Shimatora's Challenges - March

[Avakyon]

What's with the seemingly random score variances anyway? On rare occasions, I could get over 50K with my first or second shot, but usually I get in the low-to-mid-40Ks, and sometimes even less than 40K, despite having 2.0 for "Boss Shot!" and 1.5 for "Nice Shot!"

53,560 for the first shot: Replay (Too bad I ended up failing this run.)

In this 53k shot you get 900*6.2 for Colorful Shot which is missing in the rest of the shots. Rainbow Shot happens all the time so I think this just requires several colors with at least one bullet each. Colorful on the other hand, despite the bonus actually being lower seems to require a certain quota of each color, so I think the answer is you just don't have enough bullets in the shot. When I tried this out I would never get colorful for just snapping up one wave of bullets, but I sometimes did when there were enough stragglers from a previous wave.

[Shimatora]

Results and new challenges shall be up later today.

[SomeGuy712x]

@Feenixtrite:
Oh, I wasn't even paying attention for the "Colorful Shot" bonus. So, I guess that bonus, combined with there being enough bullets to trigger the bonus, is what allows for scores over 50K for the first couple shots. Man, you gotta get real lucky for there to be enough bullets in the frame, though.

Also, how did you get 900*6.2? When I multiply together the multipliers, I get 2.0*1.2*1.5*1.5=5.4, so wouldn't Colorful Shot be worth 900*5.4 here? ...Oh, wait... Are those individual multipliers actually added together instead? (2.0+1.2+1.5+1.5=6.2)

[Mino ☆]

Looking forward to the next month of challenges. I will try to participate this time as well ^_^

[Shimatora]

Also, Shimatora, did I ever get that Survivalist Badge yet?

Oops, I missed your edit - you didn't, it seems! I should've been more dilligent with checking if you'd gotten it yet and poking TSO to remind her. Hopefully sometime I'll be able to asign them myself rather than bugging her to do them for me, would stop missing messages/miscommunication etc.

Congratulations to Luna, Aetaes and SomeGuy712x for not even picking up a single UFO during their runs AND clearing the game! One of your runs has cleared the hidden challenge!

This month's challenges are now up! Feedback is always welcome - especially in regards to Hidden Challenges and the challenges so far. Feel free to post feedback here, via PMs on find me on IRC.

Emerald has kindly offered to take over in calculating leaderboard points, and I will update them when he's done.

Anyone eligible for a badge should get them in the next couple of days.

[SomeGuy712x]

Aha, I had a hunch that the hidden challenge was not picking up any UFO tokens, so I'm glad I went through the effort of avoiding them all in my Extra run!

Alright, doing out the math, I believe I should have 60 points now, but we'll see what Emerald calculates the scores to be...

Also, for this Survival Challenge, the Extra Stage always has the player starting with 3 lives, regardless of what you set them to in the options. So, is the Extra Stage still okay to play in this challenge? (I would assume so, since it's still a challenge to clear Extra without bombing, but I just have to ask to be sure.)

[Mino ☆]

Quick Challenge - 95
Mino - 18,589,160 - 0.700% - Replay

Quick Challenge - 117
Mino - 23,096,630 - 0.000% - Replay

Looks like Shima granted my wish. ^_^
So... DDC spellcard scoring? Looks like it's about speedkilling for the spellbonus, as I doubt graze could make up for the loss of spellcard bonus. ReimuA speedkilling is fun!

-

Also, for the IN challenge, does FinalA still count?

[LunaWillow]

Haha, I knew it! I felt that not picking up UFOs will be the hidden challange.

Survival challange sounds very fun! I need to try it. (I wonder if I can beat it on normal...)

[Emerald Mint]

Funny, I thought that might be it too. I see Japanese players in their NV runs that don't get the tokens either. I picked them up myself because they distract me from the dodging if I have to see them floating. :<

Scoring Challenge - Easy
Emerald - 725,594,070 - C - Marisa - 0.210% - Replay

Quick Challenge - 95
Emerald - 17,977,770 - 0.000% - Replay

Quick Challenge - 117
Emerald - 23,184,340 - 0.000% - Replay

[LunaWillow]

Boo, I tried survival challange and bombed due to panic :<
And I don't have time to repeat it now...
Also I will need to unlock spells for the quick challange, as I never saw this two myself.

[Sakurei]

You can't change the amount of lives you have in the beginning for the extra stage. This challenge is main-game only.

[Emerald Mint]

I found a routine which sets the life count for Extra, which can be done through Cheat Engine. I tried patching the EXE and it's not possible, since it corrupts the scorefile and crashes the game. I had issues modding PCB in similar ways and it's not as easy as MoF onward to find the right addresses and routines.
Go to 0043ADD5 in the disassembler and you'll see mov byte ptr [eax+1C],02. Set the last digit to 0.

The resulting replay file will sync and show up as 0 lives starting, whether or not the code is modified.

Survival Challenge - Extra
Emerald - 170,286,750 - Ex - Reimu - 0.0% - Replay

[Shimatora]

Welp, looks like I overlooked that! Sorry Emerald but to avoid complication I'm probably not going to support extra this time around. The leaderboard is up, a big thanks to Emerald for helping out!

[Emerald Mint]

Welp, looks like I overlooked that! Sorry Emerald but to avoid complication I'm probably not going to support extra this time around. The leaderboard is up, a big thanks to Emerald for helping out!

No probs, it happens, and thanks for clearing it up. I'll be having fun with the other brackets for sure :3

[Emerald Mint]

Survival Challenge - Easy
Emerald - 2,153,892,590 - C - Yuyuko & Youmu - 0.0% - Replay

[Mr Jovial]

Spellcard No. 95
Mr Jovial - 18,044,320 - 0.000% - Replay

Huh, the game shows my high score for that card is 18,044,300 not 320 but watching the replay I get the 320. Weird.

Spellcard No. 117
Mr Jovial - 23,240,910 - 0.000% - Replay

This took me 2 attempts ._. Also the game thinks my high score for this is 23,240,900 not 910. Not as weird...

[SomeGuy712x]

@Shimatora:
Aw, what? So Extra is disallowed for the Survival Challenge now? Why not allow Extra to be played normally, with just the "no bombing" rule? Or, maybe add a rule that you can't ever drop below your starting amount of lives, to simulate starting with just one life.

I did do an Extra run last night, which I'll post here, whether its ultimately allowed or not.

Survival Challenge - Extra
SomeGuy712x - 1,681,448,920 - C - Reimu & Yukari - 0.065% - Replay

I died twice each to Mokou's 8th non-spell (that non-spell is evil) and Fujiyama Volcano (I spontaneously forgot how to handle that spell), but didn't die anywhere else, and my lives never dropped below the starting amount. (So, if I had started with just one life, this would still be a clear.)

EDIT:
@Mr Jovial:
Yes, for some reason, Ten Desires and Double Dealing Character don't properly record the tens digit of your spell card practice high scores. I'm sure your scores will properly count as ~320 and ~910 here.

[Shimatora]

I'll save Extra Survival for another month, maybe with different restrictions.

[Nwodatek]

For the Busy People - Spellcard No. 95
Nwodatek - 18,613,750 - 0.0% - Replay

For the Busy People - Spellcard No. 117
Nwodatek - 23,291,130 - 0.0% - Replay

[ARF]

Quickie
Spellcard No. 95
ARF - 19,115,100 - 0.5% - Replay

Spellcard No. 117
ARF - 23,591,450 - 1.0% - Replay

Guess I should have bound focus to another key, mashing with my left pinkie got a bit tiring ;_;

Scoar - Easy
ARF - 758,530,650 - C - Youmu - 0.0% - Replay

Arrange mod is fun! This felt like a really messy run, just tried to go for trance whenever there were spirits on the screen and trance was available! Died a lot, lost a quite few spell bonuses. Milked Seiga and Yoshika for a bit. Dunno how much potential was lost in stage 6 cash-in ;_;

[KirbyComment]

For the Busy People - Spellcard No. 95
KirbyComment - 18,509,810 - 0,00% - Replay

For the Busy People - Spellcard No. 117
KirbyComment - 23,031,410 - 1,75% - Replay

[Mero]

I actually got these yesterday
Sp. 95
Mero - 19,084,480 - 0.9% - Replay

Sp.117
Mero - 23,442,230 - 2.8% - Replay
DDC and my laptop don't exactly get along it seems, but it's still better than with TD replays :V

Guess I should have bound focus to another key, mashing with my left pinkie got a bit tiring ;_;

one of the few benefits I find from using a gamepad

EDIT: these are from today
Spellcard 95
Mero - 19,188,760 - 0.0% - Replay

Spellcard 117
Mero - 23,528,640 - 2.1% - Replay

[ふねん1]

Oh hey I'm actually taking part in these for once. :V

Quick Challenge
Spell Card 117
Funen1 - 23,335,120 - 0.0% - Replay

Two words for this challenge: Carpal. Tunnel. Honestly not sure if I want to keep tapping as fast as the leaders did lol.

Survival Challenge (Easy)
Funen1 - 1,577,540,280 - C - Border Team - 0.041% - Replay

Failed Kaguya's second Last Spell, but it wouldn't have made a difference in the rankings. I want to play more on the higher difficulties. A Lunatic clear with 1 starting life would be an improvement over my previous no-bombs 1cc, so there's always that to shoot for.

This month's challenges made me realize I never gave Nereid's TD mod a try. Not sure how much I'll play it this month, but still something to consider.

[Emerald Mint]

Quick Challenge - 95
Emerald - 18,387,810 - 0.000% - Replay

Quick Challenge - 117
Emerald - 23,306,200 - 0.000% - Replay

[LunaWillow]

Survival Challenge - Easy
Luna - 1,361,011,060 - C - Border Team - 0.039% - Replay

Ah, back to Touhou. That was so refreshing after murderous difficulity of Len'En.
No deaths, 3/5 last spells captured (could be 4, but I needed to get hit half a second before spell ended! Damn!).
As I said, I'm not too good at scoring, so my score is fairly low.

[Emerald Mint]

Survival Challenge - Normal
Emerald - 789,168,400 - 4 - Yuyuko & Youmu - 0.061% - Replay
Tanked after engaging Marisa. Otherwise it was solid enough for me.

Survival Challenge - Lunatic
Emerald - 261,168,340 - 2 - Border Team - 0.244% - Replay

Just testing the waters here. It's much tougher without the bombs, so I might need to keep at this one for a while.

Also, for the IN challenge, does FinalA still count?

I don't suppose why not. Despite the lower score, it may be a good idea for first submission or if players are stuggling to get a 1CC by choosing FinalB.

[ふねん1]

Survival Challenge (Normal)
Funen1 - 2,023,236,840 - C - Border Team - 0.000% - Replay

And to get this out of the way. Died to Marisa's last nonspell (perhaps unnecessarily in hindsight, but I'm always so worried about the clusterfuck this attack becomes near the bottom of the screen), Swallow's Cowrie Shell, and Kaguya's first two Last Spells in real derpish fashion, but let's see if I can get Hard and Lunatic clears before I try improving on anything lower.

EDIT:

Survival Challenge (Hard)
Funen1 - 2,763,545,250 - C - Border Team - 0.000% - Replay

I somehow missed half as many times on this run than on my Normal run. :/ But man, the gap between Hard and Lunatic in this game is much wider than I remember. I can believe ZUN when he says he was drunk during parts of this game's development. I'll have my work cut out for me on Lunatic.

Btw, my first death on this run is pretty damn lol-worthy. I dare you to watch and find it. :V

EDIT #2:

Survival Challenge (Lunatic)
Funen1 - 3,048,554,590 - C - Border Team - 0.000% - Replay

I knew I had to get this after game-overing agonizingly close to the end of Hourai Jewel on a previous run. I bit it pretty hard in the beginning parts of Kaguya, so I was nervous going into the second half of the fight with only two lives, but I managed to perfect the rest of the fight. Including all her Last Spells, for your viewing pleasure. :V All that Kaguya practice has finally been paying off lately.

[Choco Beam]

'Sup

Survival Challenge - Hard
Nal Yoo - 3,988,929,970 - Cb - Youmu - 0.598% - Replay

Perfect stage 1 to 5 (but poor executions), then 5 miss and failed 7 spellcards on stage 6 lol. it could have been 4.7B+ but i just suck at stage 6.

@ふねん1: It's because Normal mode is harder than Hard mode in this game.

[Choco Beam]

Survival Challenge - Easy
Nal Yoo - 2,868,854,180 - Cb - Marisa - 0.513% - Replay

1 miss  I've never practiced in Easy mode in this game, probably the reason I will never be good at it.

[Emerald Mint]

Scoring Challenge - Normal
Emerald - 1,025,973,550 - 6 - Reimu - 0.210% - Replay
The occasional lucky dodge, but too many faults sunk it. I guess playing at 5am has its' demerits.

1 miss  I've never practiced in Easy mode in this game, probably the reason I will never be good at it.

You know your tactics well and especially doing this with a solo char, it's very strong.