Improving in Touhou

[Shrow]

Do you guys have any advice on when to collect at the top of the screen? Or what about character tiers, does it matter which character I play?
Can a player collect more lives if they get more points in a run?
Really any advice you guys have on Perfect Cherry Blossom would be appreciated.

[GasterMaster70]

Here's some advice, Shrow.

#1: I recommend collecting all items when there's a lag in the bullets with a lot of items, but if you can squeeze your way up there, that's perfectly acceptable.

#2: Character stats do matter. If there's one pattern of bullets that you can't get to the safe spot in time, use a high-speed character, generally Marisa. If there's a formation that prevents head-on attacks, use someone with homing capabilities or a fairly wide shot. These are generally weaker, though.

#3: If a player collects lots of points in a run on the PC98 Era, EoSD, and HSiFS, then they will get an extra life. Others, it depends on the blue tablets or getting whatever earns an extra life(for example, the red spirits in Ten Desires). The LoLK Extend system is a bit more complicated, but still based around score.

#4: For Perfect Cherry Blossom, Max Power, as soon as you can. That unlocks Auto-collect abilities. If you're concerned about collecting items, use Marisa. Her item-collection hitbox is the largest and the Auto-collect point is a bit lower down on the screen. Also, cherry petals. Grab all of them. 50,000 of them give you a Supernatural Border which can protect you from bullets for a limited time. If hit, all bullets(except your own) are dispelled, but this negates spellcard bonuses. Let it run out, and you get a point boost based on the total number of petals you have, which are used up upon death or spell by a certain amount(Amount lost depends on character. Marisa loses the most upon spell use.) Also, try not to die like me.

Good luck out there, Shrow.

[Shrow]

Thank you Gaster for the information.

I didn't realize that one could only auto-collect if at max-power. 

Another thing I gotta ask though; on the topic of spellcard bonus's specifically capturing the Spell Card.
I know that beating a boss's spell card before the time runs out earns bonus points and using a bomb during a spell card will negate all those bonus points, right?

Now according to the FANDOM wiki (Not sure if there is a better wiki for touhou stuff) " For the regular game, extra lives are awarded at 50, 125, 200, 300, 450 and 800 point items" 

"Point items" meaning those little blue tablets you were talking about are the only sources for extra lives?
That would also mean that glazing and getting spellcard bonus's are not going to help towards extra lives.
Kinda means it's pointless to glaze  other then to look stylish.

[GasterMaster70]

On 12/14/2018 at 5:56 PM, Shrow said:

I know that beating a boss's spell card before the time runs out earns bonus points and using a bomb during a spell card will negate all those bonus points, right?

That is correct, Shrow. Also, in case it wasn't obvious, death also negates the point bonus.

And you're welcome for the info.

[Meguca]

i spent three weeks getting my first 1cc normal, and did all games (15 in pointdevice) two weeks later.
my secret is simple : i played (and still play) minimum 2 hours of touhou every day.
as i would everyday dodge danmaku, my brain is in a perpetuate state of "instantly dodge every ball in sight", it basicly is becoming a danmaku dodger in nature, not dodging danmaku, but the one that dodge danmaku.
basicly, if you want to dodge without perfectly learning every patterns, you must turn you're brain in a danmaku dodging machine, the first sign of improvement is the abillity to see attacks further and further form you're character, and the second is the ability to see more and more danmaku at the same time, and with proper rigorous training, you can start to dodge danmaku without even knowing what the enemy attack is.
yes, i only play touhou in my life now, and i can't really play anything else, but this is the price to pay to become a danmaku dodging machine.
if you just want to casual thought, i advice just learning patterns, it's easy and can get you really far, it works on most games, but you won't really 1cc LoLK that way, so don't expect everything.
getting gud is hard, real hard, otherwise touhou would not be so infamous for it's difficulty, your best bet for being a good touhou player is to really love the game and have some free time, that's all.

and don't feel bad because you can't beat EoSD 1cc normal, it's the last one i did (yes i did HRtP before), it's really hard