[hilo oficial] • Espgaluda II - Black Label

History, etc.

* 07.27.06 - some clean up, got rid of superfluous info
* 05.14.06 - added requirements for Shin Seseri
* 01.16.06 - added the two zesshikai and bullet speed graphs
* 01.08.06 - added a bit of info to the kakusei shikai section
* 12.28.05 - deleted a part that I think was wrong, added valuable bug & gem collecting info
* 12.25.05 - changed the order of some things; added info on getting hit
* 12.22.05 - fixed the clear bonus and added comments
* 12.18.05 - added some kakusei over info
* 12.13.05 - added links and more scoring info
* 12.10.05 - added boss strategies


Background & Basics:
Vocab:
-Zako: A "popcorn" enemy. Basically the enemies that die with one hit..
-Hakkyou: A term which literally means "to go mad" but in Galuda II is referred to when the bosses spit out a stupid amount of bullets, in excess of 500 on screen at once, to be precise.

Shooting:
Each of the three characters has two firing attacks. Like most Cave games, presseing the button repeatedly will fire a shot, keeping ship speed the same. Holding the button down will result in the lapia (laser), and ship speed will decrease. Note each character's specifcs in their own section.

Guard Barrier:
Like it's prequel, ESPGaluda II has the guard barrier in place of bombs. Pressing the guard barrier (C button) once, without holding it down will result in losing 25% of your remaining guage. Holding it down will result in a greater amount, relative to how long the button was held. The longer you hold down the button, the more damage is dealt. Notice that destroying items with the guard barrier will not generate gems. As talked about later, auto guard barrier results in losing 50% of your guage in kakusei mode, and 100% in kakusei zesshikai.

Hit Box:
The hit box is a very small area on the character's back. When holding the fire buton down, the hit box will shine.

Characters:

* Ageha: The most well-rounded of the characters. Character on the left of the character select screen. Male, becomes female in kakusei mode. Like in the original ESPGaluda, shoots straight, but can achieve an angle if he fires as he moves laterally. In kakusei mode, his laser is strengthened.
* Tateha: Said by some as the most challenging of the three characters. A female, that becomes male in kakusei mode. The character on the right during the stage select. Shoots in a spread fashion, but moves much slower than Ageha or Asagi. In kakusei mode, her shot is strengthened.
* Asagi: The newest character, is in the middle/top of the character select. Her shot is strong linear, but she has ghosts (otpions) that trail her. Her shot shoots a laser, and the ghosts have a sort of homing function. Shooting laser in kakusei mode results in ghosts surrounding an enemy and shooting him directly. [Not sure exactly what decides which enemy is sorrounded]. She seems extremely weak when she starts off, but is the strongest of the three in at full power, which happens during stage 3. It's said that the boss fights towards the end of the game are easiest with Asagi.
* Tsubame: First stage boss.
* Madara: 2nd stage mid-boss and 4th stage boss. Most (JPN) forums refer to him by his is a nickname, Wehha, due to his (wehhahaa) laugh.
* Janome: 3rd stage boss, Tsubame's older sister. Pronounced JAH-NO-ME (as in merit).
* Ikare Seseri: 5th stage boss. Bullet patterns intensify if reached with specific criteria met. No miss + Kakusei Over Level 3.


Modes:

* Normal Mode: This is the mode that the game is started in. Destroying enemies results in collecting gems. Getting hit by a bullet or enemy in this mode will result in a loss of life. Gem counter will go to 250. Kakusei level, shot strength, and gold count remain the same.
* Kakusei Shikai: The mode you enter by pressing B. In this mode, bullets go slower, and are turned to gold if you destroy the enemy firing them which are intern factored by a multiplier for higher points. The multiplier maxes at x100 in this mode. Only gems deplete in this mode. Destroying enemies in this mode will consume extra gems, depending on their size. Hitting a bullet or enemy in this mode will trigger the auto-barrier. This will result in depletion of 50% of the total guard barrier bar. If less than 50% remains, it will then be empty. No gems or gold are lost. If no guard barrier remains when getting his, this will result in the loss of one life.
* Kakusei Zesshikai: Entered by pressing and holding B, in this mode bullet patterns often become more fierce, but the multiplier is maxed at x500. Note that bullets in this mode are not turned into gold, but actually spawn more bullets. Gold and gems both deplete in this mode.
* Kakusei Shikai Over: This mode is entered when player either presses B with no gems, or gem counter reaches zero in kakusei mode. Bullets speed up, and become red. Destroying enemies in this mode render one gold, and are not factored by a multiplier. Getting hit by a bullet in this mode will trigger the auto barrier, and will consume the entire barrier meter. Arcade translated the gold depletion rate opposed to gem depletion as follows:

Code:
Stage 1 500 gems 999 gold
Stage 2 500 gems 999 gold
Stage 3 500 gems 666 gold
Stage 4 500 gems 666 gold
Stage 5 500 gems 499 gold
Stage 6 500 gems 499 gold


Unlike regular kakusei mode, destroying enemies in this mode results in very small (if any) loss of gems. A chart for both modes is listed below (as found in Arcadia).
Code:
Boss Normal Enemy Zako
Kakusei -60 -25 -5
Zesshikai -50 -10 0


Striking a bullet in this mode will trigger the auto-barrier, and will result in the loss of the entire remaining barrier gauge. Mode will then be changed to Kakusei, where normal kakusei rules apply. The multiplier should pick up where it left off, but will not exceed x100. Note that if you continue to kill enemies in this mode thinking you're in zesshikai, you will find your gem counter hit zero, very fast. Other than the cost of going form zesshikai to regular kakusei, there is no loss of gems or gold. If no guard barrier remains when getting his, results will be the same as dying.
* Kakusei Zesshikai Over: Entered when gem counter reaches zero in kakusei zesshikai mode, or if attempting to enter zesshikai mode with a gem counter of zero. This mode cannot be entered with a gold count of zero. Hitting a bullet or enemy in this mode will trigger the auto-barrier, and consume the entire barrier gauge. If no gauge remains, a life is lost.


System:

* Gems: Gems (seiseki) are collected when defeating enemies, and are used in the two kakusei modes. In the original game, destroying enemies in the top 20% or so of the screen resulted in a small amount of bonus gems. This seems to not be the case this time. For starters, the gem counter is incremented in 1's when enemies are destroyed with the shot (from a far distance), and in 2's, when destroying them with the lapia. By getting as close to the enemy as possible and shotting with the shot, more gems should be produced. You can test this on the first stage. Up to the first cannon, if you kill everything with the shot from the bottom of the screen, you should have about 200 gems. If you kill everything with the lapia, you should have about 230 gems. If you kill everything from a short distance, you should have 250-260 gems. Bosses act in a similar manner. Finishing the first form of the Stage 1 boss with the shot results in 22 gems, whereas the lapia results in 44. Finishing this form with the shot from almost zero distance will result in 88 gems. NOTE: I have gotten 22 gems when killing the boss with the lapia, so there are still some unknowns.
* Kakusei Level: Like in the first game, there is a kakusei level. Stay in either kakusei mode with no gems, and a dial will circle your character in counter-clockwise motion. When it finishes (at level 4) the dial will disappear. The higher the kakusei level, the more gems are generated from defeated enemies in normal mode, and more gold is generated in either kakusei over mode. Red bullets will also travel faster in relation to the kakusei level. Unlike the previous installment, your kakusei level is retained when you die.
* Scoring:
Still no specifics are known, but it appears that not all bullets have the same base value. Specifically, bullets that are spawned by other bullets and by killing enemies do not result in that many points, even if applied to a x500 multiplier. As such, destroying an enemy (IE, a boss) with 500 bullets on screen will yield a far higher score than chaining several zako together, even though you can get a considerable more amount of x500s. This should be apparent from the level 1 video floating around on the net. Towards the end of the stage, the player gets quite a few x500's, but only makes about 5 million points total. On the boss, he only gets the multiplier up to x400, but gets close to the same amount of points.
* Clear Bonus
o Basic Bonus: 10,000,000
o Each Life: 20,000,000
o Barrier: Max 10,000,000
o Each Gold: 10,000
o This is what it says, but I got about 80 million as my clear bonus, with no remaining lives, about half my barrier, and however many gold you get when you kill the last boss.


Other Useful Stuff:
Boss Fights:

* Gold:Some noticeable differences occur during boss fights. For starters, your gold is continually depleted. The longer the boss fight, the more gold you lose. As far as I know, gold is lost at the same rate as the first game.
* Zesshikai Notes:
o Only in boss fights, bullets cancelled in Zesshikai do not spawn other bullets, regardless of whether the boss fight is ending or not.
o Certain patterns will result in double or more the amount of bullets. Unfortunately, you often have to wait a while for these patterns.
o Finishing off a bar section (IE - triggering the multiplier bonus) in a boss fight in zesshikai makes the gem and gold counter behave like regular kakusei mode. That is, after the multiplier is triggered, both counters will be depleted by a certain amount.


Triggers

* 1-UP item: This is a multi-step process:
o Destroy all the parts on the Stage 3 mid-boss (3 on the left, 3 on the right)
o Don't use your barrier (including auto) from the mid-boss until the life item
o At the very end of the stage, as you get the energy replenishing item, there's a spot on the left with two brownshaped cones. One is slightly to the left and up from the other. Shoot this area in Zesshikai mode for a 1-up item.
* Shin Seseri: No-miss up to Seseri (stage 5 boss) in Kakusei Level at 3. 1-Player mode only.
* Stage 2 Gem/Gold Fountain: Destroying the Stage 2 midboss (Madara) quickly (guard barrier or a lot of gems required) will result in the turret at the end of the battle ship when the screen scrolls horizontally to give off a fountain either gems or gold. The strategy book accompanying the DVD says it's random, but some evidence proves otherwise. Not destroying the first battleship (at the first of the stage) seems to throw things in favor of the fountain giving off gems (the more beneficial of the two).


Advice for clearing:

* MAX Kakusei level is a must. Even if you die, kakusei level is retained. The kakusei meter speed also dosen't change if you're shooting or at a standstill.
* Kakusei Zesshikai is not only for points. Gems and gold in Zesshikai mode only deplete with time, not enemies killed like in normal Kakusei mode. In Zesshikai, there are many safe places throughout the game that would be otherwise difficult. Stage 5 goes to reverse-vertical scroll, and when the Alice clones pop out on stage 6 to name a few.
* Close up Zesshikai with normal Kakusei. When leaving Zesshikai mode, depending on how many enemies you killed, you'll have quite a few bullets to dodge through... sometimes an impossible amount. If you've saved some gems, go into normal kakusei mode, and kill anything on the screen to cancel these bullets. The multiplier will only go to 100, and they won't turn to gold, but it is a much safer route.


Misc.

* Rank: The only things related to rank thus far are the stage 2 fountain and True Seseri. All boss bullet patterns are sequential - with no variations.
* Tutorial bug: During the tutorial, as your character starts shooting enemies and gems appear, before the character in the demo grabs them and they're added to the counter, press the start/fire button to start the game. You will start with this many gems.
* Seseri's Stand: For those that don't know how to use Google's language tools, the writing on Seseri's podium say, "Shinra, my homeland" in German.
* Sound bugs:Perhaps limited to my board, or even my ears, it seems that some special effect sounds are sometimes muted... even the extend chime.
* Stage 2 Freeze Bug: There's some situations where the game will freeze when getting the power up item just before the Stage 2 boss. This has also been reported to happen on the Stage 2 mid-boss.
* Life up bug:
(This may be bullshit)
A very bad bug that I've not gotten to test myself, but apparently one can really abuse this one to help with a 1CC. I believe for it to work, you need to be on the last form of the 2nd boss, with a score under 35 millon (or whatever the 2nd extend is). Suicide, then go into zesshikai during his hakkyou for big scoring. When the 1UP is triggered at 35 million, you should have 7 full life containers. Picking up the 1UP item on stage 3 will give you another life, but the containers will not extend past 7.

UPDATE: There's a video out there where the player has 7 life containers, so I think this one is real, although I'm not 100% sure if that's how it works.


Advanced Strategy
We're now getting into my realm of trial (and moreso) error, so take everything with a grain of salt.

A bit beyond the basics of scoring:
The main gist of it is to raise the gem and gold counter, and then destroy enemies in zesshikai mode. In the original, you would aim for an enemy that shot out a lot of bullets. For the most part, that idea still remains, but to take full advantage of the multiplier, you'll almost always have to chain a few enemies - preferrably ones that are firing. As stated before, any cancelled bullets spawn more bullets, which is where the chaining comes in. Also worth noting is that killing an enemy that has shot no bullets results in a "spiral" of bullets that shoot in multiple directions. This can be beneficial, as you can in theory rack up points even from enemies that don't fire. A very simple example would be the following. Let's say there's 3 enemies on the screen, and I've got the benefit of killing them when I want. The first one shoots of 100 bullets. I enter zesshikai and blow him away. For the first bullet, the multiplier is at x1, and for the last it's at x100. Great. Now, all 100 of those bullets spawn more bullets. I'm not sure exactly how many, but we'll say 1 for 1 to keep it easy. Now, I kill enemy number two who has also shot 100 bullets (that are still on screen mind you). After killing him, the counter starts at x101, and will go up to x300 as there are 100 respawned bullets and hundred normal bullets on screen. I go to enemy #3 who has only shot 50 bullets. The counter starts at x301, and quickly goes to x500, as there are 250 bullets on screen. I now get x500 for every bullet on screen when any enemy on screen is destroyed. If more enemies appear on screen, great. Killl them, and keep the x500's coming. That is, the very simple way of looking at it. The down side is that spawned bullets do not give as many points as bullets that are shot. It can still be a great scoring opportunity, but not as good as a boss that spams bullets.

The Dangers of Zesshikai:
There are two things that take a while to get used two.

First, things can quickly get messy, so thinking out where is a good place to go into zesshikai is half the battle. Doing it on a midboss where you're surrounded by bullets might be the answer, but you're going to have some bullets chasing you. There's a small frame of time where these bullets are harmless. Now is a good time to haul balls across the screen and kill another zako to rack up some points. There are only two ways to get rid of the respawned bullets at this point. Go out of zesshikai into normal mode, and then back into normal kakusei mode, and kill something. Youll be awarded an x100 multiplier for each bullet, but recieve no gold and this will require a handful of gems, but the bullets will be gone. The other method is to let the bullets go offscreen, which isn't always that hard, but always carries a certain amount of risk. Everytime the bullets respawn, they will eventually start coming for you. This will require you to think ahead, but if there's ample space, you can easily lead the bullets offscreen, and don't have to waste any gems to "clean up" the screen.

Secondly, there's a small lag between killing the enemy, and the bullets respawning. If you kill one too fast, the bullet's will not respond. This will suck b/c you don't make as many points (in theory), and the bullets are most likely on a direct path to mess you up. If you're one of those players that likes to dash across a screen full of bullets during the respawn (when it's safe) you might have only half a screen full of harmless, spawning bullets, and another half full of painfully harmful real ones. Unfortunately, there's really no way around this other than putting in a little lag between each enemy you destroy. If you go into zesshikai mode and start blasting, you just have to figure out what bullets are spawning and which aren't.

Fans of the original game might find the new mode a bit hard to get used to. The safety of normal kakusei isn't really there. In fact, there are only a few places where the zesshikai is truly a safer option. The biggest danger of all though, is actually leaving the zesshikai mode. It seems that onscreen bullets simply change speed at random. There is, however, some conformity to this. Understanding what you're up against when you leave zesshikai mode will help. Below is a chart of bullet speeds from Aracdia. It's rather cryptic in itself. As best as I can make it, the different occurences are:

Regular = is the mode before or after kakusei
At Start = this is the "entering" of the mode phase
During = obviously, during the mode
At Stop = the split second gap between during, and regular.

Bullet Types are
Regular = regular bullets
Respawn = bullets that are spawned from enemies, or other bullets.
Changing = the stage inbetween the two above types.

Code:
Condition | Bullet | Regular | At Start | During | At Stop
Kakusei | Regular | Normal | Slow | Slow | Slow
| Respawn | Slow | Normal | Normal | Fast
Zesshikai | Regular | Normal | Slow | Medium | Medium
| Changing | Slow | Stop | Stop | Stop
| Respawn | Slow | Normal | Normal | Fast



Raising the Kakusei Level:
For scoring or clearing, maxing one's kakusei level is a must. Much like the first game, doing at least most of it on stage 1 is not a bad idea. Considering you can get 900+ gold long before the stage 1 mid-boss, this is an ideal time to get it out of the way. One can gain 2 kakusei levels by going into kakusei over mode a bit after the big cannon (lefthand side of the screen) and ending just into the mid-boss's first attack. Make sure not to destroy his claws in kakusei mode... the gems will come in handy later. If you're not a stickler for score, doing it again at the end of stage 1 just before the boss is okay, but you likely lose a good zesshikai opportunity. The beginning of stage 2 is also a place where point loss is minimal. The beginning of stage 3 is okay, but that's a little late in the game.

Boss Strats:

* Stage 1: Pretty standard. Does a hakkyou in his 2nd form, 3rd (?) wave. There's a higher scoring opportunity, but requires the player to go to the far upper right corner at the right moment, enter zesshikai, and then destroy the boss.
* Stage 2: Also pretty easy. Has a few Mushihime-sama-esque patterns. Features one true hakkyou on his 3rd and final form, 1st wave, and not a hakkyou, but enough bullets to hit x500 if zesshikai mode is entered quick enough, on the 2nd wave of his 2nd form. You can even get up to around X475 relatively easily on the last wave of his first form, for a total of three zesshikai scoring opportunities, assuming you have the gems.
* Stage 3: The first boss with some genuine difficulty, particularly the pattern on her final form. Staying in the middle is tricky, to say the least. Before the pattern starts, try going almost all the way to either the right or left side. Does a hakkyou twice, but neither in very opportune times. The first is the end of the 3rd wave on her 1st form. Inconvenient (for at least Ageha players) as if you're continually firing your rapier, you'll kill her too fast. Slow it down, or do some dodging and go into zesshikai just before she fires the third round of round bullets (in all directions). A scream marks the first round, so you can't miss it.. Kill her too fast or too late, and you won't get to x500. Her 2nd hakkyou is like the first but worse. You have to wait much longer (losing gold as you go, btw) and have a tricky pattern to dodge if you're not firing your laser (which you won't be as Ageha unless you didn't fire at all earlier). The timing of this hakkyou is less forgiving as well. In all honesty, I usually don't bother. Maybe it's easier as Asagi.
* Stage 4: This boss takes a while to get used to, and even then can dish out some problems. I'll break this one up to make it easier to read.

There's a slightly safe spot on his 1st waves of his 1st two forms - directly above him. He will shoot at you, but once you get in the groove, these bullets are easily dodged. The 2nd wave of the 1st form will shoot straight down, so you're in the clear. The 3rd wave will fire at you, so best go down and start attacking.

The 1st wave of the 2nd form is much like the 1st wave of the 1st form, but he fires at a higher frequency. Once you dodge, he will fire straight down again for the next wave. Note that to avoid both of these waves, you need to be directly in the middle of the boss. When the 2nd wave is done, wait for the little doors to open. This signals the 3rd wave. Wait a second, then go clockwise around down to below the boss. If you time it right, he'll fire a bunch of shit out to the right, and you've got a few free seconds to unload on him. The 4th wave is coming for you though, so put your dodging cap on. Note that destroying the parts on either side of him results in a more intense pattern. Good for scoring, but not for living.

The 1st wave of the 3rd form isn't that hard to figure out. Just dodge through the "grid" of bullets, and be ready for the next wave, which can be tricky. It consists of "strings" of bullets. You'll most likely have to quit firing your lapia to get out of the way. The 3rd wave is pretty straight forward, but gets a bit intense if you wait too long.

The 4th form has some pretty shitty patterns -- all of them you just have to get used to. There's no real safe spot or method that I know of. Destroying the parts on either side (at the top) results in a much more intense firing of bullets. It is good for scoring, but most patterns on the 4th stage involve a very long Zesshikai at the very end, which requires 500 gems and 500 gold -- meaning you won't have enough gold (if any) to go into zesshikai on the 4th and 5th form.

The only wave of the 5th form starts off very easy, but gets a little tricky. It will eventually feature shit coming from the top, and both left and right. You can destroy the parts on either side for a pattern alteration, but then you've got some diagonal bullets to mix it up.

There are at least two places to get x500 in zesshikai on this boss. Namely, the last two forms. On the 4th form, destroying both parts will work, but is very risky. For the 5th form, destroying only 1 part can result in x500 in zesshikai, but destroying both will get quite a few more x500's. Of course, this carries a bit of risk to it.
* Stage 5: Coming Soon
* Stage 6: Coming Not So Soon