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Improving in Touhou


Alize

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Heya, Alize here. 
 So yeah, have been playing Touhou for a year or so, without actually being active in a row, I'd play on weeks sometimes twice a month or so, or maybe I was so discouraged I can't even reach the stage 5 of EOSD and clear it-. So yeah, I'd like share a bit of tips, since I think I improved a bit to fall further down since I was able to clear Touhou 7 although not 1 CC'd.  I can probably only share two tips~

1. Have fun~
 Seriously, it's the best way to not get tilted and to improve you need lots of good old patience. If you like, laugh along the lines of your mistakes and let yourself try again one more time that would really help! And encourage yourself, it already takes guts to play touhou since most of the people that I showed a screenshot of Mystia's spellcard said they probably couldn't do it...

2. Practice-
Yeah as I said, you need to have patience, like a WHOLE TON OF PATIENCE.  Having fun helps you become tilt proof so you can maintain your will to play, and keep going!  You can gun for practice starts, repeating playing or transferring to another th. 

That's probably all I have to share,  how about you guys? I'm kinda stuck at EoSD that's why I thought of this... Yes, I just forgot to play for a week.

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I'm kinda hungry.

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Well, as someone who has not played Touhou for about five months now... yes, not being an active player somewhat hinders your progress. However, I don't find it to be too hard to get back in the swing of things, since the nuances of gameplay become second nature through gameplay. You never really unlearn to play, much like riding a bike.

As for other tips, these are the things that I have learned, either through observation or experience, that greatly help in improving your gameplay: (Disclaimer: I'm a filthy casual who's yet to get 1CC-good aside from PCB easy modo, and whose insistence in "finishing" each game before progressing to the next means that I'm still in Imperishable Night in the time frame where I could probably be up to DDC or further, so I'm not exactly the best one to discuss "expert" tactics and help people 1CC no death no bomb Lunatic. Bear in mind that there are better players that would probably offer more precious insight, but here's my two cents on the matter)

1. Don't give up on hard bosses; learn them.

This sounds like a no-brainer, but some parts of the games can be really annoying for some players. For the longest time I had a personal trauma with PCB's Stage 4 and Lily White, as well as Yuyuko's very distracting butterfly danmaku. This becomes a problem very quickly, because you may end up putting off the challenge of facing a run through the game because of the prospect of facing those foes that slaughter you every time. It takes a toll on the player's psychological state, and you fall off of your concentration mode, or even your fun casual mode. To this end, you must not only refuse to give in to these enemies, but also take your time to practice and analyze them.

My suggestion is to be as cheap as possible: spam bombs and abuse continues, just so that you actually beat them once regardless of performance or 1CC; this unlocks the stage for Practice Mode, and that's where you'll get to the meat of your training. Go through the parts of the game that you're having problems with, without having to plow through earlier stages eeeeevery single time. Once you reach the boss proper, don't forget that "No one strategy will serve every encounter; one must adapt" (as per the wisdom of your Pawns in Dragon's Dogma). Don't just go and try to graze everything you see; stop and think about the enemy pattern. Is it better to avoid it with precision? It it better to stream/kite the bullets? Maybe evading to the sides of the screen, or moving further up allows you better moving space? You have the whole screen to fly through, don't  hug the bottom of the screen for the entire fight. With every death, try to understand how you could have avoided it. Better reflexes? Positioning? Maybe I should evade the bullets in this direction instead of the other? For example, Patchy's lasers always tore me apart until I learned that they're shot in a way that's better to let go of Focus and give a wide berth through the screen in order to not be on top of where the next sequence of lasers will spawn, because each set of lasers spin in opposite directions; running hastily from the first one means you'll run face-first into the second, guaranteed.

It takes time and dedication, but learning the ins and outs of the enemy patterns is the best way to beat them. If you often get stuck somewhere, brute-force through it with bombs and continue, and then go to Practice Mode and make full use of it. You won't waste time with previous stages, you won't feel bad for throwing away a bad run, and it gets you to the core of the problem every time.

2. Know how to use some gameplay tactics.

There's more to Touhou than just holding Focus and grazing. In fact, you shouldn't be actively trying to graze at all, if you're not going for high-score runs and the such. To begin with, knowing when to focus in and when to move quickly is key to escaping certain tight Spell Cards and Stage sections. Some lesser enemies will start pumping out bullets for as long as they're in the screen, so focus on killing them first, as soon as they come in. Many enemy attacks are shot directly towards your character with no further tracking at all, so you should learn to "stream" the bullets; "Streaming", or "Kiting", is the action of exploiting this soft lock that enemy shots have, and slowly moving your character in a way that most bullets try to follow where you were a split second ago; running all over the map screws your area control, so slowly inch sidewards and constantly let the flow of bullets miss you by a bit. It roughly follows the principle of "streaming" of "kiting" zombies in Left 4 Dead or CoD Zombies; exploit the fact that they go directly towards your position and force the bullets to make a straight line, as you would with zombies, instead of raining all over the place as you try to skedaddle as far away as you can.

Also, be efficient with bomb usage. There is nothing worse than dying with a full set of bombs, since you regain bombs with each life, but ones you didn't use are not carried over (with very specific exceptions of some characters in some games). If you feel your imminent death, don't be ashamed to throw a bomb. You won't capture the Spell Card, sure, but it doesn't matter if you can't even survive the card to begin with. Focus on clearing the game first, and then in capturing whatever cards you may desire (IIRC, the only game where captured cards truly matter is PCB, as you need 60 different captured cards to unlock the Phantasm Stage. I'm not too sure, though, so please correct me if I'm wrong).

3. Take a break!

Very important as well! Don't fry your brain. If you're getting worn out, go stretch your legs, drink some water, look outside the window and chill. As you play, both physical and mental fatigue will slowly build up, especially in a challenging game like Touhou. If you're grazing bullets like a madman and you suddenly feel the loss of focus (it used to happen to me rarely, where I would lose notion of the pattern for a split second after long sessions; while I would very much so would like to believe that I was nearing karmic enlightment and that the cosmic understanding of the danmaku was being carved into my mind and a circle would open in the screen to drag me into Gensokyo, it was probably just my mind trying too hard to keep up with an intense card), pause the game and refresh yourself. Clear your mind and return only when you no longer feel that slightly tiring burden from the effort of evading so many bullets. Also, remember to always play games in well-lit rooms and keep a fair distance from the screen! If possible, adjust its brightness configuration as well. Your vision will be thankfull and you'll be proportionally less likely to suffer from any of the given effects in the near or far future: near-sightedness, blindness, lack of visual sensitivity, loss of focus, visual fatigue, vulnerability to bright lights, body odor, vertebral pains, madness, cholera, stiff muscles, hearing impairments, discomfort, death, abnormal bone structure, paranoia, and/or vertigo. (I don't actually guarantee the part about cholera, though.)

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6 hours ago, Thunder said:

Don't give up on hard bosses; learn them.

Damn straight. In any game past PCB, there's a spell card practice mode, where you can practice a specific attack, given you've already cleared it.

 

6 hours ago, Thunder said:

some parts of the games can be really annoying for some players.

Same here. The Clownpiece fight in LoLK? Don't get me started. That first spell. That first fucking spell. Even on Easy it still gives me headaches.

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14 minutes ago, GasterMaster70 said:

Same here. The Clownpiece fight in LoLK? Don't get me started. That first spell. That first fucking spell. Even on Easy it still gives me headaches.

Since when does 15 have an easy mode? Last time I checked, there was only hard, lunatic, what are you doing?, "just play literally any other game already, it's for your own sake" and the extra stage.

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2 minutes ago, GasterMaster70 said:

Problem. LoLK is most likely my favorite. Once I got it on my Thinkpad, I could not put it down.

So, like, do I get one of those bleepy bloopers?

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1 minute ago, GasterMaster70 said:

Waddaya mean "bleepy bloopers?" If you're talking about the Thinkpad, I was given that by the school, so I don't have one now.

Oh. Well, i guess I'll have to find a way to make a profit out of some loli-looking old things or whatever to buy a thinkthing. If only I knew any good loli-looking old things...

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6 hours ago, Thunder said:

If you're grazing bullets like a madman and you suddenly feel the loss of focus (it used to happen to me rarely, where I would lose notion of the pattern for a split second after long sessions; while I would very much so would like to believe that I was nearing karmic enlightment and that the cosmic understanding of the danmaku was being carved into my mind and a circle would open in the screen to drag me into Gensokyo, it was probably just my mind trying too hard to keep up with an intense card)

You know, I feel the same way sometimes. I feel like the danmaku is being forever etched into my memory, and then in that split second of not being able to focus, I realize I lost a life. And let's be honest. I have dreams of entering Gensokyo by similar means.

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2 minutes ago, Consarn said:

Well, i guess I'll have to find a way to make a profit out of some loli-looking old things or whatever to buy a thinkthing. If only I knew any good loli-looking old things...

Weirdest shit I've heard all day.

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1 minute ago, GasterMaster70 said:

You know, I feel the same way sometimes. I feel like the danmaku is being forever etched into my memory, and then in that split second of not being able to focus, I realize I lost a life. And let's be honest. I have dreams of entering Gensokyo by similar means.

So I could probably find my way into Gensokyo and get arrested for being a man and/or not wearing a hat or something. All I need to do is sell my soul to danmaku so I can taste it with my very own body.

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2 minutes ago, GasterMaster70 said:

Weirdest shit I've heard all day.

I have a small popularity in another forum. It's for a few things.

  1. Being weird as fuck.
  2. Swearing more than a sailor.
  3. Getting banned for things I did a lot of times before.
  4. Being one of, if not THE only active user (which is apparently spamming).

I feel like the first can already be applied to this forum.

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Just now, Consarn said:

So I could probably find my way into Gensokyo and get arrested for being a man and/or not wearing a hat or something.

What the actual flip? I don't think you'll be arrested for being a man. Just ask the owner of Kourindou. He's doing fine. Though I suppose he is a half-Youkai.

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15 hours ago, GasterMaster70 said:

That definitely applies to my friend Damian. He sometimes scares the living shit out of me with his thoughts.

I doubt he can beat me in weirdness.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/17/2018 at 1:03 PM, Snowstorm said:

I can't even 1CC pcb yet HAHAHAHAHA

On 7/17/2018 at 1:03 PM, Snowstorm said:

Same. I haven't been able to 1CC any of the games yet.

 

Yeah, getting a 1CC is difficult.(says the guy who 1CC'd 10 different games in the series.)

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On 6/12/2018 at 2:01 PM, Thunder said:

I can't even 1CC pcb yet HAHAHAHAHA

On 6/12/2018 at 2:01 PM, Thunder said:

Well, I can!

...on Easy ;-;

Hey, at least you can! I can't, not even on Easy difficulty!

Though somehow I do better on Normal.

 

 

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