Shoot the Bullet clearing and score running examples
Sept 26, 2015 3:26:44 GMT
Post by Carrot on Sept 26, 2015 3:26:44 GMT
Shoot the Bullet was technically my first Touhou game I legitimately played. (I had EoSD but I was playing at 30FPS without realizing something was wrong)
I've noticed that quite a few people struggle to play it as its mechanics are different than the classic shooters, and its difficulty can be unforgiving for people who generally play on Normal mode in the shooters. Other people have expressed interest in it, but haven't gotten into it as its scoring methods can be quite counter-intuitive to the shooters' scoring methods.
Therefor, I have decided to create this thread where I try to appeal to both ends of the spectrum: Those who want to have a high score, and those who simply want to clear the scenes. I will clear each scene twice, once for "easy" clearing and once for scoring.
Please note that due to my arm being injured (repetitive motion strain) from playing Touhou in the past, as well as my own patience and skill level not being amazing, I can't update this thread as often as I'd like to.
I also no longer have access to a video that showed me the world records of each scene, so my score running methods aren't going to show you the best of the best strategies. You'll have to learn how to use JP sites to look up better scoring methods.
If you get stuck on one scene and simply can't get past it, you can request me to skip to that scene just for you! But of course that would require me beating the scene twice, so I can't promise a super fast response. Of course I'll go back and clear the scenes before any that are requested as soon as the request is finished.
Some basic mechanics explained, along with some tips
The leafs on the side of the screen during scenes show how many pictures you need to take of the opponent to win. However, there appears to be no loss to take pictures defensively. In other words, whether you're trying to clear the scene or trying to score run the scene, take pictures of bullets to keep yourself from dying. The only real loss is that the clock is ticking against you if you take too many defensive pictures.
You have 3 speeds. Unfocused, focused, and charged. Remember to utilize all 3 speeds.
Holding Shift and then Z, or X and then Z, will start charging your camera. This speed would make Yuka look fast, so learn how to charge and then stop charging to escape bullets.
The main ways to get score are:
Keeping the picture as large as possible
Capturing as many bullets in the picture as possible
Keeping the opponent centered in the picture
Getting Aya in the picture
Have as many bullets grazing Aya as possible in the picture
Getting the Spell Circles in the picture (the giant red circles that blink rapidly at certain points during each scene)
Scene 1-1
This is quite the intimidating attack for a beginner, as well as for a first scene. Wriggle's bullets wiggle and wriggle. The bullets wiggle around a lot, but the wiggles are semi-static. It appears to be possible to direct where the bullets shoot depending on your X/Y positioning compared to Wriggle's positioning, but that's only useful for score runners. The important things to remember for clearing are...
1, the bullets move in the same curves every time
2, the bullets come out moving to the left and then curve right, then they come out moving to the right and then curve left, and repeat
3, the large bullets for the 3rd picture are aimed at you, so you will have to dodge out of your original position
For score runners, you must get up close and personal.
Scene 1-2
Yet again, an intimidating starting scene for beginners. However, please note how all the bullets are aimed at you. The large bullets will all pass by you if you stand still... but the little bullets are aimed right at your face, so sadly you can't stand still all day. Take shots from afar if you're worried.
For score running, it's a tricky matter of getting both "waves" of large bullets to be pinching you while you take the picture. It's also tricky timing for the Spell Circle, as hers blinks an uncomfortably long .25th of a second after she throws out her tiny bullets. The tiny bullets will also punish you for trying to stay in place too long, so you've got to be quick to keep your centered positioning. Practice, practice, practice.
Scene 1-3
If there's one thing that EoSD taught me, it was that "bubble" bullets aren't to be feared. Remember that the white part of the bubble bullets do not harm you, although they obstruct your vision.
These bullets appear to be slightly aimed, very similar to scene 1-1. They curve one direction and then the other. If you position yourself a little to the side of Rumia, your score will increase by a couple thousand somehow (I really don't know how, maybe you're touching more bullets?). Staying in front of her for her first three pictures will grant up to 16k points, whereas staying slightly to her side will net up to 19k. You can see how low my score goes if I miss the spell circle though, as seen in photo 3...
The fourth and fifth picture aren't so easy. I swear the way her pattern appears is determined by your X/Y positioning in front of Wriggle, but it seems too inconsistent of a method to abuse. I recommend just being patient like I did and wait for a good opening. My fourth picture failed, but my fifth struck gold.
Scenes 2-1 through 2-6
2-1
Here you'll have to deal with waves of icicle bullets, as well as aimed walls of round bullets. It's not too hard; just scoot back and forth until Cirno gets close enough for a safe shot.
Get Cirno to one end of the screen and then fly to the other end to lead her slower bullets in your direction to get good pictures. Spin around her quickly in between shots so you don't get shotgunned down.
2-2
Here is a good training scene for beginners. Lots of tiny bullets everywhere, mixed in with medium bullets, perfect for practicing micro dodging. There's not much you can do except for focusing on dodging until you get a clear path.
The bullets shoot out of the mist, but the mist itself doesn't hurt. Get up close to Letty to dodge her bullets and get a clear shot of her.
2-3
Cirno tries to coppy Letty and spews out tons of random bullets. Just focus on dodging until you get a clear path up to her.
Scoring is not much different, you've just got to somehow get close while she's spewing stuff.
2-4
Letty starts doing what Cirno did in scene 2-1 except harder. A good practice scene for learning to dodge waves of bullets with little time to react. Play defensively until she gets close to you.
Her spell circle has odd timing, so this scene takes patience. Note that once again the mist does not hurt you, but you have to move around a lot and note how her bullets spew out in different directions. Try to take a shot while she is staying still, shooting all of her mist, and is near bullets from her previous wave. Look at the video for an example of this tricky timing.
2-5
Moving slowly around Cirno while taking pictures whenever you can makes this scene very easy.
As Cirno moves so little and shoots her bullets out so far, it would be tricky to lead her aimed bullets to where you can place her. However, remember that she isn't just shooting at you; she is shooting in two places behind her as well. This makes it much easier to slowly circle around her on one side and then quickly move over to the other edge into her bullets that she shot from behind her.
2-6
Not a hard scene, but if you don't take pictures fast and remove her bubble bullets then things can get sketchy very quickly.
Positioning and timing is a little challenging here, as her spell circle appears a while after she shoots out her aimed bubble bullets. Dodge and take pictures carefully, and do your best!
I've noticed that quite a few people struggle to play it as its mechanics are different than the classic shooters, and its difficulty can be unforgiving for people who generally play on Normal mode in the shooters. Other people have expressed interest in it, but haven't gotten into it as its scoring methods can be quite counter-intuitive to the shooters' scoring methods.
Therefor, I have decided to create this thread where I try to appeal to both ends of the spectrum: Those who want to have a high score, and those who simply want to clear the scenes. I will clear each scene twice, once for "easy" clearing and once for scoring.
Please note that due to my arm being injured (repetitive motion strain) from playing Touhou in the past, as well as my own patience and skill level not being amazing, I can't update this thread as often as I'd like to.
I also no longer have access to a video that showed me the world records of each scene, so my score running methods aren't going to show you the best of the best strategies. You'll have to learn how to use JP sites to look up better scoring methods.
If you get stuck on one scene and simply can't get past it, you can request me to skip to that scene just for you! But of course that would require me beating the scene twice, so I can't promise a super fast response. Of course I'll go back and clear the scenes before any that are requested as soon as the request is finished.
Some basic mechanics explained, along with some tips
The leafs on the side of the screen during scenes show how many pictures you need to take of the opponent to win. However, there appears to be no loss to take pictures defensively. In other words, whether you're trying to clear the scene or trying to score run the scene, take pictures of bullets to keep yourself from dying. The only real loss is that the clock is ticking against you if you take too many defensive pictures.
You have 3 speeds. Unfocused, focused, and charged. Remember to utilize all 3 speeds.
Holding Shift and then Z, or X and then Z, will start charging your camera. This speed would make Yuka look fast, so learn how to charge and then stop charging to escape bullets.
The main ways to get score are:
Keeping the picture as large as possible
Capturing as many bullets in the picture as possible
Keeping the opponent centered in the picture
Getting Aya in the picture
Have as many bullets grazing Aya as possible in the picture
Getting the Spell Circles in the picture (the giant red circles that blink rapidly at certain points during each scene)
Scene 1-1
This is quite the intimidating attack for a beginner, as well as for a first scene. Wriggle's bullets wiggle and wriggle. The bullets wiggle around a lot, but the wiggles are semi-static. It appears to be possible to direct where the bullets shoot depending on your X/Y positioning compared to Wriggle's positioning, but that's only useful for score runners. The important things to remember for clearing are...
1, the bullets move in the same curves every time
2, the bullets come out moving to the left and then curve right, then they come out moving to the right and then curve left, and repeat
3, the large bullets for the 3rd picture are aimed at you, so you will have to dodge out of your original position
For score runners, you must get up close and personal.
Scene 1-2
Yet again, an intimidating starting scene for beginners. However, please note how all the bullets are aimed at you. The large bullets will all pass by you if you stand still... but the little bullets are aimed right at your face, so sadly you can't stand still all day. Take shots from afar if you're worried.
For score running, it's a tricky matter of getting both "waves" of large bullets to be pinching you while you take the picture. It's also tricky timing for the Spell Circle, as hers blinks an uncomfortably long .25th of a second after she throws out her tiny bullets. The tiny bullets will also punish you for trying to stay in place too long, so you've got to be quick to keep your centered positioning. Practice, practice, practice.
Scene 1-3
If there's one thing that EoSD taught me, it was that "bubble" bullets aren't to be feared. Remember that the white part of the bubble bullets do not harm you, although they obstruct your vision.
These bullets appear to be slightly aimed, very similar to scene 1-1. They curve one direction and then the other. If you position yourself a little to the side of Rumia, your score will increase by a couple thousand somehow (I really don't know how, maybe you're touching more bullets?). Staying in front of her for her first three pictures will grant up to 16k points, whereas staying slightly to her side will net up to 19k. You can see how low my score goes if I miss the spell circle though, as seen in photo 3...
The fourth and fifth picture aren't so easy. I swear the way her pattern appears is determined by your X/Y positioning in front of Wriggle, but it seems too inconsistent of a method to abuse. I recommend just being patient like I did and wait for a good opening. My fourth picture failed, but my fifth struck gold.
Scenes 2-1 through 2-6
2-1
Here you'll have to deal with waves of icicle bullets, as well as aimed walls of round bullets. It's not too hard; just scoot back and forth until Cirno gets close enough for a safe shot.
Get Cirno to one end of the screen and then fly to the other end to lead her slower bullets in your direction to get good pictures. Spin around her quickly in between shots so you don't get shotgunned down.
2-2
Here is a good training scene for beginners. Lots of tiny bullets everywhere, mixed in with medium bullets, perfect for practicing micro dodging. There's not much you can do except for focusing on dodging until you get a clear path.
The bullets shoot out of the mist, but the mist itself doesn't hurt. Get up close to Letty to dodge her bullets and get a clear shot of her.
2-3
Cirno tries to coppy Letty and spews out tons of random bullets. Just focus on dodging until you get a clear path up to her.
Scoring is not much different, you've just got to somehow get close while she's spewing stuff.
2-4
Letty starts doing what Cirno did in scene 2-1 except harder. A good practice scene for learning to dodge waves of bullets with little time to react. Play defensively until she gets close to you.
Her spell circle has odd timing, so this scene takes patience. Note that once again the mist does not hurt you, but you have to move around a lot and note how her bullets spew out in different directions. Try to take a shot while she is staying still, shooting all of her mist, and is near bullets from her previous wave. Look at the video for an example of this tricky timing.
2-5
Moving slowly around Cirno while taking pictures whenever you can makes this scene very easy.
As Cirno moves so little and shoots her bullets out so far, it would be tricky to lead her aimed bullets to where you can place her. However, remember that she isn't just shooting at you; she is shooting in two places behind her as well. This makes it much easier to slowly circle around her on one side and then quickly move over to the other edge into her bullets that she shot from behind her.
2-6
Not a hard scene, but if you don't take pictures fast and remove her bubble bullets then things can get sketchy very quickly.
Positioning and timing is a little challenging here, as her spell circle appears a while after she shoots out her aimed bubble bullets. Dodge and take pictures carefully, and do your best!
