Psyvariar n00b!

[horribleman]

Ok, so after seeing Saurian's and Mark's vids on here, I decided to pick up Psyvariar today.

I've hunted down all the threads about it, and have a couple of questions:

1 ) Where on your ship, and how big is the hit box?

2 ) As a new player, am I better off trying to buzz as much as possible (and thus dying quite frequently) at first, or learn the game as a normal shooter first?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[charlesr]

I was considering pointing you in the direction of the Psyvariar thread, but point 2 is worth discussing and this is gaming discussion.

Not sure about the first Psy (you bought Psyvariar1 on the PS2 yeah?), but I presume it's a 1 pixel hit box just north of the middle.

If you are looking for the buzz (and you should be), you should get stuck in early with the buzzing. Don't even bother shooting to start with.

The feeling you get when it all slots into place is superb. Learn to keep an eye on your level gauge as well as your ship - this is something I find very hard. How do other people focus on both bits of info at once? (Screen with bullets everywhere and level gauge).

[horribleman]

Thanks for that - it certainly makes sense. I got the PAL Psyvariar complete and am playing on revision mode.

I actually like how the first stage has no boss - it's like a gentle introduction.

I'm getting up to around Lv20 at the end of the first stage as it's quite easy to take a relatively low risk diving into the small bullet clouds and knwing that you will most likely get out before you die.

I am however, having problems figuring out how to successfully (and by successfully I mean take advantage of leveling up and buzzing) do the desert boss. Any tips would be really appreciated. Or am I better off learning the other second stage?

I know that learning the boss' bullet patterns is a big step in the right direction, and the vids that Saurian and Mark have put up here help a little, but they are way too advanced for me to try to emulate at the minute. I wonder what the more basic strategies are?

[Saurian]

Check these videos out man - they'll help you out loads:

http://ebrain21.com/~kechiguma/toppage1.htm

The top table is Psyvariar 2 and the bottom one Revision. It's not really worth learning stages like Desert and Forest now, as your level on Earth suggests you already have the system down - get your technique down on Valley and Volcano first as these stages will leave you in a much better position to tackle the next ones.

When watching the boss vids keep an eye on and take note of the Neutrino (level-up gauge) position as the player enters and leaves attacks - the key to this game is learning control of that gauge by your movement, enemy destruction, firing or whether you're spinning or not while buzzing.

The basics are:

Normal movement = normal controller directions
Rolling = quickly opposing controller directions while moving (or roll button on PS2, makes playing on pad easier - combine the 2 techniques on pad)

The difference between the 2 ways to move is the rate it increases your level-up bar (Neutrino). There is a circular field around your craft just larger than the craft itself, your hitbox is a couple pixels dead center of this circle - during normal movement 1 buzz = a shot entering and leaving the field, but during rolling any object entering or leaving the field counts as 1 buzz. It also changes the speed of the craft - Rolling speeds you up, roll button slows you down. Rolling changing your shot mode too - into a concentrated beam which is much better for taking out enemies as it's precise.

[horribleman]

Thanks Saurian. I have read your threads on the shmups forum and here about the basic techniques, and that's how I got to level 20 on Earth, although I realise that that level can be totally owned if you are really really good (Mark's vid).

I'll wait till I get home tonight to check those vids out.

The level up bar is confusing to me. I can kind of see the potential of learning the bar's progress on the bosses where they have the slow moving bullet patterns - I guess you use these to build up your bar ready for the fast screen filling patterns (like the green spiral ones and the all direction fast ones) and aim to be almost levelled up when the really fast attacks come out, then you can sit inside these, hopefully at the origin, and just continually level up. Is that right? If so, is it better to hold the spin button, tap it or leave it in that situation?

Cheers for the advice, and if it's obvious by watching the vids, just tell me

[Saurian]

Yeah you'll definetly see it when watching the vids - like Charles said before it'll all click and you'll find everything makes sence during the boss battles if you use good timing regarding the Neutrino. Once you know where the bar needs to be for each attack you realise how clever the attacks themselves are as they build you back up just right.

You're free to take the absolute piss out of the bosses once you get the bar timing sorted - this video is the best I've seen on Revision, the way this geezer takes this boss apart is just wrong!

[horribleman]

Excellent. Cheers for that.

I managed to sneak a peak at the vid for stage 2 boss (the dragon thing) and the player doesn't hardly shoot the boss at all. Just destroys it by levelling up continuously on top of it!

Amazing.

Its going to take me a long while to get good at this game, but the shortness of the levels is a boon to persuading you to have just another try.

[Resonance]

What is "Revision"? I am considering getting Psyvariar because of the posts I have seen here and is there a recommended version to get?

[Saurian]

Revision is the 2nd Psyvariar game - you get both the 1st (Medium Unit) and 2nd version (Revision) together on the PS2 disk.

The Buzz system was changed and with it all stages were reworked to make use of the new system.

(I'm not sure if this works on the PAL version)
The Japanese version has Secret Lab accessed by going into the options menu on player 2 pad while holding the Ls and Rs. If you turn hit disp on - you can see your buzz field, hitbox and all enemy object's fields and hitboxes too - have a look to see how it's all done. Every enemy shot has a different field and hitbox property.

[Resonance]

Is the DC/GC one the same as the Ps2's?(having both versions)

[Saurian]

The DC version is Psyvariar 2: The Will to Fabricate a totally new game.

http://tiantian.gooside.com/#

[Yoshimoto]

Is the DC/GC one the same as the Ps2's?(having both versions)

GC one?

You're not thinking about Shikigami No Shiro 2 are you?

[E. Randy Dupre]

The hidden Secret Lab option isn't in the PAL release. It's a bit annoying, because it means you've got to make an educated guess as to where your ship's hit box is.

[horribleman]

The hidden Secret Lab option isn't in the PAL release. It's a bit annoying, because it means you've got to make an educated guess as to where your ship's hit box is.

That IS a bit annoying, but I'm sure some kind soul somewhere has posted a pic of the ship identifying the hit box.

I'm gonna have loads of fun tonight with this game! Can't wait.

[Saurian]

You really dont need to see the hitbox - the field is just a circle around the craft and the hitbox is a few pixels of the middle of that. Secret Lab is good just to have a look at how everything works but it's not needed.


The hitpoint is dead centre of the circle and is a few pixels at most.