STELLAVANITY - Prelude to the Destined Calamity -

STELLAVANITY - Prelude to the Destined Calamity -
STELLAVANITY - Prelude to the Destined Calamity - is a "bullet hell RPG" released in 2012 by the developer TRIS-GRAM, under the doujin circle Feathered Ether. The game has undergone significant changes since the release of its demo in addition to a number of updates. The current version 1.23 was released in January 2022. The game features 2 characters each with a easy to learn "C-type" and a complex "S-type". There are six difficulty modes. Unique to the game is the ability to rank up in a run, making patterns harder in addition to suicide bullets.

The game's further development along with all other content from the developer has been frozen as of March 2022, following an incident whose details will not be elaborated upon in this article. On April 14th, 2022 the game was temporarily removed from sale; it was relisted one week later.

Controls
Controls are distinguished by type. Controls can be remapped. This description uses the default keyboard controls.

Type-C Controls


 * Z: Fire
 * Space: Bomb
 * X (Tap): Discharge
 * X (Hold): Accelerated Hyper
 * F: Slowed movement button

Type-S Controls


 * Z: Fire
 * Space: Bomb
 * Space (Hold): Bomb Hyper
 * Assault: Toggles Assault, double tap to toggle auto-assault. Auto Assault is on by Default
 * A(Tap): Delayed Shift
 * A(Hold): Ethereal Shift
 * C: Blade.
 * F: Slowed movement button

Unlockable Secrets
This game has a shop and multiple final bosses based on rank and difficulty.

Type-S Explanation



 * 1: Delayed Shift Gauge. Requires at least 50% to activate and will turn blue when ready to use.
 * 2: Two gauges integral to scoring. The upper pink gauge is the Counter Shift gauge. When it is enabled, the level of the Counter Shift is shown at the lower right corner of the screen. The lower green gauge is the overkill combo gauge. After an overkill, a number indicating the current overkill bonus will appear next to this gauge. Keep overkilling enemies to add a multiplier to the overkill value. If the gauge empties, the combo will end, signified by the overkill value turning gray.
 * 3: Lives
 * 4: Bombs
 * 5: Ethereal Shift Gauge. Requires at least 50% to activate and will turn yellow when ready to use.
 * 6 Blade Gauge.
 * 7: The character's stats
 * 8+9+10: UI addons that display additional information about the run. Not available by default, but can be bought in the shop.

Type-S has a wide variety of tools to both survive and score. Type-S characters retain their normal and focus fire, bombs, bomb conversion and Overdrive from Type-C. Two additional weapons available only in Type-S are Assault and Blade.

Assault is a lock-on laser attack usable on all non-popcorn enemies. Locks are obtained by hitting such enemies with the central part of the character's shot. There is a maximum number of available locks at once, which differs depending on the character. By default, auto-assault is enabled, allowing automatic usage of Assault whenever shot is held down. This can be disabled in favor of manual Assault usage by pressing the Assault button, and re-enabled by double tapping the Assault button in manual mode.

Blade is a short range melee attack. Using it requires spending a portion of the Blade gauge depending on the character. Pressing the button multiple times will trigger a multi-attack Blade combo. The number of possible attacks in the Blade combo (ranging from 1 to 3) depends on the Blade level, which is determined by the amount of Blade gauge available and is viewable at the bottom right corner of the screen. Large enemies and bosses at low health can be targeted for a Raid by pressing the Blade button at the right time, denoted by "RAID OK" appearing at the bottom right corner and a jingle sound playing. Raiding causes the character to swiftly move to the enemy's position, execute a level 3 blade combo regardless of Blade gauge status, and then return to their previous location, all the while becoming invincible for the attack's entire duration. Afterwards, the Blade gauge will turn red and slowly drain, disabling both Blade and Raid until it reaches 0.

Type-S has 2 exclusive "shifts" or hypers. Both shifts disable overkilling upon activation and end overkill combos upon running out, but can be cancelled early by pressing their buttons again, at the cost of half the remaining gauge.

Delayed Shift (kakusei) - This shift spawns more enemies, slows down all bullets on the screen and makes enemies fire more bullets. Killing any enemy during Delayed Shift converts their bullets (other than suicide bullets, if any) into gems.

Entering Delayed Shift also enables a special Counter Shift. During Delayed Shift, all gems collected charge the Counter Shift and increase its level. Higher levels increase the value of future gems collected during that Delayed Shift. When Delayed Shift runs out or is cancelled normally, it releases an energy wave that clears bullets in an area around the player and damages enemies whose bullets were cancelled. Damage and cancel area increases with Counter Shift level, to the point of clearing the entire screen at the maximum level of 3. During boss fights, the Counter Shift slowly charges automatically and will always clear the entire screen of bullets when released. Bombing during Delayed Shift cancels the shift without creating a Counter Shift, but retains the full amount of Delayed Shift meter at the time of cancellation.

Ethereal Shift powers up both Blade and Assault. Assault becomes automatic rapid fire against all enemies and cannot be turned off. The blade gauge will also become infinite, allowing the player to spam Blade combos. However, Raid will be disabled. During Ethereal Shift, a lot more enemies will spawn. These enemies spawn from an independent wave based on how long you've been in Ethereal Shift. Killing these enemies spawns a large number of coins. When Ethereal Shift ends, a large portion of the Blade gauge will be drained. Getting hit during Ethereal Shift ends it early and spends a bomb to prevent life loss if one is available. Getting hit this way will still count as a hit for TLB and rank requirements, however.

Overkilling
Medium and large enemies enter an 'overkilled' state if their HP is reduced to 0 with either Assault or Blade attacks while not in either Shift. During this state, they do not move or fire bullets. Doing further damage to overkilled enemies increases both shift gauges and is central to the scoring system. This state is known to end when either: a Raid attack completes (including if a Raid would put enemies into the overkill state), or, once Assault attacks cease striking the enemies.

The player can also overkill stage bosses if they reduce the current phase's HP to 0 during Ethereal Shift, leading to a special overkill phase (marked by a special sound, the background reddening, and the boss' bottom health bar filling with a gray color instead of a red one). During the overkill phase (called a Counter Burst in-game), the boss will use a harder version of the current phase's pattern, which becomes more difficult the longer it goes, via increasing the velocity of all bullets spawned (with different rates depending on difficulty). The overkill phase continues until the player takes a hit or their Ethereal Shift runs out. There is no long-term survival consequence to taking a hit during this overkill phase, as the player will not lose any bombs or lives. Furthermore, the game does not register this as a hit for calculating TLB and rank requirements.

Routes
The game is comprised of 7 areas, of which at least 5 must be played: two out of the first 4, then 5, 6 and 7. For the first 4 areas, the route is chosen by the player as follows:

- At the start of the game either area 1 or 2 may be chosen. - After every area the player typically advances 2 stages, with some exceptions: -- Area 5 onward cannot be skipped. -- After area 1, area 4 can be chosen. -- After area 2, area 3 can be chosen. - If the player qualified for a rank up in the last area (see ): -- The player is allowed to play the next area, regardless of the previous rule. -- The rank up is accepted by playing the next area. If there is no other area to choose, the rank up cannot be rejected.

List of routes
(Stages in bold change the route's rank depending on qualification)

Rank
Orthogonal to the difficulty selection is rank, a value increased during the run that incrementally increases bullet speed and boss health, adds revenge bullets and gives extra phases to some bosses.

Rank starts at 0 and is increased by meeting a hit (type C) or score (type S) threshold during one of the first 4 areas, which will show "QUALIFIED" at the end of the area and force the next one to be playable, which raises rank when accepted, up to a maximum of 4. The maximum rank in the first 4 areas is "Area Number -1", and the rank up condition changes depending if the player currently is at maximum rank or below maximum rank.

Type C conditions
For type C, rank ups are always based on the number of hits taken during the stage:

Type S conditions
If the player is at maximum rank, the conditions are based on total score:

If player is not at maximum rank, the condition only depends on the current stage's score and is determined by the current rank, not stage:

Rank 4-EX
If the player takes the 1-2-3-4 route, thus playing all stages, they will be at rank 3 in stage 4. However, not qualifying here will still raise rank to 4 entering stage 5. Instead, qualifying will raise rank to 4-EX, denoted as an orange 4 in the HUD. By exceeding certain stage hit thresholds, this rank can exceptionally be lost, returning to rank 4 for the remainder of the game.

During rank 4-EX, enemy patterns are faster, more suicide bullets are released and these suicide bullets are faster. Boss fights in area 5 and 6 are unaffected.

After the doors open on stage 7 the game becomes significantly harder and rank 4-EX cannot be lost anymore.

Last Bosses
StellaVanity features three different ending bosses: two Fake Last Bosses (FLBs) and one True Last Boss (TLB), one of which may appear after the regular stage 7 boss, Core Unit, if certain conditions are met.

For all ranks other than 4-EX, the FLBs may be fought depending on difficulty, rank and total hits, with Elm Order (FLB A) having looser requirements than Vier Dummy (FLB B). The boss is locked in at the start of the Core Unit fight, so the player can get hit and even use continues freely after that point, though after Core Unit only 1 continue may be used.

Type-S conditions
* 2-4 route required to face Elm Order at rank 0

TLB
The TLB proper, Vier, can only be fought on Rank 4-EX, appearing at any hit count. Vier is significantly harder than the FLBs, and requires nearly all of one's resources to defeat. She has resistances to both Ethereal Shift and Blade/Raid attacks, albeit not to the level of FLB A (Elm Order).

Type-S Scoring
This section aims to explain the basics of the scoring system for Type-S. Scoring strategies differ between Story Mode and Rule Mode. There are exceptions to tips describe in this section. The most important part of scoring is overkilling enemies which increases all sources of points. There are other aspects of the scoring system which are explained below.

Stages
Overkill Chain: Will likely always be active during a stage. To manipulate this value attack enemies targets by assault and raid large enemies when possible. Taking a hit breaks your chain. All sources of points derive from the value of this chain making setting a high value the most important mechanic of scoring.

General Strategy for Stages: Going from Ethereal Hyper (Collecting Coins) to Delayed Shift (Recharging Ethereal Shift + Cash in cancels).

Collecting Coins: Coins raise the value of gems (cancels) throughout the stage. Coins drop normally when destroying enemies and have an increased rate during Ethereal Shift. At certain thresholds Coins increase the value of Gems (cancelled bullets).

Multiplier Gains: Multiplier gains depends on a variety of factors but in general increases when you destroy enemies with a high overkill chain.

Ethereal Shift: During Ethereal Shift your Blade use is unlimited, if possible, you can stay at that top the screen to destroy enemies as they come. Enemies defeated explode removing bullets in a small radius around them.

Delayed Shift: Destroyed enemies cancel their bullets. Early on in the stage this is primarily used to recharge your Ethereal Shift. Once you’ve reached the White Gem coin threshold Delayed Shift is used to cancel.

Counter Shift: During a delayed shift it is important to charge this up to level 2 – 3 to cancel bullet on the entire screen. Level 2 adds +1 Gem Level to your Cancel, Level 3 adds +2 Gem Level to your cancel.

Overkill Bug: If raiding a large enemies and bombing, the Blade button can be held to stay in place during the bomb animation. Using more than one bomb is possible but not recommended initially. Cashing in with the overkill bug requires a high overkill and a section where Delayed Shift is used to cancel bullets.

Bosses
General Strategy for Boss fights: Going from Delayed Shift (Cancelling boss patterns) to Ethereal Shift (Activating overkill + raising your overkill chain). Having a high gem values is important.

Raid: All phases should be ended with a raid regardless of whether you have an Ethereal Shift charged up.

Delayed Shift: Should be used at the beginning of the phase to cancel patterns and recharge ethereal shift. Counter Shift: Counter Shift charges up based on time you’ve spend in Delayed Shift during a boss fight. Counter Shift will always cancel bullets on the entire screen.

Ethereal Shift: Should be used at the end of a phase, if you have it charged up you can raid and hold the Ethereal Shift button. Ethereal Shift will activate during the raid extending the current phase.

Overkilling: Occurs during an Ethereal Shift once the boss HP reaches 0. Continue attacking the boss for more points. Higher points are awards if Blade attacks connect.

Practice Mode



 * 1: Game mode.
 * 2: Character and type.
 * 3: Difficulty.
 * 4: Area name.
 * 5: Rank.
 * 6: Starting position. The default is stage start. You can select every mid boss or area boss.
 * 7: Power level.
 * 8: Auto guard.
 * 9: Start practice.
 * 10:	Back to previous menu.

Notes:
 * Only Story & Rule Mode are selectable (e.g. not Strict Rule)
 * Practice for areas 1 to 4 are unlocked from the start (areas 5 to 7 must be unlocked via the system shop).
 * Rank selection in areas is restricted to what is possible in a normal credit (e.g. Rank 3 cannot be selected for area 1).
 * FLBs and TLB practice must be unlocked.
 * Power level starts from the base stats of the selected character, and increases them in steps which are highly variable depending on difficulty & character.
 * Practice Mode, unlike regular attempts, allows for the use of Auto Guard in Nightmare/Pandemonium.

Shop menu
All shop translations provided by Legless & SMayfield (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V4SBVxB6rQ7I7TXx2a6o_8BVP20YPbble7Q0OGsEg6c/edit?usp=sharing).

System shop

Item shop

Some items have effects that are exclusive to Type-C or Type-S.

Type-S exclusive item effects:

Assault (homing missiles on Lemulene and straight beams on Azerlete)

Blade

Gauge

Delayed/Counter Shift (Espgaluda-esque Hyper)

Ethereal Shift (Other Hyper that can extend boss timers, makes your Assault powerful, and allows infinite blading)

Type-C exclusive item effects:

Discharge (“shotgun” attack)

Accel Drive (“hyper”)

Custom shop

Some items have effects that are exclusive to Type-C or Type-S.

Type-S exclusive item effects:

Assault (homing missiles on Lemulene and straight beams on Azerlete)

Blade

Gauge

Delayed/Counter Shift (Espgaluda-esque Hyper)

Ethereal Shift (Other Hyper that can extend boss timers, makes your Assault powerful, and allows infinite blading)

Type-C exclusive item effects:

Discharge (“shotgun” attack)

Accel Drive (“hyper”)