Back on topic, one of the Cave twitter accounts posted up some pictures of the special edition and the box art is way nicer. Can't decide which one to go for.
I actually was thinking of getting the standard edition because the white background was more easy on the eyes for me... But I'm a sucker. The standard edition might even be more limited in that case. I wonder what the print run is for each version.
I just saw some pics on "cave_matsuri" and the Steelbook is really nice. On that note, the "Super LE" is really super big! (I figure the big box was Super LE.)
Early reports are coming in of a lot of different bugs though.
Xbox 360 mode scoreboards seem to be glitching out and reporting people as counter-stopping at 99999999999999999, even if they're not. Also incidents reported of invisible bosses (lol), and some ultra screen-freezing slowdown when a large amount of items are collected at once.
I stuck it on very quickly last night and I'm really not sure what to make of it. The intro was entirely un-necessary and very moe, which is not then helped by the characters once you get into the game. Just for the sake of it I did some 2 player on Arcade HD mode, and straight away it was absolutely brutal in terms of difficulty, with incredibly variable slowdown. I tried the 360 mode afterwards on my own and that was just as unrelenting, with the added AV onslaught (there are two talking head types on the sides of the screen, spinning ‘Cave’ logos, constant high-pitched yammering from the characters) it was rather overwhelming to say the least. It does indeed seem quite buggy, with audio cut-outs quite often, and slowdown which seems all over the shop.
I’m really not sure I’m going to spend that much time with this. There’s probably a very good game underneath all of it but I’m not sure I have the patience for something that makes me cringe this much and is even harder than the usual Cave fair.
Fuse, you weren't playing on Expert mode by any chance were you?
Shot type is represented by a military outfit, Laser type is represented by a secretarial outfit and Expert type is represented by swimsuit. Unlike Daioujou, Expert type puts the game into second loop difficulty right from the beginning so if you got smashed by a massive difficulty wall right at the beginning, that'll be why.
Slowdown is helped by not having ANY extra windows whatsoever. If you have a score display or input window up, kill them until the patch arrives.
I've had a brief play at lunch time, playing around with Arcade HD score attack mode. Mainly been using C type with Laser.
As the name implies, it's pretty much an updated and refreshed Daioujou. I made it up to Stage 3 midboss on one credit so far and it's absolutely bloody brilliant.
No bullet cancelling apart from on hyper usage, exactly like DOJ, and it's all about dodging and knowing when to use your hypers. They stack indefinitely as far as I'm aware, and there are specific bullet-heavy spots where you can REALLY start raking up a massive combo if you use your hyper at the right time.
Xbox 360 mode apparently has a very good risk and reward mechanic to it. You only have a single life, but when you get hit, it takes some of your charge away. This charge can either be used for survival, or for a super powerful laser that rapidly increases your hyper gauge and hit counter, so you can either survive, or score. I've not tried this yet but it's getting some pretty decent remarks from the shmup community.
Fuse, you weren't playing on Expert mode by any chance were you?
Shot type is represented by a military outfit, Laser type is represented by a secretarial outfit and Expert type is represented by swimsuit. Unlike Daioujou, Expert type puts the game into second loop difficulty right from the beginning so if you got smashed by a massive difficulty wall right at the beginning, that'll be why.
If you can get it playing like the PCB you're bound to like it, it's great. The larger hitbox takes some getting used to and it is one of Cave's hardest but it's a return to DOJ/Ketsui era pure danmaku and it's uber-fun. Play it like DOJ and work on saving up your hypers to unleash at the opportune moment. There are also tricks to gaining extra hypers like collecting all the bees on a level or taking out a boss's side pods first.
I've just spent the entire night on this with A-L type.
I can now chain the entirety of Stage 1 with a 5 hyper stock, and burst it all on the Stage 2 midboss for big time score. This is all the fun of Daioujou without the frustration of a ridiculously tight, obnoxious chaining route.
My first impressions of Saidaioujou were in an arcade last year and I got smoked pretty quickly, leaving a sour taste behind...but probably it's because I went to the swimsuit wear :P
However, two (stupid) questions: how do I change my name for High Scores? It goes for CAV by default. And what does the Wide option in the option menu does? I'm playing TATE and saw no change in turning this on or off, at least in the option menu.
I've dabbed in all modes, eventually getting hooked by 360 Mode despite Saya's constant chatter...and I though chatter in Ginga Force was annoying! Saya and the operator lady seem a low-tier comedy duo throughout the entire game.
Got hooked to this mode mostly because it seems much easier than the rest, even Novice mode, got to the third boss with just one life and only two autobombs.
Xbox 360 mode is brilliant because you can scale the difficulty yourself, pretty much. You can either play for survival, or you can smash that gauge by holding in both Shot + Auto Shot and using it for a stupidly powerful laser that raises your gauges like nobodies business.
Version 1.5 is to SDOJ, what Black Label was to DOJ. This is the mode worth playing. Faster hypers, bigger score, faster chains, retweaked values on everything.
My score currently stands at 4,819,863,523 with Laser, Type A. Managed to get half way through the 4th stage.
Fun fun fun fun fun, and definitely Cave's best so far.
Edit: You can't change scoreboard initials, and I have no idea what wide mode does. In regards to Xbox 360 mode, you can remove the faces/spinning cave logo and everything else simply by changing the main window zoom. I have my zoom window set to x=113 y=113 so it fills the entirety of my screen, and the distractions on the side have gone.
You can also set Voice volume to 0 and that removes the constant chatter.
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