Why do you like shmups?

[GSZX1337]

KingMohd does'nt actually like PLAYING games, he just likes saying that he's PLAYED them.

hehe I do play a lot of games, but there are more games that I want to check out than I have a life time.

I do like shmups as a way of gameplay, but i find it too difficult. I just can't keep playing for hours to reach the same point and dying, then having to redo the whole thing.
I can do the whole thing 1,2, and 3 times, but I won't repeat it 10-20 times just to die right in the same place

Ahem.
*points at previous post*

[gennss]

I don't seem to have a problem dying at the same place all the time. I must've gotten used to it. The number of shmups i've 1cc'd = 0.

The score is really what keeps me going. I like seeing my name on a top scores list. XBLA ranking makes me feel very inferior though.

[EllertMichael]

I could go on about experience of playing and occasionally doing well etc. but what's really drawn me into shmups in the last couple years is that they just fit well into my life. It will literally take me 4-6 months to complete a 40 hour game, and if there's only spaced out save points I often won't have a chance to play long enough to make progress, or I just forget what it was I was doing in some games.
With shmups I can play for 10 minutes and feel like I've accomplished something. Plus I can buy one or two rather expensive games and enjoy them for years easily, rather than buying a game and not having much interest in playing it again after beating it. I've almost totally cut my game spending down to shmups only now, I generally spend less, and I know that I can keep coming back to my games for many years.

I had this same conversation with my girlfriend tonight. I brought up how 360s RRoD all the time, blaming it on really long games where you're watching long movie scenes and waiting to play most of the time, whereas with shmups (the only reason I want a 360) you're playing in quick bursts, leaving less of a chance of overheating the console..
but we were talking about the point you made where after finishing a long game, usually the last thing you want to do is play it more. But shmups are infinitely re-playable.

[gennss]

I would agree. The chances of me replaying an RPG for example is low, simply because the secret is already out, and I'm burned out from playing it.

With Shmups I can push 40 hours + in small increments and ultimately surpass the amount of time and replay i can put into another type of game.

Fighting games have a similar effect. I suspect its the "Arcade" style gameplay that keeps me going back.

[Hatta]

If you're dying in the same place every time, you're not learning from your mistakes. Think a bit and plan out what you will do differently next time. If it's just a matter of needing to practice the hard bit until it's ingrained in your muscle memory, it's OK to use save states for that. No point in repeating the first 2 or 3 levels that you can beat flawlessly every time when you're dying on the level 3 boss.

[Ivo]

If you're dying in the same place every time, you're not learning from your mistakes. Think a bit and plan out what you will do differently next time. If it's just a matter of needing to practice the hard bit until it's ingrained in your muscle memory, it's OK to use save states for that. No point in repeating the first 2 or 3 levels that you can beat flawlessly every time when you're dying on the level 3 boss.

Agreed. Some of the best of these games have practice modes as well. Not all of the good / best ones have Practice modes though.

Ivo.

[FiftyDollarCurse]

I like shoot-em-ups because it's one of the few genres where practicing will actually make you better. And not just better at one game, as in memorization of bullet patterns, but practicing on Lightening Force will still help you get better at MUSHA. Y'know?

Also, they make you feel like VICTORY whenever you beat one or get a new high score.

[Octopod]

I like them because they are one of the few genres that are any challenge at all. Most games are meant to be beat now, it is a given. No one sweats the fact that they might not beat the new RE game because it is assured that they will. Of course you can credit feed through some shmups but that is not you beating the game, it is the game beating you.

[Ivo]

(...) that is not you beating the game, it is the game beating you.

In Soviet Russia...



Ivo.

[EllertMichael]