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Valstar
Dec 9, 2007 22:48:03 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Dec 9, 2007 22:48:03 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/valstar/valstar.htmAnother doujin shooter, this one. I was initially impressed because it uses 2D graphics on a 3D background, so it actually looks kinda cool. Gameplay-wise it's nothing special, but solid. I think it's actually a bit dull compared to the likes of Air Rade and Tobi Tsukihime (which I tried after I wrote this) but even though Valstar is hardly top tier, I figured it was worth covering anyway.
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Valstar
Dec 11, 2007 17:10:26 GMT -5
Post by DojoCasino on Dec 11, 2007 17:10:26 GMT -5
No links? I did a google search and managed to find out that 'valstar' is also a drug used to treat bladder cancer but nothing about the game.
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Blake Casimir
Full Member
Space meditations from Alpha Centauri.
Posts: 105
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Valstar
Dec 11, 2007 17:46:51 GMT -5
Post by Blake Casimir on Dec 11, 2007 17:46:51 GMT -5
The problem with this - based on those screenshots - like so many modern shooters, is that there's no "level design". Only empty stretches full of enemies. Give me ice canyons, underground caverns and dark forests to fly through! Yes, I'm still hoping for Thunder Force 6 someday. (Although TF5's level design was getting rather "bare" as well...)
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Valstar
Dec 11, 2007 19:54:48 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Dec 11, 2007 19:54:48 GMT -5
Oops. Home page is here: www.2ccp.com/valstar/index.htmlDemo is here: www.2ccp.com/valstar/valstar_trial.zipAnd yes chischis, like many doujin shooters, there's no real level design - just open waves of enemies. I'm not a huge fan of these either, but it depends on the game and how the enemy waves appear. I heard Broken Thunder - the spiritual TF6 - had the same issue. But it was later judged so bad that the publisher pulled it off the shelves and is now impossible to find, at least until they fix it.
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Blake Casimir
Full Member
Space meditations from Alpha Centauri.
Posts: 105
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Valstar
Dec 13, 2007 15:21:58 GMT -5
Post by Blake Casimir on Dec 13, 2007 15:21:58 GMT -5
I heard Broken Thunder - the spiritual TF6 - had the same issue. But it was later judged so bad that the publisher pulled it off the shelves and is now impossible to find, at least until they fix it. I've no idea if the publishers did that, but Broken Thunder certainly was a poor game. Wretched production values overall that hardly match your average doujin productions. It also suffers from iffy controls and completely empty levels, enemies notwithstanding. One of the great things about Thunder Force 2, 3 and 4 was that feeling that you were heading deeper and deeper into a cave, a forest, a starship core etc towards some big-ass boss. Does add a sense of anticipation, and slight dread. Especially in TF 2, unforgiving bugger that it is. The penultimate level of that game was a somewhat convoluted maze in a cave, finishing with a tunnel rush and a rather tough boss. Some magic gaming moments, right there.
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Valstar
Dec 18, 2007 13:10:23 GMT -5
Post by DojoCasino on Dec 18, 2007 13:10:23 GMT -5
After one life-ing the demo i want more... It's really fun, looks pretty too Also, if by 'no level design' you mean 'no obstacles' then I don't really see that as a bad thing.
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Valstar
Oct 12, 2014 4:25:14 GMT -5
Post by jjmcjj on Oct 12, 2014 4:25:14 GMT -5
Aaaaaancient bump here, but I just found out about this game, and as a PC gamer who grabs whatever is thrown at me when it comes to the platforms dearth of worthwhile shmups, this one looked really good. I downloaded it off of ISOZone (where else, the game's home page doesn't seem to have a working link to the full game), and it's giving me all kinds of trouble running it. No matter what settings I use, when I run in windowed mode, the game runs at like a thousand miles an hour. I can only play it normally when I put it in full screen, but then the game freezes at the loading screen after finishing level 1. Running as admin, XP compatibility etc. doesn't seem to work. It's annoying because it's the kind of freeze that doesn't allow me to access my task manager, and when I manage to get back to the lower screen to close out it stubbornly refuses to do so until after thinking about it for a few minutes.
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Valstar
Oct 12, 2014 11:14:00 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Oct 12, 2014 11:14:00 GMT -5
Bummer. :\ This was written a long time ago on my XP rig, so it's probably incompatible with modern OS's
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Valstar
Oct 13, 2014 10:38:21 GMT -5
Post by jjmcjj on Oct 13, 2014 10:38:21 GMT -5
XP isn't THAT old. It's not like, say, trying to run an unmodified Windows 95 or, god forbid, a Windows 3.1 game on modern hardware. There has to be some kind of workaround for this, I know people always find one, but I haven't found it (like the poster from 7 years ago said, Valstar outside of that one ISOZone page on Google gives out very different results than what one here would expect).
In the meantime, are there any programs that can reduce the speed or framerate of a game? I want to try windowed mode, both to see if it works (i.e. loads past the first stage), and also to cause less stress when closing the game out if it does lock up on me again. I know there's a program to help increase the fps of a game, CheatEngine I think it's called? Can that do the same opposite thing? I wonder how the Touhou shooters I downloaded will work on this computer (I downloaded them/played a bit of them on a different computer, and even then didn't play far. It makes me worry that if they do work they'll only work to a certain point. Now I can't trust anymore that a game is working properly if the first stage boots up perfectly fine, which is all I play to test out and wait to go back to them later most of the time. :/).
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