Touhou Danmaku Hell - Success and Failure Stories

[ultratowel112]

1cc'd Ten Desires on normal on my second try (first time with Reimu - on my first run with Sanae, I don't think I even "beat" the game). Holy hell does this game give you a lot of bombs if you use your trance correctly - I could have been at max in stage 4/5 if I didn't use any. The spirits following fairies section in the end of stage 6 is too generous, in my opinion. After killing a couple end spirits (the green ones that drop bombs), I started trancing. By the time my trance was over, I had collected 2 bombs.

Here is a replay. I think it is worth mentioning that the game usually runs somewhere between 40-50 FPS during normal stuff, slower for dense stuff, but 60 for most of the intro to stage 5.

You don't need to tell me that I need to bomb more - I know that I do, but I just don't do it.

[RobinLSL]

I don't see how the last stage giving you 2 bombs is too generous :D You could get 5 in UFO's last stage!

Talking about ressources - how many lives do you people manage to get? I usually get the lives requiring 8,10,12,15 spirits but can never get the 18 one. You would probably have to sacrifice a lot of bombs for this one. Maybe?

[Punisher]

Welp, I've managed to capture every normal-tier spellcard. I HATE HOW YOU START WITH TWO LIVES. I CAN'T 1CC WITH TWO LIVES.

[gamercal]

Besides towel, you still have to work for those bombs lol. Especially in Trance it is very easy to prematurely kill faeries and miss the bomb spirit, especially since killing the lead fairy means no spirits drop from its crew.

Also, as much as I love it I really MUST stop myself from playing TD Extra for a while until it gets patched. I just went through the survival card, bombing it at the end and stuff, and it STILL crashed on me. It didn't the first time, so I at least have the last card (which is a BITCH to kill off by the way), but man...

Oh, and how the hell would you do her 7th card (horizontal birds and dogs one) with Youmu? Seems pretty impossible to me. The card is bad enough with Reimu, and that is even after I have figured out my strategy for it...

[ultratowel112]

I don't see how the last stage giving you 2 bombs is too generous :D You could get 5 in UFO's last stage!

Besides towel, you still have to work for those bombs lol. Especially in Trance it is very easy to prematurely kill faeries and miss the bomb spirit, especially since killing the lead fairy means no spirits drop from its crew.

Well, after going through the past couple stages with a lot of bombs, 2 seems like a lot. I've never finished UFO, but don't you have to dodge bullets (or use bombs, which kind of defeats the purpose of getting more unless you would bomb there anyway) to get them? In this one, you push one key and hold your fire until the end of a group.

Talking about ressources - how many lives do you people manage to get? I usually get the lives requiring 8,10,12,15 spirits but can never get the 18 one. You would probably have to sacrifice a lot of bombs for this one. Maybe?

I'm with you on that one - I haven't gotten the 18 one yet.

[kil3]

Well, I just 1cced hard with like 4 lives left while taking a break from practicing lunatic. This game is really easy to 1cc if you spam trances/bombs.

[RobinLSL]

Hurp-a-durp, Marisa's extreme speed still sucks hardcore in Ten Desires. Gooo clipdeaths on stage 5 and 6 non-spells!

[megamario]

Hurp-a-durp, Marisa's extreme speed still sucks hardcore in Ten Desires. Gooo clipdeaths on stage 5 and 6 non-spells!

Always be Reimuing

I think her focus shot is the strongest in the game

[RobinLSL]

Actually Marisa and Reimu's focus shots are pretty much even. But Reimu is better for pretty much everything else, I just want to beat the game with all the characters :D So I'm going for Marisa right now.

[gamercal]

I still don't get the hate for Marisa :/

Like, ok, I know I am just accustomed to her speed and all that jazz, but really now I've never saw why it is so bad...

Though I hate Futo's second non-spell no matter who I used so whatever.

Sides, Marisa's speed really comes in handy during Trance since you can really pick up a lot of stuff much more easily there.

But whatever, I am biased so screw everything Marisa is awesome ^_^

I'm more consistent with Reimu though...

Anyhow, I am 99.5% convinced that the 18-piece life is attainable. I haven't quite worked out exactly how to go about doing it yet, but it is definitely doable. I've managed to get into Stage 5 with the 15-piece life in my possession, so surely it'd be possible to get 18 pieces in two stages?

[megamario]

I like Marisa's shot types in this game (spread lasers?! yes please!), but don't like her anything else. She's too fast for my liking so I go careening into bullets and sometimes fall back into bullets that I'd otherwise not back into. I also really, really hate how her bomb basically keeps her in place. And unlike the UFOs the spirits don't move!

And my god, her trance is near uncontrollable. Yes, ZUN, making the fastest character go twice as fast is a brilliant idea! *runs into all the walls, can't get into a safe position*

[RobinLSL]

Marisa Lunatic 1cc success! I had 13/18 (i think) for the last life at the end and made quite a few mistakes (also did not bother getting most life spirits and the end of stage 6). If you play decently well during the game and use your trance when the purple spirits appear in stage 6 you should definitely get it. Whether it's worth sacrificing all those bombs though, is another question.

[gamercal]

Wow... I am like the unluckiest person ever when playing Stage 6 Lunatic.

Seriously, I keep getting killed by nothing! I had one death on that fourth spell card as a phase was ending where there literally was nothing there, the spirit bullet had already gone. More times than I'd like to count the same has happened during her second spell too. I've been killed in the first spell by an arrow that had disappeared as it hit me... and I've been killed by a laser that didn't exist in her sixth card too.

Like honestly game... I know I suck, but do you have to add shit to the pile by doing THAT to me?

(Also how on earth do you do that third card I cannot for the life of me stay under her enough... there's probably a super mega ultra chicken-style easy way to do it but I can't see it and it annoys me to no end...)

[ultratowel112]

Nothing like failing a hard "sightread" 1cc because of a few stupid mistakes. 2-3 deaths were from thinking I could capture a card, so I didn't bomb and died. There was also a death because I moved into a little blue bullet that I didn't see on stage 6's second nonspell. I think, with better resource gathering, I might have been able to get the 18 life. There is one midboss (either stage 3 or 4) that gives a couple life parts when defeated, and I think there are some life-part enemies right after her. I used my trance before her, but using it after her would definitely be better.

For spell card 76, it is a lot more fun and less reliable (meaning I would never, ever try this in a real run) to go inside the "flower" of bullets. Don't know what I mean? Here, have a replay. It took me a little under 30 tries to get this right. This is possible with Youmu, too (I didn't check the others). It is not possible for me on hard (maybe lunatic and overdrive, too) because there are amulets that go right through the middle. Maybe someone skilled at small movements could do it, but I can't.

[Punisher]

Welp, I decided to give Phantasm a shot. I actually managed to make it to Yukari, who promptly gaps a kunai right into me. Anyway, onto better things, I managed to capture Blind Nightbird and Scarlet Destiny! I'm pretty happy about that!

[kil3]

well this was fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfQ5d7lWh14

[Punisher]

Wow. I got progress on Phantasm, I managed to do well up to Butterfly in the Zen Temple. Then I went PICHUN PICHUN PICHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN. ._.

At least I've captured Mesh of Light and Darkness.

[gamercal]

Slowly, but surely, I am going to learn how to tackle this game on Lunatic. Even if it kills me doing so. With a combination of normal and Spell practice I'm getting there with general strategy, and where I'm going to use my bombs and so on. I'm going to put down some of what I've been doing incase it helps anyone, although I doubt it since the only ones who are playing Lunatic are better than me... but whatever!

I've found that Kyokou's non-spells are bitchy but doable with a bit of cowardice. For the mid-boss one and the second one in the fight you generally want to run the fuck away when she isn't in the centre, but you can stand your ground much more easily when she is. Run the fuck away is typically the idea I have to take for her first end-level non-spell in general because it gets way too dense for me in the centre...

Her first spell is also done via cowardice. As soon as you hear that that box is about to disappear, dash to the left side and dodge what comes down. It's only required on Lunatic, but given how dense it gets in the middle it's a damn good idea to move. Reimu clears it in three waves if you do it like that. Her last spell is a bit of misdirecting - since the circle comes down the screen in an aimed fashion, start the card off on a side and constantly force the circle to the other side. It isn't perfect, but it prevents most arrows from ever walling you as a lot of the ones going diagonally get picked up again by the next circle.

Am I the only one who has issues with Kogasa's spell card? I'm not generally bad at dodging it for the most part, but since it only ever goes one way it's super annoying to damage. And sometimes it nearly walls you because she flies too low down the screen... reminds me of her stage 2 midboss card last game <_<

A funny thing about the ring faeries in Stage 3 - if you kill the first two to appear, and leave the others, no other faeries will spawn until that segment finishes. This makes it really easy to cheese, since both faeries will come from the same side and you can calmly dodge the waves.

Yoshika's non-spells aren't as bad as I first thought, they're just panic-inducing. The first spell is also simple enough; get close to her and stream it down the screen, then stop firing and dash to a side to misdirect it. Get back into the centre, start firing again, card ends with ~7-10 seconds left. If you do it right.

Her last spell really sucks for most characters in my experience, since the kunai's make it nearly impossible to reach the lasers before they extend and from what I can tell only max power Marisa can actually overwhelm the healing. Hell, even when doing it correctly with max power Reimu I have to take it to the last 2 or so seconds to capture it! This strikes me as weird, as for most purposes I have seen that Reimu's needles are once again stronger than Marisa's Nitori Missiles, so why the Nitori Missiles win out here is confusing. Anyway, I'm highly considering always timing it out, since it's really barely worth the effort and risk to capture as there's no profit from it anyhow.

Seiga's midboss attack isn't THAT bad unless she moves left. Then I'm screwed <_<. But if she goes right (she usually does, as I try to force her to go right by being on her right-hand side), I'm generally capable of beating the non-spell without a bomb. The spell... is oddly doable, but you have to be pretty vigilant of those anti-bubbles. I tend to try and stream it in wide arcs as the needles lines come down to get as far away from them as possible and focus on the needles. It's a good mix of focus/unfocus movement and I like it ^_^. Took me a while to figure out how to deal with the extra enemies without bombing though <_< (I never see them on Normal and I don't kill the thing very fast on Hard, so yeah).

Her non-spells are pretty whorish on Lunatic. I've yet to try Robin's timeout strategy for the second one, I should probably do that soon (it might not even quite be a timeout since I use Reimu but yeah)... I kind of do a hybrid strategy right now though where I sort of combine going between the girls with focusing on killing the thing. Needless to say it needs some work (I keep timing it wrong and having to go under Yoshika as she crosses the screen), but it's highly possible. The third one is the most doable, but it is very scary because as we all know knives have ridiculous hitboxes -_-

The first spell is easy so long as you don't kill Yoshika (or you kill the card before Seiga does her solo attack). The second spell is a bitch on Lunatic, but it seems doable if you focus on Yoshika. She can be killed before she reaches you at card start, then you have to lure her to the top of the screen and come back down. Easier said than done with her laser spam but it's possible. The last card I find QUITE easy, as I always alternate between centre and edge when it comes to misdirecting the anti-bubbles. ZUN was a cheeky ass though and removed all graze from that card... seriously, those lasers should give graze points man!

Futo's first card is a pain in the ass... I've kinda worked it out but it's still hard to do. All about seeing the gaps in the waves as you chase her across screen. Usually it's the far left when she goes to the left and about 2/3 of the screen across when she goes right. I think you need to move through that gap by going left though, and hoping you don't get sniped by an arrow. If you're using Marisa, try to unfocus as much as possible whilst damaging her, since for whatever reason she takes massive damage from Marisa's unfocused shot. I guess all the lasers hit the ship or something and it makes for massive damage? Otherwise it is only the third spell I suffer with, and that is partly because of lack of practice, and partly because I'm scared still of those fireballs and I don't move enough <_<

I still get destroyed by her second non-spell (on like all difficulties), since I just can't move fast enough to keep up. I'm usually ok on the other two though... but the third one is very scary. Why do the arrows have such freaking huge hitboxes :(

And then Miko at the moment pretty much wrecks me. I know WHAT to do for most attacks (except that third spell, seriously what the hell am I missing there), but I fail so badly at executing it. Especially on the non-spells. And that stupid fifth spell (Eternal Spirit Meek... cept it has a fixed pattern)... even though I KNOW it is easy I still screw it up so badly >_<. So yeah, much practice is still needed there. I have at least captured her final spell though!



I think once I've ironed out a couple of things I could totally do this in one continue. It'll be tough, but hey, it's Lunatic... it's meant to be tough!

[RobinLSL]

I like how you came with pretty much the same conclusions as I did on most of the attacks :)

[gamercal]

I like that too, it shows that I'm doing something right ^_^

As I said, it probably doesn't help anyone because they either won't be playing Lunatic because yeah or they're much more skilled than me and have already worked this out/have a better plan in mind. So whatever!

Also Miko cheats. I swear, try and time out the Eternal Spirit Meek card on Lunatic and tell me with a straight face that the bullets don't look bigger when playing as you go along. Maybe I was just too sleep-deprived or something, but even playing it again just now the things LOOKED like they were getting bigger as the card went on... particularly past 30 seconds. THANKFULLY I generally won't need to last longer than 25 to capture it, which I can do most times now. There is just something about those bullets at that high speed that makes it very difficult to concentrate for the full 60-second duration of the card!

Her first card feels like luck more than anything, hoping you get a good break with a dodgeable set of arrowheads. I honestly try to stay off the bottom but more often than not the high-end ones force me back down there and it walls me half the time. At least with Reimu I only have to evade a wave and a quarter...

Her sixth card also feels like luck - luck in where the lasers are spawning, and luck in the density of amulets coming from above. If you have bad luck with the lasers (and/or forget which way they turn), kiss your miko goodbye. The very slight plus seems to be that as soon as the lasers start to fade they can be passed through, but that is impossibly situational and only applicable MAYBE when a new set of lasers starts firing, but it is marred by the fact that the same lasers have an instant hitbox as soon as they start appearing too (so they are Kogasa lasers basically). I dunno, it doesn't take more than about 35 seconds to capture usually, but it's very difficult to survive for that long...

[megamario]

Another 1cc normal attempt down the tubes. Everything was going actually pretty well (on Kyokou's stage I managed to get all the special fairies to spawn! Even the secret life carrying ones towards the middle & end) until the end of Yoshika. Then it was a downward spiral until game overing on Seiga towards the end. I continued so I could at least practice stage 5 & 6, but I was running on fumes and bombed wildly. I continued AGAIN somewhere in the Fuuko battle (ps the ghost midboss is a pain), and pretty much didn't do well against Miko at all (I just gave up when I died here)

Her yellow orb attack is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. It's so hard to read because it isn't always set on how they move, the hitboxes are huge to the point where a would-be safe point is lies. In spell practice it took me 14 attempts before capturing it!

[gamercal]

Miko's second spell is easy on Normal, just dodge up through the things as they overlap. Since she only has two sets per wave, that is all you need on Normal.

On Lunatic there's 4 sets though... it's much harder there as a result :/

[megamario]

Miko's second spell is easy on Normal, just dodge up through the things as they overlap. Since she only has two sets per wave, that is all you need on Normal.

On Lunatic there's 4 sets though... it's much harder there as a result :/

NAH REALLY

I understand what I have to do, but it doesn't always co-operate. And as mentioned the hit boxes are large enough to throw you off

[gamercal]

Well there's no need to be a jerk over it :/. It's just... not that hard, even with the weird hitboxes :/

Maybe I've been around that fifth card too long though...

[megamario]

Well I didn't very much care for your air of "Oh that's easy, now Lunatic's version is a real hard card." smugness