Touhou 13.5 東方心綺楼 Hopeless Masquerade - I'm hopelessly in love

[CK Crash]

Are neutral alignment decks useful in any situation? Everything seems to suggest that they are weaker, but the fact that the Koishi Hat item exists suggests a hidden benefit. I mean, I can imagine wanting a lot of melee skills but not the Buddhist alignment's short range... but wouldn't you just go Shinto or Taoist instead?

[Sage Ω (Ultima)]

Thy are slightly weaker. But there isn't alot of attacks to choose from. You usually have 2 or 3 unused cards that can be set in the default deck.

[Serela]

It's COMPLETELY invincible on it's way up

Oh my god, really? Okay, I guess putting it back in my deck for bhuddism value wasn't so bad. I did use it from time to time for reflex hits instead of lightbulb, but oh boy. (Still, you can combo from lightbulb for better damage. Also, I like using Bhuddism for charging the lightbulb )

Also, I was spending the paragraph saying Catch&Release seemed entirely useless, yeah. I dropped it in my deck revision. And no, StarxSword; it's not any good out of combos. Maybe if you could use it on command, but with Koishi's autocast AI any of the bigger hitbox value is lost. Also, Reflex Radar laser vs. normal dial-a corner chaining is almost exactly the same, it's just one runs down the timer more; which can be strategically useful.

I also like Bhuddism just because the heartburst gained on her normal danmaku makes it a lot better for up-close situations. Her bullets feel almost useless to me otherwise, outside of tiny tinks. x_x It also makes it super easy to combo off dial-as ending in 6B in the corner, not that there isn't other options I could do instead (You can loop off 5B and any alignment danmaku as long as you're careful to not cancel it)

I messed around with Miko and Futo, as they're the ones I'm most interested in picking up, I think... but it's really jarring to leave Koishi, whose quirkiness I've become so comfortable with. I'll probably learn one eventually, though. My friend mains Nitori so nope :T Despite how much he's murdered me. Now that I've actually learned how to combo though, I should stand a far better chance! I was always really close before...

If I dropped Bhuddist, I'd go Shinto for the improved y lasers. I almost never use them as-is, since they're inferior combo options and being bhuddist is a thing to your range. >.o

[Gpop]

Are neutral alignment decks useful in any situation? Everything seems to suggest that they are weaker, but the fact that the Koishi Hat item exists suggests a hidden benefit. I mean, I can imagine wanting a lot of melee skills but not the Buddhist alignment's short range... but wouldn't you just go Shinto or Taoist instead?

All alignments have their own strengths and weaknesses. Shinto gives wider range for projectiles but in turn they are weaker, Buddhism gives charged B attacks and juggling projectiles with MUCH better durability and priority, but you lose all normal projectiles from actually going far. Taoism just has them going faster (forgot what the downside is though). So it's not like Neutral is bad, if you don't want any downsides.

Also, I like using Koishi's Y lasers as it's great for counters when they least expect it since it comes out really quickly.

[Serela]

Yeah, I'd probably like them if I tried them.

But I'm so lazy and <3 about the bhuddism heart bullet. Well, now that I actually know what I'm doing, I'll see if I still think it's useful or not. Might not need it now that I actually know how to connect a combo past AAAA.

[Gpop]

It's all up to the player's playstyle in the end. I say Buddhism goes well with Koishi anyways, so it's not hurting you or anything. I find Shinto to be so good since it makes it harder for them to try to get in, and I can get 2.5k corner combos anyways :V

[Genso]

Taoism just has them going faster (forgot what the downside is though).

Horrible, horrible aim.

[Darth_Sirov]

Horrible, horrible aim.

They are straightforward, so no homing capabilities. On the other hand, they have better piercing power.

Despite wanting to go for Taoism, Neutral seems to be my favored playstyle for Futo, so I can spam out different attack styles with her plates. I'll probably try Buddhism with Koishi and see if that's better for me.

Question: What build would be nice for Byakuren in story mode (want to go on lunatic, cleared normal w/ Buddhism, but that made me too vulnerable against Kokoro)?

With regards to the AI, I may be playing badly as I have a tendency to rush in and getting clobbered and countered a lot, though if I play against their weaknesses, then I can see how bad they are (I would often use a move that would take priority over their counters to raise my popularity). Otherwise, I can just outspam them with projectiles if I can't do well against their melee.

[Serela]

Man, I played against someone, and I remembered why I picked bhuddist Koishi. I mean first, her non-bhuddism bullets hardly do anything at a range since there's like no stun AFAIK.

But it's because they stuff -everything-. I use that and I don't have to worry about them throwing any kind of bullet attack at me, because it'll get destroyed by dense hearts, and the added heart'splosion gives the bullets far more utility for keeping my opponent busy.

Man, Koishi's rushdown is extremely limited, though. Teleport is hard to land against anyone prepared, the ring of roses is very difficult to utilize in any effective manner, I can't get any use out of Growing Pains... all I have is amusing pokes with Fidgety Snatcher (which is a wonderful skill) and Reflex Radar along with hovering around in circles flailing legs. Her dash invulnerability is a huge boon to her otherwise very limited ability to get in... the upside is, in combos, she can turn any good hit into a long chain of hurt, but I'm having trouble following up from 2b hits in netplay. x_x It's sad to see all my hits just fizzle out after a single dial-a.

[Gpop]

Since Koishi can't get in through normal dashing, just up-down dash you're way in. It grazes bullets, and it's a good way to get in as it'll be hard for them to keep up. Think of it like Dr. Doom tri-dashing :V

[ElGreko]

By the way, I really started to understand how the popularity system works, now I can get to the 100% popularity almost every match when playing against the computer on lunatic (but it's just because the AI is lame and I can abuse of that stupidity).

Since several people asked how popularity works or to have some 100% replays, now that I can get as much as I want, if anyone is interested, I just played right now for test and got 4 replays including some Last Words with different characters, would it interest anyone?

[Darth_Sirov]

By the way, I really started to understand how the popularity system works, now I can get to the 100% popularity almost every match when playing against the computer on lunatic (but it's just because the AI is lame and I can abuse of that stupidity).

Since several people asked how popularity works or to have some 100% replays, now that I can get as much as I want, if anyone is interested, I just played right now for test and got 4 replays including some Last Words with different characters, would it interest anyone?

Care to explain some of them here? Like how one can suddenly go from 50%+ to a negative or vice versa?

[ElGreko]

Like how one can suddenly go from 50%+ to a negative or vice versa?

I have totally no idea how does this happens, I believe it's a bug, since it happened for me only in "vs network" (I experienced several different bugs, actually.)

Care to explain some of them here?

It's quite hard to explain since every character has its own gameplay. Also, it's obtained in a "lame way", by abusing of the computer behavior, this most likely won't work so easily against human players.

But in general, I let myself get hit on purpose to charge my spellcard bar and use my 2 spellcards every round.
And meanwhile all of this, either I let the computer kill me to have 2 more round to farm some popularity, either I play only with B to counter the opponent when she attacks to raise my popularity the most I can.

With some characters like Miko, I also use her scepter item to maximize the farming of popularity, since the computer is too dumb to aim at me when I'm doing it, and it's easy to get to the 100% even in 2 rounds.

I just played to test right now, since I had some difficulties to sleep, but I believe that if played seriously, it's possible to get to the 100% in only 2 rounds with every characters without using the scepter item. But absolutely not against human players.

[iK]

While I wait for my copy to arrive, I'd love to see as much as I can about the system mechanics, so sure.

[ElGreko]

While I wait for my copy to arrive

Did you order the original game? You didn't play the same version as us yet?

[monhan]

Question: What build would be nice for Byakuren in story mode (want to go on lunatic, cleared normal w/ Buddhism, but that made me too vulnerable against Kokoro)?

I prefer Buddhist but anything is fine as long as you can keep the pressure and dodge. Look for my post in this thread(here: http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,14812.msg979196.html#msg979196) on how to to clear Byakuren's story mode with Buddhist build. Though it should apply with any build. I said to stuff your deck with counters there but you don't have to, really. It's only to make some spells easier. As long as you have upward vajra for Kokoro, you're good.
If you still need more advice, just ask.

Regarding the popularity going up and down like crazy, I think you guys forget a little bit something called "comeback".
Whenever the player with less health(about half or less) does a significant damage to the player with more health(about half or more) and make it lower than the attacker, they'll gain a boost in popularity and a decrease for the other player. It's proportional to how much damage is done to make it lower.
You can see it in this test: http://www.mediafire.com/?83myc84vb5xx5tu
During the test, it happens 3 times. First with Futo's finish, you can see a little boost in her popularity because you are making the opponents health lower than you(zero). Second and third is with Byakuren and you can see how much it boosts her popularity and decreases Futo's. Also, as you can see, it doesn't have to be a combo but I believe you need to do it quickly. As long as you managed to do enough damage while keeping your health from getting any lower, you'll get it.
Oh yeah, don't forget that each time you stun the opponent, you'll gain 5%.

Here's another one for comparison on how much it increase: http://www.mediafire.com/?6e5ix6vlbovof00
And that's how you get 100% popularity in 2 rounds.

[HyperGumba]

Is it normal that the game either desyncs or crashes/freezes for either one of the players in a netplay match, be it during character, stage select or the actual fight?

I honestly only tried to play with two other Germans so far, and out of a rough 25 actual matches (not counting games that crashed before it even started) only one of them could actually be finished.

My machine is good enough to run the game itself, my internet comes from a 6k line, my friends are apparently running this thing under similar conditions. Could it be that 1.02 is just simply prone to crashes, or does it have to do with regions?

[ElGreko]

That's because you or your friends have a bad connection. In this case, your friends have probably a cheap connection that doesn't work at all.

I experienced the same thing with someone living not so far from me, but having a bad connection, the game was desync all the time or crashing, we were lucky when we could play some fluid games, and we couldn't use the micro because that was making my friend lag even more.

But with everyone else, even from other continents, I had 0 problem, so the problem comes from the people who have some wooden connection (or computer?).

[HyperGumba]

Aww, shucks. I'll have to try it out with a few other guys to test it out, then.

[Darth_Sirov]

Well, I suck with Buddhism Koishi... I guess I'll stick to Shinto or try to learn more on Tao-Koishi

[crotchpuncha]

This game chugs like crazy, and makes my computer run super hot, so I'm done with it for now. Oh well.

[ElGreko]

Aww, shucks. I'll have to try it out with a few other guys to test it out, then.

You can try with me if you want, you can send me your contact infos via PM if you wish.

[Darth_Sirov]

I prefer Buddhist but anything is fine as long as you can keep the pressure and dodge. Look for my post in this thread(here: http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,14812.msg979196.html#msg979196) on how to to clear Byakuren's story mode with Buddhist build. Though it should apply with any build. I said to stuff your deck with counters there but you don't have to, really. It's only to make some spells easier. As long as you have upward vajra for Kokoro, you're good.
If you still need more advice, just ask.

Useful... might want to try it. Although I'm still getting used to her "Remilia" dash, keep getting countered as I can't time her dash attacks. Lunatic really are quite aggressive in the melee attacks (still manageable though)

[Aqua Soo]

Just went through story. Maybe this sheds some light on ZUN's thoughts on religion? With Mamizou being an sake-lovin' author avatar...

I am probably thinking too hard lol.

[Suikama]

I'm not sure if this is already known, but it seems that if you spellcard declare in the middle of your combo, it causes the spellcard to scale at the end, while if you predeclare it doesn't scale at all.

[Gpop]

I'm not sure if this is already known, but it seems that if you spellcard declare in the middle of your combo, it causes the spellcard to scale at the end, while if you predeclare it doesn't scale at all.

Huh really? That's kinda...weird

[monhan]

I'm not sure if this is already known, but it seems that if you spellcard declare in the middle of your combo, it causes the spellcard to scale at the end, while if you predeclare it doesn't scale at all.

It is. They made it so that players that do a quick declare mid-combo won't deal too much damage, else there's no point to declare spellcard other than to stop the timer.
I think it is pretty reasonable because if you are not quick enough, characters like Marisa or Ichirin have a hard time landing their spellcard.

[Gpop]

It is. They made it so that players that do a quick declare mid-combo won't deal too much damage, else there's no point to declare spellcard other than to stop the timer.

Popularity. Also, using it gives no consequence, unless you have a terrible SC that is really really punishable

[Serela]

Man, I'm gradually picking up some Futo stuff, but I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out some of these things. Like, I can only combo with Pillar in combos where the opponent goes backwards afterwords >.o I'm also not entirely sure what to do outside of combos; it feels like her only special that's any good out of a combo is fireball, leaving me randomly throwing plates around and using Futo's super floaty-ness to jump around until I land an A hit.

Also a simple AAA 5X 2Underflow (which you'd do more after), the underflow whiffs most of the time. It doesn't -seem- like I'm not doing it as fast as possible... ah x.o, maybe I'm actually doing it -too- fast and not letting the plate hit first?

[Amraphenson]

all you can really do with futo is space with fireball and arrow until you actually land something, but it leaves her so starved for spirit that her combos really don't lead up to much.