Hey folks –
I’ll keep this one short – the NOVASTRIKE update is finally out. Again, highlights of the update include trophies, tamed difficulty modes, customizable controls, XMB playlist support, and more.
You can also read about the NOVASTRIKE trophy requirements on PS3 Fanboy’s trophy page.
I’d definitely like to thank QA, developer support, and my account manager – they were very responsive in helping us get the update out this week. As always I’ll be reading and responding to comments here.
57 Comments
I liked this game when I first bought it, but even more now with the update. I’ve noted that SONY seems to be presenting Gods eye view games such as NOVA STRIKE, and LAST GUY. Now when I play Nova’ it reminds me of an incredible classic I only got 2 play for a week back in ’86 when I was in L.A. visiting from Alaska. Any one remember and like this bad boy………TIME PILOT? not TIME PILOT ’88 this game was awesome flyin a futuristic fighter craft sent back 2 battle hordes of WWI bi planes, then up to WWII fighters then the jet age and up to the eratic floating UFO’s. So Kevin from Tiki games present this one to the development team and resurrect an old classic me and many others missed out on. Another kool 1 was a top down 360 shooter was I think TIME WARRIORS battling Roman armies and soldiers through out the time line on up to the future where I never reached because of 25 cent limitations of an 8th grader HA HA.
Hi Lytespeed – glad you\’re enjoying the game even more with the update. As to Time Pilot – yeah, cool game. We definitely wouldn\’t mind updating some classics ourselves (taking the approach Capcom did for Bionic Commando – really doing a significant update). If the opportunity arises we\’ll likely pursue it. Hope you continue to enjoy blasting the Draelus into oblivion.
I’ve played it until stage 4, got some thophies, then I lost all my lives on stage 4 and, when it restarted, I realized I just didn’t want to try again (or actually play the game again on any other stage) for all the reasons I’ve mentioned.
Novastrike is the oposite of what I expected from an independent developer: when I played it, I couldn’t see the passion, the care or the will to make a diference (just look at Everyday Shooter, it was done by a single person and it reflects all of that in every possible way).
Hi again, thataide. Well, I certainly can\’t say that you didn\’t give a pretty good try (going to Stage 4).
As for the passion you cited, we do care a lot about NOVASTRIKE as well as what our customer-base thinks. That\’s what brought about the update in the first place. And I know it\’s the updated version you\’ve played and don\’t like.
When we set out to make NOVASTRIKE we didn\’t want to make another twin-stick shooter, so we went more mission-based, and while you don\’t like the game it wasn\’t without us having a passion for it. We had to choose where every resource went (which were quite limited) to try and make the game as good as we could. Now in fairness, in the end it only matters what a player (like yourself) thinks of the final product – not how it was created. And again, I know you don\’t like the game (even with the update). But I just want to make it clear we do care about the game or we would\’ve released it and moved on.
Again, I wish you liked the game (to state the obvious), but it definitely sounds like you wouldn\’t care for it much even if you proceeded further.
I do appreciate you taking the time to come back and respond, though.
Novastrike is a love it or hate it game, it really is.
Novastrike has its flaws, true. The controls do feel very clunky at times, the ships are so tiny that you cannot even see if they are nice graphics or not, the land looks like it was generated in Bryce by a high school student, and the mission based play is a redundant repeat of the same three missions over and over with only slight variation.
But for some reason, I keep loading it up, and keep playing it. Sure the trophies help give me reason to play it, but then again Pixel Junk Eden has trophies and I couldnt stand playing that game, trophies or no.
Not only that but I have the knowledge that my $10 went to support a small company that das independently published their game, who has shown their commitment to making the game better. Rather than going into the pockets of some multi billion dollar game company that doesnt care the slightest about the customer. That piece of mind alone is enough to sell me.
To sum it up, I love Novastrike, even with all its flaws its still fun and better than many other games available on the PSN.
You know all the negative comments…well, each to their own, but for $10….I can’t complain.
To me, it seems like an older game brought up to date.
I’ve seen much worse out there, or some others I didn’t really like and others loved.
We were complaining a while back the PS3 didn’t have enough games, well they’re fixing that.
Many developers aren’t going back and patching older games with trophies and HDD music, but Novastrike did.
For this I and what I’ve seen in this game for this price, I think Novastrike is a great bargain.
Thanks, GGCAN, glad you\’re still enjoying the game. :)
Dear Mr. Kevin McCann
First off, I want to offer my respect to you for being a small business owner in a field of giants. I too, own a small business, and understand the challenges faced while running a small operation.
I recently purchased Novastrike, and have some feedback for you regarding my experiences thus far, which consist of beating the game on recruit, and getting all but one of the secret trophies. I still have yet to get the 3 other difficulty based trophies as well.
Now before I start, you won’t find me in this post complaing about the graphics, sound, or AI. I felt they were all acceptable for a 10 dollar title.
Now on to the heart of the matter.
The lack of accessibility is what comes to mind when I play this game. To be honest, this game seems to cater to the top down shooter crowd only (or those who are willing to spend countless hours on practicing). It is far to dificult for a majority of players (or potential players for that matter)even after the patch. My children, who normally get my PSN titles transfered to their PS3 did not want anything to do with this game after trying the first few levels on recruit.
What the Wii has shown us is that casual gaming market is a force to be reckoned with. People play games to have fun. Not to get frustrated. With that in mind, Novastrike does not offer a suitable experience for all the potential client base, even after the patch.
I design homes for a living, and in this very tough market, every home I design must offer something that “fits” all age groups in order to be successful and stand above the crowd with excellent features and value. I really believe this is the model that you should have followed. Yes, your price point was excellent, but your lack of game modes also hurt this title. I would like know why Novastrike offers only one game mode.
However, I do commend you for actually taking the time to communicate to your clients and your critics alike, for it shows you really care. Plus, with the trophy support, you have demonstrated that you actually have the pulse of the PS3 gamer in mind and are interested in offering your clients value for their money with the replay trophies bring.
In closing, I want to say that I am pleased with my purchase, and without a doubt will be supporting your company down the road with any other titles you may have to offer.
Thanks for listening, and I hope to read a response from you.
maxpontiac
Hi there, maxpontiac. Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts.
As to NOVASTRIKE’s difficulty – yes, I agree it’s definitely not a casual shooter in any sense. That said, I never intentionally set out to make it as challenging as it ended up as being (especially in the original release), but I know a number of players are still finding the updated game to be fairly challenging. We do want the game to offer some level of challenge (even on RECRUIT), but certainly the goal isn’t to frustrate the heck out of players.
When we set out to make NOVASTRIKE we wanted to make it more objective-driven, with an emphasis on using multiple weapon systems and light tactics. And we were surprised by how much more complex that made the game for the casual gamers. In certain top-down shooters it’s far more reflex-based. In NOVASTRIKE it’s actually less reflex-based than some other arcade shooters, but again that’s balanced by needing to utilize light tactics and weapon systems.
Internally we’ve been discussing how gaming is going more and more casual – these conversations have largely been in part to the response to NOVASTRIKE. Now there are still gamers that want challenges, and enjoy them. But at the same time as the casual market is growing the casual gamers can simply be frustrated by the challenge (as you pointed out). It’s a bit strange to make an arcade game that needs to be really accessible – arcade games were originally based around being very challenging. But when I say that I’m also aware that we need to give a lot more thought to the casual gaming market for future products.
Now for those of you that enjoy the challenge – don’t worry, we’re not looking at making games that play themselves where all you need to do is hold the controller and the game congratulates you in how well you’re doing. No, I’m just saying we just need to try to make sure future products are more accessible to casual gamers, while retaining the challenging modes for players that want them.
It’s certainly not enjoyable to come in and see posts from players that aren’t liking the game, but at least most have stated why, and there really haven’t been any trolls in here – the discussions have been civil (which I appreciate). And we do still take notes for what we’re working on in the future – there’s no sense in ignoring the posts from players that don’t like the game (nor do they deserve to be ignored).
Future products from us will see a lot more attention to being accessible, and we’ll also be doing more focus-testing. We had very limited resources to complete NOVASTRIKE, and honestly I’m not taking my studio down that road again – it was pretty exhausting, and the crunch was severe. So I’ll only be working on future products when we have more resources so that we can organize more focus-testing (to get better a consensus from really casual gamers to experienced gamers).
That said, I’m glad that you’re enjoying the game, and hope you continue to do so.
Kevin McCann –
Thank you for your response. You have completely sold me as a customer due to this outstanding (online) service.
I remember the arcade days growing up and spending all my money on games like 1942, but alas, times have changed. The world is stressfull enough, and games can be a great place to blow off some steam. Now while I enjoy playing a game challenges me and makes me think, sometimes I just need to be indestructable.
I hope you didn’t misunderstand what I was trying to say, but with Novastrike, I don’t believe you need to make the entire game less difficult. Just the Recruit setting. (I didn’t play the game prior to the patch, so I couldn’t tell you anything about the initial release, but based on the overwhelming posts I have read regarding the insane difficulty, you seemed to have made it right.) A “easy” setting should be just that, easy and accessible to everyone. Children and wives the world over will appreciate it. (Especially mine!)
UPDATE –
I am just about done with the Soldier difficulty level, and am enjoying the game much more then I did on Recruit. I find this to be a pleasant suprise. I look foward to seeing what the Veteran difficulty level is all about.
Again, I offer my thanks to you Mr. McCann for your courtesy and your excellent customer service.
maxpontiac
Hello again, maxpontiac. And no, I didn’t misunderstand what you said – I agree with what you’re saying in your prior post. And I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying SOLDIER mode – it’s a bit more action than RECRUIT. Although in VETERAN you’ll see a whole extra level of action. Personally, I enjoy VETERAN quite a bit as it’s definitely challenging with a high level of action throughout. You definitely need to be comfortable with switching weapon systems on VETERAN as you won’t make it too far without utilizing most of your weapon systems.
Also, as a sidenote, the enemy turrets (laser batteries and anti-air) have different performance levels on the various difficulties. In RECRUIT and SOLDIER the Draelus laser batteries are inaccurate, missing a fair amount of the time, and the Draelus SAMs fire less often. On VETERAN and HARDCORE the laser batteries are far more accurate, and the Draelus SAMs fire more often. So when you play on VETERAN make sure to take care of the ground laser batteries and SAMs as quickly as possible, as they will hit you most of the time (particularly if you’re flying in a straight line – the laser batteries will rarely miss on VETERAN, and pretty much never on HARDCORE).
Again, I’m happy to hear you’re still enjoying blasting your way through the Draelus scum, and hope you can make it through VETERAN as well.
Hey there Kevin!
Let me say, I really do like this game.
I bought Super Stard Dust HD (These are all for trophies) and Super Stardust HD has no replay value for me. Once I die, I don’t feel like doing it again. (Plus some of their, well you know “hogwash” trophies) However on this game I do try again.
Anyway.
I am playing on veteran. The first level was pretty easy. The second level, all I had to do was memorize the waves the enemies came in from. The 3rd level did take me quite a bit of time, as I had to learn when the big waves came at you, and I also learned Electro mines kick butt!
Now. . Here is where I am VERY stuck. . .
Level 4.
I have tried everything, all my weapons, I have tried to destroy the generators etc and it all fails. I use all my weapons to my maximum advantage and I still can NOT get this. I have had to of tried at least 100 time already. I have tried waiting and got a lot of power ups before I went and attacked, but I still get owned.
So pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee. You say you can beat it without trying hard, what is the secret ot level 4! This is where 99% of us are stuck!
P.S Ya willing to hire me as a video game tester? (Free of course ^.^) :P
Hiya Pooshonmyshoos. As far as Khara 2 goes on VETERAN, here’s what I recommend…
At start of the first objective bomb a few of the bombers on the launch platforms on the southern side of the Draelus bomber base (where you fly just under on the way to the human base). But don’t fly over the island (there’s no reason to trigger the Assailer – the bigger enemy that fires the twin lasers). And you can then head east of the island and basically just work to intercept the bombers on the way – you definitely don’t want to linger very long at the first island, though, as the bombers can quickly make their way to the human base and make short work of it. As long as you play interception inbetween fairly early on it’s not too hard to defeat the bombers.
Of course, it’s the next objective (destroying the generators and conduits) that’s the real challenge. My usual approach to this is to start at the human base I was defending in the first objective, then fly north to the first of four Draelus islands with generators – ultimately I do a counter-clockwise circle to get all four of them (first destroying the northeast generator, then the northwest generator, then the southwest generator, and finally the southeast generator).
On VETERAN and HARDCORE it’s really important to take out the ships on the launch platforms that extend over the water of each generator island first. A well placed bomb will do the job (positioning the reticule on top of the ship and dropping the bomb) – try to do this as quickly as possible. Some of those ships can be extremely dangerous if they get airborne (but their respective launch timers will only begin when you near the island).
After destroying the ships on the launch platforms there’s one tactic that I like to use which is to take out the laser batteries and hangars on one side of the generator, then repeatedly attack it from that side – I don’t try to kill off all the laser batteries and hangars. Again, I just clear one side and do Shredder attack runs while dropping electro-mines to help clear the area of enemy fighters, and I also use the Multi-Missile Launcher to take care of the lighter enemies so I can continue to do Shredder runs on the generator without having to continuously break off to fight enemy ships.
Typically this involves attacking the side of a generator where I line up with the Shredder, fire away, then perform a 180 degree turn and quick afterburner burst to fly away from the generator, then turn around and do another strafing run. Naturally you don’t need to fly too far away as the generators are fairly massive, so it’s not hard to hit them with the Shredder.
If you clear one side of a generator of the laser batteries and hangars it’ll save you time (versus clearing all of them). And the resulting explosion from the generator will take out the rest of the structures anyhow. Basically the idea is if a laser battery can still effectively shoot you when you’re attacking the generator – make sure to take it out. If it can’t hit you then leave it alone.
Keep an eye out for the Aggravator wave message if you can – when these appear they’ll start their way to you from the Portal, and if you know they’re coming you can temporarily break off attacking an island, fly toward the Portal, and use your Multi-Missile Launcher to safely dispatch as many as possible – you just need to queue up three missiles and release for each Aggravator. The Disperser is also very effective at taking Aggravators out if you fire it over range in the direction they’re coming. You can also set a couple electro-mines near one another then lure the Aggravators through them. And one slightly more dangerous but effective technique is to let the Aggravator get near you, fire the Beam, then keep your distance – the Beam will kill it in quick order (just don’t be too close to its proximity explosion).
The next most dangerous threat to come at you from the Portal is a Falchion. As soon as you see the Falchion then fly away from the island you’re attacking so you don’t have any laser batteries firing at you while fighting the Falchion. At this point you’re pretty powerful, so I’d recommend just using your Heavy Rocket and Disperser on the Falchion, and attacking from the side or rear. It definitely won’t last long. Naturally you’ll want to watch out for other fighters (if you see some other dangerous threats then definitely fly away from the Falchion, take care of them, then return to finish the Falchion off).
Once I’ve taken all four generators out I then head toward the Portal. As I’m doing this it can be pretty useful to fire your Disperser in the direction of the Portal – at this point a lot of enemies are probably coming from the Portal, so the Disperser can be pretty effective at clearing a nice path (and severely damaging enemies it doesn’t destroy letting you finish them off with the Vulcan Cannon).
When I reach the Portal itself I’ll start attacking the nearest Conduit – lining up on it, Shredding it, 180, brief afterburn away, turn back, and attack again. As I’m doing this I’ll be ready to switch to dropping electro-mines whenever a message appears that a new wave is emerging. This way you can let the mines do a great deal of the work in helping you destroy enemies.
The Beam weapon is very effective on Khara 2. Whenever you see the Cutter (that one dirigible looking ship that fires the 360-degree field of fire green laser) I’ll generally latch the Beam onto it and unload the Vulcan Cannon into it – this makes very quick work of the Cutter (and will chain-link its attack to enemy other nearby enemies). If you have a bunch of enemies onscreen one of the fastest ways to deal with them is to drop a couple mines, arm the Beam, then stay near the mines and fire the Beam when enemies get close to you while blazing away with your Vulcan Cannon – the combination of all three weapon systems can swiftly eradicate an incoming wave.
When the Heralder appears it’s up to you whether you want to fully engage it or not. You can choose to ignore it and continue attacking the Conduits (just be careful not to fly into it, of course). But by ignoring it you can save some time against the Portal’s main countdown to full operational capacity. If you choose to engage the Heralder I’d suggest getting behind it and using your Heavy Rocket and Disperser to make short work of it – don’t bother blowing the hangars off – it’ll cost you time you likely don’t want to lose on this stage.
Also, particularly on VETERAN and HARDCORE – I’d recommend ignoring the Draelus bomber base island that you fly past at the start of the first objective. If you decide to bomb this base apart during the second objective (destroying the generators and conduits) you’ll trigger the Assailer from the large hangar, and you’ll lose time to destroy the main targets as the attacks from the Portal increase in frequency. So again, my approach using the counter clockwise attack pattern from the human base is to destroy the generator to the northeast, fly west to the next Draelus island, destroy the generator, then fly south to the next Draelus island, but here I fly around the Draelus bomber base on the way to the southwest generator island– not over the bomber base – this way I don’t trigger the Assailer, and I don’t risk taking damage from all the anti-air batteries.
Anyhow, I know that’s a lot to read, but I’m hoping it might give you some ideas. If it doesn’t then let me know and I’ll think on it more. I still plan on doing a video-playthrough at some point, but in the meantime I’ll respond to questions here. If this does help then let me know, too. And I’m definitely glad to hear you’re enjoying the game.
I have a complaint mixed in with a question about the trophies…
In Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, if you beat Hard Mode before any of the lower difficulties, you received the lower level trophies as well as the Hard one.
Now, does the trophy system in this game work the same way? If I beat Hardcore Mode (Damn near impossible! And the main reason is because the Afterburn depletes WAY to fast and recharges WAY to slow. In the earlier modes it wasn’t as much of a problem because the enemies weren’t as relentless as they are in Hardcore. Not to mention, the standard speed is unbearable sometimes and if you get hit while it’s recharging in the red, it stops charging for a short moment, which means death in hardcore) will I receive a trophy for veteran as well? (I already beat recruiter and soldier)
Hi Availation. Sorry that you find the afterburner\’s recharge rate a bit frustrating – we did add megapacks and repair packs to \”refueling\” the afterburner capacitor to help some in that regard.
With regard to your question, yes – if you beat the game in HARDCORE, it will award you lower trophies based on beating the game (like VETERAN). So any higher completion trophy will unlock lower trophies.
Hope that helps.
I’d just like to add, I do enjoy the game and believe the difficulty is just fine. It should not be tweaked any more than it already has.
Like I’ve clearly stated in my last post, the only grips I have with the game is the afterburner depletion and recharging speed, as well as the initial speed.
Maybe by adding a Sixaxis function that recharges your ship’s afterburner faster when shook. I believe this small feature will make the speed issue more bearable (especially on Hardcore). Just a thought. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve died on the 4th stage because I was overrun by enemy ships and no afterburner left to use. Somethimes there just to much going on on-screen to survive (I can’t imagine the last stage on Hardcore). :(
Also, a video playthrough of Hardcore would definitely help. I’m really curious to see what strategies you used to complete these stages. You must be a beast at this game if you’ve beaten Hardcore before. :)
Thanks for the quick reply on my last post and sorry if it sounded like I was attacking the game (which I wasn’t). Just a bit wrong sometimes on Hardcore.
I look forward to your play-through videos in the future.
Hello again, Availation. I am glad you\’re enjoying the game, and I didn\’t find your last post as an attack at all – it was fine.
I\’m going to look to put in some time to start doing that video capture playthrough this weekend – it\’s not going to be terribly fancy – I\’m hoping just capturing a stage like Khara 2 from start to finish then posting it will be helpful.
And I\’m not ignoring your comments on the afterburner – it\’s a touchy balance issue. Too much fuel and it becomes the \”escape-all\” clause. Too little fuel and it\’s not effective. Initially players tend to try to afterburn all the time, whereas in reality it\’s best to always to try to keep some fuel to make sure you can burn away in a quick emergency. And I know you probably are being more conservative now (heck, you can\’t make it too far on VETERAN or HARDCORE if you\’re reckless with the afterburner).
Again, I\’ll try to get some video playthroughs of the stages next week up on gametrailers. When I do I\’ll definitely post here again, but I\’ll also update the front page of our website.
Kevin,
I should preface this post with the statement that I don’t sugar coat my feelings, and if something pisses me off, I say it.
So Kevin, if you feel what I’m about to say is an attack, you may be right, but I will try to keep some things constructive.
I downloaded this game, since I was itching for something new in the meantime since I haven’t touched a new game since MGS4 and BC:R. I need my fix of something fresh, so I took the plunge and downloaded this game. What a mistake. I think one of the most disappointing things is that there was no demo…I gambled the money, and I am to blame, but we’re several months past release here. A demo for a game from nobody-publisher would be a good place to start before patching a broken game.
The controls, while finnicky, aren’t the worst part of the game. In fact, the controls are probably the best part, and thats sad, because the controls are a tad touchy when trying to aim precisely.
Not only is this game difficult, it is made difficult not with genuine challenge, but with ridiculous game mechanics. For starters, enemies have pin-point accuracy even on Recruit mode. The player becomes so overwhelmed by on screen fire, one can’t tell if its coming from friendlies or enemies. On top of that, flying to dispatch a group of enemies, leaves whatever base you’re defending open to the 5 – 6 other enemies coming from all sides.
Did you really think it was appropriate to give this game almost NO arial wide-area attacks, like flash-bombs? The game is constantly coming at you from all sides, and often times it is just too much…even on Recruit. It isn’t that the game is trying to be too challenging, its you just throwing more enemies in to make it seem like its more challenging.
The objectives are also asinine…you start with 19 buildings but need to let 12 survive? When you send 10 enemies at me at once, and my only attack is a directional weapon with overly sensitive controls…you made a bad choice when setting that objective. The hidden trophy requirements are also obscene. Bronze, for keeping the Heralder alive? It’s already half dead by the time you reach the base you have to defeat. Not because the player sucked, but because there is a) no radar to see where enemies are, b) no way of telling if the ship is taking damage, c) too many enemies, that focusing on one ship takes the focus away from 5 or 6 others. It isn’t fair, and it is at the very core, poor game design. If you the staff at Tiki were judged on the quality of the software they created in college, they would all get an F-, surely.
This game needs a radar, it needs to give better recognition that the player and ally ships have been damaged, and it needs more effective weapons.
Weapon select isn’t cyclical either, so if I accidentally cycle past a weapon I need, then I have to go through all of the weapons again. Speaking of weapons…why is it that my aiming reticle is COMPLETELY FIXED? This aspect of the game should never have even made it out of the design phase. The sheer idea should have been absent from the minds of all parties involved. This makes targetting grounded enemies all too tedious, and using up your boost to get another clear shot, only depletes what precious boost you need to evade the onslaught of ships…which you now cannot do because you have no more boost.
The reticle should have been mobile, aimable, or at the very least, lock-on to nearest ground targets.
AND THIS IS ONLY ON THE EASIEST DIFFICULTY SETTING! I can’t even imagine what its like with friendly fire on. If anyone (besides anyone at Tiki) ever attains 100% of the trophies in your game, give that person the keys to your company offices.
This ENTIRE GAME should never have made it out of your hands. Your QA should have caught on that your entire game stinks, and yes, you should be ashamed of it. I would go on record and say this game ranks down with Big Rigs and Drake and the 99 Dragons as one of the worst games I’ve ever played (or even, ever created!), and I’ve played a **** load of games in my lifetime.
The critics are right…there is no divisiveness here. There are people who like it because they are either a) deprived of real games because they’re blind to the quality of other titles or b) work for Tiki or are extremely gifted…autistic sevants even. Then there are people who are correct: this game is bad. Really bad. So awful I can’t even stomach the idea of it being on my hard drive anymore.
If you are not ashamed of this game, then I ponder what will happen to your future games. Being proud of this title means you think you’ve done something right, which is objectively in err. If you continue on this path, you will fail…a lot. The fact that this game made it onto the PSN is sad. The fact that you bothered to lure helpless, and starving gamers with a trophy/music-XMB patch is cruel, heartless, and I feel like less of a human-being for falling into your insipid trap, and wasting 10 precious dollars on the worst piece of software conceived in the last decade.
Take what you want from this, but NO GAME, should ever make someone as furious as I am right now…no game. That should say something about you, your team, and your design philosophy – for which I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, and just say that its bad, and not assume that its “Get whatever BS we can muster in 2 months out the door ASAP”. Though after seeing this game, is that far off? Was this game rushed, and kept in its borked and broken form because of deadlines?
Hi Madman – first off, before you read the rest of my response, I do appreciate you taking the time to detail your complaints the game. While there’s no denying that your post is heated, you at least take time to explain your viewpoint.
Regarding the difficulty, the enemies are actually scaled some based on the selected difficulty mode. Likewise some of the more dangerous enemies don’t appear much in RECRUIT or SOLDIER. Enemy laser batteries, for example, are far more inaccurate on RECRUIT versus the higher difficulty modes (particularly VETERAN and HARDCORE).
Also, have you tried using electro-mines and the beam weapon? The electro-mines are the most casual to drop and let them “fire and forget.” Granted, initially they’re not hugely powerful, but later they become quite powerful. And the beam can serve as a very casual way to help thin out enemies (even if all you do is equip it and hold down the secondary trigger to have it automatically fire when enemies come within range). The electro-mine is what I would consider to be the most effective “area of effect” weapon in the game – granted, it’s not a smart bomb, but if you drop a couple electro-mines and have enemies cross-over (even early on) they’ll take a lot of damage (if not get killed off).
Regarding keeping the Heralder alive on stage 3, here’s my advice there… First, you need to keep the Heralder alive during the escort mission (to state the obvious), but during the Defend Rebel Base objective the Heralder is no longer the main target of enemy fighters.
Now the objective after Defend Rebel Base – don’t take out the Draelus shield generator right away. Wait for the Falchion to appear and destroy it. If you drop the Draelus shield generator right away (the red dome) then it’s possible that the friendly Heralder will fly over that Draelus base and get shot by the Draelus laser batteries. So I strongly recommend letting the shield stay active until the Falchion is destroyed, then taking the Draelus base out.
I know you call it “poor game design”, but I never wanted NOVASTRIKE to be a completely easy game – even on RECRUIT. Now I will admit I never remotely expected that NOVASTRIKE would be so difficult for a number of players (even post-update), but I still want players to have some satisfaction in beating the game. I do not, however, agree that it’s poor game design – if anything I played arcade games in the 80s, and think NOVASTRIKE is actually far more predictable in memorizing attack waves and progressing.
And Madman – if you look at the Leaderboards (RANKINGS), you’ll see that some players have beat the game on HARDCORE (and attained all trophies). When I say this please understand – I’m not trying to get into a heated argument with you – I’m just saying that we’ve had far more players beat the most difficult mode (and HARDCORE is actually harder than the original VETERAN) since this release (probably largely due to customizable controls being added).
Also, regarding the players that like the game, trust me – they’re not remotely deprived or “real games” or “working for me.” I don’t even want my lead engineer posting here because he’s far less civil than me. And while you obviously dislike the game a lot, there are a number of other players that really enjoy the game. Again, I do appreciate you taking the time to make your thoughts known in a long post, but there’s no point in attacking players that have bought NOVASTRIKE and do enjoy it. They haven’t been living in a cave.
I know this post won’t remotely change your mind about the game, but as with the some of the others that have also expressed dissatisfaction – you definitely deserve a response. And I’m sorry you found it to be such an angering experience – I know when you posted this you were obviously pretty frustrated and angry, but again, you still kept it pretty civil overall.
As to your final question – with regard to getting NOVASTRIKE out the door – we were absolutely under a deadline, but I still grossly misjudged the difficulty of the initial release. I’m not going to give an excuse there – I screwed up there. But that’s why we did the update. And I know you’re playing the update and still finding it extremely difficult. But I chose to do the update because of the feedback from the initial release, and I’m still reading this to see feedback (as you’re aware from my response).
Kevin,
Thanks for your response. Its surprising to hear/see so many have obtained all trophies in the game (ie: beat the game on Hardcore). However, I consider myself a fairly skilled gamer…no Deity of the Analog, but skilled none the less…and I cannot beat this game on Recruit. You’re correct, games were very hard back in the 80’s…and looking back, games were hard because the developers just didn’t know how to create genuine challenge. They did just what you did, give enemies pin-point accuracy, give the players no legitimate means to defend themselves without being incredibly gifted, and created no respawn or checkpoints in their games. They were bad design choices back then, we just didn’t complain because the technology wasn’t really available to everyone to do what we consider “standard features” today. It wasn’t okay in 80’s, and with today’s technology, I would say it verges on unacceptable – however if your game is kick-ass enough (ie: Shinobi, or SSHD) then super powered enemies and no checkpoints is somewhat forgivable since the core gameplay is so addicting in the first place. I would likely be singing a different tune were the core gameplay here actually fun.
As for your strategies, they are welcome, but I’ve deleted this game from my hard drive and will likely never re-download it. I appreciate that its your baby, and speaking ill of it isn’t something I expect of you…but think about it: on the easiest difficulty setting, of a game that has been patched to be made easier, your game is STILL completely inaccessible by the vast majority of gamers. Sure, you’ve got some lovers…but would you rather make a game that is awful and loved by a select few (selling no copies), or make a game that is decent, enjoyed by many (selling more copies)? As it stands, Novastrike is not a game. Its a test of endurance, patience, time, and giftedness. Heck, they should give this game to freaking Air Force pilots as a test of tactical planning and air borne reflexes.
I do appreciate your honest about the deadlines though. Its just too bad that even after spending time with it, and updating the game, that it is still just as bad as it was when it first came out (I can only surmise anyway, since I can’t imagine this game being worse than it is in its current updated form).
Now if only there were a way for me to delete obtained trophies, so I can erase all evidence that I ever even played this game. I sincerely hope that whatever game Tiki is planning next, they strong take into consideration the poor reception of Novastrike, and not assume that they’ve done something right…but very little has been done “right” with Novastrike. And I’m not saying that as an angered gamer, I’m saying that very sincerely, as I would hate to see ANY independant game developer go down in flames, because we need more indie guys taking charge like you, but NOT with awful games – as back-handed as that comment is, I’m sure.
On that same note, is Tiki planning another game, or are you still working on Novastrike expansions/patches?
(If the latter, my advice would be to let the dead horse stay dead…move on, success is defined as moving on from failure without losing motivation or enjoyment, dwelling on a failure just shows inability to let go. Of course, my advice probably means little, coming from “Angry guy #37 on t3h interweb”.)
glad to see you were in the top downloaded games for the week.
how the donwloads been doing after the update? (leaderboards show a lot of new people finishing the game up!)
as for the add-on, would like to see a new game from Tiki (plus add-ons just dont sell as much) now that the PSP is going to have direct access into the Store it would be great to release Galaxy’s End as Digital Game…
Infact Sony should publish it…since this new option makes it easier to grab DD games on the PSP, Sony should make new games with this in mind, instead of just porting UMD available games(*wink wink* Sony)
Hey Captain Fury, thanks for pointing that out to me (regarding top downloads). And yeah, I\’ve been watching the leaderboards on a pretty regular basis to gauge folks making it through the game.
Regarding Galaxy\’s End – I\’ve stated this before, but I\’d like nothing more than to finish it. But I\’ll only return to Galaxy\’s End if it makes sense (where we\’re not financially strapped throughout and I can finish it based on the full scope of the original design). And at this point it would be best to just have it be a downloadable game (it\’s about time the PSP can directly access the store for PSP titles).
Hey Sony, see – now Captain Fury has told you to publish Galaxy\’s End. His name is Fury! Do not risk his wrath. :)
Seriously, though, if I get the opportunity to finish Galaxy\’s End you can be sure I\’ll post it here. And thanks for the interest (and support through NOVASTRIKE).
Man Kev, I don’t know what it is. I can’t stop playing it, yet I can’t beat it. I get to level 4, and destroy 1 or 2 generators but after that it is deadly. I can’t destroy ground fast yet because I only have one weapon to destroy the ground targets and that is the disperser. At level (ONE) mind you. :( So that takes so longggggggg to destroy these things that by the time I get far enough into it, I can not destroy buildings and keep enemies low at the same time, even with the use of my weapons. :( I don’t know what to do.
Hi again, Pooshonmyshoos. Ugh, yeah, not having your Shredder higher (I\’m assuming that\’s the weapon you meant – the strafing gun against ground targets) is definitely going to be a problem at that point.
That said, I\’m still looking to try to do some video capture this weekend to hopefully start posting movies next week (maybe not of all levels right away, but at least for levels like Khara 2, Tolak 1, and such). Hopefully you might see something different to try.
Ohh and can you get trophies from a say “Veteran +” game?
Like. . . If I take someones save file and copy it, and they already beat it, and I start a game+ file. . . Will I get trophies?
Yeah, you can get trophies from any difficulty mode. That said, you won\’t be able to use someone else\’s saved game – each saved game is bound to the user profile that created them. This is understandably a policy of Sony\’s (not to allow a saved game to be handed around to unlock trophies for different profiles).
I guess it is beatable after all! Patience is key, while at the same time, you need to be quick. Most stages require you to destroy hangers and batteries as quickly as possible before you are overrun with ships. Khara 2 is a prime example of this.
Well, I FINALLY beat Hardcore just now and you were right. You do feel like you really accomplished something when beating this difficulty (more so than beating Uncharted on Crushing). And from the looks of it, I’m top dog on Hardcore (as of now I suppose). I wasn’t really trying for a high score either. It was more of a “destroy as many things as possible to make the situation easier” type of an approach and I guess it worked. And, believe it or not, Friendly-Fire actually helped most missions go a lot smoother than without it (well, the attack missions anyway). I mainly just used large enemies ships as cover from the onslaught of small enemy ship’s fire and it actually worked (I’m not 100% sure if enemies take damage from their friendlies as well but, it sure seemed like). They were a good source of cover if anything though.
Anyway, I guess I won’t be needing the video walk-throughs after all :). I would still like to see what strategies you used to see if I beat the missions similar to the way I beat them. So I guess, I still look forward to those videos in the future.
I do, however, have one question for you. Are the leaderboards national or worldwide? I ask this because, the Bionic Commando: Rearmed leaderboards are only national IIRC.
Hi Availation. Wow, great job – I\’ll be looking forward to seeing your name up there.
As far as using larger ships for cover – yeah, it\’s an effective technique to break away from them. And yeah, enemies definitely damage each other – they\’re merciless! :) We always laugh here at the Expulsor (the ship that fires the burst of three slight tracking missiles – one of the most dangerous enemies in the game). But he\’ll mow through whatever is in his way.
I still plan on doing the video captures (ideally starting Sunday). And hopefully posting some next week. Like you said, if anything you can compare tactics (even though you\’ve beaten the game).
As far as leaderboards are concerned, we\’re looking to share them (so when the game comes out in Europe their scores will be posted on the existing leaderboard).
Have a good weekend.
hi i for some reason can not download your update any suggestions?
Hi big-daddy-p – sorry to hear that you\’re running into issues getting the update. Did you already have the game, or you have you recently purchased it off the store? The store should have the new version. When you go to Trophies do you not see \”Novastrike Trophies\”?
If you already had the game, it should automatically update when you launch the game (provided you\’re signed in and online, of course).
From the XMB, if you leave it resting on NOVASTRIKE, press the triangle button and select Information – is the file size 263 MB and version 1.01? Sorry for the inconvenience – any info you can provide will be helpful.
Hey kev, I still have yet to get past level 4. As of right now the charts say 125 people beat it. I don’t know. I don’t suck at video games. With one weapon, and it takes a good 2-3 sweeps just to kill the ground turrets, it doesn’t seem like it is going to happen.
On an off-note, I believe if the game you make requires you to make a video walk through, then it was way to hard. I mean, all these games on the PSN are stupidly A) hard or B) stupidly hard trophies.
Your game is under category A). All the trophies are very obtainable, seeing as how I have almost all of them.
If 50% of the people that bought your game can not beat it on hardest level, then I think it is to hard.
And I know 250 people did not buy this game, I know it is in the thousands because it has trophies.
Your game is the only PSN game that does not have stupidly hard trophies (thank god) Pain, Super Stardust, there all crazy. But I still want to beat this game. But I don’t think I should need a video walk through to do it.
More comments lol.
I beat all Halos on the hardest mode, and yeah I died a lot. But when I died I restarted, and I got past the last spot I died on. So there is forward advancement. On this, it is just dying in the same spot, over, and over, and over.
Forgot to mention I am probably on my 200th try. My friend on ps3trophies.org told me this.
“”””fly northeast to the island that is directly above the red arrows when the level starts. and start attacking the island from the LEFT side. there are less enemies that can hurt you. you should be done with this island before you fail the first objective. (if u don’t u might want to restart the stage)
on the 2nd island, attack from the SOUTH and SOUTH only. plant mines near the generator and keep using the vulcan cannon and the regular ol ground weapon. use the R3 stick thing too to kill enemies that fly around.
on the 3rd island fly directly SOUTH from the previous island. now when u are getting pretty close to it, STAY 2 Kilometers AWAY from the island and fly AROUND IT to the south. (fly around it from the right side) now when u are on the south side of the island, just kill off the generator again.
now when you are done with this island, the aggravators should be launching (those suicide bombers) before you fly to the 4th island, kill those off immediately. don’t waste all the time you took to be killed by these. now just attack the 4th island from the RIGHT side (u don’t have to kill any ground enemies because they wont effect you. make sure u use the mines.
now go to the portal and the big ass ship should be arriving, kill it first and then finish the level off by destroying the 4 things attached to it.””””
Even with his strategy, I have not been able to do it. He said he got it on the 30th try. I have tried over 200 times already, and no exaggeration either.
Hi again, Pooshonmyshoos (I read your earlier posts, too – but I\’ll respond in this). What level is your Shredder again on this level? Naturally not having it at full power (or at least upgraded twice) will make taking down the generators a longer process. Still doable, but not as fast.
As Availation said in the next post, I hope me capturing Khara 2 on HARDCORE will help you out some. It\’ll be the first video I\’ll look to post (this week).
I guess just wait for Kevin’s video walk-throughs. I’m sure they will be very helpful. He said he would start recording them during the weekend, so they should be done soon.
I’d record some but, I don’t have any means of capturing video yet. :(
Oh, and regarding the generators on Khara 2 – one thing I like to do is line up on the generator, start opening fire with the Shredder, then while still holding down the secondary weapon trigger I’ll quickly switch to the Trembler to drop a bomb, and then immediately switch back to the Shredder. If you do it fast enough it’s literally a split-second break from the Shredder’s strafing attack, but adds in a Trembler bomb (so more damage per single attack run). When I get the Khara 2 video capture up you’ll see me doing this on the generator attack runs.
I didn’t like Novastrike when I first purchased it, I didn’t even complete the first level until trophies came out. Now I realize it’s a pretty fun game aside from the fact that the afterburner runs out too fast, others may not agree with this but it’s my opinion.
I believe that all PSN games should have trophies in their games from this point on otherwise I likely wouldn’t have played Novastrike again.
Hi Rexram. I\’m glad you\’re enjoying it more post-patch.
My shredder is level ONE and I do NOT have the trembler bomb!!!!!!
Hi Pooshonmyshoos. Okay, at the start of Khara 2 if you press SELECT – how far away are you from the next Shredder upgrade? And how many more Trembler Bomb parts do you need until you get the Trembler Bomb?
Six of the bombers that launch from the platforms are Shockwave (that carry Trembler bomb components). And a couple are Scorchers (that carry Shredder parts). So if you can take out all the bombers you\’ll minimally end up getting the Trembler Bomb, but if you already had picked up a couple Trembler parts then it\’s quite possible you\’ll not just get the Trembler but also get it upgraded to Level 1. And hopefully you\’re just a couple drops from the next Shredder upgrade.
Keep in mind each upgrade (and initial acquisition) needs four parts. So while you\’re still not as upgraded as you could be for Khara 2, you can at least get the Trembler bomb in the first objective.
And I\’ll be sure to let you know when the video is posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC5vmbLup-M
That is what I am feeling abot NS at this current time lol.
Shredded needs 2 to upgrade, and trembler needs 3 to get it.
Okay, that\’s good – so you\’ll definitely get your Shredder upgraded once in the first objective, and you\’ll also get the Trembler bomb in the first objective.
I\’m working more on the movies today (yesterday I discovered the computer with the video capture hardware and software didn\’t want to behave, and it took a while to troubleshoot and get it working). But everything\’s good to go now, so I\’ll be capturing movies today.
Here’s the deal though. In your walkthrough for hardcore you said skip the first objective. If I don’t skip it then enemies will be pouring out of the portal like ninjas do in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games. Which even with upgrades, does not help because there is just plain to many of them.
Quick update… The videos are taking longer than I thought they would (specifically exporting them out – I underestimated how long it would take to export 15+ minute movies at 720p). That said, I do have video playthroughs on Khara 1 and Khara 2 on HARDCORE, so I’m just in the process of exporting them today, and hopefully getting them posted to gametrailers this week.
Sorry for the delay.
Just wanted to say that now that I can finally post again…
I really enjoyed the update, and I got a few trophies so far. They start to get really time consuming, but its a fun game and i liked getting the 4 (or 5?) trophies I got for novastrike.
I would have offered some day 1 feedback but for some reason unbenounced (spelling?) to me I couldnt post comments anymore.
Hi MidnightBlues – I\’m definitely glad you\’re enjoying it more after the update. Regarding posting – I\’ve had some issues in the past where I wasn\’t able to post for a time, too, so maybe you ran into the same issue. Anyhow, thanks again for dropping by and offering your feedback. Have a good week.
Late in the game…posting that is.
Demo still in talks, or are we really never ever, ever, monkey swear ever, going to see a demo..LOL…just would really like to know? A demo would go a LONG way in helping me decide to buy this or not.
THANKS
psn:frostquake
Hi again, frostquake. We\’ll definitely be getting out a demo this year. Sorry for the wait.
I never wanted to play this game before, but because of the trophy support, I’m all about it. I’m finding it fun now actually, I like the ability to fire and air and land targets.
Hi there, FrozoneUSMC – I\’m glad you\’re enjoying the game more after the update. Thanks for taking the time to post.
I’m sure that with some improvements on graphics and gameplay, Nova II will be beast and silence the critics, like KillZone II will.
I have 27 games from the PS Store, I love downloadable games, but Novastrike is, hands down, by far, the worst one of all!
Novastrike made me consider stop buying downloadable games without demos, because I realised that there is absolutely no quality control for these games. It’s actually offensive that Sony allowed a game like this to be published on the PS3.
It feels like a game made at home by kids with the music that sound like MIDI files from the internet back in 1995 and the story with a bunch of text on a screen without a single animation or even a picture to illustrate. The graphics are just awful, the control doesn’t work well, the game just seems completely unbalanced.
Just look at how polished PSN games usually are, there are games cheaper than Novastrike like Calling All Cars or PixelJunk Monsters that look great, sound great and most of them play great, Novastrike does none of that…
And all that I’m saying is from playing the updated version of the game… Weren’t you ashamed to offer such a low quality product in all aspects to people?
Even when I disliked a game I downloaded, I never felt like I was being deceived or stolen, I just knew it was my personal taste that didn’t match the game (I actually like all the shooters from PSN thought), but Novastrike goes beyond that: it fells cheap and poorly made. That 3.5 (or something like that) from IGN actually seems generous now that I’ve played it! For the first time I wish I could have my money back…
Hi thataide. First, I’m sorry that you don’t like NOVASTRIKE.
We certainly know by now that NOVASTRIKE is pretty divisive in its reception, but we’re definitely not ashamed of it by any means. If you read through the comments you’ll see that there are a number of players that really like the game (and in fairness, there are others that don’t as well).
As far as the overall polish-factor – I agree, it’s not as polished as the games you’ve cited (as well as some other Sony published games), but we self-published the game ourselves. And honestly, not every independent developer/publisher is going to be able to receive those production values as we’re generally working with far less resources.
I know that my response won’t do anything to change your opinion, of course, but you did purchase the game and are certainly owed a response.
If you don’t mind me asking how far did you play? If you say “I quit before completing stage 1” that’s fine – I’m not going to respond with “You need to play it further!” I’m just curious to see how far you got.
Again, sorry that you don’t like it (not that it helps, but we certainly don’t like it when customers don’t enjoy the game).