Touhou Gameplay Thread

[Anonymous No.]

2024 edition

Resources:
The Touhou98 Experience v2.00: https://nyaa.si/view/1743332
Touhou Project All-In-One Pack: https://nyaa.si/view/1743411
Thprac: https://github.com/touhouworldcup/thprac
Touhou 1cc Tracker: https://doopu.github.io/1ccTracker/

Discuss Touhou games, ask questions, talk about strategies, post 1ccs, etc.

[Anonymous No.]

My resolution is to get my first Normal 1cc by the end of the month.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45676543
What game are you playing?

[Anonymous No.]

Been trying to get back into the series by playing stb. Damn, this game is rough yet so comfy. Currently stuck on level 7, but I think I'll clear the stage I skipped before advancing to the next level because level 7 feels pretty hard to me, and I'm not in a hurry anyway

[Anonymous No.]

>>45677441
PCB

Day One: Not too happy with these runs. Lots of bombs wasted when I was out of danger, or I crash into something with bombs in stock. I can at least get by Chen most of the time now. Although Lilly always fucks me up. I hate her.

https://litter.catbox.moe/c1xrai.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45678266
Keeping in mind that Lily drops a bomb power up after she's defeated I would advise you to bomb as soon as you feel you're in hot water because worst case scenario you will not gain any resources but you will not lose any either.

[Anonymous No.]

Need help anons, I downloaded that all-in-one pack but for some reason StB (and DS, I think) can only run normally at first launch. The next time I open it, the screen is stuck forever at loading but I can navigate through the menu just fine. Anyone know why this happens?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45684565
I've had the same issue a while ago, and it turned out to be something with windows defender. I can't remember much now, but check its settings panel and you might find something blocked there.

[Anonymous No.]

Attempted TD Normal 1CC 5 minutes ago and I died on the last spell. kms

[Anonymous No.]

For the sake for winning an internet argument as seen here >>45685322 I have decided to change my 1cc in one month challenge slightly. Since I'm changing things up and I'm just a day in anyways, My new deadline is February 1st.

1) I play a game, in this case MoF and stick with it and give out my previous achievements and playtime so it is understood where I'm coming from.
2) I will play to the best of my abilities and use whatever resources I can. This means using practice mode, asking for advice, looking up replays, etc.
3) I will attempt a few runs a day, outside circumstances withstanding. I will also try to post a replay a day for approval. I'll see if I can get 30 hours or so by the end, but no promises.
4) If by the end of the month I do not have a 1cc or have come close to it, then I will have considered to have tried my best. If I should manage to succeed, I will concede to the other Anon.

Total Achievements (Times are not exact)

EoSD: Maybe an hour or two? No Clear
PCB: 4 hours and 30 minutes playtime, no clear.
IN: 3 hours and 3 minutes. Easy Clear (Phantom Team)
StB: No clue. Cleared all stages on Level 1 and 2.
TD: Twenty hours. Normal Clear (Reimu) Easy 1cc (Marisa)
MoF: Thirty minutes, no clear.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690308
I will be using ReimuB for the rest of this month unless stated otherwise. I'll count my time spent stating from this session and not my previous ones.

Day 1: Only time for two runs. Total time overall 28 minutes.

The first three stages are easier then I remember. Is this even the same game? Maybe ReimuB is really strong. I remember Hina being a real pain in the ass but I had no issue with her. Nitori was a bit more trouble but a lot of her spelllcards seem to look imposing rather then threaten you much. Stage 4 is a real issue, a lot of places I have to bomb or else I get walled off. It's an issue when I don't have any more left. Aya was trouble. I managed to almost beat her but failed right at the end. I can tell she's going to be a real pain in the ass. I'll have to practice stage 4 when I get the chance and look up a guide.

I have a bad feeling that the bomb spamming habit this game is teaching me is going to cause trouble when I move onto other games, but first things first.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/sq4elu.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690308
that whole conversation sounds dumb as fuck
if you can't even get a simple 1cc even all that time then you should consider offing yourself since you lack the innate ability of improving like most humans have

[Anonymous No.]

I have noticed that after Touhou 12 or so non-spell cards aren’t varied anymore just variations of a single concept it seems

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690375
Good luck, anon. You are motivating me to keep trying with SA

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690375
I watched your replay, and I think you should try to PoC more by going to around the top 1/4 of the screen. So you can get higher score, and a higher score means more extends

There was a fatal mistake during Hina's final spell since you lost three bombs there, but you can practice that spell, and you seem to be able to capture it just fine.

Also, yes, learn stage 4 it's the gatekeeper. Also to avoid to get walled there when you dodge aimed bullets (ex= that second phase of first half of stage 4) you should try to stream (tapping into a certain direction to dodge aimed bullets, making them move behind you) instead of going wide left and right

[Anonymous No.]

>>45691263
I have trouble going from game to game becuase the process for getting extra lives is something that always changes. Sometimes score doesn't matter, and sometimes it does. I'll just have to be more aggressive with the PoC then.

For Hina's final, I made a mistake. I initially thought I had just tapped the key too hard and overshot it, but upon watching the replay it seemed like there was no gap there at all. Whoops.

I know all about streaming and such. But I have to focus on beating the stage first before I can worry about practice and getting a hang of the stage.

[Anonymous No.]

variations by difficulty?
if yes, then I think it's after MoF

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690966
variations based on difficulty?
If so, I think it started after the MoF

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690375
Good luck. MoF is one of my favorites; Kanako is a very fun final boss. Look up one of the narrated normal runs on youtube there's one that explains some basic strategies. Keep your faith count up, save up lives, and just BOOOOOOOOMB if you need to. A couple of Sanae's spells I haven't even tried to learn properly since one bomb trivializes them and since I'm relatively new all I wanted is the damn 1cc. I had more trouble with Aya than Sanae.
Stage 1: you should be able to do this with your eyes closed. PoC and make sure you get every power item you can. No bombs needed.
Stage 2: Hina can be tricky. Last two spell cards of hers are the least threatening. Bomb the other ones if you have to for now, but with time you'll be able to do them without it.
Stage 3: Nitori can be tricky. If you're not good at the lasers on her final spell card just bomb it. That and the one with the random field you have to make it through. Shouldn't need to bomb any of the other ones.
Stage 4: I never learned how to do Momiji. Bombed that. Everything else is practice. Bombing during the waterfall sequences may be needed. Aya's spells are hard, her non-spells aren't.
Stage 5: Streaming for days, don't get walled. Bomb tricky spells with micro dodges, otherwise learn routes and streaming patterns.
Stage 6: Practice this one by itself until you are comfortable with the different patterns. Ideally get here with 4+ lives. The final spell goes on for a long time so make sure you play that by itself until you're comfortable with it.
Sacrifice Sign "Misayama Hunting Shrine Ritual" is worth practicing by itself ass well. Be careful with Rice Porridge in Tube "God's Rice Porridge" since the hitboxes remain large even though the sprites change.
If I haven't been clear, MoF is very forgiving for just fuckin bombing things you don't like, so abuse that fact as much as you can if you're in danger.
t. shitter with only normal 1ccs

[Anonymous No.]

I haven't played since october, have I lost all my skills and I will have to relearn?

[Anonymous No.]

Why is she so strong?
I managed to get to the last stage without losing any lives only to lose them all to yumemi...

[Anonymous No.]

Marisa B is the only 1cc I have left in EoSD. I'm gonna do the extra stage once I finish that, so what's the easiest shot type for it?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45693592
Not at all, in fact most returning players actually end up playing better, after a very short period of shaking off some cobwebs.
Taking a long break after playing a lot is one of the best ways to improve.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45678266
Whenever you feel like you're getting stuck and not having much fun, give LLS a try instead.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695563
MarisaA does the most shot damage, use her

[Anonymous No.]

>>45690375

Day 2: Thanks for the advice, I've been reading it. Today I learned that MoF has infinite continues, so I did one run with lots of continues today. Total time overall 1 hour 28 minutes.

I managed to get past Aya. Stage 4 is still a problem for me. Stage 5 on the other hand is a lot easier. It's a lot less random bullshit fired in each direction and more stuff that can be streamed. Sanae is a little easier then Aya, I'd say. Too many lasers, the glow around the hitboxs really messes with me. Kanako really is deserving of her Final Boss title, I have no idea how to dodge most of her attacks other then bomb-spamming. I saw her final spellcard and decided to end things there and go back and practice stages 4 and 5 a bit more.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/xb5r8r.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695440
Iirc she has cheat that allow her to live around 10 minutes long and try to keep the rank low I guess when fighting yumemi

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695440
>>45698117
Not quite.
The game's AI is rigged so that it will intentionally take damage at roughly set intervals depending upon the difficulty, stage, and how many times you've died/continued up to that point.
These values ramp up pretty drastically for Chiyuri and Yumemi. Most notably, the latter has no timer at all for your first match against her, on any difficulty, so long as you haven't continued at that point. In other words, she'll never take damage outside of getting trapped.

The timer is reintroduced once you die, but it's still really long compared to everyone else

[Anonymous No.]

Bump

[Anonymous No.]

>>45698138
Wait, I don't understand correctly, for her to take damage I have to take damage first?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45702099
For her timeouts to even exist you need to die to her once. It's still possible to beat her since the AI has a tendency to get trapped between the two enemies that close in from the sides (or just use Yumemi), but you should be taking at least one extra life with you to the final stage to make things easier.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45702222
Damn ZUN. Still, I don't know why but I like PoDD more than PoFV, does anyone else?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45697894

Day 3. A few practice runs and one run. Total time overall 2 Hours 30 minutes.

Aya and Sanae still causing me a lot of trouble. I'm forced to bomb all of their spell cards. Which isn't a problem for now, but could be an issue when I go to other games. I've tried to look up replays, but they seem to have limited value. You might get a rough understanding on what to do, but pulling it off is another. On the plus side, I managed to get all the way to Kanako without using a continue, even with a few preventable deaths on the way. She's still kicking my ass, but I got to her last spell card, so that's something. However, I then skipped past saving a replay, so none today.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45677503
>Damn, this game is rough yet so comfy.
Agree I'm also trying to clear stb right now, my strat is more doing a bit what I feel like everyday instead of going stage by stage. But yeah level 7 is were stuff gets though imo, I even had to redo a spellcard twice due to not getting enough points there, hope you have better luck/skill in that.
>>45702384
I kinda prefer not having to think of the scope but at the same time it adds some added strategy, Lily adds some fun imo but I prefer having bombs over clearing with the charge attack, I'm not too much of a phantasmagoria fan though, but I kinda agree, the cpu felt way more unfair though, especially the final boss.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45702384
I like it a bit more because of the hectic fun you get when both players have a combo going and the boss keeps going back and forth from one screen to the other.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45706127
>but could be an issue when I go to other games
If your goal is just 1cc, you don't have worry much about bomb spamming and abusing game mechanics because every games pretty much the same thing except SA and UFO I guess. In SA normal 1cc can be tricky, since there's a trade between shot types and for UFO, you need to work your way to gather the resources

[Anonymous No.]

Why did Zun decide to make Subterranean Animism so bad?
I'm just legitimately not enjoying this one at all
So many spell cards are just annoying, not frustrating in a "I can't wait till I beat this" sort of way but just an "this shit sucks" way
At least the OST has some good tracks in it

[Anonymous No.]

>>45678266
Do this >>45697766
But when you get that easy 1cc then move onto MS and then onto EoSD.
2hu is best enjoyed in this order, you feel the series transition into something new

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707591
Other games aren't nearly as generous with bombs so they can't be used as a crutch as reliably. I'm flat out bombing every spell card after I reach Momji, which can only be done with the bombing system used here.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707631
I remember reading about ZUN being pissed while he made the game and trying to make it as hard as possible, but I can't find the source for that anymore.
He does mention on the omake he couldn't get much sleep, which is also a good explanation since it makes you feel depressed.

[Anonymous No.]

Is it feasible to play touhou with a controller? I haven't tried before but I think it seems comfortable. I'm just not sure it'll be precise enough.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45710383
Yeah, some Japanese players use controllers and still able to get high level achievement just fine (for famous examples you can watch SOC youtube channel). Just avoid using 4 way dpad and analog stick unless you're already accustomed to 8 way movement with those controllers

[Anonymous No.]

>>45710383
I've always played on a controller, it's more than fine.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45709472
>Hard might be as about as hard as Lunatic
I don't think he's wrong about difficulty levels, personally I found SA to have them generally a bit shifted. Easy feels closer to Normal than usual and Normal more than before requires either really good knowledge of patterns from the get go or rather good general skillset for reacting on sight. The whole game feels much faster and more chaotic on lower difficulty than anyone that came before IMO.

But it might as well be me being a total scrub, I'll accept that as well.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45713449
He's right about hard and lunatic being shifted, he's wrong about normal being the same as usual ("came out pretty well").
He really should have got some more sleep.

[Anonymous No.]

SA Normal and Hard may be harder than average, but SA Lunatic is one of the easiest Lunatics out there.

>>45707631
>So many spell cards are just annoying, not frustrating in a "I can't wait till I beat this" sort of way but just an "this shit sucks" way
This feeling goes away after you get better at the games. SA is one of the less frustrating games thanks to its consistency.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45715042
I've 1cc'd 6-10 and done all the extra stages with multiple characters besides MOF
Im not a player good enough for lunatic yet but wouldn't call myself bad either

[Anonymous No.]

>>45707631
While more difficult than average (on normal), I actually find SA's bullet patterns overall fair and rather fun. What really makes it frustrating for me is how grossly stingy it is with resources: shot types besides Reimu A are all complete garbage, bombs are so weak that this is the only game where I genuinely think NOT using them is the safer option, and the "capture to get lifepiece" gimmick makes the game way more unforgiving and grindy than it would be with a standard score-based extend system.
It's another one of those Touhou games that I would like much, much more without the gimmicks. But as it stands, it's just okay. I swear that's the case with over half the games, which I find quite unfortunate.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45706127

Day 4. Two runs. Total time overall 3 Hours.

Didn't spend too much time playing today. I'm starting to get a better grasp of getting lives out the first two stages. If I use the PoC when it's safe and avoid bombing, I can get my first life by stage 2. However I had awful time with everything else, I made a lot of dumb mistakes. At least I'm getting the hang of Midboss Hina. With all the time I've played, I've learned you got to savor the small steps or else you get really frustrated.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/pu2hfn.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45715893
Some noticed issues:
1. You're letting your faith meter drop at end of stage or during stage intro banners. Avoid POCing until later to reset the faith meter. This will help you get more lives.
2. Silly mistake needing to bomb stage 1 boss out of panic at the end. Keep dodging even if you know the bullets are going to disappear since they don't go away instantly after a boss end.
3. Moving around too much after Hina midboss, causing you to panic bomb since the faeries' shots are aimed and you spread them everywhere.
4. Similar issue after nitori midboss leading to a panic bomb with the fairies that aim shots of 3.
5. Stay under nitori during her first spell card. You wouldn't have lost a life if you tracked her better. There's time between when you dodge her last wave and she starts her first. You need to move underneath her in the current horizontal lane, check that the new horizontal lanes that she makes aren't going to kill you, then focus on dodging the waves of larger shots. Dodge away from her if you have to then, but keep underneath her at the start of each new wave. Reimu B is all about shitting out damage to make spell cards go away quicker, so take advantage of that. If you can't look up screen, remember the boss indicator on the bottom of the screen is there for you too.
6. just fuckin' boooooooomb nitori's last spell card. Fuck lasers.
7. Stage 4 just looks like unfamiliarity with things. Not knowing when/where the tiny bullet faerie spawns cost you one life. Waterfall section was panicking, maybe you were focusing on the large blue shots instead of the slower cyan ones. Practice/memorization of what to expect next would help here.

Good bomb on nitori's second spell card. Good job on Hina overall.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716071
For most of these points, I was just sloppy today, Aki and Nitori's first spell card I can handle, but this was a bad run overall. I still have no idea how the faith meter works. Doesn't it just go up with the green pickups?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45716174
it resets to max whenever you pick up any collectible. So you can wait until they're lower on screen then PoC to extend the time it stays active. Once the bar at the bottom runs out, faith decreases. Some of the transitions are worse than others in terms of time with nothing on screen, and you can lose a lot of faith during that which reduces the speed at which you'll get more lives. It also goes up whenever you kill an enemy slightly, but collectables are more reliable for maintaining a meter.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45695440
HAPPENED AGAIN

[Anonymous No.]

>>45715893

Day 5. Three runs. Total time overall 4 times 23 minutes.

Did a bit better today. Could at least get up to Kanako, but dying right at the end of Aya and a poor performance against Sanae cost me plenty of lives that I wasn't able to go far against her.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/xo5a8w.rpy

>>45716218
I'm not too fond of it. It's just another thing to distract you while you're dodging everything.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45724512
>404
extend the lifetime of your replay posts to at least 24 hours onegai

[Anonymous No.]

>>45724968
Whoops, my bad.

https://litter.catbox.moe/56vg33.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45724512
1. Not bad through Nitori. Stop moving around so much during the faeries that shoot groups of 3 shots, you made that much more difficult on yourself which lead to a loss of life because you fanned them out into a chaotic pattern. Either move slower and slowly stream at the bottom of the screen or memorize where they spawn and kill them instantly.
2. Nice job on the waterfall section after momiji.
3. ayayayayayaya I find it easier to stay on one of the sides for illusory dominance since things can't spawn at you from offscreen. Fuck the last spell just bomb it; I lost so many lives just at the end like you did thinking I was safe.
4. Sanae's midboss nonspell; you need to move into the center of the star closest to you when it first opens up. Just bomb her midboss spell. For her spell card with the walls on the left and right you want to move upward on the screen and pause a bit before moving back down and restreaming to the other direction. People say that her last spell is easy, but I would have runs that I did exactly what you did. Bomb it if you need to or practice it to get consistent, you'll get back up to 5.0 power by the end of pre-kanako stage 6.
5. Kanako's first spell card is the easiest one. You shouldn't need to bomb this. Contrarily, her second one is deceptively difficult and may be worth bombing. The nonspell after that which did your run in is difficult.

Instead of doing a full run, I think you should practice from Aya onward individually for a day or two.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45725360
I'll try to get more consistent with sanae. Aya is still a issue for now, but I guess I can bomb her if I can't get a grasp. I looked up a replay for Kanako which said I should move towards the laser walls to misdirect the talismans and then move back, so I guess I should do that.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45725360
The second spell is still easy imo, my method is just hugging the bottom and dragging left or right (pressing left or right while also holding the down button) so I can move more slowly

[Anonymous No.]

Ahhh... 13 years later and still remember my first moments in EoSD.

>>45676466
Please don't die again...

>>45676543
Good luck anon, mine is to get Extra clears on all or most games.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45676543
>>45734275
OP here, good luck to you two. I'm currently working on getting my EoSD Lunatic 1cc. I'll probably post a replay here to ask for advice sometime soon (my furthest run went up to Sakuya's Killing Doll, which I still don't know how to deal with).

[Anonymous No.]

>>45724512
Day 6. Seven practice runs. Total time overall 5 hours 3 minutes.

Not much to say. I've been practicing stage 5 more, but I still got to bomb all of Sanae's spells. The first one with the snake energy walls seems like it can work once you know the trick, but's its just easier to bomb it. Same with her last spell. It seems simple, but it just boxes you in. For now, my strategy is to just bombspam almost everything after stage 4 and see if I can enough to survive the gauntlet in stage 6.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/wrcuhs.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45735704
OP again, this is my new best run of EoSD.
https://litter.catbox.moe/t2cl6q.rpy
I got all the way to Remi this time. Feel free to give me tips and whatnot, I'd appreciate especially info on dodging Patchy's spells. Ignore me sucking on stage 6, I was going into that blind.

[Anonymous No.]

which touhou is the more fun to score

[Anonymous No.]

>>45739377
Well I guess just pick your poison
You like DFK? GFW or TD
You like no miss run? MoF
You like bullets cancelling and grazing? EoSD, IN, DDC, LoLK
You like some complex shit? PCB, UFO
You like UFO but with meme? WBaWC
You have strong obsession to clean your monitor? HSiFS
You think chaining is the best scoring system ever? PoFV

[Anonymous No.]

>>45740061
>You like DFK? GFW or TD
DFK is not even remotely similar to TD. Besides TD is fucking garbage and I wouldn't even tell anyone to play it for survival let alone for score
>You like no miss run? MoF
MoF is known for chaining autism. All score runs needs to have No Miss (mistake) to yield the most point so it's not really relevant. I'd put MS in this category instead
>You like some complex shit? PCB, UFO
These games are not complex.
>You think chaining is the best scoring system ever? PoFV
PoFV is much more than just chaining; I'd absolute recommend anyone here that likes RNG autism to try scoring PoFV or PoDD

[Anonymous No.]

Bros, I finally did my first 1cc! Needle Reimu is the best!

[Anonymous No.]

turns out there's an enthusiast group who plans to bring a PC-98 computer to a local con and there'll be early Touhou games ran on original hardware, I might actually get a chance to do a 1CC run of LLS or MS on a real NEC PC-98 machine

[Anonymous No.]

>>45745160
congratulations anon!
now do the extra

[Anonymous No.]

>45745329
I tried... I guess i will leave lunatic-pattern blue fairies and 9 lives Flandre for tomorrow - my hands are too tired for this now.
Also, I surprised how chummy Reimu with youkais, I thought she will be more "CEO of racism" than that.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45745462
>spoiler
Anon, you've finally grown up and realised Reimu was just doing her job all along.
I'm proud of you, son.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45745160
Congrats Anon!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45745329
>>45745542
Thanks!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45745315
Nice, I'm curious about the presence of any slowdowns on it, so please report back after you get to try it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45735957
Day 7. One run. Total time overall 5 hours 39 minutes.

I was sorta sloppy during the stages, but I got to Kanako again. The last spellcard is brutal for how long it goes on far.


Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/q9h70l.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45738580
>info on dodging Patchy's spells
you're playing reimuA, which already makes you avoid dealing with most of patchouli's worst like emerald megalith, agni radiance or sylphae storm. for what you're actually dealt, there isn't much secret to it other than to be aware of fire bullets due to how they curve and change angle in the middle of their trajectory making them hard to read, and be quick to recognize and dodge so you can stay on the move to avoid bubbles on the earth spell.
this ties into a general issue i see with your performance, you need to have a bit more aggressive movements and postitioning in order to make up for reimuA's poor dps, lest you want that not all of your main shots hit, your homing amulets fly elsewere and end up not eliminating a crucial target like the screen clearing fairies on stage 4, or the walling fairies on stage 5 before midboss sakuya.
speaking of the maid, swinging to the sides to attempt misdirecting the summoned knives on her second spell is probably making it harder for yourself, just stay close to her and move back down alongside the fire ring when she shoots it, your objective is to mantain as much space as possible. similar idea for the first spell, but it needs quicker thinking and carefulness.
the opening of stage 6 is probably one of the few times you'd actually want to stay on the corner, let your main shot eliminate the kedamas popping out from your side of the screen and let the homing take the other side.

>>45748065
you might find it useful to know that holding ctrl will fast-forward dialogues, and remember that in this game focusing also increases your radius of collection, upgrading from having to touch them when unfocused to simply being nearby.

>>45742703
NTA but I wish MoF was known for chaining autism. unlike in other chaining games, routing and mantaining the chain throught the stage is the easy part in MoF, after that it's just a more nerve-wrecking survival.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45748065
Progress. A few things.
You need to learn how to do heaven's stream. Watch a video on this, it's clear that you didn't know how to restream this card and got yourself locked in the left corner. Stream slowly from left to right, then up into the corner for a second, then back down along the bottom weaving your way through the shots. Rinse and repeat. Can be a pain.
For her second non-spell, if you have high power you can try doing webm related. It's from a ReimuA run but also works with B. I found it to be more consistent than dodging side to side at the bottom, but make sure you check your power before trying. Should be near full to pull off. If you get to the bottom and panic because she still isn't dead, just bomb to end it rather than trying to slip out to the side. Otherwise, it's back and forth along the bottom like most youtube runs do.
For her last spell, note that:
-Bombs are smaller and not as effective; you won't be able to hit her with them.
-You cannot damage kanako while a bomb is out
-You're right, it's long as fuck. Definitely practice this one by itself a few times, because it's a run-ender. You'll want to get here with 3 lives or more, ideally.

[Anonymous No.]

Is it in my mind or do enemies bullets sometimes approach slower the closer you are to them upon being shot? playing th6

[Anonymous No.]

>>45748065
That spell is my favourite. I'd play it over and over again if the game had spellpractice.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45751973
Just use thprac and practice the spell over and over again

[Anonymous No.]

>>45753106
I know, but I don't like thprac much.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45749807
It's just in your mind. Some bullets do slow down some time after being shot, but they do that in a fixed way, not specifically when they're close to you.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45754901
Ok then I guess being is just what I needed to notice it.

[Anonymous No.]

I can finally reach this bitch pretty consistently with 3 lives, sometimes 4 depending on if I have to bomb the fairy right before Patchouli, and then if I can survive the part with all the books without bombing since I'm usually out at that point.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45756798
it's not nice to refer to touhou's as "bitch"

[Anonymous No.]

While clearly not the best run
Got my first hard 1CC on my 2nd attempt lol IN really is easy I guess

[Anonymous No.]

>>45758146
>Got my first hard 1CC on my 2nd attempt lol
what the fuck?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45758048
Sorry. I should've went with whore.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45758159
well most of the spell cards were really similar to normal mode
also barrier team hitbox is a joke + death bombs being a thing

[Anonymous No.]

>>45754780
What don't you like about it? I rarely play Touhou without thprac nowadays.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45748065
Day 8. Some practice on Kanako's spells. Total time overall 6 hours.

I sorta cheated and used THprac, which is against the spirit of the rules I put down, but oh well. Heaven's stream is sorta annoying because you have to rush to a corner to break up the stream while avoiding the arrows, when darting around is a bad idea for most other attacks. The last spell is still an endurance struggle. I'll just get used to her spells and nonspells more to save resources and just bombspell Aya and Sanae.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/5ji586.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45758146
another

[Anonymous No.]

>>45758159
IN isn't that hard

[Anonymous No.]

>>45759258
Yeah, there are a lot of spellcards in it that will definitely make you say what the fuck the first time you see them, nonspells too for that matter
But a lot of the harder spells just come down to pattern recognition more so than RNG
And as I stated, death bombing is kinda cheap

[Anonymous No.]

>>45759406
what's wrong with death bombing? a win's a win, right?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45760473
Nothing wrong with it I’m just explaining what makes IN easier

[Anonymous No.]

>>45758159
He's probably got a few Hard 1ccs already, at which point it isn't that hard to get another in very few tries. For example, I got every 1cc Normal up to PoFV before trying MoF, and got a 1cc on it on my first blind run.

[Anonymous No.]

How do I git gud at touhou? Does it require weaponized autism to beat?
I can figure out the patterns of some spells, but some just feel impossible to dodge.
Stuck on clownpiece right now (cant even get to the first spell)

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765819
if it makes you feel any better, most people seem to agree that Clownpiece is the hardest boss in the entire Windows era

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765909
damn really? Glad to know its not just me, so many of the previous games felt easier than facing her.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765909
What's considered harder in PC-98? Yumemi?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45766517
I specified Windows because I don't know how most people would compare her with PC-98
If anyone from PC-98 competes, Yumemi is definitely there. Maybe Evil Eye Σ, too? not sure

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765819
>How do I git gud at touhou?
It's simply a matter of taking it easy and just enjoying the ride. Practice a bit, take a long break whenever you feel like you've hit a wall, come back with a clear mind and you'll always keep improving.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765021
I specified it was my first though

[Anonymous No.]

>>45767829
You didn't specify it was in general and not just for that game, it could have been assumed either way.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765909
I think LoLK and SA are the games that generally give the most trouble.
Then UFO maybe but once people figure out the ufo mechanic they tend to do better(until they rage for missing an ufo)
>>45766854
I've heard mixed opinions about SoEW extra, SoEW is a bit wonky and has no deathbomb so it might give trouble but not that bad.
Yumeko on the other hand everyone agrees that it's an unfair battle.

[Anonymous No.]

does anyone know why I cannot get touhou 9 to launch

[Anonymous No.]

>>45768297
The problem with LoLK is that most people get stuck in beginner traps, such as using Reimu or playing in point device mode

[Anonymous No.]

I've been doing my bi monthly touhou runs and I just want to say
EVERY TIME I CLOSE MY EYES I CAN SEE SAKUYAS KNIVES FLYING AT ME AHHHHHHHHHJJJJH WHY AM I BETTER IN LUNATIC THEN NORMAL I JUST WANT TO SEE MY LOVELY FLAN FOR THE FIRST TIME AHHHHH FUCK YOU SAKUYA

[Anonymous No.]

>>45758928

Day 9. Some more on practice Kanako's spells. One run. Total time overall 6 hours 38 minutes.

Did awful today. Lots of restarts on stage one, and even when I did manage to have things go beyond that I make a lot of stupid mistakes and get beaten by Sanae.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/atlhyv.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45768377
Use thcrap instead of the prepatched version, for starters.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45769600
Sounds like it's time for you to take a break. I recommend taking a couple days off to let your mind clear itself, it helps a lot.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765819
First of all, don't try to do anything special/cool on your first few runs. Focus on trying to figure out how to dodge. Second, the attack patterns rely a lot on distracting you from where you are on the screen, and that's a really fast way to die. Definitely look at the spell happening to get an idea of where it's going, but pay attention to where you are on the screen. Finally, keep in mind that it's deliberately and carefully designed to be very possible, just insane on first impression.

TL;DR, Swallow your pride and pay attention.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45769600
Day 10. Three runs. Total time overall 7 hours and 22 minutes.

Did a little better today, but not by much.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/lmt9nz.jpg

[Anonymous No.]

>>45769600
Day 10. Three runs. Total time overall 7 hours and 22 minutes.

Did a little better today, but not by much.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/7jt4nt.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

Made it further than I ever have before. PCB Stage 5 Boss, playing Marisa A. Furthest I ever made before was dying to the midstage spellcard.
Poured my fucking soul into this run. When I got to the pre-boss dialogue my knees were shaking; not quivering, SHAKING, shoulders, shaking, torso, shaking. The only parts of my body that were steady were my hands and my head.
After I lost my last life I was still quivering a little for a good five minutes after. I cried a little. I wasn't sad, the tears just came out.
Youmu is so fucking cool. Marisa is so cool. Touhou is so fucking fun. It's a horrible shame that there are people who like Touhou but don't play it and I'm really fuckin' proud to still be getting better at it, no matter how bad I am.
I still have a lot of room for improvement; I lost maybe five or six bombs and I still have next to no experience with the Prismriver sisters and of course none with Youmu. I'm also still a little sloppy against Chen. My Alice is getting really good though.
I get so deep into these games man. I need to buy a Life Alert or something because if I ever actually win I'm going to get syncopated.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45765819
Touhou is a lot easier than it looks (which doesn't say much because it looks like a neon minefield on crack). Most of it is practice and having the right mindset.
There's more than one way you can get better at it. You can go full Neo Matrix mode and dodge everything or you can approach it really strategically and treat it like a puzzle game. The more impossible a spell card looks, the more likely it is to have a clever out-of-the-box solution that makes it easy. For some people a big part of the fun is figuring those out.
All of the standard advice (hold shift for focused movement, don't lose bombs use them, don't put yourself in a corner) is standard for a reason and the deeper you engrave it onto your skeleton the easier the games will start to feel.
The absolute easiest thing you can do to improve is read the manual. All the manuals are full of really useful information and fun notes from ZUN.
Generally though, Touhou is a lot like golf. The course presents obstacles but the true opponent is yourself. Play confident and calm, know your limits, don't get angry at yourself when you make a mistake. Focus on the joy of getting that little bit better at the game. And have fun; that's the most important part of all.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45777151
I'm much the same. If i'm at a moment like down to my last life or trying to dodge without bombs my heart starts to pound and if I die stupidly or almost clear, I have to set the game down and do something else to cool off.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45777151
>Poured my fucking soul into this run. When I got to the pre-boss dialogue my knees were shaking; not quivering, SHAKING, shoulders, shaking, torso, shaking. The only parts of my body that were steady were my hands and my head.
>After I lost my last life I was still quivering a little for a good five minutes after. I cried a little. I wasn't sad, the tears just came out.
Sounds cringe to read, even worse out of context, but I 100% understand this feel and can relate. The raw emotion perfectly describes PCB, the most kino of all the 1st gen Windows games, especially Stage 5.
Unfortunately I can never return to this state on Normal difficulty anymore, only on higher difficulties, and even then it's not the same as when you're freshly starting out. Although getting my first Extra clear was very overwhelming, both happy that it happened and sad that it had to be PoFV.
>It's a horrible shame that there are people who like Touhou but don't play it
You see now why we look down on the filthy secondary normie horde?
Keep it up anon, your well-deserved 1cc is on the horizon... Just don't get a heart attack please.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45777151
Whenever I get past stage 4 I get the jitters and go into ultra instinct mode where I stop thinking and put my whole being into trying to dodge whatever bullshit is being flung at me.
It doesn't work that well but it's cool.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45777151
PCB was my first normal 1cc. When I finally got past prismriver sisters for the first time, I was sweating before youmu put me out of my misery. The excitement of finally reaching stage 5 was immense. What a beautiful game.

[Anonymous No.]

Really new to danmaku games, I'm starting with EoSD on normal and struggling a lot. Is looking at other people's strategies like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AhyKZ3ZoV0
defeating the purpose? Like should I be trying to work all this out through trial and error or is it normal to consult help.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45777151
Please don't take this the wrong way, but I agree with the other guy in that what you said sounds utterly ridiculous and bordering on obsession, yet completely relatable and accurate. Your way with words managed to get a chuckle out of me while I was in a particularly stressed and nasty mood. Thank you for cheering me up.
Keep it up. You'll get your 1cc sooner than later. And most importantly, keep having fun.

>>45784110
No, this is normal. It's why we even have these threads in the first place.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45784110
It's fine. Nothing wrong with looking at other players' replays/gameplay and learning.
But what would be wrong is if you only memorize what to do and get the 1cc, WITHOUT gaining an understanding of how bullet patterns work. Understanding concepts like streaming and misdirection is more important.
Don't stress the conceptual bits, you'll figure them out the more you play, but don't play blindly.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45776935
Day 11. Two runs and a few practice runs. Total time overall 8 hours.

Did a little better today, but not by much. Awful performance on stage 3 and 5 doomed my run.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45784297
>But what would be wrong is if you only memorize what to do and get the 1cc, WITHOUT gaining an understanding of how bullet patterns work
I think STGs are fundamentally so skill focused rather than knowledge focused that it would be impossible for that to happen. To be able to replicate something like streaming or misdirection requires you to understand how it works. Even if you couldn't conceptually describe the concepts, you would still know when and how to use them

[Anonymous No.]

>>45784110
>Is looking at other people's strategies defeating the purpose?
no. that's how you improve, learning from people better than you

[Anonymous No.]

>>45784110
>defeating the purpose?
It's your own choice. Some people (like myself) consider it an additional challenge to figure out everything on their own, some people read or watch guides instead. Either is fine, since the real challenge is actually executing the plan in an actual run.

[Anonymous No.]

Should I finish the chart for each game, clearing each difficulty with each shot type, or should I just move on to a new game once I get my first Lunatic 1cc on it?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45784526
People may use guides for "that annoying enemy spawns from here so I will set myself up there to kill them faster" or "move here/do this when so-so annoying bullet shows up", instead of understanding concepts and techniques. It's on the player really, not the guide.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45784468
Day 12. Two runs. Total time overall 8 hours and 37 minutes.


I did it. I made plenty of mistakes and played sloppily so I was down to my last life when Kanako pulled out Mountain of Faith. But I somehow managed to beat it and get my very first normal 1cc. I had to spam bombs and I could have saved some lives if I were better, but a win is a win.

Replay: https://litter.catbox.moe/nkjoht.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45789587
I recommend clearing with every shot type before moving on, while you've still got the game and its biggest hazards still fresh on your mind.
Of course, you can make exceptions for games like IN and PoFV which have tons of shot types.

>>45790290
Congrats anon.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45790290
Congratulations anon, great job!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45790290
Congratulations, i hope you enjoyed the payoff for the time and effort you put in. Are you going to work on another?rpnr

[Anonymous No.]

>>45790290
GG, i guess everyone can get their 1cc if they put in some patience and a little effort after all
Anyway in PCB, I think you can still use around 30 bombs at least. PCB also has a border mechanic that gives you "armor" when your border is active, so don't worry too much about bomb spamming, it's part of the game
Once you already have a couple of 1cc and want to sharpen your dodging skills even more, you can just boot up thprac and try to timeout some spells you find fun
Or you can play photo games. I think StB gives a better dodging sense, while DS and ISC with no cheat items, seem more about memo. But again, I don't think it's recommended for now

[Anonymous No.]

I'm slowly but surely grinding out Flandre's stage. I can finally do Maze of Love semi-consistently, and I even got to And Then There Will Be None, and promptly died because I have no idea what the fuck is going on there.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45790290
I haven't watched the replay since I don't have MoF installed, but getting that as your first 1cc? That's pretty impressive. I disagree with the common opinion that MoF is one of the easiest games (on normal): "just spam bombs lol" yeah I get it, but the second half of the game, especially Kanako's last spell card as you mentioned, can get pretty crazy compared to 4-8's much milder difficulty curves. Congrats, man.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45794621
Alas, I forgot to include my complimentary image.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45793424
Yeah, I was wrong about that. I was just doubting myself after hitting the wall for so long. Now I might just go back to PCB and try it out again. Or I could go with IN which seems to be a little easier in some parts like with Reisen being less difficult then Youmu.

[Anonymous No.]

I want to aim for a hard 1CC. Do I try PCB or IN?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45790290
Congrats anon! Now go back to the Windows 1st gen games and clear them.

>>45794621
He already got TD >>45690308

>>45799738
Why not start from EoSD?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45799738
Why not HRtP??????
Start at the start, dude.

[Anonymous No.]

Youmu is such a nice girl - slowing time so I can dodge her bullshit. Very honorabru samurai shoujo. Feels bad to shove her full of knives.

Is there a difference between pointy bullets Prismriver sisters throw at you and normal roundy ones?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45799738
I'm a normalshitter and the only game I ever completed on hard is LLS, so by default I recommend that. Otherwise, from what you suggested, I recall IN being the easier of the two; with a bit of time, I imagine I would be able to 1cc it even at my current skill level.
I know the other two are shitposting, but they're honestly not terrible suggestions. From what I've heard and recall from the one time I played it, EoSD hard is even easier than IN. Taking a stab at it genuinely sounds like a good idea.
I haven't tried HRtP hard myself (and genuinely despise the game), but it can supposedly be "no-effort" cleared by farming lives through its numerous ways to score easy points. That doesn't change the bosses from being a pain in the ass, though. Here are some tips shared by someone else in a previous thread: https://pastebin.com/mL54drnJ

[Anonymous No.]

>>45801190
I'm not either of them (but I'm the guy who wrote those tips) and I can confirm HRtP Hard being very doable, barely any harder than Normal. Its two routes are the only Hard 1ccs I've got so far in the whole series. Lunatic is a pretty big increase in difficulty, though.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45801601
A Lunatic 1cc HRtP is super doable so long as you understand the mechanics of the game and how to exploit them for lives. I've done it with the lives and bombs turned to their minimum value, because you max out so quickly it hardly even matters.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45801870
I do, it's just that Sariel on Lunatic is so vicious that even full lives is not enough unless you clear most of her patterns accurately.

[Anonymous No.]

yeah, i beat this finally. how does this extra stage compare to others in the series? this feels like the hardest thing i've done in a videogame before, but on my last few attempts i was getting all the way to maze of love without losing a life, and i did the last spellcard first try when i finally reached it. anyway, i'm gonna finally move on to PCB.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45797857
Yeah Reisen is easier but Reimu/Marisa harder than both imo

[Anonymous No.]

What are some good starter Touhous? I'm currently playing Mountain of Faith as my first game and I'm really enjoying it even if I can't get past stage 4 on normal yet.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802873
I think that the EoSD is the most easy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802873
Lotus Land Story, if you're interested in the PC-98 games. It's generally considered the easiest game in the series and normal is a very casual friendly experience.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802153
Congrats anon! Good job doing the last spell on the first try, I remember dying there a few times.
Hardness of extra stages is a bit tricky, in PCB you'll get more extra lives but patterns are a bit harder, especially in Phantasm.
Usually EoSD ex is considered usually average together with PCB ph and IN ex. So it might depend on you which of those feels harder.
>>45802873
I think the best are:
LLS it's pretty straightforward and resource friendly, only downside is that you can't continue on the final stage.
PCB you can get hit a few extra times with it's mechanic, Sakuya's aimed shot and 4 bombs make it also easier.
MoF can be pretty easy but be warned that Kanako might fuck you pretty hard.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802153
I'd say it's tied with MoF for easiest in the windows games
PCB will only be slightly harder but you'll find it's much more consistent and forgiving once you start practicing
IN is a much bigger jump but you'll be ready for it by then

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802873
WBaWC made me develop the habit of looking at the entire screen, being more aggressive, and utilizing the entire screen space instead of just staying at the bottom and focusing on the character sprite

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802907
>>45803059
>>45803175
>>45803389
Thanks anons. I've got the PC-98 games downloaded already so I'll check out LLS next and earmark the others mentioned in your posts. I'm getting through stage 3 of MoF without continuing so hopefully I'll get past Aya soon. The patterns are a lot easier to understand once you're able to sort out the bullet formations.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802873
6, 7, and 8 are all frequently recommended.
I'd suggest 7 as being the all round nicest of the three. Better quality of life than 6, less gimmicky than 8.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802153
Congrats Anon.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45803510
Be warned though:
LLS Extra is a massive jump in difficulty since most of LLS's easyness is generous resources in the first three stages. You don't get so much of that past st 5.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45803510
Good idea. I always highly recommend LLS as a starter 2hu.
Besides that, I see no one has recommended MS yet, so I would like to add that as well. I find it to be a slightly easier and honestly more polished EoSD.
As far as difficulty goes, I'd rank the recommendations so far as such, from easiest to hardest:
4 > 8 > 7 > 5 > 6 > 10

[Anonymous No.]

What's the trick for this spellcard? Dodge like a fucking madman?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812332
The lower you are on the screen the steeper the angle she'll shoot the bubble bullets
Start as high as you can and try not to bottom camp

[Anonymous No.]

>>45735704
Touhoubros... It's over

[Anonymous No.]

>>45735704
It's over

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812505
No clue why it rotates the image but I don't care. I'm not too upset about this, in fact it just tells me that the Lunatic 1cc is imminent. Hopefully I get it soon.

[Anonymous No.]

When practicing, is it good to try and break things down into smaller chunks? (E.G.: Get through the stage without dying, then a specific card, then eventually the whole boss and stage?)
>>45800131
>>45800501
>>45801190
I mainly wanted to play PCB because it's winter, lol, but if PCB doesn't work out I'll try LLS.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812409
Got it, I'll give that a shot next time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802873
I'm a purist so EoSD is the ideal start.
The bullets are fast and not so dense much like Shuusou Gyoku, so it's a good trainer for reflexes and basic skills. The lack of hitbox may be discouraging, but it's a trial by danmaku fire that cannot be replicated by the later games.

>>45812332
You've got your dodging skills down, but I've never encountered this spellcard as I've only ever played Sakuya and focused on Merlin.
Only thing I can suggest is being a bit more aggressive with your weaving. Go into the gaps as soon as you can and if the exit is clear, no surprise bullets.
>>45812524
>I mainly wanted to play PCB because it's winter, lol
Are you me you autist? lol

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812524
Just do it, man. It's true, there's no sense of atmosphere like playing PCB in the winter (even though it takes place in the middle of spring). But thanks for taking my suggestion into consideration.

>>45812902
When you say you recommend EoSD on part of being a purist, is it in the sense that you consider its "pure danmaku" approach to be peak Touhou, or that everyone should start with it since it's the first windows game? Your post makes me think it's the former, but I thought I'd ask since I have a different question to respond to each and wouldn't want to make any assumptions.

[Anonymous No.]

The absolute best time to play PCB recently was in the early spring of 2022, which still felt like winter just like in the story.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45813058
The latter.
Similarly "purist" against the horrible re-translation of many of the older content, but I digress.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45814221
Why do you recommend skipping PC-98? Even though the first three games are honestly awful, there's still stuff to appreciate with their great soundtracks and 2-3's fun casts. LLS and MS, on the other hand, are genuinely good games that are very similar in feel to EoSD, and I personally believe they surpass it.
I also think the historical context would make a newcomer feel less lost (although only very slightly lol), since EoSD presents itself assuming some familiarity with the characters and setting. I started with it and I was wondering what I had missed; it felt nothing like a soft reboot.
I understand if you don't think they are a very good first impression (especially 1-3), but honestly 4-5 aren't any worse in that regard than EoSD. I'd argue PCB is the superior "series classic" that does a better job of setting up the rest of the series, from both a gameplay and story perspective. EoSD feels more like the real last PC-98 game than the start of something new.
Regarding translations, I could see what you mean for most of the old static translations vs. thcrap translations, but I do think 6-7 are pretty rough around the edges, and 8's old translation is outright worse (despite being pretty funny). I agree for 9-13, though.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45816217
>Even though the first three games are honestly awful
Come on, anon, PoDD is quite fun! I'd say better than PoFV.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812524
I was joking about HRtP, but it's fun to take a shot at once every so often.
I'd recommend LLS highly since I actually found it quite fun, but MS is good too. MS is a lot harder from what I remember, especially stage 4 is just a whole load of hard to see bullshit coming at you from all sides.
Just keep in mind that LLS has a weird scoring system you might want to check up on, the dream bonus points increase the value of score points beyond the default cap, so make sure to pick them up because that's going to give you all your extra lives.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812524
When I practice, I usually try to nmnb the boss first and then the stage to be detailed maybe like this
spells practices -> the nones -> full boss -> mid boss -> the stage hotspots -> full stage

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812524
You're just starting out, so for practice just do entire runs with continues. You need to build up a lot of stamina before you even focus on clearing specific stuff.
Once you're able to clear the game with just one or two continues, you can use thprac to focus on practicing any spellcards you're having lots of trouble with (as in, can't clear without bombing at least twice).
Don't worry about anything else, just worry about having fun because that's what will keep you going and improving.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45817811
The funny thing is I agree with everything you said. My bottom 3 for the series is PoDD > PoFV > HRtP (I haven't played 19 yet). The versus shooters are actually pretty fun when playing against someone else, but (a) the single player experience is terrible, and (b) Twinkle Star Sprites does it better anyway.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45816217
>Why do you recommend skipping PC-98?
From a non-story perspective, they're a very poor introduction into the series and rather irrelevant as starter games: While concepts like grazing and deathbombs are present, they are vastly different from the later games which run on a different engine and have a more consistent gameplay system in place.
I don't have anything against the PC-98 games at all, in fact, I've played them more often than the ones from TD onwards. But barring LLS (and only slightly at that) they're utterly unsuitable to suggest to somebody who's curious about Touhou and wants to get into the franchise through the games. Hell, even from a story perspective they're already retconned. The best way to enjoy them is to play them from a retrospective point of view. Not only have I found out about this the hard way by somebody dropping interest by starting with HRtP.

>newcomer feel less lost
>familiarity with the characters and setting
>I was wondering what I had missed; it felt nothing like a soft reboot.
All games start with assuming familiarity, even the PC-98 ones. The thing about EoSD (and LLS) is that it presents everything perfectly well: It establishes the characters personalities fast, from their portraits, personal titles, and the stage 1 dialogue. Not to mention the recognizable characters and music. The mystery really attracts rather than alienates, just like watching the original Star Wars and hearing everything presented for the first time.
This also applies to LLS, but it isn't as impactful imo, and worse people would be left wondering what happened to everything that the game established once they reach the Windows games, and slightly irked that the new gameplay would require a bit more getting used to. The only thing that gets carried over is Reimu and Marisa, their personalities, and Yuuka for some reason unless they already knew about it, or played PoFV enough to unlock Cirno and discover her there.
Related the point above, and to pick a bone with your choice of PCB as a starter, Sakuya's entire story is a bit of a "spoilered" existence, as nobody would have any clue about her appearance and everything about her. As for gameplay perspective, the border of life gimmick and visible hitbox trivializes the game. The barebones hitbox-less gameplay of EoSD is a much more neutral introduction to the series, from a gameplay perspective ofc.
Note that this applies mostly to people who are oblivious of the series, not those who have a clue, like wiki readers or those who indulge in fanworks.

>translations
My stance on this is firm: It's either ZUN's writing is no longer as creative as it used to be like the 1st gen Windows games, or the autists over at thcrap are sanitizing the game excessively.

I am very biased about the above points to be quite honest, back when I was starting out EoSD was the commonly suggested starting point, and the funky translation was part of the charm.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45816217
>>45819427
Another point to add to the wall of text above, is that I've personal experience with starting from the "non-commonly suggested games" of certain series, and they did muddle my perceptions of the later games quite a bit. I'll abuse the spoiler function for a bit as they're not 2hu and thus irrelevant.
- Metal Gear, started from the MSX games and was biased towards them compared to the PS2 games in terms of story handling and its simplicity compared to kojimbo jank. Still liked the later games, but I got a bias especially for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- Ace Combat, started from the PS1 games and by the time I reached AC4 which was the main starting point for most peopleI was already bored out of my wits. Also, the final stage had no impact as I already did what is literally the same thing in AC2

[Anonymous No.]

Miko fucked my 1cc TD run again

Also - assuming you have full trance meter, where are the best places to activate the trance mode to get the best out of doubling the resources? Especially in stage six, the screen is usually so spammed in the latter part that I have no idea when those pink and green blops actually seem to appear and from which enemy.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45819427
>the autists over at thcrap
I can't say anything about the dialogue from the later games as I've only played 1-11 so far, but do keep in mind that the thcrap patches are community sourced from the wikipages from thpatch (like https://www.thpatch.net/wiki/Th11/Reimu_and_Yukari's_Scenario/en ), and synced with them every time you start any of the games.
Anyone can edit this wiki, even you and me, and considering the sorry state I've found PoFV in, before I went to the wiki and fixed a dozen typos, the community doesn't seem to curate all games with the same standards, so this might explain some of the games having weaker dialogue (although I've heard that ZUN has, in fact, gotten lazy with the dialogue in the last few games). None of my edits made with a new account have been reverted, at least, so there doesn't seem to be an elitist sentiment behind this community effort.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45819589
My memory is hazy but this is what I remember
>Stage 2
Right before Kyouko midboss or just before her bossfight. I think the latter is suggestible as the dialogue will cancel the trance mode and save the remainder iirc
>Stage 4
Against the big fairies at the end of the stage, after the 3 fairy mook waves (twice slow, last is fast). Once again, the dialogue should cancel the trance.
>Stage 5
Hard to describe, but during the piano solo bits just before Tojiko midboss there will be big fairies appearing from the top left. This repeats again at the end of the stage and the last wave will have about 9 big fairies on the screen, although not all of them will have bomb/life spirits.
>Stage 6
After the yin-yang orbs' laser spam, the "big fairy procession" waves begin. Killing the big fairies will destroy the whole line, so if you let the processions pass then the last spirit at the end of a line will be carrying bomb spirits at first, then life spirits just before the final bossfight starts. The problem here is that all spirits will be firing aimed shots, so you should control your fire to kill the shit ones without hitting the fairies nor the bomb/life ones prematurely

>>45820079
I've never used thcrap ever since it was revealed and rumors of botnet spread about. Every game from DDS forward is untranslated and I rely on the touhouwiki for translations. To this day I don't know what's being said in UDoALG's latter scenarios.
https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Unfinished_Dream_of_All_Living_Ghost/Story
Don't have anything against thcrap, I'M being a stubborn elitist.
>ZUN has, in fact, gotten lazy with the dialogue in the last few games
He has. Can't blame him for it though...

[Anonymous No.]

>>45820300
>rumors of botnet spread about
Just some dumb rumors. The program's entire code is on github, open for anyone to read, so it would have been badmouthed to oblivion by now if it really contained some malicious code of the sort.

[Anonymous No.]

>Not only have I found out about this the hard way by somebody dropping interest by starting with HRtP.
Oh I didn't realize this was you. I'm pretty sure we had this discussion before, haha. I wrote a lot in response (yeah somehow more than this), but I realized I was just going in circles.
My real answer to "wich 2hu wud u reccomend" is whichever game looks cool. What matters most to newcomers is maintaining interest, and since they will be lost no matter where they start, they might as well begin with whatever they find fun. It's only when I hear the request for something easy or simple that I bust out the 4-8 plus 10 recommendations.

>The mystery really attracts rather than alienates, just like watching the original Star Wars and hearing everything presented for the first time.
Y'know, I also thought about comparing it to Star Wars, though I came to the opposite conclusion. ANH is a perfect introduction to the series because, despite throwing viewers into the thick of everything, it still builds up the world along the way. I don't think the Touhou games have the same effect, notwithstanding the manuals to some degree.

>I am very biased about the above points to be quite honest, back when I was starting out EoSD was the commonly suggested starting point, and the funky translation was part of the charm.
I'm just as biased as you, coming from a similar experience. I started with EoSD, and though I liked it (and still think it's one of the better games), I wondered why the series was held in such high regard. I only fell in love with Touhou after playing what immediately preceded and succeeded it.

Also, I noticed you didn't bring up MS. What do you think LLS does better? Mind you, I agree LLS is the superior starting point, and it's actually my favorite 2hu. I just also think MS is a decent introduction, with a more memorable cast and soundtrack to boot.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45822875
Reply to >>45819427

[Anonymous No.]

Does anyone here have experience LNBing fangames? I have 3 mainline LNBs and I was thinking of doing a fangame for my next one.
>Riverbed Soul Saver
>Elegant Impermanence of Sakura
>Servants of Harvest Wish
>Infinite Blade Pavilion
are the ones I have my eyes on, but I'm not sure which I want to one to commit to.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45822875
>>45822892
Man, if the same question about starters pops up again next thread then I'll sit it out lol
>What matters most to newcomers is maintaining interest, and since they will be lost no matter where they start, they might as well begin with whatever they find fun.
This. To be truthful, if somebody asks for a starter and is open to discussion, then I would give the usual options, along with a short non-spoiler description of the game and what to expect. It's up to the person to decide. If it is a single question and answer type of discussion then it's going to be EoSD.

>notwithstanding the manuals to some degree.
I didn't mention the manuals because most people don't read them, despite the plot exposition and character profiling like old game manuals used to.

>Also, I noticed you didn't bring up MS
1. It seems even worse in regards to familiarity and assumption that the player is aware of the setting. It's easier to get lost in this game's heroic "there's an incident and it's caused by those people, we gotta stop them!" here than in LLS adventurous "there's some funky shit going on, let's explore this suspicious place".
2. More characters and setting details gets retconned out here (7 for MS, 5 for LLS). It's hurts me to see that there's nothing out of Makai since this game even though it's supposed to be a notable location in Windows-era Touhou. UFO stage 5 and 6 are irrelevant since it's only set there but nothing else beyond that
3. Gimmicks-wise, LLS is more neutral while MS it's active and can be punishing, say, if you bomb or die, which can distract a new player.
4. There's more character development for Reimu and Marisa in LLS, and they even get to fight each other, while in MS they're relatively more "go stop incident" like the later games. Mima and Yuuka get interesting character development, but the former is retconned and the latter's personality gets re-written to be less eccentric and more passive (sadistic trait is still retained).

[Anonymous No.]

>>45820300
thanks for the tips, I will try it out today

also, had no idea the remainder is saved if you enter the dialogue, so I will keep that in mind

[Anonymous No.]

>>45829384
I started doubting my own advice so I looked for my old disk and gave it a shot. Here a few extra notes:

If you enter a dialogue while trance is active, it will end it and deduct 1 circle's (about a ⅓) worth of trance.
>Stage 4
If you have a unused trance meter coming from stage (you probably should, it's Yoshika), then at the start, activate it after you kill the 3 blue "granny" fairies that shoot pink bullets with a short delay. They'll drop bomb spirits. Afterwards, there will be 2 big fairies that would drop nothing, then 2 more that would drop bomb spirits, and finally 2 again that come in almost as Seiga comes in, and they'll drop life spirits. If you take too long to kill them, then they'll despawn when Seiga appears. I don't think the trance would last from the granny fairies until the midboss, but it's worth a try.
Seiga herself will drop 2 life spirits and 2 bomb spirits. The three fairy waves should give you enough to fully regenerate your trance bar, then you can activate it after you kill the 2 big fairies that will drop life spirits, then after an annoying delay 2 more big fairies will spawn dropping bomb spirits.
It's fine if the trance doesn't get saved at the dialogue, because you'll recover it very quickly in both the bossfight and the start of Stage 5.
>Stage 5
Same advice as the original post. Definitely use trance at the start and the end of the stage.
>Stage 6
Same advice as the original post. Do note that trance mode deals more damage, so make sure you're not hitting the big fairies and cancelling out waves. You can get about 8 or 10(?) bomb spirits from the immediate wave after the yin-yangs, and 4 life spirits at the very end before the final boss.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45812524
I was inspired somewhat by you and decided to take a stab at PCB hard myself. So far I can get to stage 4 on one credit and I use up all three on Yuyuko. My only hard 1cc is LLS Reimu A.
I haven't done too much practicing yet: most of what I've done so far is full runs, at least to unlock all the stages for practice mode. After that, I've been revisiting stages 3-5 in practice mode and trying to see how far I can get in pacifist runs, mostly to get a feel for how to dodge patterns without relying on bombs or quick kills. Once I identify specific portions I'm struggling on, I plan on focusing more on getting those down.
I know thprac can expedite much of this process, but I'm too lazy to install it at the moment. I'll get around to it once I can identify specific weak points in my runs.

>>45828325
>Man, if the same question about starters pops up again next thread then I'll sit it out lol
Same. I gotta stop being so stubborn with my opinions. Thanks for indulging me in this song and dance again, it was interesting to hear your takes in such detail.

[Anonymous No.]

Just started playing Ten Desires, my god this is much more fun than SA and UFO

Also, Im not sure if this is just from me getting better since I have now 1cc'd 6-11 but it seems the later into the series you get, the easier the Touhou Game is, barring Stage 5 of SA

[Anonymous No.]

>>45832609
Thprac is easier to use than it seems. After downloading it, you just need to start the game you want to play and then run the thprac exe, it'll recognize the game and latch to it automatically, giving you a custom menu when you enter practice mode.

[Anonymous No.]

trying to LNB PoDD.

fucken hate chiyuri bros

[Anonymous No.]

>>45833659
Wow, you're right. Just set it up via the "put the exe in the game folder" method, and it was completely painless. Thought it would be a pain in since I couldn't get thcrap working on Linux in the past. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45834457
Which character?
iirc as Marisa on Normal the enemies used to die very fast due to getting trapped between the lasers, so it might be similarly easier on Lunatic.
Also there's this comment >>45698138 to keep in mind

[Anonymous No.]

>>45790290
nice job anon!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45802153
congratulations anon!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45837296
Yumemi. Im already aware of all the ai fuckery in the game but thank you anons

[Anonymous No.]

Yuyuko killed my run again :)

[Anonymous No.]

>>45843828
What? I thought TD was easy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45844068
Nah TD can be surprisingly unforgiving if you screw up, almost like SA. Now on the other hand, losing all your lives on stage 1...

[Anonymous No.]

I don't understand why people say SA's life system is unforgiving. You literally don't have to do anything special and the game just rains lives on you. If you somehow die exclusively to separate boss attacks, you miss out on what, 2 lives, when the game gives you something like 10.

[Anonymous No.]

Where did the meme of Sakuya being elegant come from? She is baka like 90% of time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45845537
From ZUN. It's her character title in some of the games.
https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Characters/Titles
Also, elegant and retarded aren't mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45844668
It's more that the bomb system discourages bomb spam, so if you get scared and bomb too many times in succession, you're left fending off against boss attacks with low power and no way to get more other than capturing. Add on top of that losing the potential for more lives /while/ you're losing lives due to the low power, and it can totally feel like a gut punch.
Though I personally think the system is very motivating since you can get lives even right up to the final spell

[Anonymous No.]

>>45844068
>>45844275
PCB you BAKA!!!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45847555
You've summarized my thoughts on the matter. Exacerbating this is that nearly all bombs are terrible and hardly even help you survive, and the power loss when getting hit is particularly high in this game. All that combined and one mistake can often snowball into a run ender.
The big power penalty is true of TD as well, with resources being more scarce than SA, which is why I say it's somewhat similarly unforgiving despite its easy patterns.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45847555
>Add on top of that losing the potential for more lives /while/ you're losing lives due to the low power, and it can totally feel like a gut punch.
Sure, but getting 8 extends instead of 10 isn't the big deal people think it is. It's not like anyone going for bare 1CCs is getting all of the point item extends from PCB and IN either, and you have to try way harder for those.

>Though I personally think the system is very motivating since you can get lives even right up to the final spell
People must not even be getting to this point, otherwise they would see that the game is still throwing resources at you all the way until the end.

>>45848628
>the power loss when getting hit is particularly high in this game
SA power loss is basically nonexistent. It gives you back full power if you die with full power or no lives left, 3.20 if you have 3~4 power or only 1 life left, and 2.25 otherwise. Assuming you actually use your bombs, it's actually only ever a power gain.

>All that combined and one mistake can often snowball into a run ender.
If you're "snowballing" before stage 5, you were never going to make it anyway. For the first few stages, there is not enough threatening stuff in quick succession for bomb usage to outpace the amount of power that the stages and bosses are dropping. Even if you start to fall behind as early as stage 4, you can use up all 4 bombs, possibly gaining 1 more to use during the bosses, dying once, then bombing another 2 times. Even if you're hardly dodging anything, that's 7 bombs and 1 life spent on each of Satori and Orin that should easily get you through. That should leave plenty of resources for fucking up on stage 3/4/5 and the entirety of Utsuho.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45735704
Played for a couple hours. Had a run that died to Scarlet Meister and two to Scarlet Gensokyo, bumping the number of runs failed to the very last spell up to three.

I am not happy.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45851928
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osf1fa4UhP4

[Anonymous No.]

>>45853629
classic

[Anonymous No.]

>>45853629
I actually got closer to winning than this guy, lol
>>45812505

[Anonymous No.]

>>45853629
why is he reacting to a replay and pretending it's a live recording

[Anonymous No.]

>>45858102
Apparently he only has the audio from the stream but not the video (2008 remember) so he played the audio over the replay for context

[Anonymous No.]

It finally happened, my first ever Windows era Lunatic 1cc. I'm so happy right now, bros.
https://files.catbox.moe/h0n8hz.rpy

[Anonymous No.]

>>45858373
Good job, anon.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45851435
>Sure, but getting 8 extends instead of 10 isn't the big deal people think it is.
I agree, I'm just explaining why people would see SA's system as unforgiving. It's more of a mental thing, like how dying in stage 2 and dying in stage 5 are the same as far as your overall run goes, but different players have different reactions to them. Some people would take a stage 2 death badly and get tilted while others would shrug would it off, and same goes for a stage 5 death.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45851435
>>45858515
I dunno, I distinctly remember most of my runs ending with me struggling to maintain power, not being able to capture anything, and subsequently plateauing on lives. It's been several years since I've given an SA 1cc a serious shot, but I did try revisit it once a few months back and everything went exactly how I remember.
Maybe it'll go better if I just straight up never bombed, but I remember trying that a few times and my runs ended even earlier.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45858923
Did you use Reimu A?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45858961
Reimu A is the only shot type I was able to 1cc with, mostly because her bomb is actually good. Most of my other attempts were with Marisa B since I didn't like the other shot types all that much.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45858997
Marisa C is really good too, it also has a "bonus extra hit" bomb like Sakuya A in DDC or Reisen in LoLK

[Anonymous No.]

Where do you differ from this list?
I call arrowheads "scales", fireballs "wisps", and amulets "cards" even if that's really wrong.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45859582
I think more of of the spellcard name rather than the bullet names honestly. These never come to my head except for certain situations where they're very prominent and annoying like MoF Stage 4 fairies throwing the poker chips everywhere.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45859582
>Ball (outlined)
I always called these "Saturn bullets".

>>45859714
>Poker Chip
I'm going to start using this.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45859714
Forgot to mention that I sometimes call the Reisen bullets "suppositories", but that's only when there's a risk of getting hit from the rear like her 3rd spellcard.

>>45859887
I used to also call them shirikodama bullets at one point, but seeing there was no basis to it other than being MoF stage 3(?) and 4, it got dropped.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45859582
I always call the "amulet" as ofuda. I love 'em

[Anonymous No.]

>>45859714
>poker chip
I usually call them "crimzon clover true last boss bullets", but that's a good alternative

[Anonymous No.]

>>45859292
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it out next time I play. I recall the shot itself being clunky, but that bomb does sound real nice.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45734275
I hate this. I hate it because I lost my first batch of replays from either a drive failure or file movement. (probably just a drunken mistake)
It's just gone but the skill is still here.

[Anonymous No.]

Just got my first 1cc Normal on SA on my first try of the day (third try overall).
I usually never drink, but today I'm gonna open a beer in ZUN's honor.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45868680
Nice one anon, you should upgrade to hard or lunatic (except for ufo)

[Anonymous No.]

>>45868680
congrats anon

[Anonymous No.]

>>45676466
Getting back into Touhou recently
What's considered the easiest game? Is it still MoF? I can clear up until stage 4 untouched but that fucking waterfall always kicks my ass

[Anonymous No.]

>>45872193
IN and it's not even close

[Anonymous No.]

>>45872193
LLS, it's generous with resources and has pretty easy patterns for the most part

[Anonymous No.]

>>45872193
Every other answer you've heard up to this point is incorrect. It's actually ISC using items.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45872193
Well now this isn't a "starter game" question that was discussed in length earlier, so I'll throw in my hat again.

It's IN and always has been.
Patterns are easy to read, the extended deathbombing window is blatant hand-holding, and some character combos are terribly OP.
If I had to give other options, then LLS for a PC-98 option, and WBaWC for a nu-2hu option (cleared this one in a 2-3 tries no sweat).
I'm so tempted to say EoSD again but I digress, despite it's simplicity, IN is much easier than EoSD.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45872017
>>45871795
Thanks anons.
You're right, the fact I haven't had much trouble with this game means I should be able to attempt for Hard clears on most other games, but as a latecomer I'm first trying to clear all games in order, playing on Normal so it won't take me a decade.

Something I can strongly recommend to anyone having trouble is hitting Aya's gym (StB), my skills have improved greatly thanks to practicing enough to clear the 66 stages needed to unlock the extra stages before moving on to MoF.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45872193
My "top 5 easiest 2hus" goes something like this (on normal):
LLS >>> IN >> PCB > MS > EoSD
I'd highly recommend LLS if possible, I really can't overstate how much of a difficulty gap there is compared to the other games. It's the only game I can beat on hard and come remotely close to beating on lunatic.
IN is also notably easier than the other games, but it's already a big step up in difficulty from LLS (which honestly isn't saying too much). The patterns aren't so bad, you're given a plethora of lives and bombs, and the deathbomb window is huge.
PCB has some annoying patterns, but you're showered with resources, and the cherry gimmick can really save your ass.
MS and EoSD are fairly similar in that they suffer from some really weird visibility issues and some patterns are prone to walling you out, but besides that they're very simple and straightforward games that don't often ask too much of you. But the times that they do can get frustrating.
For the record, I really disagree that MoF is one of the easiest games; I'd put it right after EoSD, but this borders into "moderate difficulty" territory. Bombspam can only carry you so far against some of the patterns you'll have to deal with, especially against Kanako.

[Anonymous No.]

Might take on LoLK this week. How hard is it, really?
Harder than SA? Harder than UFO? I've seen people tell me it's the hardest game to date

[Anonymous No.]

>>45874279
If you are using Reisen or Sanae, LoLK will become one of the easiest touhou game

[Anonymous No.]

>>45874348
Not that Anon but I cleared it on Point Device as Reisen and it was a mentally exhausting experience.
Somewhat intimidated by the game, and whenever I play on practice mode I lose lives easy. Reisen's bomb amplifies the "lost a life thus my run is ruined" effect really hard, pichuun is a horrible sound. Also, kept my aging laptop on overnight because I didn't know it saved at checkpoints, later coped with it by saying doing so "legitimized" my run by not closing the game.
I've got 1ccs in every game except this because I utterly dislike it and would hate going through the experience again. Although I've read that Legacy is somewhat lenient with its resources and it's a lot easier than one would think...

Got any general tips for doing a Legacy run? Never played it since release.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45874531
Well PD is just a horrible experience in my opinion. You can get soft locked in uncomfortable positions, and Reisen bomb loses its biggest advantage here
>Got any general tips for doing a Legacy run?
For general tips, aim to achieve at least 200 graze and a shooting down percentage of 88-95% (I don't remember the exact numbers) in each chapter. This is why Reisen and Sanae are the best choices for a 1cc as their bomb make grazing easier

[Anonymous No.]

Tangential to this thread but holy shit is this game good.
Like, everything about it is so studdingly well made from the music to the animation and gameplay and general creativity of it all.
This might just be the best 2D game I've ever played desu

[Anonymous No.]

>>45872193
I'd say PCB or IN. I'm playing Touhou for the first time in over a month with PCB Sakuya A. It took me 4 attempts to get to stage 6 on lunatic, so I'm not as rusty as I though. Sakuya does feel really slippery though.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45858373
Experimented with Reimu B for a bit and yeah, no wonder pretty much all Reimu EoSD players use her. The homing amulets for the most part felt pretty weak anyways. Getting a second Lunatic 1cc shouldn't take long.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45881466
What does it offer over Marisa A? Marisa's damage output is just as good, if not better, and her bomb is way more powerful. Does the wide unfocused spread really help that much for stages?

[Anonymous No.]

Sakuya -> Medicine -> Komachi is not a fair run of characters for Reisen

[Anonymous No.]

>>45881685
I wouldn't know because I plan on doing the shottypes in order and haven't gotten to Marisa yet.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45881685
>Does the wide unfocused spread really help that much for stages?
lolno, it helps with bosses. Reimu does good damage from afar and can shotgun to match Marisa, but unlike Marisa, she can still do damage even if she gets RNG'd away from the center of the boss. Try to capture something like Yumekazura, Sakuya non 2, or especially Scarlet Gensokyo multiple times in a row with both shots and you'll quickly see the difference. Reimu is way more consistent.
Marisa A also has to deal with hands down the hardest Patchy in the game.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45881892
I do the same for my 1cc collecting, except I switch characters after each clear. For eosd that'd be ReimuA, MarisaA, ReimuB, MarisaB.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45881892
>>45886206
I typically do clears ordering by ease to use as a way of smoothing out the learning curve of the game. So I go homing shot (typically Reimu) > wide spreads > thin spreads (typically Marisa). That way, you can spend the initial game time learning how to dodge patterns and not worry about staying under the bosses too much, and as you get used to that you can transition to shots that force you to learn precise movements, routing and staying under bosses to maximize damage.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45886312
That's another good way yeah, I used to do that and will probably have to go back to it once I start playing LoLK.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45882256
Huh, never thought of it that way. Thanks for the perspective.
>Marisa A also has to deal with hands down the hardest Patchy in the game.
Strangely, I remember Marisa A's Patchouli fight as being the easiest. I dunno if it's because I play on normal or because I'm just used to it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45890250
Reimu A has to deal with Agni Shrine High Level, Trilithon Shake, Lava Cromlech, Forest Blaze, and Mercury Poison
Reimu B has to deal with Bury in Lake, Green Storm, Mercury Poison, Water Elf, and Emerald Megalith
Marisa A has to deal with Sylphy Horn High Level, Agni Radiance, Lava Cromlech, Forest Blaze, and Emerald Megalith
Marisa B has to deal with Lazy Trilithon High Level, Silver Dragon, Mercury Poison, Water Elf, and Emerald Megalith

Marisa A is generally considered to have the nastiest spells. Just comparing between what she gets and what Marisa B gets it's night and day.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45886206
>>45886312
I just do them in the order they appear on the chart from left to right, I don't do anything special there.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45886206
>>45891194
I just 1cc a game on a shot type I like and move on to something else. Grinding out a 1cc is enough, I can't be assed to do it again right after for each character lol
That said, I think >>45886312 's approach makes a lot of sense for learning a game. I'm just too stubborn and impatient to do it myself.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45891670
Clearing the other shot types while the stages and patterns are still fresh on your mind is much more efficient and allows you to read all the endings in succession, and if you've truly mastered the game then it won't take more than a few tries per type.

[Anonymous No.]

quite difficult but cleared at long last

[Anonymous No.]

>>45890628
Reimu B is slightly worse because she has to deal with 2 rng heavy spells, bury in lake and emerald megalith
At least with Sylphy you can get better and dodge it on skill alone

[Anonymous No.]

How hard is CtC?
I haven't gotten it to run but I've been warned it's tough as shit

[Anonymous No.]

>>45895792
I ran through the game a bunch after seeing your post. Did A on Normal, B, C, and D on Hard, and messed around with Lunatic but didn't clear. I'd say it plainly goes A -> B -> C -> D from easiest to hardest, then IMO, C -> A -> D -> B in terms of fun.
The biggest thing is that you really have to work to get extra lives. It kinda feels like a less extreme TD, in that you don't have to work quite as hard for lives as in TD, but you also don't get as many lives as TD can potentially give you. But if you don't make a concentrated effort to always grab items, you probably won't have more than three lives at any point unless you no-miss 90% of the game. Made tougher by the PoC being outright blocked off in half the stages. One run got to stage 6 while somehow not even getting the 250 extend.
Pattern difficulty is average, though it'll take a bit to get used to v0.12m jank. The game likes to criss-cross bullets at extreme, almost horizontal angles, as well as throw out dense, very slow clusters to overwhelm you, then put you on a timer by launching something fast directly at you. There's a familiar system that works just like IN's, so remember to unfocus during stages to cancel bullets. There are also a few blind killers, particularly in C, D, and stage 4. I'd say it's upper-mid compared to the ZUN games, and more difficult than your average fangame.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45894399
>The clear score lower than PB
Classic UFO 1cc experience heh, anyway p 4.0? Did you, like 0-1 miss the whole Byakuren fight?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45898406
The PB was actually in that run (screencap is from my replay) and the clear bonus hadn't been added yet.
>anyway p 4.0? Did you, like 0-1 miss the whole Byakuren fight?
Hijiri's air scroll gives you around P 2.0 after clearing it but yeah bombed almost everything except for the 2nd and 3rd spells and the easier nons.

[Anonymous No.]

Replay desyncs are a pretty weird thing.
I've got an SA replay which desyncs right at the start of okuu's fight and gives me a game over near the middle of her first spell if I watch it starting from stage 6, but to my surprise starting from stage 5 lets the fight run properly until the end.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45906834
I've heard something about how replay desyncs are more or less game and situation specific, although sometimes they can happen randomly without possible replication. Here's a page I found talking about documented cases and their workaround for certain games.
https://maribelhearn.com/faq#desync

[Anonymous No.]

>>45900698
Ah I'm dumb, I guess that's the reason why my screenshot and others guy screenshot have lower score than PB

[Anonymous No.]

>>45906945
That's a pretty good list, thanks. It talks exactly about what was happening to me.
I've also run into the MoF issue which happens when you start the replay at stage 4.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45906834
>>45906945
Good resource, thanks a lot. As far as I was aware, replaying from anything that isn't the 1st stage means a desync down the line, glad to finally clear this up.
>Starting the Extra Stage with Byakuren's Scroll card equipped will also desync your run
Damn that was a close one, was intending to do this

I know it's not the shmups but it's worth noting that the fighters also have desyncs.
IaMP and HM have the worst. Basically anybody whose spellcards have particularly random projectiles has a tendency to cause a replay desync. It gets even worse if your character dies and loses all lives, ending the replay on the spot. Also if all replay data has been read and the round was not set to end yet, then both characters will be standing idle for 3-6 minutes until the end of replay data is reached.
https://youtu.be/rvEWsGs3BuM?t=1034

[Anonymous No.]

https://maribelhearn.com/faq/start
>Starting on Easy is also fine.
>Don't worry about the 'EHHHHH EZ MODO?!?!' memes, anyone that spams that nonsense either is a chump who can barely 1cc Normal modes or simply doesn't play. Ignore them.
Sounds like someone got bullied and never managed to get over it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45914760
Maribel is a shitter but he's still better than about everyone here that isn't part of the ""community""
https://www.youtube.com/@MaribelHearn/
He's right about the easy mode meme by the way; I have only seen scrubs parroting that shit

[Anonymous No.]

>>45914760
>>45915569
Oh it's written by the nigger
my point still stands though kek

[Anonymous No.]

>>45915598
He is right yeah, it's just the way he gets so defensive about it that got me.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45915569
>has an LNN
>90% of WR in his category
>multiple TWC appearances
>shitter
Stop being a crab.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45916584
>>has an LNN
it's TD lol
>>90% of WR in his category
Not impressive for his category. Besides that really depends on the game so it doesn't mean much
>>multiple TWC appearances
That doesn't mean anything; TWC isn't exclusively for the best players. I can name you all the random scrubs for the survival and some scoring matches if you want

[Anonymous No.]

>>45916824
post your TD LNN nigger

[Anonymous No.]

>>45916584
There's no convincing someone who calls shitter someone who's probably better than at least 95% of the total playerbase, anon.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45676466
>Touhou 1cc Tracker: https://doopu.github.io/1ccTracker/
This is an insane amount of work you have done chartanon. cheers

[Anonymous No.]

TD main game scoring was the start of the low risk/high reward routing that has plagued the series for the past decade. TD Extra is unironically harder to get a 90% WR score in despite being so short and simple since you actually have to dodge stuff sometimes.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45790290
Congrats anon, that was a very cool read. Keep on going!

[Anonymous No.]

On this day 13 years ago I got my first ever Normal 1cc (extra lives and bombs though), and it was supposed to be Reimu A, but had to be changed to Marisa B because it was weak.
Inspired by the posts above about Reimu A again, I decided to finally get that Normal 1cc that I've long been denying myself, and with default lives and bombs too.

Goddamn the shot type is MUCH worse than I remember. The run felt terrible, with lots of careless deaths due to overconfidence, and lots of paranoid bombing when it wasn't neccessary because I died by a stray bullet just as Meiling was exploding.

On a related note, any hints for Maze of Love? It's the only spellcard I'm having difficulty with. Around the boss spellcards like this and Omoikane's Device really fuck me up (although Byakuren's nonspell where she flies around you is fine at least).

[Anonymous No.]

>45916824
nobody cares nigger

>>45919573
maze of love is static, so remember where the gaps are and when you need to reposition or change directions and keep up with it. it should be very easy to learn with thprac. some people stay at the bottom and micrododge to speedkill it

[Anonymous No.]

Anyone who unironically tracks "western records" is a shitter by definition.

>>45916883
>better than at least 95% of the total playerbase
You forget that this probably applies to anyone who has just 1CC'd Normal.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45915612
I mean the ez mode meme spam was almost equivalent to holo shit spam in /jp/, no wonder this ZM dude kinda looks like seething hard when he wrote that
>>45919754
>Anyone who unironically tracks "western records" is a shitter by definition
Thing i don't like about that community

[Anonymous No.]

Currently playing the games and loving them, but I am having an issue. I get stressed when things start to get harder at around Stage 4+, I often lose at around that time, that's okay. But then I'll have to go through stages again that are easier, so I get a bit bored and careless, and make stupid mistakes a lot more. It stifles a lot of my enjoyment because I don't have to get mad about it, but I do. Then, I know if I could be able to skip stages to go where I left off it would much less fun and rewarding for me as well because it removes all of the emotion and stress that makes beating a boss feel so good. Basically, how do I fix my brain?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45924101
About the stress, it's one of the things you learn to manage as time goes on. In my experience you perform the best when you're in a neutral state of mind. It might sound strange, but thinking about random stuff helps with that.

>But then I'll have to go through stages again that are easier, so I get a bit bored and careless, and make stupid mistakes a lot more
That happens to me too and in my case, it kept happening for a long time, but managing this is also a mentality thing. If you think about it, when you mess up those early stages, your run turns into a practice run, so don't worry about them. Just reach the late stages with enough lives so you can actually practice them for longer.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45919728
>maze of love is static
You're referring to the smaller bullets with the gaps, right? Pretty sure the bigger bullets are aimed.
>some people stay at the bottom and micrododge to speedkill it
I tried that but usually waste a few bombs deathbombing, and the damage output is pretty low unless using Marisa A.
I think this is the only spellcard impeding my Extra run besides Royal Flare which is very static (if that's the right word)
Omoikane's Device is exactly the same concept is it?
>>45924101
This is exactly what Practice Mode is for.
Keep practicing the level until you are comfortable with it, then try a few full runs so that your practice integrates with the mentality of a regular run, because mentality during a practice run with max lives is much different than a proper run with limited lives.
Good luck

[Anonymous No.]

>>45924163
>>45924278
Thank you anons, nice advice. I just identified my biggest problem as "90% of Touhou players bomb before they capture the spell card" disease (as in constant unnecessary risk) after losing a run while still having 4 bombs. But I believe that will be fixed by getting corrected by bosses until it gets stuck into my brain. I'll keep practicing and I will get my normal 1cc before February inchallah

[Anonymous No.]

>>45924101
Sounds like you're not using continues and instead just playing the first few stages again and again. Avoid that.
Even if you're just going for the 1cc, losing all lives before the end means you still need practice, and skipping on practicing the last part of the game is the worst thing you could do.
Also, restarting before the game was completed usually puts you in a state of mind which pushes you to try again immediately instead of having a few minutes of rest while the ending and credits roll on, arming you for further failure as your concentration weakens.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45924435
Any way to save replays after using a credit in the earlier games? I like to keep them as a way to track my progress and identify trouble spots, yet you're right and I'd continue otherwise I'd I could.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45930557
Unfortunately no. Your best bet is to save a replay and then use practice mode to play through the rest of the game, or use an external recorder.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45930557
Like anon above said, it can't be done, but that's why I play with OBS recording set on at all time. It takes just 5 minutes to set up, you can even record your button presses with this plugin
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/input-overlay.552/
Make sure to save compressed video (12Mbps bitrate should be clear enough) or you'll fill your drive very quickly.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45919573
my method for maze of love was to do the first loop, then go down to the bottom and wait as long as possible to bomb. usually killed them right after the bomb with marisa a

[Anonymous No.]

I quite enjoy lotus land story

[Anonymous No.]

>>45940123
I especially love the way the music builds up all the way to the final boss, with a calmer song on stage 6 which feels like the "calm before the storm". MS can't compare in that aspect.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45919728
>>45931203
Spent about 4-6 hours but finally did it.
Surprised the final spellcard isn't as flashy as I thought it would be. Got very emotional though and lost 2 lives without bombing. 13 years to the same day is long overdue, but I'll love this series forever.
Had to look up a video for reference which is something I personally frown upon, but did it back in the day to learn EoSD, Marisa IN Stardust Reverie safe spot, and Reisen's spellcards strats. This is what I used because superplayer gameplay is unrealistic and out of my league https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1KaVYsM3_I

Well on to the next game. Any general hints for Ran's stage and battle? Her stage felt a lot harder than her battle, even managed to reach her penultimate spellcard years ago. Also maybe I'll do Phantasm immediately after it as well, so any hints for that too?

[Anonymous No.]

>>45942286
>>45940123
Truly. LLSanons are the most cultured.
Endangered as they are, there is still light in this world.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45943078
>Well on to the next game

You clear it with all the other shot types first and then with no bomb.
Then you can move onto another game.
A pathetic shitter clear like in that video means nothing.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45943839
Who shat in your cornflakes, anon.

[Anonymous No.]

Fuck, I've completely forgotten how to dodge the red criss-cross section of Yuyuko's final final spell. I'll get her next time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45943851
Tewi. That bitch will pay.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45943839
>implying a no bomb run means anything either

[Anonymous No.]

>>45919728
>>45931203
>some people stay at the bottom and micrododge to speedkill it
Sorry anons I quoted earlier, forgot to mention that this strategy worked well with the duration of the Master Spark: Only had to dodge once. If using Marisa A then it could've been done with even quicker and without bombing.
Thanks a lot!

[Anonymous No.]

>>45944430
we can go further say a NMNB doesn't mean anything either since it's extra

[Anonymous No.]

>just went into Yuyuko with 7 lives and managed to lose them all
Granted, I've only gotten to her once before, but fuck. I thought I would be able to just tough it out because everything before her isn't really a problem anymore, guess I need to practice. A grim reminder on why I should've just kept going with my previous runs so I could at least see her spellcards.

[Anonymous No.]

Proud of myself for how much progress I've made but it still hurts a little. I've been able to get to Kanako 3 times now without continuing so at least I'm getting more consistent.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45946894
also holy shit i just realized the little banner at the bottom of the screen shows you where the boss is in relation to you

[Anonymous No.]

>>45946995
Keep it up, you're almost there. As long as you can reach her final spellcard with enough power or lives to give yourself a margin of error, you can do it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45947247
Thanks anon, I just had the best damn run of my life.
>stages 1-4 deathless
>6 extra lives going into the final stage
>only died once to Kanako
Gonna give extra a shot but I'm not sure what awaits me.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45947477
>Gonna give extra a shot but I'm not sure what awaits me.
>bullets instantly flying at me at light speed
Holy SHIT

[Anonymous No.]

>>45945644
An ExNN is even more worthless than an LNB lol

[Anonymous No.]

Why do I have to randomly lose a life to Letty when she's the first fucking boss? Those blue orbs literally just materialize out of nowhere and ram into me sometimes, it's fucking annoying because otherwise they're easy to dodge.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45947508
Suwako is literally the easiest Extra boss if not Mokou(?), don't worry.
>>45949528
Referring to her non-spells or her first spellcard? Stay at the bottom and you're safe lol
Sounds like it's your first game ever

[Anonymous No.]

>>45947477
Don't post endings kudasai. It's part of ZUN's rules for a reason.

[Anonymous No.]

Excellent job getting the gameplay thread to bump limit, gentlemen. I'll see you all in the next thread (whenever that may be).

[Anonymous No.]

Casual player here. Started MoF a few days ago and today managed to get the ReimuA 1cc clear, and I gotta say.
MarisaA feels like shit, this might be one of the worst feeling shots in any of the games I've played so far.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45955589
It's a pure gimmick shot, kinda fun to play around with but definitely the weakest.
I like how crimzon clover has the same gimmick on one of its ships, it might even be a reference to MoF.

[Anonymous No.]

>>45954314
Oops, sorry.