Are you using a gamepad or keyboard? Maybe try switching it up. Just keep at it anyway, practice makes perfect. Helps to remember you don't really need to move around that much, and you may want to avoid being distracted by stuff at the top of the screen and just focus on lower half where your charter should be.

>>2149

I tried out both but mostly keyboard. The farthest I've gotten is Yuyuko for both keyboard and gamepad but I feel most comfortable having to perform specific movements with a keyboard.

Losing Hometown "Lost Soul's Village -Fatal Sin-", Deadly Dance "Law of Mortality -Dead Butterfly-" and Subtle Melody "Repository of Hirokawa -Ghost-" are the attacks that give me the most trouble, I've never gotten farther than that.

I've tried out both sets for Reimu and Sakuya.

>>2148
Hold shift for focused movement. Bomb more.

Marisa B and Sakuya A are the easiest PCB characters in my opinion. I know that's a bit idiosyncratic and I might get shit for it; Reimu is the de facto "easiest" character, but that's how I personally managed to get through the game. I found I got a lot farther on those setups, and with more ease than the others.

Marisa B does a load of damage so boss fights are over in a way shorter amount of time - It's like a difference of 3 or 5 seconds, but that's a long time in Touhou. It's a bit hard to control her but her bomb clears entire portions of stages, it's really good during stage 6 when the screen is getting full. It also lasts something like 5 seconds.
Sakuya A is honestly bordering cheez-level simplicity. She doesn't do a lot of damage but her focused shot homes in from basically any part of the screen (aside from really weird positions), she also has the entirety of the screen covered with her fully powered unfocused shot.

Reimu gets a lot more cherry points due to losing far less from bombing but I find the latter sequences a little harder on her owing to her lack of speed and damage. Bombing as Reimu feels a bit less impactful than Marisa B, who has the best bomb in the game (IMO), and her homing shot is less advantageous compared to Sakuya A.

The Prismriver Sister you fight depends on which one you do the most damage to. I personally think of Lyrica (the red one) as the easiest.

It seems obvious but you should get as many cherries as possible, because the invulnerability is really valuable during the latter half - That system makes PCB the easiest Touhou game in my eyes. People claim IN is easiest but that's not valid past normal - it's difficulty scales really intensely in my experience. PCB doesn't scale as hard and has the cherry system. But the extra/phantasm stages are pretty crazy; I still can't beat Yukari without continues.

Use practice mode, and don't play on Easy anymore. That's actually how you get better. I'd also recommend actually going a level up in difficulty when you're encountering trouble/getting stuck, if you manage to reach stage 3 on hard/lunatic mode without continuing, reaching stage 3 with no deaths/bombs/acquiring all of the lives possible on normal becomes really easy.

You should also learn how to prevent deaths by bombing - If you bomb RIGHT as the "pshoon" sound is going off there are iframes that prevent your death. It's probably the only time you -should- bomb in survival runs but do it as you see fit.

Watch replays and figure out what you did wrong, even if it was some unlucky mistake, like flying right into a bullet that was in front of you, it helps to know where that bullet came from. Try to focus on the entire screen instead of just your character and predict the paths of the patterns.

If you're having trouble don't feel bad, it took me a couple of months to 1cc my first Touhou game.

Have fun, remember to take breaks if it gets too frustrating.

Post edited on 8th Aug 2017, 4:07am

OP here, I beat the game but I got the bad ending because I continued. Those ghosts better be happy with their spring.

I don't think this game franchise is for me, it's just too difficult and all of the characters that I have read about or encountered seem like horrible people to me with the music being the only thing that gives me any incentive to continue playing the games.

I almost got through easy without having to continue but it fell apart at Yuyuko. I'm mad.

>>2155
Elitist here, don't be one of those losers that just likes the music but can't beat the games. Nobody starts out good at shmups. You can do it!

Seconding what the other Anon said about using Sakuya A. If you haven't used her, give it a shot.

I wonder if OP ever got his 1cc or really gave up.

Only managed to do EoSD on easy, with no continues that is.
I've playing the old 98 games and trying to get through LLS on normal, I was feeling like maybe it was possible to beat it, and indeed for the first time I managed to get to the Last Stage, after beating Yuuka. I got that far twice, but never passed it. Yesterday I was doing a very good run and was at Marisa, in the very middle of the fight, when out of nowhere this shit happens. Does anyone have any idea of what the hell is this? I tried pressing all the keys there were on the keyboard but non would work.

>>2274
Cropped.

>>2275
The message translates to "It'd be good if you didn't recklessly hit the 'stop' key. (While in game.) (You can return by pressing the 'stop' key.)"
In your case it probably means the emulator screwed up somehow. I got the same message in HRtP because I didn't have the discs in correctly or something. Either way the error message itself won't be any help.
That, or you really DID accidentally press the 'stop' key, although I don't even know where that would be on the keyboard so that's probably not the case.

>>2278
Thanks. Yeah, that makes sense, it must have been a bug on the emulator.

>>2275 here.
Finally. No continues, on normal.
I feel this big sense of accomplishment.
Let this be the first of many to come, it was worth the effort.
Near the end, I ran out of bombs and had no lives, luckily I was granted a extend, that really saved me.

>>2315
Good job anon. Reimu is very happy for your achievements.
I haven't played Touhou in a bit, almost 1cc'd Fuujinroku and then fucked up at the finish line then haven't played since because I got sidetracked. Maybe I'll try playing it again soon.

I'm thinking on giving up anything beyond Mountain of Faith. I can 1cc EoSD on normal, and I can beat PCB and IN, I have good hope of getting the good endings here too.
But MoF and everything beyond it feel like a huge shift in difficulty and design, I feel like I'll have an easier time with the extra stages in the earlier games.
Also touhou music is so much more fun to listen to when you are actually getting through the games.

Post edited on 30th Mar 2020, 6:33pm

>>2318
Guy who previously beat LLS here. I have tried to 1cc PCB and so far nothing. My best run was last week, I managed to reach Yuyuko. Most of the time I make some silly mistake and them everything comes crumbling down, I end up at Youmu with just one or two lives.
I have never played any touhou from PCB on, but I also felt a great change of level design between LLS and PCB. LLS is more about pattern memorization, tempo, and pacing yourself, whereas PCB feels more like standing amidst a swarm of bullets, having to make very subtle movements, and pre-trace bullet trajectory, not to mention the attacks also affect you depending on your current position, which was not very commom in LLS.
Still, I hope to get this 1cc.
Anyway, I have no advice to offer but good luck to you nonetheless.

>>2319
If you haven't already, beat the game using continues so you can unlock the practice stages.
I found this incredibly useful for Yuyuko considering her patterns were a real bitch for me to get down.

>>2148
It's alright. I can only beat the PC98 games myself. I'm still trying though.

>>2315 here again.
I took some time from PCB and decided to head over to LLS, to 1CC it one more time with a different character or difficulty. I got it yesterday! 1cc'd on normal with Reimu B! Such happiness I felt.
This time I felt like I played better, I even had one more extra life in store when I passed and defeated Yuuka, beating and finishing the final stage. Got a smaller score though, not that I was aiming for a specific number or anything. But the verdict was better.

>>2341
It reminds me the time I got my high score. It was such a grind and I don't remember if it was with Reimu A or B. Otherwise, I should try to 1cc it with Marisa.
>>2320
That's what I did recently for EoSD. Now, I can practice stage 4 and 5 easily.

>>2342
It's very strange. The messages from your score and my two scores seem to be somewhat off. My first was better than my second, and it said probably done. And the second just done. Yours says just another player. It doesn't sound like a compliment, and my first certainly sounds worse than my second. I think it must be a mistranslation or something. Maybe the first should have been yoku dekimashita and the second dekita or something.

I don't know either. Just beat the game with Marisa B by the way. This was harder than with Reimu. I shouldn't have died this much in stage 4.

Post edited on 5th Jun 2020, 3:49pm

>>2344
>>2345
Very nice.

>>2341
It's me again. Just got another 1cc, this time with Marisa A. I had 6 lives at once, but lost plenty of them, at stage 4, around 5 of them while fighting Reimu directly. But I went to Stage 5 and defeated Yuuka. With the exception of Stage 4, I think this run went smoother, I didn't had an extra life during the final blow to Yuuka in Final Stage, but that's mostly due to the fight with Reimu. Overall I think this run was better than the previous two.

And now I have 1cc'd on normal with Marisa B.

I finally cleared the normal difficulty. Sadly, I had to format my PC and forgot to backup the game files... Time to Hi-score!

>>2319
It's me again. I did it! I 1CC'd PCB! Did it with ReimuA on normal difficulty. So much fun. Getting to the end it's always such an intense experience. I don't know what I will try next now. I had only two bombs left at the end. ReimuB looks much harder than ReimuA for she does not have the homing skill. We shall see soon.

>>2377
That's great. Reading this made me want to play, but trying 18 left me completely despondent.

I know I'm late, but one thing I've noticed is that when a game seems too difficult, leaving it for a long stretch of months or even more and when I return I'm paradoxically always a better player than when I left. This strategy has worked for me with everything from Doom to Guitar Hero.

I just realized Imperishable Night is the Ikaruga of Touhou

Finally managed to beat EOSD on normal for the first time few days ago (although I got the bad ending since I continued). It's not much but I'm still a little proud of it.

>>2394
Congrats, anon! I just redownloaded it a couple weeks ago, and it's much harder than what I remembered. I'll try my best too!

I can't play touhou for long enough to beat it since my eyes start hurting a lot.

>>2157
The point of games is to have fun, not show off.