/jp/ - Otaku Culture

[Anonymous No.]

Hi, /jp/. Crossboard /k/ommando here.
Some time ago, I asked you about Touhou and you've recommended me to start with PCB.
I finally got the time to try it. (I'll skip the part where I tried to figure out how to shoot, it's kind of embarassing.)

1. When I played for the first time (first time after discovering the Z button), I got my ass handed to me by Letty. Twice. I was ashamed, but clicked on "continue". Then Chen appeared and kicked the shit out of my remaining 3 continues even before using a spellcard. I felt horrible.

2. A hour and half later, I thought was getting into it, but Youmu... vaporized me. I suppose the way to play this is in a ... strange eyeview, where you are aware of the speed and move pattern of nearest threats. A few times I managed to achieve this for a moment and succesfully evade patterns that would kill me otherwise, but ... my head hurts. Will practice help or I'm doomed to failure?

3. I know this is a stupid question, but are they other control buttons than Z, X and Shift? Also, is moving focused most of the time better or should I refrain from getting used to it? And is there any way to practice later levels after lvl. 4 without starting a new game? I mean, the practice mode lets me play lvl. 1-3 (I think), but now I need to practice evading Youmu's patterns.

4. It's mindfucking. I thought it would be, but the fact that sometimes about 70% of screen is filled with big and little shiny things whose only purpose is to either kill me or block my way and get me killed by something else is driving me paranoid.

Also, is there only one bomb "type" (homing / rapidfire) for each character, or am I missing something?

Thanks for answering another bunch of stupid questions.

[Suigin !YUsuiginy. No.]

>are they other control buttons than Z, X and Shift?
no

>is moving focused most of the time better or should I refrain from getting used to it?
it depends on the pattern, on really closed spaces you should focus

>And is there any way to practice later levels after lvl. 4 without starting a new game? I mean, the practice mode lets me play lvl. 1-3 (I think), but now I need to practice evading Youmu's patterns.
uh...you should be able to unlock them after you beat the levels for the first time

>4. It's mindfucking. I thought it would be, but the fact that sometimes about 70% of screen is filled with big and little shiny things whose only purpose is to either kill me or block my way and get me killed by something else is driving me paranoid.
It happens at first, it won't be so bad when you get used to it

>Also, is there only one bomb "type" (homing / rapidfire) for each character, or am I missing something?
Focused bombs tend to attack an enemy in the screen directly
Unfocused bombs are a spread type bomb that clear the whole screen

[Anonymous No.]

1. Practice.
2. Practice will help.
3. Well, obviously the arrow keys...
Use both, and get used to switching between them often. As a general rule, you use focus more when fighting the boss.
Level 4 should be unlocked if you faced Youmu. Once you finish a stage, you can practice it.
4. Practice.
5. There are 2 bombs for every character, depending on whether you bomb in focused or unfocused mode.
Any future questions: reference touhou.wikia.com

[Anonymous No.]

I recommend buying a controller to play it with, it's definitely a lot better than a keyboard. Of course a few people will disagree though.

[Anonymous No.]

PCB has one of the hardest easy modes in the series. It's almost as hard as Imperishable Night normal. Go play that first if you're getting discouraged. EoSD is good too, though the system mechanics are pretty brutal compared to the rest of the games.

[Anonymous No.]

Not OP, but how much time did you guys spend practicing? I usually try about 3 runs a day and I haven't improved much.

[Anonymous No.]

I believe the practice stages you unlock are based on the last stage you cleared without needing to use a continue.

>Also, is moving focused most of the time better or should I refrain from getting used to it?
If you aren't a hardcore STG fan aiming for high scores, there's nothing wrong with using focus most of the time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985842
>Of course a few people will disagree though.
If by a few people you mean 90% of the people on /jp/ who actually play the games. It simply takes longer to move the stick from one side to the other than it does to press a different button. Controllers are worse. Don't give bad advice just because you got used to a controller.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985842
>>2985863
Neither of you are the entirety of /jp/, stop acting like everybody shares your opinion.

[Anonymous No.]

Playing on a harder difficulty then going back to the easier one may help, course for lunatic you need to graze bullets in real life to get good at it.

[Anonymous No.]

OP here, thanks a lot.

>>2985836
>uh...you should be able to unlock them after you beat the levels for the first time
I guess that's it. I haven't beaten the 4 when I was looking in the practice mode's level's selection.

>>2985852
Uh, I'm not exactly getting discouraged and the Normal is at least challenging.
I don't like playing easy, be it whatever.

[Anonymous No.]

Practice on EoSD normal. Some of the spell cards will tear your ass into pieces but otherwise it's pretty good to start out with and practice. If you get good at EoSD, you'll probably be able to take on the rest.

[Suigin !YUsuiginy. No.]

>>2985872
this helps

[Anonymous No.]

op hear, found a cool site yo
http://www.Anom - m + nTalk.com/
fdoj5jkgfht2i4ffgi xbofmf mrcvi

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985858
You actually using practice mode, or just running through the game hoping to get better?

Practice mode helps a lot. You can go right to what gives you trouble and possibly find something you didn't notice before.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985861
So the time staying focused affects score?
(Not like I would give a shit until I can at least beat the game on Normal... but still.)

[Anonymous No.]

Learn to deathbomb.

If you manage to never die with bombs left, you will automatically get to at least the final stage.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985919
It definitely does in PCB. IN is a bit different because of the human/phantom system, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

iirc, unfocused shots build up the cherry value much faster than focused shots, so you get border bonuses more often.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985973
Holy fuck I've already beaten PCB on hard and never knew this.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985918
I remember practicing Youmu for 6 hours until I could beat her without using more than one bomb.
On normal

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985919
On PCB scorers are required to graze unfocused, especially during borders.

MoF Normal is rather forgiving and easy, but will help you a lot to build up your bombing reflexes. I suggest that for a new player. Watch other people's replays, see how they handle cards, some cards are nigh-impossible when you don't utilize a particular gimmick and very easy when you do. It also helps immensely if you know cards you can't handle and bomb those right off the bat - Youmu's hell sword cards should be the prime example, they're ridiculously difficult and should be bombed by all but the most skilled players.

[Anonymous No.]

Focusing is intended to be easier. You move slower so it's easier to control and you can see your hitbox. If you can get good enough, it is better to stay as unfocused as possible. If you can move faster you can dodge more bullets; assuming your skill lets you pull it off, of course. You can also avoid entire clusters of bullets if you're unfocused, good luck trying that focused (I tend to do this against Chen and Cirno (EoSD). Fuck trying to go through those triangular bullet clusters, it's easier to go around them). Practice staying unfocused and only focus when you need it.

Score wise, unfocused is always better. You gain more cherry when firing focused (you gain NO cherry against non-boss enemies while focused and reduced cherry against bosses), gain more points while grazing unfocused, can get falling pickups more easily, and can rush up to the PoC.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985919 If you can get good enough, it is better to stay as unfocused as possible.

This is bad advice, and you should feel bad.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985968
Excuse me... I don't think I actually understand what you said.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986356
He probably means that most games give you so many resources that you can bomb your way through a majority of the game.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986149
To clarify a bit.

Unfocused versus focused alters the "speed at which you get Cherry", which in turn alters the "time at which you get a Border". One of the methods of increasing your max cherry - and therefore your potential score - is grazing bullets in a spellcard while unfocused, with a border up. Altering the "speed" appropriately to get a border at the "time" that you can most effectively use it is a skill that makes or breaks score runs. Simply saying "More cherry = Better" is far from the truth.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986439
I was speaking primarily from a dodging point of view, with the scoring being secondary. Focus makes you go slower but gives you more control. If you could have the same amount of control but at higher speeds, that is clearly better. I've seen people just hold down the focus key in replays and end up getting killed from it. If you don't need to focus you shouldn't. Plus, timing the borders to either maximize score (for a score run) or to use them as a bomb (for survival) is a rather advanced part of the game. I can 1cc PCB normal and I never pay close attention to cherry+. I'm always too busy looking at the damn bullets to maximize score or even to get a border at a place I know I'll have difficulty.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986434
This is pretty much true. If you can get all the extends, deathbomb correctly, and do the first 3 stages without many fuck ups, it really doesn't matter if you're fucking terrible at the last 3 stages. Done right, you should have 8 lives and 24 bombs to split between 3 stages. 1cc'ing, especially on easy and normal, is more about resource management and knowing when to bomb than actual dodging skill.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986502
>extends
>deathbomb

Would you mind eplaining this to me?

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986439
Is that you moozooh?

Anyway, a little late for this but here's a little random run of stage five that may be helpful in figuring out where to move and shoot. If you need any explanations about the workings of the stage or boss or any other part of the game I'll see what I can do.

http://replays.gensokyo.org/download.php?id=4057

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986582
Extends are a fancy name for extra lives.
Deathbombs happen when you press the bomb button right as you die - this way, you hear the death sound, but you use a bomb and stay alive. It's a lot easier on IN, but that makes it too easy.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986582
Extend = extra life.
Deathbomb = bombing after you are hit but before dying. For PCB this window lasts about a tenth of a second but can last about a third of a second if you're using Reimu.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986582
extend: basically one-ups. In PCB you have to collect enough point items (blue boxes). Under graze it shows "Point: X/Y". X is the number you collected, Y is the number you need to get an extend.

deathbomb: if you get hit by a bullet, there's a small time window where you can still bomb and not lose a life. reimu's deathbomb window is longer than marisa or sakuya's.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986635
Only fag would use Reimu in PCB, Sakuya A is a go.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986630
>>2986635
>>2986643
You're unusually eager to help today, /jp/.

>>2986668
Sakuya A is a good beginner's character, but her ease of use is traded off for being bottom-tier in almost every other aspect. Sakuya B, on the other hand, is the exact opposite: She takes a lot of practice to use, but damn if you won't tear shit up once you learn how.

Reimu A really is for fags though. If you can dodge long enough to survive a spellcard with her, it's time to learn to aim and move on to someone who hits harder than a three-year-old.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986497

Even purely from a survival point of view, focusing more is better. Macrododging is only viable in certain specific areas, and even then, it's almost always a much better idea to move only as much as is neccessary to dodge the incoming patterns; a dodge of a few pixels is better than a dodge to the other side of the screen in almost all cases, as you only need to read one area of the screen rather than two. And this is discounting the addional damage (and hence less time needed dodging) from focused fire while staying underneath the boss. Moving quickly is very rarely a good idea, as you have to read bullets faster.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986643
deathbombs would be the bombs you use in IN that use up 2 bombs and do a stronger attack though.
In other games they are counterbombs, although it is possible to counterbomb in IN too.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986681
I'm a Reimu A fag, because it emphasises dodging more than just smashing them to death before they can do too much (Marisa A) and makes pre-bosses a lot simpler too.

To each their own.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986729
In my opinion SakuyaA has a better homing component, while also allowing for huge spread attacks to clear lots of popcorn enemies and getting an extra bomb. The main benefit is the stronger damage on the homing attack.

[Anonymous No.]

In IN there are two kinds of death bombs:
Last spell, which costs 2 bombs and is stronger.
deathbomb, which costs one bomb but need to be excuted before your ears hear the death sound.
check the touhou wiki.

and real man don't use easy modo.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986729
I like ReimuA because it makes the stages easier, possible to defeat more enemies and pick up more point items. The trade-off is, of course, the boss fights being longer.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986799
>and real man don't use easy modo bombs or focus.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986817
Fine.
>>Only schoolkids can use easy modo.

happy now?

[Suigin !YUsuiginy. No.]

>>2986817
on IN thats true

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986817
Enjoy having no skill development.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986668
On the off-chance this isn't a troll I have prepared two runs back-to-back without any restart. Now tell me Sakuya A doesn't have to jump through more hoops to get the job done. Yes, I could have been closer to the fairy on the left so her aimed shot wouldn't go for the other one but that problem doesn't even fucking exist with Reimu B. Hell, even Reimu A has an easier time with them with a little change to the order.

http://replays.gensokyo.org/download.php?id=4061
http://replays.gensokyo.org/download.php?id=4060

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986643
the easy "deathbombs" in IN are different than what you're thinking of. most games give you the vicinity of a frame or two to bomb after a death (not for reacting to getting hit, but for being slow to bomb right before getting hit; IN has this too) IN also has a last spell which gives you almost a full second to spend two bombs instead of dying. That system makes you bad at bombing and you should never rely on it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986817
I used easy mode the first time I played touhou. 1cc'd IN on easy and never touched that mode again, it's pretty much a waste of time after that.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986799
Easy mode is optimum for first-time players. It's discouraging to jump into Normal and get raped because you have no idea how the game works.

Of course, it becomes pointless as soon as you're able to get a good grasp on the basic gameplay (as in, 1ccing easy). At this point there really is no reason to go back unless you're unlocking shit.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986881
I've always thought it was best to practice on harder difficulties to improve more quickly. After being raped on lunatic, normal will seem like nothing once you go back to it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986850
>>2986881

Once you've conquered that mode you can also revisit it for scoring. Standard dodging shouldn't be a problem so you're free free to introduce new rewarding risks into the play. Don't forget the scoring ;_;

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986893
I guess it varies by person. I improved faster by mastering the difficulty I was at before moving on. Playing on harder shit and going back to a lower difficulty can also throw you off, as the patterns often change significantly from one difficulty to the next.

[Anonymous No.]

When is the cover of UFO coming out? Also, Who else is leaving /jp/ around Comiket until you beat UFO to don't get the characters spoiler?

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986881
It depends on the person. Some people like challenging games so they won't be put off by normal. And Touhou is easy to pick up, there are three keys to learn.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2986921
I'm definitely not. While it's probably fun to "oh wow" alone to unexpected lolis (which I'll never find anyway due to my lack of skill), it's a lot better to do it together with everyone on /jp/ who cares.

[Anonymous No.]

Whats a good 1st touhou game so i can get used too it without getting buttraped every 5 seconds?

[Anonymous !Jones4ZrPA No.]

>>2987318
easy mode

[Suigin !YUsuiginy. No.]

>>2987318
Perfect Cherry Blossom

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987318
Perfect Cherry Blossom or Imperishable Night are the generally accepted answers to that question.

PCB is a bit easier, but IN has a spell practice system.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987318
touhou 11, Subterrean Animism

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987318
Any of the Windows Touhou games on Easy mode.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987345
I know you're joking, but SA was I believe the first Touhou I played, and still my favorite despite my being fucking terrible at STGs (probably amongst the worst on /jp/).

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987345

HAR HAR

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987375
I bet I'm worse than you. I bombed my way through utsuho's spellcards.

[Anonymous No.]

OP here. I still couldn't beat Youmu. But I was close.
The last time I wasn't raped before Stage 5, and when the "continue" appeared, I chose on "no".

Then I realized what have I done and went:

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU-

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987447
Did you at least save the replay? If so then please share it so we can work out the problems with the earlier stages. And don't worry, you made the right mistake choosing not to continue.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987521
>so we can work out the problems with the earlier stages

I don't think I believe what I've just read....
And it was just a goddamn luck. But if you mean it seriously, I guess I'll save the next replay.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987571
It'll be great to look back on when you've improved. I regret not saving any of my early attempts save for my first Extra clear.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987521

Here you are. I screwed up, got beaten by Chen (...) and finished by Alice. *sigh*

http://www.2shared.com/file/6819791/47897310/th7_03.html

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987916
set default lives to 5 instead of 3
quit hugging the bottom
use or lose them when it comes to bombs
use Sakuya A

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987916
First off, to clear up any potential confusion, spell cards are those attacks with names that come up when a boss uses them. Noncards are the attacks in between spell cards that don't have names and are generally easier.

Things to improve on:
1. Practice grabbing power items efficiently with unfocused movement. There is exactly 128 power in stage 1. You should try to get at least 120 of it.
2. For Letty's first spell card, stay still until she shoots all 3 of the large teal bullets. Then move slightly to one side. Repeat.
3. Watch the bubbles in the background of stage 2.They go from white to yellow and then turn into enemies (with a few fakeouts).
4. Starting with stage 2, you HAVE to start POC'ing point items (the blue ones) for extra lives if you want to 1cc. If you have full power, move into the top fifth of the screen when it's safe and all the items on screen will be collected. You'll die a lot when you first start doing it, but once you start remembering the enemies, you'll get more lives from it than you lose doing it.
5. For Chen's first midboss attack, stay still while she's shooting the green bullets and then move slightly to one side. Going around works on normal, but it's just as easy to stream them and it'll work on the higher difficulties too. It's also a very useful skill throughout all the Touhou games. Coincidentally, it scores higher too.
6. If you're not dodging anything, shoot unfocused. It builds more cherry (which gives you borders, essentially free invulnerability) and does slightly more damage with Reimu A. More cherry also generally results in higher scores.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988084
7. You start to get pushed toward the left side in Chen's midboss spell card. Try to stay under her (comes with practice). You do more damage and it's dangerous being pushed into the corner.
8. The two waves of enemies immediately before Chen are important to memorize for higher difficulties and scores. The first wave, the one that shoots blue bullets directly at you from several directions, actually will never hit you if you stay still near the bottom of the screen. The second wave, just before Chen, which shoots red and yellow bullets, requires just a slight movement to one side after all the bullets are fired. This isn't important for normal, but it's easy to do and it makes it much easier to get past that part in the higher difficulties, so just get into the habit of it now.
10. When the waves of bullets in Chen's first boss spell card turn, move off to one side and dodge through the bullets coming from one side, then through the bullets coming from the other.
11. On her second spell card, the small white bullets accelerate as they fall, so move up and dodge through them in the middle of the screen rather than at the bottom. Also, when she's flying around, follow her with the unfocused shots so you can finish the spell card faster.
12. I don't know if you're aware, but you can bomb immediately on death and save yourself. Practice this. You should never die with bombs left.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988086
Oh, also, all of this will come with practice and watching other's replays. Try watching some replays of various skill levels (you're not gonna be emulating the top-scoring guy on there for a long time) at score.royalflare.net.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988017
Thanks, I'll try.

>quit hugging the bottom
That's probably right...
/Coward: The bottom should be miles deeper so I could run away forever.
Dodging the glowing madness while in the middle seems like a very stupid idea./

[Anonymous No.]

Work on your vertical movement. Pay more attention to the bullets that are still a second away from coming close. Look for openings that keep you away from the corners.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988100
You shouldn't stay in the middle either. Try to stay between the middle and the bottom, maybe a quarter above the bottom of the screen. Of course different spellcards (especially later ones) may require you to move higher or lower.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988100
Don't you fucking dare move your lives above the default three. That's as bad as continuing and you'll be ill-prepared to face down Extra. If you're going to consider a change of shot type then I must ask you to check the links below to get a rough idea of the others.

http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom:_General_Strategy

Under misc.

http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php?topic=181.0

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988136
Hey look, one of those fucking idiots who BAWWWs every time someone uses more than the default lives.

GTFO, faggot. OP is obviously just learning the game, and the extra lives will help a lot. If he has more lives, he'll stay alive longer and unlock all of the stages for spell practice.

Bear in mind the lives have no effect on actual gameplay. If you're having fun, you can set the damn lives to whatever you want. Hardcore scorefags often forget that having fun is the point of a vidya game in the first place.

[LucariBRo !7iDLucario!!05UoUkeE209 No.]

For PCB just play on Lunatic, it's not really that much harder. If that's too hard for you just play easy modo until you can do it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988136
Calm the hell down. I always had the lives set to maximum when I first started, and I managed to clear extra afterwards just fine.

If you're worried about the score, they have a harsh penalty for it anyway.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988136
>touhouwiki
>shrinemaiden.org

Go back to Gaia, you drooling, headband wearing retard.

[~ ⑨ ~ !!kZsSd6p2KTt No.]

>>2988136

Oh, ok. I thought it was a bit strange, I reset it to defaults after downloading.

Checked the TouhouWiki article before starting and later today, but it's full of advices for players attempting high-score.
I just want to survive. (Shit, that sounds awful.)

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988188
>>touhouwiki
oh wow.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988188
Not samefag, before you accuse me
There's nothing wrong with the Touhou wiki, and even on shitty boards, occasional decent content comes up. The shot type comparison is a perfect example of this. He wasn't saying "Check out this sweet board, bro," but rather, "Hey, read this thread, it has valuable information."

[Anonymous No.]

>and even on shitty boards, occasional decent content comes up. The shot type comparison is a perfect example of this.
Another example from Shrinemaiden is the StB English patch. PoFV is from there as well, but that one isn't quite as good...

Pooshlmer also has more touhou translations than /jp/, i.e. the translation thread. Plus the Patchcon, Touhou Unreal Mahjong, and Touhou Pocket Wars translations are from Pooshlmer

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988202
Don't worry about it. Touhou is a hard game, even for an STG. Your first goal SHOULD be surviving, not maximising score.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988202
>just want to survive
everyone does when they're starting out, focus a little bit on score for the extends, but don't stress over maximizing it, and increasing lives at the start still gives you GOOD END so do it if you want.

Like others mentioned, stop it with your lead ring finger and move up a little from the bottom, if there's a clear spot or an item you want to get to and there's nothing between you, there's no reason not to unfocus and go over there. And don't fear being up a little from the bottom, that gives you time to move down with the bullets to wait for an open spot to appear. Also work on being under the boss when you can, Reimu A does damage with her homing shots, yes, but those shitty little pea shooters need all the help they can get.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988188
Uh.
WHAT.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2987916
Reimu A, is it? The anon who posted the list of things to improve on did a much better job than I could have hoped to, but I'll mention a few things that may or may not have already been said.

Watching the way you handled the bullets I'm guessing that your field of vision shrinks drastically when the screen starts to get populated with attacks. Unfortunately, all I can do is mention that and have no available remedy except for more practice.

Already evidenced by the list of things to improve on, memorization is just as important as standard dodging skills. Safe spots to hit the POC, handling of spells, and micromemorization when it comes to heavy segments with aimed bullets. I'll try to create a short list (or not) pointing out the workings of select parts of the game that may not be immediately discerned from merely watching a replay.

[Suigin !YUsuiginy. No.]

>>2988188
>>touhouwiki
what

[~ ⑨ ~ !!kZsSd6p2KTt No.]

>>2988315

>your field of vision shrinks drastically when the screen starts to get populated with attacks
It does, I know. Working on it, but I'm braindead by now. I think I'll stop for today, it's 3:00 AM and that's not exactly helping.
I like my games hard, but the fact I can't beat it on the 25% difficulty cooled me off a bit. Seems even more challenging than I imagined it to be.

>Reimu A, is it?
I like the little hitbox. Also, the pink ATGM she has on full-power.
But maybe I'll try Sakuya A, as Anon >>2988017
has recommended.

Anyways, thank you all for help. It's almost like I weren't on 4chan. Or even the internets.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988315
Way too late. I spent too much time on a single practice run, trying to make it not look too 'risky' and also realizing that I don't understand shit about the minor parts of the game. It'll have to be finished later and hopefully I'll catch you when you make another thread. The danmaku threads are also useful for asking questions and maybe I'll see you there too.

To add on to Point 11 by anon the area opposite of the side Chen comes from will be much less dense. However, she'll be moving back to the denser side after the bullets break into smaller ones. Your call, but I definitely recommend taking the safer path in exchange for extending the battle a little longer. And a trivial example to get the point across.

http://img269.imageshack.us/i/example1d.png/

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988662
Just as point items are the staple for scoring they also happen to be conducive to gaining extra lives. At this difficulty the stage section after defeating Alice's first appearance will feature fairies firing aimed red and blue shots, and the occasional fairy dropping down from the sides to send a straight line of solid red bullets. The fairy appearances are the same everytime so once you have an effective plan you should be able to replicate those movements. Reaching the POC is obviously helpful but not crucial in this section. After grabbing the point items (or power if you aren't full) Alice drops the majority of items dropped by the fairies are cherry items. There are only around 10 point items here.

Alice's second appearance features static bullets. They're all static. The exception is when she moves over depending on your position to fire the light green and blue bullets, but they will fold out the same way everytime. Again, once you have a path figured out it'll work in future runs.

Alright, now the upcoming section is a little more important when it comes to collecting items. Once more, the entrance of the fairies will never change. Only the aimed shots and that will be manipulated by your stage plans. It's important to take out the special fairies as they generally make the most mess at this difficulty. The crappy replay I'm about to link will give a rough idea of how to deal with it.

http://replays.gensokyo.org/download.php?id=4067

Well, that'll be all for now. I'll save this in case you don't get to read it, and maybe refine the descriptions.

[~ ⑨ ~ !!kZsSd6p2KTt No.]

>>2988662
>>2988665

Thanks, I'll watch it tomorrow and I'll try to improve.
The fairies in Stage 4 give me a hard time with the ultra-fast red and blue dense shit and I haven't played it enough to memorize the pattern.

I'll have a smoke now, then bed, and tomorrow after range practice I may have some time for PCB again.

Good night for now, good anons.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2988709
>The fairies in Stage 4 give me a hard time with the ultra-fast red and blue dense shit and I haven't played it enough to memorize the pattern.
They're all aimed directly at you and appear when you kill them. If you don't shoot them at all it's less dense, but you miss out on the items and it's harder to control.

They appear in groups, so if you can kill them all without moving it's much easier to deal with. When multiple groups come in at once then it's a problem.

[Anonymous No.]

>sometimes about 70% of screen is filled with big and little shiny things whose only purpose is to either kill me or block my way and get me killed by something else
And about 90% of that isn't even going to come near you. You need to watch the patterns, not the mess of bullets that results. See how they move, spread, and overlap, and notice the safe areas - that's the strategy. Then you can watch for openings near you and move from one to the next - that's tactics. Of course, there are some cards that require more (or less) complicated strategies, but that'll give you the general idea. Keep practicing.

[Anonymous No.]

Stage four can definitely be a piece of shit for Reimu A to try and amass a decent amount of point items. Here's a random run with a somewhat consistent and safe path. I don't practice with Reimu A enough and still have problems handling her homing shots. The only important difference between this and a full run are the waves that come after Lily White. The plan then is to monitor shooting and breaking the border at the right moment to bring about the next one seconds after, usually when the 'passive' enemies come in, the ones that won't fire unless destroyed. There's a lot of different fun stuff to pull off here.

http://replays.gensokyo.org/download.php?id=4068

[Anonymous No.]

Does anybody have any tips on stage 5, EoSD normal? Sakuya keeps tearing my ass in two.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2989995

don't neglect the y axis?

[Anonymous No.]

How can you people seriously defend shrinemaiden.org and touhouwiki? The former is filled with SERIOUS BUSINESS 3 LIVEs FINAL DESTINATION types and the latter is full of CIRNO IS A BAKA KAWAII DESU YO NE XDDD types (read some of the page discussions).

They're both cesspools of failure and there's honestly no need to use them, given that /jp/ is more helpful and informative, as evidenced by this thread.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2990386
>The former is filled with SERIOUS BUSINESS 3 LIVEs FINAL DESTINATION types
What kind of retard uses non-default settings in an stg? Let me guess, Touhou is your first stg and you know more about the characters than the actual games, right?

[Anonymous No.]

>>2990579

Sorry, I like to have fun with my video games.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2990586
The fun is in the challenge, increasing your skill to beat the game, not to decrease the game's difficulty to match your lack of skill. A novel concept, to be sure.

[Anonymous No.]

i only used 1 contenue my first run through of PCB, and it was my first touhou...


maybe you should get that pheonix game on your calculator, thats all the danmaku exp i had, just play it in the back of english class... its not like you learn anything in that class

[Anonymous No.]

>>2990386
>CIRNO IS A BAKA KAWAII DESU YO NE XDDD types (read some of the page discussions)

Sounds like it's right up your alley because you obviously aren't reading the pages pertaining to actual gameplay mechanics.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2990386
>and the latter is full of CIRNO IS A BAKA KAWAII DESU YO NE XDDD types (read some of the page discussions).
And it's also the best place to learn about the game mechanics. Who cares if the guys writing it are IOSYS faggots, they still have the information.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2985804

YOU PULL THAT TRIGGER SON. AND YOU FIRE YOU'RE GUN AT ALL THOSE STUPID LITTLE FLYING GIRLS. THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A TRUE AMERICAN

[Anonymous No.]

I've recently started trying to clear SA extra, and holy crap it's hard. The only other extra boss who has given me this much difficulty is Flandre. I can usually make it to Sanae without dying and at full power, but there are a few of her spellcards that I have huge difficulties with.

Instinct "Release of the Id" - I can usually clear this one without huge problems, but sometimes I mess up and die. I can do the spellcards before this one without problems most of the time.
Suppression "Super-ego" - Much harder than Id for me. I have a lot of difficulties with this one. Maybe I need a better place/method of dodging the hearts.
Subconscious "Rorschach in Danmaku" - Very hard spellcard for me, but nothing a bomb or two won't solve.
Depths "Genetics of the Subconscious" - Holy crap. This attack usually wipes out a lot of my power and lives. I've only managed to do this as a survival card so far. I never actually managed to kill her during it.
"Philosophy of a Hated Person" - Only made it this far twice, and haven't gotten through it yet. I can make it through the blue fire phase pretty easily, but start dying in the yellow one.

Is it just me, or is this extra a lot harder than the other games ones? I understand there is only one spellcard left after Philosophy. Is it a hard one?

[Anonymous No.]

I've recently started trying to clear SA extra, and holy crap it's hard. The only other extra boss who has given me this much difficulty is Flandre. I can usually make it to Koishi without dying and at full power, but there are a few of her spellcards that I have huge difficulties with.

Instinct "Release of the Id" - I can usually clear this one without huge problems, but sometimes I mess up and die. I can do the spellcards before this one without problems most of the time.
Suppression "Super-ego" - Much harder than Id for me. I have a lot of difficulties with this one. Maybe I need a better place/method of dodging the hearts.
Subconscious "Rorschach in Danmaku" - Very hard spellcard for me, but nothing a bomb or two won't solve.
Depths "Genetics of the Subconscious" - Holy crap. This attack usually wipes out a lot of my power and lives. I've only managed to do this as a survival card so far. I never actually managed to kill her during it.
"Philosophy of a Hated Person" - Only made it this far twice, and haven't gotten through it yet. I can make it through the blue fire phase pretty easily, but start dying in the yellow one.

Is it just me, or is this extra a lot harder than the other games ones? I understand there is only one spellcard left after Philosophy. Is it a hard one?

[Anonymous No.]

>>2992125
SA's extra is usually considered the hardest.

Release of the Id and Superego usually just take practice. It might help to try moving only horizontally.

Rorschach in Danmaku requires you to find an opening in advance and stand still for many of the waves. A bomb works too.

Genetics of the Subconscious is a bitch. I only managed to clear it once, and it was by nothing but pure luck. Believe it or not, I had better results by moving through the bullets myself rather than waiting for them to pass by me. Try to get under her after using a bomb if it doesn't put you in immediate danger of dying.

Philosophy of a Hated Person is one of the hardest survival cards in any Extra (at least in my opinion). If you don't mind using bombs, you can easily avoid some trouble by staying in the upper left corner, using a bomb, and moving to the lower right corner. Then you can follow the bullets back to the upper left. It works the best during the last phase of red bullets, though. During the yellow bullets, you may just wish to move to the right instead of the lower right. After a while, you'll learn where the flower 'explosions' will pop up.

The last spellcard is Subterranean Rose, and it really isn't that bad once you get used to it. Let me put this way: It's not nearly as difficult as Ripples of 495 Years. Just make sure not to get closed in at the bottom with no escape.

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous No.]

The last card is a joke if you don't want to capture it, it doesn't get harder as time goes on/last 30 seconds so you can just stop shooting and time it out, over 2 minutes of a really basic pattern.

On Genetics of the Subconscious Koishi follows a set pattern that homes on you once (or twice? It's marked with a sound effect anyway) per loop and the trick to handle the card is setting her up in a way that she homes on the top position on the screen so you can freely shoot her. This is fairly hard though.

[Anonymous No.]

OP is a faggot.
http://www.Anom - m + nTalk.com/
> cifecf fjr c

[Anonymous No.]

>>2992169
Thanks for the advice. I had my best try yet, and managed to get past Philosophy with 0 lives left. Unfortunately I panicked on the last spellcard, and died quickly... But I'll get there eventually.

[Anonymous No.]

what is this i dont even
http://www.Anom - m + nTalk.com/
> sffgdit

[Anonymous No.]

Hooray! IN extra stage clear.

Now to move onto another game and get destroyed because I'm too used to IN's death bomb mechanics

[Anonymous No.]

>>2992125
As far as Release of the Id and Superego go, they're pretty much the same thing. For Release of the Id you wanna stay closer towards Koishi and find a place where you can just move horizontally through alternating streams of hearts. It's pretty much the same thing for Superego, except in reverse. Stay near the bottom and do the same thing. The key is in being able to watch the streams of hearts and finding the right timing to cross them up.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2990386
Most people have learned that it is not necessary to read every single post on a forum/imageboard/wiki, just the ones that are relevant and helpful.
>(read some of the page discussions)
Here's a tip. Don't read the page discussions then.

>given that /jp/ is more helpful and informative, as evidenced by this thread.
No, actually this thread is quite the exception. Reading the game pages on the wiki is significantly more useful than asking /jp/.

[Anonymous No.]

It's been bugging me while playing MoF about Kanako's first attack (non-spellcard). It's such a simple attack, but I absolutely have to bomb it every time, I just can't see where the bullets are coming from and I choke. Anyone else feel that way about it or have other weird parts they just can't do for some reason?

[Anonymous No.]

>>2993252
>Kanako's first attack (non-spellcard)
> It's such a simple attack

You mean the second hardest pattern (obviously arguable) in the entire game?

You are right in bombing it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>2993270
>You mean the second hardest pattern (obviously arguable) in the entire game?
not >>2993252, but are we thinking of the same pattern? Normal difficulty, her opening, before the first spellcard where it's just bullets coming out in straight lines from two circles?

You're calling that the second most difficult in the entire game? Or are you talking about lunatic or something?

[Anonymous No.]

>>2993310
Ah yeah, I was talking about Lunatic. That pattern becomes incredibly irritating then, and I'd rank it above other difficult things like Suwa War (which is more of a matter of positioning yourself right) and Aya's timeout card.

Still, I don't think a bomb would be wasted on it on Normal, especially given everything else Kanako has isn't particularly challenging.