ESP Ra.De. - Endgame strategy

(strategy talk from /v/)

First, no, I didn't abuse the barrier as described.  The overall plan was
to make it to Ms. Garra with a buttload of lives, because like you said,
she's just shit insane.  There's one thing working against you in almost
every boss fight in ESP Ra.De. -- random or effectively-random(due to boss
gyration) patterns.  I love the ad-lib dodging, but it's a hidden hurdle to
overcome.  Also, the stage 4 boss.  Some of his later patterns are on par
with the last boss's.  He has an uncanny ability to wreck even the best of
runs.

So, my strategy had two components: get to Ms. Garra with the resources to
take her down, and then execute the plan.  Of course, I had no idea how
many lives/how much barrier I was going to make it there with each time,
so I had more than one bomb distribution plan.  My basic bomb distribution
called for full barrier and two extra lives:

Ares - 2 pattern phase: dodge it
Ares - 3 pattern phase: 33% barrier x 2
Ms. Garra A: 33% x 1
Ms. Garra B: 1% if needed, more if needed
Ms. Garra C: 33% if needed
Ms. Garra D: 33% x 1, more if needed
Ms. Garra E: 33% x 3, 1% x 1(full barrier load)

Of course, sometimes I would make it to Ares with less energy than the plan
would call for, so those "if needed" parts were where I would have to make
up the difference.  It's also worth noting that absorbing bullets with the
barrier gets it up to max power much faster than otherwise.  Absorbing no
bullets, it takes 50% of your barrier energy for full power.  Absorbing like
there's no tomorrow, it takes less than 33%.  You want to get 3 full power
barrier attacks and 1 "bail me out" 1-5% percent attack out of each extra
life's barrier.  Also, the barrier attack has two streams.  Try to apply
both sides of the attack to Ms. Garra when she's in her wingless phases.
It's not easy.

Now, the actual bosses and their patterns.

= Ares =
6 different attacks, mixes two for the first half of the fight, three for
the second half.  The first half shouldn't be a problem as long as you
don't get both purple patterns at once.  It's hard to get specific here,
since you never know what he'll pull out and when he'll switch patterns.

In the second half, dodge a little and then the instant it gets dangerous,
barrier, move up over him and absorb those bullets, and when the barrier is
at full strength, let 'er rip.  Follow up with another barrier attack when
your invincibility starts to wear off(you might be able to get away with a
half-power attack here.

= Ms. Garra A =
FUN FACT: This is actually Ms. Garra's barrier attack.

She'll start by radiating waves of 3-bullet walls.  Sometimes she does it 3
times, sometimes she does it 4.  Start at the bottom center and move
diagonally up+left or up+right through the gaps between the walls, cutting
back to the bottom center of the screen at the end to prepare for the next
wave.  Because she's moving around while shooting, you can get some really
bullshit situations here if she starts moving towards you while shooting.
If an unbroken wall of red bullets happens, use the allotted 33% barrier
here, but you really want that for the next attack.  In this phase, try
to hit her with as much firepower as you safely can.

The second phase is where she unleashes her "barrier" attack.  Random
bullets, tightly packed.  Here is the ideal place for that 33% barrier
attack.  Absorb the mess and pointblank her with both streams of the
attack.  She won't die.  Try to pointblank her with your normal and power
shot while you're still invincible, but leave a little time for you to get
downscreen and dodge any remaining mess. (No barrier strat: left/right
dodging in the bottom center of the screen -- bullshit ahoy, good luck)

If you do things right, she won't get to unleash a second "barrier" attack.

= Ms. Garra C =
There's a trick here!  The first part of this pattern is the worst part,
but you can cut down on the number of bullets by scrolling one of her wings
offscreen before the pattern begins.  The offscreen orbs won't shoot, good
old scroll-out technique to the rescue.

The pattern, blue walls of crap flying in fixed patterns, smaller red walls
of crap aimed at you.  It's the standard "cut-back" technique while doding
through the blue walls of crap.  Easier than some of that crap from the
stage 4 boss, but don't be afraid to barrier if you get "trapped".

= Ms. Garra D =
FUN FACT: This is Ms. Garra's power shot.

There'll only be the four orbs left.  They shoot in this order:

1 Front Left
2 Front Right
3 Back Left
4 Back Right
5 Front Left
6 Front Right
7 Back Left
8 Back Right

There are a bajillion different ways to dodge this, but the general idea
is to lure the aimed globs of hell safely off the side of the screen or
anywhere that you won't be going anytime soon.  To be honest, I can't
remember my pattern out of all the other people's patterns I tried.  I
think I lured 1 to the bottom left side, went right and lured 2 down, went
left quick and lured 3 down-left, moved right leaving 4 and 5 to miss at
air behind me, then left to avoid 6, continuing until 7 is shot and then
heading right so that 8 flies diagonally down-left, and then moving up to
the upper-right side of the screen for the other phase.

The other phase is rapidfire power shots.  You need to be on the upper
right when it starts and move down and back up the left side in a U shape.
Easy if you do it right, death if you don't.

Of course, it's much easier to just barrier the first phase and dodge the
second.  It shouldn't take much more to take the wings off.

= Ms. Garra E =
Ms. Garra's normal attack, I presume.  Dodge behind her back when she's
shooting the purple waves of bitchslap, in front of her when she's shooting
the aimed blue bitchslap.  It's a random pattern, and at some point it'll
go wrong.  The barrier is where it's at for this fight.  Even though she
flies offscreen when you use it, if you know which direction she's going to
fly, you can simply follow her to the screen edge, pointblanking her with
it.  And thankfully, she always flies offscreen in the direction she's
moving.  3 full power blasts from the barrier ought to do the trick.  If
you don't have the resources left for that, dodge and barrier when things
get dicey.  Be extra careful that you don't run into her when you're trying
to dodge behind her, and other than that, good luck.

Anything else, any questions, whatever, just ask.  SHOOTING LOVE and all
that.

And I didn't proofread that or check for typos or spelling
errors, so forgive me if it's chock full of 'em.  Which it
will be.

Oh lawd, didn't paste part of it...

= Ms. Garra B =
She busts out the wings.  Nearly shit myself the first time I saw it.

There are four big orbs on the wings and countless smaller ones.  The big
orbs shoot aimed lines of red bullets, alternating between the two big orbs
closest to the center and the other two.  The smaller orbs fire randomly
aimed single bullets within cones of about 90 degrees.  The cones are aimed
at you.  The trick here is to create patches of open space on the opposite
side of the screen by dodging back and forth in roughly a V pattern.  When
you're at the mid-side of the screen, you increase the odds of the orbs on
your side shooting harmlessly off the side of the screen, while at the same
time clearing the opposite lower corner of the screen and putting distance
between yourself and the orbs on the opposite wing.  When you see the other
side of the screen start to clear, wait for your chance and zip over there.
Stay in one place too long and you'll get hammered by the blue bullets.  If
you start to lose the rhythm, barrier to get yourself back on track if you
have any barrier left.

I thought this was going to be on Galuda, not Ra.De, even if it is awesome. God damn.

>>7
A Galuda is fine too.  If you'd like, I can post up the husk of
a strategy I used on it.

Why not Galuda 2 if you've got it.

it should be Underdefeat

>>9
Haven't had a chance to play ESPGaluda II.  If by chance you
have access to Galuda II and want some strategy, try this:

http://page.freett.com/touryuumonn_gld/top.html

Moonspeak + images + video, from the guy who made "Shooters'
Gateway to Success".

>>10
Yes, it should.  Please rectify this problem immediately.

>>7
A Galuda is fine too.

=Weakass ESP Galuda "Strategy" Discussion Preface=
My Galuda plan was much less thought out than my ESP Ra.De.
plan.  To be honest, I still don't have a plan for much of ESP
Galuda because it fell quickly.  Credit fed it every day for a
month, using Ageha one day and Tateha the next(I still can't
decide who I like best).  1CCed it with Ageha, still taking a
break from it, will return someday to clear with Tateha and
tackle Arrange Mode.

=The Barrier=
ESPGaluda isn't the essay in ad-lib dodging that ESP Ra.De. was,
so there's no real need for a game-wide barriering plan to help
stabilize chaotic boss patterns.  But since the game gives you
energy refills at set points, it would be wasteful not to find
some kind of use for them, be it scoring or removing a trouble
spot from the game.

In this one the barrier attack doesn't seem to charge any faster
if you eat bullets, so you won't get 3 full power attacks and a
spare 1-5% attack per life.  It seems to take about 50% to get
the barrier up to full power, so you could do 1 full power, 1
high power, and leave 1-5% left with which to auto-barrier.
Or you could go 49%-25%-25%-1%, 33%-33%-33%-1%, etc.  I may be
wrong, but a full power barrier attack seemed to be stronger
than a high power + a minimum power attack, so those 4 usage
patterns are more for defense than offense.

Also, the auto-barrier.  I can see it screwing over any really
ambitious game-wide barrier plan with its 50% energy usage.
On the bright side, it works just as well with 1-5%, and so
a logical strategy presents itself.  When you're down to just
1-5% barrier energy in a boss fight and a nasty pattern that
you're thinking about barriering is coming up, DON'T BARRIER.
Switch out of normal mode into red+fast or purple+slow bullet
mode instead.  You get increased firepower and a chance to
dodge the pattern and keep that 1-5% if you succeed.  Which,
surprisingly, you often will.  I once dodged about a third of
the last boss fight(from Alice's rotational insanity to the
second part of the wings phase) in the fast bullet mode before
getting hit and switching back to normal mode, so don't be
intimidated by the quickened pace.

=Endgame Plan=
The endgame plan called for 300% barrier and 2 deaths, but like
with Ra.De., you'll never get there with that exact amount of
resources.  I had about 350%/3 total barrier/extra lives a
couple of times and blew it, another time I had 150%/1 extra and
made it to the final pattern.  I cleared the game before I even
had time to really analyze the patterns, but when I go for my
Tateha clear, I'll think things through a little more and maybe
come up with some solid strategies.

=Final Pattern=
For that final pattern, the plan was to barrier away the bullets
at the side of the screen, very carefully.  Clear bullets, attack
boss, dodge for a second or two, repeat.  Trying your luck with
reactionary barriering there is a great way to die without using
all of your barrier energy, but if you get a nice clean spot in
the mess go ahead and hold off on barriering for a little bit.
And whatever you do, don't heal the boss.  Dodge when out of
barrier.  It's really not as bad as it looks.  Just be careful
when crossing through the streams of bullets.

=Hard Shit=
The parts I had to nail down firmly were the Alice Clones and
the second fight with Seseri(loli haet galuda).  Seseri strat is
made of barrier and 500 fucking gems.  Her patterns are worse
than most of the last boss stuff.  And the Alice Clones here are
way worse than the ones in Ra.De., so I try to have some barrier
for if/when things go south.  The first half of the Alice zone
is like in Ra.De., just counter with a pattern of cut-backs and
you'll get through just fine.  Second half is much harder. You
convert their bullets to gold until you almost run out of gems,
then kill some more, convert some more, etc.

=Misc=
For the other stages, just get in position to attack the medium
and large enemies when they come on screen.  Kill 'em quick and
there's not much of a problem.  Slow the bullets down if you
feel the need at any time.  Bring some gems(200 minimum) into
every boss fight just in case things start to get out of hand.
Try to score well enough to get your second extend in stage 4,
if not before that.  It'll form a good pattern of habit for the
early stages.

Shmups = serious business.