10:44 Touhou 7 is actually quite notorious for having music that really "screams" at you (I personally love it though) and ZUN indirectly poked fun at it in a book he wrote called "Alternate Facts in Eastern Utopia". Also, Touhou's story in the games is very bare bones but it has one of the most expansive and imaginative worlds I've seen with really lovable characters. It's kinda hard to get into though since you have to kinda actively search for the stories mainly through books and other media. BTW your guides really helped me start my danmaku journey and I was pleasantly surprised to see you try out Touhou! I would really like to see you try the other Touhou games. Touhou 8 Imperishable Night is one of my favorites.
Thanks for the insight on Touhou! I've actually cleared 6 and 8 now too, and played some 9 and 10. I might do a "thoughts on Touhou" video at some point, let's see. It's an interesting series and TH8 was memorable for sure.. Oh, and I'm really happy to hear if you've found the channel helpful!
I love Touhou games' patterns and gameplay -- they're beyond my skill level by far but still fun to practice, and I am improving, if slowly. And yeah, it just looks cool! Touhou is such a spectacle, I love it. I hope to see a video for CosmoDreamer from you eventually! It's the best combination of Touhou and CAVE that I've discovered personally. Edit: so relatable being impressed by your lack of bombing during a tough section -- then you notice you're out of bombs 🤣🤣
Yeah, the patterns are impressive and fun to dodge! As for bombs... Can't live with them, can't live without them 🤠 As I say in the video, nowadays I try to bomb early and then yolo the rest.
@@hazylevels i love to hear that! there's definitely a LOT of them so they can be intimidating, but now that you're used to th07's mechanics i'd recommend doing its extra and phantasm stages (they're shorter affairs, but they're basically marathon bosses), and then once you feel you've had enough of this entry, i'd say it's worth checking out th08 (imperishable night)
great choice for a first touhou game! was my first 1cc on normal, first extra, as well as eventually my first hard. suffice to say i think it's a good first, nice run and great commentary :p if you want something with stage portions that actually feel like they have some kind of design, legacy of lunatic kingdom and subterranean animism have some of the better stages (as well as just being quite good games), and generally all the extra stages have a bit more meaty routing as well
Thanks for the recs! There's so many of these games that it feels a little overwhelming. But it's always fun to learn about new series too. Nice that PCB was your first as well.
Just found your channel (can't even remember from where now) and it's delightful seeing a primarily arcade shmup player come fresh to Touhou. There's not usually a lot of crossover between Touhou shmup players and arcade shmup players, and as someone who loves both (but prefers Touhou) that always makes me sad. I really hope you make similar videos to some of the later games. Touhou 7 was still pretty experimental as Zun was finding what he wanted to do and honing his craft, and some of your core criticisms are addressed in future titles. Th11 Subterranean Animism and and Th15 Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom especially, with more music variety in moods/intensity, more interesting and creative bullet patterns that aren't just "dense micro dodging tight bullet patterns", and more interesting and varied stage design. And most of the games are shorter, though th15 is about as long (though that has some mechanisms to work with the length as you might find out) I especially hope to see you play Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. That, Subterranean Animism, and Imperishable Night are my 3 shmups of all time and absolutely tower over the rest of the Touhou games, including this one (which is pretty incredible as well, though feels a bit *too* rough and early now that I've 1cc'd them all) and it'll be fun seeing you commentate them like this, if you get around to it. They're all pretty great, although imo Th12 Undefined Fantastic Object and Th17 Wily Beast and Weakest Creature are more or less skippable and the worst (especially Th12 which is the only one, including the PC-98 titles, that I actively dislike and recommend highly against playing outside of curiosity of why. It has some great boss fights but the stages and scoring system detract away from it so hard that it's more frustrating than fun).
Thanks for the interesting comment and I'm happy you enjoyed the video! Even though I have my preferences (arcade danmaku), I try to branch out from time to time and keep an open mind. At the very least it makes for interesting commentary when you're figuring out things outside your comfort zone. I see TH11 recommended a lot, so that's definetely the next Touhou to try out for me. Btw that's funny about UFO, because another comment specifically recommended that one to me. It seems like a polarizing entry!
@@hazylevels UFO is indeed divisive. I think it appeals more towards players who focus on scoring over survival as it's so heavily oriented around the UFO system, where most Touhou games are more focused on survival than scoring, which I think is why a lot of the fanbase can be sour on it, myself included as I don't typically play for scoring. The system ends up affecting the stages quite a bit too in ways that aren't very fun if you're a survival player, but I can see how the changes would be exciting for a scoring player. As always, something being heavily divisive just means you gotta try it for yourself! When a game angers one group, it usually means it's pleasing another.
Ha, that's awesome! I heard from someone that nowadays lots of people get into bullet hell through Touhou, but I seem to be doing it backwards (arcade danmaku to Touhou).
@@hazylevels I got into shmups through Mushi! I'm still trying to get my 1cc normal in that. Definitely feels like I fell into shmups sideways! But I'm loving it
It's probably a pretty sideways genre no matter how you get into :) Mushi is surprisingly tough even on Original mode, those fast bullets don't mess around!
Update: I picked up Fantastic Danmaku Festival part II and I really like it! I guess it's a fan game? (Touhou confuses me, lol). But thanks for the Touhou nudge!
Another fantastic video! Adding this game to my list of games to try. Also fully agree shmups don’t have to be super difficult to be fun. I also was kinda like eh at the art style of this one but by the end of the run I was really digging the PS2 vibes. Some excellent dodging through some vicious looking patterns. Also, you do full runs instead of practicing sections? That is very interesting. :)
Thanks for watching as always! Yeah, I think this is excellent for dodging practice :) and oops, poor wording on my part. What I meant was that practicing piece by piece is what I usually do. This one didn't seem so difficult (you get so many lives and bombs) so I just kept doing runs this time.
So, Perfect Cherry Blossom. Interesting game, about where Windows Touhou started for real (yes, EoSD cast is very popular and canon to modern works, but it's very much a transitional game between PC-98 and Windows works, where it has more game design in common with the former than the latter; most notably a lot of RNG-based patterns that can just fuck you over, such as Sakuya's knives turning around on BOTTOM of the screen if you get unlucky), though ZUN hasn't quite solidified every single detail yet. Every of the 3 characters has a different amount of starting bombs, which is an exception, not the rule (the only other such case is one of the subtypes in Wily Beast and Weakest Creature). Not only that, for whatever reason, each character has a different grace period for the bombs (with Sakuya having slightly below average while Reimu has double the usual), which if I remember right only ever happens again in the next game (I could be misremembering). Gameplay wise it's pretty easy, cause the gimmick actually helps you and isn't too demanding to learn (in contrast to let's say Undefined Fantastic Object, where if you don't route the UFO tokens, you get very few resources, and some of the boss patterns are pretty nasty even on Normal) but ironically it has one of the harder Easy modes in the game, coupled with one of the easier Normal modes. You see, Easy in PCB changes little, mostly slowing down bullets and making the attacks less dense... but the problem is that, there are places where this actually makes attacks HARDER (perhaps the largest example of this is Lyrica non2, which on Easy becomes a slow and dense cluster of bullets you have to micrododge). And then there's the Stage 4 boss, Prismriver Sisters, which are easily the least balanced fight in this game. The solo spells of the Sisters are all over the place, with which one having the easiest to learn spell changing depending on difficulty; the one you faced (Lunasa hard) is a mess because it works nothing like her variants on other three difficulties. Instead of spawning vertical lanes that are then either aimed at you or shot in a static pattern, the Hard variant instead spawns HORIZONTAL lanes that form fast moving walls. The penultimate gets noticeably easier on Hard, as they shoot bullets in a very easy to read pattern (and really doesn't shoot that much at you in first place), while the Easy/Normal throws bullets in very specific order that you have to learn to manuever, or get walled. The Merlin opener that Sakuya faces is considered to be one of the downsides of playing Sakuya. -Oh yeah also there's like 8 seconds or after the stage ends where you just wait for them to show up. ZUN wtf- Stage 4 in general is quite a rough wake-up call, since it has revenge bullets (which aren't that common in Touhou) and the extra middle finger is the fact some of these bullets (like ones at 13:11) have their speed set depending on how close you are to the enemy, so if you are close to the top, they are kinda slow, but if you shoot them down from the bottom, they are quite fast. The gimmick of this game are the pink cherry items. Grab them, or shoot enemies to increase your Cherry+. At 50k, you get the border, which clears screen of bullets and converts them into smaller cherry items when you get hit or press the bomb button. If you let it time out without getting hit, you get a score bonus and a tiny period of invulnerability (which high level players can use in their routes to basically phase through a thin wall of bullets). The best part is how fast you get cherry from shooting enemies varies not just between characters, but their two types, as well. The large pink items if I remember right are worth the more, the more Spell Cards you have capture, while the small ones have fixed value. Power loss on death in the earlier Touhou games isn't large, but it is bigger in later entries when ZUN reworked the power system (I have had some UFO Extra runs wipe because a single death costs quite the power, so if you die late enough into the fight, you don't get enough power back and enter the last few Spell Cards without max power). I believe ZUN specifically tends to make first three stages simple because he dislikes how arcade shmups "trick" players by making early portions, the ones that less skilled players are most likely to see, the flashiest, and instead he made the second half the part where game picks up for real (especially since the trial versions end on Stage 3 boss). The longest stage in the Touhou series is Stage 4 in this game, which clocks at about 4 minutes before bosses show up. Most other stages are below 3 minutes in length; bosses are the real meat of the game for most part anyway -and the community- , though not to say that there aren't challenging stage sections in some games. "this boss is quite weird, you need to fight her like 3 times" nobody tell him about Orin, who you face FIVE SEPARATE TIMES in Subterranean Animism, making her the most persistent character in the series (though if you go by single stage record, you have bosses that show up 3 times in a single stage, like Alice in this game, whereas Orin is spread throughout 3 stages). Anyway, Youmu's opener is roughly the same each time you fight her, but the exact way she fires it is different (most notably, if you try to misdirect the yellow/green on final version by moving into the corner during the dialogue, you get walled because she fires them as rings in a specific shape) also omg run away, the Touhou ending mafia is going to find you
@@hazylevels ZUN tends to be very lax with what the fandom does, to the point you can make commercial derivative works as long as you follow some rules, likely because Touhou is rooted in doujin culture and succeeded partially because of that community. One of the rules is his request to keep endings private, so that others are encouraged to actually play the games and aim for the one credit clear. This is for most part a rule that the community does try to uphold. I believe the only notable exception is the modern fan translation system, since you NEED to document the endings to be able to translate them into other languages, that's just a necessary evil, so to speak.
Yeah, I quickly learned about this on Reddit and blurred out the ending in YT editor. I don't necessarily agree with the logic behind the rule, but I don't wish to disrespect either the creator or the community.
not bombing enough is my main problem in stg's. i wish i knew how to get better at it, or which game is best to train it. probably savestates or the arcade challenge modes in m2 releases, or save states. when is the next m2 game announced?
I feel your pain. Nowadays I'm just trying to force myself to press that button as early as I can stand, and I'm almost always happy when I do. The good news is that you practice it in every shmup 🤠 waiting for that M2 announcement too!
This game was my second shmup to 1cc (first one was Imperishable Night), such a nostalgic one. I have played this so much that it feels confusing when you don't use the same route as I did lol. I agree with your criticism of Touhou's weak stage design, it makes practicing more exhausting than it needs to be. Still I think that pretty much all of the mainline Windows games are worth playing for the boss fights, they're such spectacles and the patterns have lots of fun ideas that are kinda difficult to find elsewhere.
Thanks for checking out the run! Even if it felt confusing :) Yeah, the game is very much worth playing and the stages aren't a huge deal in the end. It's just very different from what I'm used to, playing stuff like Cave games.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game. This is one of the most beginner friendly Touhou games because it's pretty simple and you get tons of resources. I hear your dissatisfaction with the stage design, unfortunately ZUN's strength isn't really in the stage's bullet patterns (with some exceptions) but rather the cool bosses. However, if you want some more route-heavy stages, you should check the extra stage. It is a long stage with less resources with no continues and it helps a lot knowing a route. And it's usually a very fun route. Some patterns are a bit more puzzle-like, in which you need to learn a trick or a gimmick, and it's very fun to figure them out. Bullet patterns are around the difficulty of the main game on Hard. There's also a Phantasm stage you can unlock in this game if you want to check it out. Also, a little tip: once you have max power, you can go above an invisible line on the top of the screen called the PoC (Point of Collection) to instantly collect all items on screen for their max value. This is something that is in all Windows Touhou games, although later entries you don't need max power to PoC.
Thanks for the insight! There's always so much to figure out when getting into a new series, so it's nice to hear from more experienced players. I'll keep in mind what you said about the extra stage and item collection threshold.
Hmmm, video seems slightly different from when I watched it the other day. Still good tho. I've heard of some other games with policies about showing the endings on social media. Personally I think it's silly since a really crazy final boss might get me excited enough to buy a game, but as I have currently published 0 games my opinion means little.
I only changed the end, the gameplay bit is unaltered. Yeah, I don't think these kinds of policies really work in this day and age. But after hearing from a couple of community members I decided I didn't want the possible hassle. Especially as my personal investment in the ending or the story is 0.
@@hazylevels I see. I always thought 11 had an amazing rep. I hope you try it bro. found your channel recently and it broadened my horizons to try new shmups. I hope you give 11 a chance. I love it
@@hazylevels glad to hear! bombs in 11 are tied to your power gauge so its more high risk. cant just use them as a screen clear all the time because your power goes down. and to get extra lives you get a star piece every time you survive a boss attack without dying. do it 5 times and you get an extra life. It's my favorite system in the series and I think the gameplay is the most rewarding and challenging but fair
pcb is probably my least favourite in the series. too easy and too long. i wouldn't complain as much about the boring stages if they were shorter. i don't even know why ZUN bothers with stages. imo he should just make the games a boss rush like doj death label i think you should play ufo next. it's pretty much the only touhou that actually demands routing cause of its gimmick, and as such is probably the best game in the series. unfortunately many touhou players cope about the gimmick and whine about not being able to just brute force their way through it. since you've played garegga you should feel right at home with ufo. i am also confident that you can beat lunatic without too much trouble have you heard of thprac? it's a fan made practice tool that lets you start from any stage section or pattern. the games have unfortunately awful practice modes, with some not even having spell practice kouryuu's final is based on ms extra alice's 4th phase
Thanks for the rec. I did see a lot of ire targeted at UFO, but it could be cool to check out a more non-standard entry too. I'm aware of thprac, but didn't need it for this one so haven't tried it yet. And that's cool about Kouryuu/Alice, I looked it up and sure thing it's similar!
UFO isn't that bad if you manage to route the tokens to something like Stage 4 midboss (as the second half os stage is a bit chaotic so getting tokens there consistently without just bombing takes extra practice). That being said, there are some questionable design choices in UFO (obviously, spoilers about the game) that make me think ZUN woke up sober and chose violence while designing UFO: 1. The game isn't consistent on how UFO token carrying enemies are marked. They're usually either marked by fairies with the funny circling ufos above them or enemies that have completely different color from everything else in the wave, so you can spot them if you look, but there are few cases where that rule is broken (mostly in Extra) and you only learn with trial and error. 2. There's a wave in Extra that works like certain midbosses, in that if you stall it out, it will eat into the time of the next wave. I only learned this on like 3rd shot type. 3. There's a section in Extra where if you kill a fairy it will respawn. That's not a problem. The problem is that if you keep doing that, it will eventually start dropping the flashing ufo tokens, which is ??? 4. Some of the UFO spells on Extra boss can REALLY snowball if you die at a wrong moment, because part of managing them involves shooting down the UFOs, which well, you can't do when you are dying and respawning, especially with the less damaging shot types (Blue UFO, my beloathed...)
![Touhou 1 : Highly Responsive to Prayers [Animation]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AqTARhv3oGg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
10:44 Touhou 7 is actually quite notorious for having music that really "screams" at you (I personally love it though) and ZUN indirectly poked fun at it in a book he wrote called "Alternate Facts in Eastern Utopia". Also, Touhou's story in the games is very bare bones but it has one of the most expansive and imaginative worlds I've seen with really lovable characters. It's kinda hard to get into though since you have to kinda actively search for the stories mainly through books and other media.
BTW your guides really helped me start my danmaku journey and I was pleasantly surprised to see you try out Touhou! I would really like to see you try the other Touhou games. Touhou 8 Imperishable Night is one of my favorites.
Thanks for the insight on Touhou! I've actually cleared 6 and 8 now too, and played some 9 and 10. I might do a "thoughts on Touhou" video at some point, let's see. It's an interesting series and TH8 was memorable for sure.. Oh, and I'm really happy to hear if you've found the channel helpful!
@@hazylevels I would love to see that video.
I love Touhou games' patterns and gameplay -- they're beyond my skill level by far but still fun to practice, and I am improving, if slowly. And yeah, it just looks cool! Touhou is such a spectacle, I love it.
I hope to see a video for CosmoDreamer from you eventually! It's the best combination of Touhou and CAVE that I've discovered personally.
Edit: so relatable being impressed by your lack of bombing during a tough section -- then you notice you're out of bombs 🤣🤣
Yeah, the patterns are impressive and fun to dodge! As for bombs... Can't live with them, can't live without them 🤠 As I say in the video, nowadays I try to bomb early and then yolo the rest.
eyyyy you took the advice of playing a touhou game! it's definitely quite different to cave's shooters, but i'm glad you gave it a try regardless!
Yes, thanks for recommending the series! It was a good time and I'm interested in trying more of the games ✨
@@hazylevels i love to hear that! there's definitely a LOT of them so they can be intimidating, but now that you're used to th07's mechanics i'd recommend doing its extra and phantasm stages (they're shorter affairs, but they're basically marathon bosses), and then once you feel you've had enough of this entry, i'd say it's worth checking out th08 (imperishable night)
great choice for a first touhou game! was my first 1cc on normal, first extra, as well as eventually my first hard. suffice to say i think it's a good first, nice run and great commentary :p
if you want something with stage portions that actually feel like they have some kind of design, legacy of lunatic kingdom and subterranean animism have some of the better stages (as well as just being quite good games), and generally all the extra stages have a bit more meaty routing as well
Thanks for the recs! There's so many of these games that it feels a little overwhelming. But it's always fun to learn about new series too. Nice that PCB was your first as well.
Just found your channel (can't even remember from where now) and it's delightful seeing a primarily arcade shmup player come fresh to Touhou. There's not usually a lot of crossover between Touhou shmup players and arcade shmup players, and as someone who loves both (but prefers Touhou) that always makes me sad. I really hope you make similar videos to some of the later games. Touhou 7 was still pretty experimental as Zun was finding what he wanted to do and honing his craft, and some of your core criticisms are addressed in future titles. Th11 Subterranean Animism and and Th15 Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom especially, with more music variety in moods/intensity, more interesting and creative bullet patterns that aren't just "dense micro dodging tight bullet patterns", and more interesting and varied stage design. And most of the games are shorter, though th15 is about as long (though that has some mechanisms to work with the length as you might find out)
I especially hope to see you play Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. That, Subterranean Animism, and Imperishable Night are my 3 shmups of all time and absolutely tower over the rest of the Touhou games, including this one (which is pretty incredible as well, though feels a bit *too* rough and early now that I've 1cc'd them all) and it'll be fun seeing you commentate them like this, if you get around to it. They're all pretty great, although imo Th12 Undefined Fantastic Object and Th17 Wily Beast and Weakest Creature are more or less skippable and the worst (especially Th12 which is the only one, including the PC-98 titles, that I actively dislike and recommend highly against playing outside of curiosity of why. It has some great boss fights but the stages and scoring system detract away from it so hard that it's more frustrating than fun).
Thanks for the interesting comment and I'm happy you enjoyed the video! Even though I have my preferences (arcade danmaku), I try to branch out from time to time and keep an open mind. At the very least it makes for interesting commentary when you're figuring out things outside your comfort zone. I see TH11 recommended a lot, so that's definetely the next Touhou to try out for me. Btw that's funny about UFO, because another comment specifically recommended that one to me. It seems like a polarizing entry!
@@hazylevels UFO is indeed divisive. I think it appeals more towards players who focus on scoring over survival as it's so heavily oriented around the UFO system, where most Touhou games are more focused on survival than scoring, which I think is why a lot of the fanbase can be sour on it, myself included as I don't typically play for scoring. The system ends up affecting the stages quite a bit too in ways that aren't very fun if you're a survival player, but I can see how the changes would be exciting for a scoring player. As always, something being heavily divisive just means you gotta try it for yourself! When a game angers one group, it usually means it's pleasing another.
I'll have to check out a touhou. I knew about touhou from other genre games but recently found and fell in love with shmups! I've come full circle!
Ha, that's awesome! I heard from someone that nowadays lots of people get into bullet hell through Touhou, but I seem to be doing it backwards (arcade danmaku to Touhou).
@@hazylevels I got into shmups through Mushi! I'm still trying to get my 1cc normal in that. Definitely feels like I fell into shmups sideways! But I'm loving it
It's probably a pretty sideways genre no matter how you get into :) Mushi is surprisingly tough even on Original mode, those fast bullets don't mess around!
Update: I picked up Fantastic Danmaku Festival part II and I really like it! I guess it's a fan game? (Touhou confuses me, lol). But thanks for the Touhou nudge!
From what I understand, it's like a reimagined fan version of Touhou 7? Glad to hear you're enjoying it in any case!
Another fantastic video! Adding this game to my list of games to try. Also fully agree shmups don’t have to be super difficult to be fun. I also was kinda like eh at the art style of this one but by the end of the run I was really digging the PS2 vibes. Some excellent dodging through some vicious looking patterns. Also, you do full runs instead of practicing sections? That is very interesting. :)
Thanks for watching as always! Yeah, I think this is excellent for dodging practice :) and oops, poor wording on my part. What I meant was that practicing piece by piece is what I usually do. This one didn't seem so difficult (you get so many lives and bombs) so I just kept doing runs this time.
So, Perfect Cherry Blossom. Interesting game, about where Windows Touhou started for real (yes, EoSD cast is very popular and canon to modern works, but it's very much a transitional game between PC-98 and Windows works, where it has more game design in common with the former than the latter; most notably a lot of RNG-based patterns that can just fuck you over, such as Sakuya's knives turning around on BOTTOM of the screen if you get unlucky), though ZUN hasn't quite solidified every single detail yet. Every of the 3 characters has a different amount of starting bombs, which is an exception, not the rule (the only other such case is one of the subtypes in Wily Beast and Weakest Creature). Not only that, for whatever reason, each character has a different grace period for the bombs (with Sakuya having slightly below average while Reimu has double the usual), which if I remember right only ever happens again in the next game (I could be misremembering).
Gameplay wise it's pretty easy, cause the gimmick actually helps you and isn't too demanding to learn (in contrast to let's say Undefined Fantastic Object, where if you don't route the UFO tokens, you get very few resources, and some of the boss patterns are pretty nasty even on Normal) but ironically it has one of the harder Easy modes in the game, coupled with one of the easier Normal modes. You see, Easy in PCB changes little, mostly slowing down bullets and making the attacks less dense... but the problem is that, there are places where this actually makes attacks HARDER (perhaps the largest example of this is Lyrica non2, which on Easy becomes a slow and dense cluster of bullets you have to micrododge).
And then there's the Stage 4 boss, Prismriver Sisters, which are easily the least balanced fight in this game. The solo spells of the Sisters are all over the place, with which one having the easiest to learn spell changing depending on difficulty; the one you faced (Lunasa hard) is a mess because it works nothing like her variants on other three difficulties. Instead of spawning vertical lanes that are then either aimed at you or shot in a static pattern, the Hard variant instead spawns HORIZONTAL lanes that form fast moving walls.
The penultimate gets noticeably easier on Hard, as they shoot bullets in a very easy to read pattern (and really doesn't shoot that much at you in first place), while the Easy/Normal throws bullets in very specific order that you have to learn to manuever, or get walled. The Merlin opener that Sakuya faces is considered to be one of the downsides of playing Sakuya. -Oh yeah also there's like 8 seconds or after the stage ends where you just wait for them to show up. ZUN wtf-
Stage 4 in general is quite a rough wake-up call, since it has revenge bullets (which aren't that common in Touhou) and the extra middle finger is the fact some of these bullets (like ones at 13:11) have their speed set depending on how close you are to the enemy, so if you are close to the top, they are kinda slow, but if you shoot them down from the bottom, they are quite fast.
The gimmick of this game are the pink cherry items. Grab them, or shoot enemies to increase your Cherry+. At 50k, you get the border, which clears screen of bullets and converts them into smaller cherry items when you get hit or press the bomb button. If you let it time out without getting hit, you get a score bonus and a tiny period of invulnerability (which high level players can use in their routes to basically phase through a thin wall of bullets). The best part is how fast you get cherry from shooting enemies varies not just between characters, but their two types, as well. The large pink items if I remember right are worth the more, the more Spell Cards you have capture, while the small ones have fixed value.
Power loss on death in the earlier Touhou games isn't large, but it is bigger in later entries when ZUN reworked the power system (I have had some UFO Extra runs wipe because a single death costs quite the power, so if you die late enough into the fight, you don't get enough power back and enter the last few Spell Cards without max power).
I believe ZUN specifically tends to make first three stages simple because he dislikes how arcade shmups "trick" players by making early portions, the ones that less skilled players are most likely to see, the flashiest, and instead he made the second half the part where game picks up for real (especially since the trial versions end on Stage 3 boss). The longest stage in the Touhou series is Stage 4 in this game, which clocks at about 4 minutes before bosses show up. Most other stages are below 3 minutes in length; bosses are the real meat of the game for most part anyway -and the community- , though not to say that there aren't challenging stage sections in some games.
"this boss is quite weird, you need to fight her like 3 times"
nobody tell him about Orin, who you face FIVE SEPARATE TIMES in Subterranean Animism, making her the most persistent character in the series (though if you go by single stage record, you have bosses that show up 3 times in a single stage, like Alice in this game, whereas Orin is spread throughout 3 stages). Anyway, Youmu's opener is roughly the same each time you fight her, but the exact way she fires it is different (most notably, if you try to misdirect the yellow/green on final version by moving into the corner during the dialogue, you get walled because she fires them as rings in a specific shape)
also omg run away, the Touhou ending mafia is going to find you
Some interesting stuff in there, thanks! So much to learn... Like the thing about those endings 😅
@@hazylevels ZUN tends to be very lax with what the fandom does, to the point you can make commercial derivative works as long as you follow some rules, likely because Touhou is rooted in doujin culture and succeeded partially because of that community.
One of the rules is his request to keep endings private, so that others are encouraged to actually play the games and aim for the one credit clear.
This is for most part a rule that the community does try to uphold. I believe the only notable exception is the modern fan translation system, since you NEED to document the endings to be able to translate them into other languages, that's just a necessary evil, so to speak.
Yeah, I quickly learned about this on Reddit and blurred out the ending in YT editor. I don't necessarily agree with the logic behind the rule, but I don't wish to disrespect either the creator or the community.
not bombing enough is my main problem in stg's. i wish i knew how to get better at it, or which game is best to train it. probably savestates or the arcade challenge modes in m2 releases, or save states. when is the next m2 game announced?
I feel your pain. Nowadays I'm just trying to force myself to press that button as early as I can stand, and I'm almost always happy when I do. The good news is that you practice it in every shmup 🤠 waiting for that M2 announcement too!
This game was my second shmup to 1cc (first one was Imperishable Night), such a nostalgic one. I have played this so much that it feels confusing when you don't use the same route as I did lol.
I agree with your criticism of Touhou's weak stage design, it makes practicing more exhausting than it needs to be. Still I think that pretty much all of the mainline Windows games are worth playing for the boss fights, they're such spectacles and the patterns have lots of fun ideas that are kinda difficult to find elsewhere.
Thanks for checking out the run! Even if it felt confusing :) Yeah, the game is very much worth playing and the stages aren't a huge deal in the end. It's just very different from what I'm used to, playing stuff like Cave games.
Yes, a new Hazy!
Yay my fav 2hu
I'm glad you enjoyed the game. This is one of the most beginner friendly Touhou games because it's pretty simple and you get tons of resources. I hear your dissatisfaction with the stage design, unfortunately ZUN's strength isn't really in the stage's bullet patterns (with some exceptions) but rather the cool bosses.
However, if you want some more route-heavy stages, you should check the extra stage. It is a long stage with less resources with no continues and it helps a lot knowing a route. And it's usually a very fun route. Some patterns are a bit more puzzle-like, in which you need to learn a trick or a gimmick, and it's very fun to figure them out. Bullet patterns are around the difficulty of the main game on Hard. There's also a Phantasm stage you can unlock in this game if you want to check it out.
Also, a little tip: once you have max power, you can go above an invisible line on the top of the screen called the PoC (Point of Collection) to instantly collect all items on screen for their max value. This is something that is in all Windows Touhou games, although later entries you don't need max power to PoC.
Thanks for the insight! There's always so much to figure out when getting into a new series, so it's nice to hear from more experienced players. I'll keep in mind what you said about the extra stage and item collection threshold.
Hmmm, video seems slightly different from when I watched it the other day. Still good tho.
I've heard of some other games with policies about showing the endings on social media. Personally I think it's silly since a really crazy final boss might get me excited enough to buy a game, but as I have currently published 0 games my opinion means little.
I only changed the end, the gameplay bit is unaltered. Yeah, I don't think these kinds of policies really work in this day and age. But after hearing from a couple of community members I decided I didn't want the possible hassle. Especially as my personal investment in the ending or the story is 0.
I recommend touhou 11 if you ever wish to play more of this series. after 8 zun changed the mechanics a lot and I think 11 does it the best
Yeah, 9 and 10 didn't really grab me, so 11 is next on the list! From what I've seen, you're not the only one who ranks it highly.
@@hazylevels I see. I always thought 11 had an amazing rep. I hope you try it bro. found your channel recently and it broadened my horizons to try new shmups. I hope you give 11 a chance. I love it
@@NakiKyoku glad to hear that! I'll keep 11 in mind.
@@hazylevels glad to hear! bombs in 11 are tied to your power gauge so its more high risk. cant just use them as a screen clear all the time because your power goes down. and to get extra lives you get a star piece every time you survive a boss attack without dying. do it 5 times and you get an extra life. It's my favorite system in the series and I think the gameplay is the most rewarding and challenging but fair
just curious what controller do you use for your games?
The short answer is various gamepads. The long answer will be my next video (I get asked this a lot so I thought I'll cover it in detail).
pcb is probably my least favourite in the series. too easy and too long. i wouldn't complain as much about the boring stages if they were shorter. i don't even know why ZUN bothers with stages. imo he should just make the games a boss rush like doj death label
i think you should play ufo next. it's pretty much the only touhou that actually demands routing cause of its gimmick, and as such is probably the best game in the series. unfortunately many touhou players cope about the gimmick and whine about not being able to just brute force their way through it. since you've played garegga you should feel right at home with ufo. i am also confident that you can beat lunatic without too much trouble
have you heard of thprac? it's a fan made practice tool that lets you start from any stage section or pattern. the games have unfortunately awful practice modes, with some not even having spell practice
kouryuu's final is based on ms extra alice's 4th phase
Thanks for the rec. I did see a lot of ire targeted at UFO, but it could be cool to check out a more non-standard entry too. I'm aware of thprac, but didn't need it for this one so haven't tried it yet. And that's cool about Kouryuu/Alice, I looked it up and sure thing it's similar!
UFO isn't that bad if you manage to route the tokens to something like Stage 4 midboss (as the second half os stage is a bit chaotic so getting tokens there consistently without just bombing takes extra practice).
That being said, there are some questionable design choices in UFO (obviously, spoilers about the game) that make me think ZUN woke up sober and chose violence while designing UFO:
1. The game isn't consistent on how UFO token carrying enemies are marked. They're usually either marked by fairies with the funny circling ufos above them or enemies that have completely different color from everything else in the wave, so you can spot them if you look, but there are few cases where that rule is broken (mostly in Extra) and you only learn with trial and error.
2. There's a wave in Extra that works like certain midbosses, in that if you stall it out, it will eat into the time of the next wave. I only learned this on like 3rd shot type.
3. There's a section in Extra where if you kill a fairy it will respawn. That's not a problem. The problem is that if you keep doing that, it will eventually start dropping the flashing ufo tokens, which is ???
4. Some of the UFO spells on Extra boss can REALLY snowball if you die at a wrong moment, because part of managing them involves shooting down the UFOs, which well, you can't do when you are dying and respawning, especially with the less damaging shot types (Blue UFO, my beloathed...)