Official Rate the Game Difficulties Thread! [Done for now.]

[Nameschonvergeben]

Nah it's literally impossible. Hardest shmup of all time is an understatement

[Sakurei]

PoFV isn't even close to being the hardest shmup of all time. Even if it did, there's still Phantamsagoria of Dim. Dream, which is much, MUCH harder. Eiki is only hard because the rubber band difficulty is at near-maximum in the last stage. My strategy is to get as many lives as you can get, and then face Eiki. It's nigh impossible to beat her with a single life, but after you lose at least two, she starts to weaken a bit. It's like tiring her out.

And that's where our understanding of the game differs. The difference between PoDD AI and PoFV AI is that in PoDD, it sometimes just derps and dies on its own without you doing anything. That applies even to Yumemi in the first round. However, unless you use attacks that mess with the AI (Like Reimu's ying-yang orbs or Aya's EX-attack), Eiki will never get hit. And that's why it's the hardest shmup of all time. The goal in the first round is not to kill Eiki but to not die yourself and due to the infinite timer, the skill ceiling is infinite. You could, in theory, fight her for two days straight and it still wouldn't be "perfect". Naturally, that's not an angle of play many here would approach but it is the way I look at the game.

Of course, PoDD is, as you mentioned, a super difficult game itself. In theory it should also be infinite but the AI derping out makes this factually impossible. Although usually you die before the AI does due to just getting completely and absolutely overwhelmed.

[Choco Beam]

Normal mode?

1. UFO - I can't 1cc this game
2. EoSD - same as above but haven't played this one for years
3. MoF - gave me a lot of pains while scoring back then
4. PCB - I'm just terrible at this game
5. IN - Kaguya sucks
6. SA  -  I remember it took me a couple tries to get a 1cc but I don't know how to play back then
7. TD
8. PoFV
9. DDC
10. LoLK

[LinkyFW]

Normal..? Hrmmm... I beat one, so I guess i can rate the farthest I got? This rate is by 1cc right?

1. LoLK - Seriously?
2. TD - Get to forth boss and die immediately. Why do people think its easy?? Oh wait...
3. UFO - At least I can almost kill the forth boss...
4. DDC - Screw the 5th boss just screw it. I don't like it i lose every time.
5. SA - Can I see the 6th Stage please? You are on your last spell card...
6. PoFV - Eiki has been counting my sins... that's why she never gets hit huh? I get close though.
7. EoSD - I remember that one video where that guy died because a bullet spawned on him and he flipped all of the tables. That's happened too many times.
8. PCB - Last spell card = brutal.
9. IN - I blame Reisen for making me lose all of my lives. Last stage isn't killer hard... Stop saying its insanely easy... its hurting my non-existent ego on being good at Touhou.
10. MoF - Heh... TH10 is 10th... Its the only one I've 1cc'd. Maybe its because its my favorite one.  :V

[Failure McFailFace]

I'm noticing a trend with people saying that LoLK either gives infinite lives or is super mind-destroyingly hard. And in only place 1 or 10.

[iVAwalys]

I'm noticing a trend with people saying that LoLK either gives infinite lives or is super mind-destroyingly hard. And in only place 1 or 10.

LoLK is the most unbalanced Touhou game in every single aspect, so I could see why. (Doesn't mean it's a BAD game, but definitely unbalanced.)

[Jimmy]

Difficulty += 1. Let's go.

1. SA - The difficulty gap between Easy and Normal here is ungodly. It's been three years since I started playing this and Orin is still a wall of Berlin in front of me.
2. PoFV - Haven't played too much yet, but I definitely feel that this one is legit tough. The bullet density is absolutely hellish.
3. PCB - Not too many differences there between Easy and Normal, but the stages 4-6 alone are still worthy for me to rank this one among the top three.
4. UFO - UFO mechanics and Byakuren.
5. LoLK - Clownpiece and her stars and stripes and moons. Junko isn't actually that hard. Use every single graze, stockpile lives and bombs and you're good to go.
6. MoF - Kanako's VoWG here is easier than on Easy  :V
7. IN - Reisen was a pain. Everything else was pretty easygoing except Eirin.
8. TD - The scarce resource gain do prove this game to be quite a feat, despite the easy-ish patterns.
9. EoSD - Remilia is a joke, except for the second and last spell.
10. DDC - All hail the POC bonuses - again!

[LinkyFW]

LoLK is the most unbalanced Touhou game in every single aspect, so I could see why. (Doesn't mean it's a BAD game, but definitely unbalanced.)

I agree with this, I know that's not saying much, but grazing to get lives and stuff kinda makes me cry.  :V

[Random Sphere]

EDIT : I`ve changed some positions since I haven`t played them enough.

1. SA - I reached stage 4. And then, I die because midboss. HOW?
2. LoLK - Maybe it`s the game or my luck but I usually die in the first stage. T_T I putted this game in second position because, at least, I reached stage 5.
3. EoSD - I can`t reach stage 5 without spending all my lifes/bombs.
4. PBC - At least I could reach stage 6.
5. UFO - Same as DDC but with Sanae B. BROKEN AS HELL (really).
6. DDC - Reimu A and all those resources. Lol.
7. IN - Just because this was the first 1cc and I needed a lot of time ... And still, it`s easy.
8.  PoFV - Dunno where to put this game.
9. MoF - Pretty easy, if it wasn't`t for aya. I still can`t understand her nonspells.
10. TD - Really, I ?1CCed? normal in 3 hours.

[Mero]

1. UFO
2. SA
3. PoFV (with a good character)
4. DDC
5. LoLK
6. EoSD
7. MoF
8. TD
9. PCB
10. IN

SA is harder than UFO, but you just have to learn to dodge (read: memorize) the patterns and you're set, while UFO is not only more random, it has the UFO system. Like Sakurei said, PoFV has this thing where the AI is scripted to play perfectly unless you play specific characters, so depending on your choice you may end up spending lives to tire Komachi/Eiki out, which isn't impossible (assuming you have enough lives to begin with), but it can get overwhelming on the average Normal player. DDC and LoLK are hard, but resources are very easy to come by, so it evens out difficulty. EoSD just has limited resources. MoF has plenty bombs and they're basically free passes out of spells. Even when you can't XXC, TD isn't very difficult. PCB and IN are easy, with generous resources and have free hits in the form of Borders and extended deathbomb timers, respectively

[Totalheartsboy]

Here we go!:
1. SA - Seriously, stage 5 and Orin are freaking annoying, it took me months to reach stage 6 and beat Okuu without continues.
2. LoLK - A little broken on stage 5 and Clownpiece and her non-spells that are annoying.
3. UFO - Took me at least 2 months until i could beat Byakuren without continues, seriously the only obstacle was Shou and her curvy lasers.
4. EoSD - Similar reasons like SA.
5. PCB - Dense danmaku.
6. PoFV - One word: Eiki.
7. DDC - Seija was annoying but not like Clownpiece or Shou.
8. MoF - Only Aya was the problem but not that problematic.
9. TD - Deserves the ninth place because Seiga give me little problems.
10. IN - Too easy, and Marisa is broken because she is Marisa.

[Lollipop]

1. UFO - The danmaku isn't hard per se but the ufo mechanic is dumb.
2. SA - Stage 5 is really hard.
3. LoLK - Once again, Stages 5 and 6 are absolute bullcrap. It feels like Lunatic. But in return, you get an ungodly amount of lives. Hopefully the next game isn't this unbalanced.
4. PCB - Youmu and Yuyuko have some really dense damnaku.
5. DDC - I might be biased on this one, mainly because I play DDC a lot.
6. PoFV - Shikeiki is basically a wall. I can make the first 8 stages without losing a single life, and then I end up with almost no lives at the end. Gosh darn it, Shikeiki.
7. EoSD - Resource managment. That and the danmaku as a whole is difficult.
8. TD - Even more resource managment. You have to be able to adapt easily, because depending on how your run goes, you might not be able to trance at certain times. But the danmaku is still pretty sparse.
9. MoF - Handing out bombs like candy since 2007. Those final 3 spells are still tricky, however.
10. IN - No comment.

[Hope ♦ Metal]

EDIT: Ignore me I can't read.

I only played EoSD, PCB, PoFV, SA and the demo of LoLK so...

1. SA - Orin is Satan.
2. EoSD - I 1cc'd this once. With maximum starting lives. And I had nothing left by the end of it.
3. PCB - I got pretty far, but I always use all my continues.
4. PoFV - I cleared it for the first time on my second run (with Marisa) and I think every Normal run afterwards was successful.

I'm not ranking the LoLK demo because I haven't played it that much. (Also it's been a while since I've tried playing a Touhou game, so my memory could be a bit hazy)

[iVAwalys]

I only played EoSD, PCB, PoFV, SA and the demo of LoLK so...

1. SA - Orin is Satan.
2. EoSD - I 1cc'd this once. With maximum starting lives. And I had nothing left by the end of it.
3. PCB - I got pretty far, but I always use all my continues.
4. PoFV - I cleared it for the first time on my second run (with Marisa) and I think every Normal run afterwards was successful.

I'm not ranking the LoLK demo because I haven't played it that much. (Also it's been a while since I've tried playing a Touhou game, so my memory could be a bit hazy)

Again, I'm very sorry, but you have to rank all the games in order to participate.

[Hope ♦ Metal]

Again, I'm very sorry, but you have to rank all the games in order to participate.

Whoops I didn't pay attention to the rules.
but I still wanted to call Orin Satan

[Uruwi]

1. LoLK - last one I beat. Fuck Clownpiece and Junko.
2. UFO - Byakuren eating 5 lives, 2 on the last spellcard?
3. SA - Most frustrating for sure.
4. DDC - generous on resources but some attacks are difficult.
5. EoSD - no visible hitbox + Remilia making you bomb whenever a bullet approaches you.
6. IN - especially Marisa and Reisen. Kaguya was meh.
7. TD - Miko was hard, the other bosses were easy, but there weren't enough extends.
8. PoFV
9. MoF
10. PCB

[Sen]

Hoo boy, been a while since I played Normal.

LoLK - goes without saying
SA - SA was one of the first Normal games I played and the last one for me to 1cc. It rightfully kicked my ass until I got good enough to 1cc the others
UFO - I would say UFO has harder danmaku, but because you can rack up resources so easily, it balances out more on lower difficulties. SA is brutal and unforgiving across all difficulties
EoSD - EoSD is also pretty good at even increases in difficulty across all levels. Normal feels like an appropriate step above Easy.
PoFV - wasn't totally sure where to throw this one, because of the genuinely random danmaku + AI jank, but I feel like the random nature makes PoFV always appropriately difficult for your skill level
PCB - I'm probably biased because PCB was my first Touhou game, but Normal feels like a fair challenge on its own. Supernatural Borders really help alleviate this, so I put it further down on the list.
MoF - some really nifty and challenging patterns, but bombspam works wonders!
DDC - resources for days and overall easier patterns
IN - with options like the Border Team, borderline static patterns, and a timebomb window lasting about a month, it's hard to say this was a challenge. IN was actually my first Normal 1cc, and it didn't even hit me what an accomplishment that was for a few minutes!
TD - lol

[iVAwalys]

alright, it's either me being wrong at the calculations, or WE JUST GOT A TRIPLE TIE AT THE FIRST PLACE.

1. SA - 2.88
1. UFO - 2.88
1. LoLK - 2.88
2. PoFV - 5.19
3. EoSD - 5.69
4. PCB - 5.88
5. DDC - 6.38
6. TD - 7.19
7. MoF - 7.56
8. IN - 8.47

...Anyway, time for Hard~ (FINALLY)

1. UFO - It's like this game was programmed just to troll the player. The UFOs keep changing the color at the worst time (THE F****NG BLUE UFOs), clipdeath patterns, annoying enemies all mix together to make by far the most frustrating game to 1CC in Bullet Hell history. Sure, you get like 12 lives, but only if you somehow manage to collect the Red UFOs perfectly. (Impossible, unless you perform some kind of miracle.) I haven't 1CC'd this game on Hard yet, and I think I don't even want to try.

2. LoLK - The second game I haven't 1CC'd on Hard yet. I don't care it gives you 20 lives. You can lose all of them in a single stage. The patterns are brutal.

3. DDC - Satan. The PoC-based resource system is by far the most annoying thing besides the mentioned UFOs. You have no idea how many times I went up, just to get hit by a stray bullet or a random fairy. Also, screw your dishwasher, Seija.

4. PoFV - The rubber band AI is strong with this one.

5. TD - I hate the resource system. It gives you way too little lives to survive, albeit the patterns themselves aren't that hard.

6. SA - It's not really that more difficult than Normal. It was the first game I 1CC'd on Hard, actually.

7. IN - The time point system really lures me into going unfocus mode an dying shortly after. The patterns are incredibly dense, sometimes absurd, but you can mostly marcododge them with enough strategy and careful movement planning.

8. EoSD - Stage 4 is hell, but the rest of the game is pretty standard, unless you're having bad RNG.

9. MoF - It can give you a lot of lives if you can use the PoC to it's full extent. The bombs not only are really cheap, but they also deal a lot of damage.

10. PCB - Yeah, not kidding. I may just be really good at dodging slow, dense patterns. I love the life system too.

[TresserT]

1) LoLK- There are several patterns that are harder here than on Lunatic (Seiran's last, Doremy's third, Sagume's first) and several that are equally as hard. While the patterns are easier as a whole, it's much more difficult to get resources. On Lunatic you're pretty much guranteed a life fragment every chapter, so it's just bomb-bomb-bomb-suicide. Here, you really have to work for your lives. I'd say this difficulty is possibly harder than lunatic as a result. And there's no way in hell I could beat this without bombs.

2) UFO - There aren't any patterns that are really challnging until the second half of stage 5. But after midboss Nazrin, the rest of the game is brutal. For the first half of the game, the main challenge is in getting all the UFOs you want. Basically, hard takes Lunatic stage difficulty and Normal's boss difficulty. I'm exaggerating but still...

3) PoFV- like I said, I don't play this game enough but this seems fine...?

4) TD- The patterns are a little challenging, but nothing is that hard until Miko. The problem is the resource system. It's not easy to get lives or bombs, so messing up even once is extremely costly.

5) DDC- The strategy is the same as on normal. The early stages aren't much harder here than on normal, so you stock up on lives and bombs then ride them through stage 5+. The only difference is, there a quite a few powered up boss patterns, so you need to be more careful about when to use your resources.

6) PCB- this one's kind of iffy. The game floods you with lives and bombs, so you can 1cc it easily. But the patterns are much harder than in MoF or IN, so if you're doing any sort of challenge it becomes a pain.

7) SA- Not much of a jump between normal and hard. Several patterns work differently, though, so you'll have to get used to the new way things work.

8 ) EoSD- There's really no difference in how you do stages/boss patterns between normal, hard and lunatic. This is just easier. Like, in UFO you want to bomb certain stage portions on Lunatic, but on hard you're fine. Here you bomb the same spots and rely on your skill in the same spots. This is just easier.

9) IN- There's nothing really difficult about this game. Stage 4+ can have some hard parts. But nothing that bad.

10) MoF- Same as normal. Bombombombombomb. You never even have to dodge. Even without bomb spam, there's not much on this difficulty that's really that challenging.

[Choco Beam]

The same exact rating as normal mode for the same reason.

1. UFO
2. EoSD
3. MoF
4. PCB
5. IN
6. SA 
7. TD
8. PoFV
9. DDC
10. LoLK

[TableCloth]

Hmm...

1. UFO - Different difficulty force you to do different ufo routing, and some patterns are just crazy hax gone crazier (f*ck you, Shou).
2. LoLK - There is just a lot of brutal patterns. Earlier stages are especially brutal for Reisen player like me.
3. DDC - More-often-annoying-than-not patterns and a rather difficult routing. At least stage 4 is generous enough to give me some lives before cost it all on Tsukumo sisters and Seija.
4. SA - The best part about this is that stage 5 is actually challenging even with ReimuA. Best game ~<3
5. PCB - Damn Prismriver. At least Youmu isn't much harder.
6. TD - While the patterns isn't much harder than Normal, messing up means losing an additional live or two.
7. PoFV - This one isn't much harder than Normal, the exception being penultimate & last bosses.
8. EoSD - a lot of Sakuya's and Remilia's spell cards are way easier than the Normal version (except 'The World' and 'Scarlet Meister'), it was laughable. On the other hand, Meiling have a huge difficulty leap from Normal.
9. MoF - Sanae is difficult, but you mostly have a lot of lives by the time you reach her from all them bombing and free Extends.
10. IN - Again with the laughable difficulty. This time, Eirin become a lot harder than Kaguya, it's ridiculous.

[Mero]

Going by the assumption one has already played Normal and generally knows what to expect:

1. LoLK
2. UFO
3. DDC
4. SA
5. PoFV
6. EoSD
7. TD
8. PCB
9. IN
10. MoF

I feel Tres's description was on point, LoLK is an unbalanced mess and it is on Hard where it really shows. Some patterns, while they follow the same general logic across difficulties, they work so differently that their Hard version is comparable to its Lunatic one for their own reasons (e.g. Doremy's laser card on Lunatic is denser, but on Hard the lasers are slow enough for the bullets to actually be an issue), and some other patterns, if you can barely get a piece on Lunatic, then forget about getting it on Hard (Normal usually doesn't have this issue because graze items are easier to get).

UFO's biggest hurdle is learning the UFO system, but you have Easy and Normal to get comfortable with it. After that it's very easy to get Lives/bombs. Although, in terms of patterns, UFO does scale up substantially and you can't get resources during bosses, who can make you lose what you have just as easily as you got it

DDC is just the same as on Normal: hard patterns, easy resources

If you could memorize SA Normal, you've already memorized half of SA Hard, so it's not hard to get into it

PoFV is pretty much the same, it just picks up the pace earlier

EoSD is just dead average

TD now has you actually paying some attention to it, so you don't get killed and mess up your route, but still not very difficult (and trance is easier to fill).

PCB does see an increase in difficulty, but it also helps your defensive options a bit (more bullets=larger cancels=more borders), and it's still quite generous with resources

IN kinda just stays where it was. There are more bullets, but they get cancelled by familiars from dying enemies, some bosses (like Marisa) start getting difficult, but it's all very much manageable. And you still have extended deathbomb timers

MoF doesn't have many difficult patterns, probably just PWG and VoWG. Though if you decide to throw skill out the window, you can always bomb everything.

[ZM]

1. UFO - It's pretty crazy how the Stage 5 portion is nearly identical to the Lunatic variation. Heh, it certainly made it easier on me once I climbed up. Anyway, UFO Hard is certainly one of the most infamous difficulties in the series. One really needs to get a hang of the UFO system or they'll be in for a rough time.
2. LoLK - Basically what Tres and GMK said. For the sake of clearing, LoLK Hard isn't too bad (just bomb everything lmao). But for the sake of the patterns, they're on the higher-end of the spectrum compared to most other Hard modes.
3. SA - If you've done Normal, you can definitely do Hard. Patterns here get a buff, but nothing too outrageous.
4. PoFV - This seems like a good spot.
5. DDC
6. EoSD
7. TD
8. MoF
9. IN
10. PCB - kek

[Failure McFailFace]

1. LoLK
2. UFO
3. TD
4. SA
5. PoFV
6. MoF
7. PCB
8. IN
9. EoSD
10. DDC

[Sen]

Yay, Hard is what I'm actually at.

LoLK - I think Tres said it the best; LoLK Hard is almost unfair at times. If you're playing Legacy Mode, getting life pieces can be incredibly difficult. Lunatic has all the bullets you could graze and more, but you have to really work for some life pieces in Hard Mode (Extra stage falls into the same problem). I've only ever played LoLK on Hard and Lunatic so I can't say how it compares to Normal.
UFO - There's a billion lives and bombs, but the patterns have a noticeable increase in density. The increase in difficulty from Stage 4 to 5 is fucking absurd
PoFV - the cheating AI really starts to kick in for PoFV, far more noticeably than in Normal
EoSD - again, I think EoSD has the most balanced progression between difficulties. Stage 4 really ramps it up on Hard.
SA - if you can 1cc Normal, you can 1cc Hard
TD - TD's patterns are easier overall, but you get so few resources that a single death can mean the difference between a 1cc and a game over on Newborn Divine Spirit.
DDC - tons of resources, but the patterns are noticeably denser than on Normal
IN - same as Normal; IN is mostly static and has a deathbomb timer that allows effortless life saving
PCB - there's a definite increase in difficulty, but the generous life system and Supernatural Borders offset that by a lot
MoF - hahaha

[iVAwalys]

sorry for being 3 goddamn days late

Alright, the results for Hard are in.

1. UFO - 1.50
2. LoLK - 2.50
3. DDC - 4.75
4. SA - 4.88
4. PoFV - 4.88
5. TD - 5.63
6. EoSD - 6.38
7. PCB - 7.38
8. IN - 8.13
8. MoF - 8.13

Again with the ties... (I'm seriously considering making a tiebreaker week after we're done with everything.)
LUNATIC TIME~!

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. UFO - My feelings are basically the same as for Hard. UFO Lunatic is on a whole another level though. It's definitely way up there with the hardest Bullet Hell shooters.

2. SA - Pure bullet hell madness. It's not like the mechanics are bad or anything, in fact, they're surprisingly simple for a Touhou game. It's just that the patterns are insanely difficult to dodge. Simple, yet deadly.

3. DDC - I hate the game. Take Junko's hatred towards Chang'e and multiply it times 10, and you basically get my feelings towards DDC. I'm not kidding.

4. LoLK - Same as Hard, only arguably much more difficult.

5. PoFV - Dodging is basically impossible at the later stages. You HAVE to abuse the bullet deleting effects and manipulate the rubber band difficulty, otherwise you're pretty much dead.

6. EoSD - RNG walls. Need I say more?

7. TD - It's a huge spike from Hard. It can get insane at Stage 4, but the two last stages are not much more difficulty than on Hard.

8. IN - The Last Spell system may waste your bombs, and the walls are insane, but at least you get a lot of resources.

9. MoF - VoWG.

10. PCB - I nearly 1CC'd it on Lunatic once, actually. I lost halfway through Yuyuko. I think if I try harder, it may even be the first game I'll 1CC on Lunatic.

[ふねん1]

1. UFO - This actually wasn't as clear-cut as it may seem. Although you can get lots of resources through the UFO system, it's not as easy learning how to do this as in DDC or LoLK, and the patterns are brutal enough to give players who can't get lots of resources a hard time without enough practice first.
2. LoLK - Although its patterns are much harder than those in UFO, the fact that you can get 20+ lives offsets this just enough to leave LoLK at #2. Granted, you need a bit of practice with the patterns to know how to get so many lives, and bad resource management at any point, especially during the late-game, can make the difficulty really swingy at times.
3. EoSD - Relative lack of resources in an old-fashioned engine that's prone to throwing RNG bullshit in your face? No thanks. The fact that the RNG can also go easier on you at any time is what saves this from being any higher.
4. SA - The patterns have above-average difficulty overall, but memorization can alleviate this in a bunch of places. You also can't go too crazy with bomb-spamming during bosses or you'll end up making things even harder - managing bombs in general takes some thinking (though not an extraordinary amount) to really make it effective.
5. DDC - Although I think this game's patterns are the most consistently difficult among every Lunatic mode (even more than LoLK imo), gaining enough resources to bypass them is also by far the easiest among the upper half of games on this list.
6. PoFV - Honestly wasn't sure where to put PoFV because I still haven't played this game. I can imagine the Lunatic AI dragging things on being the primary source of difficulty though, while you can otherwise learn how to make dodging easier by managing bullet-cancelling.
7. IN - Down here partly because of process-of-elimination if anything. Lots of patterns can be memorized to ease the difficulty, but until then they might give you trouble. Some other attacks can also be pretty uncomfortable even with practice, but you get a fair amount of resources to deal with them.
8. PCB - Similar to TD, except managing Borders is a bit trickier and the patterns are more in line with what you'd expect on Lunatic. You do get more lives than in TD though.
9. MoF - You can literally bomb-spam through everything except perhaps VoWG, and managing bombs doesn't take nearly as much thinking as in other games (though I wouldn't say it takes no thinking).
10. TD - Despite having fewer lives than other games, you get so many other resources through Trances, and the difficulty basically stops climbing at Stage 3, making it more like Lunatic-lite compared to every other game.

[TresserT]

1. UFO - ふねん1 said it perfectly.

2. LoLK - The difficulty progression is really different from UFO. Seiran/Ringo/Doremy are waaaaay harder than Nazrin/Kogasa/Ichirin, but Shou/Byakuren are at least as hard, possibly harder than Clownpiece/Junko. Unlike UFO resources are really easy to get since stages are almost 100% streaming.

3. DDC - The patterns are hard and super random, so memorization can't help you much. You get a ton of resources but you'll need every one (unless you're Marisa B lol). For the record, I hate this game as well.

4. PoFV - This game is laughably easy until Aya/Medicine, and even then it isn't that bad. This game only gets this spot because of Eiki. She's the hardest boss in the series.

5. SA- the patterns are somewhat difficult, but nothing as absurd as DDC/LoLK/UFO. The system is also simple, so you don't have to do any crazy tricks to get resources.

6. TD - Yoshika and Miko are random, difficult, and annoying. Nothing else is too big a threat. You get very limited lives and have to be good at shotgunning to get the max amount of trances. But you get so many trances it's fine.

7. EoSD - There are only a few difficult patterns (Books, Bury in Lake, Killing Doll, Scarlet Meister) but the game is almost as random as DDC, so you can easily die in unexpected places.

8. IN - There are no difficult patterns that come to mind except Kaguya's last spell. You get so many lives and bombs that it makes up for any mistakes you might make.

9. MoF- You get soooooooo many bombs, and they're sooooooooooo powerful. There are a few really challenging spells, but you can still just bomb-bomb-bomb spam like in normal/hard.

10. PCB - Everything is very doable. There a several spells where it's easy to make mistakes, and the patterns are probably harder than MoF/IN/EoSD but you get tons of lives, tons of bombs, and tons of borders to make up for it. Becomes way harder if you're trying to do any kind of challenge.

[Failure McFailFace]

1. LoLK
2. UFO
3. TD
4. SA
5. PoFV
6. MoF
7. PCB
8. IN
9. EoSD
10. DDC

[ZM]

Hmm. I'll just rate them based on the difficulty it is to clear them rather than LNBs/scoring and the like, since I'm lazy. But I'unno, they're all not that bad.

1. UFO - You REALLY need to get a grasp on the UFO system or you WILL have a rough time.
2. EoSD
3. TD
4. LoLK
5. DDC
6. SA
7. MoF
8. PCB
9. IN
10. PoFV - use medicine!111!11~!