Author Topic: Touhou Blogging Thread (Read 209435 times)

Mino ☆ · « **Reply #150 on:** November 11, 2013, 04:26:08 PM »

Well if you were using a B shot or MarisaA this game is demonically hard for LNB. It becomes ridiculous. It isn't that bad with SakuyaA though. I daresay ReimuA is easier because of lolresources. Keep it up.

Shio Yamote · « **Reply #151 on:** November 11, 2013, 06:16:08 PM »

Booted up DDC and attempted a normal 1cc again. All going good until Seija's last spell made me want to punch my laptop screen and ruined my 1cc. Last time I got lucky in it so I managed to clear it (no bombs and no lifes remaining). I'm now trying to beat TD Extra. Is it just me or destroying Mamizou's animal danmaku with fantasy seal feels extremely good?
Also, I just find out that you can unlock DDC extra stage by clearing Easy mode too.

Yookie · « **Reply #152 on:** November 13, 2013, 07:48:41 PM »

Looked through my Double Spoiler file after not doing that for a while and found
this nice picture.

Aya sure knows her business. :V

Arcengal · « **Reply #153 on:** November 13, 2013, 09:32:02 PM »

So I tried DDC on Lunatic for the first time.

Get to stage 3 without dyin', feelin' good, feelin' good.
Die a couple of times on the boss, think no big deal, maybe get there.

5 *continues* later I beat Sakuna.

Mr Jovial · « **Reply #154 on:** November 14, 2013, 06:26:03 PM »

Tomorrow I'm supposed to be giving a (not very serious) talk to my classmates about whatever the hell I want to. I decided the subject would be Touhou and as part of the talk, I want to go over 3 attacks and their strategies to make it clear that these games aren't always as impossible as they seem. I decided that the first should be Scarlet Meister since its dependent on a strategy and good dodging, not to mention it looks quite intimidating. I've also decided that the second should be Peerless Wind God to show that not everything can be trivialised by learning patterns.

So, MoTKers, I leave you a question. What single attack would define Touhou? I'm thinking I should use Blazing Star because GIANT LASERS LOL, but I would like to hear what others would choose. Since its 6:25pm and I'm going to sleep in about 4 hours, I don't really have much time to get many responses and I therefore felt it didn't deserve its own thread. Thoughts?

Star King · « **Reply #155 on:** November 14, 2013, 06:34:08 PM »

I think a card that is both very beautiful and very difficult, such as Devil's Recitation or Saigyouji Flawless Nirvana, would be what I'd think of for a spell that "defines Touhou". I'm not feeling the Blazing Star choice, though that might be just because I don't think it's a great attack with the screen-shaking and all. I like the PWG choice though, since it looks mad cool.

Mr Jovial · « **Reply #156 on:** November 14, 2013, 06:56:50 PM »

Quote from: Star King on November 14, 2013, 06:34:08 PM

I think a card that is both very beautiful and very difficult, such as Devil's Recitation or Saigyouji Flawless Nirvana, would be what I'd think of for a spell that "defines Touhou". I'm not feeling the Blazing Star choice, though that might be just because I don't think it's a great attack with the screen-shaking and all. I like the PWG choice though, since it looks mad cool.

This is the reason I asked. I'm in full agreement with your choices, I just never thought about them :derp:

EDIT: Can't get a decent screenshot of Scarlet Meister, I guess its not an attack which is reflected well in a single frame. Devil's Recitation will replace it.

Shio Yamote · « **Reply #157 on:** November 14, 2013, 07:30:15 PM »

Really happy today! I finally beat Mamizou and Koishi :toot:. It's kinda strange too because Koishi took me less tries than Flandre and Ran and she was really easy for me. Even Mamizou was harder than her. Only Nue and Raiko left now.

Mino ☆ · « **Reply #158 on:** November 14, 2013, 10:13:24 PM »

I should stop doing No Bomb challenges. All they do is frustrate me because of my inability to play well at all times. I've found my skill is deteriorating as time goes on (or perhaps my expectations and standards are going up and I'm unable to meet those standards) and it's very unnerving. Low-Miss no bomb shenanigans are very repetitive and frustrating. LNNN is just restarts and it's very hard to grind since you have no clue when you'll even get it.

Though scoring would be the same. Lots of restarts. I wish I actually had patience to grind without anger and frustration. But I always expect myself to get the achievements on the first try because I hate waiting for them. I just want the spoils of victory rather than the fun in playing the game itself. It's a bad habit that I can't help. I'm like severely bipolar with Touhou. If I do bad, I'm angry and want to quit. But then when I win, I'm like "Omg, Touhou is the best game ever".

I may have to quit or take a hiatus soon. That is, if I can't rid myself of my rotten mindset.

I could always just play casually. But that's getting boring for me. I feel like I need to be working on goals, but when I get around to doing them, I just start losing and getting angry.

Why can't I be like Somen_Soc and get everything I want....

Oh · « **Reply #159 on:** November 14, 2013, 10:16:10 PM »

Did you even see how much SOC restarted for UFO Extra

Mino ☆ · « **Reply #160 on:** November 14, 2013, 10:23:59 PM »

Sure. But he had the strength to play for 13 hours straight. 13 hours on a stream of nonstop Touhou gameplay...

That's tenacity and that's what got him his skill. He enjoys it all the way and has no problems with long grinds. This makes him perfect for getting high level Touhou achievements. I on the other hand, can only grind very little a day nowadays. I just don't have that ability to play at the rate that people like SOC do.

If I could modify myself or my mindset and somehow get myself to be able to grind for many hours a day nonstop, then maybe I could finally start getting my dream goals. But maybe Touhou just isn't for everyone.

I've come this far, though...

Sometimes I wish I could reset my Touhou career and and do everything over again.

Oh · « **Reply #161 on:** November 14, 2013, 11:05:53 PM »

I wish I could play for more than 5 hours a day like when I was active. But then there's school and shit now. I envy people with free time

Try scoring again, there's less restarts if you set your goal lower or/and difficulty is lower (go play MoF Normal is the best thing ever).

Drake · « **Reply #162 on:** November 15, 2013, 01:13:17 AM »

I'm pretty sure VoWG embodies all that is good about Touhou patterns. If you're talking about strategies helping you beat it, Scarlet Meister won't do you any good because you'll just die anyways.
If you need a static image though, it won't really display how VoWG is what it is.

I have no name · « **Reply #163 on:** November 15, 2013, 11:05:40 PM »

Some may consider this cheating, but it's a valid tactic in speedruns...pause buffering. Specifically, pause buffering Shou's nonspells, realized on 7-1 of Double Spoiler. Pause as the lasers straighten, and you have all the time in the world to read them and see where you need to move...is it cheap? A bit. Does it remove the challenge? Somewhat. Does it make it more consistent? Definitely. But is it cheating, as pausing is a part of the game? I'll continue doing it with Double Spoiler during 108 scene runs regardless because it makes 7-1 more manageable for me (and time spent paused counts towards my timer anyway), but the same principle should apply to Shou's first and second nons in UFO as well...perhaps even to a better result.

I guess I'm wondering what other people think of this idea, if anyone else has thought of it, if it'd be considered cheating, or if it's just a moral thing. I probably wouldn't do it with bombs in stock, though! :derp:

Oh · « **Reply #164 on:** November 15, 2013, 11:20:14 PM »

I use the pause screen to position myself for the deathbomb in stage 3 with the 4 big fairies before midboss Nitori.
In my defense, Touhou is not an arcade shmup.

Zil · « **Reply #165 on:** November 15, 2013, 11:59:47 PM »

I used it for Shou's DS scene back when I was scoring.

My opinion of it is that it's kinda cheesy, but still not technically cheating. It's a built in feature, so... yeah.

Drake · « **Reply #166 on:** November 16, 2013, 05:03:30 AM »

I think there's a big difference between pausing to pause, even in the midst of a pattern, and pausing to supplement/replace reaction time or reading ability. In Touhou in particular, it already tries to dissuade you by blurring the screen, and many other games do similar things so you can't pause buffer as easily.

If we're talking about things like DS speedrunning, then I wouldn't say it's a problem, as manipulating everything possible about the game is a core premise in speedrunning and TAS. For regular play, I don't really care, just as with any other "way" to play. I have a bit of a problem with claiming to have completed some common goal (i.e. scoring, 1cc, etc) as though it were on the same playing field. It's really grey, especially since safespotting seems similar in ways, but I think explicitly trying to cheese something using a game's auxiliary features rather than taking advantage of what's offered in the gameplay, is at least morally worse. I can't really think of an accurate comparison to make here.

kitslol · « **Reply #167 on:** November 16, 2013, 12:25:05 PM »

Not the same thing but I remember trying to time out a long spellcard and pausing for a few minutes when there was 20~ seconds left, just to get myself to calm down because my heart was racing. I succeeded, but it didn't feel satisfying, so I ended up doing it again later without pausing. Have to wonder if anyone out there actually pauses to calm down in the middle of a good run or does it feel like "cheating"? Suppose it's just up to the individual though.

Emerald Mint · « **Reply #168 on:** November 16, 2013, 10:48:40 PM »

I was bored and decided to mess around in Cheat Engine and DDC. Found some memory locations which I've modified to greatly reduce the amount of extends DDC gives away, as well as remove bomb fragments from the fragment rotation.

Tengukami · « **Reply #169 on:** November 16, 2013, 11:48:54 PM »

So I've decided to take to heart the very good advice to play a higher difficulty as a means of getting better at your comfort difficulty. Mostly concentrating on Marisa A Hard in DDC, as that's a shot type I'd really like to get better at in this particular game. It's a hell of a ride, that's for sure. At this point I'm spamming continues to open stages for practice, but after three head-long dives into Stage 4, I already notice a big difference in how Normal feels. It sort of reminds me of staring at a blue, yellow and black flag for a while before turning to a white surface. Only a great deal more fun.

Oh · « **Reply #170 on:** November 17, 2013, 04:50:30 AM »

Hard Mode too hard - too many bullets.
So I played with stage practice and made a pretty meh-tier route with ReimuA.
2b or something if I don't fuck up anything. But that's too high of an estimate since I'm bound to fuck something up like in all my runs.
Credit spamming when I get enough time, etc.

CyberAngel · « **Reply #171 on:** November 17, 2013, 02:31:58 PM »

Sometimes I get that feeling again. That no matter how hard I try, I won't move on from the stage I am at. What looks like just the next step - Hard Mode and Extra Stages - seems like still infinite ways away. And Lunatic is a "how are you even supposed to do that?" territory.

But then, I look back and see I've improved, just in small bits. When I have a problem with a pattern, I look it up and learn how to do it. Even without thinking about it, I've been memorizing enemy placement in stages and optimizing my route for survival. I successfully take higher risks than I could before. Despite the usual performance fluctuations, all this pushes me further than before.

The important thing is to understand that these small things matter a lot. Really, isn't a full half-hour run performance just a sum of how you fare each second? Those small improvements work towards the big result, you have to do them and there's no way around it. Even if big achievements are far apart, you can work towards them, and this is why patience is important, no matter how willing or able you are.

Burning Love · « **Reply #172 on:** November 17, 2013, 02:58:57 PM »

Quote from: Mr Jovial on November 14, 2013, 06:26:03 PM

So, MoTKers, I leave you a question. What single attack would define Touhou? I'm thinking I should use Blazing Star because GIANT LASERS LOL, but I would like to hear what others would choose. Since its 6:25pm and I'm going to sleep in about 4 hours, I don't really have much time to get many responses and I therefore felt it didn't deserve its own thread. Thoughts?

Well, I might be late to help you but I want to share my thought about this too. I would say that 'Hourai Elixir' would most probably define what Touhou is. Lot's of bullet, patterned and random danmaku, gimmicks that are eye-catching along with Zun's music. But the most important thing is the importance of a perfect run and the feeling of satisfaction when you clear the spellcard.

Mr Jovial · « **Reply #173 on:** November 17, 2013, 03:11:44 PM »

In reality, the answers I got didn't go anywhere because my printer is awful so I didn't bother showing screenshots and went with a video instead. Though that's not to say I didn't think about the responses and it seems like either notoriously difficult attacks and last spells fit the best. The former because lol bullets and the latter because everything comes together nicely, audio syncing with the patterns feels so good :V. I was thinking about using Hourai Elixir as my "bullet spam" example (last phase) then went with PWG because Hourai Elixir is art and is more than a spammy attack.

P.s: Thanks for replies anyway.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I also didn't use pictures because basically every attack just wasn't represented well in a single frame (PWG was the only one that worked)

YJSNPI · « **Reply #174 on:** November 20, 2013, 09:44:15 PM »

Started work on IN lunatic, pretty hard, got a long way to go

kitslol · « **Reply #175 on:** November 22, 2013, 07:23:35 AM »

Been getting my ass kicked in UFO for the last week or so, but I just discovered the boss rush patch which will help me practice spell cards faster since I already have consistent stage routes.

Tengukami · « **Reply #176 on:** November 22, 2013, 11:52:08 AM »

So a funny thing happened. Remember up here when I was talking about playing Marisa A in DDC in Hard Mode to get better at playing her in Normal? Well, to my great surprise, I'm finding Hard much, much more fun than Normal.

I know this probably seems obvious to those of you already playing Hard or Lunatic. I've just always been an Easy/Normal player and thought I always would be. I have tried Hard and Lunatic in the past, but never very seriously. But my enjoyment of Easy and Normal wasn't based on the difficulty level (or at least, not entirely); rather, I like being able to enjoy looking at the patterns, the art, and listening to the music. I usually like playing Touhou to alternate between a casual stroll and a brisk jog. To "enjoy the scenery" as it were.

Giving Hard a sincere effort is slow-going (I think I have a path through the first three stages more or less mapped out) but the fun of Hard, as opposed to Normal or Easy, has been exactly that path-finding activity. What's the best way through this mess? How about this other way, is that better? How can I get a better pay-off in terms of survival, different resources, even score? It's hugely fun.

Again, I know to you higher level players all this is stating the obvious. I realize this isn't inventing the wheel here. But this is a new phase for me, and one that caught me quite by surprise.

Mino ☆ · « **Reply #177 on:** November 23, 2013, 05:12:48 AM »

I tried to play Touhou again today. I had some fun at first, and then when things started going bad I started raging and getting very angry for no real reason.

I'm going to stop this temper someday. I want to be able to play Touhou and have fun even when grinding. I want to be pure like I was when I started playing this game. I played and had fun despite my failures.

I miss being able to play and not care if I don't reach my expectations. I want to start having fun again. I'm not giving up. I love Touhou and its entirety. And I'm going to fulfill my love.

I'm making progress, but I need more self control so I can prevent myself from having angry outbursts.

I have no name · « **Reply #178 on:** November 23, 2013, 06:25:44 AM »

So I just had an amazing run of Double Spoiler. Or, what should have been an amazing run if I could just avoid choking. I was 4 minutes ahead of my 43:39 coming out of the Extra stage...only to waste over 4 minutes on SP-2, 3, 6 and 9. I still improved, but only just barely (to 43:16). On the plus side, despite a lot of dumb deaths I still improved and the scenes I practiced the IL strats for all went very well. Now I just need to chain together the mythical good Spoiler stage with a solid rest of run.

But yeah, this is why I haven't been able to get any LNBs yet, I choke away any and all runs with a decent chance.

Oh · « **Reply #179 on:** November 23, 2013, 06:32:52 AM »

I need to stop dying to Sanae and Aya. Come on, it's only Hard Mode, yet I'm having trouble.
It's annoying when you spend so long restarting stages 1-3 only to fuck up the non-scoring areas of the game.
That run had 510m at Aya. It could have been over 2 bil too, I think.
Back to spamming credits I guess ;_;

Author Topic: Touhou Blogging Thread (Read 209435 times)

Oh

Oh

Oh

Zil

kitslol

Oh

kitslol

Oh