NOISZ STΔRLIVHT/Gameplay

NOISZ STΔRLIVHT is a mobile game, and so differs in gameplay to NOISZ, making use of a touchscreen rather than keys to move. It follows the same visual novel structure that NOISZ does, and songs are still a hybrid of rhythm and bullet hell. The bullet hell aspect remains largely the same - ie, bullet patterns you must dodge onscreen. Instead of shooting and shielding on the beat, you tap notes on the touchscreen.

# Playing the Game

## Gameplay

The four diamonds at the bottom are the buttons, and they are used to interact with all notes but slash notes. The area above the note indicator line is the character movement area, and tapping it will move the character to that area quickly; tapping and dragging will move the character around precisely. The character's hitbox—the area that will cause damage if touching a bullet—is a small heart over the character.

If the movement area is not being interacted, the character will default to staying in an area in the lower centre referred to as the "dock"; if they are anywhere other than the dock and the player takes their finger off the screen, the character will snap back to the dock, and will be invincible for the duration of movement. This is called a RS-Dash in-game. If staying in the dock means a character will come to harm, a yellow and black circle will appear around them immediately before a hazardous section.

## Songs

The structure of gameplay is a song, broken up into verses; during the song, the player must dodge bullets and lasers aimed at them by the boss associated with the song, and tap/interact with notes in a timely manner. Most songs have 3 or 4 verses, and during the beginning of each verse, the character's HP will refill to full, and the verse combo will reset. HP reaching 0 results in a Game Over, with the exceptions of practice Mode and Angel Mode (where HP is infinite) and certain styles.

The pause menu can be found in the top left of the screen, and they have three options from there: they may:

* Continue: Continue the song with a 4-beat lead-in.
* Restart: Restart the song. This will be unavailable if COINZ have been spent on the song.
* Retreat: End the song. Nothing will be rewarded if the song is ended that way, and Verse Stars will not be saved.

The objective of a song is to survive all verses as cleanly as possible; tapping/interacting with notes will do damage to the boss under most conditions. A verse is considered cleared if a boss' healthbar is entirely drained by the end of it. If the player drains it before the verse ends, any additional damage is considered Overflow damage as a percentage of the boss' full healthbar; for example, reaching 100.00% Overflow damage means twice the boss' full health was done by the end of the verse, and that verse's total Overflow will be saved.

Each song also has Total Overflow, which is the Overflow of each verse added up; this is relevant for certain scoring.

## Combo

Combo is shared between both the rhythm and bullet hell sections; the player can keep up a combo by dodging all boss attacks successfully and tapping all notes in the right timeframe. If the player succeeds in keeping up full combos in either verse or song, a greater score and rank will be achieved on the song; a full combo for a single verse awards a Verse Star, which is permanent through all plays of that song. The song doesn't have to be successfully cleared for it to stay there, either; it's specific to verse only.

## Story

The gameplay is backed up by the story mode; songs may be played freely and without limit, though songs also feature as part of the story mode. Story plays out in the style of a visual novel, with occasional dialogue choices that impact certain details of the main story, but the central plot will always play out the same way.

Story chapters require characters to be certain levels to unlock, which can be raised through gameplay. In addition, the story part of the game has Area Conversations, which aren't vital to the story, but detail various conversations between the main characters of the game, providing insight into their daily lives. They are semi-random, and refresh between songs; the icons over an active Area Conversation show who is part of the conversation.

# Gameplay Modes

While songs can be played normally, the player can under certain conditions play songs in different ways, be it to vary gameplay, or for assistance should they struggle. The gameplay can be split roughly into freeplay, event play and story play. Freeplay can be done without limit, though the player can spend COINZ to gain certain benefits while playing.

## Practice Mode

Practice Mode is available only during freeplay; in Practice Mode, the player is immune to lethal damage and can start playing from any Verse they choose. However, scores are not saved, and no rewards are given upon completion (no items or experience points).

## Angel Mode

Angel Mode is specific to the Easy difficulty, and can be turned on if the player struggles to finish a song; it functions the same way as Practice Mode, though will allow the story to be progressed. However, it will not count as a clear for the sake of Story Mode song clears, much like Practice mode. Playing on Angel Mode grants Bond Level experience but not Style Level experience.

## Challenge Mode

Challenge Mode requires NOISZ STΔRLIVHT/COINZ to play (a minimum of one), and can be accessed either during Events or if a folder's Club Pass has been purchased, which enables Challenge Mode for all songs in that folder.

On starting Challenge Mode, you will be presented with a random selection of 3 challenges, each with varying difficulties and rewards. You can choose to play in one challenge, or you can back out and play normally - though if you back out, the COINZ spent is not refunded. Currently, the challenge rewards are a multiplier on the item drop rate and experience gained.

Possible challenges include:

These challenges are not yet confirmed exhaustive. Since challenges are randomly chosen, it's possible there is a challenge players have never seen; feel free to add a challenge that is not listed.

\*This challenge was not intended to be added to the Challenge Mode pool and will be removed from it in a future update.