Author Topic: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?  (Read 3208 times)

Kappa

  • LV. 4 Guze Cannon
Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« on: November 16, 2014, 08:16:19 AM »
Hey, guys.  Time for the first forum topic I can call my own.
I seek guidance from you all for my quest of total Touhou domination.

My next mission in the Touhouverse is to clear Ten Desires on Hard, since I'm certain I can do it.
Hell, my first ever attempt was on a public computer surrounded by distractions with no game sound on a computer of questionable strength, and I got to Miko's 3rd card before game-overing.

Now, my weakest link in this game has always been Trance routes... in that I basically make them up as I go and hit C pretty much whenever I feel like it.  If I'm going to ensure victory, it would help to actually have a game plan.
So, Ten Desires superpros, I ask you this: when do you Trance for maximum resources, and if that falls through, what's the next best thing?
Modern Touhou Accomplishments || TD Normal 1CC | DDC Normal 1CC (poorly) | DDC Extra Clear

Yookie

  • Blue flower
  • Green
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2014, 09:13:45 AM »
First stage Midboss - This one does not work on Normal, it should on Hard.
Yuyuko's Last Card - You get enough Trance for the next one anyway and I think it even gives more Points in the long run thanks to increasing Item-value
Second Stage after Kunai-Orbs
Second Stage before Kyouko
Third Stage after Homing-Souls+Fairies* - For this one you need to do some risky Spirit-collection on Kyouko
Near the end of Kogasa's Spellcard* - and it also makes it impossible to do this one. If you are fast enough in defeating Kogasa you get another wave of spirits that carry Life/Bomb fragments
(Yoshika's Last Spell :V) - (It's just a pain but practice it instead)
Fourth Stage after up-moving spirits* - Can't be done if you used it on Yoshika
Fourth Stage before Seiga
Fifth Stage after Stage-Title/Second wave of that kind - You should be able to get enough gauge for the first wave of six fairies but if you come out of the Seiga fight with low power you might not, then just take the other wave
Fifth Stage before Futo - Might not be easily doable when taking the second wave on the one before
Sixth Stage after Laser-Orbs - You get showered in spirits here anyway and the fairies carry some bomb and a few live spirits but you have to not kill them too fast.


Doing it like this with not getting the ones marked with an asterisk I ended up with 7 out of 18 Live-fragments before the fight with Miko, who gives you another seven once you got to her last Spellcard.
So you can potentially get enough for another extend mid-fight.
« Last Edit: November 16, 2014, 09:16:16 AM by Yookie »

Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2014, 09:15:38 AM »
Just bomb things you find difficult and trance at spots you've found beneficial. Don't worry of a strict route, it'll just end up slowing you down. You can technically trance every single life spirit on hard, but that requires suicides.

Shimatora

  • I'm not clumsy...
  • Really...!
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2014, 09:17:18 AM »
First thing's first: Learn parts of stages that give you lots of bomb/life pieces. Every stage, apart from 1, has stage sections with bomb/life piece carriers.  Some stages require you to kill of the bomb/life carriers as quick as possible so that they all appear. Ideally, you want to have a trance for these sections so that you can maximise your bomb/life gain from one trance. If you need to know where each of these are, I'm happy to tell you.

If you miss a trance on these sections, it's seriously not much of an issue, especially if you're just going for survival. Instead, you can use your next trance on a boss attack that you find difficult (preferably a spellcard so you gain x2 life/bomb pieces too.)

The other option is to just use trances as if they were bombs, or to trance through a section you are not comfortable with dodging.

EDIT: As Inadequate said, don't bother yourself with strict routes. Just be aware of the beneficial trance spots and you should be good.
« Last Edit: November 16, 2014, 09:19:08 AM by Shimatora »

Visit #sokumaidens on irc.ppirc.net for discussion and matchmaking for a wide variety of fighting games!
Feel free to message me if you need anything!

Kappa

  • LV. 4 Guze Cannon
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2014, 09:28:18 AM »
Quote from: 2+ people
Don't follow a strict route
I'm probably not going to, don't worry!  I just wanted a general idea of good places and times to drop the Trance, to maximize chances of survival.

I also do agree with using Trance as a quasi-bomb, but that's an absolute last resort imo.
Thanks Yookie for that list, and thanks everyone who responded so far!
Modern Touhou Accomplishments || TD Normal 1CC | DDC Normal 1CC (poorly) | DDC Extra Clear

Yookie

  • Blue flower
  • Green
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2014, 09:56:38 AM »
You really shouldn't break your head about routing or anything but having a general idea about where you want/can use Trance efficiently and if you missed that spot where the next will be is definitely something useful to keep in mind.

And yes, when there is a difficult pattern don't hesitate to use Trance there instead of dying.
In almost all cases you still effectively get more resources out of it.

ふねん1

  • Scientific editor
  • If you're alive, you can always keep moving.
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2014, 02:07:30 PM »
I also do agree with using Trance as a quasi-bomb, but that's an absolute last resort imo.
I would argue using Trances in place of bombs should really be your first resort. Trances are more plentiful, and they even last longer than bombs.
"Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking." - Carl Sagan

NEW AND IMPROVED YOUTUBE, now with 60 fps Touhou videos! Latest video update: WBaWC Lunatic/Extra no-miss no-bomb no-Roars no-Spirit-Strikes compilation.

Karisa

  • Extend!
  • *
  • High scores are meant to be broken.
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #7 on: November 16, 2014, 06:36:08 PM »
When looking for places that'd be good for resources, I'd like to also point out that the stage 2-5 midbosses drop extra spirits-- 2 of each instead of 1. So they'd be a rather profitable place to trance too.

But yes, trying to route the entire game probably is much more work than you need, considering how the route breaks on a single accidental death or not filling up trance in time (I know from the experiments I did with TD scoring, which is almost entirely routing). Probably better to just plan places that will be tranced if you happen to have full trance at that point.

All you really need is to trance enough life spirits for the 18 extend, anyway-- the 20 extend requires so much routing (trancing all but 13 life spirits) it's impractical to get in a first clear.

Kappa

  • LV. 4 Guze Cannon
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2014, 07:25:07 AM »
When looking for places that'd be good for resources, I'd like to also point out that the stage 2-5 midbosses drop extra spirits-- 2 of each instead of 1. So they'd be a rather profitable place to trance too.
I've noticed that.  Probably helped me on my normal 1cc too.
considering how the route breaks on a single accidental death or not filling up trance in time (I know from the experiments I did with TD scoring, which is almost entirely routing). Probably better to just plan places that will be tranced if you happen to have full trance at that point.
That was basically my plan from the get-go: try to route until ish hits the fan, then just snipe whatever good spots I can.  I'm not going to act like I have the talent to carry a full 6-stage route through ANY game, nor do I particularly want to.

Speaking of routes though, thanks for your DDC Extra stage route.  I dumbed it down so that I could use it, and it got me far.
Modern Touhou Accomplishments || TD Normal 1CC | DDC Normal 1CC (poorly) | DDC Extra Clear

Karisa

  • Extend!
  • *
  • High scores are meant to be broken.
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2014, 07:37:24 AM »
Partial routing, with enough memorization to develop makeshift routes after mistakes, can go a long way for 1ccs. That's how I cleared most of the games on Lunatic.

It works better in games with more prevalent/powerful bombs though, so not so much in, say, EoSD or MS.

Speaking of routes though, thanks for your DDC Extra stage route.  I dumbed it down so that I could use it, and it got me far.
You're welcome!

I think all the Extra stage portions are very routing-oriented, by the way.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2014, 07:39:10 AM by Karisa »

Kappa

  • LV. 4 Guze Cannon
Re: Best TH13 Trance Routes for Hard difficulty?
« Reply #10 on: November 17, 2014, 08:12:23 AM »
I think all the Extra stage portions are very routing-oriented, by the way.
I would 100% agree.  Extra stages aren't very long compared to a 6-course meal though - in fact, they're a very comfortable length for something that has to be memorized, and it's satisfying to see how many resources you can get to the boss with, if not frustrating to restart over and over in the quest for the perfect stage run.  But frustration before you clear is directly proportional to satisfaction after you clear, so it all works out.
Partial routing, with enough memorization to develop makeshift routes after mistakes, can go a long way for 1ccs. That's how I cleared most of the games on Lunatic.
And it might be how I start clearing the games on Hard.  And SA on Normal.  Fuck SA.
Modern Touhou Accomplishments || TD Normal 1CC | DDC Normal 1CC (poorly) | DDC Extra Clear