Psyvariar 2: The Will To Fabricate

[Tetsuo]

Yeah, it's lovely stuff, still looks and plays brilliant. Love it.

I think I'll get it out again aswell and give it a blast. I was really pleased with my 'shooting type' score, but couldn't get it up much higher or open up the secret level 6 :/ ...... I think I'll try and learn the buzz type next

[Sylph]

I've been playing this a lot recently, and decided to register here after reading this thread and feeling need to comment.

First up, thanks for all the advice and discussion in the thread. It's been top stuff.

Second, I felt it worth noting that I play only with the Xbox controller. I think if you get used to the static shaking (I tend to use my right hand to shake the pad while my left hand controls the analogue stick to keep the ship in place), it's really not a bad control option.

Third - any strategies or demos for the shooting mech? I've been playing with it a lot recently, and while it's easier to level up quickly, I tend to have massive difficulty with Earth (the easiest level for buzz type), usually losing a life or 2 there.

Fourth and finally - I need some help with early evolutions. I can manage 1-life through the game (though I have to kill gluon without milking him), but I just can't evolve to the final form of the buzz mech before the start of stage 5.
I'm getting level 51 at the end of stage 0 (52 is my highest).
After stage 1 I'm usually on 102, then up to 106 after the boss.
Stage 2 takes me to about 160 including the boss,
stage 3 gets me to about 170 at best with the buzz-type, so 18 levels short...

(Funnily enough< I find early evolutions with the shooting mech quite easy, sometimes even hapenning by accident).

[VR46]

welcome, some jaw dropping videos can be found here

http://www.ntsc-uk.com/review.php?platform=xbo&game=Psyvariar2

[charlesr]

Sound like you can milk the orbs on area1 a bit more and the final boss. It's terrifying but you have to be good at every single bit of the game and could take years to master It's probably the most well thought out shooter ever.
I lose it after area 2 so you're well ahead of me.

Did you know there's a degree of help built into the game which you have to learn to go with rather than fight? Once you are in a bullet stream, you'll find it easier to wiggle along it - the bullets drag you towards them. It also makes it easier to wiggle on the spot when next to bullets. At least I think this is how it works. Hope I'm not being misleading.

I've never put any time in the shooting mecha.

[Julio III]

I started playing this again these past few days. Managed to 1cc the game. Woo! First 1cc since i started getting into shmups recently (got 4 Dreamcast ones now).

I use the shooting mecha Slyph and can get through area 3 without losing a life. Basically you get big ships on the right and left of the screen with small ones in the middle. So you want to time it so you kill off one big ship and level up so you can buzz past the big green bullets they spew out and all the other random bullet mess, launching yourself to the opposite side of the screen where you can kill the other big enemy, level up and launch yourself through bullets to the other side. Once you have made it through the bullets you have to sit tight and just dodge some remaining bullets whilst waiting for the right time to start shooting the big enemies, as you'll really need that level up to get through the bullet mess.

I've never really tried the buzz mech as wanted to finish the game with the shooting one first. But now I want to unlock that last area. A lot more levelling up needed but should be achievable

[Sylph]

Thanks for the reply. Interesting to hear your Earth shooting mech tactics. How do you deal with the brown orbs though? I'd imagine the area wouldn't be milked for enough levelups if you didn't get your ship right up to the top of the screen to kill the brown orbs the second they come on to the screen...

[Julio III]

Thanks for the reply. Interesting to hear your Earth shooting mech tactics. How do you deal with the brown orbs though? I'd imagine the area wouldn't be milked for enough levelups if you didn't get your ship right up to the top of the screen to kill the brown orbs the second they come on to the screen...

Which brown orbs? The yellow things that appear near the beginning and end in groups of about 5? Or the things that are in the middle through the bulk of the level?

I don't know if i have enough buzz yet, last time i played the game was a few days ago and was getting more buzz out of the first couple of levels and stupidly dying all the time. I'll have to give this another go sometime and see how things work out. What i've noticed is with the shooting mech i get lots of buzz out of the bosses but hardly level up on them. Also, your level up always stays red on bosses?

[Sylph]

I'm talking about the orbs in the centre during the main part of the level, not the groups of 5 'spinner' things.
These orbs appear throughout the game in psi2, some blue and some brown. The brown ones make your levelups go slower while they're on the screen, where the blue ones make you level up quicker. As such, it's best to kill the brown ones immediately, and leave the blue ones alone altogether (in fact going out of your way *not* to kill them.)

As for bosses - most of them make your bar go red, yes. Two of the bosses in the game can be manipulated to get your bar back off red though -
- The very first semi-boss (the red mecha) explodes with damage, and each explosion gets you levelling quicker. This is why the best area 1 runs involve shooting him non-stop to make him explode, and as soon as you level up you can run right into him to shield-crash him until he has exploded 3 times, after which yo can ride out his final shot pattern for loads of levels.
- The boss at the end of area 4 is surrounded by metal plates (shields), and each time you blow these plates your levelups get quicker, making the usual tactic to blow up the shields 3 times, then ride the rest of his attacks, the last of which before he self-destructs giving you about 70 levelups if I remember rightly.

As for buzz - it's not something you need to worry about too much with the shooting mech - the shooting mech is more about killing enemies for your levelups, it doesn't level too quickly from buzz, and it's shields don't last long enough for many of the truly lucrative buzz levelling opportunities.

[Julio III]

Never knew about the blue/brown orbs affecting your level up bar before. Now i understand why sometimes i reach the area0 almost-boss about 5 levels behind when i've done the same thing, it always confused me. It also gives reason for that part on area 1 where its just those orbs. Got me a lot more level ups now. I'm thinking of switching to buzz type but want to sort out getting to the final area first. I reckon its achievable, once i stop dying like an idiot on areas 0 and 1, i'm somehow better at surviving all the later levels, think i've played the first 2 areas too much so dont really concentrate or care if i die there.

[Sylph]

I used to have a little difficulty getting to stage 6 (gluon), until I realised that trick with the shields on the stage 4 boss. Once you get the hang of how to do the stage 4 boss, you should easily reach stage 6.