome. Here's the pics for comparison:
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/09/photo.jpg)
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/09/photo_2.jpg)
Top is the arcade version, bottom is the X360. It looks like they're taking the original models and keeping them hi res. I really hoped
they would do this, since they have access to all the original stuff, and it's so cool to see it actually happening. Of course
although I have little to no confidence the gameplay will be exactly the same as the arcade, having a hi res version of the game for $60 will
be great, and almost like a new experience.
That is very nice that they're doing that. Hopefully they'll do it for everything (all sprites... not just enemy ones). I guess that's what he meant by "troubles w/ HD mode".
So some sort of countdown has started on the development blog. Says about 7 days right now.
Announcement for LE edition? More features...?
It shows the hi score ranking screen. Maybe they'll release a promo vid?
Some pics of the new hi res graphics from famitsu:
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1219410_1124.html?ref=rss
(http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20081031/death04.jpg)
Looks pretty good. Compare it to the old pic:
(http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/__icsFiles/artimage/2008/08/26/pc_fc_n_gs/080829death02.jpg)
Preorder up at Play-asia.com, listed as Q1 2009:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-br-77-1-49-en-15-Death+smiles-70-3428.html
The LE is also available there for $90.
Play-Asia notes that the first print edition will come with an "Arrangement Soundtrack CD." Did I miss any official announcement of the first-print package, or has there not been one yet? A CD seems awfully skimpy to justify the price difference, but then this is Japan we're talking about. The Caspar faceplate design looked pretty nifty, though.
Aside from that one blog post, has there been any specific mention one way or another about the region coding? The rumor that some of the 5pb/Cave titles might make it across the pond here is nice, but it would suck to miss out on neat LE goodies while waiting for a domestic release that never happens.
Yeah, it was announced on the blog that the LE will just come with a soundtrack CD. I'll be picking up the regular edition.
This will be region-coded, no doubt.
Very nice looking. I was planning to jump on the Japanese X360 bandwagon soon but bought a new rifle instead. It's too bad those faceplates aren't included with the LE version, they looked great. :'(
At least you don't have to worry about the rifle being region-locked.
:laugh: Indeed! ;)
Looks like the preorders are pouring in for this game:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/videogames/ref=sv_vg_3
It's ranked #2 overall in all games on Amazon.com, and #1 in Xbox 360 games. :o
Nice...I should have been one of those preorders but I just picked up the PCB :righton:
The PCB is tops, but it's still worth $60 for an HD version w/ practice modes. :righton:
Release is slated for March, according to a dude on 2Ch.
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/04/kouho1_4.jpg)
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/04/kouho2_4.jpg)
These are the two candidates for the LE release box art according to the DS blog. I like the bottom one.
The blog has been updated with a pic of the HD Follett and Rosa select graphics:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/07/004.jpg (http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/07/004.jpg)
Personally I still prefer the original look of the PCB.
Also, here's a pic of the HD tutorial:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/07/003_2.jpg (http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/07/003_2.jpg)
The overall presentation of DS is amazing, I love the style. But does anyone else particularly dislike the look of the rendered enemies? :-\
It works in DS, but I think Mushi 1 is prettier than Mushi 2.
More pics from the CAVE blog:
w/ HD upgrade:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/13/a01.jpg
without HD upgrade:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/13/b01.jpg
w/ HD upgrade:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/13/a02_2.jpg
without HD upgrade:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/13/b02.jpg
Without the HD upgrade the graphics look HORRIFIC. Doesn't seem like there will be any scanline options here, but we can hope. The blog guy
says they are focusing mainly on the online aspect of the game now, and will continue to do so up until the release, so it looks like they aren't going to spend time fine tuning the actual game (big surprise).
According to the blog, seems that there will be pictures of the LE in the latest Xbox360 Famitsu mag out at the end of the month. Will try to scan it.
I was hoping for a LE. Excellent.
Quote from: EOJ on November 17, 2008, 03:13:01 AMWithout the HD upgrade the graphics look HORRIFIC. Doesn't seem like there will be any scanline options here, but we can hope. The blog guy says they are focusing mainly on the online aspect of the game now, and will continue to do so up until the release, so it looks like they aren't going to spend time fine tuning the actual game (big surprise).
If the scanline option isn't included initially, there's always the possibility of it being added later via a patch (like RFA).
From this month's 360 mag, it says that there will be n arranged "version 1.1" mode in the game in which the gameplay is changed in some way. The writer also openly wonders if Sakyura will be included, and given that these mags usually work with the companies we could speculate maybe that's a hint she will be.
There is also a picture of the LE, but I can't scan it just yet.
Nice to hear. Ver 1.1 will probably have Sakura as a playable character and some changes to the gameplay. Doesn't sound like
the Mega Black Label stuff will be in it (like the ice stage) though.
New pics from the CAVE blog:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/28/11281.jpg
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/28/11282.jpg
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/28/11283.jpg
It shows the controls have a 6 button setup, with a separate button for the lock-shot, as well as the triggers used for rapid A and rapid B. Of course
the buttons are fully configurable.
I'm not a fan of the blurry backgrounds in the new "hi res" mode. And in picture 3, the backgrounds don't look hi res at all (just the low res stuff upscaled), in fact it looks pretty bad. Maybe they just upgraded the sprites?
Courtesy of 2 chan stg
DS cover (http://up2.viploader.net/pic/src/viploader856553.jpg)
Thanks. That's the LE cover. It says the LE comes with a 14 track arranged soundtrack CD.
Pic of the Hi score ranking screen:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/11/30/st.jpg
They spell "continue" as "contine". :whyioughtta: Hopefully they will fix this. It's spelled properly in the arcade version.
So here's a picture of ver. 1.1:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/01/st03_2.jpg
Anybody see anything notable?
One of the posts on the blog mentions that good players should be able to score more than 1 billion in this mode, so maybe it's similar to black label.
It has the same +value indicator under the counter as seen in BL. Maybe the same scoring system as BL without rank 999 levels and the ice stage?
Clearly it is.Despite this probably option ,i'm not a fan of the hi rez aspect to be honest.
Quote from: KOMA on December 01, 2008, 02:40:43 PM
i'm not a fan of the hi rez aspect to be honest.
Me neither. That's one reason why I still have a Deathsmiles PCB. =D
I don't know what you are doing with yours pcb but you sell them and you still have them! :cool:
Anyway,i want my DS pcb back.Probably pick up one in january.
I was fallin asleep reading the report back from the shooting festa here:
http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/126/126155/
but they gave some details on the new Deathsmiles mode. Apparently you'll be able to control your option with the right analog stick. It says that there are something like 100 item power-ups, whatever that means, and that the item counter will go up faster.
Also, bigger news! Mega Black Label will be released as DLC for the game!
Great news!!
Hm, wait...if I have a jap 360 in Europe, would I still be able to find this DLC? Dunno how the network works...
Great news!MBL for cheap! :righton:
Promo flier:
(http://stg.liarsoft.org/ss/1228499779.jpg)
Pic of the mode select screen:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/05/2008stg.jpg
Xbox 360, Arrange, and Arcade modes are selectable.
I didn't know that.That means ,the arcade mode is "unhi-rez"?
Maybe. Either that or Xbox 360 is the co-op/online mode. I wouldn't play this in the upscaled low-res though. It looks horrible.
New info and pics of ver 1.1 ("Arrange mode") on the port, from the official CAVE blog. The graphics look really nice in these pics:
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/06/1_2.jpg)
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/06/2.jpg)
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/06/3.jpg)
In this mode you can power-up as soon as the counter reaches 100. If you power up when it maxes at 1000, you get a ton of crowns as a bonus (as shown in the 3rd picture). You also have a item value counter displayed, like in Mega Black Label.
I know I'm a retard for asking, but what are the options for a 360 Stick?
A small all-Hori stick in one of several flavours or one expensive HRAP with Sanwas I think. The Madcatz SFIV sticks will be worth a look but I'm not sure Japan get those for once :P
I have both the small Hori stick and the Otomedius stick. I'm not aware of any other options currently. The small Hori stick is serviceable; the Otomedius stick is gorgeous. It seems to have the same build as a HRAP with the button layout of a Neo Geo stick, plus the touch pad, of course.
America got a stick in Hori's usual form-factor for the release of Dead or Alive 4, so I'd imagine at least that hit streets in Japan as well. No idea on the moddability of the thing, but it's probably no different than most Hori sticks (though let's hope not as bad as the Tekken V stick we got, with its weird PCB). Of course, all the nerds probably snapped these up on day one for the pictures of virtual big-boobed ninja chicks on the thing, so it might be tough to come across.
Quote from: gsl on December 13, 2008, 02:35:58 PM
America got a stick in Hori's usual form-factor for the release of Dead or Alive 4, so I'd imagine at least that hit streets in Japan as well. No idea on the moddability of the thing, but it's probably no different than most Hori sticks (though let's hope not as bad as the Tekken V stick we got, with its weird PCB). Of course, all the nerds probably snapped these up on day one for the pictures of virtual big-boobed ninja chicks on the thing, so it might be tough to come across.
I?ve got one of those, though we got the DOA version & later a vanilla Hori VF5 stick that came with some VF stickers. It?s passable & cheap over here (?20). From what I?ve been told it is a bitch to mod, so I?m guessing the buttons will be soldered to a pcb.
I?ve also got the otemedius stick so I?ll be using it for the shmups :) I'm pretty sure that the HORI RAP is back in stock in Japan, but it's far too expensive
New update on the official blog:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/12/post-2b6b.html
The game will be playable at the Cave Matsuri on 12/27. You will be able to play both the Xbox 360 mode and the Version 1.1 Arrange mode. You will
not be able to pause the game or remap the buttons on this playable demo. See the link for the button layout, if you plan to attend and play it.
An other,an other update blog:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/12/post-fbcd.html (http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/12/post-fbcd.html)
He's talking about the MBL version.
Just to clarify something - if I have a UK 360 with a Japanese account on there, are there still restrictions in me buying MBL as DLC?
:-\
Quote from: skykid on January 02, 2009, 08:15:39 AM
Just to clarify something - if I have a UK 360 with a Japanese account on there, are there still restrictions in me buying MBL as DLC?
:-\
First of all you'd need a japanese 360 to run "Death Smiles" (as it probably won't be region free).
Unfortunately most western CCs are not accepted when using a japanese acc., so you'll have to buy a japanese XBL point card to fill your acc. with MS points (codes from european point cards won't work on the japanese marketplace).
Quote from: CHR_AeON on January 02, 2009, 09:37:22 AM
Quote from: skykid on January 02, 2009, 08:15:39 AM
Just to clarify something - if I have a UK 360 with a Japanese account on there, are there still restrictions in me buying MBL as DLC?
:-\
First of all you'd need a japanese 360 to run "Death Smiles" (as it probably won't be region free).
Unfortunately most western CCs are not accepted when using a japanese acc., so you'll have to buy a japanese XBL point card to fill your acc. with MS points (codes from european point cards won't work on the japanese marketplace).
Cool, picking up Japanese XBL points is a doddle. I'm not too fussed about buying the original DS if I can download MBL- it's saving me shelling out on another 360, as Death Smiles was my no.1 reason.
Great news! (off to find some JP XBL points in anticipation.)
You will need the original Deathsmiles disc to download and play Mega Black Label. So you'll need a JP XBox 360 + DS regardless.
MBL is DLC for Deathsmiles, it isn't an XBLA game.
Quote from: EOJ on January 02, 2009, 07:36:12 PM
You will need the original Deathsmiles disc to download and play Mega Black Label. So you'll need a JP XBox 360 + DS regardless.
MBL is DLC for Deathsmiles, it isn't an XBLA game.
Really?! Someone's fed me some mis-information then - I was told that the entire package was going to be available as a download. :mad:
Thanks for the help EOJ :righton:
Quote from: skykid on January 03, 2009, 08:46:58 AM
Quote from: EOJ on January 02, 2009, 07:36:12 PM
You will need the original Deathsmiles disc to download and play Mega Black Label. So you'll need a JP XBox 360 + DS regardless.
MBL is DLC for Deathsmiles, it isn't an XBLA game.
Really?! Someone's fed me some mis-information then - I was told that the entire package was going to be available as a download. :mad:
Thanks for the help EOJ :righton:
Still cheaper than buying either DS or MBL :) I am dying to play DS on the 360 now!!!! It's one pcb I miss most
The official blog has been updated with lots of pics of the menu screens:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
Here's a 6min vid of the recent Xbox Festa:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S9CFWJUJ
The last 10-15 seconds show video footage from the Xbox 360 port, which is the first footage of the game in action
I've seen anywhere. Looks very good!
Thx EOJ.
Quick question regarding MS points:
Does the Japanese MS points work with a Pal/US account or do we need Jap account+Jap Ms points exclusively?
B.
Gotcha!
Thank.
Another mysterious countdown has started on the official blog:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
It's due to end on 1/30.
Pic of the ranking system posted at the official blog:
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/22/0001.jpg)
Looks ok. Hopefully they'll have a friends sections so friends can compare scores (Otomedius didn't :whyioughtta:)
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
Release date announced! 4/23!
Price: 7140 yen for Regular Edition
9240 yen for LE
And the biggest news....check out this ill Deathsmiles stick they're going to be selling!
14,800 yen at Amazon
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/29/st.jpg)
It's a hori stick with the "real arcade make" to it. No details on parts just yet.
Limited to Amazon.com looks like!
April 23rd? Why isn't it taking them so long? Hopefully they're spending time trying to get the slowdown perfect
and putting in a scanline option instead of thinking of more contests for the blog or other pointless BS.
That stick is pretty cool though.
Nice stick... :o
I've to buy for my 360 ;)
I can't seem to find the stick on amazon, just the game. can someone post a link please, or is not up yet? I really need this stick, bad
Quote from: charlienash87 on January 30, 2009, 05:51:03 AM
I can't seem to find the stick on amazon, just the game. can someone post a link please, or is not up yet? I really need this stick, bad
Not up yet. I'm sure the blog will update us on when it goes up.
Quote from: adverse on January 30, 2009, 12:19:02 PM
Quote from: charlienash87 on January 30, 2009, 05:51:03 AM
I can't seem to find the stick on amazon, just the game. can someone post a link please, or is not up yet? I really need this stick, bad
Not up yet. I'm sure the blog will update us on when it goes up.
couple more questions.
will amazon.co.jp ship this outside of asia?
do i need a jap amazon account to get this if they do ship outside of japan?
No, amazon.jp does not ship games (or controllers, etc) outside of Japan.
And what about DSMBL?Is it release at the same moment?
They say the price and release of DSMBL will be announced later. So it doesn't look like it will be available on 4/23. Maybe a month or two later.
Stick is up for pre-order:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9B%E3%83%AA-15783911-%E3%83%87%E3%82%B9%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9E%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BA-%E5%AF%BE%E5%BF%9C%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF-Amazon-co-jp%E9%99%90%E5%AE%9A%E8%B2%A9%E5%A3%B2/dp/B001R23KVQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1233416818&sr=8-3
Pics of MBL mode on the 360 version up today:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/02/only-on.html
I really wish they'd put up some gameplay vids already. We've seen enough screenshots. So far I don't like the hi res look as much as the original low res, but I'd have to see it in motion to make a final decision. Here's hoping they release some vids before the game is released.
just ordered the DS - special edition from play asaia!
preorders opened today i think.
hopefully its not region locked or im gonna have to buy a Japanese xbox haha
It is region locked.
laaaaame!
haha, oh well. least id play more games on the J-360 than on my one.
Blog updated. The guy says the completion date is nearing, and they're in the final testing phase. Here are some new pics of MBL:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/02/13/1.jpg
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/02/13/2.jpg
While the character sprites have been touched up, the backgrounds elements are a pixely mess.
Pic of the screen adjustment options in DSMBL (they are the same in DS):
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/02/19/mbl3_2.jpg
Any word on if there's an option to switch between High and Low rez on this one? The high rez looks alright, but I'd rather play it in its original incarnation. It seems like it's always easier to judge hit boxes in low rez where I can line up pixel by pixel. I can't even imagine a high rez Mushihimesama for instance, as those bullet curtains seem like they'd just bleed into one another. What is it with high rez 2D where artists often want to put a gloss on every sprite, like everything's been polished with wax?
You can play it in the touched up hi res mode, or the original 'low res' (it won't be 240p obviously, but 480i/480p). However, as far as anyone knows, the low res mode lacks scanlines, and may have a 'smoothing' filter applied, so it will look similar to the DDPDOJBL port on the Xbox 360. In other words, it'll make your eyes bleed on an LCD, and look OK but a bit blurry on a SDTV.
Tough choice then. I'll likely end up playing the high def version. I'm not the biggest fan of fake scanlines. I've spent way too much time trying to tweak them in Raiden Fighters Aces, and they always look, well, fake. It just looks like the cable came out partially or something. At times it can trick your eyes into thinking it looks like an arcade monitor, but you can clearly see your ship going "behind" them which spoils the illusion.
Yeah, I know what you mean. But for me, RFA with scanlines is 100x better than RFA without scanlines. It makes the game playable for me, and doesn't give me headaches.
For me, it felt more like playing it in MAME rather than the PCB... which is bad. Now, keep in mind I played the XBLA version at EOJ's house for all of about 30 seconds, so take my word w/ a shaker of salt. I've also only played the RFJ PCB for a short period over a year ago.
Interview w/ Ikeda on the DS blog (http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/03/ikd.html). Here's my translation:
Q: Have you bought an Xbox 360?
A: No. I am interested in Demon's Souls though (for the PS3).
Q: What were you in charge of on the Deathsmiles port?
A: I made the arrange mode (ver 1.1), did fine-tuning/adjustments, and programmed the slowdown in the Xbox 360 mode and ver 1.1 mode.
Q: Is there anything you'd personally like to remake for the X360?
A: Daifukkatsu.
Q: We get a lot of emails from people who would like a Progear port. What can you say to them?
A: It isn't owned by our company, so unfortunately, a port is impossible.
Q: What do you think about being called "IKD"?
A: It'll soon fade out. I'll leave the rest to Mr. Ichimura.
Well, since he's in charge of the slowdown, my expectations for this port are high again. Hope he also worked on MBL's slowdown, if he didn't, then I'll be a bit worried about that. Also, he didn't program the slowdown on the arcade mode, which is weird (unless this mode is just emulated).
What's STG Festa?
That xbox festa thing a few months back. DS was playable there.
Good thing for me if the port is well executed.More chances that the PCBs (DS&MBL-less likely sure)will be cheaper in future.
Now IKD,please prooced with a little drama ala Itagaki;walk your way out of Cave,carry along with you Joker Jun,Wakabayashi and Kusonoki for the music.That would be much appreciated. :righton:
Quote from: EOJ on March 06, 2009, 07:44:51 PM
Q: Is there anything you'd personally like to remake for the X360?
A: Daifukkatsu.
=D
Damn it! Just got an email
QuoteDear Muzza,
This is an important e-mail update regarding your pending Death Smiles
[First Print Limited Edition] preorder (#13074428).
We regret to inform you that due to an unforeseen production cut,
insufficient quantities of this item will be made available to the market.
According to our suppliers there will be a big shortage on this item as
the publisher has decided to make only a very small print run of the first
print edition.
Despite our very best efforts to reserve as many limited editions
beforehand, our suppliers have informed us that only a very small
percentage of the preorder will be made available. We currently have to
expect that we might be unable to accommodate all pending preorders.
At present we are only able to confirm all orders with order numbers lower
than 13054500. Orders with higher order numbers unfortunately cannot be
confirmed at the moment.
If your order cannot be fulfilled, you will receive another e-mail update
from us.
In case that the supply situation changes your purchase intention, please
feel free to contact our customer service in reply to this e-mail with
your instructions or simply cancel the order in your customer account.
For your reference, the Death Smiles normal print is available, there is
no shortage expected for this item.
Death Smiles normal print:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-70-3428.html
We appreciate your support and would once again like to apologize for any
inconvenience this incident may have caused to you.
Your Play-Asia.com Customer Service
http://www.play-asia.com
Same here but finally i'm not that disapointed though.
I just got that email too :mad: where else is there to get one at this point in time? I ordered mine from PA the very first day i saw it available and i'm still somehow 10,000 orders too late, wtf
According to the most recent blog post:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/03/post-6d39.html
Mega Black Label will be downloadable sometime from the end of April to May 10th. The price will be announced soon.
Where can I get my IKD scribbleplate? =D
Have you personally had any luck with any DLC that is Japan only? I ask because I can't download any new ships or anything for Raiden for the 360, so I'm getting the feeling it will be the same with DSMBL. Is there a work around or anything? I have a japanese account, but its just a basic silver one...one that I don't use. I'd prefer to keep it on my U.S. one. I hope I won't have to bring my xbox with me next trip out to Tokyo!
Quote from: EOJ on March 14, 2009, 03:16:35 PM
According to the most recent blog post:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/03/post-6d39.html
Mega Black Label will be downloadable sometime from the end of April to May 10th. The price will be announced soon.
Quote from: hermosaguy on March 15, 2009, 08:03:56 AM
I have a japanese account, but its just a basic silver one...one that I don't use.
I think that might be your problem. I'm sure I've heard people here have downloaded R4 and OG content without issue.
Downloads CAN be IP region locked however (see Biohazard 5 demo, Xbox titles) but I think doing so to this would be shooting themselves in the foot and I don't think its happened to any DLC yet.
Damn, thats what I was thinking. I couldn't even d/l the Resident Evil 5 demo as well. Hell, I couldn't even use the Otomedius G card to for the DLC . Sucks companies do the IP block. I'm curious if it is actually Microsoft or the publisher that makes that call. In any case, I'm hoping I can still snag a Special Edition so I can try MBL!
shame they don't go all out for a proper high-res version. playing it now, while i do think some of it is pretty, a lot detail is really lacking by being in low-res; if the art is so intricately drawn, it would be nice to do it justice.
Quote from: hermosaguy on March 15, 2009, 10:05:58 AM
In any case, I'm hoping I can still snag a Special Edition so I can try MBL!
The Special Edition doesn't come with MBL. You can only get it via DLC.
Damn! So what is that hyper-inflated price for? A soundtrack and superplay disc I already have and 'better' cover art?
Just a soundtrack, different cover art, and some coupon to download some pointless crap (but not MBL). No superplay.
This LE is not that sexy,better go for normal edition and a MS jap point card to download DSMBL,at least this is what i'm gonna do.
So a MS Japanese point card will let you download any JP DLC from outside of Japan?
Quote from: EOJ on March 15, 2009, 06:06:17 PM
So a MS Japanese point card will let you download any JP DLC from outside of Japan?
I had a Japanese Point Card and still couldn't DL any content for Raiden 4 as well as using my code card for Otomedius.
Well that's not good to hear. :o
Quote from: EOJ on March 15, 2009, 06:06:17 PM
So a MS Japanese point card will let you download any JP DLC from outside of Japan?
For what i've heard,yes.
Did you read hermosaguy's post?
Yes i did.
I remember french folks talking about DLC for idolmaster and all was good and.Or maybe since RE5 demo all DLC is region locked or it only works with gold account.
I'm pretty sure if you try to take a picture of the screen an underpaid staffer will jump out of nowhere and tell you can't take pictures.
Quote from: hermosaguy on March 15, 2009, 06:12:50 PM
Quote from: EOJ on March 15, 2009, 06:06:17 PM
So a MS Japanese point card will let you download any JP DLC from outside of Japan?
I had a Japanese Point Card and still couldn't DL any content for Raiden 4 as well as using my code card for Otomedius.
So, one can buy Jap point cards on Play-Asia.
And what is this, DS + DLC?
http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n67930947 (http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n67930947)
I wonder how many points the DLC will cost?
DSMBL will be 1400MS points:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/03/post-bcda.html
The game is 524MB in size. Also, there's a little interview with Ikeda there, and they ask what game he'd like to see on the X360, and
he replies "Muchi Muchi Pork". Last time he replied "DDPDFK", so he seems to just be throwing out random games in every interview.
Quote from: EOJ on March 20, 2009, 02:11:24 PM
there's a little interview with Ikeda there
That's Akira Wakabayashi they asked this time.
I like the last question:
Q: Game that got you into the gaming world?
A: Final Fight.
Quote from: GaijinPunch on March 20, 2009, 11:26:41 PM
Quote from: EOJ on March 20, 2009, 02:11:24 PM
there's a little interview with Ikeda there
That's Akira Wakabayashi they asked this time.
Oops! I just skimmed through it quickly before heading to work. Didn't know he was such a MMP fan, but that explains the response to that question.
1400 seems a fair price. I figured 12-1600. Its a lot for DLC, I think GTA:TLAD is the highest I've seen so far at 1600 but to a Cave fan this is a whole other game and one thats otherwise over $1k. Bargain!
I'll try grab it on day 1 and let you know if its IP locked. Fingers crossed!
Well, I don't think MBL is supposed to be released for another month after release, right?
Yeah, I mean DLC day 1, assuming the port isn't a bit "5pb".
Quote from: SuperPang on March 23, 2009, 09:04:30 AM
Yeah, I mean DLC day 1, assuming the port isn't a bit "5pb".
If it is, I wonder if Mihara will bash Cave for doing a shitty port of their own game.
Interview with IKD and Joker Jun:
http://www.xbox.com/ja-JP/interview/interview48.htm
The only interesting new info divulged there is that you can now choose rank 1 on every stage (the arcade version only let you choose it once on the top three stages, and once on the bottom 3). This is to help the game appeal further to beginners.
Quote from: GaijinPunch on March 23, 2009, 09:16:49 PM
Quote from: SuperPang on March 23, 2009, 09:04:30 AM
Yeah, I mean DLC day 1, assuming the port isn't a bit "5pb".
If it is, I wonder if Mihara will bash Cave for doing a shitty port of their own game.
:laugh: he would hold it over their head until he died. I think everyone would bash cave if they "5pb"ed (new adjective) their own game
So it gets better.
At the Death Smiles only Cave Online festival next month, they will not only be taking preorders for the LE version of Death Smiles, but those copies will come w/ a telephone card. The downside is they are asking the full retail price for it 92480 yen, whereas Amazon and other shops usually give you a break of 500-600 yen. It apparently also comes with a "Full Voice DLC" card.
Phonecard (http://tencho.cave.shop-pro.jp/)
So the blog got updated, and it looks like the Famitsu 360 issue coming out on 3/30 has a Deathsmiles cover? Definitely gonna pick it up.
Looks like Asada-san is also being pushed right along onto the next port project for CAVE! He says he'll probably have a good announcement for us in about a month. =D
Daifukatsu?
(http://www.enterbrain.co.jp/xbox/cover0905.jpg)
I'm gonna pick one too
QuoteLooks like Asada-san is also being pushed right along onto the next port project for CAVE!
High confidence they're not 5pb'ing this one.
QuoteDaifukatsu?
Can't imagine it being anything other. Well, Futari.
Quote from: GaijinPunch on March 29, 2009, 01:22:58 AM
QuoteDaifukatsu?
Can't imagine it being anything other. Well, Futari.
Or DS2 port for Christmas?
Hah, that would troll us bad, if DS2 does end up a poor sequel.
Asada-san is a known, quality programmer? That's good to hear. I'm still too much of a cheapass to import a J360, so I guess it doesn't matter for me, but it would be a shame if this port sucked.
Picked up the 360 Famitsu, haven't read through it all yet but one thing that stood out was the review of Deathsmiles, which goes 8978, and the guy who gives it a 7 notes that the resolution in the Arcade mode is so low he found it hard to play. But he says the Xbox360 mode is much better to look at and easier to play.
There's an interview with Asada and Inoue which I've just skimmed. Probably more info in here but one thing that stood out was Asada mentioning that they do plan to put DSII on the 360. Then he mentions that he sees the appeal of both package and Live Arcade titles, and that they'll probably put out future games going between the two (!).
Edit: Also no news about DS2 in the new Arcadia.
Daifukkatsu port!!!! *prays*
Well, fukkatsu is good looking, has an awesome system etc....and it would prolly get a big following on the consoles if the port was good?
...but prolly only released in Japan.. :rolleyes:
Ok so the official blog was updated last night and it looks like there's an opportunity to play the game at Messe in Akihabara on 4/5.
If anyone could make it down and check out the slowdown/how the game looks, it would be appreciated...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vRXplAnxR4&fmt=35 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vRXplAnxR4&fmt=35)
090405 Akihabara DeathSmiles
Thanks for the vid KOMA.
Summarizing some impressions from the 2ch thread...
Resolution on the pre-rendered sprites and the original illustrations are raised really high, but the backgrounds are still low res, which creates a bit of a jarring juxtaposition.
Another odd clash was the graveyard boss which is high-res and yet the rocks are pixelated.
Apparently the effects have been beefed up, for instance on Sakura's danmaku, and skulls are now more transparent.
There is also some sort of bright effect before skulls disappear.
The bit rate for some of the sounds and music seems to have been raised, more bass in the audio giving the sound more of a punch overall.
So far only one person has mentioned any irregularities with the slowdown and he mentioned it in relation to the volcano level and qualified that the slowdown just seemed a little lighter than the arcade version.
No load time either! :righton: :righton:
People seem to very much be looking forward to the release. Overall it seems that the impressions are very good.
Despite that report, if you watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyi6mwWC6w8&feature=channel_page
You'll notice that the apples part of the Tree boss's attack has no slow down which I think would make it tough to dodge. Hopefully there will be more impression posted at 2ch so we can hear more about how the slowdown has been reproduced.
Wow yes, there was no slowdown on the large apples at all, that's rough and definitely not accurate.
After watching the vids, it's clear the slowdown is quite different from the arcade. It doesn't happen in all of the same places, and when it does happen, it's too slow. Worse yet, you speed up too quickly out of it, so it looks rather jerky in many spots. It's either the same or worse than the accuracy in Mushi.
I knew this would happen, but it's disappointing anyway.
On the bright side, there aren't any load times, the graphics look good, and the bullet patterns seem accurate. But the inaccurate, herky-jerky slowdown will prevent me from playing this port as a viable alternative to the PCBs. I'll probably just play ver 1.1 in this port.
Vid of ver 1.1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVq-nXrZLhM
THIS looks pretty good. The bosses spew out suicide bullets when they die, like in Pink Sweets Harder mode.
Megablack label, volcano and lakeside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q54AlqH1sA
The port looks ok to me, since i can't afford new pcb,60? for a port with three different mode of play make me happy.Don't care about slowdown.
Ouch no wonder play asia sent out tons of LE shortage announcements, ncs just posted about what quantitys they *think they are getting:
"Death Smiles Limited Edition: Please note that there appears to be a 95% shortage of the game. For example, every 100 copies that were preordered will be allocated 5 copies. Please note that we won't know the exact quantity we'll receive until April 20 or thereabouts when our invoices are printed and faxed over from Japan."
:rolleyes:
There's a promo vid up here:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/04/post-9fa4.html
I haven't been able to get the vid to run though.
I"m a bit disappointed that the background are low res still. Would it have been that hard to re-render them? C'mon!
I wasn't super amped about Deathsmiles at all, but for $60 or whatever I'm sure I'll buy the port and play it for at least a little while. I've actually got one on hold with the local import guy here and he said he's already getting copies for like seven people. I didn't realize there were seven people in St. Louis that even know what shooting games are.
what's the going rate for a deathsmiles 360 stick? I've heard something like 240USD before shipping, (don't even want to think about the shipping) but would like to hear what others have to say before i become broke
Okay, Amazon has preorders of these.
Uh... wtf (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B001EYTO2Q/ref=pe_3712_12227252_emwa_email_title_1).
Wow. That's almost entering PCB range-prices (you can get an Ibara PCB for about that much, for example). All for a dumb cover and some soundtrack CD? Bizarre. If Cave had half a brain they'd make more than the 500 or so they seem to have produced.
Has to be a fuck upon their part. Retail price is 9180 or something.
Quote from: EOJ on April 06, 2009, 02:14:06 PM
There's a promo vid up here:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/04/post-9fa4.html
I haven't been able to get the vid to run though.
Fixed :righton:
http://www.mediafire.com/?goljy1dujmd
Another official CAVE promo vid, a good deal more is shown than in the last one (I'm giving the nico vid link since the link from the Cave blog is unreliable):
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6739219
The first part shows regular DS. The scene in the swamp is supposed to have a good deal of slowdown, particularly on the green ogre, but there is ZERO in the vid. Terrible.
The end of the vid shows a bit of MBL. It shows the start of the Ice Palace. They also show the start of the Ice palace boss fight, and the slowdown in the arcade version is totally absent. Bleh. Ver 1.1 looks nice though.
Only 10 days til release. :)
Famitsu review score: 7,7,7,8
That is pretty low. I'd be interested in what they marked it down for if anyone has scans.
I'm sure they weren't bitching about the inaccurate slowdown. :laugh:
Yep, and that's what makes me curious. It's not like DOJ where you have a very difficult game that is not accessible to beginners. Most people are going to be able to get through 3 stages of DS, especially if they set the difficulty to 1 and 2. It's also a 'cute' game graphically which should be a plus in the eyes of Famitsu I would figure. And yet three 7s and an 8. Makes me curious.
Maybe they didn't like playing it on an X360 controller with all the option rotation? I wonder if they used arcade sticks (probably not, but who knows).
They gave ESPGaluda the same score, so basically lol famitsu whatever
Read a bit of the interview in Famitsu 360. Worth noting is they said the title to get ported was up between DFK, Futari, and Death Smiles. Death Smiles won as it's yoko, which of course is better for casual users, and of course, Inoue's characters are so popular. Some other interesting bits, Inoue said that Death Lolita was okay'ed by Cave's CEO, but it was axed for sales (by AMI?).
Quote from: GaijinPunch on April 16, 2009, 05:41:36 PMWorth noting is they said the title to get ported was up between DFK, Futari, and Death Smiles.
The fact that they chose DS over DFK and Futari makes me very sad.
However, this means those are next in line, with the possible exception of DS2.
Quote from: croikle on April 17, 2009, 03:45:47 AM
However, this means those are next in line
I think that's stretching it a bit. But I wouldn't be surprised if DFK gets ported.
DS2 is already confirmed. Maybe DS2 by year's end, and DFK this time next year?
The thing to worry about is that DFK & Futari aren't getting any newer. They are good games and have that whole titty appeal, but generally they'd need to be ported within a year or so after release.
Quote from: GaijinPunch on April 17, 2009, 10:38:15 AM
The thing to worry about is that DFK & Futari aren't getting any newer. They are good games and have that whole titty appeal, but generally they'd need to be ported within a year or so after release.
I was worrying about that. But all the other Donpachi games have been ported, gotta keep to that tradition! (and I can't afford a PCB :'()
Watched the vids on marketplace and it looks good, can't wait!
Play-asia is "preparing" my order now, so it should ship within 24 hours. :righton:
Along with DS I ordered the $299 Otomedius hyper stick package + 1400 Japanese MS points so I'll be ready with a high quality stick and DSMBL download points.
Hopefully this will all arrive on or before the official release date of April 23rd.
You're shitting me, is that the LE? Mines on hold and I preordered Oct 31st!
you preordered on halloween? :oogle:
If i may:
Add to favorites.
http://www.nin-nin-game.fr/index.php (http://www.nin-nin-game.fr/index.php)
French guy based in japan,exellent services,three years i'm client.Got me some PCB,yahoo auctions,enquiry stuff and so on.And i ordered my DS LE last month!!
http://www.eurotaku.com/webshop/index.php (http://www.eurotaku.com/webshop/index.php)
Them are swiss and based in japan too.Same as above.
The first info on the port from Japanese guys on 2Ch who got the game early today (much of this has been stated in earlier posts in this thread, but I thought I'd include it just to sum up everything in a single post):
-Xbox 360 mode has updated graphics and the ability to select rank 1 on every stage. Otherwise it's the same as Arcade mode
-Arcade mode is a direct port of the arcade version
-Ver 1.1 has a power up at 100 on the counter, and the overall counter maxes at 99,999 instead of 10,000. The control of the option with the analog stick on the X360 pad is said to be quite good, and some have said they prefer to play this mode with the pad than with a stick. Another feature of this mode is that you immediately enter death mode as soon as you choose rank 3 for a stage.
-Ver 1.1 takes about 10 seconds to load, but then there are no loads in the actual game
-Arcade and Xbox 360 mode take less than 5 seconds to load, then there are no loads in the actual game
-MBL is 523MB, and is apparently downloadable right from the start.
-You can play solo or with another person in the online COOP mode
1.1 sounds quite fun. Hopefully mine will be waiting for me when I get home.
Awesome news about MBL downloadable right from the start!
My local shady game store has unfortunately not gotten this in yet, but hopefully tonight. Looking forward to it, even though I'm stuck playing on a pad. I sympathize with why you bought that Otomedius stick, almost all the 360 arcade sticks suck!
I don't have any of the 360 ports yet, but they're all still 8-direction movement only right? Even when played with a 360 controller? I was try the XBLA version of Ikaruga on my buddy's american 360, and noticed that with the control stick you could vary your movement speed and move at any angle, which just felt sooooo wrong. I'll probably be playing with a stick (if there are any good x360 joysticks...) but I'm still very curious.
Quote from: adverse on April 21, 2009, 01:22:35 AM
I sympathize with why you bought that Otomedius stick, almost all the 360 arcade sticks suck!
It was a pretty good deal for $299, as it includes the otomedius game. I just checked, and it seems
I wasn't the only one with this idea, as the Otomedius stick package is now sold out on Play-Asia.
LOL, but Otomedius is trash man. Sell that shit with the quickness.
OK, so I picked up Deathsmiles today!! :righton: :righton:
I have to say that we have finally arrived in a new era of shooting. High-res, good games and online leaderboards that are sure to keep the competition hot.
Deathsmiles is a really well done port from the two hours I spent with it today.
Notes:
1. New graphics look really nice and frankly strictly in those terms is a better presentation than the PCB.
2. There is a training mode! I dunno if I had read about this before, but it's very nice with DOJ PS2 style detailed options for how you want to set yourself before the level.
3. Version 1.1 is pretty hard so far, but I haven't gotten the hang of controlling the option with the second stick yet.
4. Default button placement is a little weird...bomb at Y doesn't make much sense to me. I think a better config is X- left laser, B- right laser, A- Lock-on, Y-bomb.
5. MBL is NOT available yet. Should be up in a week or so if the 360 article is to be believed.
6. Leaderboards are not working yet.
7. Slowdown-wise, I find I have the most trouble with the speed-up after power-up mode wears off. Mostly it's pretty manageable, but there were a few times where the bullets were speeding up really fast. The apples on the tree boss do have less slowdown than the PCB, but it really is manageable. There is still some slowdown there. The last boss' first form is much easier IMO, but there is a danmaku after he surrounds you with both hands that seems really fast. Not sure how much this is different from the arcade version since I usually died in the canyon lol. Speaking of the canyon, the boss seems harder than the arcade version. Also, the volcano level boss seems to be tougher than the arcade version. Overall though I have to say that the slowdown is pretty faithfully reproduced and you can tell that they worked pretty hard on it. Time will tell if there are real problems somewhere though.
Summary: Worth the buy. Do it, I can already say this is the best new shmup on 360.
One more:
You can't skip the story sequences. :mad:
i always hated that about deathsmiles :-\ god knows how the pros managed to put up with it
Quick loli-fap?
Thank adverse.
Good quality footage
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6814417 (http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6814417)
And picture of the L.E for those who cares
http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123526.jpg (http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123526.jpg)
http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123527.jpg (http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123527.jpg)
http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123528.jpg (http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123528.jpg)
http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123529.jpg (http://up2.viploader.net/pic3/src/vl2_123529.jpg)
Quote from: KOMA on April 21, 2009, 02:48:58 PM
Thank adverse.
Good quality footage
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6814417 (http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6814417)
Nice to see, thanks. The slowdown was very poorly emulated in the graveyard stage. That's clear as day to anyone who has played this game in depth.
Frankly in terms of just slowdown emulation this looks worse than the DDPDOJBLEX port. :-\
then play the PCB for perfect slowdown.... if anything a lower score from 360 version would hold more bragging rights than the PCB since it's be more difficult.
You're missing the point: I shouldn't have to spend $500+ on the PCB just to get accurate slowdown. This is not the standard we should accept in ports in this day and age.
Again, I realize many of you don't care about this. But for someone like me who cares a lot about high-level scoring based on the standard set by the arcade version, this is a big deal.
I get what you are saying but get the PCB if it's that big a deal..... I have Ibara, Mushi, and mushi 2 BL ect on PCB. It doesn't seem like the slowdown is Ibara PS2 off or anything.
I don't see why you'd mind it that much especially since even IF the slowdown was perfect the scoring threads would still keep the PCB and home version seperate.
Quote from: Strider77 on April 21, 2009, 07:10:15 PM
I don't see why you'd mind it that much especially since even IF the slowdown was perfect the scoring threads would still keep the PCB and home version seperate.
No they wouldn't be separate. Look at the Galuda port, for example. Pretty close to perfect, and no one considers scores on that port as anything but completely comparable with scores on the PCB.
You're right the slowdown isn't as bad as Ibara, but that's because Ibara's port had all of the slowdown completely removed. From what I've seen thus far, this
DS port is worse than Mushi but (obviously) better than Ibara, in regard to slowdown emulation. It looks about 50% accurate, with herky-jerky speed-ups when you come out of the slowdown (just like the Mushi port). At least half of the slowdown on the graveyard stage is completely absent (including important slowdown on the boss), for example.
Quote from: Strider77 on April 21, 2009, 07:10:15 PM
I get what you are saying but get the PCB if it's that big a deal.....
The whole point of a port is that you don't have to buy a PCB.
Wait a second, are you that 5pb programmer in disguise... ?
I'd rather it be perfect also.... I'm just saying for the price it seems pretty nice with some effort thrown in. We'll see how good soon enough, or how bad.
DS + 1400 Points on its way. :righton:
Now I only have to get a HD for my Jap 360. (Yes, it came without one..) :P
Here's a thought, perhaps slowdown in the arcade games is a hardware limitation that the developer works around. When it comes to the port they can choose to remove some of the slowdown they feel spoilt the arcade version and keep it in other areas where its needed.
Quote from: adverse on April 21, 2009, 09:14:27 AM
OK, so I picked up Deathsmiles today!! :righton: :righton:
Does the tutorial jewel counter glitch work in this version?
I've only heard about that. How do you do it?
Quote from: SuperPang on April 22, 2009, 06:51:43 AM
Here's a thought, perhaps slowdown in the arcade games is a hardware limitation that the developer works around. When it comes to the port they can choose to remove some of the slowdown they feel spoilt the arcade version and keep it in other areas where its needed.
..I dont know how it works exactly these days, but yes, isnt the slowdown a hardware limit of moving sprites?
And in todays ports they could prolly remove all slowdown? ....but now the people that plays the games has learned to play with slowdown....just as people once learned how to use combos in SFII...that originally was a glitch.
I am a videogame developer and slowdown by too much stuff on screen is a big problem.
We learn how to utilize the memory better...but we also invent more nice effects,sounds, code etc that brings down the frame rate.
Was DS made on the SH3?
What I am curious about is...could the SH3 handle DS or Daifukkatsu without any slowdown today? ...is Cave "emulating" slowdown today?
...or is the truth that the new games are even too heavy for the new hardware? :oogle:
6min vid of ver 1.1:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6827655
Another interesting thing: if you choose all level 1 in ver 1.1 or Xbox 360 mode, you don't have any suicide bullets in the Canyon stage.
Whoa just got my Deathsmiles stick!
Totally wasn't expecting this since I got no notice at all from Amazon but bam! there it is today.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3486/3466781691_29e4448a5e.jpg)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3662/3466780599_712e929ecb.jpg)
Shame I have absolutely zero time to play either DS or with the stick since I'm packing to move right now. : /
Looks very nice! Let us know how it is once you get some time! :righton:
Whoa that stick is nice! Is there any difference between that and the HRAP EX besides the artwork? Also, I got the shipping notification from Play Asia early this morning for my copy of Death Smiles - how long is shipping from them normally?
That does look pretty cool (for the people who asked, it's a normal RAP EX, just with DS artwork).
My copy of DS hasn't shipped because for some reason the PA idiots decided to give my 1400 pt XB live card to someone else, and they're holding up my order of it with DS & the Otomedius stick package until they get the 1400 pt cards back in stock. I say "decided to give" because from sunday to monday they had the 1400 pt card reserved for me, and yesterday they took it off my order. Of course it would be nice if they just sent DS and the stick now, and the 1400pt card later, but they apparently won't do that and I cannot change any details about my order.
For those in the know, is the HRAP EX as easy to mod as the HRAP3 for the PS3? I put a sanwa stick in my PS3 stick really easy, but was slaving over a HORI EX2 mod for awhile. The HRAPEX for 360 should be an easy swap-out for an LS-32 for instance, yes? Might change the buttons too since Hori buttons are awful.
I think putting in an LS-32 in a RAP EX is pretty hard - you have to drill in places, and solder. The buttons are a breeze, just freely swap those.
The RAP EX's Sanwa stick is pretty good, so I'd just stick with that.
Sounds good.
Man, I wonder if I'll ever touch that EX2 solder job again. :laugh:
20 min run in Xbox 360 mode, w/ Windia:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6829084
Quote from: EOJ on April 22, 2009, 11:55:58 PM
That does look pretty cool (for the people who asked, it's a normal RAP EX, just with DS artwork).
My copy of DS hasn't shipped because for some reason the PA idiots decided to give my 1400 pt XB live card to someone else, and they're holding up my order of it with DS & the Otomedius stick package until they get the 1400 pt cards back in stock. I say "decided to give" because from sunday to monday they had the 1400 pt card reserved for me, and yesterday they took it off my order. Of course it would be nice if they just sent DS and the stick now, and the 1400pt card later, but they apparently won't do that and I cannot change any details about my order.
Hope it was not my fault, I ordered DS + a 1400 card from PA yesterday... :-X
I love the box more than the stick! =D
The game can be display to full screen?
Quote from: Monouchi on April 23, 2009, 02:07:31 AM
Hope it was not my fault, I ordered DS + a 1400 card from PA yesterday... :-X
Ha, it's OK. ;) I just emailed them and told them to just send the stick and the game and forget about the 1400 point card, and they said that's OK. =D
Quote from: EOJ on April 23, 2009, 04:27:25 AM
Quote from: Monouchi on April 23, 2009, 02:07:31 AM
Hope it was not my fault, I ordered DS + a 1400 card from PA yesterday... :-X
Ha, it's OK. ;) I just emailed them and told them to just send the stick and the game and forget about the 1400 point card, and they said that's OK. =D
Argh...PA just emailed me the same thing...they will ship the 1400 points later. :P
Quote from: KOMA on April 23, 2009, 03:54:18 AM
The game can be display to full screen?
Good question, I really like to fill up the whole screen of my monitor.
You that have got the game, what is the video/picture adjustements options?
Why whould you want to stretch a 4:3 image to 16:9. It would look awful, not to mention screw up your diagonal bullet dodging.
No stretching... :P
But in some videos there is even borders at the top and bottom and that is just bad.
Bugs reported on 2ch so far:
-One guy said in one Xbox 360 mode run the whole game was in slow motion from start to finish. He reset the console, loaded it up again, and it was fine. He hasn't been able to replicate this since.
-Replays won't save if you have voices turned on
-COOP isn't synchronized properly [not sure about this one]
Overall minor stuff, but let's hope they patch it anyway.
QuoteBut in some videos there is even borders at the top and bottom and that is just bad
Please explain how supporting the original resolution is bad.
Quote from: GaijinPunch on April 23, 2009, 09:35:42 PM
QuoteBut in some videos there is even borders at the top and bottom and that is just bad
Please explain how supporting the original resolution is bad.
Nevermind.
I was just asking if there were any video options, but I will soon get the game myself. :whyioughtta:
Anyone getting BGM skipping during saving and occasionally disappearing for a few seconds in game? Tut tut Cave =D
Apart from that this is pure quality. The changes in slowdown don't seem to hurt it and 1.1 mode is pretty interesting.
Quote from: Monouchi on April 24, 2009, 01:28:28 AM
Quote from: GaijinPunch on April 23, 2009, 09:35:42 PM
QuoteBut in some videos there is even borders at the top and bottom and that is just bad
Please explain how supporting the original resolution is bad.
Nevermind.
I was just asking if there were any video options, but I will soon get the game myself. :whyioughtta:
I've just played the 360 mode, so far, but you can stretch/zoom the screen any way you want (left/right & top/bottom), even so that it fully fills a 16:9 screen. Doesn't make much sense playing that way, but it's possible...
Quote from: CHR_AeON on April 24, 2009, 01:58:57 PM
I've just played the 360 mode, so far, but you can stretch/zoom the screen any way you want (left/right & top/bottom), even so that it fully fills a 16:9 screen. Doesn't make much sense playing that way, but it's possible...
Thanks CHR_AeON for the info. :)
After looking at more full run vids on nico, my opinion on the slowdown accuracy has changed for the better. It's overall quite accurate, and I take back my "50% accurate comment". It's as good as Mushi or better. The main problems are the herky-jerky speed up after slowdown (it's noticably less smooth compared to the arcade), and important slowdown missing from some boss patterns. Both problems were also in the Mushi port, incidentally.
I should have this tomorrow (hopefully), whereupon I can really sink into a detailed analysis of the technical aspects of the port.
I have put in a few hours to this so far and I'm really enjoying myself. I am coming down off the MBL kick and finding 1.1 is harder. I do appreciate the hi res, but the low res backgrounds really take away.
According to the official blog DSMBL was scheduled for 4/29, but due to a problem with it starting properly after being loaded, they have to go back and fix it, and it will be delayed a bit. It doesn't sound like the delay will be too long, though there is no mention of the new release date for DSMBL.
A letter from Asada (the port's producer) is on the blog now. It states they are working on a patch due to two major bugs: 1) a problem playing the game after an install, and 2)a glitch where you lose a life (instead of gaining one) when you collect a life item.
His someone planning on writing a proper review of this port? Don't know if this is something you usually do but could be definitely interesting.
My package arrived today!
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r283/blueskied/ds_x360_otome001.jpg)
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r283/blueskied/ds_x360_otome002.jpg)
The otomedius stick is awesome. It has a Sanwa stick like the HRAP EX, but for some reason it feels much better (shorter throw too). I love it.
I had one play through in X360 and ver 1.1. First impressions:
-Backgrounds are pretty ugly on an LCD (blocky beyond belief)
-Bullets and character sprites look quite nice
-Overall it looks good, but sorry, not close to how good the arcade version looks
-The slowdown is worse than I had hoped. First, when the game slows down, it goes slower than the arcade, and second, when it speeds up out of the slowdown it does it faster than the arcade. The result is rather disorienting. As of right now, this is indeed worse than the Mushi port in regard to slowdown.
-Slowdown on bosses is messed up in many places. Quite frustrating really.
-The timing is off when you bomb out of power up mode to get the gold to jump back to 1000, but it seems to work OK (I did it twice in one run).
I think this port is acceptable, and I'll try and get accustomed to the new slowdown.
So I've been really tempted to take up Excellent on their ~$1000ish MBL offers. You think this port is sufficient or should I bite the bullet?
For me, this port is good enough to not need the PCBs (DS & DSMBL). For one thing I really don't like horis enough to want to buy the PCBs (I prefer to keep my supergun purely for TATE shmups). But another reason is one I just discovered:
Arcade mode is pretty damn perfect in regard to the slowdown.
I was shocked and pleased beyond belief to discover this. I think they must have made an emulator and emulated it, because it's spot on (whereas Xbox 360 mode is not). So what do you do, play the prettier X360 mode with the messed up slowdown, or the near-perfect Arcade mode with the blocky, ugly graphics? I have to say, I played Arcade mode, and I was scoring exactly as I did on the PCB. It just "felt right". When I play X360 mode it looks nice, but it doesn't feel right.
So I'll probably stick with the uglier, but accurate Arcade mode. I need to try it on my RGB monitor - it'll look better there than on my LCD. I hope and pray they make a scanline patch for this game. That would be so nice, and require very little effort on their part.
I also have to say ver 1.1 is awesome, and well worth the price of this port by itself. Unlike the other Cave arrange modes (that Cave has made), it's much harder than the original game.
Features of Ver 1.1:
-power up at 100 on the counter
-multiplier constantly reduces any time you are not in power up mode
-You get full large gold crowns once you pass 10,000 on the counter (just like DS, but unlike DSMBL)
-the counter seems to go down much faster in power up mode than in DS or DSMBL
-You only get a bullet cancel when you power up at 1000.
-only 1 bomb per life
-bombing to refill item counter does not work
For Shalashaka: keep in mind DSMBL will also offer both Arcade (accurate emulation) and X360 (pretty graphics but likely less accurate slowdown) modes.
Please let us know how arcade mode looks on your RGB.
I'm looking to get a new monitor right now and considering that or a CRT.
Quote from: EOJ on April 26, 2009, 12:30:15 AM
Arcade mode is pretty damn perfect in regard to the slowdown.
I was shocked and pleased beyond belief to discover this. I think they must have made an emulator and emulated it, because it's spot on (whereas Xbox 360 mode is not).
I'm not wondering much about this, as I have read in an interview on this very site, that Ikeda was personally in charge for slowdown management. Besides that, the "SH-3" has tremendously CPU power and slowdown should be rather intentional on their latest games or at least it's more controllable as on SH-1/2/m68k CPUs.
Ikeda was responsible for ver 1.1 and X360 mode, not Arcade mode. And if all the slowdown is all programmed, then why is X360 mode not nearly as accurate as Arcade mode? If Arcade mode is emulated as it appears to be, then it makes sense that Ikeda wouldn't need to program any slowdown there.
Also, you must not know much about SH3 hardware, or you haven't played many of the recent games. The hardware can't handle that much before it starts to stutter (see Daifukkatsu, DSMBL, MMP, Futari BL (where the on-screen display disappears when there is too much on screen!), etc).
I'm not the only one who has discovered that Arcade mode is more accurate (gameplay-wise) than X360 mode - on the current leaderboards for the port the high score in Arcade mode is 555mil, while it is only 440mil in X360 mode.
Alright, I've spent more time with Arcade mode, and I am really amazed at how perfect it is. All of the slowdown is where it should be, at the speed it should be. Everything is smooth as silk. I don't see myself going back to X360 mode. Perfect gameplay > prettier graphics.
This is Arika quality "perfect" we're talking about (sans the 240p output, of course). Just give me the scanline patch and I'll be in heaven.
Ok I thought he was responsible for Arcade too. My posting wasn't meant critical towards your post, as your response seems to imply.
Hmm, regarding slowdown on SH-3, I'm pretty sure it's caused by bad/lazy programming then. Hell, I can do easily 172 bullets on NEOGEO at 60fps and it not even has remotely the power of CPS-2/PGM/SH-3. Of course 172 is nothing compared to today's cave standards. On SH-3 1000-1500 bullets should be easily doable though. But I have to admit I don't know their latest games, as my PCB buy limit is at 500 EUR. I wish, I could program someday on a SH-3 though :cool:.
Maybe the slowdown is GPU generated and not CPU wise? As their games are vsynced this could affect the games performance. Do they have sprite flickering on the latest games? If not it could indicate that the GPU is using a full screen framebuffer and draws always the whole spriteload. It wouldn't be a fault of the programmer then, it would be clearly a hardware issue. Anyway it's just speculation and their games wouldn't work without slowdown anyway, wouldn't they?.
But it's good to see, that they seem to have a good emulation of their SH-3 hardware. Something 5pb can't say about their PGM stuff. This will hopefully affect the PCB prices soon.
I understand where you're coming from. As for sprite flicker, it does indeed occur - in Futari Black label, for example, when you trigger a large number of multipliers the on screen display flickers and disappears for a second or two, and your character's sprite flickers (and sometimes disappears for over 1 second). Reminds me of when I used to play NES games as a kid! =D
Slowdown in SH3 games doesn't seem too dependent on bullet count - rather the number of sprites and your shot affect it greatly. I guess these tax the GPU more than the bullets. I'm no programmer though, so you would know better than I.
The good news is if Arcade mode is indeed emulated, they could release any of their SH3 games on the X360 quite easily and cheaply - probably a lot of it on XBLA (Muchi Muchi Pork and Galuda II have both been mentioned by Cave staff as possibilities). And these would be MAME-quality in their accuracy.
I find Xbox 360 mode pretty smooth, it hasn't frustrated me yet. I'd go as far as saying Arcade is almost unplayable on a HDTV. If you want the authentic arcade experience its time to dig out that CRT. Theres a frightening amount going on without slowdown in 1.1 mode. I bet the Xbox 360 version of MBL rank999 is a larf!
I've played all mode on my set up in several ways..... I've tried it in 480p and 1080i on my sony CRT. The results are quite nice.... alot nicer than on a LCD that I tried it on.
Arcade mode looks blocky but it's str8 up linedoubled and seems to have no filtering. If you played arcade mode and sent the video via a VGA cord to an emotia, then out to a RGB monitor it should look VERY close to the arcade board.
The enhanced visual modes look pretty damn good all things considered my a high res CRT. LCD looked ok also... but not as nice.
I also was shocked by the results of the enhanced visuals going to a regular standard def. TV..... I took it to a friends house and it looked great actually. I would say it looked the best like this. I imagine it would really nice via a low res RGB monitor.
Regardless, if cave is kind enough to add a scanline option for arcade mode.... this port will be fantastic in my eyes. So much content and extras.
my typing was awful above... sorry, been up all night.
I have piles of shit to dig through, but I gave 1.1 a whirl. Very fun. Glad I bought this...even if MBL is a complete dud (which I'm sure it's not). Takes a while to get into the mode of leaving your option on the bad guys to get a lot more points. 2nd credit and I got to the canyon (880 mil). I'm sure that will suck by tomorrow though.
My game hasn't arrived yet, unfortunately. I guess it will come tomorrow. I've been watching this thread from the beginning. However, through it all..I think I've got it all twisted up in regards to the differences between each mode. Obviously, arcade mode is just a straight port. However, can someone give me a brief summary of gameplay differences from mode to mode (360, 1.1, MBL). Also, which modes support the updated graphics and which do not. Just want to be sure I'm clear on all this as I think I've gotten some things mixed up along the way.
I really hope this arrives tomorrow. It's been a long wait.
ill have the game here soon but no JAP console :( , ive always got my 21" RGB Scart TV out ready for these types of games , can someone please hook this game upto a Low res CRT RGB screen in arcade mode and post some pics :righton:
Thanks
Good info on the port EOJ, I'm amazed they actually emulated the slowdown properly.
And that Otomedius stick is quality :righton:
Quote from: SuperPang on April 26, 2009, 07:25:33 AM
I find Xbox 360 mode pretty smooth, it hasn't frustrated me yet.
Well compared to the original PCB, it's definitely not smooth (or in the right places). But on its own, I can see how it wouldn't be bothersome, once you plan your strats around it. The fact it has a separate hi score ranking from Arcade and 1.1 makes it fine in my eyes. People can compete in whichever score chart they choose.
In other news I've gotten over 1 billion in ver 1.1 mode (only played 2 credits there thus far). One thing that's sort of annoying with my otomedius stick and that mode is that I only have 4 buttons and you cannot power up with A+B, so I have to assign that to the fourth button, and then I have no button to control my option (I can still move it as in Arcade mode, but the control option lets you manipulate it very close to your character). Maybe I should try using my Hori X360 pad.
Just tried out Training mode (which is just a practice mode). Close to no loads, and the options are comprehensive. I can start at the Canyon with 1000 on my counter and 10,000 on my multiplier and practice over and over. Awesome.
BTW I did a quick 1CC in X360 mode w/ Follett and uploaded it to the leaderboards - it's 159.9mil, but it doesn't appear on the leaderboards (so far)...
I need to play w/ that option thing. I've got just under a billion, but that button isn't mapped (I'm just using 4). I figured it would get too confusing. And the lack of power up w/ A+B kind of sucks.
I'm still not online. My Wireless option in my dashboard is ghosted out. Do arcade units not have a wireless connection?
Quote from: GaijinPunch on April 26, 2009, 06:43:03 PM
I need to play w/ that option thing. I've got just under a billion, but that button isn't mapped (I'm just using 4). I figured it would get too confusing. And the lack of power up w/ A+B kind of sucks.
I'm still not online. My Wireless option in my dashboard is ghosted out. Do arcade units not have a wireless connection?
None of them do, it's not built in. You either have to get the 360 wireless adapter, or just get a wireless ethernet bridge (which will likely be cheaper)
The most f'd up stage in X360 mode is definitely the Forest. Slowdown is missing on the floating islands, which is really annoying as you're trying to score in power up mode and some bullets speed up when they're not supposed to, causing you to die. The boss is also totally screwed up (big apples are too fast, whole last phase is much faster than it should be, etc). The other stages are manageable, but the Forest is really disappointing.
Not played 360 mode, but the boss is a piece of piss in 1.1. Just do the "over and under" trick w/ the apples.
Yeah, the boss is the same in ver 1.1 as in X360 mode.
Just start to mosey on up the screen as that first wave of bullets is over... when the apples come out, go directly down, and never look back.
Thanks for the tip. Have you downloaded the replays from the top ver 1.1 scores yet? They're over 7bil, and really awesome. I downloaded one for Windia, and one for Follett. It's easier for me to use Windia in this mode (when I'm using my stick), as her option is closer to her hitbox.
Another ver 1.1 tip, in case you didn't know: using lock-shot on a boss makes your item counter go up really fast. Really easy to max it out at 1000 in a short amount of time, even if you start the fight with 0.
You managed to convinced me, I ordered the game today =D
Didn't know that, EOJ. Thanks.
I'll try to get online tonight and download the replays as well. I just got to Ass-satan or whatever the last guy is. Going to be a hard clear w/ that 1-bomb bullshit. My score was 1.6X bil. I think the counter goes down faster as it gets higher. I started the Castle w/ over 50,000, and never got it up to 60,000. IN fact, it was 49-52 most of the castle stage. :(
Oh... I learned the hardway. Don't power up on the last bosses. :(
EDIT: Do I have to load my scores each time I power up? It always starts w/ a clear slate.
You're gonna want to sign in with your profile every time. That way when you connect it to the net your scores will (hopefully) get upped to the leaderboards.
I don't know why, but I play in Score Attack mode, upload my scores and then they never appear on the leaderboards. :rolleyes:
I played a round of COOP with a Japanese dude, and it was running at like 10fps. The guy kept choosing rank 1 and after 2 stages I just gave up.
BTW top score in ver 1.1 is now 10.5 bil w/ Follett. Download that replay, it's awesome! He dies twice in the last stage, so it seems 12~13bil (maybe more?) is possible with a no miss and near perfect scoring.
Ok, my 159.9mil X360 mode score IS on the scoreboard. I didn't notice you need to change the "EX ON" to "EX OFF" to see my score (as I didn't go through the Canyon). Should have figured, since this is how Arcadia segments the scores.
Too bad they only seem to keep the replays for the top 10 scores in each mode up for download.
How do you download the replays? Is it from the leaderboards?
Yeah, just go to the leaderboards, and if one of the top 10 scores has a paperclip icon at the end of it, you can download the gameclip.
That replay was wicked. Lots of cool tricks.
I think I'm really missing the boat not using the option button. It feels so weird though.
I'm thinking of doing the following for ver 1.1: mapping left shot, right shot, option, and power up to the four buttons. Then when I get to one of the bosses in chapter 4, pause the game, change the option button to the bomb button, and continue like that. Thankfully they let you change the buttons on the fly, so you can pause it whenever and swap them. This is the only reasonable solution I can think of for ver 1.1 with an Otomedius stick.
Also, I tested this on my RGB monitor. For those wondering how Arcade mode looks, well, it is interlaced, so it looks like any other interlaced originally 240p game on an RGB monitor. It is not blurry like the Mushi or Ibara ports (thank God), and the gameplay is so perfect that other than the lack of scanlines I can't tell the difference between it and the arcade PCB when I'm playing it. It certainly looks 10x better than playing it on an LCD. I should add ver 1.1 and X360 mode look stellar on an RGB monitor. Really beautiful actually.
QuoteI should add ver 1.1 and X360 mode look stellar on an RGB monitor. Really beautiful actually.
agreed.. it looks fantastic. I play it on my CRT HDTV mostly though. I have not seen it on a LCD, how does 1.1/360 mode look on LCD?
1.1 and 360 both look great on an LCD.
Bad news. Just played Arcade mode on my RGB monitor again and I noticed the backgrounds have a weird transparent "wave" or "ripple" effect that goes over them as you move. Similar to the one found in the Mushi and Ibara ports. Is this some kind of filter? Why would they put this in the port? It looks pretty awful.
With that said, I didn't notice it my first time playing, and when you're actually playing you aren't looking at the backgrounds, but still, it is disappointing and lowers the port a notch in my book.
BTW you don't see this effect in the backgrounds when you play in progressive scan on an HD set.
Have you tried on a CRT monitor via VGA cable?
No, but that would be progressive scan, so it would look similar to an LCD. Arcade mode would be really blocky and ugly, I'd think.
You are right about the progressive scan... Well that's the way I am set with the Xbox, will update on that whenever I receive my copy
You can still output 480i through a VGA connection... just select it in the Xbox. It doesn't really offer anything over your current setup though, in terms of signal loss.
I'm tempted to hook this up to the old arcade monitor and give it a whirl. Would probably like it better considering I don't have to distract myself w/ the wallpapers.
Got 2 bil and change in 1.1. That option stuff is really weird feeling. Almost wish it wasn't there, but you really need it at times.
I'd love to see a pic of X360 mode running in 640x480 on a 31k arcade monitor. You could also send it to Cave to let them know what DS2 should look like.
I am actually wondering why they didn't go for high-rez 2D with the new hardware. I am thinking about something close the latest Vanillaware or Arc System titles.
Is that much more costly or difficult to make than a 3D game?
Yes, both. Polygons are far more economical unfortanetely.
Quote from: EOJ on April 28, 2009, 12:35:42 AM
Also, I tested this on my RGB monitor. For those wondering how Arcade mode looks, well, it is interlaced, so it looks like any other interlaced originally 240p game on an RGB monitor. It is not blurry like the Mushi or Ibara ports (thank God), and the gameplay is so perfect that other than the lack of scanlines I can't tell the difference between it and the arcade PCB when I'm playing it. It certainly looks 10x better than playing it on an LCD. I should add ver 1.1 and X360 mode look stellar on an RGB monitor. Really beautiful actually.
EOJ you just made my day , thanks :)
Quote from: trev1976 on April 28, 2009, 01:10:26 PM
EOJ you just made my day , thanks :)
Make sure you read my subsequent post about the weird ripple effect on the backgrounds.
Mode 1.1 is very nice but damn hard to play with that that option.
Quote from: EOJ on April 28, 2009, 02:34:00 PM
Quote from: trev1976 on April 28, 2009, 01:10:26 PM
EOJ you just made my day , thanks :)
Make sure you read my subsequent post about the weird ripple effect on the backgrounds.
oh god damn :-\ hmm ill check it out myself when i get round to it , got to get a JAP 360 yet might see if GP can get me one ;), damn shame about the ripple effect tho :'(
I wrote this up today:
A brief analysis of the Deathsmiles port accuracy (http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=569.0)
A CRT is definitely the way to go, I've found that Xbox 360 mode's backgrounds blend in way better. Playing it on an LCD isn't out of the question, though. I just wouldn't bother with Arcade mode then.
How important is the lock shot? I've never played this before, and my Death Smiles stick only has 3 buttons (left, right and bomb I guess).
For the lock-shot use A+B (except in ver 1.1). It's very important to scoring, and enables you to enter power up mode. You can read more in my guide:
http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=281.0
Don't they still give off more crowns w/ the lock shot in 1.1? That 10-bil replay uses it (on the eyeball things) to refill... also getting the counter up to 1000 it's necessary, and don't forget refilling on the boss... that's huge.
yeah, all the enemy shot-type stuff is still the same in ver 1.1 (e.g. use lock-shot on the islands in the Forest when in power up mode for more crowns).
Does the item counter deplete faster w/ A+B rather than A or B, etc? Seems like it, but then again, I'm an idiot w/ such stuff.
Also, how do I add someone as a friend? Just type their name in and it sends some type of invitation?
Wow, thanks for the fantastic guide, I leaned a lot. This is one of those games that I really want to get into. I wasn't even aware that you could use A + B outside of power up to use the lock shot. So yeah, 3 buttons should be enough.
What are the advantages of the turbo settings? Does your option fire faster or something? Also, is the volcanic boss exploit/bug still in the port?
Quote from: Megalixir on April 28, 2009, 10:52:04 PM
What are the advantages of the turbo settings? Does your option fire faster or something? Also, is the volcanic boss exploit/bug still in the port?
Turbo lets you use the shot without having to tap A or B. You need to use shot on many enemies (such as the green eyeballs) to get max crowns.
In the arcade you just had to tap A or B, and that's what I'm used to, so that's what I use (plus I don't have enough buttons on my stick to choose otherwise).
I don't know anything about a volcanic boss exploit. I've never seen any guy with a good score use it, so it doesn't seem to be of importance. Ditto with the "tutorial bug".
Dunno where the vid went, but the guy basically manages to make the volcanic boss' firewall useless, it just stays on the screen and you can move freely around in it. It might have been a one-off, though I wonder if any of these bugs will surface now that the port's out.
Are bombs based on the location of your character, or the location of your option? I'm trying to strategically bomb on the huge rock in the volcanic level and it isn't working like the replay suggests. He's in Fever mode, and he bombs around the time the green eyeballs on the right reach the top of the screen. I'm not sure if it has to do with bombing at the right position, at the right time of the power-up counter, or what. Seems like he bombs at 250, which brings it back to 0, then high crowns drop everywhere and he's bakc to 1000 instantly. Seems like I'm doing the same but it doesn't drop high crowns, max I'll get is maybe back to 400 or so.
It's the top Windia replay, btw.
It's based on your option, and the direction you're facing.
I hooked up the my 360 to the Arcade monitor. Looks fantastic in 1.1. Didn't try 360 mode. Arcade mode in 480p is about the worst thing I've seen in the consumer market. Totally unplayable. Not sure what it would look interlaced. I tried to take some photos w/ different settings, but they all came out pretty shit.
thanks for the doing the comparison EOJ very helpful :righton:
I think some of the "achievement lovers" out there are never going to get a few of the juicier achievements in this game - such as 1CCing ver 1.1 and getting through all 5 stages in ver 1.1 plus the Canyon all at rank 3 with NO CONTINUES. Those both take actual skill. I 1CC'd ver 1.1 last night but I was down to my last life and no bombs. Not easy, because you only get 1 bomb per life.
Personally I don't give a rat's ass about achievement points, but some people take this stuff seriously.
I take it your 1CC was w/o the Canyon? I've gotten to the boss, but didn't even make it to the halfway mark. The 1-bomb per life really puts a damper on things. Did you do all Rank 3?
Yeah, no canyon. Mostly rank 3, one or two rank 2s.
Thought about doing that as well. I find the volcano harder than the castle for the most part. It's just the boss that's a total dick.
I just did a 3.97bil ALL with Windia in ver 1.1 (all rank 3). I'm currently ranked #18 in the ver 1.1 No EX chart. I'll put the score up in the hi score forum in a minute.
BTW the new top score in the ver 1.1 EX chart is 12 bil. :o
Media Create sales numbers are out for Deathsmiles:
06./00. [360] Death Smiles (Cave) - 20,000 / NEW
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=360145
Asada said on the Deathsmiles blog that CAVE received 20,000 orders for the game. If Asada was talking about numbers shipped, then this means that the first shipment completely sold out. Still, I saw some copies at my local Sofmap so this means that there was probably already a second shipment since Media Create sales numbers are pretty reliable.
Other observations:
The game charted at #6 in game software sales. That is extremely good for a 360 game, and for a shooter. Quite curious to see how it charts next week.
I picked up a copy of the new Famitsu 360 mag and they indicate that Otomedius' first week sales were 14,586. DDPDOJBLEX had 10,526.
Once word spreads about the quality of the port I'm sure that it will be the best-selling shooter on the system and perhaps even push its way into the 40k range, which is enough to qualify along with games like Fallout 3 etc. in the top 10 360 games sales-wise per year. If that happens, MS will certainly start to pay more attention to shooters than it already is.
I just fucked up a great run up until 3-1... then died three times, punched my fucking monitor and decided to put some more time into Oboromuramasa. I hate this fucking hobby sometimes.
20k is a great number for the 360. What 360 game has the highest launch numbers, I wonder.
Last Remnant narrowly beats Tales of Vesparia with 102,107 sold first week.
Pretty nice breakdown of all the first week numbers and year-on-year sales in the latest Fami360 since the 360 just broke 1 million consoles sold here.
The instant recharge stuff is a gigantic pain in the ass. Was it replaced with something else in MBL?
Edit: I guess you can't practice bosses in practice mode either.
The recharge wasn't replaced in MBL (or 1.1) but it was somewhat dulled down since you can power up at 500 in MBL, and 100 in 1.1. The kicker is some character's recharge differently. Follett can do most of them w/o a bomb, but the timing has to be perfect.
Ok. I just tried online co-op with Khoa and it's fucking terrible. If you live outside of Japan, playing online is impossible. The netcode isn't like clientside, meaning it isn't like Otomedius at all, but rather both sides have to sync up properly in order for it to progress.
Ugh, of all games, DS sucks at netcode and Otomedius is fine.
You can't bomb to recharge in ver 1.1, and while you can do it in MBL, it's not really worth it. You're better off conserving your bombs as unlike vanilla DS, when you die it really hurts your score, so suiciding for a fresh bomb stock is out of the question.
Just managed a 1.71 bill score in ver 1.1. I've only played this about 10 times though, and I don't really understand the final stage at all. I must be doing something wrong, because I'm only rank 88, and this is a pretty small leaderboard.
Anyone else notice your scores don't save to the in-game (all time, not "today's") leaderboards? Everytime I start the game from a fresh load all my scores are wiped. I have automatic saving turned on. Must be a bug, they should be fixing it for the upcoming patch.
Or does this only happen when you install the game to a hdd? I've never played without the game installed.
I've not checked what place I am, but I've got 2.6 bil or so, w/o a clear. On the flip side, I know the scoring system quite well, but I've not played the other variants seriously in months. I popped MBL in recently but only played it about 20 credits or so. Need to revisit it. The spread in scoring in 1.1 is huge. You really have to know how to get the most skulls out the enemies, and wear to do it. I'm sure I could get 4+ bil if I would quit fucking up. Dying really kills your score. If I die before 3-2, I pretty much restart (means I've only entered my name three times).
My game finally arrived yesterday. I've enjoyed what little i got to play thus far.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows what this xbl card that came with it gets me?
It gives you voices for Xbox 360 mode's dialogue cutscenes.
And only Xbox 360 mode for some reason.
Is it better to use the lockshot independently? Using A + B seems to have a slightly different effect.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 01, 2009, 02:12:08 AM
Is it better to use the lockshot independently? Using A + B seems to have a slightly different effect.
Are you talking about ver 1.1? I've not tried assigning lockshot to a separate button. I doubt there's any difference though.
Nah, Xbox 360 mode. All the top replays seem to destroy enemies that need to be killed with the lockshot, with their option and then they hold down the lockshot button by itself. I find it pretty tedious to do this way, so I just use A + B and get as close to the enemies as possible as Windia.
Also, my JP friend told me that CAVE have announced that they're going to fix the online netcode, but MBL is delayed because of it. Sounds good enough to me.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 01, 2009, 04:26:51 AM
Nah, Xbox 360 mode. All the top replays seem to destroy enemies that need to be killed with the lockshot, with their option and then they hold down the lockshot button by itself. I find it pretty tedious to do this way, so I just use A + B and get as close to the enemies as possible as Windia.
This is the same thing people did in the arcade version (at least with Windia and Rosa). You have to do it for a good score. I just hold down A+B (or if you put it on a separate button, whatever), which is what those guys are doing.
As for the patch, they're fixing a variety of things (including the problem with the disc spinning once you install it to a hdd, and the 1UP glitch), and it's due at the end of May or early June. Too bad MBL got delayed because of it!
One last thing: Mihara mentioned two more secret achievements - one is getting 200+mil in Arcade or X360 mode, the other is getting 300+mil. Good luck on that last one.
I don't mind, part of why I pay for Xbox Gold is to play cooperatively or competitively with the games I purchase. If I can't do that, there isn't much purpose in paying for it.
How come only Windia and Rosa requires you to kill things with your option and then use the lock shot? I've only really been using Windia so far, because I like her option's movement. Still, killing enemies with only your option is pretty irritating at times.
Quote from: adverse on April 30, 2009, 08:52:11 AM
Last Remnant narrowly beats Tales of Vesparia with 102,107 sold first week.
Pretty nice breakdown of all the first week numbers and year-on-year sales in the latest Fami360 since the 360 just broke 1 million consoles sold here.
Just a correction to this:
Turns out SO4 had the highest single week sales for a 360 title, at 160,000 or so.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 01, 2009, 04:37:10 AM
How come only Windia and Rosa requires you to kill things with your option and then use the lock shot? I've only really been using Windia so far, because I like her option's movement. Still, killing enemies with only your option is pretty irritating at times.
Their option shot trails and lingers on an enemy for a few seconds. You can do it in some cases with Casper and Follett as well, but their play styles (due to their options) involve more direct lock-shot use. I use Windia in ver 1.1, and Follett in the other modes.
Ah crap damn hell. I liked this game way more prior to testing Follett out. Not much reason to work with Windia in comparison.
How do Sakura's options work? Forward makes them go back, going back makes them go forwards and shooting locks them into place?
Quote from: Megalixir on May 01, 2009, 04:34:03 PM
Ah crap damn hell. I liked this game way more prior to testing Follett out. Not much reason to work with Windia in comparison.
How do Sakura's options work? Forward makes them go back, going back makes them go forwards and shooting locks them into place?
I actually prefer her the best over the others because of her options, especially playing with the suicide bullets.
According to this article:
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090501_167987.html
The DS port has sold over 30,000 copies as of today.
Quote from: hermosaguy on May 01, 2009, 11:40:58 PMI actually prefer her the best over the others because of her options, especially playing with the suicide bullets.
Prefer who the best?
Quote from: EOJ on May 02, 2009, 04:50:24 AM
According to this article:
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090501_167987.html
The DS port has sold over 30,000 copies as of today.
That is a super healthy number that will warrant more shooting games on the 360 :)
Quote from: hermosaguy on May 02, 2009, 01:30:14 PM
Quote from: EOJ on May 02, 2009, 04:50:24 AM
According to this article:
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090501_167987.html
The DS port has sold over 30,000 copies as of today.
That is a super healthy number :)
Yeah, and it's only been out a week!
Finally figured out the score saving bug thanks to 2Ch. It's really annoying. I put the info on the DS strat page:
http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=571.0
On the leaderboards, I find it odd that the top 360 mode score is quite a bit lower than the top arcade score.
Also in regards to leaderboards, i find it odd that I haven't seen the scores change since the day I bought the game. With so many copies sold, are people really not playing?
I also find it odd that restart (at least in 360 mode, not sure about the others) restarts you at the beginning of your current stage with whatever points, lives, bombs, bonuses, etc that you had when you initially started that stage. I would think it would restart you with a clean slate at the beginning. Doesn't this allow for score boosting?
Yes, it does.
But you can't restart if you're playing on the leaderboards, so it can't be exploited. It's stupid either way, "restart" should mean restart the game, and it should work that way for both.
I got a 4.7bil score in ver 1.1 with Windia (No EX). It is ranked #14 overall, but if you change the last option to "Monthly" instead of "overall", it is ranked #5, and from there you can download and watch my replay. :righton:
I got an odd bug yesterday. An Xbox Live error message that proceeded to kick me out of score attack during a run. Didn't sign me out of Live or anything, connection was fine.
Got 3.6 bil w/ Follet just a second ago. Didn't beat the boss, b/c I mapped the bomb to some weird shit and lost two lives w/o bombing. :( I know, I suck. Next time. Only had one death preboss, and that was on the castle. W/ the counter at 92k, dying there really hurts.
Quote from: EOJ on May 03, 2009, 01:11:18 AM
I got a 4.7bil score in ver 1.1 with Windia (No EX). It is ranked #14 overall, but if you change the last option to "Monthly" instead of "overall", it is ranked #5, and from there you can download and watch my replay. :righton:
I saw your replay,couple stage,you don't use a proper button for your option do you?
Quote from: KOMA on May 03, 2009, 02:02:24 PM
I saw your replay,couple stage,you don't use a proper button for your option do you?
I use four buttons: left shot, right shot, option, power up. I don't have a bomb button, and I use lock shot with A+B. I only use the option
button after I kill bosses and suck up all the suicide bullets.
That's what i thought,obviously it is the only way to play with a stick. I'm at 730M for now :/
1.1 is great. Too bad you can't practice any of the stages though.
I'm at 1.7bill with Windia, which is ranked 100 or something on the leaderboards. Dying is not an option if you want to score properly. Even once, it can take off 20k from your multiplier. Ouch.
I died a couple times in the first 6 stages in my 4.7bil run. If I didn't, it would have been over 5bil, probably near 6bil.
I think I'd be happy with a 6+bil ALL (No EX). Just gotta keep playing for a run where everything falls into place.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 03, 2009, 04:21:22 PM
1.1 is great. Too bad you can't practice any of the stages though.
Hey Megalixir, where did you find that icon for your avatar ? :D
Just got 4.76bil, with a Clear (had 3 spare lives left as well). Too bad I had a lousy lakeside (with one death), and a subpar Castle.
Quote from: rtw on May 03, 2009, 04:42:41 PM
Quote from: Megalixir on May 03, 2009, 04:21:22 PM
1.1 is great. Too bad you can't practice any of the stages though.
Hey Megalixir, where did you find that icon for your avatar ? :D
From this image:
(http://loliserv.org/~elixir/stuff/1039521_m_thumb.jpg) (http://loliserv.org/~elixir/stuff/1039521_m.jpg)
Anyway I'm currently rank 60 with 1.96 bill, hopefully I'll be able to reach 2 bill soon. Having a couple of issues with the volcano boss but I'll figure it out.
In 1.1, are the skull values the same as 1.0? Wouldn't that mean I really don't want to let things break until I'm up in the 70k or so counter zone?
Yes, skulls are the same value as in the regular mode, but when you are in power up mode you should always let them break (just like regular DS). When you're not in power up mode, you don't want any large skulls to break.
But in terms of othe overall counter, aren't the big crowns (+20) better than the skulls (+2 or whatever)? Got 3.987 bil w/ clear. They couldn't just give me the extra pocket change, now could they? :/
Nice score!! Follett is harder to score with than Windia (in ver 1.1).
In power-up mode the large crowns are worth less than if you let them break into single skulls. From our strategy guide here:
"In power-up mode all the items are equal, so a High crown will add the same to your counter as a Skeleton Ring. What matters is the +Value. The higher it is, the higher the value each item will add to your +Value. Here are the details:
When +Value is 0~ +1
+100~ +2
+200~ +4
+500~ +8
+1000~ +12
+2000~ +16
+5000~ +20
Thus, unlike in the normal mode, in Power-up mode it is more beneficial to let the High crowns break into 2, and again into 4, as even at the lowest +Value the High Crown will add +1 but four Skeleton Rings will add +4. At +5000 and beyond the difference is even more pronounced: only +20 for a high crown, but +80 for four Skeleton Rings."
Cool, thanks. I find the suicide bullets make it harder to let them break in some stages. And on the trains, I alwyas lose like half of them as they start flying the other direction. >:D
Quote from: Megalixir
From this image:
(http://loliserv.org/~elixir/stuff/1039521_m_thumb.jpg) (http://loliserv.org/~elixir/stuff/1039521_m.jpg)
Anyway I'm currently rank 60 with 1.96 bill, hopefully I'll be able to reach 2 bill soon. Having a couple of issues with the volcano boss but I'll figure it out.
Nice :D But where did you get that image ? Is it part of the xbox360 package ?
I found it on pixiv.
Anyway I broke 2 bill, and I've come to the conclusion that dying more than once basically kills your multiplier and ends your run. Sadly I'm enjoying 1.1 over the original game right now. Maybe I'd enjoy the original game more if my favorite character (Windia) wasn't overpowered by Follett. Hopefully Sakura will give me some more interest once MBL rolls out. I wonder if they'll put Sakura in 1.1 too.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 04, 2009, 03:53:00 AM
Anyway I broke 2 bill, and I've come to the conclusion that dying more than once basically kills your multiplier and ends your run.
If you don't like this aspect of ver 1.1, you won't like the scoring in MBL. When you die there your multiplier reduces by 30%. It's harder to raise the multiplier in that game as well.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 04, 2009, 03:53:00 AM
I found it on pixiv.
Thanks for the info, may I ask what you used for search string (kanjii) ?
Follet is stronger, and she has the ability to recharge w/o bombing, but she has downside too. There's plenty of scoring opportunities that Windia has over Follet. I think 1.1 would be too easy w/ Sakura as her double-options have such a huge radius.
EOJ: No, I do like this aspect, and I also like how easy it is to get recharge. I'm enjoying 1.1 over the vanilla version, though really I think it should be the other way around (same deal with Ibara actually). One reason is because Windia's useful in this mode, and I'm not a fan of Follett. Even if she's better in the vanillla version.
rtw: Search for either ローザ or デススマイルズ and stuff should come up.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 04, 2009, 12:37:33 PM
rtw: Search for either ローザ or デススマイルズ and stuff should come up.
Thank you, it sure did :D Thanks for all your help :righton:
Hey EOJ, I saw your replay. You don't power up before the first boss and Mary, is there any reason as to why?
Also, regarding the huge dog in the Canyon, is there any advantages of going to the right, then left of him instead of just staying bottom left the entire time?
Is that my most recent replay, the 4.76bil clear in ver 1.1? If so, I must have made a mistake on the first boss and Mary. I should powerup at the end of each boss fight, of course.
For the Canyon's big dog midboss, going to the far left and far right lets you leech more crowns off of him (staying far away lets the crowns break into skulls, which is what you want).
I actually thought it was 3.8 bill or something there. The run ended in the dance hall area.
Wish this mode didn't require so many buttons. My DS stick is perfect for this game, but yeah, 3 buttons just isn't sufficient.. guess I'll have to stick with my SF4 FightPad for now.
Ah, OK, that's the run where I went through the Canyon. I was mainly trying for a clear there, but didn't quite make it to the last boss.
Just got a 5.4bil ALL with Windia in 1.1 (No EX). I think I'm done with that mode now, at least the non-Canyon route. Time to learn that damn Canyon stage.
Yeah, saw your score. Watching your run now. Looks like you got that Volcano dwon, and don't need the option manipulation button. That alone is reason to switch. I got 4.7bil w/ Follett (no EX clear). Feel free to watch it, and laugh at my crappy excuse for fight w/ the last boss. The canyon is fun once you learn it.
I need to weigh in doing Halloween Town first. I might be giving up points by starting in the forest. I don't get the counter to 99,999 until 3-1 at best.
I'm kind of urged to play MBL now though.
I have the same problem in 1.1 than in DS(vanilla vers) i need skill to refill my counter and let the skulls down to the ground. :-\
I just spent a half hour practicing the canyon in Arcade mode over and over (I love the quick restart in training mode). I'm trying to learn the "no power up, leech bullets till your multiplier maxes out" pattern seen on the DVDs. Jesus that's hard. I did manage to get through to the midway point of the descent (after the midboss) without dying, with the multiplier up to ~7000 (starting at 0 at the beginning of the stage), but the second half of the stage will take some work, and I'm far from consistent on the first half. Still, if I can learn this, my score will skyrocket, so it seems worth the effort. Of course then I have to deal with getting through the Castle without entering power up mode...
Got the game today and I must say...I am blown away.
It feels very good and responsive and has that"arcade-feeling" to it.
I love ver 1.1 and the game just sucks me in.
Long time since I was so impressed with gameplay and things that happen on the screen.
Love the sound/music and the zoom screen function is fun to play around with. On an tft monitor with DVI it looks really good.
Now I have to practice more scoring...
I've got the most depressing attempt at a 5 bil run up for DL (note the score).
I just got a 5.57bil ALL on one of my sloppiest runs. A death on the lakeside boss, then 3 deaths in the Castle. Still beat my previous score though.
Anyway, with my new pattern, if I can no miss up to Jitterbug like I did on my 5.4bil run, my score will be well over 6bil, maybe in the 6.5bil range.
I watched your 5.4 bil run, and definition saw room for improvement. Is it me, or should you have waited to power up at 1000 (instead of 750 or 850) at multiple spots in the game?
Quote from: GaijinPunch on May 05, 2009, 08:36:39 PM
Is it me, or should you have waited to power up at 1000 (instead of 750 or 850) at multiple spots in the game?
I'm sure I mistimed some power ups. Hard to get them all perfect in a run.
The Castle just has my number. I managed a 5.2 bil clear, but died twice in the castle... once before the cow. Not good for the old score I'll try again tomorrow. I want to do a perfect (or at least near perfect) run before trying the Canyon. That boss is an absolute whore. I don't like this 1 bomb thing
Received mine today, and have been playing for about three hours, the game is great! :whyioughtta: , now, need to improve my score, because is a bit shitty, I'm going to download some of you replays :laugh:
Hm, where to find the right leaderboard?
The top one for me is the 4.6 one with Casper.
Good news: According to the official CAVE blog, Mega Black Label will be available for download in the middle of next week. It will be 1200MS points. The patch is still due end of May/beginning of June. I'm glad they decided to roll out MBL earlier. :righton:
Bad news: Mega Black Label will only have Arcade/X360 modes, and the ability to put up your score on the leaderboards. No Coop play, no training mode, and no replay uploads/downloads. :(
Too bad they don't included those options but i'm happy the game come earlier.I've some problem to play arcade/xbox 360 mode after 1.1 :(
Quote from: EOJ on May 07, 2009, 01:52:37 PM
Good news: According to the official CAVE blog, Mega Black Label will be available for download in the middle of next week. It will be 1200MS points. The patch is still due end of May/beginning of June. I'm glad they decided to roll out MBL earlier. :righton:
Bad news: Mega Black Label will only have Arcade/X360 modes, and the ability to put up your score on the leaderboards. No Coop play, no training mode, and no replay uploads/downloads. :(
I wonder if it's possible that they are doing this just to get it out (seeing as they were shooting for having it out on release) and will update with the "extras" later.
In 1.1, why do people empty their power up gauge prior to the boss appearing?
Anyway I just fucked up a great run. 18000 multiplier in Halloween Town, but I ended up getting blindsided by a cart in the sheep stage. Seems like I can only play this in short bursts or I'll end up doing terribly.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 07, 2009, 07:56:24 PM
In 1.1, why do people empty their power up gauge prior to the boss appearing?
If you enter a fight with an active power up gauge, you get 1)a bunch of suicide bullets tossed at you, and 2)it takes longer to recharge your gauge on the boss. It also allows you to milk more points off the last enemies in a level.
Sorry, I meant normal. I saw a replay where he had 100, depleted it prior to the boss, then upped it to 1000 on him.
Quote from: Monouchi on May 07, 2009, 11:36:59 AM
Hm, where to find the right leaderboard?
The top one for me is the 4.6 one with Casper.
The same here, can`t see your gamertags, if the're the same as you nicks.
Quote from: Midnight Milkshake on May 08, 2009, 07:27:23 AM
Quote from: Monouchi on May 07, 2009, 11:36:59 AM
Hm, where to find the right leaderboard?
The top one for me is the 4.6 one with Casper.
The same here, can`t see your gamertags, if the're the same as you nicks.
Ah, switch by using the shoulder buttons. :rolleyes:
Very nice runs. I didnt know about the top and low screen placement on the Forest boss. I was dodging those apples.... :P
There is a new post on the Cave blog today. Basically, the guy talks about a variety of things, the most interesting being:
-At first they wanted to charged 2400MP for Mega Black label. Then they cut it to 1400, and finally 1200 (due to the delay?).
-Arcade mode is NOT EMULATED. They had the PCB playing right next to it, and went through the game and carefully programmed
all the slowdown in. This is a pretty incredible feat, as the slowdown is nearly 100% accurate.
-They discussed whether the slowdown should be as exact in X360 mode, and decided to make it a little different in this regard (perhaps to make the mode more unique?).
-The Futari 1.5 port will have the same producer as the DS port, but unlike the DS port, he won't be the main guy programming the game. He says this is because he will likely be doing "multiple projects at once", so he'll leave the fine details for other programmers under his supervision.
I played two runs in Score attack this after noon - one in ver 1.1, the other in X360 mode. Both times I got "disconnected from Xbox live" randomly during the run, ending my run, and rendering my score null and void. This has never happened to me in Arcade mode (which I also played today). The possibility of this happening during a ver 1.1 run makes me rather apprehensive about playing that mode.
I got that about half an hour ago. Thankfully I was only on the second stage but it still killed my run.
Moreover, I 1cc'd ver 1.1 for the first time, but it didn't give me the achievement. Seriously, what the hell?
Quote from: Megalixir on May 08, 2009, 09:39:26 PM
Moreover, I 1cc'd ver 1.1 for the first time, but it didn't give me the achievement. Seriously, what the hell?
You don't need to 1CC ver 1.1 to get that achievement. Just clear the game, and watch the credits (including the staff roll). Pretty easy.
All settings have to be default, of course.
All settings are default, and I did watch the credits until it asked for my initials and the game over screen appeared, but the achievement didn't appear.
Doesn't really make sense. Was I meant to choose the first option instead?
Well, that's weird. Some of these seem buggy. I must have destroyed that car in the Swamp about 50 times before it gave me the achievement for that (it's supposed to only be 10 times).
So you can get the achievement by simply continuing through 1.1, and there's no 1cc achievement for that mode? That's lame.
Normally I wouldn't care about achievements, but normally they work having to actively seek out why they don't. (I don't even have the notifications on, it's only when I check my profile do I realize what I've obtained).
There's still a 1CC achievement in ver 1.1 - you have to clear all stages at rank 3 and the canyon. It's pretty hard.
I just ran through "PLAY" instead of "Score attack" with 1.1, chose the option for Sakura to return to reality, watched the ending, and nothing came up.
Achievements in this game are seriously bugged. Hopefully the patch will fix this.
Just got a 241mil 1CC in X360 mode with Follett (No EX, no suicide bullets). Only 7mil less than my Arcade mode score. I'm getting used to the different slowdown in that mode, and it's becoming more enjoyable. Plus it doesn't make my eyes bleed, like Arcade mode does.
I tried playing ver 1.1 a few times today and I've really lost interest in that. I find the scoring in the original game to be more exciting. Plus you can die on a boss, or sometimes even in a stage, and it doesn't mess up your score.
QuoteThe possibility of this happening during a ver 1.1 run makes me rather apprehensive about playing that mode.
This is more than likely due to your crappy Hawaiian Internet... if you have any of the normal providers that is.
I understand the appeal of Arcade, but I think I've just had about enough of it. I find it way, way too slow to start, and while scoring is much more forgiving of deaths, the recharge is definitely not. I put in quite a bit of time to clear it w/ EX all on Rank 3. I will attempt 1.1 at some point, but my Canyon play reeks of turd.
I'm becoming surprisingly consistent with the recharge. I can do it midway in the graveyard (with no bomb), in the volcano (w/bomb), and a few other spots almost all the time now. All thanks to training mode, really. =D
4.36 bil on the castle. Not even up to the cow. No miss, 96,500 counter. Disconnected from live. That'll teach me to open my mouth. Fuck this bullshit.
Sorry to hear that. I think I'm just going to skip the glory of the online scoreboards, and play ver 1.1 in offline (if I play that mode any more in the future).
Hopefully with the patch they'll fix this garbage.
Yeah.... for shame. Too bad my only replay up there is somewhat embarrassing.
THIS is awesome:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6998982
Ver 1.1, stage 1-1, Forest, with Casper. He ends with 40,000 on the multiplier and 240mil points. :o
The little scoring trick he does on the boss is something I've never seen in any of the replays from the leaderboards. It makes the on screen display disappear, like in Futari Black Label!
Well, I suck.
I'm noticing that there are some ceatures that will kill you when you hit them, instead of just taking off half a block. I'm a crazy, or is this true?
This whole "dying once before the castle fucks your entire run up" shit is getting old, and fast.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 10, 2009, 04:54:54 AM
This whole "dying once before the castle fucks your entire run up" shit is getting old, and fast.
It fucks your run up when you die on the castle as well. Hate to point it out, but this is true of just about every Cave game minus the Yagawa games (and Mushi original).
Yeah, but some games have a better way of handling punishment for dying. This isn't one of them.
DOJ, for example. (<3)
That's one of the reasons I couldn't really get into MBL. So much relies on getting the counter high, and in a game as random as Deathsmiles I would get killed more than I wanted to. I'm still down to get playing when my net gets back up though.
One game I think had a great way to handle deaths was Mushi Futari Maniac (at least for Black Label), where a death is not going to necessarily fuck up your run. The biggest points come from filling the screen with bullets and filling up on gems/activating the multiplier. One death does not effect a counter that runs for the rest of the game. Futari Original is a good example of another mode that punishes you really hard for deaths, but then again the rank gets so damn high that it's hard not to die at some point.
Futari Original has rank?
Sure does and holy hell do those bullets move fast when you get your counter up there. :o
Does anyone know if this game is region locked to Japan ?
Yes, it's region locked. Just like every other Japan-exclusive X360 game.
Quote from: Shalashaska on May 10, 2009, 06:43:25 PM
Sure does and holy hell do those bullets move fast when you get your counter up there. :o
I really need to spend more time with Futari.
Quote from: Megalixir on May 10, 2009, 06:40:23 AM
Yeah, but some games have a better way of handling punishment for dying. This isn't one of them.
DOJ, for example. (<3)
That's probably the wost example for punishment you could come up with. Bomb, Death, or missed timing of a few milliseconds equals the same thing: your score in the shitter. There's a few of them, but for the most part, if you die, you really trash your score. Any of the DS variants aren't the worst offenders either. I'd say Progear rewards perfection the most.
Quote from: GaijinPunch on May 11, 2009, 12:35:35 PM
Quote from: Megalixir on May 10, 2009, 06:40:23 AM
Yeah, but some games have a better way of handling punishment for dying. This isn't one of them.
DOJ, for example. (<3)
That's probably the wost example for punishment you could come up with. Bomb, Death, or missed timing of a few milliseconds equals the same thing: your score in the shitter. There's a few of them, but for the most part, if you die, you really trash your score. Any of the DS variants aren't the worst offenders either. I'd say Progear rewards perfection the most.
Thing is, the way DOJ's made, if I end up dying I'm still inclined to continue playing for survival. This is providing I don't die or fuck up the first or second stage because oh god I need a perfect first stage and if I don't get it down I'm going to reset until it's done. With DS, moreover 1.1, if I die before the castle I'll end up resetting since it isn't a difficult game and 1ccing it really isn't a priority. Ketsui's the same, but the punishment for bombing and dying is much higher. A game shouldn't
encourage you to reset, and especially with PCBs it's usualyl a pain in the ass.
I know, this can be a little annoying, but could somebody do a brief review of the diferences between the score system of DS (PCB) / xbox360 and 1,1 modes?
http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=571.0
Uh... thank you Megalixir , i didin't realized of that topic :-[.
So, there are no differences betwen the socre systems of PCB/360 mode?
PCB & X360 mode use the same scoring system. However, due to the different slowdown in X360 mode, it appears that you can't score
as high as you can on the PCB (or in Arcade mode).
MBL and Premium Theme are now available.
The premium theme has the bath theme as the main background, and on the friends tab it has the bosses and their respective stages mixed in with your friends' avatars. Not really worthwhile unless you have at least 10 friends, else you aren't going to see all the stages. Costs 250 points. Looks like this:
(http://loliserv.org/~elixir/stuff/dspremiumtheme.jpg)
MBL is still downloading. It's 550 MB and 1200 ponts. Can't wait to try out Sakura.
Hm, I cannot find any MBL download.
And when I type in my code from the xbox live card I bought from PA..it says the code isnt valid... ???
Quote from: Monouchi on May 12, 2009, 10:54:43 AM
Hm, I cannot find any MBL download.
And when I type in my code from the xbox live card I bought from PA..it says the code isnt valid... ???
Just go to Game Downloads, Browse, Te (or Shooting), scroll down to Death Smiles and voila.
Is the card you got from PA an Asian account card or a Japanese account card (and are you logged in under your Japanese account)?
Log in to your JPN account, pop the disc in and hit Y > Downloads is the easiest way.
Ok, MBL is really fun,especially Ice place stage but rank 999 is a pain in the ass,is it Mushi futari Ultra? ^^
I'm not sur how the scoring system works,Sakura is a bit weird to absorb item.
Yeah item don't go directly to her, I guess that's her only downside though?
As for the "power up at 500" achievement, it needs to be done exactly on 500. Might want to update the achievement list. More as they pop up.
Not sure what you guys are talking about with Sakura's item aborption - she absorbs items just like every other character in MBL. The suck-in range is different in MBL from regular DS, which may be what you are referring to. You always have to let all crowns drop whether in normal or power up mode, which is a big difference from regular DS and ver 1.1. Sakura's weakness is her weak lock-shot, and her shot is very weak on some bosses.
I've played this a bit (full run in Arcade (2.8bil) and X360 (2.4bil)), and I can't believe it, but Arcade mode is really fucked up in terms of slowdown emulation. While most of the first six stages are OK, the ice palace is ridiculously messed up, it feels like you're playing it in fast forward - slowdown is missing everywhere. Same with the Castle.
Amazingly, X360 mode MBL is far more accurate in the ice palace and the castle. In fact, the ice palace feels nearly exact to the PCB. Slowdown is noticably missing in some parts of the first 6 stages and it's really messed up on the last boss (again, feels like you're playing it in fast forward) though, so it's not perfect overall, but as of right now it seems like X360 mode is the more accurate of the two.
I have to say, after playing regular DS so much over the past couple weeks, and then playing MBL today, I've realized I really prefer regular DS. No contest.
If regular DS had the ice palace instead of the Canyon as its bonus stage, then it would be just about perfect for me. I think MBL is better than ver 1.1, though.
No training mode and no replays for MBL really sucks. I would have gladly paid a bit more for it if they would have included these features.
All in all I'm rather disappointed with the MBL port. Arcade mode is really far from accurate, and while X360 mode is better, it also has problems. Whoever did this port clearly did not spend as much time on it as the programmer(s) did on regular DS.
Some guys on 2Ch are complaining about rank 999 in X360 mode - apparently slowdown is missing all over the place, and they say some patterns are now nearly impossible. Seems this is better in Arcade mode, but then you have the fucked up ice palace there, so you really can't win with this port. :mad: :'(
Quote from: EOJ on May 12, 2009, 05:08:34 PM
You always have to let all crowns drop whether in normal or power up mode, which is a big difference from regular DS and ver 1.1.
That statement is kind of oddly worded I think. You still WANT to get the large crowns when in normal mode, you just only get the full vacuum range on skulls.
I don't see what's "oddly worded". You get more added to your counter when a gold crown splits into 4 skulls (or a medium crown splits into 2 skulls) in normal mode than if you just suck up the gold crown (or medium crown). Not true in regular DS.
I'm pretty sure the item counter increase you get from the larger items is at least equal to if not more than the value you get when they split. Trying to find a vid to prove one way or another but none of them are helpful or encoded in something that VD can view.
Edit: Oh well if I'm reading the wiki right, it says skulls are worth +3 in MBL meaning you get +12 total as opposed to +10 if you get them as gold crowns, so I guess I'm wrong.
Quote from: Gwyrgyn on May 12, 2009, 10:32:24 PM
I'm pretty sure the item counter increase you get from the larger items is at least equal to if not more than the value you get when they split. Trying to find a vid to prove one way or another but none of them are helpful or encoded in something that VD can view.
Sorry, that's not the case in MBL. You get 3 per skull, 10 per large gold crown, and 5 per medium crown. So it's always advantageous to let the larger crowns break. This is the only reason why they changed the "suck in" range in MBL.
In regular DS, you only get 1 per skull, so it's never advantageous to let larger crowns break into skulls in Normal mode.
I think I'm going to hang on to the PCB. Although 1.1 & MBL are neck and neck.... I like both way better than Arcade.
You always go for the games with the big multipliers!
I love the short, highly technical bursts of scoring in DS. Once you get consistent at the important recharges, it becomes fantastic. MBL and ver 1.1 feel like
a long drag to me now. Cumulative multipliers are not my cup of tea.
Quick note for those interested: the Chief Programmer for both the DS and DSMBL ports is Toshihiko Sera.
Just got a 2.98bil ALL clear in MBL (X360 mode MBL) w/ Sakura, going through both EX stages. First time I ever did that (I 1CCd it before, but I only went through the ice palace). :cool:
QuoteNot sure what you guys are talking about with Sakura's item aborption - she absorbs items just like every other character in MBL. The suck-in range is different in MBL from regular DS, which may be what you are referring to. You always have to let all crowns drop whether in normal or power up mode, which is a big difference from regular DS and ver 1.1. Sakura's weakness is her weak lock-shot, and her shot is very weak on some bosses.
For exemple.At C-2 with Follet in power mode i use the option to get more skulls at the big rock and the previous rock's spot.My counter goes up fast,with Sakura it doesn't but again,i might be doing something wrong.
I need video!
I try Rank 999 yesterday and is it very impossible to dodge some patterns,i understand the complain about 2 chan if the patterns are not accurate.
Quote from: Kiken on May 12, 2009, 11:20:01 AM
Just go to Game Downloads, Browse, Te (or Shooting), scroll down to Death Smiles and voila.
Is the card you got from PA an Asian account card or a Japanese account card (and are you logged in under your Japanese account)?
Finally, it was alot of hassle cos of my works super-evil firewall.
Now MBL is down and ice-palace is fun.
Even got the wife to play DS. =D
I have mixed feelings on MBL. I mean, if I'm only going to own one DS kit, sure, this is it. It's nice that you can pretty much play it like DS and enjoy what they've balanced, plus Sakura is great for suicide bullets and the new EX stage is at least as good as the other. On the other hand I can forget about getting anywhere in Rank 999 any time soon. Its a slap in the chops like the Mushi Ultras and leaves me longing for it to have either extra bullets, or suicide bullets, and not both :laugh: Ver 1.1 on rank 3 sits somewhere in the middle and absorbing bullets has never been so much fun, it completely transforms the gameplay and is probably the best thing about this port, especially if Rank 999 is even harder due to missing slowdown.
Whoa, current high score in MBL's Arcade mode leaderboard is 9.9bil w/ Windia. That's really close to the WR. I guess the inaccurate slowdown isn't much of an issue (which is good news). Second place is 7.8bil with Rosa (which is also very impressive).
MBL X360 mode scores aren't even close. Maybe due to rank 999 lacking slowdown there, while it's in Arcade mode?
Seems like while MBL Arcade is lacking slowdown in the ice palace, the slowdown there isn't really necessary, while MBL X360 mode is lacking slowdown in rank 999 levels and the last boss, and it IS necessary there. So in the end, MBL Arcade seems to be the one to go for, if you're interested competing with the scores in the arcade. Personally I find MBL X360 mode to be rather fun (until the last boss), but I don't choose any rank 999 levels when I play.
Played 1.1 again last night. I'm really digging it. Sue me. :)
I think I'll hang onto my MBL kit. Seems to be the way to go.
Arcade Mode isn't really doing it for me. Maybe I'll try outputing 480i
instead of 480p and give it a whirl.
How many rank 999 we need to get to ice palace/Ex/Castle with this rank?
4
Quote from: EOJ on May 12, 2009, 05:08:34 PM
Not sure what you guys are talking about with Sakura's item aborption - she absorbs items just like every other character in MBL. The suck-in range is different in MBL from regular DS, which may be what you are referring to. You always have to let all crowns drop whether in normal or power up mode, which is a big difference from regular DS and ver 1.1. Sakura's weakness is her weak lock-shot, and her shot is very weak on some bosses.
I've played this a bit (full run in Arcade (2.8bil) and X360 (2.4bil)), and I can't believe it, but Arcade mode is really fucked up in terms of slowdown emulation. While most of the first six stages are OK, the ice palace is ridiculously messed up, it feels like you're playing it in fast forward - slowdown is missing everywhere. Same with the Castle.
Amazingly, X360 mode MBL is far more accurate in the ice palace and the castle. In fact, the ice palace feels nearly exact to the PCB. Slowdown is noticably missing in some parts of the first 6 stages and it's really messed up on the last boss (again, feels like you're playing it in fast forward) though, so it's not perfect overall, but as of right now it seems like X360 mode is the more accurate of the two.
I have to say, after playing regular DS so much over the past couple weeks, and then playing MBL today, I've realized I really prefer regular DS. No contest.
If regular DS had the ice palace instead of the Canyon as its bonus stage, then it would be just about perfect for me. I think MBL is better than ver 1.1, though.
No training mode and no replays for MBL really sucks. I would have gladly paid a bit more for it if they would have included these features.
All in all I'm rather disappointed with the MBL port. Arcade mode is really far from accurate, and while X360 mode is better, it also has problems. Whoever did this port clearly did not spend as much time on it as the programmer(s) did on regular DS.
Bad news :( , still is possible to solve the slowdown problem with a patch, no?
Afwul lot of work for a patch. I'd be surprised.
I'm trying to improve my DS scores before moving on to MBL. Due to this, I've ventured into practice mode for the first time. Most of the options are self explanitory but I'm wondering if anyone can clarify a couple that I'm not sure of.
What is the Stage Number option all about.
Death Mode: Is this just for fun to be able to set this in the early levels? Also, what is the proper setting for the canyon, 1 or 2
I know these are probably obvious but I just want to be certain since I am trying to arrange the settings to be most like they would on a normal playthrough.
I believe the stage number affects the rank, and the correct settings for the Canyon are Death Mode 1. Death Mode 2 is for the Castle ONLY after beating the Canyon first, otherwise Death Mode 1 for Castle providing you've gone through all 5 stages at Rank 3 and skipped the Canyon.
Something like that.
Do you mean rank like Level 1, 2 or 3? If yes, there is already a setting for that (which is why i think i'm confused...haha)
The rank on the stage is decided by:
1: Stage number (you pick your stages, right?). Canyon as 3-2 is going to be different than as 1-2.
2: Rank on other stages.
The only place you can get Death Mode 2 is, as Megalixir said, the castle, and only after going to the Canyon in Death Mode 1. This is achieved by doing at least 4 of the 6 stages at Rank 3. Correct me if I'm wrong someone.
Good news: according to the CAVE blog, they are adding replay up/downloads for MBL, to be included in the upcoming patch. This may delay the patch by 1-2 more weeks, but I'm really glad they're doing this. :righton:
Other things they are adding to the update:
-Ability to change the position of the achievement notifications (when they pop up on screen)
-Support for different displays/resolutions (not sure what this will be exactly)
Quote from: EOJ on May 22, 2009, 04:44:30 AM-Support for different displays/resolutions (not sure what this will be exactly)
I interpret that as fixing the display issue when running the game through VGA in 1360x768 res.
I've been playing MBL (Arcade mode) w/ Follett today, and much to my surprise, the slowdown is really accurate in the Ice Palace with her. So maybe it's just messed up with Sakura. With Follett, a run from start to finish through both EX stages (including at least one 999 stage) is really accurate in regard to slowdown - so much so that it's hard to discern any differences from the PCB (again this is arcade mode - X360 mode is messed up in many places, in terms of slowdown).
The 100G achievement for DS MBL is:
"Bloody Jitterbug has been defeated."
真の強者
ブラッディージルバを倒しました。
(http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/613/51151381.png)
Bloody jitterbug? I take it you can only fight him if you do all rank 999 up until him? Probably can't continue either.
I get the feeling that Bloody Jitterbug only appears after you've beaten all 7 levels (canyon, train, marsh, volcano, town, and graveyard) on Lv999. This game isn't on Share and I can't extract my own copy at present to find out what triggers the event and quite frankly I probably won't bother.
I guess I should explain. Carefully. All Xbox 360 games have an ID string and all content contains various garbage within this ID string, which identifies itself as different from each other yet still related to the original ID string. I've managed to create a program which catches this and stores it locally, and after I mess with it I can upload it, for example, here's some live gamerpics which are sourced from Xbox.com, redirected and grouped here: http://loliserv.org/~elixir/noah/gamerpic.php
These are the gamerpics for a few JP only 360 titles. If a new gamerpic gets released for any of those games, it will be detected there as they're uploaded to Xbox.com's database (which can be identified) a few days prior to them being released on the Xbox Live marketplace. This is how I managed to discover that the Chaos;Head Noah gamerpics (such as the geckko froggy ones) were going to be released and what they looked like prior to them actually being released. This can be done for all achievements, avatars, themes, basically any content on any marketplace providing that it's attached to the game itself (which it has to, in order for it to be under the game's category in the marketplace). It's even easier for games like DOJBLEX because they have their own achievement interface within the game, which means it's pretty much readily available and I can even extract the achievement icons. In order for an achievement list to exist, it needs to be stored there, otherwise people who unlock the achievement and log into Xbox.com or on Xbox Live will not see any information displayed (or if it doesn't exist, the previous information ie. locked achievement description will be there).
MBL was actually on the marketplace about 3 days ahead of release.
You have to go through the ice palace and canyon, and CASTLE at rank 999, which means you can't continue from start to finish. Then you have to beat a beefed up Jitterbug.
You should only need to do 4 out of the first 6 stages in rank 999, since once you do that the ice palace is in rank 999 as well.
Is that all? I was expecting something ridiculous.
Can't wait to see some vids.
There are vids on nico showing how to do all of the first 6 stages without continuing, and these are helpful (especially the boss fights).
You also have the canyon boss at rank 999 to look forward to:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm5595165
Good luck on that one.
You know, I'm now thinking Bloody Jitterbug is a TLB. If you note this 1CC (up to Jitterbug) full rank 999 vid:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm5469213
You don't fight "Bloody" Jitterbug. He may appear if you beat either regular rank 999 Jitterbug or Tyrannosatan without continuing. Which is nearly impossible, so I won't bother trying.
For vanilla DS, I haven't seen a single replay which stays at 1000 throughout the entire game. Do people still do this or is this tactic obsolete?
No one ever played it with 1000 throughout the whole game (well, at least no one looking for a good score). The tactic was always to score normally in the first 6 stages, then play with 1000 through the Canyon and Castle.
10,000, right?
I was just referring to the item counter. Multiplier should be maxed at 10,000 (and you can't die) for it to benefit your score, of course. :)
There's a USA player with all 1250 achievement points now:
http://profile.mygamercard.net/Im%20Too%20Godlyxxx
But he's obviously a cheater:
"We are missing game data totaling 191390 GamerScore.
This can be corrected by simply booting games not shown in this list."
How long til MS wipes his gamerscore? I don't normally care about achievements, but DS has some that take real skill, and it would be a shame to have
a cheater at the top for too long.
It takes them forever to do it at least as far as I've seen. There's some guy going for a million gamerscore whose blog I read every now and again, and he says that even cheaters he has pointed out rarely get punished.
He's obviously a cheater because he has 1000/1000 in every single game he plays. He also has 2 copies of Dynasty Warriors 6 at 1000/1000, which is a dead giveaway because the final achievement (even I'm not grinding for that shit) is basically "max out all characters, get and max all horses, beat all bonus maps with all characters". Plus there's no reason to own the game from both regions (it's region locked, meaning he would have to own US and European 360s) . But anyone with a gamerscore over 50k should just be classified a suspicious.
He actually obtained every achievement in the correct order, which I have no idea how he managed to do. Though he did unlock the canyon 1.1 1cc before the regular 1.1 1cc. I've been thinking of starting from scratch myself, but my Bomberman Live history is the one thing I can't transfer. 40,000+ games since early '07 and now in the top 10 players, this isn't something I want to pass up, even if it is meaningless to everyone else. It's mine. There's also a few other things like my 850k Pacifism score in Geometry Wars 2, my DOJBLEX 1-ALL, etc.
I know there's a bunch of legit players with really high gamerscores but I just feel sorry for them, since they seem to have forgotten the purpose of playing games.
According to vgchartz.com, this has sold 33,323 copies up until May 17th. That's pretty amazing, and it is on pace for 40,000+.
It sold more in its first week than Mass Effect did in Japan (just released there).
Quote from: Megalixir on May 28, 2009, 03:10:33 AMI know there's a bunch of legit players with really high gamerscores but I just feel sorry for them, since they seem to have forgotten the purpose of playing games.
For entertainment? If he wants to go for a really high gamerscore, he should
want to, right? Wouldn't he enjoy it?
How is it entertaining doing trivial tasks in games you don't even like? Buying games for gamerscore is pretty fucking dumb. I only buy games I'm interested in, personally.
I know a lot of people buy Cave games just because they're Cave, and that's equally as dumb. I'll probably never play Ibara again.
I don't think it's doing the tasks, I think it's getting that gamerscore and being "better" than everyone else.
Some people don't even buy the games and just praise them to death.
--------
Cheaters almost never get punished; go look at Nintendo's WiFi policy. Pirates don't really get punished much either, unless they're very public about it; even then, they still come back in a few days.
Good news:
According to the official CAVE blog (http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/05/index.html), the update patch is finally complete (it includes MBL replay up/downloads). They are turning it in to MS tomorrow, and will post again when the distribution day has been finalized. Let's hope it's some time next week.
The MBL secret achievement ("Defeat Bloody Jitterbug") is in this month's Xbox 360 magazine in Japan. Here's what you have to do:
-Play all 6 stages in rank 999
-Go through the ice palace and canyon before the castle
-Defeat Jitterbug
-You have to make it up to Tyrannosatan without dying (so you have to NO MISS from the start of the game to Tyrannosatan).
-You can't continue (obviously), you can't play 2 players, and you can't modify any of the default game settings.
Bloody Jitterbug will appear after Tyrannosatan. I don't think anyone ever did this in the Arcade version. :oogle:
I'm not even going to bother trying.
It would be funny if Cave's hardest TLB was disguised within Cave's easiest game.
What the cock'n hell?
Here's a scan of the Xbox mag, two blurry pics of Bloody Jitterbug's attacks are in the bottom right of the page:
(http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/shinsha3/imgs/6/a/6ac489fa.jpg)
Taken from this link:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/shinsha3/archives/834954.html
A Japanese dude fought Bloody Jitterbug:
(http://blog-imgs-30-origin.fc2.com/r/u/n/runark2/2009P1008422.jpg)
http://runark2.blog69.fc2.com/
He says he played from 7am-6pm, and used restarts over and over until he could get through each stage with a no miss.
He didn't get the achievement (you can't use restarts there), but is happy just to have fought the TLB. He put the first part
of the vid up on Nico today, the other 4 parts will be up over the coming week, with the final one, showing the TLB fight, to be
put up next saturday.
Bloody Jitterbug: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7204367
He misses the cake for some reason, I don't know why. All patterns are, obviously, altered as they're Lv999.
He avoids the cake because he has 4.5 life blocks. It's a good strategy to avoid it for awhile in case you die (or die on purpose after awhile) if you have more than 3.5/5 on your life gauge, that way you get a max life gauge and a full bomb stock from the cake after damage has been dealt to Tyrannosatan. Lots of players do this in their replays.
It's pretty weird that you can give bomb damage to Bloody Jitterbug. No Cave TLB before this takes bomb damage.
I think they messed up this TLB. Should have been just a 1CC rather than No Miss requirement to get to him. There's no score incentive to fight him, so it doesn't seem worth all the trouble. His bullet patterns are nothing exciting either.
Also uploaded here, for people without nico accounts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG6KQtIFsps&fmt=18
For a pretty ridiculous requirement, the boss being fairly easy is fucking hilarious.
From the videos I've seen of Spirtual Larsa, she's not that hard. The condition isn't nearly as hard as this though.
Spiritual Larsa is harder than this. At least you can't bomb on her!
Thinking about this boss some more, really, what is the point of this boss existing in the first place? No bonus, makes you strategic bomb a bunch, and only makes the stage longer.
This isn't in the MBL board, right?
It's in the PCB version.
Here's a better vid of Bloody Jitterbug, showing his patterns in more detail:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7205037
You get 50mil when you beat him.
So I 1cc'd 1.1 as per my post on shmups, and the achievement didn't unlock. Does anyone know why this is happening? I unlocked a few (16?) then it stopped working, then I turned automatic saving off and it worked perfectly. Now I've gotten the majority of them, they're no longer unlocking. Normally I wouldn't worry, but I think 1ccing 1.1 is an achievement. Since it's there, and since I should have obtained it already, I don't understand why it's still all glitchy.
Though EOJ, you did mention that having the game installed to your HDD can have an effect on this. I'd like to know how. The only thing I can think of is the current laser issue, and once the patch is out, it'll fix that, thus fixing this problem as well. Right?
You can only get that "1CC ver 1.1 all at rank 3 w/ the Canyon" achievement in PLAY mode (won't work in SCORE ATTACK). I found that out the hard way. I also mention this in the DS 'achievements' list in the strategy forum.
I'm not sure about the 200mil and 300mil achievements - I think I got both in PLAY mode as well (well I know I got the 300mil one in PLAY, but I don't remember the 200mil one).
I think I was wrong about the "installing on the hdd" thing - it's not listed on the Japanese wiki as something you need to avoid to save the game properly and unlock achievements.
So you work really hard for your 300 mil achievement and if it's in Score Attack mode, you just don't get it. Bad programming, jeez.
Whoever was manning the achievement flags on this really dropped the ball.
Not sure about the 300mil one (most people will never get this anyway). The only one I know you definitely can't get in Score Attack is the ver 1.1 EX 1CC. I wonder if they'll fix this in the patch.
New blog post:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/06/index.html
Still no final word on when the patch will be released. He mentions he would like to make DSMBL ver 1.1 - but is not sure he has the time to do it. Some ideas he has are: adding manual control of the option, changing the position of Sakura's options (putting one in front and one behind), and changing some of the crowns. Doesn't sound like anything worthwhile as of now.
According to vgchartz.com, total sales for DS as of May 24th are now 35,488.
I'm fairly sure that the scoring milestone achievements wouldn't unlock in score attack.
I'm not sure how I feel about a 1.1 version of MBL. It would definitely make all other characters aside from Sakura irrelevant, and I don't like that. It would be nice if they added Sakura to the current 1.1, though.
Quote from: Megalixir on June 03, 2009, 12:11:34 AM
I'm fairly sure that the scoring milestone achievements wouldn't unlock in score attack.
Nope. Just did a SCORE ATTACK run in my JP account (which I never used for DS achievements prior). Both the 100mil and 200mil achievements unlocked during the run. I only scored 281mil, so didn't make it to the 300mil mark.
There is a new high score in the online "Arcade EX ON" overall ranking. It's by LES, with Follett, and the final score is 561mil.
What is interesting is he does not use the technique of staying at 1000 on the item counter and not entering power up mode throughout the Canyon and Castle. Instead, he scores normally in these stages.
I find this quite enlightening as it shows you don't have to go the "no power up" route to have a very high EX score.
LES's end of stage scores:
end of first 6 stages: 281mil
end of Canyon: 341mil
end of Castle (before Jitterbug): 530mil
Compare Dame K.K.'s scores in his 636mil WR run on the official DVD:
end of first 6 stages: 295mil
end of Canyon: 342mil
end of Castle (before Jitterbug): 591mil
So LES actually scores better on the canyon, but misses 60mil by the end of the castle. With an optimal run, he could pull out around 600mil. Not enough for the WR, but still an awesome score.
Moral of the story: unless you think you have the skills to compete in WR level scores, you're probably better off just playing the last two stages normally, at least with Follett.
Quote from: EOJ on May 31, 2009, 03:13:48 AM
It's in the PCB version.
Here's a better vid of Bloody Jitterbug, showing his patterns in more detail:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7205037
You get 50mil when you beat him.
Bloody Jitterbug is in the PCB version? Any videos of this?
No videos I'm aware of. He'd be the same as in the port, so you won't gain much from seeing him in the PCB version.
So if Bloody Jitterbug is in the PCB version, can we say that DSMBL includes one of CAVE's hardest modes ever made if nobody was able to 1-life all the 999 levels? I mean, we're finally seeing this boss 7 months after the PCB came out. Did other TLBs take this long?
Or perhaps there just wasn't enough interest in MBL in the arcades to uncover him.
Probably more the latter. There's no score incentive to fight him, unlike all of the previous TLBs (even Spiritual Larsa). It's also easily the hardest requirement for a TLB Cave has ever devised.
I bet one of the most skilled players in Japan, such as SWY, will give it a go and reach the TLB on the PCB soon.
I do remember reading on the 2Ch thread soon after the PCB was released that some guys where trying to 1 life the game at rank 999, as they thought a TLB would appear. No one was able to do it, and I'm not sure why they though this would be a requirement (maybe someone from Cave told them?).
Quote from: EOJ on June 06, 2009, 11:15:52 PM
It's also easily the hardest requirement for a TLB Cave has ever devised.
what exactly is the requirement for the TLB?
It's posted on the previous page of this thread.
for some reason i thought that was just a 360 achievement, not the unlocking mechanism for the TLB itself. thanks EOJ
The patch will be available sometime between tomorrow and next week, according to the latest blog post. We could get it tomorrow if we're lucky, it just depends on when MS wants to drop it.
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/06/post-e45e.html
Here is everything this patch will fix or add:
FIXED:
-Problem with the disc spinning when game is installed on the hdd
-Problem where DLC and save data had to be on the same storage device - now you can put each on separate devices (hdd and memory card)
-Problem with scores being wiped when you start a game from "SCORE ATTACK" mode
-Glitch where if you get a life item when you have 1 life block remaining, and you die at the same time you collect that life item and the game freezes
-Online coop
-Inability to view Sakura-only rankings in MBL
-Some problems with the replays
-Glitch where slowdown occurs continually after a game over.
ADDED:
-Mega Black Label replay saving, and upload/downloads on the leaderboard
-D4 and above compatibility for VGA displays
-A sound chimes when a player enters a room in coop mode (when connecting).
Too bad there's no MBL training mode, but they never mentioned they were going to add it before, so it's no surprise.
So let's see, it took a little over 1 month for this patch AND MBL to go out. Granted, MBL was in development the whole time but...
Honestly, 5pb what the fuck. Are they even planning on patching BLEX anymore?? No news whatsoever. What an incompetent and pathetic company.
Quote
-D4 and above compatibility for VGA displays
What does this mean exactly?
Beats me. It probably fixes the problems people had with displaying this game properly on a VGA monitor.
D4 is apparently a specification that means 720p. According to this:
http://aopen.jp/products/vga/resolution-hdtv.html
D1 (480i)
D2 (480p)
D3 (1080i), 1920 x 1080
D4 (720p), 1280 x 720
So I guess everything above 720p native resolution is now supported?
A bunch of Japanese dudes on 2Ch say they've been able to download the patch now, but I can't get it to download no matter how many times I boot up the game. Maybe it will work for me tomorrow. :oogle:
I assume they fixed the sound glitches when you save/change options/use the guide
Quote from: EOJ on June 10, 2009, 06:12:19 AM
A bunch of Japanese dudes on 2Ch say they've been able to download the patch now, but I can't get it to download no matter how many times I boot up the game. Maybe it will work for me tomorrow. :oogle:
I got it, downloaded instantly on boot up.
I got it this morning on boot up. Just downloaded a 10bil replay for MBL X360 w/ Windia. :righton:
EDIT: Other good replays up are a 9.7bil ALL in MBL Arcade w/ Follett, a 6bil ALL in MBL X360 w/ Sakura, and a 5bil ALL in MBL X360 w/ Casper. All with EX on.
There is also a great EX off replay w/ Windia - 5.2bil ALL without suicide bullets.
EDIT2: Split the Elixir off topic posts here (http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=598.0).
Anyone else notice if Windia got stronger? Previously I couldn't get past 2 stages doing all LVL 3 in 1.1 and this time around I made it to the stage before the castle all LVL 3. Since I haven't played in a while, maybe it was just a fluke!
Windia is the same after the update across all modes. She is strong in DSMBL and ver 1.1, but weak in DS.
I've a question about the score system in the first stage :)
I saw in the replay that the player use the lock attack to destroy some types of enemy, like the fat pork walking on the ground, without causing a descresing of the counter. This allow the player to reach max counter before the second ship. I tried to use this tecnique but my counter descrese sometimes. How can I use correctly this tecnique in the first stage?
thanks for help ;)
Good question, I have also noticed this.
Can it be that he lasers them and then quickly kills them with the lock?
And on another note about Ports:
imo DS is great, but now cave is handing over the port conversion for Futari to that other company who ported Otomedius, so what are cave doing now?
Working on DS2 updates? Porting another game? ...taking over the Ketsui porting.. :P
Quote from: Monouchi on June 11, 2009, 03:40:02 AM
Can it be that he lasers them and then quickly kills them with the lock?
Yes. You just need really perfect timing. All the scoring in this game is based on perfect timing.
I've watched the replay a few time and I think that the best way to reached very fast the max counter on the 1? stage is this (maybe a good Ds player as EOJ can confirm my idea):
You have to:
1. destroy the first walking pork with lock attack (pay attention to the timing of lock attack ^-^
2. destroy fliyng enemies tapping fire button
3. destroy the other walking enemies holding fire button
This my idea after wathing some replay on the net....In the video topic there is a 400+ run with follet of a guy that do the first two stage using level 2 :o There is some advantage using this level in order to catch more items?
I think that Cave staff still working on update for Ds2 to improve it and seems that japanese player start to like it.....For the Futari I thought that the porting team should make a good work as they did with the Otomedius's port..I didin't buy it but some of my friends said that it's a good port with the last realesed patch ;)
Yes, that's basically what you have to do to max out 1000 on Halloween town (assuming you are doing this stage first). Though it doesn't matter much if you get 1000 early or late in the stage - just get it before the boss and you'll be fine for scoring on the other stages.
As for the guy doing the first two stages at rank 2 - that's just so he won't enter death mode in the latter stages. There is no scoring advantage there.
Thanks EOJ ;)
With regards to the lock shot and pig cooks, it seems a bit easier to get the timing right with Rosa. Two things make this work: the roses fired by her option move slowly through enemies, and the lock-on target appears behind her. You can position the option beneath her, fire a single volley of roses to travel through the pork, and then right away initiate lock shot. The lock shot will not fire since the option will now be behind her (thus not depleting the gauge), and the roses will kill the cooks at a reasonable pace and release the extra crowns.
I like this since it doesn't require exact timing to kill and initiate lock-shot. Actually, this works against other enemies as well that should be killed with the lock shot, but it is most easily demonstrable against those pig cooks.
Pardon me if this is obvious to most people, but I thought it might be interesting for non-experts like me who are just getting into this game. Imagine my surprise when I thought I had found a great tactic, only to see it used in several Rosa replays. That either means I'm not special, or great minds think alike. :rolleyes:
Im no expert and I havent tried that with Rose, thanks for the tip. :)
Im mostly into Follet now playing on lv999, and using the trick when her option covers her heart = invulnarable to suicide bullets.
Online co-op isn't fixed. What the hell did Cave do? It just kicks me out of a game right after trying to connect.
Since I've donwload the patch I saw that the bugs were fixxed but sometimes I can't enter the live... :)
@EOJ: I was searchin for the 561+ run that you have downloaded but I could not found it....max score rank was 488 :-\
Quote from: Ast-Kot on June 11, 2009, 08:57:58 AM
@EOJ: I was searchin for the 561+ run that you have downloaded but I could not found it....max score rank was 488 :-\
It's in the Arcade mode ranking. First score on the list (the score is with Follett). 488mil is the top score in the Xbox 360 mode ranking.
As for Rosa, personally I don't like her too much because of the way her option moves. It makes it difficult once you trigger suicide bullets. I find Follett to be the easiest to control, along with being the easiest to score well with (at least in DS).
If anyone wants to continue strategy discussions, please do so in the appropriate thread in the Strategy Forum. There are separate threads for DS, DSMBL, and Ver 1.1. :righton:
New MBL replays worth downloading:
7.9bil ALL w/ Casper (MBL X360)
6.1bil ALL w/ Rosa (MBL X360)
The Rosa run is neat because the guy does one rank 1 and one rank 2 in the first six stages (and no rank 999).
Quote from: Monouchi on June 11, 2009, 07:46:12 AM
Im no expert and I havent tried that with Rose, thanks for the tip. :)
Im mostly into Follet now playing on lv999, and using the trick when her option covers her heart = invulnarable to suicide bullets.
How do you do this trick?
Just hold lock shot and pull back until your option covers you. You can do it with Follett and Rosa. Not very effective overall, though, since you can't hold it there permanently (you have to keep adjusting). And pretty worthless if you're going for a decent score.
There's a great new 12.3bil ver 1.1 EX ON replay available by LES, with Follett. He dies twice in the first 6 stages, so he could probably pull out around 13bil with a no miss run. His path (all rank 3):
Forest>Swamp>Lakeside>Graveyard>Halloween>Volcano
He gets a counter of over 43,000 and a score of 276mil by the end of the Forest stage. 6.5bil before the Canyon.
Almost makes me want to play Ver 1.1 again! :laugh:
According to vgchartz.com, as of June 7th this has sold 39,001 copies. Should have 40,000+ by the next sales report. :righton:
It's pretty amazing to think a Cave game could sell that much.
Quote from: EOJ on June 15, 2009, 06:38:56 PM
There's a great new 12.3bil ver 1.1 EX ON replay available by LES, with Follett.
Almost makes me want to play Ver 1.1 again! :laugh:
I think this was the guy I nudged ahead of at one point. I need to hurry up and finish this damn Zelda so I can get back on.
QuoteHe gets a counter of over 43,000 and a score of 276mil by the end of the Forest stage
This seems to be key to sick scores. Might have to change up my pattern.
LES holds the WR for Arcade Deathsmiles (No EX) and DSMBL, both with Follett. He's tough competition!
Which Zelda are you playing?
Twilight Princess on the GC. I'm about 30 hours in, and have I think 2 more dungeons to go . I'm not going out of my way for the extra stuff unless it's blatantly obvious what to do... which it rarely is.
Quote from: EOJ on June 16, 2009, 02:16:10 AM
According to vgchartz.com, as of June 7th this has sold 39,001 copies. Should have 40,000+ by the next sales report. :righton:
It's pretty amazing to think a Cave game could sell that much.
40,750 copies now. :-*
It would be interesting to have some statistics on Mega Black Label downloads. I'd imagine it racks up great numbers as well, given the audience.
I definitely recommend you download LES's new "EX Off" Arcade mode record w/ Follett - it's a 511mil ALL. He gets 303mil before the Castle, which is better than Dame K.K.'s best on the superplay DVD (300mil), and he starts off at Halloween town. He only finishes with 3 lives, so he drops 12mil he would have had from a no miss. If he no missed it (as he did on his previous 500mil ALL) he would have beaten his WR score of 522mil (done on the PCB). :o
Thanks for the tip, have to check it out. LES is an incredible player.
I tried playing the X360 mode again but the Forest is so fucking frustrating, it's a real shame since all the other stages play fine in my eyes.
PS. Why is it that all the top scorers play Follett?
Well, Follett and Rosa have the highest scoring potential. Without the Canyon, Follett can score higher than any of the other characters.
The highest WR score with the Canyon is with Rosa (on the arcade PCB).
Wow, SIN beat Bloody Jitterbug in a true 1CC (all defaults, no restarts, etc):
http://sinmoon.blog.shinobi.jp/Date/20090628/1/
The replay is available on the online leaderboards. Go to MBL X360>Sakura. It's easy to find, as his score has the "ALL CLEAR" in red letters.
He's probably the only guy out there to have gotten the X360 achievement for this without cheating.
Incredible - can't wait to watch the replay of this. Gamerscore/points aside, this is one hell of an achievement.
Ok, I finished watching the replay. Of note:
-He dies twice in the first 6 stages. So it doesn't matter if you die here, you just have to no miss from the EX stages to the end.
-He doesn't die during any of the final bosses (Jitterbug, Tyrannosatan, Bloody Jitterbug).
Anyone want to encode sinoon's run and upload it somehwere?
Quote from: EOJ on July 02, 2009, 03:32:51 PM
Ok, I finished watching the replay. Of note:
-He dies twice in the first 6 stages. So it doesn't matter if you die here, you just have to no miss from the EX stages to the end.
-He doesn't die during any of the final bosses (Jitterbug, Tyrannosatan, Bloody Jitterbug).
It's probably staring me right in the face but how were you able to view the replay to this from the leaderboards? I don't get the option to view the gameclip.
@Pointman:
Quote from: EOJ on July 02, 2009, 05:39:20 AM
The replay is available on the online leaderboards. Go to MBL X360>Sakura. It's easy to find, as his score has the "ALL CLEAR" in red letters.
Latest sales total as of June 21: 42,434 (source: vgchartz.com). That's after 9 weeks on the charts. It's been selling ~1700 a week for the past few weeks. If it keeps that up it could reach 50K eventually.
Hey guys, I was away from Death Smiles for a while, and turned it on last night and there was an update?
Is this a patch? and what are the details of what were patch up?
Thank you for informations.
Quote from: Sonic R on July 07, 2009, 10:39:41 AM
Is this a patch? and what are the details of what were patch up?
EOJ's post a few pages back... (http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=346.msg10565#msg10565)
Quote from: HVL on July 07, 2009, 10:43:48 AM
Quote from: Sonic R on July 07, 2009, 10:39:41 AM
Is this a patch? and what are the details of what were patch up?
EOJ's post a few pages back... (http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=346.msg10565#msg10565)
Thank You.
:-[
I cannot believe its been that long since I last played?
Quote from: EOJ on July 06, 2009, 04:53:01 AM
Latest sales total as of June 21: 42,434 (source: vgchartz.com). That's after 9 weeks on the charts. It's been selling ~1700 a week for the past few weeks. If it keeps that up it could reach 50K eventually.
That is impressive for a shmup these days...I would love the success of this port to translate into an NTSC-U release, but I am resigned to having to eventually import it. I'll have to see if the shop in the East Village can order this stuff...they have a Famicom and an MSX, so I don't see why not.
Deathsmiles Mega Black Label ver 1.1 will be playable at the Cave Matsuri on 8/15, according to Asada on the Cave blog.
Quote from: EOJ on July 11, 2009, 09:38:21 AM
Deathsmiles Mega Black Label ver 1.1 will be playable at the Cave Matsuri on 8/15, according to Asada on the Cave blog.
Well, shit. I might have to go now. That sounds pretty cool.
Is the MBL ver 1.1 just some exclusive Matsuri stuff that will never be available outside the event?
No, it should be available for download soon, from xbox live. It will have larger crowns, and some other changes. The Matsuri is just your first chance to try it out.
Quote from: EOJ on July 13, 2009, 11:14:05 AM
No, it should be available for download soon, from xbox live. It will have larger crowns, and some other changes. The Matsuri is just your first chance to try it out.
That's cool, thanks for the clarification.
So will the multiplier be double that of what MBL currently has? If so, that's nuts.
I wonder how much slowdown Ice Palace will have with all this. It will be a lot, no doubt.
I just tried some online co-op and was pleasantly surprised by the near-total lack of input lag or stuttering frames. Scoring was (of course) essentially useless, but it was fun regardless. We were about 500km apart and both on strong connections, for those who are curious.
Sorry if this was discussed previously (especially since the update), but I didn't find mention of it.
DS sticks back in stock on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/r.html?R=P4MT012R315T&C=1M0U1W99B6CMV&H=ZDYUDRDQD6DZQJQ1O4QXJAWTK68A&T=C&U=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.jp%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2FB001R23KVQ%2Fref%3Dpe_3712_13656872_emwa_email_img_1
More stupid shitgamerpics. 240 points for these.
(http://loliserv.org/~elixir/stuff/deathsmilesnewgamerpics.JPG)
I know, let's take a picture of a random object in the game and try selling it. A flying cube? Seriously? Hahaha, that's awesome.
I quite like that one of Jordan's final stage actually, hah
I'm a sucker for these. Sad, I know.
First pics of DSMBL ver 1.1, from the Cave blog (http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/):
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/2009/07/29/mbl11_1_2.jpg)
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/2009/07/29/mbl11_2_2.jpg)
(http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/2009/07/29/mbl11_3_2.jpg)
You can see bigger pics at the Cave blog.
Looks beautiful!
Asada-san also mentions he got special recognition from the company pres for his hard work on DS. :righton: Good for him!
I can't wait for this! Looks great!
Quote from: adverse on July 30, 2009, 01:32:23 AM
Asada-san also mentions he got special recognition from the company pres for his hard work on DS. :righton: Good for him!
Somoene take that man out for a hand job!
Quote from: GaijinPunch on July 30, 2009, 04:55:57 AM
Quote from: adverse on July 30, 2009, 01:32:23 AM
Asada-san also mentions he got special recognition from the company pres for his hard work on DS. :righton: Good for him!
Somoene take that man out for a hand job!
:laugh:
The blog was updated with a MBL 1.1 PV of Casper against Bloody Jitterbug.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1XLAHCNO
Perhaps MBL 1.1 will have Bloody Jitterbug as the final boss without the ridiculous conditions?
Did the full voice card only come with the LE for this? Is there anywhere I might be able to buy the card separately?
Quote from: bcass on September 07, 2009, 08:50:12 AM
Did the full voice card only come with the LE for this? Is there anywhere I might be able to buy the card separately?
I don't know how it was supposed to be, but I got one when I ordered the standard edition from P-A and it wasn't even a preorder. You might be able to score one from eBay or something, but it really isn't worth it.
I finally bought MBL a couple days ago. I wonder why you -have- to pick Sakura to be able to see sinmoon's replay... kinda bizarre.
Any replays currently downloadable of note? It's been a while since any have been mentioned.
According to the latest Cave blog post, DSMBL ver 1.1 will be available for download this coming Spring (as paid DLC). The delay has been due in large part to another necessary title update, which is linked with the DSMBL ver 1.1 download. They probably needed to change the game menu interface to add icons for DSMBL ver 1.1 (when you select which mode you want), and I think they are adding in a DSMBL training mode as well. Hopefully they will add all the fancy display options from Futari 1.5 as well.
Somebody should email the Cave blog email address to tell them what we think they should do in any future updates, including fixing the slowdown in those modes that require it.
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/01/15/deathsmiles-magically-gets-stateside-release/
link grabbed from bemanistyle (http://www.bemanistyle.com/forum/f38/deathsmiles-north-america-51210/#post636442)
Yeah, we already knew this (GP reported this after talking with Asada at the Cave fest last month). Let me know when they announce the "mystery" (lol) publisher. Why so much secrecy, I wonder??
I'll buy this because it will have the patch already on the disc. That will be nice.
Maybe Espgaluda II will get localized too if DS sells well? Let's hope.
Probably still locked to US consoles, so us in Europe need to bite for J-360 regardless. Great news for US folks :righton:
Quote from: cstarflare on January 15, 2010, 11:25:15 PMlink grabbed from bemanistyle (http://www.bemanistyle.com/forum/f38/deathsmiles-north-america-51210/#post636442)
Oh wow, it's still alive! I even still have my mod rights and I've not posted in nearly 3 years! This is much more exciting than the DS localisation ;)
Quote from: EOJ on January 15, 2010, 11:26:37 PM
Yeah, we already knew this (GP reported this after talking with Asada at the Cave fest last month).
I must have missed on it somehow, so this is big great news to me. But still...
Quote from: CastorKrieg on January 16, 2010, 02:19:50 AM
Probably still locked to US consoles, so us in Europe need to bite for J-360 regardless.
F*ck...
Dont tell me I will need a 4th xbox for this! Yeah I have the Japanese version but without being able to read Japanese (I'm working on it, language first though) I'm missing out on what is most likely a divine comedy rivalling tale of Gothic little girls.
Looking forward to snapping this up once it comes out over here. :)
Publisher is Aksys:
http://www.aksysgames.com/2010/01/18/deathsmiles-on-everyone-lolis-smile-back/#more-3359
Looks like Mega Black Label will be on the disc. Due out in the Summer, according to this post (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19347453&postcount=688).
That is fucking killer. Day one purchase.
I love Aksys...BlazBlue now Deathsmiles, hell yeah! They sure are a bold company, I mean they are also publishing Cho Aniki Zero and Record of Agherest too. It is good to see a US publisher having some balls, I just hope they get good sales numbers from it.
Ok, we got it early on a J360, but it feels kinda strange that the US ver get all the goodies included on the disc. (MBL).
Damn. I bet it wont be region free. Europe does not even have Blazblue yet! It is supposed to be coming out this spring over here though.
The US version is NTSC free but will not work on a pal system so I would expect the same for this port of Deathsmiles.
This stupid country.
Quote from: Monouchi on January 18, 2010, 02:28:19 PM
Ok, we got it early on a J360, but it feels kinda strange that the US ver get all the goodies included on the disc. (MBL).
I would feel bad about this, but I got to play it nearly a year in advance so I don't really mind. That, and I'm not entirely sure if them putting the blurb there means it's actually on the disc, or if it's still DLC. (They've got a few other facts in that post wrong too, like saying there are 5 characters but not including Sakura in the list and that stuff happens when you pick Lv3 four times when it's actually five.) Definitely going to be getting at least a copy or two of the US release too, though Summer might be too late to make a few friends' birthdays...
Even including the DLC purchase, it's nowhere near as bad as my early-adopter fee for my EX-SE... I paid nearly 3 times as much for it as some people did on Amazon last month.
Sent a tip in to Kotaku to generate a bit more hype.
This article says MBL is on the disc:
http://www.destructoid.com/and-your-us-deathsmiles-publisher-is--160861.phtml
No ambiguity there. Though admittedly it looks like they're just interpreting the press release as I interpreted it.
Wow MBL included, too? It's just too bad Europe gets f*cked up again, I'd so buy it day one if it got released over here, too.
Still, for a CAVE game to get released overseas, Hell must be freezing over...
Seriously, years ago I never thought I'd see the day
Quote from: EOJ on January 18, 2010, 04:38:13 PMThough admittedly it looks like they're just interpreting the press release as I interpreted it.
Could this be "MBL will also be localized" as opposed to "included on the disc"?
Quote from: Kewing on January 18, 2010, 04:50:31 PM
Wow MBL included, too? It's just too bad Europe gets f*cked up again, I'd so buy it day one if it got released over here, too.
I raged as well, got over it. Will get J-360, I have old Premium so it is an upgrade regardless, and there is no info of other shooters being published in the West. Plus, let's face it, Deathsmiles will be a hard sale in the US.
I was probably going to get a J360, but I'd rather prefer that to be later this year (although if Galuda II turns out to be region lock, who knows), that's why I'd prefer it to get released here too, or at least the US version to be region free.
Besides, and most importantly, I'd rather have MBL on a physical disc, I don't like the idea of DLC being attached to an account and a console, which you don't for how long you'll be able to play in case something goes wrong and the service is not available anymore to redownload it again.
Oh and it would be cool to have a version with translated text :p
Apologies if this has cropped-up before, but I recently bought a 250GB HDD and transfered all the content from my 120GB drive onto it. Today I noticed that the Xbox Live option is greyed-out in the DeathSmiles menu (despite the fact that I am connected to Live) and I get an error when I try to select it. Anyone know why this is?
Quote from: bcass on January 30, 2010, 12:38:01 PM
Apologies if this has cropped-up before, but I recently bought a 250GB HDD and transfered all the content from my 120GB drive onto it. Today I noticed that the Xbox Live option is greyed-out in the DeathSmiles menu (despite the fact that I am connected to Live) and I get an error when I try to select it. Anyone know why this is?
It may have something to do with registering your gamertag to your hard drive. Same sort of thing happens when someone sends away for a 360 fix and can't play their downloadable games correctly unless they're online.
Wish I could find the link on xbox support for you, but this site is a fucking maze; I don't think they actually want you to get anything done.
I'm not sure it's a DRM issue because all my other content (eg - Mushi BL, XBLA games, etc.) works fine.
I am guessing you bought all of your XBLA games & Mushi Futari DLC on a UK account though? When you download content it locks to that console as well as to the gamer profile, so if you sign in on another console you can use it, similarly if you use another profile on the same console it'll work. Sounds to me like you've got the licenses transferred for one profile but not for your JPN account. Try logging in to your JPN account and seeing if it's there - if it is then you may need to use the license transfer tool to bring it over to the console if you want to use your UK account to play it.
Except he only changed hard drives, not consoles.
Wow, talk about a dream come true. Deathsmiles is getting a Platinum release in Japan on April 8th. It will include the patch and DSMBL on the disc. For 3990 yen:
http://wapuwapu.com/archives/52540593.html
This completely removes my need to buy the USA version. Thanks Cave. :righton:
Thanks to hirounder over at shmups (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14101&start=2400) for the heads up.
PS: this pretty much confirms DSMBL will be on the USA version disc, as I previously thought.
Quote from: EOJ on February 02, 2010, 04:50:35 PM
Wow, talk about a dream come true. Deathsmiles is getting a Platinum release in Japan on April 8th. It will include the patch and DSMBL on the disc. For 3990 yen:
http://wapuwapu.com/archives/52540593.html
This completely removes my need to buy the USA version. Thanks Cave. :righton:
Thanks to hirounder over at shmups (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14101&start=2400) for the heads up.
PS: this pretty much confirms DSMBL will be on the USA version disc, as I previously thought.
Awesome stuff. I hope a similar edition of Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 gets published :D
Yeah cave!! from now we'll pay you 2 times for every game...
Patched version?
Balls, I was hoping this was going to go to the Games On Demand section. Can't see that happening now until this next phase of retail releases has subsided.
Quote from: bcass on February 03, 2010, 10:33:46 AM
Balls, I was hoping this was going to go to the Games On Demand section. Can't see that happening now until this next phase of retail releases has subsided.
Games on Demand is region locked by IP, so if it went there you wouldn't be playing it at all.
(unless of course if you live in Japan)
Sorry, but you're wrong. You can download from any country using a VPN. I know, because I've done it (I live in the UK). I already have the disc release, but I prefer to have all my games installed on the HDD without needing discs.
Quote from: bcass on February 03, 2010, 10:57:11 AM
Sorry, but you're wrong. You can download from any country using a VPN. I know, because I've done it (I live in the UK). I already have the disc release, but I prefer to have all my games installed on the HDD without needing discs.
Could you explain this because everywhere I have looked and everyone I have asked have said its not possible.
I would love to download Raiden IV. I'm in the UK too :)
You need a JPN console (obviously) because the region-locking is still in place on GoD titles. Basically, these are the steps:
1. Subscribe to a VPN service which has Japanese servers (services start at around $10 per month).
2. Setup the VPN on a laptop (your VPN provider will usually give instructions on how to do this). This gives your laptop a Japanese IP address.
3. Connect to the internet/Live via your laptop.
You can probably do it via a normal PC instead of a laptop, but it's easier to setup via a laptop that is connected to the internet wirelessly.
Haha well ok fine, if you consider that wrong but I still don't. I suppose there is always a way, but honestly there is no way in hell most people are going to jump through that many hoops and pay a monthly fee just to be able to go the 100% DRM route.
I wouldn't go the Games on Demand route even if it were wide open to any IP in the world. I prefer to have physical media in my hands, and that way I know I'll still be able to play the game in 10 years if I chose to do so. You could find yourself dependent not only on their DRM servers remaining online, but also on this cobbled together method to spoof your IP address.
No thanks.
You said it wasn't possilbe to download GoD titles outside Japan. That comment is wrong, there are ways to do it. Also, you don't have to buy a VPN subscription every month. You just buy one when there's a few titles worth downloading. Even if you factor in the cost of a VPN sub, it still works out cheaper than buying the games 2nd hand, never mind brand new. GoD titles are approx. 2000 MSP (approx. $25).
Also, the 360 has been hacked - all the DRM on the download titles has been hacked. It won't matter if the servers go offline, you'll always be able to obtain that content again on a chipped 360.
Oh I see. I don't want to have to pay monthly to download a few titles.
Still I appreciate you taking the time to show me how :)
You can pay on a per month basis, you don't have to subscribe every month.
Quote from: bcass on February 03, 2010, 11:32:58 AM
You said it wasn't possilbe to download GoD titles outside Japan. That comment is wrong, there are ways to do it. Also, you don't have to buy a VPN subscription every month. You just buy one when there's a few titles worth downloading. Even if you factor in the cost of a VPN sub, it still works out cheaper than buying the games 2nd hand, never mind brand new. GoD titles are approx. 2000 MSP (approx. $25).
Also, the 360 has been hacked - all the DRM on the download titles has been hacked. It won't matter if the servers go offline, you'll always be able to obtain that content again on a chipped 360.
Like I said, there is ALWAYS going to be a way but I just consider all that effort to be silly. I mean hey, why not mail your Xbox to someone in Japan and have them download the game for you... hop a flight yourself, etc. There's always some way, but to me at some point you gotta say enough is enough. Just like the hacked DRM.. no thanks. Call me old school, but anything I might have an interest in later I'll try to obtain in a physical medium.
Anyways the original reason EOJ was celebrating is that he was looking for a way to have a physical copy of the entire game. I think a lot of us think along those lines.
Full game on disk > Game on disk plus some DLC > Game that's fully DLC
And it's got nothing to do with "cheaper". Maybe that's the difference. It's about time, effort, and turning my hobby into work. Obviously you have different priorities, so there you go.
Quote from: brentsg on February 03, 2010, 01:49:40 PM
Like I said, there is ALWAYS going to be a way but I just consider all that effort to be silly. I mean hey, why not mail your Xbox to someone in Japan and have them download the game for you... hop a flight yourself, etc. There's always some way, but to me at some point you gotta say enough is enough. Just like the hacked DRM.. no thanks. Call me old school, but anything I might have an interest in later I'll try to obtain in a physical medium.
Anyways the original reason EOJ was celebrating is that he was looking for a way to have a physical copy of the entire game. I think a lot of us think along those lines.
Full game on disk > Game on disk plus some DLC > Game that's fully DLC
And it's got nothing to do with "cheaper". Maybe that's the difference. It's about time, effort, and turning my hobby into work. Obviously you have different priorities, so there you go.
Nope, I don't have different priorities. You're totally overstating the complexity involved in using a VPN. You only ever have to set it up once (it takes about 30 seconds). Once it's setup, all you ever need to do is double-click an icon on your desktop and connect your 360 to your laptop instead of to your router. Totally, totally trivial. No expert knowledge required in the slightest.
Okay, bcass. You can enjoy your Games on demand stuff. Brentsg and I prefer the disc versions. Everyone's happy. :righton:
I just LOVE having the disc version laying next to my workcomputer....and people walking buy saying that they have never seen that 360 game before. =D
Quote from: bcass on February 04, 2010, 04:12:44 AM
Nope, I don't have different priorities. You're totally overstating the complexity involved in using a VPN. You only ever have to set it up once (it takes about 30 seconds). Once it's setup, all you ever need to do is double-click an icon on your desktop and connect your 360 to your laptop instead of to your router. Totally, totally trivial. No expert knowledge required in the slightest.
Trust me, I understand that there is nothing difficult about VPNs. I do engineering work for dozens of telecom companies from my home. Each one of them has a unique VPN setup to tunnel in. Some are trivial and some are a downright pita. So I get it..
I'm simply going to do everything I possibly can to avoid downloaded content if it's something I care about. So I'll jump through similar hoops in order to achieve exactly the opposite result from you. I'll grab a new movie on Blu-ray, rip it, re-encode it with proper chapter markers and subtitles... in order to put it on my home media server but still have a physical disk. Sure I could grab download an HD version online, but I have to have the disk. =D
Anyways I think EOJ's tired of the debate so that'll be all from me. Peace.
I personally prefer my modern releases to be on audio cassette. The anticipation of actually playing the game while you swap through thousands of cassettes over uncountable days is second to none. Plus, the collection looks much more impressive on your shelf than a single whimpy DVD.
Too bad shipping is such a bitch--those things weigh a ton.
Quote from: gsl on February 04, 2010, 03:32:42 PM
I personally prefer my modern releases to be on audio cassette. The anticipation of actually playing the game while you swap through thousands of cassettes over uncountable days is second to none. Plus, the collection looks much more impressive on your shelf than a single whimpy DVD.
Audio tapes ? Luxury, I keep all my games on punch cards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card) no numbering of course so it's a dreadful bore each time one of them dislodges and plummets to the floor ;)
I used to go with punch cards, but I don't really like how the DRM--specifically the copy protection--is implemented.
Interview with the Aksys guys about the Deathsmiles port:
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/01/29/deathsmiles-details-straight-from-aksys/
This was from January 29th, and I just saw it today. Not sure how I missed it. Anyway, it confirms MBL is on the disc (which we already knew), and says basically "if enough people buy DS, we could release Espgaluda II or Futari 1.5 in the USA".
They also say they approached Cave about the localization, not the other way around.
Quote from: EOJ on February 06, 2010, 01:41:41 AM
They also say they approached Cave about the localization, not the other way around.
oh, nice. So Cave is being sought out for localization opportunities!
If America gets Espgaluda II and Futari 1.5, that would really boost Cave's appeal overseas.
Their quality speaks for itself~
Quote from: EOJ on February 06, 2010, 01:41:41 AM
and says basically "if enough people buy DS, we could release Espgaluda II or Futari 1.5 in the USA".
But... what about Europe?...
Well i bit the bullet and went ahead and purchased a Jp 360 and Death Smiles because i did not want to wait anymore and look forward to future Cave releases. Hearing the news EOJ posted about the platinum release kinda pissed me off as i will have to shell out more money for a HDD and DLC of MBL. As far as the patch is concerned i assume this is automatic for owners of DS?
Quote from: lawnspic on February 06, 2010, 08:32:05 PM
Well i bit the bullet and went ahead and purchased a Jp 360 and Death Smiles because i did not want to wait anymore and look forward to future Cave releases. Hearing the news EOJ posted about the platinum release kinda pissed me off as i will have to shell out more money for a HDD and DLC of MBL. As far as the patch is concerned i assume this is automatic for owners of DS?
As long as you're connected to Live, the patch will download when you fire up the game.
Anyway, the platinum release is pretty cool. For 4k yen, it's a no-brainer even though I have the original game and DSMBL.
New cave blog post:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/
There will be a (free) title update released in March that will include a MBL training mode and other stuff.
Syncing with English achievements like RFA did perhaps?
Quote from: EOJ on February 07, 2010, 12:30:00 PM
and other stuff.
Maniac Screen Options PLEASE :)
Quote from: SuperPang on February 07, 2010, 12:57:00 PM
Syncing with English achievements like RFA did perhaps?
RFA jp and us versions are treated as two separate games, with separate achievement lists and separate leaderboards.
Ahh, OK, I just assumed they synchronised somehow as I seem to recall my achievements turned English one day. =D
Quote from: antares on February 07, 2010, 02:26:36 PM
Quote from: EOJ on February 07, 2010, 12:30:00 PM
and other stuff.
Maniac Screen Options PLEASE :)
Quote from: SuperPang on February 07, 2010, 12:57:00 PM
Syncing with English achievements like RFA did perhaps?
RFA jp and us versions are treated as two separate games, with separate achievement lists and separate leaderboards.
My Japanese RFA has English achievements and has done since I first played it. My region etc on my xbox is set to Japan.
Quote from: SuperPang on February 08, 2010, 07:07:56 AM
Ahh, OK, I just assumed they synchronised somehow as I seem to recall my achievements turned English one day. =D
No, they have been in english since the first day :) Shikigami 3 also has english achievments.
I'll shut up now :rolleyes: =D
Quote from: antares on February 07, 2010, 02:26:36 PM
RFA jp and us versions are treated as two separate games, with separate achievement lists and separate leaderboards.
So since they are treated as two separate games, and since MBL is going to be on the disc ..... I guess this wont add the MBL DLC in the american store for those of us too lazy to import a points card?? (sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was kinda curious, and I need to add to my post count to open back the ura loop section ;)
Quote from: neofrank on February 08, 2010, 02:09:31 PM
I guess this wont add the MBL DLC in the american store for those of us too lazy to import a points card??
Very doubtful.
I have a question regarding the secret achievement where you have to absorb 65,535 suicide bullets. Can you do this in all of the modes, including MBL? Credit feeding through MBL lv999 w/ both EX should do the job quickly. :laugh:
I have played a lot of Ver 1.1 and vanilla in Death Mode yet I still haven't unlocked it.
EDIT: Got it, played a credit of vanilla in Death Mode 2.
I had thought only bullets absorbed in vanilla Arcade and 360 modes counted. It would be almost too easy to do it in MBL...
Wow, the new Japanese Platinum collection edition of DS (w/ MBL and the patch already on the disc) to be released on April 8th will have brand new cover art.
(http://www.famitsu.com/image/6938/ew3og7FTKuQQGFsGN2TL988b1BTQOO7D.jpg)
Ncsx.com is taking preorders for $45.
Too bad there's the stupid Platinum Collection border; that would be a nice full-size cover. I liked the PS2 and Gamecube approach to the greatest hits-type lines, where you just had a different color for the marquee that signified it was a budget release rather than this annoying framing style.
The new cover art seems pretty classy, I hope Aksys uses it somehow.
Quote from: gsl on March 02, 2010, 04:47:43 PM
Too bad there's the stupid Platinum Collection border; that would be a nice full-size cover. I liked the PS2 and Gamecube approach to the greatest hits-type lines, where you just had a different color for the marquee that signified it was a budget release rather than this annoying framing style.
Completely agree you on that, sir. They were very smart there.
Although the LE cover was a kinda cool concept, I prefer this one much more, as much as the old SE one.
first post here after lurking for a while to see ESPII BL details, how's going?? i make some useless posts on shmups.system11 too
i'm really happy to see Aksys localizing a Cave game, though there's almost no hope to see DS on Europe (yup, i'm from Italy to be exact)
also, Platinum release covers for PS2 were bullshit
Quote from: EOJ on March 02, 2010, 04:25:53 PM
Wow, the new Japanese Platinum collection edition of DS (w/ MBL and the patch already on the disc) to be released on April 8th will have brand new cover art.
http://www.famitsu.com/image/6938/ew3og7FTKuQQGFsGN2TL988b1BTQOO7D.jpg
Wasn't this picture used for a magazine cover a while back?
Always thought it was nice. Good choice.
Will the Platinum release also contain the new patch which should arrive this month on XBL?
Love the cover pic! :righton:
..dont like the border...
Quote from: Monouchi on March 03, 2010, 03:07:40 AM
Love the cover pic! :righton:
..dont like the border...
Yeah, that shit is terrible.
love the artwork!
hmm, I may just be better off getting this since I still haven't downloaded MBL anyway. I mean, that download will come to around $20 anyway, right?...and I'd much rather have the physical disc too. something to think about for sure.
http://www.aksysgames.com/2010/02/18/look-who-dropped-by-our-office-to-say-hello/
Now I have to have the US LE! Damn it!
Is this confirmed.
Ooooh, that's tempting. It's even vertical (which is maybe ironic considering it's one of two Cave hori shooters :) ) which is great since that's how I keep my system. But at the end of the day, I would be a little embarrassed to have goth lolis out where everyone could see them. And I really like the plain white look of the 360 (it matches the cabs).
No if someone made an Astro City themed 360 faceplate. That I would HAVE to get :D
Check the date on the post. This is almost a month old.
Quote from: dmauro on March 10, 2010, 05:34:00 PM
But at the end of the day, I would be a little embarrassed to have goth lolis out where everyone could see them.
I wouldnt...
I don't know if I buy the original game + patch, the Platinum version, or wait for the American version (assuming it runs on a JP360)
Quote from: lmagus on March 30, 2010, 11:06:06 AM
I don't know if I buy the original game + patch, the Platinum version, or wait for the American version (assuming it runs on a JP360)
I wouldn't assume that.
If you don't care about the cover, go for Platinum. If you do care, grab a regular edition and buy MBL.
Old news? Anyway... Only $50.
(http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz118/dimmu--borgirkattkatt/le.jpg)
This is why we love Aksys :D
I really hope they're going to localize some more Cave stuff.
There will also be a $299.99 LE:
http://www.aksysgames.com/wp-content/gallery/random/ds_uber_edition.jpg
Official press release
http://www.aksysgames.com/2010/04/01/deathsmiles-bdsm-uber-edition/
What, no fuck pillow? :laugh:
Quote from: dimmu--borgir on April 01, 2010, 04:07:34 PM
Old news? Anyway... Only $50.
(http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz118/dimmu--borgirkattkatt/le.jpg)
Potentially a very cruel April fools?
Um, no. See above. They posted an April Fools LE too.
Gah, now I'm really excited about this, and I already have the damn game! At least I held off on MBL so I will finally get to try that out once this releases.
QuoteThere will also be a $299.99 LE:
The hotpants just aren't the same without the strategically placed cone.
(http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/2886/strategicallyplacedcone.jpg)
Aksys is awesome. I was kinda hoping for an artbook, but this is a great package for a great price.
that's a nice looking LE that aksys put together. hopefully DS sells fairly well for them and they start picking up more cave games.
Quote from: lam47 on April 02, 2010, 04:34:31 PM
Quote from: Jockel on April 02, 2010, 01:59:45 PM
Quote from: PsychoDiver on April 01, 2010, 07:53:12 PM
Aksys is awesome.
Objection! Game's region locked :'(
Is this confirmed?
PAL lock confirmed. Not sure if it will play on NTSC-J consoles, but I don't think it really matters.
http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/436/page/2 (http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/436/page/2)
Damn! Well, luckily I have a US unit. But wait, I also have a Jap Xbox (soon) and the platinum version... Well, oh... :rolleyes:
Hmm, tough call. Their release of Guilty Gear 2 didn't work on JPN consoles but then Blazblue did. I'll be getting it anyway for the faceplate, but it'd be nice if I could actually play it too. If I could I'd probably consider getting rid of the JPN LE, presuming the price doesn't plummet.
i really hope 505 Games or another company will take it, it's a shame EU players can't enjoy this
Quote from: HVL on April 02, 2010, 04:36:41 PMPAL lock confirmed. Not sure if it will play on NTSC-J consoles, but I don't think it really matters.
http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/436/page/2 (http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/436/page/2)
It matters to me. I haven't downloaded MBL yet, and if I can't play this on my 360 I'll either have to import the Platinum version of buy some XBL funbux to download it. And anyways, I think it would be sort of neat to play through and be able to read the endings. :/
They sure are going all out with the limited edition. All that content for just 50$... it would be a little bit less than 3 times the same price for the japanese version. Only problem, as always... Europe is out of the picture.
That said, 50$ for the faceplate and the cd is an affordable price, I *may* get it.
The Platinum version is released tomorrow.
I just pre-ordered it from NCSX.
I wish I could play the American version, unfortunately I have a J360 and a UK one... God damn region locks...
I might buy the American LE only for the cover and music cds
Someone at Shmups mentioned that it was mentioned over at Aksys that the US Deathsmiles -should- be playable on NTSC J consoles.
Quote from: StarCreator on April 07, 2010, 02:53:32 PM
Someone at Shmups mentioned that it was mentioned over at Aksys that the US Deathsmiles -should- be playable on NTSC J consoles.
Nice. I wonder though if the game will be in English or Japanese on my J-Box... :-\ I'd really like to know if they did something cool with the dialogs.
Quote from: emphatic on April 07, 2010, 04:46:12 PM
I'd really like to know if they did something cool with the dialogs.
I wouldn't get my hopes up.
Back of the Platinum edition case:
http://www.ncsx.com/2010/040510/death_smiles_platinum.htm
It says "Mega Black Label included on the disc" in big font at the top.
Is Amazon the only site taking predorders for the US version? I haven't had much time to check around, and Amazon's out of the question since they won't ship to Spain.
Check out the shmups forum. Someone has been kind enough to offer to ship US copies to overseas buyers.
Someone named brentsg who posts here frequently. :)
Deathsmiles is now listed on Gamestop's site. I plan on pre-ordering it in store, myself.
Quote from: Aquas on April 10, 2010, 04:12:21 PM
Deathsmiles is now listed on Gamestop's site. I plan on pre-ordering it in store, myself.
If you order online before midnight tonight, use the code ENT20 and you can save $10.
Quote from: EOJ on April 10, 2010, 02:42:19 PM
Someone named brentsg who posts here frequently. :)
If someone not in the USA wants one send me an e-mail at deathsmiles@me.com .
There is a post at shmups in the DS thread but essentially I'm not looking to make or lose money, just be prepared to cover $50 plus shipping and fees basically.
First I was meh about this US release.
But the deal sounds good.
Translated and with MBLon the disc.
I wonder if the full voice is included?
If it plays on a J-360, then I prolly will buy it.
Thx brentsg,i will certainly email you :righton:
Yeah, thanks for this - it's appreciated as so far none of my usual US importers have this listed :)
Really sad this won't be region-free. I can wait a bit, I mean Aksys managed to get Blazblue in Europe will a lot of goodies, but that was 9 months after the U.S. launch...
Aksys != Arcsys
I'm still trying to decide myself wether to order it or not, but thanks a lot for the info anyway. If I do for it I'll sure let you know.
Quote from: krokounleashed on April 11, 2010, 03:39:13 PM
Aksys != Arcsys
I think he did mean Aksys, as they did the US localization of Blazblue. They didn't do the EU localization, I don't think, so that doesn't bode well for our EU friends who want DS.
Quote from: brentsg on April 10, 2010, 07:47:11 PM
Quote from: EOJ on April 10, 2010, 02:42:19 PM
Someone named brentsg who posts here frequently. :)
If someone not in the USA wants one send me an e-mail at deathsmiles@me.com .
There is a post at shmups in the DS thread but essentially I'm not looking to make or lose money, just be prepared to cover $50 plus shipping and fees basically.
If it works on an NTSCJ system I will take you up on your very kind offer.
Mail sent ;)
Anyway, is there actually any more DLC planned aside from MBL1.1? A new arrange cd has been announced for the next online matsuri, and there's a new original track which is supposed to be part of upcoming DLC (http://vgmdb.net/album/18668).
Is it just a teaser of an all new arrange soundtrack included in the DLC just like they did with Galuda II? Or is it actually just a teaser from the remix DLC preorder soundtrack of DSII instead?
Or (maybe a bit farfecthed but quite suspicious) could it be the song for a new TBL in MBL1.1?
Or new music for the TLB since it didn't have its own track before.
Did anyone pick up the Platinum Hits release? I'm wondering about a couple things:
1) If you set your system language to English, does the entire game switch to English?
2) Is the game region locked to NTSC J only?
The second would just be for formality, since it's probably locked like 99% of all Japanese 360 releases. Play-Asia apparently didn't even bother testing it. The answer to my first question would be far more interesting - since we know the localization is all done, they could have easily made the Platinum release be the exact same disc Aksys will be putting out a few months down the line, with the language switching along with system settings.
I've got a Platinum version here but I'm not sure it's going to get opened. I might just sell it off.
Quote from: StarCreator on April 13, 2010, 11:17:32 PM
1) If you set your system language to English, does the entire game switch to English?
No.
Quote
2) Is the game region locked to NTSC J only?
Yes.
It's exactly the same as the original release except MBL is on the disc.
Did you actually get the Platinum ver? I was tempted by the cover art, but I really can't justify it just for that reason alone when the US version is coming so soon.
Knowing did all of the localization work for Aksys, it would make sense for them to just make the Platinum disc the same as the US disc. Little less authoring work necessary that way...
It's probably more or less the same but with different region codes, a la Espgaluda II SE/LE
Quote from: StarCreator on April 14, 2010, 12:22:56 AMKnowing did all of the localization work for Aksys, it would make sense for them to just make the Platinum disc the same as the US disc. Little less authoring work necessary that way...
Except that the US disc will supposedly have MBL Training and MBL ver 1.1 on the disc... neither of these are available in Japan yet. It looks like it'll be a third revision of the game.
Not to mention we still don't know what the situation with the Achievements will be... if the US version is limited to 1000 GP, then the achievement listing will be different, or at least, the achievements will have different values.
So far I've placed an order for 3 of the US DS LE packages for interested folks. If you do want one, let me know as soon as possible so I can do the preorder.
I would send you the cash now if only we knew if it would work on an NTSCJ system :(
I can't believe how cheap that American version is, I've got the Japanese platinum ed coming with Ketsui but will probably pick up the US version for the extras, if the game is locked I'm sure I could flog it off for $20 or something. In any case it'll be nice to have MBL on a disc.
New cave blog post:
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/
Good news, both the title update and the MBL ver 1.1 DLC will be available for download this week. The title update is free, and will add a MBL training mode (this is already on the Platinum collection version disc, so this update won't apply to that version of the game). MBL ver 1.1 is 240MS points. It will include 10 new achievements worth 250 points. The title update will be available before MBL ver 1.1 is available.
240MS points is pretty cheap! :righton:
Great, I had 400 spare points but I ended buying some retarded shit because I thought I won't need those points. :-\
I think I'll put it on hold, there's so much other stuff to play anyway.
Are we to assume that MBL 1.1 requires MBL itself to download? Or are the modes completely separate?
(Not that it affects me since I already bought MBL...)
Might be too late now, but did anyone think about asking Aksys (on their forums) to put a scanlines option into the US release?
will MLB 1.1 be available to download on platinum version?
Quote from: lmagus on April 19, 2010, 06:04:08 PM
will MLB 1.1 be available to download on platinum version?
Yes.
Quote from: bcass on April 19, 2010, 04:31:17 PM
Might be too late now, but did anyone think about asking Aksys (on their forums) to put a scanlines option into the US release?
It's definitely too late since Cave said something about finishing the localized version months ago, and the version at PAX East looked pretty damn final to me.
Amazing that nobody thought to ask given how many people complain about it. If nothing else, it might have drawn Cave's attention to the demand for such an easy to implement feature.
Any news on region locks for the US port yet?
I have received the DS Platinum Hits.
I can't choose MBL 1.1 if I'm logged in my american account. I have to log in my japanese account and then it takes me to a screen with lots of downloadable content. I have no idea which one is which so I don't know how to "buy" MBL 1.1.
I had never played or even watched YT videos of this game before receiving it. I really only bought because it's a Cave game at a great price and I just bought my J-360. The fact that it was a horizontal shmup didn't really excite me.
I don't really understand the difference between all the modes (DS, 1.1, MBL). MBL had one more character, one more stage... I'll have to read a lot about them.
I must say I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun with a game. Maybe because everything is so new to me :P
Well, I'm really really happy I bought this game and I'm very excited about the release of DS 2 now.
I find it to be a very fun game too. ESPGALUDA II is just hard work compared.
MBL 1.1 is well worth a purchase if you can get it. Its a lot of fun especially if you like a lot of stuff on the screen and a fair amount of slow down to help you out :)
So, it seems you have the same doubt as me.
If US DS release works in NTSC-J xbox.
Aksys localized Agarest War, and it runs in NTSC-U and NTSC-J xboxes.
So does Blazblue, which was also localized by them.
Seems they only leave out PAL users.
I'll still wait for it to be released and someone telling me to my face it runs so I'll buy it.
I would love for the US Deathsmiles to play on NTSCJ. I hope there will be some LE left by the time we know.
Just been on the Aksys forum and a mod there has said that the game will run on an Asian system but not Pal.
Good enough for me. Now who was offering to order them for people :)
I wonder if NCSX will sell it, as they did sell the localized version of Agarest War.
Well this is odd. In the aksys forum the mod says he was told it would work on an Asian system but I just got an email from aksys.
Unfortunately Deathsmiles will only be compatible with US Xbox 360s.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Thanks!
Aksys Games Support
I asked if it would work on any system other than US.
contradictory info :(
Quote from: lam47 on June 01, 2010, 01:42:02 PM
contradictory info :(
It was me that originally asked the question on the forum but TBH the mod didn't appear to know what the fook he was talking about so I took his response with a pinch of salt.
I was hopeful he was right though because as far as I know their previous localisations were compatible with J-360s - doesn't appear to be the case though.
But it's hardly the end of the world. I only wanted it for the translated dialogue and I'm sure it's cheese-tastic anyway :P
39.99 for LE at Gamestop! Cheap as hell.
http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=77641
Dammit, that's tempting. I already preordered on Amazon (had a $10 off coupon from FFXIII, which puts it about the same before shipping) and don't really like supporting Gamestop if I can avoid it, but I do like saving money...
U$60 for international shipping... Damn :(
The achievements for Deathsmiles were listed today:
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/death-smiles-na/achievements/
According to this the game is listed as Deathsmiles NA. It has 50 achievements worth 1000 pts but as you can see in the list the MBL achievements are included.
I didn't compare the list with the japanese achievements but obviously some achievements were deleted for the US version but more important it means that this game will be treated as a standalone title like RFA US version which means seperate leaderboards :-\
They've revamped a lot. There are 10 secret vs the 15 (not counting MBL/MBL1.1) and there are two 5 point secret achievements but only one in the Japanese version, Tryannosatan is worth 40 points instead of 50, 1.1 clear is worth 10 instead of 80 ,etc.
It will be interesting to see exactly what's been cut once all the secrets are opened. If nothing else, I expect the Bloody Jitterbug achievement to be gone, which means full gamerscore is actually possible on the NA version.
Just a quick question to the owners of DS Platinum Hits. Does it have the Full Voice option to select in-game?
Play test of the US version:
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/06/10/deathsmiles-a-flight-through-halloweentown/
They confirm MBL 1.1 is ON THE DISC. Of course most of use already knew that, but there were some doubters out there.
Also, on the disc they played apparently there was only an English dub, no Japanese voices.
Quote from: EOJ on June 11, 2010, 03:17:39 PMAlso, on the disc they played apparently there was only an English dub, no Japanese voices.
For srs? I don't normally ever care about that sort of thing, but it was so awesome to have Junya Inoue in the game.
He also does the voice of Tamecos (haunted house boss) in DSII. :righton:
Japanese voices aren't confirmed to be absent in the final release version, but I'd bet on it.
Quote from: EOJ on June 11, 2010, 08:31:40 PMJapanese voices aren't confirmed to be absent in the final release version, but I'd bet on it.
Well, the videos on Aksys's DS website (http://www.aksysgames.com/deathsmiles/page.php) all feature the original Japanese voices, but the text is certainly all in English.
Well that's good news. Maybe dual voice then.
I think I missed the part of the article about dubbed English voices--all I saw was a reference to giving each girl a unique 'voice', which could easily mean the 'accents' they wrote into the dialogue.
It's such a shame this is us only. Here in Europe I doubt there are more than 10 us systems.
Perhaps in a years time someone will release it, like blazblue.
Quote from: lam47 on June 12, 2010, 08:04:07 AM
Perhaps in a years time someone will release it, like blazblue.
this; if tradewest games can do it for us...
Quote from: rieru on June 09, 2010, 01:43:26 PM
Just a quick question to the owners of DS Platinum Hits. Does it have the Full Voice option to select in-game?
no full voice for the platinum edition ... if you had a dlc from DS (CE) you can activate full voice but without the dlc the full voice option is greyed out
I asked the Cave Twitter if DS would have original japanese language tracks and Aksys responded saying they will! Victory!
Still can't play the bloody thing in Europe. Why are we the last port of call for all the best games?
Christ we didn't even get FF6 (3 in the US) until it was badly ported to the Playstation during its dying years.
How many years was that?
And then with Blazblue taking almost a year to get over here from the US. My hope for any Cave localizations for Europe could not be any dimmer.
sad for the europeans to get screwed again ...
but most of us here can play the jap version of deathsmiles ... i'm not that sad just because of the full voice and "translated" storyline
whoever gets a copy tomorrow and is able too. Could they pop it in a Japanese system. Just in case Aksys are as confused as they seem.
I'll definitely try it the day I receive mine (ordered from Amazon, two-day shipping, hasn't shipped yet).
Quote from: StarCreator on June 28, 2010, 02:32:43 PM(ordered from Amazon, two-day shipping, hasn't shipped yet).
This bugs me... Mine has a shipping estimate of july 6th, and I think that implies when they're going to send it. And then there's gamestop that had it for $40 for half a day or something, this whole release is a little glitchy.
Oh well, the final product should be great.
It went straight from preorder to temporarily out of stock, meaning they either didn't receive enough copies to cover preorders or didn't receive their allocation at all. Gamestop.com says it's in stock, but the store locator didn't find any product within 100 miles of my zip code. Looks like it's going to be a while.
Quote from: lam47 on June 28, 2010, 02:05:40 PM
whoever gets a copy tomorrow and is able too. Could they pop it in a Japanese system. Just in case Aksys are as confused as they seem.
Mine shipped, but I think I got the slowest shipping, so it might be a few days. I'll definitely be putting in the Japanese console though because if it doesn't work in that it's kind of worthless to me.
I saw the same thing with my Gamestop. Is there some big SNAFU or do they just not have the info in their systems? I'm going to call GS in a little bit and ask. If I could get the game today and cancel my Amazon order, I'd be just fine with that.
Just stopped by GS on my lunch and picked up my pre-order..... they only got in two copies (both for preorders) :(
Will update when I find out if it will play or not on my japanese system
*edit* @work so itll be several hours before I will have a chance...sry
Quick as you can :)
Im going to be begging someone for an LE if it does turn out to work.
Quote from: lam47 on June 29, 2010, 01:24:38 PM
Im going to be begging someone for an LE if it does turn out to work.
Sadly, it doesn't work on a J-NTSC console. BulletMagnet @ shmups tried it. :-\
Ah well. Thanks for letting me know.
This port is incredible. I played through a run of pretty much every mode, and the Arcade version of the regular game is almost spot-on, from what I can tell. All the same slow down that I remember from the board, like on Whroom and Jitterbug especially. Magnifico.
Also, I'm number one on the leaderboards for America, which is a load of crap because I had a really bad run. I'm sure after a few days this will change, but I'm wondering who the top dog will really be in the US.
How bad are the US scores thus far? Biggest negative about the port is lack of access to the Japanese leaderboards (and all their awesome replays).
PS: Someone will have to beat my 346mil score w/ Follett to get the real top US score in Arcade mode. :righton:
Most people don't even have their game yet (looks like my Amazon preorder shipped out literally an hour ago) so the leaderboards are pretty sparse. Someone posted a photo of one of them here (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=590322#p590322)...
Quote from: EOJ on June 30, 2010, 04:18:35 AM
How bad are the US scores thus far? Biggest negative about the port is lack of access to the Japanese leaderboards (and all their awesome replays).
PS: Someone will have to beat my 346mil score w/ Follett to get the real top US score in Arcade mode. :righton:
The scoreboards are pretty dismal right now...last night, I was third with a shitty 56 Mil run. That should tell you something. :laugh:
Must feel good though. I have only broken the top 50 once and top 100 a few times on the various modes on the Japanese leaderboard.
That's a bummer about the replays. Might turn a few casual players into fans, but I assume would just blow peoples minds and make them give up on the genre.
Quote from: lam47 on June 30, 2010, 10:52:30 AM
Must feel good though. I have only broken the top 50 once and top 100 a few times on the various modes on the Japanese leaderboard.
I guess? Not really, but it was only my fourth attempt at a real run with the game so I'm pleased with my progress so far. I'm starting to find the awesome scoring spots. The Volcano on Rank 3 is a goldmine. I haven't really played with MBL yet other than trying out Rank 999 once...what an ass kicker. So far, I am not liking 1.1...it just doesn't feel natural to me at all.
The horrible, but sadly not unexpected, review from IGN:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1103150p1.html
I think he mentions something close to "it should have been a cheap download on Xbox Live Arcade" in there about 5 times.
He didn't lambaste it, but yes, he was repetitive to say the least. The only "full" games on XBLA that aren't mini-games are really old ones. So yeah, kinda stupid. Guess the faceplate didn't do too much for him.
But Mario Tennis got an 8.5.
Not going to find a western reviewer that cares about a 1cc or decent score. As long as you "beat" the game and milk the achievements it's a done deal.
Quote from: EOJ on June 30, 2010, 10:16:48 PM
The horrible, but sadly not unexpected, review from IGN:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1103150p1.html
I think he mentions something close to "it should have been a cheap download on Xbox Live Arcade" in there about 5 times.
Yup. That is the standard IGN "two hours of credit feeding" STG review...along with a heaping spoonful of Ikaruga dong-chugging. I like Ikaruga but I can't bring myself to love it because playing for score isn't fun. The scoring system in DS is a blast.
"It's not fantastic enough to break out of that community the way something like Ikaruga can, though."
this IGN review sucked some serious ikaruga dong. it's black cock must busted at least 3 huge white nuts down that reviewers throat.
i really didn't expect that review to troll so hard. it could've been worse though, at least there was no touhou dong chugging :rolleyes:
One video option was added to the US version that wasn't in the Japanese original: Smoothing on/off.
You can't spell ignorance without ign.
So what does the JPN version resemble? Is it equivalent to the (US version) smoothing on or off?
I am going to dry-hump the mailman so hard tomorrow.
good that the us is able to play this game now ...
game never clicked to me, dont know why maybe the whole recharge thing is what i dont like ...
ds2 after playing ds was just wow ... but somehow i dont like ds1
I think something's a little screwy with the leaderboards. I'm trying to get back into practice after about two years of not touching the game and banged out a whimpy ~80 mil. with Rosa on Xbox 360 mode, and went through all of the upload stuff at the end of the run, but it's not showing up on the leaderboards. Anyone else having similar problems?
EDIT: Figured it out, no thanks to a rather unintuitive option on Cave's part. Apparently when viewing the leaderboards, the option for "EX On/Off" doesn't have a single goddamned thing to do with any hypothetical setting that makes the extra stage available or not (as per my assumption), but actually toggles scores for those who tackled the Gorge versus those who didn't.
Quote from: gsl on July 02, 2010, 06:16:51 PM
EDIT: Figured it out, no thanks to a rather unintuitive option on Cave's part. Apparently when viewing the leaderboards, the option for "EX On/Off" doesn't have a single goddamned thing to do with any hypothetical setting that makes the extra stage available or not (as per my assumption), but actually toggles scores for those who tackled the Gorge versus those who didn't.
Yeah, it's the same thing on the JP boards. And it makes perfect sense in regard to scoring. Similar to separating 1-Loop and 2-Loop scores into different leaderboards. Extra stages = extra scoring potential.
The extra stage is always available for selection, btw.
Oh, I understand the point of separating Gorge vs. non-Gorge scores, I just don't think that distinction is very well represented on the leaderboards. You have a column that says "EX", and the options are "ON" or "OFF", which makes it sound more like a setting than a path choice. Or at least that's how I took it at first.
On an unrelated note, I wonder if the faceplates could be sold for a decent price on Yahoo Japan. Bit of a role reversal, in that regard.
I see what you mean, the "ON/OFF" part is a bit misleading.
Is anyone who's spent a lot of time with the Japanese version noticing slowdown differences? MBL 1.1 is completely fucked (I'm pretty sure it's actually speeding UP in some places), and while the main games seem pretty on there are a few places that feel weird (the large enemies in the castle)
Maybe the main games are fine and the experience with MBL 1.1 just messed with my head a bit.
I haven't had a chance to try it yet beyond the minute or so I spent at the Aksys booth at PAX East, but given at least a few of Cave's recent Arrange modes feature reduced or completely removed slowdown, I wouldn't be surprised if MBL 1.1 had its slowdown removed on purpose.
The jp version had tons of it though, which is why it bothers me so much.
Oh man, if true, that's the dumbest thing ever.
Quote from: cstarflare on July 04, 2010, 07:28:03 PM
Maybe the main games are fine and the experience with MBL 1.1 just messed with my head a bit.
TonK has been complaining about the arcade mode being very inaccurate. Perhaps they changed this too.
*hugs JP version release*
Quote from: brentsg on July 05, 2010, 12:25:21 PMTonK has been complaining about the arcade mode being very inaccurate. Perhaps they changed this too.
TonK is out of his fucking mind on this one. I spent 3 months with the board almost directly before this and Arcade mode is easily the best Cave port available. I would definitely appreciate someone who has the Japanese version and the American doing some comparison but I'm fairly certain they're the same.
Whroom's lvl 3 patterns have the exact same slowdown, same with Bavaria. Jitterbug slows down the same, and even normal parts of the levels slow down the same. He must either be thinking of the 360 mode or be looking for attention on that one.
As for the 1.1 stuff, the 1.1 is the 360 mode, which emulates some of the slowdown, but they definitely didn't do as good a job as they did with arcade. Those are my thoughts.
I've mostly been spending my time on Arcade, and it's been about two years since I last had any interaction with the PCB, but I'm not really seeing any glaring differences between the two. Slowdown seems to occur in the right places (all my old tricks work, at least). Granted, this is a pretty subjective observation, so take it for what it's worth. I don't know a thing about MBL as that dropped after I left, but the lack of slowdown in Whroon's third pattern is bullshit. That is all.
Okay, am I the only one who really doesn't like the 1.1 versions? They're like an attempt at adding Guwange-esque mechanics to the games, only the execution is pretty haphazard and the patterns don't really feel designed for that sort of play--there's too much time spent fiddling between familiar placement and dodging the actual bullet patterns. Plus, I'm not too fond of how you can no longer hit A+B for lock shot or power up and have to assign those to separate buttons. A shooter that makes me utilize every button on my joystick (RSG is exempt from this) starts to lose my interest.
Quote from: gsl on July 06, 2010, 04:31:53 PM
Okay, am I the only one who really doesn't like the 1.1 versions?
I think they're quite subpar too. I play Arcade and MBL 360, and that's about it. The rest is just filler.
Yeah, I've still got quite a bit I want to do on the original arcade mode before I hang that one up, and I've made a few forays into MBL that have been pretty enjoyable. I really want to learn to use Sakura properly, as her options seem like they would be really handy once the cat food bullets start flying, but she's a little tough to get used to. It just seems like there's enough going on with the standard familiar management without having to worry about controlling them independently.
Are there any differences between the original and 360 modes of arcade and MBL aside from the higher-resolution sprites?
Quote from: gsl on July 06, 2010, 05:21:26 PM
Are there any differences between the original and 360 modes of arcade and MBL aside from the higher-resolution sprites?
Slowdown is very different between Arcade & 360 on the one hand and MBL & MBL 360 on the other. 360 is completely worthless to play, about 50% of the PCB's slowdown is missing and you can't score nearly as high as in Arcade due to this. Arcade mode is nearly 100% perfect in regard to duplicating the PCB's slowdown (it's one of the best ports ever made in this regard).
MBL and MBL 360 are weird. Both are very inaccurate with slowdown compared to the PCB (about 80% accuracy overall for each), but if you have to choose one, MBL 360 is a little more accurate. Mainly due to the Ice Palace (MBL 360 has about 80~90% of the PCB's slowdown in this stage, while MBL has about 50~60%). This makes regular MBL mode pretty worthless.
Quote from: gsl on July 06, 2010, 04:31:53 PM
A shooter that makes me utilize every button on my joystick (RSG is exempt from this) starts to lose my interest.
The arcade version of RSG is played with only 3 buttons ;)
Quote from: gsl on July 06, 2010, 04:31:53 PMPlus, I'm not too fond of how you can no longer hit A+B for lock shot or power up and have to assign those to separate buttons.
You can hold A+B for lockshot in 1.1. Personally, I really appreciated powerup being on its own button - it seems to activate faster, and I never accidentally power up when I'm trying to use my lock shot.
I love 1.1; you can play almost the entire game in powerup mode if you do it right.
I'd like 1.1 if they gave you a normal bomb stock (the one bomb thing is really dumb). It feels like they tried to modify the game so that scoring would be easier and more enjoyable, but they did so in a way that sorta broke it so they had to artificially lower the bomb stock to 1 to compensate. An unnatural "fix". Psychologically, I find this unsatisfactory.
I'd also like it better if the multiplier reduction penalty for dying was less. Maybe 10% (like DS2) instead of 20%.
Finally, the whole option control thing is really dumb, and lessens the arcade feel of the game.
As is, I won't play it anymore.
The bomb thing would probably bother me if bombing was consequence-free like in the arcade version. As is, you really want to avoid bombing as much as possible in 1.1 because it flatlines your counter. Multiplier reduction is a bitch, I have to admit. Doesn't help that it's really really difficult (impossible) to make up for any hits you might take in the last half of the Canyon/first half of the Castle.
The option control thing was what drew me to 1.1 in the first place; I was getting frustrated with suicide bullets in the arcade version and it was the perfect solution. Different strokes, I guess.
Quote from: EOJ on July 06, 2010, 08:18:20 PM
It feels like they tried to modify the game so that scoring would be easier and more enjoyable, but they did so in a way that sorta broke it
I find 20% to be more than fair when penalizing for dying.... totally agree w/ you on the option manipulation. It's necessary in a few parts but it feels counter intuitive to say the least.
I think if you see 1.1 as an arcade game it's inferior to the original game and also the option control feels tedious if you play it with an arcade setup.
But if you look at it as an X360 game that should be played more like a twin stick shooter with joypad it's a very good game and I think it's nice that Cave designed it as an XBox 360 game and not an arranged arcade version. After all if you look at all the other arrange modes Cave made in their last games (Futari Arrange, ESP2 BL and Arrange, DS2 X and Arrange) Deathsmiles 1.1 is easily the best imo.
Quote from: cstarflare
You can hold A+B for lockshot in 1.1.
Really? I'll have to try it again, because for some reason it wouldn't trigger at all for me unless I used the dedicated button. Don't think I was drinking much at that point, either.
Quote from: antaresThe arcade version of RSG is played with only 3 buttons ;)
That depends on how hacked up the machine you're playing on is--I think there's one in HEY with all six buttons, plus one for the sword as well. In any case, I meant the Saturn port. :p
Quote from: gsl on July 07, 2010, 04:06:49 AM
Really? I'll have to try it again, because for some reason it wouldn't trigger at all for me unless I used the dedicated button. Don't think I was drinking much at that point, either.
Were you using the full-auto buttons?
I haven't played any of the Japanese MBL modes, but from what I can tell, Japanese Arcade and USA Arcade are the same.
That said, I just tried USA MBL Arcade and USA MBL 360. There's no doubt in my mind that USA MBL Arcade has way more slowdown than USA MBL 360. Which is how it should have been, right? Is there any chance they "fixed" things by switching the slowdown between the modes? lol.
Play the Ice Palace stage. JP MBL Arcade has more slowdown in the first six stages, but much less in the Ice palace, compared to JP MBL 360.
Yeah, you're right, then. Ice palace has next to no slowdown on Arcade, but it has some on 360.
Quote from: cstarflare
Were you using the full-auto buttons?
No, the normal shot buttons. I don't bother with the full auto buttons much, as this doesn't seem to be a game that relies on switching from shot to 'laser' as much as the Mushihimesama titles. In any case, I'm probably not going to mess with the 1.1 versions at all--the option control is too confusing, and I'm going to be plenty occupied with what arcade and MBL modes have to offer.
I recently played the US version. Oh man, what a train wreck. All the slowdown in all the modes is decreased and/or different compared to the JP version. The gravest of offenses is they took the nearly 100% perfect Arcade mode on the JP version and ripped tons of slowdown out of it in the US version. Why oh why would anyone do that?
Anyone serious about this game needs to buy a JP X360, or the PCB. That's all there is to it.
Did you get a look at the smoothing on/off options in the US release? Which option is equivalent to the JPN default, and which one looks best?
Quote from: EOJ on July 15, 2010, 08:47:01 PM
I recently played the US version. Oh man, what a train wreck. All the slowdown in all the modes is decreased and/or different compared to the JP version. The gravest of offenses is they took the nearly 100% perfect Arcade mode on the JP version and ripped tons of slowdown out of it in the US version. Why oh why would anyone do that?
Anyone serious about this game needs to buy a JP X360, or the PCB. That's all there is to it.
I won't question the almighty EOJ, but when I got the game and started playing on arcade, it felt the same as I had been doing on the PCB. Since then, I've increased my score by 70 million points.
What parts specifically were missing the slowdown that you could point out? All I could find was the Volcano where you squeeze between the wraiths and eyeballs, and then the first pattern from Jitterbug. Otherwise, the slowdown is pretty awesome on Whroom, which is where I need it the most :-[
I don't own it, only played it once in each mode to try it out so I can't comment on details. I'm not buying it either, after test-driving it. Nor would I recommend anyone else to buy this mangled US version.
All I can say is I noticed slowdown missing in multiple spots, and in other spots, it felt like it was not as slow. It was obvious from the start. The lack of slowdown on Jitterbug is a particularly glaring defect.
Kiken knows his stuff, and he posted a more in-depth account here:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14101&start=3496
Quote from: EOJ on July 16, 2010, 12:17:04 AM
I don't own it, only played it once in each mode to try it out so I can't comment on details. I'm not buying it either, after test-driving it. Nor would I recommend anyone else to buy this mangled US version.
All I can say is I noticed slowdown missing in multiple spots, and in other spots, it felt like it was not as slow. It was obvious from the start. The lack of slowdown on Jitterbug is a particularly glaring defect.
Kiken knows his stuff, and he posted a more in-depth account here:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14101&start=3496
The weird little differences in slowdown in the first 6 levels is mildly annoying... the difference in slowdown in the EX and Castle stages, especially with either Death Mode active, is ridiculous.
Is it just me, or does the US version load each game mode faster? I have to wonder if Aksys employed some sort of universal code enhancement to get the games to stream their data "more effeciently" but in the process interupted some of the code that Ikeda threw together to get the 360 to replicate the PCBs' slowdown.
I can only guess... it's just really odd. I can't imagine Cave would actively screw with the game program to create a Western release... so I have to assume that it's something Aksys did during the localization process.
Quote from: EOJ on July 15, 2010, 08:47:01 PM
I recently played the US version. Oh man, what a train wreck. All the slowdown in all the modes is decreased and/or different compared to the JP version. The gravest of offenses is they took the nearly 100% perfect Arcade mode on the JP version and ripped tons of slowdown out of it in the US version. Why oh why would anyone do that?
Anyone serious about this game needs to buy a JP X360, or the PCB. That's all there is to it.
THANK YOU!
Oh, BTW, I have your MBL PCB - nice scoring.
Quote from: TonK on July 16, 2010, 12:15:54 PMOh, BTW, I have your MBL PCB
..and I'm missing it already :{
I'm 700m away from getting you!
Quote from: Kiken on July 16, 2010, 09:06:31 AM
I can only guess... it's just really odd. I can't imagine Cave would actively screw with the game program to create a Western release... so I have to assume that it's something Aksys did during the localization process.
For some reason I was under the impression Cave did all the localization programming work themselves and Aksys just did the distribution (and maybe the script translation). Wasn't there a Cave blog post a few months ago saying something to that effect? The game looked like it was pretty much done at PAX East already.
Quote from: StarCreator on July 17, 2010, 08:33:15 AM
Quote from: Kiken on July 16, 2010, 09:06:31 AM
I can only guess... it's just really odd. I can't imagine Cave would actively screw with the game program to create a Western release... so I have to assume that it's something Aksys did during the localization process.
For some reason I was under the impression Cave did all the localization programming work themselves and Aksys just did the distribution (and maybe the script translation). Wasn't there a Cave blog post a few months ago saying something to that effect? The game looked like it was pretty much done at PAX East already.
Well then, they screwed up somewhere and failed to play test afterward. I suppose I should assume that Ikeda had nothing to do with the localization because he certainly would have noted these issues. Or are we back to the old "lol, we'll make the game harder for Western audiences" nonsense?
Yeah, I wonder if they didn't reduce the slowdown because they thought "westerners like games that are more fast-paced".
i think more like the "western casual non shmup gamers" are like:
"wtf the game lags ... it unplayable ... it looks like shit but they are too stupid to programm it right that it will run at 60fps"
i think thats why they reduced the slowdown ...
Quote from: EOJ on July 15, 2010, 08:47:01 PMI recently played the US version. Oh man, what a train wreck.
Shit like this makes me feel bad for the people who obediently waited for the localization, only to get royally fucked up.
Any numbers on how much this has sold?
Quote from: Lusche on July 17, 2010, 02:00:43 PM
i think more like the "western casual non shmup gamers" are like:
"wtf the game lags ... it unplayable ... it looks like shit but they are too stupid to programm it right that it will run at 60fps"
i think thats why they reduced the slowdown ...
I think this is the reason.
I remember reading comments on Futari in various forums where casual shmuppers who imported the game bashed about the slowdown and the unplayability of the game.
They should have left the slowdown in the game and simply printed something about it in the manual. I thought the way it was explained in the Develop interview was very eloquent -
"and although this is
a simulated feeling, the player experiences a
certain sense of ?awakening? and this situation
can transform into something satisfying. The
meaning of slow-down in bullet heaven
shooters is accentuating the difficulty of the
game, and containing this potential for
difficult situations to become enjoyable."
A brief explanation like this would show any plebs that it's part of the game, that it's intentional, and that they'd be lost without it - it would certainly be a lot less work than altering game code and it would keep the port as accurate as possible.
Personally I really like slowdown - it's like playing a Sam Peckinpah film. Shame they screwed it up. If Europe is ever to get a port you can bet it will be the U.S version.
Quote from: antares on July 17, 2010, 05:43:22 PM
Quote from: Lusche on July 17, 2010, 02:00:43 PM
i think more like the "western casual non shmup gamers" are like:
"wtf the game lags ... it unplayable ... it looks like shit but they are too stupid to programm it right that it will run at 60fps"
i think thats why they reduced the slowdown ...
I think this is the reason.
I remember reading comments on Futari in various forums where casual shmuppers who imported the game bashed about the slowdown and the unplayability of the game.
I'm almost certain that that isn't the reason. From a programming perspective, it would be a hundred times easier just to have a "wait on/off" option, with the default being off if they didn't want Westerners to think slowdown was down to their programming inabilities.
Quote from: EOJ on July 15, 2010, 08:47:01 PM
I recently played the US version. Oh man, what a train wreck. All the slowdown in all the modes is decreased and/or different compared to the JP version. The gravest of offenses is they took the nearly 100% perfect Arcade mode on the JP version and ripped tons of slowdown out of it in the US version. Why oh why would anyone do that?
Anyone serious about this game needs to buy a JP X360, or the PCB. That's all there is to it.
that is seriously fucking depressing.
my only saving grace is that ive never played the JP version and the leaderboards are seperate, so ill be in my own little insulated shmup world here with my US copy.
still... a real shame.
Quote from: antares on July 17, 2010, 05:43:22 PM
I remember reading comments on Futari in various forums where casual shmuppers who imported the game bashed about the slowdown and the unplayability of the game.
Well slowdown was never an issue, but if you downloaded Black Label and got stuttering, that really was a game breaker. Still kind of pissed that never got patched. As for Deathsmiles, i think it's as everyone suspects, just trying to pander to a new US audience, even though the slow down makes the game infinitely more possible. I should write Cherie at Aksys and see if we can get a real explanation.
http://www.vgchartz.com/game.php?id=34131 (http://www.vgchartz.com/game.php?id=34131)
If we're to trust VGChartz, the localization is outselling the Japanese version. It's cool -- the more it sells, the better chances are there'll be more (hopefully not butchered) localizations.
Yeah, I wouldn't pay any mind to VGChartz numbers. They can be wildly off and sometimes completely fabricated.
In other news, it seems Cave is responsible for messing up the slowdown in the US port:
http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732
Maybe if enough people complain they could patch it.
well i signed up to complaing. hopefully something can be done.
fucking nonsense Cave. what was the point?
Quote from: EOJ on July 19, 2010, 07:00:45 PM
Yeah, I wouldn't pay any mind to VGChartz numbers. They can be wildly off and sometimes completely fabricated.
In other news, it seems Cave is responsible for messing up the slowdown in the US port:
http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732
Maybe if enough people complain they could patch it.
I, for one, can't see that happening. How many times was the slowdown adjusted for the better in the Japanese ports? :laugh:
Even if CAVE is responsible for this, Aksys shouldn't have let that slip past.
Quote from: HVL on July 20, 2010, 01:12:08 AM
I, for one, can't see that happening. How many times was the slowdown adjusted for the better in the Japanese ports? :laugh:
Even if CAVE is responsible for this, Aksys shouldn't have let that slip past.
From what I understand after talking to Cherie Baker, Aksys didn't have the final say in this arrangement, Cave did.
http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732 (http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732)
Quote
All right, I have a response from Cave. Pardon the literal translation:
Cave wanted to fix some unintended slowdown in the original, which compromised the level of difficulty in those sections. They upgraded the production environment of the graphics engine, so the U.S. version handles the graphic assets better. They're now working as originally intended, so things will be more difficult.
Hope that makes sense.
I don't quite get that - but hey, it's working as intended!
That's BS. The JP version already ran too fast in every mode except Arcade (and the arrange modes 1.1 and MBL 1.1), which was perfect. There was no reason for them to mess up the US version of Arcade mode. If they wanted to "fix" the slowdown further, they should have included a wait on/off option in the US version, or at least just made the changes in 360 mode.
Quote from: HVL on July 21, 2010, 02:16:30 PM
http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732 (http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732)
Quote
All right, I have a response from Cave. Pardon the literal translation:
Cave wanted to fix some unintended slowdown in the original, which compromised the level of difficulty in those sections. They upgraded the production environment of the graphics engine, so the U.S. version handles the graphic assets better. They're now working as originally intended, so things will be more difficult.
Hope that makes sense.
I don't quite get that - but hey, it's working as intended!
So Cave's intention was to make Death Mode 2 unplayable and to make sure that nobody ever got to MBL Bloody Jitterbug ligitimately...?
If so, mission accomplished.
So, CAVE intentionally broke scoring for the Western release? Bad move. I'm still enjoying the hell out of the game but this news saddens me...new hi score table for NA version or are we going to note it with an asterisk?
Definitely a different table for the NA scores.
I should also note the most glaring error from Deathsmiles PCB to Xbox port, at least in my experience in the NA version.
If you type in your name on the 360 as "POO" it changes it to "CAV."
BULL FUCKING SHIT!
What's the deal with the initials in the US version? I've heard no matter what you input it changes it to CAV.
Quote from: EOJ on July 22, 2010, 12:17:55 AM
What's the deal with the initials in the US version? I've heard no matter what you input it changes it to CAV.
Perhaps the NA version is so messed up it's not meant to be played for score. :laugh:
Quote from: Kiken on July 21, 2010, 03:37:35 PM
So Cave's intention was to make Death Mode 2 unplayable and to make sure that nobody ever got to MBL Bloody Jitterbug ligitimately...?
If so, mission accomplished.
sounds like it. greeeeaaaaat. thanks Cave!
Quote from: EOJ on July 22, 2010, 12:17:55 AM
What's the deal with the initials in the US version? I've heard no matter what you input it changes it to CAV.
i havent had a problem entering mine.
US version has been slashed in price to $39 and change at amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Deathsmiles-Limited-Xbox-360/dp/B003E6VK5Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1281749256&sr=8-1-catcorr).
Personally I still think it's $39 too much, but for those of you who don't care about score and just want to credit feed through to see the endings while you gaze at the faceplate and listen to the lousy soundtrack CD, the US version is for you.
Is this version worth in slowdown accuracy ? http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/search.html?mv_profile=searchstring&mv_sort_field=title&mv_exact_match=1&mv_matchlimit=10&mv_search_page=search_results&mv_searchspec=death+smiles&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0&Submit=Submit
That is the JPN version so it's region locked to JPN/Asia consoles, but yes the slowdown is better.
More interestingly, I see that NCSX is carrying the Deathsmiles II toresetsu.
Seems that Rising Star are bringing this to Europe in early 2011. Source here (http://"http://www.eurogamer.se/articles/2010-09-17-varldsexklusivt-deathsmiles-kommer-till-europa") via the Cave World EN (http://"http://twitter.com/cave_world_en") Twitter. Google translate says of the article;
QuoteIn our interview with Cave-producer Makoto Asada here at the Tokyo Game Show , he told an exclusive visit to Eurogamer.se to their Xbox 360-exclusive shoot 'em up game DeathSmiles will be released in Europe very early in 2011 ". This, together with Rising Star Games.
DeathSmiles is a horizontal shooter which was released in Japan for a year and a half years ago and has sold more than 50 000 copies. The game was released in the U.S. now in July, and now it becomes our turn to buy it in stores.
Great news. Definitely buying it unless they "Aksys" it.
My suggestion for the LE bonus is a Casper dakimakura. =D
Quote from: HVL on September 17, 2010, 10:51:18 AM
Great news. Definitely buying it unless they "Aksys" it.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by this quip? I think we've definitively proven everything that went wrong with Deathsmiles NA is traceable back to Cave themselves.
This is going to be the same damn f'd up version that Aksys released. Don't buy this garbage!
Quote from: EOJ on September 17, 2010, 02:13:42 PM
This is going to be the same damn f'd up version that Aksys released. Don't buy this garbage!
There's simply no way for any of us to know that. Hell, we don't know for sure if this release will even happen at all.
And even if it is pretty much the same version as Deathsmiles NA, I would advise purchasing the game anyway if you want to help convince whoever is publishing it to bring more over. Not purchasing the game is only a vote for not having any more ports come into the continent, good or bad.
Companies often get away with publishing mediocre products when they see that consumers will pony up for them.
It sets a bad precedent, so I would only advise only getting the DeathSmiles localization whenever you see it on sale.
It's not mediocre, it's just not an arcade accurate port. If you like shmups and aren't an anal purist you're bound to have fun with it. At the very least it is worth purchasing to show support and encourage future releases.
At the same you should be petitioning the fuck out of Rising Star Games to not let Cave butcher it like they did the US release. A modified Deathsmiles is better than nothing, but if you can get a perfect copy all the better for you. I need to go buy the JP version now.
Quote from: Hive on September 19, 2010, 03:21:39 AM
Companies often get away with publishing mediocre products when they see that consumers will pony up for them.
It sets a bad precedent, so I would only advise only getting the DeathSmiles localization whenever you see it on sale.
This argument simply doesn't work on much smaller productions like these - the message more likely to be received by the company from poor sales is "this genre doesn't sell, let's not bother doing anything more". Buying the product, despite any flaws, at least shows there is interest in the market and perhaps good things can happen down the line.
But again, we don't know what version will be released in Europe, if any, so this is all getting ahead of ourselves.
Quote from: njiska on September 19, 2010, 06:41:46 AM
It's not mediocre, it's just not an arcade accurate port. If you like shmups and aren't an anal purist you're bound to have fun with it. At the very least it is worth purchasing to show support and encourage future releases.
I'm gonna have to agree on this part. I know Tonk and a few others got all hot and bothered about some of the minuscule changes to the slowdown handling, but honestly, if you're not a high level player that's sunk a ton of time into the PCB you probably won't even notice. The negative hyperbole being lofted about in regards to this game is getting pretty annoying, as it's hardly the disaster its made out to be, and I think people are getting the impression that the game itself is a massively flawed product broken in every conceivable way. If you've never played the game before, you won't even have a clue as to what the differences are between the Western release and the original Japanese version.
You don't have to play the PCB to be bothered by the changes in the US version. And these changes are very significant. You simply can't score as well in any of the modes compared to the JP version. For the casual gamer who doesn't play for score, I can understand why they wouldn't care about this. Anyone else should care.
Also, Cave programmed an English version, and in doing so they altered the whole game code. There's no way they are going to go back, use the JP version, and program English text in it for the Euro version, instead of just using the US version.
I still say people shouldn't buy messed up localizations like this. It only shows the company they can do this again at their discretion.
I don't support such shoddy products.
Quote from: EOJ on September 19, 2010, 03:01:25 PM
You don't have to play the PCB to be bothered by the changes in the US version. And these changes are very significant. You simply can't score as well in any of the modes compared to the JP version. For the casual gamer who doesn't play for score, I can understand why they wouldn't care about this. Anyone else should care.
Also, Cave programmed an English version, and in doing so they altered the whole game code. There's no way they are going to go back, use the JP version, and program English text in it for the Euro version, instead of just using the US version.
I still say people shouldn't buy messed up localizations like this. It only shows the company they can do this again at their discretion.
I don't support such shoddy products.
I care and i'm not a hardcore score player, nor have I played the PC. I care because i want an accurate copy and Lvl 3 just isn't as fun. However I also acknowledge that i'm probably the minority of the people buying the US port and I'm sure a lot of people who don't have the attachment to the original version like we do are having a lot of fun. Remember, in the end that's all that matters.
The problem with the whole "don' buy it if it's a shoddy product" mentality in this case is that it would be more likely seen as a lack of interest in their products in general, rather than a lack of interest in this particular variation. I still maintain the best solution is to buy the game if you like/enjoy it and then bitch and moan about the problems so they clue in next time. I'm pretty sure the message has bee very clearly conveyed by this point.
Quote from: njiskaThe problem with the whole "don' buy it if it's a shoddy product"
See, I think calling it a 'shoddy product' is going too far. When I think shoddy product, I think poorly coded. I think bugs and unacceptable load times--the sort of stuff that's plagued 5pb's BLEX port. In Deathsmiles' case, the slowdown and overall game speed are off compared to the JP original and the PCB. I honestly can't see it. I can't point to a spot in the game and say, "Here, here's where they fucked it up." If not for the original Japanese release, the current version wouldn't be any more remarkable than any number of arcade ports of any genre that have come before and been not-quite perfect. I just find the backlash to be really extreme and a little ridiculous. It's not as close as the initial version; okay, this is unfortunate. Do we really need to saddle up and go on a campaign to try and talk everyone who might be interested out of buying it? Again, I don't think it's such a bad port as to merit that sort of response, and it's certainly not the sort of thing that will guarantee the future of releases outside of Japan. Some of the vitriol towards the NA port makes me feel like I'm stuck in some kind of alternate reality where I'm apparently failing to grasp some basic concept that's perfectly obvious to everyone else.
But nor am I suggesting that people somehow have a responsibility to purchase shoddy products in order to show support to publishers for hypothetical future releases. If a game is really crappy, you're under no obligation to buy it (obviously!). But I don't believe the newer versions of Deathsmiles fall into that category. And I think if you've never played the arcade or J360 original, it's not going to make much of a difference to you if you buy the NA/EU version. I mean, if the idea of 100% arcade fidelity means that much to you, then it's not like the PCB or J360 port are impossible to find. If that's not an option for whatever reason, I just think acting like the game should still be avoided at all costs is silly.
I've said my piece, though, so now we can get back to talking about the ports or whatever.
Quote from: gsl on September 20, 2010, 02:25:17 AM
When I think shoddy product, I think poorly coded. I think bugs and unacceptable load times--the sort of stuff that's plagued 5pb's BLEX port.
Have you even played the BLEX port? BLEX is a more accurate port than Deathsmiles NA (any mode). Initial load is long, but it's the same as Mamoru-kun and no one bitches about it for that game. Once you load up Black Label version, loads are pretty much gone, there are no bugs, and the game is dead-on to the PCB. For me, as someone who cares first and foremost about having very accurate arcade ports at home, the bitching about BLEX is far less deserved than the bitching about Deathsmiles NA.
Are you a casual gamer and/or one who doesn't play for score, gsl? You sure sound like one (and that's fine, that's not an insult, but I already said such people won't be bothered by the changes in Deathsmiles NA).
Quote from: gsl on September 20, 2010, 02:25:17 AM
Some of the vitriol towards the NA port makes me feel like I'm stuck in some kind of alternate reality where I'm apparently failing to grasp some basic concept that's perfectly obvious to everyone else.
Could it be that's because you don't know what it's like to really care about scoring? Just a thought.
I tend to agree to EOJ's opinion on this subject.
I'd say I'm a mediocre score player, if I really like a game I'm able to get above average scores but nowhere near the top of the scale.
I honestly can't see much differences in Mushi Futari or ESPGaluda 2 compared to the PCB. But in Deathsmiles the differnces are quite big. I think this is because the Slowdown is heavily linked to good scoring in DS. Once you start noticing how you can extend your power up phases with the use of slowdown you will see the difference even between jp 360 mode and jp Arcade mode.
When I got DS on the 360 I played only 360 mode in the first couple of weeks and had a very good feeling for the slowdown there. When I felt I had reached my limit in scoring I started playing Arcade mode and I instantly noticed how much longer you can stay in power up mode there thus resulting in a much higher score only after a few playthroughs which would be not possible in 360 mode for me at this time.
So yeah, I think the inaccurate slowdown in 360 mode or the US version is more of a big deal in DS than in other inaccurate ports.
But of course if you don't own a jp 360 I'd still recommend buying the PAL Version. Chances are high, that people who don't own a jp 360 at this point aren't very much in the shmup genre anyway to care enough about the differences.
Quote from: EOJ on September 20, 2010, 02:54:50 AM
Quote from: gsl on September 20, 2010, 02:25:17 AM
When I think shoddy product, I think poorly coded. I think bugs and unacceptable load times--the sort of stuff that's plagued 5pb's BLEX port.
Have you even played the BLEX port? BLEX is a more accurate port than Deathsmiles NA (any mode). Initial load is long, but it's the same as Mamoru-kun and no one bitches about it for that game.
Nah man, loading times on BLEX are quite a bit longer than Mamoru-Kun! Where's my patch damnit! :-*
Regardless though, it's true that the BLEX bitching is largely unwarranted. I just put down a BL PCB to play BL on BLEX (what a mouthful!) and it's actually a fairly difficult game of spot the difference.
Re: DS I see it EOJ's way only because I'm a shmup fan who wants the game to be as close to the arcade experience as possible in regard to the timings and scoring subtleties. You want to be able to compete on the same scoreboard as everyone else and not be faced with a more difficult challenge simply because the adjustments have made higher ranks unfair to play.
On the flip side, look at it from Cave's point of view: DS 360 JP is region locked, the PCB isn't distributed in the west -
as far as they're concerned we don't know any different. And I think that's the key point, they optimised their game because they felt slowdown would be frowned upon and wanted the first western release with their name on it to not be associated with poor coding (in the eyes of uneducated gamers.)
So would I say boycott the US/EU port? No, I'd like to see some other games released here, so if you can get it on the cheap and it's your only option, may as well have a bash.
If Cave do the same thing twice though, never buy their shit again! :lol:
Quote from: skykid on September 20, 2010, 06:23:49 AM
Nah man, loading times on BLEX are quite a bit longer than Mamoru-Kun! Where's my patch damnit! :-*
I timed the initial loading time of both once (both installed on the hdd), and they were almost the same. Other in-game loads (to/from menus) are longer in BLEX, though.
Quote from: antares on September 20, 2010, 06:10:15 AM
I think this is because the Slowdown is heavily linked to good scoring in DS.
Bingo. I remember GP and I were worried about the original JP version port (before it came out), as we said that the scoring was intricately connected with the slowdown, and even being off a few frames would make some of the scoring sections all messed up, ruining the game. I was really pleased when I discovered the JP Arcade mode was nearly 100% spot on to the PCB, but when I played the NA version, I was aghast. I simply couldn't play through the US version using the scoring techniques I've honed on the PCB and JP port. Consequently, I'm forced to drop lots of points in many stages when I play the US version. Who could think that's a minor problem, or even "fun"? It's like trying to run a marathon with bricks in your shoes. It's zero fun for me to play the US Deathsmiles.
And let's not forget MBL 1.1. It isn't a port from a PCB version, but the US version runs like 2x faster than the JP version. That's no minor problem.
It annoys me to a degree, but since I'm not too big into DS's scoring anyway, I can live with it. It just makes the game a bit harder, which is sort of nice. I don't think it was exactly the best $50 I ever dropped, but it's a fun game to throw a credit or two at every so often...kinda. I've only played the original 360 mode, and that doesn't get fun until the castle (when it gets REALLY cool), but I hear MBL is great.
Also, as skykid said, nobody knows the difference over here. They'll buy it and say "Wow, what a nice, fast-paced shooting game with 8-year-old skanks and Halloween monsters and stuff!" That's fine by me; hopefully BLEX and/or DFK (personally, I think DFK is the better idea) get localizations as a result.
Quote from: Medal on September 20, 2010, 09:38:34 PM
It annoys me to a degree, but since I'm not too big into DS's scoring anyway, I can live with it. It just makes the game a bit harder, which is sort of nice. I don't think it was exactly the best $50 I ever dropped, but it's a fun game to throw a credit or two at every so often...kinda. I've only played the original 360 mode, and that doesn't get fun until the castle (when it gets REALLY cool), but I hear MBL is great.
Play all rank 3 w/ EX and come back saying the artificially added difficulty is nice.
The scoring in Deathsmiles is superb, although I can understand if people don't think it's hot in the US version, because they essentially broke it. The forest is really fucked up even in the Japanese 360 mode and it ruins all the fun for me.
Quote from: HVL on September 21, 2010, 01:37:33 AM
The forest is really fucked up even in the Japanese 360 mode and it ruins all the fun for me.
Yeah, if it wasn't for that stage, I might actually play 360 mode in the JP version once in awhile. Too bad.
$29.99 SE coming next week to the US X360:
http://www.amazon.com/Deathsmiles-Xbox-360/dp/B0042VX73U/ref=sr_1_22?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285380373&sr=8-22
forgive this stupid question. The arcade version is three buttons right? Shoot left, shoot right and bomb??
How can you map this to an arcade stick? With a controller the triggers are like a machine gun fire, and the a and b buttons are like the laser. Isnt the arcade where you tap button 1 for the machine gun and hold button 1 for the laser??
Quote from: thestreetzking on October 08, 2010, 04:09:34 PM
The arcade version is three buttons right? Shoot left, shoot right and bomb??
Yep. In that order.
Quote
How can you map this to an arcade stick?
Just map them to the top left three buttons on the stick.
QuoteIsnt the arcade where you tap button 1 for the machine gun and hold button 1 for the laser??
Yes again. I like to map rapid left shot and rapid right shot to other buttons on my stick, it's particularly helpful in Deathsmiles II. :righton:
LOL you know what it was, on the map controller inputs they show turbo fire, I think thats why I was confused
I usually go
Shot Left - Shot Right - Bomb
Turbo Left - Turbo Right - Lock Shot
Someone put up a pretty good video comparison of the US version and the JP version side-by-side, for those that want to see how bad the lack of slowdown is in the US version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUL7wI0wO50
Quote from: KOA on October 18, 2010, 10:57:56 AM
Someone put up a pretty good video comparison of the US version and the JP version side-by-side, for those that want to see how bad the lack of slowdown is in the US version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUL7wI0wO50
shame they kept pausing to let the J version catch up. i would of like to see exactly how many seconds faster the entire level playthrough is.
also, i feel bad for the people who will only get to play the NA version. after putting about 50 hours into the J release, the NA release felt totally wrong. i think i gave it about 15 minutes and boxed it back up :(. hopefully if aksys is able to bring more games over, they won't be butchered as well. it baffles me that cave would do such a thing on purpose.
Quote from: brokenhalo on October 18, 2010, 11:10:32 AM
shame they kept pausing to let the J version catch up. i would of like to see exactly how many seconds faster the entire level playthrough is.
also, i feel bad for the people who will only get to play the NA version. after putting about 50 hours into the J release, the NA release felt totally wrong. i think i gave it about 15 minutes and boxed it back up :(. hopefully if aksys is able to bring more games over, they won't be butchered as well. it baffles me that cave would do such a thing on purpose.
That version is located here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoPv1bi4FOI
The NA version is 2 minutes faster
good news everyone, the PAL version will have the original slowdowns of the japanese version!
http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6253#p6253 (http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6253#p6253)
totally worth the purchase now.
Quote from: Van_Artic on October 31, 2010, 08:10:09 AM
good news everyone, the PAL version will have the original slowdowns of the japanese version!
http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6253#p6253 (http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6253#p6253)
Better not to jump the gun yet.
This is the most official information regarding the slowdown situation, posted by some Aksys' PR dude on their boards:
QuoteCave wanted to fix some unintended slowdown in the original, which compromised the level of difficulty in those sections. They upgraded the production environment of the graphics engine, so the U.S. version handles the graphic assets better. They're now working as originally intended, so things will be more difficult.
If we're to trust that, it means the crippled US version has all the intended slowdown in, which RSG plans to keep.
Also, I want a real explanation for this directly from CAVE, not some random asshat defending their sloppy port. It contradicts 100% the one review where they [CAVE] talked about slowdown in their games.
Quote from: Van_Artic on October 31, 2010, 08:10:09 AM
good news everyone, the PAL version will have the original slowdowns of the japanese version!
http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6253#p6253 (http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6253#p6253)
Where did you read that? Certainly nowhere in the link you provided.
The guy on the forum there said:
Quote
Cave removed some unintended slowdown for us version.
The rising star games guy replied
Quote
as far as I know, we're keeping the intended slowdowns
He didn't say we're keeping the UNINTENDED slowdowns, and he didn't say it's the same as the JP version! Remember, Cave
said they removed all the "unintended" slowdown from the US version, and just kept the "intended" slowdown. The rising star guy is just repeating the Cave line! So as of right now, nobody should be thinking they're using the JP version's slowdown.
I still think this is just going to be the US version, but we'll see.
my bad, i jumped the shark right away :P
i hope it just doesn't turn into another different thing
Also keep in mind PR guys for these companies usually don't know what they're talking about. I remember the Aksys PR guy (on Aksys forums) couldn't find out if Agarest was region coded for US and Japan, or just US. So he said "US and Asia, but not Japan", which makes no sense really as there aren't any games region coded that way. Sure enough, when the game arrived, it worked on JP systems, much to the surprise of the Aksys PR guy!
Quote from: EOJ on October 31, 2010, 03:05:11 PM
Also keep in mind PR guys for these companies usually don't know what they're talking about. I remember the Aksys PR guy (on Aksys forums) couldn't find out if Agarest was region coded for US and Japan, or just US. So he said "US and Asia, but not Japan", which makes no sense really as there aren't any games region coded that way. Sure enough, when the game arrived, it worked on JP systems, much to the surprise of the Aksys PR guy!
So Deathsmiles US works on a Jp XBOX360 ?
No, I was talking about their game Record of Agarest War (I just called it Agarest in the post you quoted).
Quote from: EOJ on October 31, 2010, 03:37:47 PM
No, I was talking about their game Record of Agarest War (I just called it Agarest in the post you quoted).
Sorry my bad :D
Quote from: EOJ on October 31, 2010, 03:05:11 PM
Also keep in mind PR guys for these companies usually don't know what they're talking about. I remember the Aksys PR guy (on Aksys forums) couldn't find out if Agarest was region coded for US and Japan, or just US. So he said "US and Asia, but not Japan", which makes no sense really as there aren't any games region coded that way. Sure enough, when the game arrived, it worked on JP systems, much to the surprise of the Aksys PR guy!
Same thing happened with BBCS. The problem is that a lot of these localization companies don't actually have a say in those decisions. Generally when a company like Aksys localizes something all they do is provide the translated script and voice within the specifications the developer allows and foot the bill for publication. All the software development, most of the testing and certainly any decisions about region coding are made by the original developer. Their PR people are left in the awkward spot of having to talk something up, without having direct access to the information they need.
I'm guessing if you gained that information from the forums you probably got it from Belisarius. He's a good guy and I kind of pity the spot he's in. Wasn't too happy when i proved him wrong about the BBCS region code.
Long story short I figure that Rising Star is in the same position, just being spoon-fed information. In other words they don't really know any more than we do until the final code is placed in their hands.
RSG has posted a pretty strategy guide - by EOJ :)
http://www.risingstargames.com/games/deathsmiles-xbox-360.html
Registration required
For the record I gave permission for them to use my guide and I didn't get a dime for this, but that's fine with me as long as they don't sell it. :)
BTW for those who don't want to register there, here's the direct link to the PDF:
http://www.risingstargames.com/get_file.php?fp_id=208
I think I'll post this news on the front page as well.
Congrats EOJ, I think this is quite cool. :righton:
That's nicely done :) RSG seems to have made a mistake at the end though (or at least I hope it's a mistake) when they say "An Xbox Live Gold account is required to register your score", as a free account is enough for all the other STG, and it'd be a shame to discourage people even more from playing Score Attack...
On another note, I haven't played any of the previous Western releases, but is it common practice to have separate leaderboards for each region and be unable to look at the other ones? RSG's rationale for separate leaderboards is... a bit odd and seems to miss a large part of the appeal of leaderboards (DFKBL is bad enough already).
Quote from: Aliquantic on February 12, 2011, 02:04:48 AM
On another note, I haven't played any of the previous Western releases, but is it common practice to have separate leaderboards for each region and be unable to look at the other ones? RSG's rationale for separate leaderboards is... a bit odd and seems to miss a large part of the appeal of leaderboards (DFKBL is bad enough already).
US versions of RFA and Deathsmiles both exclude the Japanese rankings. This is a great reason why it's still best to own a JP X360 if you really love these games, and if you like to watch top replays and compete online with the best players. :righton:
Afaik Raiden IV JP and US share the same leaderboards.
Oops. I'll edit that one out of my above post.
Quote from: EOJ on February 11, 2011, 08:08:28 PM
For the record I gave permission for them to use my guide and I didn't get a dime for this, but that's fine with me as long as they don't sell it. :)
That is great! Really nice job with the guide. Pretty nice RSG is going this far with the release of this game and not just dumping the US version here. So glad I finally get to try this game. And the price is a joke, 20 euros for this 3 disc set? Probably end up buying two copies.
Where can one mail order this game in Europe ?
Quote from: rtw on February 12, 2011, 05:27:43 AM
Where can one mail order this game in Europe ?
I assume you mean the PAL version? Try Play.com, delivery included in the price. Product link (http://www.play.com/Games/Xbox360/4-/18078176/Deathsmiles-Deluxe-Edition/Product.html?searchstring=deathsmiles&searchtype=allproducts&searchsource=0&urlrefer=search).
If you mean the Japanese version, Video Game Imports has them.
I'll chime in with another - well done EOJ.
It's good to see RSG doing something like this - plus seeing an ad for a Cave game in a western xbox360 rag is pretty good.
Quote from: HVL on February 12, 2011, 05:30:39 AM
I assume you mean the PAL version? Try Play.com, delivery included in the price. Product link (http://www.play.com/Games/Xbox360/4-/18078176/Deathsmiles-Deluxe-Edition/Product.html?searchstring=deathsmiles&searchtype=allproducts&searchsource=0&urlrefer=search).
PAL version ordered, thanks for the heads up :D
i'm really hyped up about this release, hope the slowdown turns out to be accurate as i stated before
Here's the trailer of the European version, complete with cheesy sound effects:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONPuHCP7nE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONPuHCP7nE)
Too bad it doesn't have enough footage to judge the accuracy of the arcade version.
I think I'll nab one; at 22.49? delivered, you can't really lose anything. It might not even play on my machine since I only own a Japanese one anyway... Any word on this, btw?
Quote from: HVL on February 12, 2011, 10:37:39 AM
Here's the trailer of the European version, complete with cheesy sound effects:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONPuHCP7nE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONPuHCP7nE)
Too bad it doesn't have enough footage to judge the accuracy of the arcade version.
I think I'll nab one; at 22.49? delivered, you can't really lose anything. It might not even play on my machine since I only own a Japanese one anyway... Any word on this, btw?
Interesting that this trailer is using arranged music, it would be awesome if you could switch between the OSTs.
Quote from: HVL on February 12, 2011, 10:37:39 AM
Here's the trailer of the European version, complete with cheesy sound effects:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONPuHCP7nE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONPuHCP7nE)
I said it before on another forum and I'll say it again: It amuses me to no end that "Unlockable Achievements" is considered a feature on a 360 game.
(Bit of backstory, I've had the EU version since Saturday and I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out if the slowdown matches the JP or NA release without having a copy of the NA release to compare with. Here's a summary I posted on shmups:)
Quote from: skykidNnnngh... difficult. I showed a vid to EOJ, who knows the most about slowdown across the two existing versions and he believes it looks the same as the Japanese original rather than the NA version. I'm inclined to agree.
I did several inconclusive tests yesterday, with videos and version swapping, and although some sections had me unsure, for the most part I believed they were producing the same slowdown (that's the JP and EU versions tested.)
EOJ suggested several sections to try, and most seemed to correlate with the original slowdown except one that really stumped me: MBL 1.1.
According to EOJ this was the one with a gulf of difference between the NA and JP, with the NA running 50% faster and the JP having lots of slowdown. However, the EU version of this mode featured hardly any slowdown I could see, which confused me. It didn't seem sped up at all, just no slowdown of note at any point, even on heavier boss patterns.
By law of averages though, there's more pointing at the EU version having returned the correct slowdown into the mix, so that's where I'm putting my bets until someone proves otherwise.
I'd just like to say I'm incredibly impressed that Rising Star would listen to fan feedback on this topic and work to reinstate slowdown. They deserve big applause for that.
Since posting this, EOJ has made me realise that the JP MBL 1:1 was sped up anyway because it's missing 50% of the slowdown as standard - the NA release feels like fast forward because it speeds it up yet further. Although there was no detectable slowdown in the parts of EU MBL 1:1 I played, other modes in the EU ver feel right, and EOJ concurred that the Ice Palace vid I shot looked on par with the JP one.
This leads to a bit of a strange one where it seems like modes could be jumbled around, which is super strange, and to be honest I'm putting it down to my lack of experience with the NA release. My feeling is this is more likely a carbon copy of either the NA or JP game, and I'm definitely leaning toward the JP one after my experiences with arcade mode (that seems pretty accurate to me.)
Don't shoot the messenger if I'm wrong, it's a lot harder than I thought to distinguish the slowdown differences! :righton:
Quote from: skykid on February 14, 2011, 08:55:25 AM
Since posting this, EOJ has made me realise that the JP MBL 1:1 was sped up anyway because it's missing 50% of the slowdown as standard - the NA release feels like fast forward because it speeds it up yet further.
No, JP MBL 1.1 is not sped up. It's the original version (i.e. there is no arcade version of this game)! It has slowdown all over the place. NA MBL 1.1 is sped up as it is missing 50%+ of the slowdown found in JP MBL 1.1. EU MBL 1.1 sounds the same as NA MBL 1.1.
Quote from: EOJ on February 14, 2011, 01:45:31 PM
Quote from: skykid on February 14, 2011, 08:55:25 AM
Since posting this, EOJ has made me realise that the JP MBL 1:1 was sped up anyway because it's missing 50% of the slowdown as standard - the NA release feels like fast forward because it speeds it up yet further.
No, JP MBL 1.1 is not sped up. It's the original version (i.e. there is no arcade version of this game)! It has slowdown all over the place. NA MBL 1.1 is sped up as it is missing 50%+ of the slowdown found in JP MBL 1.1. EU MBL 1.1 sounds the same as NA MBL 1.1.
Thanks man, I think it's best if you just do the explaining. :laugh:
As for slowdown all over the place in EU MBL 1.1: not as far as I can tell. Whroon is kicking out his final pattern at full speed.
Just heard from njiska that a patch for Deathsmiles NA is apparently live. Might have to pull out the NA 360 to try it out tonight...
Skykid, do you have access to the NA version? Would be interesting to see this directly compared to the EU version...
There's definitely more slowdown now...and Level 999 is actually playable in MBL. I'm definitely interested in hearing what players who own both versions think.
I was half-awake when I played it, but there definitely felt like more slowdown. The tree boss at the end of the Forest was less of a nightmare. Unfortunately Deathsmiles is one of the few JP shmups I don't have.
According to their blog post (http://www.aksysgames.com/2011/02/15/deathsmiles-patch/), it also fixed a de-sync glitch with replays. I've personally never run into that one, but I'm sure it makes someone happy.
Quote from: StarCreator on February 15, 2011, 03:19:37 PM
Just heard from njiska that a patch for Deathsmiles NA is apparently live. Might have to pull out the NA 360 to try it out tonight...
Skykid, do you have access to the NA version? Would be interesting to see this directly compared to the EU version...
I don't unfortunately. If I had it would have made determining the slowdown in the EU version a lot easier.
Quote from: Daverost on February 16, 2011, 12:15:43 AM
According to their blog post (http://www.aksysgames.com/2011/02/15/deathsmiles-patch/), it also fixed a de-sync glitch with replays. I've personally never run into that one, but I'm sure it makes someone happy.
All my Sakura replays in v1.00 were all broken. I emailed Aksys about the issue and sent Cave the replays. They still don't work with the patch, but any new replays make works perfectly.
Were they broken across all modes?
Quote from: Daverost on February 17, 2011, 09:32:46 AM
Were they broken across all modes?
Yes. Although, I remember one replay I did in MBL 1.1 working.
I'm reading that the US version's patch adds lots of slowdown to DSMBL 1.1, and it runs very similar to the JP version. However, Skykid's account of the EU version sounds like DSMBL 1.1 is missing most of the slowdown (like the US un-patched version). So EU gets the worst version in the end?
Quote from: EOJ on February 17, 2011, 02:07:56 PM
I'm reading that the US version's patch adds lots of slowdown to DSMBL 1.1, and it runs very similar to the JP version. However, Skykid's account of the EU version sounds like DSMBL 1.1 is missing most of the slowdown (like the US un-patched version). So EU gets the worst version in the end?
It looks to me after watching some videos of MBL1.1, the slowdown is like the JP version. 1.1 now just feels like your playing in slowmotion. It even contains the OSD flickering which was not present in v1.00. If the EU MBL1.1 runs fast even in power up mode, then it may be the worst version.
btw, can someone explain the breakdown of the crowns? is it 1 platinum = 2 gold = 4 hearts = 8 skulls?
Putting this here in case people haven't heard yet. So the DS Deluxe Edition's soundtrack isn't a music cd but a data cd with a bunch of .wav files. Just sent an email. :righton:
QuoteHi all,
I'm very sorry about the problem with the soundtrack CD. I'm trying to get the bottom of what went wrong but that's probably not of interest to you. I'm sure what you really want to know is what we're going to do about it: we are going send you a proper disc to replace it.
Please email your snail-mail address to torisu [at] risingstargames.com with "Deathsmiles soundtrack" as the subject and Rising Star Games will send you a proper CD Audio disc.
From today, 22 February 2o11, please give us three weeks to manufacture and send the discs.
Thank you for your support,
torisu
i'm finally playing it, arcade mode is very punishing about getting 1000 crowns before a good spot comes up, but i'm enjoying MBL 1.1 by far, i hope RSG will at least patch that mode as it's the only one without the correct slowdown, otherwhise i'll buy the japanese port sooner or later
on a semi-unrelated note: i just bought Deathsmiles 2x =D
Quote from: HVL on February 25, 2011, 03:18:37 AM
Putting this here in case people haven't heard yet. So the DS Deluxe Edition's soundtrack isn't a music cd but a data cd with a bunch of .wav files.
So basically, you got the uncompressed soundtrack with the deluxe edition? =D
Quote from: gsl on February 26, 2011, 04:12:48 PM
Quote from: HVL on February 25, 2011, 03:18:37 AM
Putting this here in case people haven't heard yet. So the DS Deluxe Edition's soundtrack isn't a music cd but a data cd with a bunch of .wav files.
So basically, you got the uncompressed soundtrack with the deluxe edition? =D
Yes, all the shipped copies suffer from the problem. It's beyond me how stuff like this goes through, but at least they're standing up for the blunder.
Loving this game, but I was unprepared for the 'ESPGaluda 2 style' game shutdown when my internet connection hiccuped for literally a moment. Paltry though it was in the grand scheme of things, I had the top Windia score on the Arcade leaderboard and was beating it by six digits when I got kicked back to the main menu screen.
I know there may be a good reason for this, but I just want to put a heads up out there.
Also, for whatever it's worth, the 'opening salvo' achievement unlocked as soon as I started playing while disconnected so maybe that's glitched (for those that care about achievements/gamerscore).
So with the patch is the NA release actually decently playable? I just ordered a copy for pretty cheap on Amazon. This game never looked all that appealing to me at first. After watching a MBL replay by SIN I am much more encouraged. The game looks pretty dope. The bullet patterns used to look kind of weird to me but I'm warming up to it.
Some people on shmups forum (including skykid (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35803&start=96)) are saying I wrote some amazon review for Deathsmiles condemning the North American localization. In fact, I have not. For the record, I've never written an amazon review for any game. I did see the review in question, and it appears to be a reader of this site as he (or she) mentions a lot of what I've posted here about the port.
Since the patch came out I removed my harsh review of the NA localization which was posted on the front page of this site. If I wrote a harsh amazon review, I would have removed it by now as well.
I've been playing the North American port pretty hardcore for the last week or so and I must say that I am pretty impressed. I didn't try playing it before applying the patch. With the patch applied the game seems very good and I haven't encountered any spots where slowdown (or any lack thereof) imposed upon the experience. I haven't played the PCB version of Death Smiles but the port is definitely good enough for me. Cave needs to be using the configuration menus that are used in this port (and Espgaluda 2) for all of their future ports.
Question, the Japanese Limited Edition. Did some copies not come with the Full Voice DLC? I got mine from Play-Asia back in 2009 in September (First Print Limited Edition). Either I was just unlucky or PA dropped the ball somewhere in that deal. It's been bugging me since I got it! ???
I think all LEs should have come with it, only the first print for the SE.
Quote from: EOJ on March 15, 2011, 10:27:26 PM
I think all LEs should have come with it, only the first print for the SE.
That's odd. Did it come on a paper outside the box or was it in the case somewhere? I guess it's too late to complain to PA about this at this point. Thanks for clearing that up though!
They came outside the box (at least with the SE, I didn't buy the LE brand new). DSIIX was the same way. All other games have had the DLC card inside the box.
I bought my LE brand new and did not receive a DLC card either.
Maybe it was more of a preorder bonus, then. It was Cave's first go with the DLC stuff.
I still have my DLC card brand new/sealed. Never felt the need to activate voices in the game.
Kinda feels weird to plug something like this, but Aksys is offering several of their games on sale through March 24th and all proceeds are going toward Japan's relief efforts. Deathsmiles LE is down to $30 and SE is down to $20. If there's anyone that owns a different version but has been considering picking up the NA version, now's as good a time as any to pick it up.
http://www.aksysgames.com/2011/03/16/japan-benefit-sale/
If you have an older 360, you could always pick up the LE for the faceplate.
That's a really nice campaign, too bad it's U.S. only. I'd definitely jump on the LE.
Well there are always those international shipping services, but I don't much about them.
I love DeathSmiles! =D I was expecting easier game, but whatever. :P
My continues records:
Casper - 3
Rosa - 5
Windia - 5
Follett - more than 9 :P
Quote from: Midey on April 03, 2011, 06:23:49 AM
My continues records:
Casper - 3
Ugh I hate playing as Casper. Is this the number of continues before you just plain gave up because she's so weak and... pedophilic?
Quote from: ookitarepanda on April 03, 2011, 10:59:41 AM
Quote from: Midey on April 03, 2011, 06:23:49 AM
My continues records:
Casper - 3
Ugh I hate playing as Casper. Is this the number of continues before you just plain gave up because she's so weak and... pedophilic?
No, I cleared the game with her using 3 continues. I chose 1st level for every stage. :P
Keep working at it. I was the same way at first. I had the most success with Rosa early on.
So out of curiosity, now that the US version of the game has been patched, is the slowdown identical to the Japanese release? Can't decide which version to go with...
Quote from: Chacranajxy on September 26, 2011, 11:35:02 PM
So out of curiosity, now that the US version of the game has been patched, is the slowdown identical to the Japanese release? Can't decide which version to go with...
I don't think anybody really knows for sure since there hasn't been a in depth investigation on the slowdown. But if you ask me, yes they are identical and it doesn't matter which one you get. The US version is the better one since it has higher graphics and comes with MBL+MBL1.1 from the start.
Quote from: jyumi on September 27, 2011, 02:39:26 AM
Quote from: Chacranajxy on September 26, 2011, 11:35:02 PM
So out of curiosity, now that the US version of the game has been patched, is the slowdown identical to the Japanese release? Can't decide which version to go with...
I don't think anybody really knows for sure since there hasn't been a in depth investigation on the slowdown. But if you ask me, yes they are identical and it doesn't matter which one you get. The US version is the better one since it has higher graphics and comes with MBL+MBL1.1 from the start.
Higher graphics?
I think he's referring to the "smoothing" filter for the Arcade modes, which isn't present in the JP release.
Has anyone been able to confirm that the NA version now has identical slowdown to that of the JP version?
I've just starting playing this game (EU version) and trying to follow techniques from 530M follet J360 nico video.
Graveyard rank 3 - The player in the video is in power-up mode from the start and goes immediately to the right hand side and begins leeching skulls off the gravestone things. He gets the counter upto +10,000 really quickly.
When I try this - the screen scrolls past the first gravestone much faster than the nico replay and therefore I can only reach around +5000ish at this point.
Is this the slowdown differences people are talking about? If so - I'm about to throw this game in the bin, sell my PAL 360 and buy a J360.
Someone please tell me I'm doing something wrong. :(
Rising Star Games started a Deathsmiles competition. The Top 5 players on the PAL XBox 360 leaderboard will get a framed certificate signed by Cave. It's running until Nov. 5th:
http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=780
Quote from: spl on October 16, 2011, 11:29:07 PM
Is this the slowdown differences people are talking about? If so - I'm about to throw this game in the bin, sell my PAL 360 and buy a J360.
As far as I'm aware, there were no differences between the EU and JP versions, only the NA and JP/EU versions, which got patched anyway. This is the first I've heard of such a drastic slowdown difference between the two.
Quote from: antares on October 17, 2011, 12:53:59 AM
Rising Star Games started a Deathsmiles competition. The Top 5 players on the PAL XBox 360 leaderboard will get a framed certificate signed by Cave. It's running until Nov. 5th:
http://www.risingstargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=780
Out of curiosity, how high are the scores currently?
Quote from: Daverost on October 17, 2011, 09:41:21 AM
Quote from: spl on October 16, 2011, 11:29:07 PM
Is this the slowdown differences people are talking about? If so - I'm about to throw this game in the bin, sell my PAL 360 and buy a J360.
As far as I'm aware, there were no differences between the EU and JP versions, only the NA and JP/EU versions, which got patched anyway. This is the first I've heard of such a drastic slowdown difference between the two.
I feel stupid now because I finally got the trick down.. for some reason I can't do it properly in practice mode but in the normal game mode it's fine - probably just my poor skills however. :facepalm:
Quote from: HVL on October 17, 2011, 10:53:19 AM
Out of curiosity, how high are the scores currently?
the top score on EX-On is around 320mil
EX-Off scores are all between 195mil, all the way to 265mil for the top score
of course, they're all made with Rosa, and maybe 2-3 Follett scores
Apparently the competition is for the vanilla 360 Mode, no EX. Can't be bothered because none of my strats would work because the 360 Mode has messed up slowdown, especially in the forest stage.
Well, the last time I loaded the game was Saturday (the 22nd) and already that 195 score (by Aliquantic I think?) had been pushed quite a bit down. Many more Rosa and Follett 200-odd scores near the top, though 265 was still the top.
I practiced my Casper run last Friday and Saturday and managed to improve my score by 40 million in one run, which was a bit extreme. I think somewhere at or just below 250 is my theortetical max at the moment - need to learn the railroad stage properly and play the Castle more safely. Anyway, the nearest other Casper score was 70million below mine. I put the replay up so if any one wants to get some scoring ideas go ahead.
Would love to see more Windia/Casper scores on the leaderboard. Like with fighting games some of these characters may be harder work to get a feel for, but so what?
I agree with HVL in that the slowdown is definitely wonky in parts of 360 mode (the part in the forest with the snakes and floating islands on screen at once can sometimes feel very herky jerky to me).
Still, great idea by Rising Star/Cave. :righton:
I was in the top ten on some modes. Not any more though.
I put more time into my Japanese copy anyway.
If someone on here wins a certificate it would be cool the see it.
i'd wish it was for all of the modes, even 1.1 and MBL 1.1, i'd win 2 of those prizes :rolleyes:
Deathsmiles is now available on UK games on demand for ?15.
This will be cave's first GoD release in Japan - it'll be released by the end of the month. More releases will follow through the year.
SPE says (https://twitter.com/SPE2500/status/1063596374539845632)you can score higher on the home port than the PCB. He says the difference is mainly in the volcano stage, and if you play optimally it should amount to no more than 5 million more points on the X360 port. Still, that sucks to hear, but it certainly explains why I and others found it easier to score on the port. :displeased:
BTW, SPE holds the WR for Follett on both the PCB and the X360 port. So if anyone would know about this, it's him.
Hi guys, for those of you using the X Box gamepad, what control set up are you using?