Touhou Gameplay Help Thread #7 - Not just for spell card help after all

[FamilyTeam]

Guys, I'm trying to make my little friend here get back into Touhou, and I want to know:
From EOSD to LLK, which games allow you to play the entire game on Easy, and which will allow you to unlock the Extra Stage once you 1cc it on that difficulty?
I know in Touhou 6 you can only play up to Stage 5 on Easy, but I've heard that's the only one that does that.

[CelestialFire]

Guys, I'm trying to make my little friend here get back into Touhou, and I want to know:
From EOSD to LLK, which games allow you to play the entire game on Easy, and which will allow you to unlock the Extra Stage once you 1cc it on that difficulty?
I know in Touhou 6 you can only play up to Stage 5 on Easy, but I've heard that's the only one that does that.

IN and PCB.

[Lollipop]

All touhou games after EoSD allow you to play the whole game on Easy, but only PCB, IN and DDC (to my knowledge) unlock extra for 1ccing easy. But the extra stages are pretty tough, so I don't think your friend will be able to beat them, if he plays on easy.

[SomeGuy712x]

Guys, I'm trying to make my little friend here get back into Touhou, and I want to know:
From EOSD to LLK, which games allow you to play the entire game on Easy, and which will allow you to unlock the Extra Stage once you 1cc it on that difficulty?
I know in Touhou 6 you can only play up to Stage 5 on Easy, but I've heard that's the only one that does that.

PCB, IN, DDC, and LoLK are the ones that allow you to unlock Extra by playing on Easy, I think.

[FamilyTeam]

Hmm, thanks, guys, I appreciate it. I know the Extra stages are veru rough but that probably won't stop him from trying.

[Sakurei]

SoEW, MS, PCB, IN, PoFV, GFW, DDC and LoLK unlock the extra stage by playing easy mode. The others only unlock for normal or higher.

PoDD doesn't have one.

[Nolegs the Cat]

So...
Legendary Flying Saucer. What do?
UFO lunatic is definitely the last thing on my list of 'to dos' at the moment, considering that it's STILL the current hardest 1cc in the series from the looks of it (If LOLK is harder correct me), but that doesn't change the fact I lose 4 lives to this attack alone. :fail:
I know I'm terrible at it, but... I just don't know where to begin to get better.

Goddamn it Byakuren you so difficult :colonveeplusalpha:

Also how does The Last Comer and Mystical Power Plant compare to the canon touhou games, difficulty-wise, on hard and lunatic?

EDIT: Goddamn it I keep forgetting PoDD :V

[Sakurei]

considering that it's STILL the current hardest 1cc in the series from the looks of it (If LOLK is harder correct me)

Goddamn it Byakuren you so difficult :colonveeplusalpha:

I've said many times that PoDD is the hardest and even if LoLK was harder (In all likelihood it's not due to abundant amount of lives), PoDD would, for the most part, still be more difficult. It will always and forever be PoDD, regardless of how difficult ZUN makes the patterns, because the harder the patterns, the more lives you get.

As for your question: LFS is difficult if you approach it blindly (as you will have noticed), but fortunately it's micro-memo. It's possible for the attack to be the same every time assuming you make the same movements. Of course, that is unrealistic, but having a path will mean the pattern is at the very least similar every time you play it. Alternatively you can try and get used to how the bullets curve in DS at a high photo count (like take 6 photos and then see how long you can live). I'm pretty sure the UFO version is denser, but it will help you get used to the unusual path the bullets take.

[SomeGuy712x]

I don't know where the proper place to post about this is, but I found what I assume is a glitch in LoLK:

In the Extra Stage, the game doesn't do a "chapter finish" tally for the non-spell of Junko's following Hecatia's spell card that has the three bouncing moons. I noticed this one one of my attempts where said spell card kinda wrecked me, bringing me down to my last life, but I noticed I was at 4 life pieces during the following non-spell, so I figured I'd at least get an extra life upon completion of that non-spell. However, when the non-spell finished, it didn't do the usual "chapter finish" thing, even though it reset my chapter graze value, and I didn't get the expected 1-up. And, I was so distracted by the fact that I didn't get the 1-up, that I let myself get killed by the very next spell card, which I usually have little trouble with, resulting in my game ending.

I've attached the replay of that game where I got gypped out of that expected life part that I needed.

Also, another glitch I noticed: The game doesn't make the usual 1-up sound effect when you grab the 1-up that Extra mid-boss Doremy Sweet drops if you capture her last spell, but that's a very minor detail which doesn't affect gameplay.

Also, what's a good way for me to handle that spell card with the three bouncing moons without losing a lot of resources?

[FamilyTeam]

How can I get those annoying arse UFOs without crashing into bullets or have them cahnge colour at the last frame? Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.

[Lollipop]

IKR they will literally turn another colour a second before I get it and it's VERY annoying. My recommendation is to always be close to the UFOs, as long as that doesn't risk your death.

[ZM]

How can I get those annoying arse UFOs without crashing into bullets or have them cahnge colour at the last frame? Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.

It's something you'll just have to get adapted to, my friend. The UFO system will soon get jammed into your head the more you play, and routes will soon be memorized.

But for now: do NOT be greedy. If you're greedy, silly deaths will ensue and you'll feel nothing but frustation. Focus on dodging and only get UFOs when the coast is clear.

[Mero]

So...
Legendary Flying Saucer. What do?
UFO lunatic is definitely the last thing on my list of 'to dos' at the moment, considering that it's STILL the current hardest 1cc in the series from the looks of it (If LOLK is harder correct me), but that doesn't change the fact I lose 4 lives to this attack alone. :fail:
I know I'm terrible at it, but... I just don't know where to begin to get better.

Goddamn it Byakuren you so difficult :colonveeplusalpha:

Also how does The Last Comer and Mystical Power Plant compare to the canon touhou games, difficulty-wise, on hard and lunatic?

Took me a while to find this again: LFS practice patch
This basically skips everything on Stage 6 to let you do LFS exclusively (you will still start with only 2 power, though)

[ChronaSE]

Is Hecatia's moon impact spell even possible to capture?

[ふねん1]

Is Hecatia's moon impact spell even possible to capture?

I'm sure it is. I haven't yet, but I've only faced it 2-3 times so far. The first thing I think of with this attack is "herd the moons together", so you don't have to make too many misdirections within a very small time frame. It's still a good deal of macro-dodging to do alongside micro-dodging the stars, but because the moons are aimed, you should be able to plan some sort of route for them, though I can't yet speak to what an "ideal" route would look like.

[☆ Hinalyte]

Hecatia's 4th spellcard. Otherworld "Hell's Non-Ideal Danmaku" - the one with red bullets that sway too much.

Any tips for the first phase? The gaps doesn't seem to be big enough and the way bullets sway drives me into the corner. The second phase of it doesn't seem to be hard though.

Also Lunatic Impact is just fuck. lol

edit: Got the idea on how to do Hecatia's 4th spellcard thanks to Karisa's replay, and seems that in Lunatic Impact, you have to move counter-clockwise?

[Nolegs the Cat]

Umn...
No matter what I do in TLC, I can't unlock the stages for practice.
I even cleared lunatic (with continues :fail:) but even THEN it didn't unlock the stages for practice...
So how do you unlock stages for practice in TLC?

And if possible, could someone post a scorefile with all the stages unlocked for practice on lunatic with Sakuya?

Also, Michel and Iesua have such awesome fights

[Seiryuu]

I hate Clownpiece. Fighting against her on Normal and am dying constantly dying at Fake Apollo. Easily captured on Easy; anyone got tips? I usually just trail behind the moons but they start shooting bullets a lot faster at the T-20s mark.

[Mesarthim]

I hate Clownpiece. Fighting against her on Normal and am dying constantly dying at Fake Apollo. Easily captured on Easy; anyone got tips? I usually just trail behind the moons but they start shooting bullets a lot faster at the T-20s mark.

Just follow them from behind in the same direction, counterclockwise around the edge. Here's my  normal playthrough as an example (had to do a new run to unlock the last stages since I only play hard or above) in the attachments. Forgot how tame some stuff is when you play on lower difficulties.

Kinda weird how Clownpiece's spells feel harder on normal than hard (save for the side swiping laser spell, not too good at the fire spell yet).

[Torri]

Hello. I'm Torri.
I may be considered a new member here..even though I've been around here before not logged in.
I am looking for information on how the Cherry system in Touhou 7 affects scores. I think I have read some information somewhere about it doing something, I'm not quite sure though.

[Nolegs the Cat]

Hello. I'm Torri.
I may be considered a new member here..even though I've been around here before not logged in.
I am looking for information on how the Cherry system in Touhou 7 affects scores. I think I have read some information somewhere about it doing something, I'm not quite sure though.

Basically, shoot unfocused when possible to get cherry - ~10x as much as focusing, 50000 cherry = border
Graze unfocused during borders to increase your cherry max, which is the max value your score can increase to. Grazing focused increases your cherry max by far less.
If you don't get hit during the entirety of a border you get a score bonus of ~10x your cherrymax + an extra 50000 cherry max.
Pink items incrase your cherry max by 2000 by default and increase depending on the number you capture - not sure about the exact number.

Aim to get borders during particulatly dense sections where you can graze a lot.

Read the wiki next time
Follow the link for advanced tactics and more specific info.
To anyone that actually plays for score in PCB, if I made any errors, feel free to correct them.

[FamilyTeam]

I heard somewhere that grazing unfocused helps you get more borders, is that true?

[SomeGuy712x]

If you don't get hit during the entirety of a border you get a score bonus of ~10x your cherrymax + an extra 50000 cherry max.
Pink items incrase your cherry max by 2000 by default and increase depending on the number you capture - not sure about the exact number.

Actually, I think not getting hit during a border adds 10,000 to Cherry Max, not 50,000.
Also, I think the pink cherry items increase your Cherry+ and current (not max) Cherry value by 1000, plus an additional 100 for each spell card you've captured in the current game so far, up to the Cherry Max value. If you're already at Cherry Max, then each pink item adds up to 50,000 to your score, depending on how high up on the screen you grab them, like with point items. (If I'm wrong about any of this, feel free to correct me.)

[Karisa]

@SomeGuy712x Sounds right to me.
@Torri, Nolegs the Cat -- I recommend reading the wiki's gameplay pages. I wouldn't trust the wiki's strategy pages though (unless anyone's been updating them since I checked them years ago-- I concluded then that most of the pages needed a complete rewrite by an experienced scorer for that game).

---

There's also one important aspect that hasn't been mentioned yet-- the Cherry (not Cherry+) value. Cherry is the value that directly affects your score-- it's the value point items will be if collected at maximum value (near the top of the screen, or during a border), determines the reward for timing out borders (10x Cherry), and determines how much spellcard bonuses increase by grazing.

Anything that increases your Cherry+ (shooting enemies especially unfocused shooting, collecting cherry items, canceled bullets) will also increase your Cherry, but only up to your CherryMax, why is why increasing CherryMax is even more important. CherryMax only increases during borders, by grazing (+80 unfocused, +30 focused) or timing out a border (+10,000).

---

If you're interested in trying out PCB scoring, I'd recommend starting by going for as many borders as possible (shoot unfocused for more Cherry+, stop shooting bosses during borders since you can't gain cherry+ then) while dying/bombing as little as you can to avoid Cherry reduction.

More advanced scoring involves planning out all the borders you get in the game to maximize the graze you get during them (since the CherryMax from border-grazing specific attacks can be worth more than short-term losses)-- this includes shooting focused or letting cherry items drop to delay borders, or intentional bombs to convert bullets to Cherry+ for earlier borders.

[Torri]

Sorry, I tend to be dumb sometimes..I'll try the Wiki.
I'll try what you said also.
Thank you to all those who responded.

[Lollipop]

Is there an english patch for Riverbed Soul Saver? If not, what are all the shot types? (Also just noticed that there's auto bomb, probably won't use it)

[gilde]

Is there an english patch for Riverbed Soul Saver? If not, what are all the shot types? (Also just noticed that there's auto bomb, probably won't use it)

Validon98 was working on a patch back in February, although since the game still isn't fully translated (which is, uh, my fault for not getting around to it), it's only partial right now.

Shot types:

Reimu-A: Homing Amulet, same as in EoSD and PCB. Super mode adds a spread of non-homing amulets to each side.
Reimu-B: Persuasion Needle. Super mode adds a more powerful column of needles some distance in front.
Reimu-C: A buzzsaw some distance in front, plus a homing amulet when focused that acts like DDC's purification rod. Super mode is three buzzsaws that home in on enemies.
Bombs are Fantasy Seal (regular) and Quadruple Barrier (super).

Marisa-A: Illusion Laser. Super mode is a spread of lasers that's narrow when unfocused and wide when focused.
Marisa-B: Magic Missile. Super mode is a powerful barrage that locks on to any enemies hit by your regular shot.
Marisa-C: Super Short Wave from UFO, now with a useful rear shot when focused. Super mode is a bunch of crystals spinning around Marisa's immediate vicinity.
Bombs are Stardust Reverie (regular) and Master Spark (super).

Futo-A: Arrow bullets that spread when unfocused and aim at nearby enemies when focused, sort of like PCB's Sakuya-A. Super mode is a laser fan that gets wider and more powerful as you charge it up.
Futo-B: Pressing the shot key places Tojiko at your current position, who then fires straight forward. Super mode allows Tojiko to move and target enemies on her own.
Futo-C: Circular field around Futo when unfocused, long tornado that can be aimed like SA's Reimu-C when focused. The focused tornado will auto-collect items. Super mode slows down any bullets that contact the tornado.
Regular bomb (Oomonoimi's Dinner) summons a spiral of bullets across the whole screen, super bomb (Sun Goddess's Sacrifice) is a more powerful version of the same.

[Lollipop]

Thanks, but how do I unlock Futo? (and Extra)

[Nolegs the Cat]

Thanks, but how do I unlock Futo? (and Extra)

You don't need to unlock Futo.

And extra? like most games - 1cc normal and up. Maybe even easy too, don't know.

[gilde]

Thanks, but how do I unlock Futo? (and Extra)

Futo should be available from the start if you're using an up-to-date version of the game. Here's the most recent version (warning for NSFW banner ads) and here's the patch to fix the Phantasm stage's Spell Practice bugs.