Mentally blot out all of the bullets on the screen and focus on the ones heading toward your character. None of the rest matter. Just my 2 cents.
I think Tom said it in his stream but the key in ANY shooter, bullet hell or otherwise, is to focus on your character/ship/etc. and focus on dodging and survival. There is no time limit. Don’t rush. You WILL get better if you keep playing. Don’t give up!
Shooters of all types are all about survival first and elimination second. If you are a master at dodging, you will eventually get the eliminations. You can’t win if you’re dead!
Definitely working on getting better at dodging. I’ve changed my key config multiple times. I’ve started using dodge roll more in regular rooms, which is a positive sign, I think. My current setup is similar to what @magnet described above, though I don’t put reload on R3 because I hit it accidentally.
I’ve also turned on the reticle, which helps, and cranked up aim assist. The biggest issue is dealing with boss bullet hell shot spam.
That’s good, but think of the dodge roll as the last resort before the true last resort… the blank. The bullet patterns can be walked through, especially with the bosses, until you must dodge roll.
I picked it up last week and have gotten to the 3rd level a few times. I definitely felt that I improved the most when I put some effort into learning how to stay alive. The controls are a little bit awkward so spend some time just running around rooms trying to just stay alive and learning how to dodge various enemies and using environment pieces such as the tables. I also recommend just rushing to the boss as fast as you can and practicing how to dodge their attacks. It’s a quick enough game and it gets hard early so theres not a huge time investment in just playing around and getting comfortable with the controls without worrying much about progressing.
Whether dodge roll is a last resort or not, you definitely want to make sure you’re comfortable with it so you can rely on it when you need. Same with blanks, which I still find very awkward to use.
I don’t think I’ve ever used a blank as anything other than an accident while I was spazzing out on the controls. That’s pretty much how it goes with anything that requires clicking in on the analog sticks. I think I’m going to have to put blanks on a shoulder button. How are you guys using them?
Ah, great way to put it. I shall steal that, but I shall refer to it as the Long Rule of Shmupping.
-Tom
I believe I have blanks on right shoulder. Dodge roll on left trigger. Item on left shoulder.
Definitely better than when I had roll on B and blank on A.
Thanks! I think a lot of people who play action/shooting games tend to get too caught up in the shooting and forget that the most important thing is the dodging. You simply cannot win if you’re dead and out of lives. Think of every bullet in a heart as a life in Gungeon. You get extra lives when you pick up the shields.
I have blanks on the twin stick push because I don’t want to make them too easy to use, although you do get one per level so you should use them!
The art of dodging is something that can give you an even bigger rush than that of destruction IMO. One of my all-time favorites, Viewpoint on Neo Geo, is so freaking hard because it has one hit deaths, lots of bullets and enemies coming at you, and it’s played in an isometric view. I just love how it looks. I love the sound and especially the music. It’s just hard as nails. The thing I love the most though is when I get in that Zen state where I’m dodging everything and that “Holy shit did I just do that?!” feeling washes over me while playing it. It’s one of those videogame highs that only this specific hobby can give you. Gungeon can have those moments too.
I played this for about 20 minutes this morning. Eventually I had to quit to go to work. I didn’t find any “save and quit” option or anything. I really hope I don’t lose my progress when I go back tonight. I really hate it when a game doesn’t save my progress.
You can’t save at any given moment. However, you can save at the elevator after you beat a boss before you go down to the next level by using the button.
Well, finally beat the first boss a second time. I had 3 hearts and 3 armor going in and still barely won. But, I was still happy about it, until I realized I only got a single hegemony credit. Talk about demoralizing.
I got home and started up the Xbox. And started the game. And hurray, it was still in memory, I resumed right from where I left off. Turns out all that was left in the level was two chests which I couldn’t open because of keys, and a lock which I couldn’t open because I didn’t have a key.
I assume I’ll find these keys later in some other level? Because I thought I cleared the whole level. At least according to the map, anyway.
So the only thing left was the boss. After I killed him, I chose to save and exit. Phew!
Hopefully I’ll be able to pseudo-save the game like that in the future too. The level is too big not to have no mid-level save and exit mechanism.
There’s no guarantee at all you will have keys for every chest. In fact, you probably won’t. I think you are guaranteed to have two chests per level, but even in my limited play, I’ve seen as many as 6 I think.
I’d lovevto understand the colour coding of the chest. Some diabloish rarity scheme?
The first little graphic gave me exactly what I wanted to know: I had blue and green inverted in my mind/experience. Thanks!
Cool. I actually hadn’t looked at that page before you asked. I’ve never seen one of the rarest chests on there. I have seen a rainbow one, though.
I bought this in the “Advanced Gungeons & Draguns” patch sale and I’m loving it so far.
It’s great. I think my favorite thing about it outside of how it plays is just how much fun they have with the theme. There are so many inventive guns and puns alongside all the respectful appropriations of guns from other games/films/tv/etc. It’s a game that makes me smile. :)