Fiddled with each shot type for a bit, going with Felicia B as I favor spreadshots. Observations AS THEY HAPPEN
I like to nitpick so Ha ha, old chap! opinions
STAGE 1
- Midboss attack is alright, she oughta move around a bit to make you do the same.
- It seems like you've got the same problem I did, throwing too many of the same enemy in a row at you. Those rainbow circle shot fairies keep coming forever.
- Also you might wanna randomize the starting bullet angle of each circle, I notice that if two of those circle fairies fire when they're close together all of their bullets will be lined up, doesn't look good and it's too easy to dodge.
- Need dialogue cutins to keep track of who's talking since it seems there are like four people at a time. Don't care if you can't draw with a mouse, placeholder MSPaint is better than nothin'.
- First attack is neat, maybe the white bullets should start further out and fan in on you? It'd look a little more dynamic and you should generally be able to see what's happening before it's actually getting shot at you.
- Didn't see the warning laser on Gathering Emotion so I ate a life there, I guess that's my fault though. Made me notice that the game needs sfx. The laser sits around too long, really sucks if it comes out when you're right under her as Felicia since you can't shoot the boss until it goes away.
- Second attack is too easy for how much life it has, drags on.
- I was expecting Chakram Compass to be really irritating as Felicia but it's fine, I guess Emily's homing isn't as strong as I remembered. Still, this is kind of an odd card type for a stage 1 boss to have.
STAGE 2
- The wavy blue fairies are kinda annoying, no fun being pinned down like that. Make it sparser so it's possible to move through it if you're careful, get people to dive through that shit to get their point items.
- Meteor is alright, too easy for my tastes.
- Aaaaagh cut it out with the wavy blues already
- Those green rain fairies look like deathtraps if you get caught under them, really fast bullets. But you tend not to be under them when they show up, so they're kinda trivial otherwise? Maybe their bullets oughta angle some so they reach out farther.
- Man this streaming, it's hyper dense but really slow and the fairies keep coming for a long time...I'm not sure I approve of patterns that don't do anything if you hold perfectly still and murderize you if you don't :V
- First attack is pretty neat lookin' and moderately dense, coming from different angles. I like it
- Water Hook is another of those things that kill you the first time you see it since it comes out so fast...kinda fun afterwards though. Needs more in the way of actual danmaku though, have him drop a different kind of shot as he reels in his hookshot or something.
- Second attack is kinda whooooa. I like it though, it feels natural to dodge even with the turning shots. If I'm not mistaken though, do the bullets that keep turning in circles onscreen never go away? I guess it doesn't matter since it's on a short timer anyway.
- Whirlpool's okay
- Hurricane is...the same thing? OH okay it's got that big white thing. This is more interesting then. I wouldn't have such similar cards next to each other, I would drop Whirlpool and come up with something new to replace it. Anyway this is my favorite pattern I've seen so far.
STAGE 3
- I could've sworn this was different from Emily's Stage 3
- The large bullet stream at the start is just a big ugly cluster. The individual streaming fairies afterwards are nicer as they have you move around the screen to direct their shots from different angles.
- Oh, the arrowhead circle fairies are nice
- Midboss is here already? Pattern is decent but bullets are a tad too slow.
- Gravity Manipulation is pretty good, I'll give it a pass.
- Now, the red cluster fairies with the dot streaming ones, this is how you do streaming well. Reasonable streaming density so it's feasible to switchback, but there's red stuff in the way making it more interesting. It's a simple combination that works. Still goes on too long, though
- Waagh fuck the opening attack is actually kinda tough!
- Infinity Shadow Slash would be cooler if the knives came out in a pattern, they're kinda ugly with the way they're smattered across the screen now. By the way, what effect are you trying to achieve with the boss disappearing and then *lasers* repeatedly? Is he dashing across the screen with slashmarks or something? It's not really clear, effect could use some work.
- Second attack seems easier, I think because most of it's coming from a central point. Multiple angles usually generate more difficulty. This one is fine, just needs more density.
- Reaper's Inferno again is easier than the first card. Also, the slashes are getting repetitive at this part, break it up. Also I note that because I've been playing rather derpishly my power is pretty low and it's impossible for me to finish cards before they time out. Power shouldn't make THAT big a difference in DPS.
- Third attack at least mixes it up a bit with the targetted bit...but you're likely to land in a spot where you can't shoot at the guy and you have to sit for a bit to let the shots disperse. Even if I didn't have low power I think I would've had to time this out.
- Darkness Oversoul has the same problem as Gathering Emotion, the laser sits too long and the purple stuff isn't challenging enough by itself.
STAGE 4
- Revenge bullets? Oh my! The green clusterfuck that occurs shortly afterward is pretty entertaining.
- What, midboss already again? Oh shit, targetted. Yeah this is pretty fun!
- Second attack is something I initially thought we be kinda cheap but it plays pretty well after all.
- Whoops I fucked around too much and game over'd
Might try again later.
Anyway, the most pressing concern is the stages, they need more enemy variety badly. Also, I'd get some work done on presentation if I were you; crappy content is better than no content as far as graphics go, put together some shoddy placeholder sprites and a flat texture for the stage background so I can get a sense of your characters and locations and not just Sakuya vs Yukari in waterville.
Could you explain how the different stage paths work?
>"Clash of Souls" doesn't delete Emily A's homing shots properly, so if you're constantly shooting to rack up points, beware of EPIC LAG. The others are fine, for whatever reason.
If you're implying that they stay onscreen forever because they're not hitting anything, all player homing shots should time out and disappear on their own after a few seconds because of things like this.
