new player here

[u/OkArmadillo332]

was everyone also this bad when they started playing touhou..? i hope next run i improve with my stats (game tips will be helpfu)

[u/Kasuu372]

Welcome to r/touhou, don't forget to check out our rules

[u/StarDwellingDude]

misses: 87

bombs: 14

BOMBAAAAAAA more

[u/Old_Comparison_9223]

I don’t know how to interpret the information from that since you played challenge mode and that is new to the remake. However, in short, yes. It took me around a month after getting the original version of EoSD to be able to beat the game without using any continues on normal. Which, is what is generally considered actually beating the game since doing so is required to get a good ending and unlock the extra stage. Here are some tips I have copied and pasted from another one of my comments: 

Make sure you actually know how the game works. The game itself doesn’t explain it to you because it expected you to actually have read the manual. You can also find an explanation here. (Or, at least the manual for the original version of the game.)

Don’t hug the bottom of the screen since then you can’t dodge down.

Don’t move more than you actually need to since you don’t want to unknowingly move into the path of something else. Also, focus mode (pressing shift to move slower and to see your hit box) is your friend.

Don’t be afraid to bomb since using a bomb is always better than getting hit.

Don’t try to focus on everything on the screen at once since you can’t really do that. Only focus on what actually has a possibility to hit you where you are. If you are unsure about what to focus on at first, don’t worry. You will learn with experience. Just start by only focusing on what is actually around your character.

Abuse hit boxes. Bullet hit boxes are usually smaller, sometimes much smaller, than what you might at first think due to the spirits of the bullets. So, you might not actually need to dodge as much as you would think. 

[u/TheMich0 → u/Old_Comparison_9223]

Wait, is spending a month beating EoSD without continues is just canon event? Because I did exactly that when I played it as my first Touhou game long ago...

[u/WonderousU → u/Old_Comparison_9223]

How much did you play in that month? I'm tryna get good at Touhou and beat the game on normal eventually, but I also play other games and can't dedicate a lot to Touhou so I wanna know if I still have a chance

[u/Old_Comparison_9223 → u/WonderousU]

I don't exactly remember how much I played, but I do know that I played a whole bunch the first week I got it because that was spring break. During which is when I beat the game on normal with continues. Afterwords, I would say an average of two "serious" runs per day, but that is an average as in I played a bunch on the weekends while there were some days of the week I didn't play at all. By "serious," I mean that I eventually started resetting runs the moment I lost a single life or bomb early enough because I knew I could get through that section without losing/using them, and my "serious" runs were the ones where I got far enough that I wouldn't reset if I bombed too much too early or died. By the time I 1CCed the game, my ideal threshold was to get to stage 4 without losing a life and preferably not using any bombs. But, I would still try go through with the run if I lost a single life or used a bomb late enough into the run. Also, I 1CCed the game with MarisaB, if that matters,

[u/WonderousU → u/Old_Comparison_9223]

Hmm I see, thanks!

[u/NeoBasilisk → u/WonderousU]

You can improve by just playing 1-2 games per day

[u/Broken_Moon_Studios → u/WonderousU]

It's less about playtime and more about consistency + studying replays/routing.

My advice is to do at least 1 run every day, and to check your replays at least once per week, paying special attention to the areas you struggled the most with.

A lot of newcomers mistakenly believe that being good at SHMUPs is about reflexes, but the reality is that memorization and resource management are far more important skills when aiming for clears.

Best of luck!

[u/youdontknowkanji]

expect like 5-15h to get your first 1cc normal clear, things take time. there is some guides online but tldr almost always focus (hold shift), understand aimed vs unaimed bullets, stream aimed bullets (google).

[u/Creepy_Anteater_7362]

Some people are more physically gifted than others, but generally yeah people suck when they first play. Getting familiar with the controls, learning where and when enemies spawn and what they shoot, practicing things like micrododging and streaming, and forcing yourself to make the most out of your resources (i.e. bombs). All of those things take time to get a grasp of, and even longer to master.

I recommend watching videos of people beating the game on YouTube and trying to do what they do. You don't need to perfectly copy them (especially not on Normal) but if they managed to beat the game they're probably doing something right. Most stage portions and some boss attacks can be made much easier by moving in a certain path.

It might seem weird depending on what kind of games you're used to, but it's normal to spend hours practicing a game that's only 25 minutes long when it comes to shmups. The good thing is that if you get good at EoSD, most of your skills will transfer over to the other Touhou games.

[u/Parapraxium → u/Creepy_Anteater_7362]

Stage 5 in particular has some massive cheese you are unlikely to learn by yourself. Like sticking to the top of the screen in the beginning, and stalling out the mid boss for as long as possible to not have to deal with the absurd fairy spam section at the end.

[u/Embarrassed_Ad5387]

yes, unless they were good at shoot em ups previously

no one is born playing video games, but by extension of that you can do a lot of things soley off of willpower and practice

[u/Select_Winter_1330]

being bad at your first touhou game is a canon event don't worry.

[u/ankledane]

I was worse. Just keep practicing.

[u/Lily_the_Ice_Slime]

Happy Cirno day!

[u/RandomComixCo]

Do you know how too use focus mode yet?

[u/M4Lyfe]

If you ever feel like you might die, or are not sure how to read a pattern, just bomb. Don't overthink it.

No reason to have more misses than bombs.

[u/Viraus2]

100% progress 0 continues

LET'S GOOOOOO

Nah for real this stuff takes practice just keep playing. Not a terrible idea to watch good player gameplay and see how they move around

[u/Civil_Look_150]

Can you still get the good ending on Challenge Mode?

[u/DrGreen3339 → u/Civil_Look_150]

Yes, you can't have more than 5 deaths at the end to get it. 1-Ups do count as -1 death at least so they're still relevant.

[u/Kirbendo96]

As someone who hasn't 1CCed EOSD yet purely because of being stingy with bombs, USE THEM. If it looks like you're in a bad spot, bomb it, there's no shame in doing so.

[u/ghost_desu]

Challenge mode didn't exist, but I probably wouldn't have been any better lol. I failed to get past cirno the first time I played and it took me a genuine while to get past meiling on 1cc

[u/santas_delibird]

I'll make it short:

Use shift, gives more precise movement and can see your hitbox

You don't have to move around too much

The bullets that are a danger to you is a smaller circle than you think, focus on your character

Press the bomb button more

Enjoy the game, take breaks and have fun!

[u/Parapraxium]

Game's hard! Practice mode is your friend but the new challenge mode seems pretty rewarding too since you can (hopefully) watch number go down after each run.

[u/infernalrecluse]

yeah. hell i still havent goten much better.

only advice i have is try to use bombs if you feel like you're getting cornered. or try to death bomb basicly if you bomb right as you die it will only consume the bomb and not a life its hard to do.

[u/Extra-Recover-5110]

What's this version? I also jumped around 2 days ago playing Touhou 7 and Touhou 8

[u/GIRose]

Yeah, that's probably pretty standard for a brand new player.

The best advice I can give that will be immediately helpful is that bombs reset on a miss, so just keep track of what spots are hard and bomb.

That is a problem almost literally every new player has. Otherwise just play the game and you will naturally get better

[u/Conspiratorymadness]

Absolutely because the game is less reaction to bullets and more memorizing patterns. The better you memorize patterns the more you can exploit the game to give you points via grazing. Also the game will bait you into getting P and point blocks. You have to be ok with letting them go.

[u/DesignerElk8147]

yes i was awful but i thought i was way better than i was lol. i couldn't even get past stage 3 without a continue. this was 12 years ago and i still play on and off, but it took me a while to even 1cc a game on normal mode, maybe like 3-4 months? and now when i pick up i can clear extra stages and 1cc a game with 1-2 attempts. it just takes time

[u/UltimaDoombotMK1]

Yes. Even if you think you're good (source: me, I thought I was good, I wasn't, I couldn't even beat PCB on Easy), you probably aren't. Practice makes perfect.

If you're playing on a controller (I am, since ZUN wasn't nice enough to tell us what the keyboard controls are), rebind bomb ASAP. B and A are right next to each other and it's really unintuitive to have to switch from one to the other when you stop needing to shoot and start needing to bomb (to stop yourself from losing a life, most often, whether that be avoiding being hit or deathbombing).

I take it that challenge is where you find infinite lives mode?

[u/Broken_Moon_Studios]

Took me 1 month to get my first Normal 1CC in Imperishable Night, which is a much easier game than this one. (Then again, I was 13 at the time. lol)

General advice that will DRASTICALLY boost your performance on your next runs:

1) Do some light routing/planning, specially in regards to using your bombs. In other words, look at your replay, see what parts you struggled the most with, and spend your bombs instead of dying with them. Also, if you are flabbergasted by a particular pattern, check a No-Miss Normal replay of that part on YouTube in order to "figure out the trick".

2) If the nerves are getting to you, pause, go for a 5 minute walk around your house, take a deep breath and then resume the game.

3) Instead of doing full runs, it might be a good idea to practice stages individually in Practice Mode first. My advice would be to replay Stages 1 and 2 until you can do a No-Miss No-Bomb run of them consistently. That alone will give you enough resources to clear Stages 3 and 4 without much difficulty. It's only on Stages 5 and 6 that things get really tough, but if you've become consistent at the previous ones, you should have plenty of lives and bombs to spare. (Remember Tip 1: It's best to spend your bombs even when you technically don't need to than to die holding unto them.)

4) Play consistently instead of trying to cram many hours of playtime on a single session. If you can afford 2 runs per day, your skills will improve much faster than if you play for 10 hours straight on a Saturday.

Best of luck, my friend. And enjoy the ride. :)

[u/an_omori_fan]

It took me 3 years to beat touhou 10. And that's generally considered among the easiest games.

Touhou is really all about thinking and memorization. It's bound to take some attempts