Touhou Danmaku Hell - Success and Failure Stories

[Punisher]

omg, I kicked that old hag's ass!

[Yonowaaru]

Hehe, I tried a 1CC of Mystic Square on hard yesterday.... YUKI! Also Yumeko's homing and random swords attack is pretty insane. I can see what you're going through, Robin.

[Punisher]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziW90bFT2SM
Saigyouji Flawless Nirvana get!

[Punisher]

Double post, but don't care.

[gamercal]

Have you learned how to stream yet? Because that is a big big issue from how I saw you play last time

[Punisher]

I've been still having issues with Chen, but it's more Soaring Guardian God than Blue Oni Red Oni. To be honest, that was the last time I've tried the extra stage. Yukari's godforsaken shikigamis put a nasty dent in my danmaku ability.

[gamercal]

You have to remember that Chen moves faster than you can in that big loop thing, so you need to kinda cut her off and not try to outrun her. When she slows down in the middle at the start, try to cut your way through the arrows and go up the screen on the right hand side. The gaps are kinda small, but easy enough to figure out if you actively look for them. From there you can follow her round till she stops again. Just try to remember to be on the inside of her when she turns around and you'll be ok.

It's one of those cards that is impossible at first, but as you play it you start to get a feel for it. I know I spent a while figuring it out myself <_<. But now it's easy.

[Punisher]

At the peak of my danmaku abillities, I make it to Ran, on my first and second tries. Wizard Fox Thoughts cuts me down. Then back, back I go... Back to Chen... To the point where I die to her first nonspell. My ability keeps deteriorating like this. WHY? I think it's that fucking youkai manipulating the borders to make me less proficient!

[megamario]

Success: Making it to Erin [easy] in IN
Failure: Not beating Erin [easy]

I say success even though it's easy mode because it was bizarrely easy even compared to other easy modes. I still struggle to get past Stage 5 in UFO and before that I tried hard to even get past the amazing flying nun; Ten Desires still took me several tries before I could think of beating the zombie but here I got through what I've heard was the hardest game! Maybe to compensate for later difficulties Zun made the easy mode extra easy?

[Punisher]

My controller decided to derp out on me, so I tried playing with a keyboard again. However...


Look at the arrow keys. Yeah. I can't Touhou like that, and I did terrible, compared to me having a controller.

SO. List of things to-do:
Beat Ran
Beat Yukari
Capture Scarlet Destiny
Capture Hourai Elixir -Normal-
Capture Blazing Star
Capture Fantasy Heaven

[megamario]

hnnnnnggggg
I beat Erin (easy, let's not get crazy here) with Boundary & Magic team, but still needed to use a continue before the end. I usually do great until The end of Stage 4 or somewhere in Stage 5 (not necessarily Tei or Resien) tends to sap away most of my lives, and stupid mistakes lead to me continuing either by the end of 5 or somewhere in Erin's battle.

Fighting Reimu is hilarious because the first time it happens her attacks take you by surprise with just how much stuff she throws at you in her nonspells while her spells have deceptive gimmicks.

The worst part is that I was sooooooo close to beating Erin without a continue with Sakyua/Remelia, I made it all the way to Entombing spell with just a little bit of her health bar left and everything. I think I actually would have beat her had I not gotten gready and ran up to the POC to get some power back: it left me trapped outside the familiar tomb surrounded by bullets make me waste a bomb to get back in causing me to hurry around needlessly. I decided not to continue because I wanted to save the replay: That run was by far my best run so far, maybe I'll upload it later for pr0 t1pzzz.
Artificial Entombing is kind of mean, all the bomb effects home into the furthest away familiar(s) rather than Erin herself.
Also unable to capture the Kaguya/Erin Last Spell, though I can get about halfway through it. I don't care about it that much, though, it doesn't really count for anything (what exactly are you trying to accomplish, Kaguya, your spell effectively does nothing!)



In a PCB Failure story I find myself unable to get past Stage 4 with anyone. The stage is just so long compared to the rest of the stages, and has so many dense bullet clouds even on easy. And then you get to the Prism River Sisters; Sakyua's initial sister is bullshit. and just drained all of my continues and the other sisters aren't much better. Isn't this supposed to be the easy game?!
(ps zun plz return to TH7/8 style continues and not horrible restart-the-whole-stage 10-12 continues for full version of 13)

[Punisher]

You're in luck, TD uses the classic continue system, though you're only able to start with two extra lives.

I swear, if I could set my lives to seven, I'd be able to 1cc Ten Desires. Marisa and I were capturing spellcards like a boss throughout much of the run, but then here comes a few things that screw us over. I lose to Toyosatomimi's third non-spell, and I have no credits left. e_e

[megamario]

sweet!

Is Toyosatomimi (I'm...just going to calle her Toyo for ease of use) stage 5 or 6?
Maybe stage 4?

[Punisher]

She's the final boss of the game. <_<

[gamercal]

That Extra man. It's a real thing alright...

One of those where you unfortunately have to learn a good number of the attacks for one reason or another. The main reason is the shots themselves are unique to that stage, and pretty much every spell card either uses new stuff or is something you really have to have experience with to stand a chance. I've reached up till the survival card (which is still bullshit even when you know what is coming), and... god cards 6-8 just destroy my resources so badly. It really sucks to hit card 6 with 4 lives and 1 bomb and still only have 2 bombs no lives for the last non-spell...

Still, at least I have fully mapped out my resource gathering during the stage!

Having tried with both Reimu and Marisa now, I don't think it matters which of the main girls you use for this stage. Marisa is at a disadvantage during one particular part due to low range, but since homing is generally so weak ANYWAY Reimu is almost at a disadvantage when it comes to the boss. But those needles are freaking strong as always, so yeah. Sanae is one I haven't actually played with yet, but I imagine her to be about the same as Marisa, just slightly better at select stage parts due to her wide unfocused shot. Marisa's bomb is definitely the best if you have to bomb a spell card though... aimable Master Spark definitely helps a lot more for screen-clearing than Reimu's Fantasy Seal or Sanae's Esoterica star.

[megamario]

Success: 1ccing Easy Ten Desires
Failure: Somehow losing almost all of my resources towards the end of the Toyo fight.

Really, practicing them there was just no excuse for not capturing some of these (in my defense, it wasn't MY fault that trance activating between a nonspell and spell counts as a failure) and no need to have bombed as much as I did.

The dichotomy between playing the whole game and spell practice is interesting: I am far more prone to bomb at the slightest provocation and freak out in general in the main game but in spell I'm calm and collected (mostly)


Youmu is an interesting character but she doesn't seem to have many upsides to her gimmick. I guess it deals a lot of damage at once, but it absolutely tanks her score.

[Yonowaaru]

The problem with Youmu is that her attack works really well on small fries and the stage 4 boss. (And on some attacks of the stage five boss because of the huge hitbox) but the focus swordslash is largely annoying otherwise.

Now for the little Miss from Sado: The stage is, when you know it, all right. Nue isn't too bad either, the first attack is a bit betrayful and the second can get you stuck easily, but the third is alright if your head's in the game.

I play Sanae, by the way, because that's what the cool kids do.

Now, the extra boss: Honestly, she ain't all that bad. The first attack can just be done by starting at the bottom middle of the screen and slowly moving left, only having to watch out for that final bullet before the puppet leaves the screen. The dogs really aren't that bad either; it's just a question of falling and rising pretty quickly (Although I must say, rising is a lot harder.) Seagulls are honestly really easy. The frogs... If you have enough skill, you should just be able to stay under her at all times and just dodge all the yellow bullets easily. Also, a nice tip; you can start damaging her before she even starts a spellcard, which is very nice for the triple transformation attack and her Army of Men attack. The nonspell after that is as far as I've gotten, but with a little more practice, this is really doable!

[RobinLSL]

Not reading the thread because of TD extra spoilers...



I BEAT SHUUSOU GYOKU'S EXTRA FREAKING STAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god am I happy. This thing is so freaking hard. Luckily for me the very last attack is actually super easy lol, and a few bombs let me figure the thing out. Phew. PHEW.

[RobinLSL]

So I failed about 3 runs of TD Lunatic right at the end because of stupid stupid stupid stuff.

Latest one was because I randomly attempted a "deathtrance". Sadly those don't exist, making me lose a life, the bomb I had in stock AND the extra resources I would have gotten had I used that trance at a normal time. Then I derp the next to next to last card and lose. RAGE.

Also let me rage at Yuyuko for a bit. WHY DOES SHE HAVE SO MANY FREAKING SPELL CARDS SHE TAKES WAY TOO LONG TO BEAT!! Seriously, the bosses of stages 2, 3 and 4 have 3 cards but Yuyuko has 4?


edit: well apparently deathtrance does exist. Shoot me.

[gamercal]

Really, deathtrance is an option? I've never been able to get it... though admittedly I've tried like 3 times period. Usually I stick to what I know and go deathbomb over trance since I typically save my trance for stages.

Though I will HAPPILY use it on Tanuki spell 7...

Yuyuko is really annoying. Like, not HARD annoying (though I suck at her last card on Lunatic), but annoying in the OH MY GOD WHY DO YOU HAVE FOUR SPELLS YOU ARE A STAGE ONE BOSS kind.

Speaking of Lunatic, I still get destroyed by it much the same as always. I am really horrible at the Stage 2 boss, there's just too much stuff for me to handle in the non-spells and I get way too flustered. Yoshika isn't much better (though I did capture her second card!), and stage 4... that's as far as I go for now :/

[RobinLSL]

Heh, sounds like we have similar problems X(

Screw Kyoko. Seriously she's freaking hard and I think her last attack is way too luck based.

And screw the stage 4 boss combo. Not completely sure whether it's bad design or just plain difficulty but pretty much everything kills me.

[gamercal]

I'm kinda ok with a lot of the attacks but many of them still give me trouble.

For example, I'm typically good at the first spell (trick: don't kill Yoshika), but on Lunatic the second non-spell destroys me since Yoshika's knives are too dense. The second spell beats me un Lunatic because Yoshika moves too fast - the idea is to lure her to the top of the screen and use that time to beat in the boss, but it's way hard to do on Lunatic. Third non-spell... I've played it like twice and it has wrecked me both times, I hate knives so much <_<

The last card is not terrible (as in it is doable), but you have to be fast and have good reactions. Experience tells me that the black area of those bullets is largely safe, so they're basically inverse bubbles.

Then again, I am naturally pretty good in general vs curved lasers. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the ONLY reason I suffer against Shou so badly is because of the length of the lasers, not because they curve!

Oh, and is it just me or is the Stage 4 midboss spell seriously the worst thing ever? I... kinda get it, but it's so freaking hard it's unbelievable... when it comes to Lunatic this game is as hard as ever I feel!

[RobinLSL]

FINALLY!!
Wow this took way too many tries.

Yeah, midboss Nyan Nyan's non spell is bad. Too many bullets spawning too close to you. What I try to do is use my trance just before she arrives, so that I can focus her for the first wave and beat her before the second gets too dangerous.
For some reason though, you can practice this attack Spell Practice, if you choose the first spell card on Lunatic XD

Yeah Cal if you're good with curved lasers then that definitely helps for the 2nd and 3rd cards of stage 4 boss. BTW an interesting strategy for the second non spell: stay BETWEEN Yoshika and Seiga. When Seiga's attack arrives, you can usually dodge downwards if you're at the right on left end of the screen (the one Yoshika isn't at basically). This is somewhat safe-ish but you will almost time the attack out.

[megamario]

A good rule of thumb for me is to kill Yoshika. Depending on the spell Seiga will stop her current pattern to revive her, giving ample time to lay in some damage. I know one spell she does the attack where her lasers meet and fire bullets, but a later spell also has her stop attacking period to physically go over and revive Yoshika.

I think she's hard but not unfairly so. Her spells typically follow set, alternating patterns so if you keep your wits about you can general read them safely.

[gamercal]

Yeah mega, on lower difficulties you can kill Yoshika on all cards without much punishment. But on Lunatic (and to an extent Hard), the attack that Nyan whatsherface uses whilst Yoshika revives combines with the large circles that Yoshika emits when revived to form an almost undodgable wall (that sometimes does wall you no matter how good you are). The normal attack itself is pretty easy though, just some fast aimed stuff from Nyan and sparse enough kunais from Yoshika.

Fully agree with taking Yoshika out in card 2 though, again especially on the higher difficulties.


Also, Robin I did a similar thing when it came to that mid-spell. Though in my pursuit of getting resources I very often Trance'd a little too early and ended up with only 1 second of the mode on her. But I was still able to semi-consistently do a similar thing to you there. I'll consider that strategy when I eventually go back to Lunatic, as on Hard Yoshika's kunai's really aren't that big a threat in that non-spell. It's the first one that seems to be more troublesome!