Sugar Burst and Soul Whisk use.... am I doing it wrong? (Tips thread?)

[ramsey276]

Besides my lack of reflexes and coordination while facing countless bullets my main problem with improving my skills in Sugar Shooter is using the Sugar Burst.

Mainly, I find it strange to get my power up to 300% to drain it for a Sugar Burst. Not that big a deal, but my problem is managing to get it back up for the next pattern without crashing and burning

Right now in SS1 I try my best to leave as little of the life bar as I can, then I trigger SB mode and try get them and as many shots as I can in the circle to get as much candy as I can. Problem is, I'm not sure If I'm burning more Sugar than what I'm getting, especially since I'm still at Sweet level... ( x10)

In SS2 I get myself to 300% before starting to attack, especially with the low-power partners (still trying to find the best for me, Sugarless being hi-risk/reward right now) Since Sugar Burst is the Best way to get macarons, I try (probably going overkill, I'm sure) to cover all bullets with the Sugar Burst to get a full bar and do the Soul Whisk.

I AM a newbie in this game because I only played arcade games I could beat with one credit (I am POOR  ) So I got very little practice with this type of games. I'm pretty sure the speed and hitbox differences are throwing me off in SS2, while the mouse controls in SS1 I will deal with after more playing time.

So... any hints, please?

[punipen]

Macaron doesn't increase your Sugar Power that much, so don't rely on it to get back to more than 200% if you use a large Sugar Burst.

Your best bet would be using Quick Sugar Burst(QSB). Just quickly press and release X button. This will cost you only 50%. If you pulled off an Armor Break, then all bullets become macarons anyway, so it's possible that you will stay over 200% after QSB.

A really large SB should be used only when you cannot reach the boss to do a QSB. Or when you know that right after this you can enter Soul Whisk.

That's the general technique/idea, though.  When and where to use what is up to you!

[ramsey276]

Macaron doesn't increase your Sugar Power that much, so don't rely on it to get back to more than 200% if you use a large Sugar Burst.

Your best bet would be using Quick Sugar Burst(QSB). Just quickly press and release X button. This will cost you only 50%. If you pulled off an Armor Break, then all bullets become macarons anyway, so it's possible that you will stay over 200% after QSB.

A really large SB should be used only when you cannot reach the boss to do a QSB. Or when you know that right after this you can enter Soul Whisk.

That's the general technique/idea, though.  When and where to use what is up to you!

OK, I reread the manual again after reading this, so let me review it all for all newbies' sake (mine too, of course )

First thing I had confused: Sugar Burst makes macarons and Armor Breaks, and Soul Whisk makes sweets but NO Armor Break or changing shots to candy. Rookie mistake, I'm sure, but I AM a rookie. 

Soul Whisk is better for clearing a stage or after you have no more Armor Break to do, or for clearing the hardest patterns faster, I guess. Good playing will get the Synchro Level high enough, 2 per Soul Whisk if you don't get hit!

So one way of going at it is Quick Sugar Burst to Armor Break unless you are in a pinch (use the slowdown of a Charged Sugar Burst for those, right?) and use the soul Whisk to clear the enemies before the Stage Boss or after you have done all the Armor Breaks.

Sounds good in theory, but I guess the last point would be which partner to choose, right?

[ramsey276]

Bad: The connection broke down these last two days

Good: I got my copy of SS2 before that happened, so I spent that time trying to get good endings!

... So far I can't avoid Continues in SWEET 

I need to learn how to fill the Synchro Bar and when to best use the Soul Whisk (right now I use it at the the toughest attack, timing it so it takes as much of the Sugar Rush bar as possible to Armor Break) but for now I have to stuff fumbling in the final stage and losing my Synchro level for the endings 

[punipen]

Ah, that's why we haven't seen you these days! Welcome back

As for the good ending, using a continue is fine! You just need to strip Fuuma, that's all. Though the partner's ending is different and the manual already hinted at that

Many of the boss patterns are much easier once you are more aggressive in absorbing bullet though.

[ramsey276]

Ah, that's why we haven't seen you these days! Welcome back

As for the good ending, using a continue is fine! You just need to strip Fuuma, that's all. Though the partner's ending is different and the manual already hinted at that

Many of the boss patterns are much easier once you are more aggressive in absorbing bullet though.

That's good to know... THAT I'm getting very good at! And I kinda notice a few times where not shooting and "cleaning" actually helped more than trying to hurry and shoot down a boss. I'll probably see more of a "rhythm" to the stages and bosses with some more playtime.

Thanks again!