[Yohane the Parhelion BitDB] Any% Speed Run No Death CLEAR (1h 42m 33s) [CC Commentary]
1Regarding video games, Love Live is kinda cursed. At a very rare occassion, you'll get good ones like the arcade rhythm game by Square Enix and its console port, with its, questionable business model... Then the mediocre / divisive ones like the School Idol Festival gacha games and one of them DARE to give you damage even you don't miss any note, how vicious, or something so bad or money grubby even the fans mock them and usually they defend this series like this is the very last of its kind! Try find any fans that can unironically say the PS Vita Love Live game is good! Even worse the developer, Dingo, had a good reputation with the Project Diva Hatsune Miku games, so there is no stopping Inticreates to make a bad Love Live-branded game!
I'm here to tell you that it's a good game, at least. Not on the usual Inticreates standard as an overall package, but it's a fun offering!
Yes, the Megaman Zero, ZX, Gunvolt, Mighty No. 9, GalGun and Bloodstained Inticreates. Hence the genre is not a rhythm game. This game is a metroidvania! Very strange-sounding choice for Love Live, but a natural choice for the 2D platformer king. It's on the easy side, unless you do a speedrun and no death. It also has good routing and skipping options!
BitDB is a 2D metroidvania that is on the slower side of platforming. There is no Gunvolt-dashing, but you can walk, slide, jump, and 3 whopping attack options: weapon attack, summon and secondary summon attack. When jumping Yohane maintains this weird inertia. It can be adapted to, at least. When attacking, or more specifically, summoning either a weapon or an ally, Yohane can't move and will get suspended mid-air. Also feels weird, but it's part of her fun moveset package.
The primary goal is first to save the other 8 characters that got trapped in the labyrinth: Chika, Kanan, Dia, Riko, Hanamaru, You, Ruby and Mari. After you save them by beating the corresponding boss, you'll unlock their summon. Sounds familiar? Yes, MEGAMAN! Even their effects is like straight from Megaman! Including Dia's Z-Saber slashes! The order isn't dictated, so you can pick which boss to tackle first. After all of them is saved, the last area will be unlocked so you get to tackle the final boss. Sounds like Megaman ZX.
The routing is fun and at the later half of boss hunting, the game essentially branches to 2 routes. You can take your pick at that point! Ideally you tackle the You route first so you can use the shortcuts on the Mari route. Plus, You's summon is a great speed boost!
For the weapons it's gained via crafting. The materials? Mainly from random loot drops. You know what that means... NO SKIPPING ENEMIES AND TREASURES! The RNG can get bad too! The most desirable one is the Axe type. This has a big hitbox and starting at the Battle Axe it can one-shot normal enemies with ease! You'll need that!
In normal play the thing you have to watch out is the DP. Except Lailaps, which is basically your free, weak slash, attacks consume DP, both summons and weapons. When DP runs out, you still can use them but it consumes your HP instead! There are 2 major implications: One, you need to stock up regularly so you don't consume your HP or you need to consume HP recoveries often. Two, don't skip save points! You need to reload DP and enemies won't drop any recovery drops! Not even as a mere item!
The worst part of the adventuring is the random areas. They had to pad out the game's length with RNG, huh? Despite the genre appreciates consistency a lot! Like, okay, 3 - 4 randomly shuffled room layouts doesn't sound so bad? IT GETS WORSE! For a casual clear it's a nothing-burger, but on repeated speedruns the RNG can get as cruel as having 6 floors to clear! That's minutes of the run wasted! Who forced Inticreates to do this!? Love Live!? Can't they trust how metroidvania works for a bit more!? Give Inticreates some room!
The RNG cruelty doesn't stop there! There is this weapon problem, but some powerful weapons can be get easily without deviating from the main route. The economy. Its cruelty rears its ugly head when you speedrun this game!
Buying recoveries is normal, but money is a random drop! No, YOU CAN'T SELL! Even worse, bosses DON'T DROP ANYTHING, NOT EVEN CASH! Essentially, your recovery is limited! Meanwhile the bosses hit like trucks! One can say this is a cruel design, but others may argue this is a good way of having a hidden Hard Mode. Well, opinions vary, I guess. The fact remains that you need to watch out about this. You have no choice but to ration out the healing items and git gud!
As far as I know, there is no bonus or ending difference from clearing this game quickly. But that's okay. Fun of the process is the most important thing. If you can stand the RNG, try it out!
For transparency, I did claim No Death, but 1 Musical Score did get used. Death here is when Yohane get kicked out to her home when her HP hits 0.
This is the Switch version.
#lovelive #metroidvania #nintendoswitch