RKS Doujin Page

Tanin found this over in the RKS Uploader. I don't know if this is a page from zaku6's upcoming release, but whoever the artist, it looks interesting. It looks like a very somber Lilli in a bad situation... and only on page 4 at that. I guess we'll have to find out where this goes!

Schwer's RKS Freudenstachel Stage

If you want to learn all of the tricks for yourself, I would not suggest watching this video. If you want to play it, TDOMMX (the guy who has been doing this hacking for me, god bless him) explained what I did in the comments of the previous entry that allowed me access to the area. Note that the boss battle with Schwer will be exactly the same.

Also, if you use the .dat swap method, you will have access to the three RKSF demo stages, as well as the RKSF Prologue stage, as Spiritia. The game may crash if you do this, but just keep trying, and it should work. However, please note the following problems that will arise:

- The Prologue stage will have no background, the falling platforms over the spikes will be invisible, and the snow textures will be missing from the latter half. However, the ground will still act like snow.
- The boss room will be empty and has no right wall.
- Some platforms in Zorne's stage will be invisible/mostly invisible, including the disappearing blocks. You will need Eins and Zwei to navigate the stage. You cannot complete the stage with Grolla.
- The backgrounds in Zorne's stage will be messed up, and a few platforms will have the wrong templates.
- The rain and blood textures will be missing from Grolla's stage, but the slippery floor will still be there.
- The fog will not appear when you get to Grolla, so she will teleport out of nowhere; however, the scarlet haze from the RKSF battle does appear when she reaches her desperate.
- As Grolla, the boss room will be empty. You will not encounter Spiritia.
- The rising platforms in Liebea's stage will be invisible, but as long as you know their locations, you can still use them.
- There will be no wind.
- Liebea's boss door will not open, thereby not allowing you to complete the stage.
- Schwer's stage is, assumedly, intact. There is probably a trick to the first room with the E-Tank, since Freu doesn't have Eins to help her. We'll get back to you on the differences there.

As explained by TDOMMX, I have an edited RKSF .dat file that replaced one of the stages (in my case, Liebea) with a "Freudia stage", which is simply the Prologue stage in its icy RKSF form (with a locked boss door). We may or may not make this available. If I had to guess, the large open area in the middle of the stage will be a story cutscene, probably with Dolis. Only time will tell.

In addition, I am wondering if anyone out there has the screenshots from the original Freudenstachel April Fool's Day site. Featured were two screens in particular: one featuring Zorne and Trauare teaming up against Freudia, and one featuring Luste in her Hero of Justice outfit that was recently announced in an area full of trees. If anyone can get these, send them my way. Thanks in advance!

Edit: Thanks to a wonderful Anonymous contributor, here are the images from the original RKSF announcement.








Amazing Game Over screen.　Oh, and one more thing.

Misc. Freudenstachel-Related Things

You saw it here first.

RKS Challenge 004: Choices!

That's right, guys! You get a choice! Now, I'll bet you're wondering how we're going to compare the times... Well, I'll tell you! The main challenge will be "Item Hunter". However, if you complete "Silver Force One", you automatically win the challenge. Alright, let's do this!

"Item Hunter"

With Grolla, head to Schwer-Muta's stage. You must collect both E-Tanks, all 100 coins, the trap 1-up, and the fake E-Tank that the Eddy clone gives you, and you must complete the stage. Fastest time wins!

"Silver Force One"



With Spiritia, enter the password to give you Silberflugal Eins, Grollschwert, and Lilli, and head over to Luste's stage. Complete the stage!

Rules:
- Prior to the Luste encounter, you cannot fire any weapons. At all. No Seelegewehr. No Grollschwert. No Lilli.
- Once you encounter Luste, you may use any weapon available to beat her.

Do you think you have what it takes to complete Silver Force One to win the competition by default? Or are you going to take the easy route with "Item Hunter"? So what happens if two people complete Silver Force One? It won't happen. You have one week. Good luck.

To submit your replays, please use the RosenkreuzStilette Uploader Site. Please follow these easy instructions.



1) Name the .rpy file whatever you want, ZIP it, and upload it here. (Note: Please make sure your replay is in a .zip archive.)
2) Enter the name of the challenge you chose in the comment box.
3) Click here to upload the file.

Please leave a comment with your name and the number of your upload. Thanks, have fun, and good luck!

Dash Hopes Results

1st Place: Kilga - 2'41"61
2nd Place: Tanin - 3'14"08
3rd Place: Nator - 3'17"51

The winner of the RKS Dash Hopes Challenge is Kilga! The nature of RKS's control scheme made this challenge very difficult in a way, as some unintentional walking occurred, but that will not be held against anyone. Kilga displayed an unrivaled control over Grolla and managed to dash well beyond the competition's times. Utilizing tricks such as wall-climbing in place of ladder-scaling and taking note of proper timing with both the mini-boss and Sichte herself, Kilga had an impressive time that was over 30 seconds faster than 2nd Place! Both Tanin and Nator made use of the hidden E-Tank, which came in handy during the Sichte boss fight. Tanin's just lucky there was no penalty for dying. Everyone did very well this time around, though, and I would really hope that more than 3 people decide to enter the next match, which will most likely be posted tonight.

Thank you to the three of you, and good luck in the next RKS Challenge!

Official [erka:es] Update!

[erka:es] has released their first update since C75, and it's a good one. "New" characters have been added to the game, including a certain hero of justice. Our resident translator is working on converting the latest blog update into English, and we will post it here when it's done. I can say, however, that we have received permission from [erka:es] to hack RosenkreuzStilette and implement an English translation for both Spiritia and Grolla's Story Modes. If you can help us hack the game, we could use you on our team! Drop us a line, and Let's Gekiga In!

Blog entry translation (some of it was left is Japanese due to obscurity):

Hello, this is Isemiya.
... Well, it's already late January... I really didn't mean to not update... While lamenting the passage of time, I may or may not have secretly updated the character bios page.

Concerning the pilot version that we released at the winter Comiket, we have received numerous bug reports already.
1) Missed a bug where Freudia talks when she jumps
2) A bug where you could fall offstage while standing on the falling rocks during your invincibility time
3) A bug with Freudenzwinger
Thanks to all those who reported the bugs. We're terribly sorry for not catching them. We will fix them for the web trial version.

Below are the responses for the mail we received with the form on our site. Please forgive us for the terribly late responses.

>Mr. Hissatsu
Thank you for the wonderful drawing.
It is very impressive.

>Mr. Z oldriver
Thank you. We will do our best.

>Mr. SOMA
>>我日＆#35821;不好，但我很喜＆#27426;＆#36825;个游＆#25103;，
Sorry, but it seems some of what you sent got garbled.
And to boot, I can't read Chinese.
>外很期待RKS Freudenstachel,呵呵
I think you're trying to tell me you're looking forward to the new game? I'll do my best. Thank you.

>Mr. Trick Master Mint
>>I and many of my friends are big fans of your game, RosenkreuzStilette. It is personally one of my favorite games ever.
Thank you for enjoying our game.
>>Unfortunately, many people who are playing it here are not fluent in Japanese, so we cannot really enjoy Story Mode. My friends and I would like to start a project to translate RosenkreuzStilette into English to allow the English-speaking community to enjoy the game to its fullest. If it is possible, could you allow us to translate the game?
We don't mind if you do.

Mr. Shinigami Bear
>>Zorne's line "Die! Die! Diiie!!" wouldn't happen to be a reference to the heroine of a certain eroge, would it?
Hisssssssssss!

>Mr. kiora17
>>I have attached a replay file of a bug where you can fall through the floor by standing on a falling rock and using your invincibility time.
>Mr. RDK
>>It's rather soon, but I have a bug to report.
Thank you for the bug report. We'll fix it for the web trial version.

>Mr. Uppii
>>First, sometimes Freudia will say "Freudenstachel" when she jumps.
That was a miss on our part... It'll be fixed in the web trial.

>>Second, after struggling to get to the battle with Grolla, I found a bug. The area just suddenly changed, and I could no longer do anything. ;; Right around the part when I was thinking "I can finish her!", I used an E-Tank. Right afterwards I used Liebea Sturm (Freudenzwinger), and about the time I used it I took damage (maybe?), and I got pushed through the right side wall or something. The area moved right about 5 screens, and I flew out into a part of the map with nothing on it. From there, I fell about 3 screens and ended up floating around in a sea of nothingness...
We're terribly sorry for the trouble this has caused. We will fix it for the web trial version. (Thank you for the detailed report. It'll be of great help.)

The Uploader has been wiped. D:

It has come to my attention that the RKS Uploader being used to upload the replays for the RKS challenges has been completely wiped. Due to these unfortunate circumstances, all entrants for the Dash Hopes challenge will have to resubmit their replays. I am currently looking for an alternate method for uploading the replays, one that makes the entries a little more anonymous. Sorry for the inconvenience!

RKS Challenge 003: Dash Hopes

It's Grolla time. Enter the Grolla Mode code (Left, Right, Weapon Change-R, Weapon Change-L at the [erka:es] company screen), select Arcade Mode, head over to Sichte's stage, and get ready for a race. The objective, as usual, is to complete the stage. Fastest replay time wins!

Rules:
- You must dash-jump for all movement. You cannot walk. You cannot jump normally. You must dash when wall-climbing. This, of course, does not apply to ladders. (For clarification, a dash-jump means that you must dash and then immediately jump; most of your movement will be aerial.)
- The only exceptions to this are when progression through the level requires it and when Sichte uses her desperate time-stop knife attack. You are not required to dash-jump to avoid that, simply because I do believe it would be impossible to avoid the attack if you did.

Remember, Grolla takes double damage, so you might want to step carefully. Also, remember that these challenges are usually up for about 2 weeks, so watch the clock. Let the race commence! And special thanks to Hiryuu for doing the graphics for me!

To submit your replays, please use the RosenkreuzStilette Uploader Site. Please follow these easy instructions.



1) Name the .rpy file whatever you want, ZIP it, and upload it here. (Note: Please make sure your replay is in a .zip archive.)
2) Enter the comment "Dash Hopes" in the comment box.
3) Click here to upload the file.

Please leave a comment with your name and the number of your upload. Thanks, have fun, and good luck!

Stop and Go Results

1st Place: Nator - 2'35"17
2nd Place: Mima - 2'44"27
3rd Place: Kilga - 3'02"73
Late Entry: FallenAngelV - 2'31"24

The winner of the RKS Stop and Go challenge is Nator! While every replay was impressive in its own right, showing me techniques I never even thought to use, Nator deserves definite praise for his replay. Using Silberflugel Zwei next to the skull on the falling platforms allowed him to bypass the S platform with the 4 skulls, and using Die geplante Zukunft before the mid-boss allowed him to skip the fight entirely. I'm also impressed by the fact that he took no damage until the second half of the stage. Not to be outdone, however, Mima and Kilga also performed some impressive feats in their replays as well. Use of the sub-weapons combined with smooth boss fights made for entertaining and awesome runs. Thanks to you 3 for trying this difficult challenge!

Edit: FallenAngelV submitted a late entry with an impressive time that technically should've put her at the top. However, she just missed the deadline, which is unfortunate. I wish her the best of luck for the next challenge, though! The rest of you have some excellent competition, but don't give up!

The next challenge will change things up a bit, as it will be a Grolla challenge! I'll probably post it up later today, so get ready!

Video Replay: RKS Freudenstachel Demo (No Damage Clear)

RosenkreuzStilette player FallenAngelVeronica has posted a YouTube video displaying a No-Damage "run" (see comments) of the RosenkreuzStilette Freudenstachel demo using only Freudia's default weapon, Freudenstachel. Available in the comments is a mini-review of each stage.



I would love to see more of these, so if people in the community have replays or reviews they'd like to share, please let us know!

RKS Doujin In The Works

Tanin has informed me that zaku6, designer of the RosenkreuzStilette Freudenstachel boss Eifer Skute, is currently working on an RKS doujin. To my understanding, it was supposed to make its debut at Comiket 75, but it either wasn't yet completed or just didn't meet the proper deadlines, so it's very possible it will be introduced to the public at Comiket 76 this coming summer. I must say I'll be looking forward to this one, because his art is pretty nice. We'll keep you posted!

Also, only 3 entries to Stop and Go? Come on, guys!

RKS Freudenstachel Demo Review

Ah, the banner I've been waiting to see for a long, long while. It's been about a year since Letty hooked me on RosenkreuzStilette, and despite being absolutely terrible at classic Megaman-style games, RKS is now one of my favorites. So you can understand why I'm excited to get my hands on the demo of RKS Freudenstachel!

The demo is devoid of both prologue and story mode, instead kicking you right into arcade mode with seasoned veterans Zorne Sepperin, Grolla Seyfarth, and Liebea Palesch as your only opponents. [erka:es] promised this game would be harder than the original, and either I'm more rusty than I thought or they're right. Of course, some of this is due to the limitations of the new main character, Freudia Neuwahl herself. The most noticeable change is that you can't go through levels shooting everything all willy-nilly, since even your basic shot has ammo now. However, the Freuden Stachel does have a bit more of a vertical range on it, allowing you to hit those enemies that cling to the ground easily.

A notable change in the weapons system makes Freudia handle a lot like Zero from MMX4 onward: All the weapons, or at least all the ones in the demo, are just modifications of the same base power. They're all ice related, and one of them is a good deal more useful than the others. But that'll be later; for now, the bosses!

Liebea, one of the easiest bosses from the first game, got a major stage overhaul filled with electricity, spikes, and wind. And she's nothing to sneeze at, either; her rain attack has been augmented with a Storm Eagle-like tornado that will very easily blow you off the edge if you're not ready for it. The weapon you get from her, the Freuden Zwinger, is probably going to be the gamebreaker. Remember that attack from Freudia's boss fight where she splits into five and shoots ice at you? Of course you do. That's what you get from Liebea, and its wide area of effect makes it pretty useful. With weapon energy capsules all around, it almost feels unfair.

Zorne, in what's becoming a disturbing trend, also got a major upgrade offensively, as Kilga so kindly pointed out in the comments to the last post. The bombs come fast and furious (perhaps... 2 fast?), and coupled with her new jump kick, it's a much tougher fight. Her stage is now full of disappearing block puzzles, too, though if I know [erka:es] it's nothing compared to what Schwer-Muta's new stage will bring. The new ice technique, Friert Fackel, is nothing too impressive as a floor-clinger, but I'm sure it will have its uses.

Grolla. Grolla, Grolla, Grolla. I'll come clean and say that this is the one stage I didn't finish. The mid-boss, same as the one in the first game, is modified with moving platforms, and that's about as far as I got. I told you I was terrible at these games. So I can't give much insight on this stage, but it's pretty obvious that if [erka:es] is going for hard, they've succeeded.

Even if I couldn't beat one of the levels, I still thoroughly enjoyed the demo and will be waiting with bated breath for the full game to come out. It's a solid follow-up with even more of the references to Megaman that we've all come to know and love. And speaking of things we've all come to know and love, well, it wouldn't be RKS without custom Game Over screens, would it? And trust me, I saw them a lot.


Maybe those among you who can actually read Japanese will find them funnier. But at any rate! Judging by the demo, RKS Freudenstachel will be worth the wait, and hopefully summer 2009 won't turn into "when it's done". I know I'll be on the edge of my seat. In the meantime, be sure to try your hand at Challenge 02, which right now is looking pretty lonely with only two participants.