Vanquish 4k might be coming to X1X

These framerate bugs aren't as bad as I thought. I don't do getting hit anyway so they can do as much damage as they want.

But did they even test this?

Has anyone here beat this version on GH yet?

Just did so on the X1. Seem to be the first. Score og 150.000ish. Really bad but I will improve it!

Nice! How did you deal with Burns? I’ve never had this kind of trouble with him.

Got him. Time to be stuck at 5-3 for a week.

I got him on my first attempt surprisingly (as in, I died twice on purpose to refill my ammo): https://gameclips.io/Raeng15/7bf77ee1-cf91-42b5-9e33-0cb64fe91f7b

He's a tricky fight, but you can easily loop him on the staircase. Though I say easily, I did screw it up a few times. Note that for the tactic above you only have ONE chance, if you die you have to restart the chapter.

NOTE: nearly all my deaths came, once again, from "head to the left of that knrb0". For some reason my old strat wasn't working and I just kept doing it until it did with nearly 80 deaths as a result haha. I'm too stubborn at times.

Maybe I didn't notice these issues as I was playing on PC with the easier mouse and keyboard controls (although I was playing an even higher framerate again at 144fps...)

I'm probably going to order the double pack soon so I can have a physical copy of 60fps Vanquish.

Beat him and finished the run. “Only” 24 deaths on 5-3, pretty happy with it actually. Ended up using melees a few times if I knew nearby cover would stay up, and I’d usually follow it up with a safety EMP to the other bogey. Just did a hip fire LFE whenever they went in for melee and used it for “how about now” a few times. Never realized how much red bogey has to recover from “take your best shot” so I used that to rocket him with all three shots. Amazing fight.

>burns staircase loop

Interesting, will note that for the next run.

>head to the left of that knrb0

What’s your strat? The pistol is always my friend here.

24 deaths isn't too bad! Never used the LFE that much on them, how is your experience with that weapon in that fight? Tend to go for the shotgun loop but that can also kill you fast. The red bogey is the easiest target since you can RPG him when he takes his sniper shot as well, just be sure to do it from side-cover. So many little details, love the game.

> knrb0 strat
I RPG the turret on the right, boost-dodge to the left while LFE'ing, RPG the turret. And then I dash forward, drop an grenade in the tunnel and then it's a matter of throwing an EMP to the right and front. Dash through the area, drop your last EMP and you're safe. Requires a bit of precession and I always up my camera speed for those last EMP throws but it works...or should I say worked haha!

Weirdly, I ended up dying nearly instantly a ton. I'd get staggered by stray shots way too much to get an EMP off and worse. Not sure what was happening, could be the increased agression.

The LFE works great every time I’ve tried it. Really reliable to keep them away and it’s nice for when they’re hovering near you on the other side of cover since it can shoot through walls. I use it every time.

>red bogey easiest target

On my last GH playthrough before this one I was determined to kill blue first and I had a record number of deaths haha.

>knrb0

Do the EMPs take care of the RIs that drop from the ships? They always trip me up. Never thought to up the camera speed either, good one.

>dying instantly

Had the same issue. Lot of instant deaths from simply trying to throw one grenade. Also got hit in slomo quite a lot.

Another tactic is using two smokes, I think Seraphim once put that one in video? Or it was the Dictator. Can't recall. It's an old strat from I think Molu. You pop a smoke near the beginning, then dash to the middle, pop another smoke and then dash to the end. Allows you to do the part in less than 30 seconds. Great way to get the time-bonus.

Fun fact, I'm currently the only one on Xbox that got past 2-5 since we're talking about it. Most already called it quits after 1-2 (no surprise).

> blue bogey first
It really depends, but usually Blue is much more floating around and harder to thus nail down.

> LFE
"Keeps them away"
I think that's why I didn't like it for them haha, I want them in my face to shotgun them.

Do smokes have effect certain enemies differently? It never occurs to me to use them on Bias and Romanovs.

>only one who got past 2-5

Wow, that’s crazy. Wonder if there will be anyone else in the next couple weeks. Can’t imagine a lot of new players picked it up for the Xbox.

>Blue bogey

His normal attacks are easier to deal with Imo, but his homing laser attack is more obnoxious than the red’s laser. But yeah his movement is more sporadic, have some trouble keeping an eye on him.

>shotgun

I’m going to go for this next playthrough!

Smokes 100% fool regular gorgies, and keeps them mesmerized even when you're killing them. Romanovs take a look at it for a bit, but the second you get too close or attack them you are back in their sights. BIA...not too sure actually, I usually nail them down pretty hard and save my smokes. Going to have to test that.

> blue bogey
Which move do you mean with Homing Laser? His barrage where he stops and shoots a ton of lasers?

> Xbox
Yeah it isn't a popular platform, but from what I've gathered it got the best version thanks to Xbox X enchanced features. What's the leaderboard for God Hard on PS4 look like, can you check for me?

Makes sense about the smokes, the romanovs always seem to redirect their focus on me no matter how distracted they are.

Side note, wish the spheres and some other rare enemies were mixed into the compositions more often. It’s one of the only things that I think could improve the experience.

>blue bogey

Yeah, that’s the one. Hiding in cover can be unreliable depending on the angle and a lot of times when I try to boost dodge it the red one hits me with something.

>PS4 GH leaderboard

Looks like only four other people have finished it, only one person netting a positive score on 5-3.

> spheres
They do it a little in the end-game, but I'm mostly happy with how they toyed with enemy composition in the Challenge Maps - they really do try a lot of fun stuff there.

> blue bogey laser barrage
You can easily avoid it by 'zig zagging'. A tactic of yours truly haha! Basically you Boost left, and dodge right. What this does is the shots will home in on your boost, but you dodge right immediately, basically avoiding it completely. Zig zagging is really effective against any ranged projectile in this game outside of hitscanners (they exists, honest to god it feels like that sometimes). But yeah, should dodge the attack 100% if you do it correctly.

> PS4
Probably either Zaarock or Haijkujin or whatever his name is. I tend to get along with basically everyone whose a veteran player in the genre, but that last guy, he and I do not get along from what I remember haha.
Surprised though, would've thought there'd be more.

I still think it is good that it isn't a trophy or achievement, purely there for mastery and those who want what Mikami can give us.

Hey everyone! Been a while. I was looking up some Vanquish stuff online and came across one of Roy's posts which promptly reminded me of this here forum.

I've been playing a lot of this game (PS4 version) since it came out earlier this month. Very happy with this port, framerate is rock solid and I couldn't notice any of the nasty glitches that really brought down the 60fps version of RE4 for me. I've done two Hard playthroughs and the Tactical Challenges so far. I think I might even have the world record on the second challenge at the moment. Really rekindled my love for this game, I wish it was a bit more polished but there's absolutely nothing else like it, really.

I think I might try my luck at God Hard next. I never dared back on the 360 but the entire experience seems less daunting and stressful this time around. Ten additional years of action games must have paid off!

Hey man, welcome back! Glad you're enjoying the game again, it really is special like you noted! Let us know how God Hard goes. Generally speaking 1-3 is the biggest hurdle to clear for new-comers to the setting, while 2-5 and 3-2 also put a stop to most runs. Then it is smooth sailing until 5-2 and 5-3. The latter especially has stopped many people. But you can do it!

Just curious, you mention polish, in what way would you say the game could be polished more? Always interested!

Might take a little while before I have the time to dive into God Hard. I want to grind the challenges some more and see what scores I can get for now. But it's on the list for sure.

Royta/Raeng wrote:
Just curious, you mention polish, in what way would you say the game could be polished more? Always interested!

I primarily mean graphical polish, really. The environments in particular are not terribly pretty to look at, the forest is a good variation but a bit too short and not lush enough for my liking. Also, the on-rail sections are a bit too repetitive and don't really play to the game's strengths, I feel. I'm glad they focused their resources on creating fantastic gameplay mechanics first and foremost, but there would be room for improvement in those areas in a potential big-budget sequel.

Mechanically, there isn't much I would add or tweak since the gameplay is so ridiculously good, as you know. The only issue I have is how unreliable the Hand Grenades can be sometimes. I've noticed them bounce off parts of the level geometry at weird angles or sometimes just straight up disappear and/or glitch through the map after being thrown. Or even exploding right next to an enemy without causing any damage, that sort of thing. It's the only weapon in the game I feel like I'm not in complete control over, which can be frustrating at times.

And some of the encounters could be designed a bit better in my opinion. Crystal Viper for example has an enormous amount of squandered potential, I think. I would have liked to see him use a wider variety of moves (and with more potential counters than just "Mash X / Square while running away"). I also think that fighting him in closed off empty arenas isn't doing him any favors. Compare and contrast to the Krauser fight in the Sand Fortress in RE4 and how that specific environment is so carefully crafted to suit the different stages of the fight. CV just seems a bit shallow and simplistic in comparison.


Don't get me wrong, I adore the game. But there are these select few elements which I think aren't completely fleshed out and that prevent me from putting the game on the same level as, say, NGB or DMC3 or RE4. It's obviously a lot better than God Hand in that regard but it's not quite there yet. :)

Polish is fairly important to me, same reason I prefer NGB over NG2 despite the arguably inferior combat system.

Note that the leaderboards aren't linked. Most highscores were done on the PS3 iirc, Vnichiro and MoluJPN having most of the high-scores.
I'm too lazy to pop in Vanquish in my PS3 again haha, but from what I recall the records were:

Challenge 1: 2:14
Challenge 2: 1:52
Challenge 3: 1:34
Challenge 4: 2:52
Challenge 5: 2:12
Challenge 6: 3:36

These are from my old notes, so they may have improved. But you can use those as a benchmark. Most of these runs can be found on Youtube as well! What was your Challenge 2 time?

> enviroments
I agree it was the weakest element. I like the aspect of seeing the whole ring constantly, above and below you, and the game does try and vary a tad with the forest and day/night areas, but would've been cool to see some more variation. Perhaps a snow-stage, or something more fire based?

> grenades
Completely agree. I like them mechanically, and the damage boost they get from being shot is neat, but the bounce has no logic to it.

> CV
He's at his best when supported by enemies like in Challenge 4 and 6, but in the campaign he is way too easily nailed to the cross I feel.

My main complaints are in details as well. I'd have prefered smokes replenish upon death (or just be slightly nerfed and infinite), but most importantly Sam's aiming needs a fix. Sometimes when in cover when he pops out he'll aim somewhere else. Sometimes from sidecover he'll do a safe-shot, other times he'll pop his head out without any consistency. You also cannot swap shoulders, and at some points the crosshair will indicate you can hit the foe, only to have them hit a piece of cover. Also feel Golden Gorgie HP is slightly too high on God Hard. My biggest caveat is the "return to title screen" exploit making no-death runs technically the easiest thing in the world if you have the patience, completely ruining most leaderboards.

Royta/Raeng wrote:Note that the leaderboards aren't linked. Most highscores were done on the PS3 iirc, Vnichiro and MoluJPN having most of the high-scores.

Yeah, those times mostly overlap with what I could find on Vnichiro's and MoluJPN's channels. I even booted up the 360 version to fact-check those leaderboards, just to be sure.

My best time on TC2 is 1:39.98. Took me a while to refine my strat in order to shave those precious few seconds off. I ended up boost kicking one of the Romanovs into the floating ship's crash explosion and that did the trick. I sat until 3 in the morning on that one! :D

I really enjoy the TCs. Mercs is a bit more layered and compelling for my tastes, but those are brilliant in their own right as well.

Here's hoping the remaster sells decently enough to convince Platinum that a sequel or spiritual successor might be a good idea. I know it's a long shot, but stranger things have happened, right?

Fantastic time man, seriously. Unless something's changed, pretty sure that's a new World Record! Congratulations! Personally never got that deep into the challenges outside of beating them a few times.

Regarding a sequel, if Mikami is on board for sure. But I don't know if I want another game without him. Who knows, it could work!

Whoa, nice time on that challenge. Didn’t know they could even be completed that quickly.

@Raeng any suggestions for a challenge run?

Shotgun only can make you pull out some hairs, but it will definitely teach you enemy patterns. Zero% cover usage is more boring than you'd think (lots of softcover). Laser Only is really fun though, really ups the meter management.

Melee Only? Mostly using disclauncher probably, could be interesting (and maddening).

>laser only

Grenades and melee allowed?

>melee only

Hmm, sounds fun. Can’t imagine how I would handle 5-3 though.

In all runs I allow grenades of both types and melee yes. And worry about the exceptions when you get there I'd say. 5-3 can be done melee only if you have the EMPs to spare. A headshot boost-melee deals 1k damage to them. I think they have 3k health iirc, so that's three extremely well timed melees, should be doable with 9 EMPs total in that fight.

Thanks for the nice responses, much appreciated!

Do you guys want to see a video? I'm not sure if it's proper decorum to post my own stuff without asking first.

You're more than welcome to share content, just be sure that it isn't the only thing you do :) Discussion should always come before selfpromotion. Don't want to turn this into Reddit haha!

I'd be very interested in seeing the strat!

Oh yeah, of course. It's not like I'm trying to make money or anything, it's just a private video.



There's still room for improvement, but I'm fairly happy with how it turned out overall. The Romanov shove shortly after 01:10 is the big time saver here.


Btw (I'm a bit out of the loop), did that plagiarism issue ever get resolved? I remember some other website stealing your articles and stuff like that.

Fantastic run man, really good. Where would you say the time profit could be gained? Would be cool to see you push this further.

Regarding the platgiarism. I managed to get a few to remove their content, but in general I couldn't get them to be removed thanks to China and Russia just not caring. The site got some exposure still, but was looking at one of my articles getting nearly 5 million views on other sites combined which did kind of hurt my soul haha! Enfin, it is what it is sadly.

Royta/Raeng wrote:Fantastic run man, really good. Where would you say the time profit could be gained? Would be cool to see you push this further.

Well, I think the shooting gallery at the very start could be cleaned up a bit and there might be a way to do the triple rocket launcher AR section more effectively. That's about it. I don't really see any room for improvement in the second half, although I'd be glad to be proven wrong!

Not sure I have it in me to continue grinding this one out at the moment, though. Why don't you give it a shot? :)

This is going to sound super elitist, but I don't play the challenge maps since they really screw with my mind thanks to them being set to Normal/Hard. I really love playing the game on God Hard and getting better and more consistent at it in that way. Whenever I touch Hard or just the Challenge my metermanagement goes to hell, as well as my mental awareness of how much hits I can tank.

Regarding improvements, I watched the video a few more times to see if I could find anything. Very minor seconds to be won in the shooting gallergy at first as you note. Also reload-canceling in Wave 2 should really help speed up the wave-clear ever so slightly. And not use AR to aim at the walker since your aim is slower in AR (around 0:37 in). Maybe up your sensitivity?

Around 0:52 you did a regular EMP throw, EMP slide would've been faster or a regular throw even (faster animation). Might be possible to nail both helicopter groups in one EMP slide.

I think with all that together you could maybe shave it to 1:35'ish. Don't think a sub 1:30 is going to be possible.

Great run! How much did you practice to pull off that time?

Started my LC only run, just got to “head to the left of that KNRB0”. Surprisingly not bad so far, only have 11 deaths I think. The only thing I don’t like about this run is being so helpless while overheating.

There's your problem, you're overheating! I think it's pretty cool just how much better you get at managing meter because of it. Think has good dps and range too, love it.

5-3 was really nuts with it though. 5-2 as well. Glad you're liking the run so far!

Ha, that’s true. I like how accurate you have to be with slomo shots since it doubles the meter use. Really taking advantage of the friendly soldiers too, using their positions to hit weak points on romanovs, flank golden gorgies, etc.

That bit at the end of 2-2 where the transport ships just fire randomly at you, I threw all my cigs as that was happening and didn’t even get scratched. Never knew that worked.

Cigs are really good if you know when to use them, just wish they replenished upon death as now you can't really experiment too much with them without constant Title Screen abuse.

EDIT: cool to see the forum get a sudden boost in activity with the Bayo/Vanquish bundle being released. Good stuff :)

Agree about the cigs. Do grenades always replenish on death as well? It kind of feels cheap that I seem to get grenade refills but I also don’t know how some parts would be possible on certain runs otherwise.

And that’s cool about the forum. Wasn’t there a lot of activity when TEW2 released?

When TEW2 hit we saw a lot of activity too yeah, mostly since everyone was playing it.

Grenades do refill upon death yeah. It's interesting to go for a no-death run or at least attempt it, as you'll find that you really have to rely on RNGesus a lot more or plan around the pre-determined pickups. Instead of using EMPs to skip and lock-down fights, they really become the 'oh crap' card.

Has a no death run been done before on GH?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd8P9ALNJpFQJ6i3OrBirNrElndMdsibH


Here you go. Hopefully this playlist will have every level. I still need to play Vanquish.

I think that run is segmented per part at the very least. Bullseye's runs are always heavily segmented and edited. But, to be sure, I asked, you never know! Wouldn't put it past him.

Second up is Timmygunner imo, one of the best classic NGB players. Guy did a "restart upon death" run, meaning you don't restart from checkpoint but that chapter. Felt that was pretty interesting! We were good friends as far as online could go but he vanished.

Other no-death runs heavily abuse the Title Screen exploit like Godfather and Seraphim, they are no-death in name only.

A few quick and dirty clips showcasing how to easily kill Burns, Unknowns and just me toying with BIAs.

https://youtu.be/QZDpJ5p5agY

https://youtu.be/AxGm32gxUxU

https://youtu.be/dfRJvDdC2m8

https://youtu.be/1M2nHJMcW5U

Royta/Raeng wrote:Regarding improvements, I watched the video a few more times to see if I could find anything. Very minor seconds to be won in the shooting gallergy at first as you note. Also reload-canceling in Wave 2 should really help speed up the wave-clear ever so slightly. And not use AR to aim at the walker since your aim is slower in AR (around 0:37 in). Maybe up your sensitivity?

Around 0:52 you did a regular EMP throw, EMP slide would've been faster or a regular throw even (faster animation). Might be possible to nail both helicopter groups in one EMP slide.

I've experimented a bit further and I'm not sure about any of these, quite frankly.

Reload-cancelling isn't as time-effective for the RL as it is for most other weapons, since you still have to wait the entire duration of the weapon build-up animation before you can fire again after switching back. I've done that section countless times and concluded that it wasn't worth it. Perhaps there is a separate technique I'm not aware of? Do let me know if so.

The other tricky thing about that section is that you need to make sure to hit the regular enemies surrounding both walkers with your rockets. That's why I'm using AR. Otherwise the enemies have dispersed by the time I'm positioned correctly and ready to fire again.

I totally take your point about the EMP slide being faster, but I'm not sure it would actually save any time in the end, despite how counter-intuitive it may sound. For the second EMP in particular, I'm counting on the grenade travel time for two things: 1) so that I can turn around and shoot the ball robots on the left, and 2) so that the ball robots on the right will get caught in the EMP blast once it lands. It's very easy to be too eager at the start and miss out on some later enemies in that section.

I also don't see the advantage of waiting until I can nail both heli groups considering I have two EMPs to spare anyway.


By all means, just try it out and see for yourself! It won't ruin your God Hard skills, I promise!

Regarding RPG Reload, that's a good point, totally forgot about that haha!

Regarding the EMP, couldn't the time wasted on the second EMP be put to attacking the rollers? They have already spawned by the time you're throwing the second EMP.

> try myself
I'm horrible at speedrunning, but I'll give it a shot!

Royta/Raeng wrote:
Regarding the EMP, couldn't the time wasted on the second EMP be put to attacking the rollers? They have already spawned by the time you're throwing the second EMP.

I mean, maybe? Although the timing is really strict and you have to hit them right after they spawn like I did in the video anyway. But even if that's the case, I'm not sure it would save time since the second wave is the determining factor here and it's really important for the second EMP to land in the right place at the right time.

The thing about these challenges is that saving time in one area doesn't necessarily mean saving time overall. Bit tricky to explain, but you know what I mean.

Royta/Raeng wrote:
I'm horrible at speedrunning, but I'll give it a shot!

Cool, please do! Even if your result isn't competitive, there's nothing like first-hand experience, right?

Oh absolutely, don't take the points as critique though. Was mearly looking at the video where I thought "maybe he can save another second here"? Far from the expert, just what I noticed. I'll give it a try this weekend!

Just did 3-2 on my LC only run. It was...not bad. Only died 4 times somehow. The LC is super reliable against the golden gorgies(kills them in one burst), and I took advantage of them all huddling to the center when the tank shows up. Should be smooth sailing until 5-2. Although I do worry about the buzzard...

Which Buzzard? The first one on the monorail?

That’s the one. I basically had to cheese my way through the jellyfish tunnel, had to reset the tank’s health at the checkpoint and just let it get hit.

Grenades help somewhat in that fight iirc. Not sure, I can't recall if I got that far or not.

I wanted to do a BMG run also, how do you recommend going about that? There aren’t many pickups for it so I would be out of ammo a lot I feel.