RKS Freudenstachel Delayed

According to the latest blog post by [erka:es], Rosenkreuzstilette Freudenstachel will not be completed in time for Summer Comiket 76 and will probably see a Winter Comiket 77 release. In addition, the Web Trial version is taking longer than expected and will not be seen for some time. Well, looks like bigger breasts means bigger delays.

Rosenkreuzstilette - The Rap Battle In The Snow

Yeah, I don't know. Lyrics are in the video description.

RKS Challenge #006 Results... and Other Things

1st Place - Cremator - Combined time of 3'10"50
2nd Place - Tanin - Combined time of 3'26"11
3rd Place - Moonblade13 - Combined time of 4'23"51

And the winner of Double-Cross is Cremator! There's not much I can really say about these results. Go watch the replays for yourself. Some of the techniques used are beyond impressive. I hope you guys are ready for Challenge #007. Remember, it's got a cash prize, so prepare yourself for the worst!

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Another graphic mod for Rosenkreuzstilette is currently in the works. We'll be inserting the Freudenstachel images and sprites for Freudia, Liebea, Grolla, and Zorne into the original game. In addition, I will be fixing a minor error with the original Grollschwert Mod. Future plans, once we hack the game further, will be to create a player mod to allow you to play as Hero of Justice Luste. Because we do not have the sprites for the RKSF version of Hero of Justice Luste, I will be editing the sprites to reflect her RKSF April Fool's version, in which she has black goggles and a yellow scarf a la Protoman. When I get even better at sprite editing, I will implement a graphic mod that allows Spiritia to literally morph into the respective character of the weapon she is selecting.

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There's been more talk about RKS over on 2ch. Our resident reporter has informed me that of all the random things to come up, someone attempted to do a full run of the game using only "pea-shooter" shots, or only uncharged buster shots. Funnily enough, he did not have the patience to defeat the Cross Wall, the Spider, and the Yellow Devil in this manner. There was also talk of a glitch in which the game will bug out if you defeat Sichte during a Time Stop while in mid-air as Grolla. I tried to replicate it as best I could, and the one instance in which I actually succeeded, I did not encounter such a bug. I'll try my best to replicate the method.

By the way, I made a picture for linking and such over there underneath the [erka:es] one. You can use it for linking here.

RKS Popularity Poll Results

And the popularity poll ends! The fans have spoken, and the winner of the poll is the Princess of Permafrost, Freudia Neuwahl with 25 votes. Our original heroines, Grolla Seyfarth and Spiritia Rosenberg, trailed behind her with 17 and 14 votes, respectively. Poor Raimund and Michael, our Castlevania clones, just couldn't get a break this time and were beaten out by a bunch of little girls with amazing scores of 0. It's a shame, really.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll!

RosenkreuzStilette Music Mod

As heard in my last mod video, I'm currently experimenting with a music replacement mod for RKS. It's not that I don't enjoy the music already put in the game; I just think it would be neat to change the soundtrack up a bit. Check out these two videos, and let me know what you think so far.





Last day for Double-Cross entries. Also, last day for voting.

Double-Cross Extension

I am extending the deadline for the Double-Cross challenge. The new deadline is now Monday, March 23, 2009 at 2:00 AM EST. This will give the lot of you the weekend to work on a replay. And people, it doesn't matter to me or anyone else how good the replay is. I want to see where everyone stands as RKS players. Just do what you can and submit a replay. It doesn't matter if you finish in 2 minutes, it doesn't matter if you finish in 2 hours. I want to see you try. That's all that matters in these challenges. Give it your best shot, even if you know you're going to lose. You may surprise yourself and other people by doing something they never thought to do, or maybe this will simply give you the practice you need to succeed. Don't give up! Concentrate!

And good luck, everyone.

RKS Popularity Poll

Courtesy of MicroPoll, I've added a poll over there on the right. Not sure how well it'll work, but hey, it's something.

We all have a favorite RosenkreuzStilette character, right? Well, now it's time to cast your vote to see which one is the best! Will you vote for the fair heroine or her icy rival? The bomber beauty or the busty Brando? Leviathan's long lost twin or "ero-Toad Man"? Is this making any sense to you guys? No matter. GO VOTE. And submit an entry to the challenge already. One isn't enough. You'll need practice and drive if you want to win the prize for the next challenge!

Further Assistance Required

I've received more than one instant message claiming that my challenges are evil. So I uploaded this for you guys.

Here's a set of replays that I made a while back. In them, I defeat the Cross Wall with both Spiritia and Grolla without taking damage. Use this as a reference. Are there better ways of handling it? Yes, especially with Tia. I just wanted to give you guys a little help, considering everyone finds the Cross Wall so impossible. :3

And if you don't remember how to download things from the RKS Uploader, here's Luste again.

RKS Challenge 006: Double-Cross

Challenge #07 will have a cash prize. Just throwing that out there. Today's Physical Challenge is called Double-Cross! Already shuddering at the sound of it? I hope so, because this will probably be the most fun one yet.



Enter the password, and head straight to the only available stage. Beat Sepperin Stage 1. As soon as Spiritia teleports off-screen, pause the game and end it, saving your replay.

Conditions:
- During the stage, the only powers you are allowed to use are Eins, Zwei, and Geister Wand.
- You must buster-duel the Cross Wall.
- You cannot slide (except when necessary to progress).
- Any damage taken will add 5 seconds to your time.

Now, do the same thing as Grolla.

Conditions:
- Any damage taken will add 10 seconds to your time.

Best total time wins!

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



1) Name the .rpy files whatever you want, ZIP both of them, and upload the zip here. (Note: Please make sure your replay is in a .zip archive.)
2) Enter "Double-Cross" in the comment box.
3) Click here to upload the file.

Please leave a comment with your name and the number of your upload. Good night. Good luck. And Go. Beyond. Go Beyond.

RKS Availability

Availability of RosenkreuzStilette in its physical form seems pretty much few and far between. Paletweb, pretty much one of the only places to purchase doujin software without venturing into kanji territory, has been sold out of the game for months now. I've been on their waiting list, trying to snag my own copy of the game, for so long, I had finally decided to ask a friend of mine in Japan to get me a copy from there and send it to me. This is a disappointing turn of events, especially for those of us who do wish to purchase doujin software (and honestly, this number should be higher than it is, especially for a quality game like RosenkreuzStilette). Therefore, I'm currently trying to think of a way to sell copies of RKS through this blog. As long as there are copies (and according to my source, they really aren't super-rare), I would like to get my hands on them so they can be sold to the people that want to play this awesome game, so that [erka:es] can get what they rightfully deserve.

We'll see how this pans out. Do any of the Schwer and Schwer Alike readers support this endeavor?

It looks like sperm.

I wish I was making that line up. Once again, another page of this mysterious doujinshi has appeared on the RKS uploader. Everything is incredibly vague, and honestly, I can't really think of what's going on or who the author could possibly be. Oh well, we'll just be on the lookout for more pages. By the way, WOMI made an update in the staff blog today. Something about enjoying metal music. He also revealed that he updated the page for Spiritia and didn't post about it, because he was feeling lazy. I can stand by this guy.

Oh, also.

Big-Breasted Tia and Why Freudia Sucks

So this one slipped by me. Apparently, [erka:es] updated the last slot of the RKS Freudenstachel character page with a picture of Spiritia. Everyone seems to have gotten a boob job for the upcoming sequel (except for Luste, who is still flat as a pancake of justice, and possibly Schwer, who for all we know could be a boy), and I'm not really sure why. Sex sells, I guess, and I know WOMI's got a thing for enormous chests (featured on his incredibly NWS website), so maybe it's not all that far-fetched.

Everyone who has played the Freudenstachel demo, be they from this side of the Pacific or that, can pretty much agree on one thing: Freudia, as a playable character, sucks. She takes as much damage as Grolla, deals as much damage as the pea shooter Seele Gewehr, and has no special abilities to speak of (such as being Grolla). People on 2ch are currently wondering what in the world Freudia's going to get to make playing as her not a chore. Most of the ideas seem to revolve around special weapons she'll get from bosses, which include clones of weapons like Megaman X's Chill Penguin weapon "Shotgun Ice", Megaman X2's Crystal Snail weapon "Crystal Hunter", Megaman X3's Blizzard Buffalo weapon "Frost Shield", or even Megaman 1's Ice Man weapon "Ice Slasher". Other ideas include a suitable Beat clone (maybe Strudel will prove to be better than Lilli) or a hovering mechanic a la Megaman X4's Boots upgrade. Or maybe she'll just be terrible, and no, Freudenzwinger isn't enough to make her worthwhile. Don't get me wrong, I love Freudia as a character, but let's face it. The surgeon that did her boob job must have taken out something that made her good, because she just doesn't have it. A pity, really. :(

Here's hoping!