Daily Touhou Best Topic Round 2 Part 3

[Goldom]

Ditto "progress." Even in other hard games, you get better at them just enough to get through them. Here, even after you beat it, you still want to get better and better. It's nice knowing I can do something now I couldn't before due to hard practice, even if that something may just seem like a silly game to others.

[K.B.]

"the yuri subtext"

[Byronyello]

Have to agree with everyone else... There's something rather nice about thinking: "How the hell was I not able to 1CC EoSD a month ago?".

However, this could be applied to anything. The reason I like Touhou specifically is that even if you aren't working towards anything, you can still have fun. There's something about how all of the music and graphics (make of it what you will) and gameplay come together that makes it so nice to experience.

[Karisa]

It seems I didn't answer this myself... Anyway, first of all, the music. And the way the series has some of the most interesting scoring systems I've ever seen certainly contributes.

But more importantly, it feels like Touhou makes use of a higher proportion of the skills I've developed from playing so many other games: whether it's reflexes, figuring out strategies for specific parts of the game, the endurance aspect of surviving for a while without saving, learning details about the gameplay/scoring systems, even watching others' videos/replays and otherwise finding information online (something that can take the fun out of playing other games for myself, but feels like it makes Touhou more fun). This is especially relevant considering how easy many official console games have been lately.

[Tsym]

I guess my primary enjoyment comes from the awesome feeling of seeing myself improve over time. This was much easier to see when I was still working my way up from Normal difficulty, and now I've kind of plateaued in the sense that I don't really have a good measuring stick for myself anymore. Also I guess I'm a natural show-off when it comes to things I feel I'm good at, and I know that when I first saw the game, I was basically in awe in terms of how people could play it. I think I rather enjoy passing on that feeling to someone else, especially when I get to show them a replay of myself playing at Normal as well. Embarrassing, but still awesome.

That's my general motivation for playing games, but for Touhou specifically, I can sum it up to the absolutely wonderful overall presentation. Music, design, lore (I'm still in awe at some connections that ZUN explains in his side books), fun-level, etc. I can't think of any particular area where the games are sorely lacking (ok the art, but the design is still great), and seeing the colors and hearing the music every time has a nice sense of familiarity that I just enjoy because I know that I'm sure as hell going to love what's coming. I guess I also like the somewhat relaxing part of playing the game. Sure I might rage every once in a while, but let me tell you that the community around competitive multiplayer games like LoL and Starcraft get rather grating after a while, and Touhou is a nice way to just kick back and enjoy a game just for what it is, and not necessarily because of some socially imposed import. And sometimes I get that feeling of social constructs and whatnot being far too stressful and rather fake, so like I said before, it's nice to just "enjoy a game just for what it is, and not necessarily because of some socially imposed import."

[I have no name]

I like the challenge they provide.  Not enough games actually challenged me, so I had to invent a bunch of silly restrictions.  Then Touhou came along and was impossible, and I liked it.  Though now some lunatics are easy but I can always make it harder with a silly challenge  :V

[Ranko Hoshino]

The games are often fun and the girls are pretty cute. The music is pretty good too.

[Zetzumarshen]

For perpetual state of frustration.
to shoot my self-esteem to nothingness.
for the feelings of being utterly worthless.
 

[Zengeku]

I play it for many reasons:

- Awesome community where the players back each others up, congratulate each other on their achievements, help new ones grow their skills with advice and motivating pokes. Even chatting with people here through IRC is a rewarding experience to me. This is probably the best online community i've ever been involved with and I don't see myself wanting to leave it anytime soon.

- Hot and otherwise awesome loli characters. Need not elaborate further on that.

Oh and I guess the gameplay's pretty awesome too. I've reached the point where 1cc'ing the Touhou games I care for on Lunatic mode isn't hard at all but there's still so much to learn. I'm still not what I'd call a good player because there are so many patterns that still give me trouble and kill me all the time. To play these games and actually succeed on something that's wickedly difficult is very awesome and easily outweighs any frustration I went through due to fucking up out of retardedness and stupidity.

I also find Touhou style dodging to be superior to Arcade style dodging even if the latter has way better stage design. Touhou bosses kick ass. I hope ZUN never stops making games so i can keep giving him my money for them.

[Seppo Hovi]

"the yuri subtext"

[Makedounia]

I think what keeps me playing Touhou is the mix of awesome music, cool characters and most of all: challenge. Challenge was the thing that got me into the series in the first place. It's so nice to see yourself improving over time. The community is pretty awesome as well

[Sakurei]

I think it's time for something new, no? actually a question that's bothered me for a long time :V

What is the hardest boss pattern in the windows series (non-spells and spellcard)

durr. probably scarlet meister. just throwing that out.

[I have no name]

Having captured (nearly) every pattern in the series, this can only go to one.

TAO Taidou ~Dao~, also known as Seiga's overdrive.

The 'nearly' is because I haven't done all of Patchy, Prismrivers or Satori due to different shot types to get there and long Stage 4s, and I'm missing a few Stage 3-5 UFO patterns and Orin's 3rd spellcard.

[Elysia]

I was going to say Yuuka's final attack in LLS, but then I noticed you said Windows series.

I'll have to go with Unseasonable Butterfly Storm.

[Zil]

Vague Recollection of Kinkaku-Ji

Non-photography: Maybe Seiga's overdrive. Would be Kouko's if it lasted longer.

[RNG]

Greatest Treasure. No trick to it and the add-blending fucks with your ability to read trajectories. I hate hate hate it.

Mokou's last nonspell and Killing Doll are fucking harsh too.

[Zengeku]

Just about anything Remilia has to offer really. Scarlet Meister, Scarlet Gensokyo, Vampire Illusion, that sort of thing. Why are these so terrifying?

There are attack patterns like Peerless Luck God, Purple Shit, Mokou's Rings of Doom or Greatest Treasure. But they all carry that same luxury that their games don't give the bullets considerably larger hitboxes than in any other game in the series so it's easier for me to survive through those, or at least see my death coming so I can bomb it.

Scarlet Meister is a cruel bitch because you have to weave through these bullets pretty fucking quickly. I haven't had much practice with it so I have only been able to capture it once but what i've seen from it is pretty harsh. Also, if Remilia moves to the wrong side then you can pretty much kiss your ass goodbye. Scarlet Gensokyo also has that terrifying 'kill you when you least expecting it' because it relies on dodging a lot of red bullets while an occasional shower of fucking bubbles in close formation is rained down upon you. This might not be a problem to one who regularly plays EoSD but for one who's main focus is UFO and to a less extent MoF and SA, it makes the card a dreadful pain in the ass to play since this game is the only one that is special and has bigger bullets with the exact same sprite. But that was not really what i meant to say with this. I just wanted to make clear why I think it's harder than any of the more obvious candidates.

The hitboxes being different than in the rest of the series makes it a far bigger threat than pretty much anything in the later games. Finally, Vampire Illusion. Because anything that randomly throws a pseudo-wall in your face is pretty dangerous.

[Star King]

Mokou rings of death, or at least for me.

[Tsym]

Any number of patterns in GFW if you're doing it no ice. Some just seem plain impossible.

Other than GFW, I'll go with LFS. This may be because my last experience of it was with ReimuB at 1 power and her terrible bomb, but the red phase is absolute murder if you can't clear it quickly. There's no trick to the pattern, and muscle memory doesn't help you if you don't go in with 4 power and semi-cheese it by directing it in a specific way.

Then again, a ton of patterns become pretty damn deadly if you don't go in at 4 power using the most powerful shot type.

[ふねん1]

Even though I know how hard some of Remilia's attacks can be, I haven't really given myself the opportunity to see if I can get better at them. I literally haven't touched EoSD since two summers ago, and probably never will again. Thus, I'll leave them out of this discussion. Similar story with Mokou's eighth nonspell.

Greatest Treasure, however... I've definitely played that enough to understand just how luckshit it really is. My highest capture rate at any one time was something like 25%, but most of the time it's less than 20%. The kicker is that it's stayed at that percentage for most of the attempts I've given it. A guy like me doesn't just plateau for that long on the average attack. Even though a bunch of other boss attacks are really hard, there's never any reason to think I still can't improve on those. I'm convinced that's not the case for Greatest Treasure.

[ARF]

Yeah, Greatest treasure, like totally, no contest  :3

Guse Flash took me over 100 attempts which makes it 10 times harder than all other lunatic spell cards and 2-5 times harder than the overdrive cards. It's definitely the hardest TD spellcard.

[Seppo Hovi]

Reisen's first card on easy. st how?

[Karisa]

Guse Flash took me over 100 attempts which makes it 10 times harder than all other lunatic spell cards and 2-5 times harder than the overdrive cards. It's definitely the hardest TD spellcard.

What? Miko's fifth card? That was probably the first TD Lunatic stage 5+ card I ever captured, and currently one of two cards of Miko's I'm consistent at (the other being her fourth card). Definitely easier than Iwafune, Avoidance of Defiance, etc., and that's just considering TD, where nothing other than Seiga's Overdrive took me more than 30 attempts (meanwhile, most of the other games have at least a few cards that I've never captured, except PCB which has the stage 6 stage portion).

As for the question asked, I don't really have an answer yet since I haven't put enough effort into capturing the harder cards.

[Makedounia]

I'm going to say Mokou's nonspells after 6 or 7 spellcards. Way too fast for me. I haven't really played anything harder... yet.

[チソウ タイゼン]

Success against Guze Flash is mostly reliant on reading ability and reaction time to dickspeed bullets.
I'm used to such things, so I'm not very inclined to say Guze Flash.

Honestly, there aren't that many patterns that serve as a brick wall to me.
In recent memory, I can only really think of GFW!Marisa for giving me any large amount of trouble.

[Byronyello]

I'd have to agree: TAO Taidou ~Dao~ is a bitch. (At least it had an awesome, if slightly nonsensical, name). I'd be inclined to say some of the other Lunatic spells in the other games, but I'm not good enough to even unlock the bloody things.

[Elysia]

Disregarding the boss, what is the best stage in any Touhou game?

I'm going with stage 5 from Mystic Square. Badass dodging the entire way except for minor streaming portions, and the entire time, if you die, it's your fault. Also, the background is amazing for PC98, and the Last Judgement just caps it all off.

[I have no name]

MoF Stage 4.
How can it be anything else?

[Kaze_Senshi]

I think it's time for something new, no? actually a question that's bothered me for a long time :V

What is the hardest boss pattern in the windows series (non-spells and spellcard)

durr. probably scarlet meister. just throwing that out.

Mokou's last non-spellcard attack and Ran's last spell card

Disregarding the boss, what is the best stage in any Touhou game?

The first stage that pops in my head is IN stage 4, the music is good, the stage's pace is good and the background is good  :V
MoF Stage 4 is pretty good too, but spamming Momiji sux

[Karisa]

SA stage 4 is pretty interesting, with all the spreading amulets. It also seems to be the stage portion that I'm most likely to get clipped on, but there's still something I like about it. The music is good too.