Radiant Silvergun

To prepare myself to play Radiant Silvergun, for a few weeks I calmed myself down about it to lower my anticipation. I acted as if it were just another game – I didn’t want to falsify what I thought of it due to high hype.

So it turns out that I find RSG to be nothing special.

I got to the second ‘real’ boss (I say ‘real’ because the game’s pretty much a bossfest so far; it can be difficult to discern which boss is the boss and which is just a miniboss). The graphics look like they’ve aged terribly; yet another polygonal game from the PS1-dominated era that looks like rubbish.

The best qualities of this game I find so far is the extreme difficulty and the ability to switch other weapons; my favorite button combination for a weapon is A+B, with those lasers that look like the miniboss’s lasers in the third level of Ikaruga.

The anime cinemas actually look kinda funny. I think I’ll go to that RSG Translation site now and see what those guys were talking about.

Anyways, yeah, so far Radiant Silvergun is ho-hum.

HO-HUM.

But oh yeah, that combo system sure is neat-o.

I've never played Radiant Silvergun myself. I thought Ikuraga was kinda hohum. I like Treasure, but not to the extent many 'hardcore' console fans do.

Decided to try to huntdown a Progear instead of a Radiant Silvergun. For some reason, Progear just feels awesome to me.

Radiant Silvergun = The most overhyped shooter,ever.

For a $50 game,it's cool,but $180?

Naaaah.

B-

Ely13 said:

I've never played Radiant Silvergun myself. I thought Ikuraga was kinda hohum. I like Treasure, but not to the extent many 'hardcore' console fans do.

Decided to try to huntdown a Progear instead of a Radiant Silvergun. For some reason, Progear just feels awesome to me.

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Pro-Gear gives me wood.

B-

BIG said:

Radiant Silvergun = The most overhyped shooter,ever.

For a $50 game,it's cool,but $180?

Naaaah.

B-

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I own it and agree 100%

How about McDonald's Treasure Island? Now that's worth $180!
Treasure= One of the most overhyped game companies ever.
Guardian Heroes blows
Gunstar Heroes wasn't bad.

LoneSage: With your favorite weapon... just tap the A+B (long enough for 1 electrical bolt to hit) to do tick damage and maximize the weapon's secret bonus points.

The blessing and the curse about RS is the level design. The entire level is your enemy. You have to play it a few times and think what the best combo structure is. However, since it's largely based on structure it limits the play within the level overall.

BIG said:

Radiant Silvergun = The most overhyped shooter,ever.

For a $50 game,it's cool,but $180?

Naaaah.

B-

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From the gameplay videos I've seen, I agree. It looks nice, but I wouldn't pay more than $80ish for it (and mostly as a collectable).

Odd, I loved Guardian Heroes (though I've played it so many times it has no replay value left for me) and never got into Gunstar Heroes at all. But yeah, I concur completely with the assessment that Treasure is overhyped/overrated. They make interesting, fairly unique games (Dynamite Headdy), but give me a solid Capcom or Konami game anyday.

LoneSage, I hope you didn't drop $200 on this. At least the price is unlikely to drop so you can resell it if you don't like it.

I can respect Treasure's originality etc. but I wasn't really impressed by Guardian Heroes...Silvergun is ok, weak gameplay though. Progear's far better, I agree.

Segata_Sanshiro said:

I can respect Treasure's originality etc. but I wasn't really impressed by Guardian Heroes...Silvergun is ok, weak gameplay though. Progear's far better, I agree.

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Would you expand on why you think the gameplay is weak? I'd like to hear your opinions, because I think the gameplay has weak points worth debating. What would you change in the engine or scoring bracket?

Thanks!

I played it for a little while and I really had a heartbeat for this game, although it's far too long and boss-filled. I love the gameplay system and the classic graphics as well. But Big's right, spending that much for it isn't worth it. Sure it's a pretty lovely game, but now it sells at 170/180 EUROS ($220) here in france so forget about it...

Playing Raidant Silvergun back in '98 blew me away, would it do the same thing if I bought it today? No.

It's still a great game with one of the best shooter soundtracks ever imo.

Gunstar Heores, Guardian Heores are both awesome imo. I really don't think treasure is overhyped. Bangai-o is amazingly fun. I don't think all their games are awesome, like MTLA for example. I've never played RSG, it is probably overpriced, but Ikaruga is great. I can imagine that being a very expensive game in 5 or 6 years.

Weevus said:

Gunstar Heores, Guardian Heores are both awesome imo. I really don't think treasure is overhyped. Bangai-o is amazingly fun. I don't think all their games are awesome, like MTLA for example. I've never played RSG, it is probably overpriced, but Ikaruga is great. I can imagine that being a very expensive game in 5 or 6 years.

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Stretch Panic is the one game that always come to mind when I start to think that Treasure can do no wrong.

They ARE extremely good on a "quality per release" basis, but there are those games that rightfully sully their sterling reputation.

All those games you mentioned are incredibly good, though. I'm always disappointed when someone says "WTF is Bangai-O?"

jro said:

All those games you mentioned are incredibly good, though. I'm always disappointed when someone says "WTF is Bangai-O?"

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Bangai-O is ass,as far as I'm concerned

B-

As far as I'm concerned, Treasure have a hand in creating shmups I really like and respect but only can play once in a couple of months or else I'd go gaga, and Radiant Silvergun is just one of them, another one would be Ikaruga.

ForeverSublime said:

Would you expand on why you think the gameplay is weak? I'd like to hear your opinions, because I think the gameplay has weak points worth debating. What would you change in the engine or scoring bracket?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I just found it to be kind of tedious. I liked it a lot for the first few hours, but I got tired of it after repeated plays...I prefer Dodonpachi's chaining (kill everything, usually as fast as possible though sometimes you have to think about how you can stretch it out as needed to keep the chain alive) versus RS's approach (let certain enemies live, omfg1coloronlybiatch).

On the weapons system, I'd have to agree with something I read on another board...Hellfire on Genesis has the same concept, but with much better execution.

The Secret Combo Chain uses all 3 colors. Nyeh.

The idea is that each graphic on the screen is not an emeny, but the entire level as a whole is. RS is a puzzle game. Presented as a shooter. That's its strength as well as its weakness. As you said, it's tedious. You have to play the game many times in order to gather the needed info for the chains - since your score is tied directly to your weapon power and if you don't score high enough you won't be strong enough to continue. It's neat to think of it as a code you have to break - a code with many translations. However, you can in the same manner start to think of it as an interactive movie, and that's where the gameplay loses its purity.

The beauty of RS is your weapons destroy objects that give you points and in turn change the weapon functionality in tune not only with the hightening difficulty but also the evolving target patterns as the levels progress. It's that yin/yang relationship between your weapons and your [experience] points that makes RS what it is. Many games have this concept of functionality of weaponry (Hellfire, Macross (SFC), Outzone, Rtype, etc), but they lack the idea of evolution. Otherwise, it's just a matter of staying alive as the levels get harder and harder, and the first level is no different than the last. If only RS could keep that core concept of the weapon/score evolution relationship and present it in a manner that is as honest the last time you play it as it is the first.

Played it for more than 30 minutes the other day.

It rocks.