Line #24 VideoGame/Symphony


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/symphony_game_image.png]]
2	->''Your music is under attack. You must liberate it.''
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4	In the veins of ''VideoGame/{{Audiosurf}}'' and ''VideoGame/BeatHazard'', ''Symphony'' is an indie game that generates its levels by analyzing your own music. However, unlike ''Audiosurf'', ''Symphony'' is a scrolling [[ShootEmUp shooter]] and has a plot. Created by Empty Clip Studios in 2012, the game runs on the [=RapidFire=] Engine, the very same engine used by the developer's previous big game, ''Groovin' Blocks'' for UsefulNotes/WiiWare (and later UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} with a retail release). The graphics are abstract, smooth, and have a translucent feel, emphasizing pure shape and color over texture, and the interface is very basic and simple, both qualities of ''Groovin' Blocks''.
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6	The plot goes that an unknown entity suddenly decides to assault your precious music collection (and the included soundtrack), and you must defeat it by freeing the souls of five great composers, stopping something called the Symphony of Souls from allowing this entity to cause havoc. It isn't an especially deep plot, but it's still notable due to the lack of plots in games like this. That, and the entity is pretty interesting; he appears by taking up the whole screen, glaring at you with his GlowingEyesOfDoom, and speaking in a voice that randomly modulates between a normal, tenor-voiced man to a deep, distorted, growly tone. [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou And then proceeds to talk directly to you, the player, often taunting and threatening you.]]
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8	The gameplay is tight, but how intense it is depends on literally how intense the track is. The more intense the music gets, the quicker and trickier the enemies move. This is also relative to the track; if you put in a quiet one, the most-intense parts of that track will register as the higher intensity mode in the game. The scoring is also different from other shooters. Whereas most shooters give you points for destroying enemies, the enemies drop the points on the field when defeated. Meaning you have to go over and pick them up before they fade away, or you won't score the points. Which is hard when there are tons of enemies on the field almost constantly. Add to this the fact that you lose a considerable amount of points when you die (you otherwise have infinite lives), and you've got a true challenge on higher difficulties.
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10	Your ship has four slots for a range of weapons, each of which can be pivoted to aim a different direction. Each time you beat a different track, you can unlock a new weapon (these will be repeated after a point). You can then upgrade these weapons (all but your starting blasters) by spending both normal points (Inspiration) and points earned by reaching point targets. However, you can also get "[[RandomlyDrops Furia weapons]]", stronger versions of the normal kind, that do more damage, but consequently cost more to upgrade. Another thing to note about weapons is that the stronger your ship, the lower the score multiplier at the end for the leaderboards. Seeing as enemies' defenses increase with difficulty, though, good luck trying to get a multiplier above a fraction. Your real Inspiration and Kudos are unaffected, though, and you earn more Kudos on higher difficulties.
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12	Until you beat the game, occasionally, a boss might barge into a track, staying in that track if you decide to quit or lose against it. You fight a boss three times, in three separate tracks, until you clear a page of the Symphony of Souls. The boss gets harder each time, naturally, and the next boss you fight after one set has different tactics. Oh, [[TimedMission and you're timed]], [[JustifiedTrope but this IS a music game]], so it makes sense. And you don't get to submit your score to the leaderboards on that song the first time through either; this is probably because the boss drops a TON of Inspiration after you defeat it.
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14	----
15	!!'''Tropes surfed over by this game include:'''
16	* OneHundredPercentCompletion: Defined by the game as killing all of the enemies. Not to be confused with a perfect game, which is defined at 100% completion without dying. (The two do tend to go hand-in-hand, though--unless you died at the very beginning of a lull in the song, you're going to miss some enemies while you're respawning.) There are separate achievements for getting 100% and getting a perfect game on each difficulty except [[EasierThanEasy Pianissimo]].
17	* AndIMustScream: The fate of the composers that are turned into demons. Luckily you can free them.
18	* AutobotsRockOut: This can happen if a boss appears during an intense song.
19	* BigBad: The being that mocks you throughout the game.
20	* BulletHell: At higher difficulties and/or with the right music.
21	* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: One of the first things the game tells you is not to worry about dying, since you've got infinite lives. The only consequences for dying are losing points and breaking your bonus chain.
22	* DisneyAcidSequence: Sometimes the visual effects are like this.
23	* DimensionLord: The BigBad.
24	* EldritchAbomination: Whatever the BigBad is, he is very alien and without a physical form.
25	* EpicRocking: You can play with songs of any length. Yes, even those over ten minutes, thanks to an update.
26	* EverythingDances: The enemies spawn and fire to the beat of the music and your fire rate increases when the song gets more intense.
27	* EvilSoundsDeep: Whatever its voice changes to, the BigBad's voice sounds deep.
28	* ExcusePlot: This being and its forces are invading your music, to take over your universe! Strange angle for universal domination, but hey it's an excuse to shoot stuff to your music.
29	* GratuitousItalian: The names of nearly all of the achievements (e.g., "Sostenuto", "Col Pugno", "Ostinato", etc.) are Italian, reflecting the fact that most classical musical terms come from Italian.
30	* HumansAreFlawed: The BigBad believes this, mostly for humanity having a physical form even though they are intelligent. But...
31	* HumansAreSpecial: ...These very things intrigue him about humanity.
32	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Using musical notations for loudness, from softest (easiest) to loudest (hardest): [[EasierThanEasy Pianissimo]], Piano[[note]][[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant no, not the instrument]]; "piano" means "soft" in sheet music notation[[/note]], Mezzo-piano, Mezzo-forte, Forte, and [[HarderThanHard Fortissimo]].
33	* MarathonLevel: Any EpicRocking song. The game used to have a maximum song length of 10 minutes, but a patch removed this limit, meaning you can treat yourself to a half-hour prog rock level whenever you want.
34	* MetaMultiplayer: In the form of leaderboards. Notably, your leaderboard score (calculated separately from your real score) actually increases if you play with a weaker ship, and vice versa, as a way to make sure that the people on the leaderboards are players who are genuinely skilled at the game and not just people who've played long enough to unlock all the rare, powerful weapons.
35	* MinimalistRun: There's an achievement for getting 0% completion on a level, which [[SheatheYourSword requires you to not shoot anything]].
36	* MultiversalConqueror: The BigBad at times claims to be this.
37	* MusicalAssassin: Both you and your enemies' firepower increases during the more intense parts of the song. Shown when the graphics become a more intense color.
38	* NintendoHard: Good luck trying to get any of the Kudos multipliers on Forte or above difficulty.
39	* OrchestralBombing: If you choose to play such a song.
40	* {{Power Up}}s: Grabbing notes repairs your ship, and lightning bolts upgrades one of your weapons. There are also a couple of unlockable power ups, including bombs and invincibility.
41	* ScoringPoints: You get two scores at the end of each level. Your true score is simply how much Inspiration you collected over the level (minus 2,500 points for each time you died) and determines how many Kudos you get. Your leaderboard score is your true score with a difficulty modifier; you get more points on higher difficulties and your multiplier increases the weaker your ship is.
42	* ShootEmUp
43	* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: The BigBad speaks and taunts to you before and after you face a boss, and other times throughout the game.
44	* ThePowerOfRock: Whenever you play a rock song. Unlike ''Beat Hazard'', you don't need to play an intense song in order to use more firepower.
45	* TakingYouWithMe: There are enemies which let off a blast when they die, which can cause an unaware player a quick death.
46	* TimedMission: When a boss appears, you have to beat it within a certain amount of time (usually shortly before the song ends), or else it'll escape and you'll have to try the level over again.
47	* TronLines: ''Everything'' is made of these.
48	* AWinnerIsYou: When you defeat the final boss and free the last composer, the being curses you for thwarting its plans, you're congratulated for beating the game, and dumped back to the usual results screen.

Context VideoGame / Symphony