I've finally tried shoot the bullet just now

[Ghaleon]

Dear god is this game addicting! What's the general consensus on this game? I know most people find it very difficult among the series (speaking of which is there no difficulty setting?), but how fun do most people think it is? I've only played until stage 4 (beat Reisen's first spellcard I mean), and then stopped, didn't see the next one, but it's a blast so far.

[Sen]

StB is pretty much one of the most difficult things in the series. There's no difficulty settings, it's just a long rollercoaster of pain and death.

I myself don't find it that fun, but it really is great for improving. You're forced into making strategies to tackle individual cards, and with Aya's movement speed, you learn precision control a lot faster than you would in the normal shooters.

[Chaore]

OM NOM NOM NOM BULLETS.

... :V . General feeling of STB. Yes it is ridiculously fun for how gimmicky it really is, and theres no difficulty setting because it really couldn't get any harder.

[Zengar Zombolt]

StB is one of those games that while being part of the same genre breaks from the mold, making a pretty fun experience.

[theshirn]

StB is the least fun I've had playing a game in years.

[Polaris]

I find it fun enough to want a sequel.

[Azinth]

It's a really cool concept, but it's not my thing.  Call me a traditionalist, but I like my shmups to be in the form of actual stages with varied types of patterns, enemy configurations, etc.  Grinding the same pattern dozens of times until you finally get it doesn't really appeal to me, but I can see why people would like it.  It's much more 'pick up and play' than the rest of the Touhou games I suppose.

That being said, 9-6 is one of the coolest attacks ZUN has ever designed by far.  No, seriously, I could just play that thing all day, it's so fun.

[Zengar Zombolt]

I find it fun enough to want a sequel.

Newspaper Extra 1.
Makes me want to cry every time I select it ;_;

[Aisha]

I would say that StB is ZUN's most creative game to date. He takes the genre and does something completely original with it. But yeah, it's pretty difficult; a few scenes took me over 1000 attempts to clear. Given the game's structure, it's pretty easy to sit there and keep trying over and over again. Like a slot machine addiction, or something.

That being said, 9-6 is one of the coolest attacks ZUN has ever designed by far.  No, seriously, I could just play that thing all day, it's so fun.

I could too; 9-6 is one of my favorites.

Newspaper Extra 1.
Makes me want to cry every time I select it ;_;

It would be nice if he went back to StB from time to time and updated it with new characters. He has three games' worth of new faces now. If I'm correct in assuming that he is taking a break this year, it would be a good time to do it, I would think.

[Drake]

That being said, 9-6 is one of the coolest attacks ZUN has ever designed by far.  No, seriously, I could just play that thing all day, it's so fun.

you mean silver dragon-esque card of ultimate pain and random bullshit

[Tengukami]

It's a hell of a lot of fun, and very addicitve. I think the difficulty of the game is countered by a number of factors:

1. You pretty much have endless lives. You're not going to have to start from 1-1 if you die in 8-3.
2. The camera can be used offensively and defensively - for capping bosses and clearing bullets. Your camera charges faster after you clear bullets, and you can do that as often as you like before the time runs out, so in a way you have endless "bombs" too.
3. Zoooooom!

Plus playing it regularly has helped my overall Touhou gameplay. It's a truly unique, inventive game.

[Rook]

Guess :V

I see Shoot the Bullet as ZUN doing what he excels at: making beautiful and interesting patterns.  Due to the structure of the game, there can be more unintuitive cards that require a creative approach to capture.  A card like even 2-5 could never show up in, say, PCB, outside the extra stages.

I've only played three Touhou games: PCB, StB, and now SA.  And playing through SA, it's amazing how much more creative ZUN has gotten with bullet patterns; bosses tend to move all over the place, and the game seems to demand more versatility.  Perhaps I'm talking out my ass due to limited experience, or perhaps I'm caught in the comparison between old familiar danmaku and new shiny danmaku, but I do think there's a noticeable difference over the years, and I think Shoot the Bullet's experimental patterns have a lot to do with that.

I mean, some of the levels may be frustrating as hell (I still don't know where I'm going to get more successes, except perhaps from 5-1 or various Sakuya nonsense), but most of them are interesting.

[Laughing Bird]

I can't tell if playing Shoot the Bullet is improving my skill or wrecking my judgement. But it sure is addictive. And hard.

It's good in that you can just sit down for a few minutes, and try to cap a few patterns.
Rarely ever turns out that way =(

[Formless God]

As I've said before, it's like doing Lunatic Pacifist runs . Too bad you have to clear the first waves to get to the interesting parts X_X

[Ghaleon]

ok I'm not impressed with Patchy's unfolding sphere spellcard thingie, that stage is basically just a memorization puzzle. boo.

[Garlyle]

There are two difficulty settings for StB: "Play to capture" and "Play for score"

Playing just to beat a lot of cards is way, WAY easier than trying to stay up close, waiting for Nice Shot chances, etc. @_@

Also, there is no set difficulty... but overall it goes from Easy (Set 1 & 2) to Normal (3 & 4) to Hard (5 - 7/8) and Lunatic (9 on), with stages varying up or down a bit on occasion (5-5, I think it was, was utter bullcrap, but there was one stage 9 or 10 card I captured in about ten tries...)

[Zengeku]

I consider it a huge collection of last word spellcards. It can be quite a fun game actually. The only beef i have with it is that Aya's way too fast at times.

[Ghaleon]

I consider it a huge collection of last word spellcards. It can be quite a fun game actually. The only beef i have with it is that Aya's way too fast at times.

Yeah, I frequently kill myself by zooming further than I'm used to when I let go of focus mode. ugh. It was especially annoying for medicine stages. I think it's medicine. The doll girl with clouds that make you move slow.

[Tengukami]

Yeah, that's Medicine. Aya's speed is actually an advantage. You can still microtap when focused, but with some of those patterns, you need to get out of the way fast, faster than Reimu could move anyway.

[Bananamatic]

StB is the least fun I've had playing a game in years.

*brofist*

[ebarrett]

I find it fun enough to want a sequel.

+1

I remember seeing a replay of BoWaP and thinking, that is completely impossible - turns out StB forces you to become a better player. I didn't know streaming until hitting a brickwall at Straw Doll Kamikaze.

I should really run through it again for score, now that I think about it.

[?q]

I love Shoot the Bullet and hope that TH 12.7 will be a sequel (there are enough characters to do it again now).  (Or has that slot already been taken?  I'm behind the times.)
The scoring system is kind of fuzzy tbh, but playing for score is still fun.

I see Shoot the Bullet as ZUN doing what he excels at: making beautiful and interesting patterns.  Due to the structure of the game, there can be more unintuitive cards that require a creative approach to capture.  A card like even 2-5 could never show up in, say, PCB, outside the extra stages.

This.

The only problem with a sequel to Shoot the Bullet is that Murasa and Ichirin are very likely to share the same stage for impossible s-s-s-slowdown lag RAGE.

[nintendonut888]

Sadly, I hear ZUN never completed Newspaper Extra 1 because he felt "it was time to move on." As for me, I love StB as well. I didn't play it for months simply because I didn't like Aya, but oh man did I regret that action when I finally picked it up.

[skutieos]

I think its pretty fun, but eventually I hit a road block and couldn't progress.

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

I like the game, but I don't play it too often. The last time I played, I got level 9 unlocked and managed to clear one of the cards from it.

[?q]

I think its pretty fun, but eventually I hit a road block and couldn't progress.

You'll do this from time to time.  When you get better, you can come back and clear things you couldn't do before.  It's really nice as a benchmark.

Also, Flandre's cards are just as bad in StB as they are in EoSD :V

[Bananamatic]

Also, Flandre's cards are just as bad in StB as they are in EoSD :V

now with the worst shottype in the universe

[Ghaleon]

I watched a video, and it doesn't seem to do this. But when I try I die. But is ran's final spellcard's final "hitpoint" SUPPOSED to kill you if you're in charge focus mode? I mean, I don't stop moving right, but if I'm in charge focus mode while I'm moving, he WILL hit me. Which is a big problem because by that point the screen is cluttered so badly he HAS to die in seconds or else game over. Or is that just bad luck?

[DgBarca]

I watched a video, and it doesn't seem to do this. But when I try I die. But is ran's final spellcard's final "hitpoint" SUPPOSED to kill you if you're in charge focus mode? I mean, I don't stop moving right, but if I'm in charge focus mode while I'm moving, he WILL hit me. Which is a big problem because by that point the screen is cluttered so badly he HAS to die in seconds or else game over. Or is that just bad luck?

he WILL hit me.

he

>=(
Normally not, but I never reached the last photo

[nintendonut888]

Ran's last shot in 8-8 is luck based essentially. It's not that Ran will ever hit you herself, but she may very well spawn bullets on top of you. All you can really do is hope that doesn't happen.