Polybius. Jeff Minter's new game

[spatular]

17 minutes ago, Darwock said:

So I just need to alternate sides? It doesn't matter if I go left or right on the first one as long as the next is the other side?

 

iirc you have to go to the side the arrow at the top is pointing to.

[Parappa]

9 hours ago, Darwock said:

So I just need to alternate sides? It doesn't matter if I go left or right on the first one as long as the next is the other side?

As someone told me in this thread - think of Horace Goes Skiing.

 

 

 

[Darwock]

In that game you ski between two flag posts though. Polybius only has one, slap bang in the middle! Spatular was correct though, the flag on the top indicates which side you can safely pass on.

 

I think there was some confusion about the indestructible spikes as well. There is an early level that has these towers with pointy hats - they make old man noises when you shoot them and drop their hats on the ground, where they do damage to you if you hit them. But those are not indestructible, and you can clear a path by shooting them.

 

It's the next level I think, which just has loads of spikes already on the ground that can't be destroyed and aren't created by player actions (as far as I can tell) - they are just there. Sometimes right in front of the gates :/

[Rsdio]

I bought this in the sale and also feel a bit confused, as much as I'm enjoying it. I'm familiar with his games (finishing TxK etc.) but I keep feeling like I'm missing something here or doing it wrong somehow.

 

It's mainly the gates I can't figure out and most of the hits I take are from hitting the horns. But then sometimes I clearly go through the horns with no penalty and it seems like this is more likely to happen if you shoot the gates (so they look 'activated') before getting to them.. Maybe?

[Mortis]

The gates (and the path) go red if you're properly lined up - if you clip the sides you lose shields, shooting them makes no difference.

 

[Darwock]

Another question - a little later on in the first 10 or so levels there are enemies which fire flashing circles at you. These don't appear to do any damage, are you intended to fly through them? I also occasionally got surrounded by a big wireframe box, with no apparent negative effects but may be connected to those flashing circles somehow?

[SeanR]

NURSE!!!

[Rsdio]

56 minutes ago, Mortis said:

The gates (and the path) go red if you're properly lined up - if you clip the sides you lose shields, shooting them makes no difference.

 

OK, thanks. It's weird because I'm often thinking either 'I should've taken a hit there' or 'I took a hit there and feel like I shouldn't have done', which makes it feel a bit exasperating. Especially since I'm pretty confident it's something not clicking with me rather than an issue with the game.

 

This is without VR if that makes any difference, I've seen a few people saying that it's easier in VR but I don't know if it's stuff like this that they're referring to.

[klargon]

I think it's something to do with whether you're currently shielded. I tend to feel exactly the same with gates. I'm fairly happy to remain perplexed by it all, though.

[dumpster]

The circles add to your deflector shield, I think. 

[Darwock]

I read some speculation somewhere about how the trophies for clearing levels without losing shields are nullified any time you hear that hard impact sound (like when you clip a gate with the deflector active) even if you don't actually lose a shield.

 

I think I can confirm that is bogus info, because I got the 3 stage trophy tonight despite hearing that impact noise several times in the first three stages. The odd thing is that wherever I read it, they were also claiming Minter had verified it?

 

I almost made it to the end of the fifth stage to check if I got the 5 stage trophy (currently at 0.0% achieved, which really makes me think it's glitched) but those damn stalactites got me as per usual. I'm still trying to figure those out. Sometimes they seem to go purple and can be destroyed. The green alien guys seem to leave flashing big ones behind if you hit them, but it's too dangerous not to shoot them. I think I need to record some gameplay vids and study them afterwards to see whats actually going on.

[Darwock]

Bollocks.

 

It is glitched indeed. I busted my nut to clear the first five stages without losing a shield, and the trophy didn't unlock. That stuff about having to avoid collisions even when shielded has got to be BS, because it didn't matter for the one/three stage trophy.

 

As TxK previously showed us, Llamasoft don't have the resources to do bug fixes/patches. 

 

I was actually really loving how the trophy integration was done here, with the classic Llamatron 'Oooooh!' and message flashing up - but this has really taken the shine off.

[dave7g]

Not sure what to say about this game only, once you're in the thick of it you should know exactly what to do. That said it's crazy as could be. I played it only in PSVR and it reminded me of when I was about 7 or 8 and going home from an arcade and remembering what playing the arcade games were like that day, only from memory, yet multiplied by 1,000,000

 by my my imagination. If you see what I mean?

 

I'm only at about level 15 but can tell already that I'll finish it off.

 

 

[Big Swifty]

Any tips for level 13 where you're on the outside of a tube and need to hit jump pads to get over pairs of barriers?

 

On the previous level where you're on the inside of a tube and need to jump over single ring type barriers I was fine because I could spot where the jump pads were even if I was on the opposite side. But with this one being on the outside of the tube means I can't see the whole tube at once and on top of that missing a jump pad at the wrong time means I lose two shields. Do I just have to learn the right path or side of the tube to be on at the right time?

 

Mind blowing game (even non VR) and admittedly I'm not very good at shooters but I'm finding this level to be more about learning than feeling.

[Monkeyspill]

8 hours ago, Big Swifty said:

Any tips for level 13 where you're on the outside of a tube and need to hit jump pads to get over pairs of barriers?

 

On the previous level where you're on the inside of a tube and need to jump over single ring type barriers I was fine because I could spot where the jump pads were even if I was on the opposite side. But with this one being on the outside of the tube means I can't see the whole tube at once and on top of that missing a jump pad at the wrong time means I lose two shields. Do I just have to learn the right path or side of the tube to be on at the right time?

 

Mind blowing game (even non VR) and admittedly I'm not very good at shooters but I'm finding this level to be more about learning than feeling.

If it's the level I'm thinking of, you shouldn't cling to the top - stay on one of the sides and you'll see more of the jump pads from there.

 

I'm stuck on 20. There appears to be lots of barriers to crash into but no jump pads. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.

[Big Swifty]

Thanks I'll try that. It will probably mean turning my head on one side like an idiot so I'll wait until I'm alone with it. If I get to 20 I'll try and return the favour.

[dumpster]

If you can get your bonus multiplier up you can crash through barriers because of your shield.  I can't remember which level introduces that for the first time, but try and shoot as much as you can and keep that shield intact for as long as possible.

[dumpster]

1 hour ago, clumpyjamie said:

If it's the level I'm thinking of, you shouldn't cling to the top - stay on one of the sides and you'll see more of the jump pads from there.

 

I'm stuck on 20. There appears to be lots of barriers to crash into but no jump pads. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.

If you can get your bonus multiplier up you can crash through barriers because of your shield.  I can't remember which level introduces that for the first time, but try and shoot as much as you can and keep that shield intact for as long as possible.

 

 

10 hours ago, Big Swifty said:

Any tips for level 13 where you're on the outside of a tube and need to hit jump pads to get over pairs of barriers?

 

On the previous level where you're on the inside of a tube and need to jump over single ring type barriers I was fine because I could spot where the jump pads were even if I was on the opposite side. But with this one being on the outside of the tube means I can't see the whole tube at once and on top of that missing a jump pad at the wrong time means I lose two shields. Do I just have to learn the right path or side of the tube to be on at the right time?

 

Mind blowing game (even non VR) and admittedly I'm not very good at shooters but I'm finding this level to be more about learning than feeling.

Keep moving around the sides and make a mental note of where the arrows are for next time.  Meanwhile, remember you get three extra lives at the end of each round so don't worry about being perfect.  Also see my other comment above, there are levels later on where the only way seems to bash right the way through them using the invincibility shield.  

 

Truly my game of the year that.

[Big Swifty]

Thanks to the moving around the sides advice I cracked through 13 last night. I'm not sure I even lost a shield so a massive improvement for me. I'll work on shooting more stuff and my bonus multiplier next.

[Darwock]

I have sort of gone back to this despite being disillusioned with it not being completable (despite what Giles quoted Jeff as saying, nobody has that one gold trophy so by my reckoning it's broken). 

 

I still don't understand a lot of it; I did figure out why sometimes I could survive and sometimes not, was due to having the super penetrator bullets. I would like to know if there was a way to guarantee geting certain pick-ups, and also if the colour of the pills indicates what they are - I'm sure they do but it's almost impossible to take mental notes during gameplay.

 

Why are some cow gates blue? They are not proper gates, I'm sure - but what is different about them?

 

So anyway, I focused on YOLO mode and just getting the gold trophy for clearing level 13, which I managed to do tonight and was then able to keep going up to 15. What really surprised me is that has given me the 5th place score for YOLO mode. That tells me not many people have much dedication to this game, because there is no way I should be ranked that high. I get through the stages by pure luck sometimes.

[dumpster]

A few playing tips from memory:

 

 

Red and Blue Flags are ski posts.  Slalom them.  

 

Bullet impact noises going up in pitch like someone rolling a hand along a piano - your bullets are hitting a wall, get out of the way of the wall.

 

red line on ground flashing red and black, parallel with your movement - something is going to land there and kill you, get off the red line.

 

In-penetrable barrier:  There's enough stuff prior to it to shot and activate your shield so you can bowl through it.  Shoot more things. 

 

Yellow circle looks like a fried egg:  Shoot it!

 
 

 

 

There's always a sound cue, and everything has a way for you to shoot or avoid it.

[Darwock]

That's useful, and a good idea. I noticed another thing for the log book this evening:

 

The green triangles can only be destroyed if you are airborne, and each one you destroy keeps you afloat a little bit longer. The green diamonds make a similar noise but spawn stalactites and dont appear to add to airtime.

 

I broke my Pure mode record this evening but only made it up to the level after 'Cows of Summer'. Lost all remaining shields on the former so only had 2 to play with on the one that advises you to keep your speed up to avoid getting mired in trouble. I was doing fine until I got taken out by something I din't even see coming, I feel like it was something that targetted me but have no idea really.

[Darwock]

Last night I finally finished the game on normal mode - I'd been going after scores in the other modes mainly but decided it was time to use those restart bests and push on to see the end. Some really maddening stuff towards the end, one stage in particular where I lost 9 shields in quick succession with still no idea of what was hitting me.

 

The ending is absolutely glorious though - I was convinced the game had broken for a good minute or so. It also proudly announced my new high score of 971,000,000 or so. I was previously sitting on the leaderboard at 22 with 874,000,000, so I had some hope of jumping up a fair bit. Went to check the score table, still at 22 - but thats OK because the online tables take a little time to update. Checked the local scores - errr, my top score is listed as 874,000,000.

 

Oh wonderful, another bug. There are two ways that I want to play this game competitively - the first is to complete the challenges laid out by the game (via trophies) and the other is to play for high scores. BOTH are bugged.

 

You know this is a fantastic visionary game, but the bugs that don't get fixed are unforgivable for me. I don't think I will touch another Llamasoft game. I gave them a second shot after TxK, won!t make that mistake again ><

[Quest]

This is 3.99 on PSN in the current sale. Yoink.

[Trumpets]

Finally picked this up in the sale, and it's amazing. After ten or so gates you are going so fast you have no idea what' you're even looking at, and then the music kicks in on level 6 and you get into the trance state that only seems to happen (legally) in Jeff Minter games.

[noob]

Well... bought this in the sale this week, and finally got to try it today.

 

JESUS. 

 

that is madness! 

 

 

[Trumpets]

Even by Minter's standards this game is bizarre. Level 16 sounds like a pond full of frogs having an orgy, and level 17 told me to 'Enjoy pancakes'.

[Broken Thumbs]

Who doesn’t enjoy pancakes?

 

I have not had the pleasure of trying it in VR, although I’m told it is excellent, but I do  have 3D support, so I gave that a go recently. It really is eye poppingly good. I’m not sure if it helps with the gameplay, but it does help get you in the zone quicker I reckon, and it just looks astonishing; the backgrounds in particular. 

[Trumpets]

Now at level 42. I'm actually going to finish this mad thing!

 

I'm not sure if the levels get easier or it's just the typical thing that happens in Minter games where you somehow learn to 'see through' the psychedelia, but I'm breezing through it now. This is the only game that has even remotely made me curious about buying a VR headset.

[noob]

2 hours ago, Trumpets said:

Now at level 42. I'm actually going to finish this mad thing!

 

I'm not sure if the levels get easier or it's just the typical thing that happens in Minter games where you somehow learn to 'see through' the psychedelia, but I'm breezing through it now. This is the only game that has even remotely made me curious about buying a VR headset.

 

It's balls deep amazing in VR actually...