Why don't YOU try hard? 
Well, I could, but where's the fun in that?
You spaz?
Very much so.
What's the deal with Nue?
Quite a few things, actually. I was a lot more concerned with the storyline/fandom side of things back when UFO was first released, and I'd made an effort not to have anything spoiled for once. None of the characters had really stood out to me much until playing Extra, and seeing Nue was a little '...what the hell is that?!' After reading translations she came across as very intelligent, manipulating and tricking everyone else into going on wild goose chases and pretty much orchestrating the whole of UFO just for kicks, which was hilarious and awesome.
Aside from that, her stage and spellcards make for my favourite Touhou Extra, a ton of the cards are really cool and seem less gimmicky compared to most other Extra stages, which was nice. And, er, of course, the delicious zettai ryouiki doesn't hurt, either. :V
How would you advise I practice DDP in order to improve? Simply trying full runs over and over doesn't seem to get me very far.
Full runs are, to put it bluntly, the least efficient kind of practice you could be doing. What you want to do is to make a savestate at the beginning of each stage, and then go through each one using those until you can do each of them... without dying, say, or some other similar arbitrary goal. If you find a spot that consistently gives you trouble, make a savestate before that point and practice that, trying various strategies, until you find something that works for you. It's also an excellent idea to watch mid or high level replays depending on how far you plan on taking it (where mid-level is someone getting a little way into the second loop and high level is something like Prometheus' 500m+ 2-ALL replays) - don't be ashamed to pinch strategies from these guys, they know what they're doing and it's usually better than what you're doing. :V
If you're serious about the goal, you'll also want to play daily even if it's just a single credit or run through a stage for a few minutes - you'll get rusty otherwise. Keep at it!
There is a special challenge path in Kingdom of Loathing called "Bees Hate You". How do you feel about this?
I feel it pretty much goes without saying.
Other than updating high score threads, what is your jurisdiction as an Acolyte?
Aside from that, the main thing is running the weekly shmup tournaments - alternating a Touhou tournament and a general STG tournament each week. It's really nice to see more interested players join and improve. On the rare occasion that something's off in HME, I'll also try to solve that.
What was your biggest achievement in life so far?
Hmm... I guess I'd have to say keeping up with maths and getting into a good university to study it. It's a pretty ordinary thing, I suppose, but I like it and was damn pleased when the work to get in paid off.
What is the worst shmup you have ever played, design-wise?
Ahaha, oh man, this might take a while. In terms of straight-up badness, the one that springs to mind is
Xexex. It actually has some pretty cool concepts/features, and there are quite a few people that like it a lot, but it just pisses me off so much. Almost all of the weapons are useless, the tentacle pod is incredibly stupid, the stage design is... questionable (what the hell is up with stage 2?) and that goddamn first boss shrapnel is pretty much the most annoying thing ever.
Another one to point out is Dimahoo. It has
the greatest intro clip ever created, but the scoring system is a mess. You essentially have a charge shot and depending on how long you charge it up, a meter fills up determining what level of item a certain enemy will drop and if you get all the items in a set you get a multiplier, and there's a polarity system aside from that and... really, I have no idea.
Give this a watch if you want a look.
The flat-out silliest, though, has got to be Battle Bakraid. I'm sure a few of you have heard me go on about how cool Battle Garegga, a game infamous for its crazy rank which forces you to die a lot if you want to actually have a chance of winning, is - this is pretty much an extension of that. What we have in this game is
death-chaining and bomb-chaining! I won't go into details, but it should suffice to say that the world record run has
over sixty deaths, and that seeing the game literally rain lives on you after a ridiculous multi-suicide chain is completely hilarious.
Stumbled upon any Finntroll-esque Touhou arranges yet?
Not yet, sadly.
Are you, in fact, covered in bees?
Naturally. To tell the truth, I don't ever touch the keyboard myself; I dictate and have the bees do the actual typing.
>"ARE YOU READY?"
YOUR MISSION STARTS NOW!
>How much time a day, on average, do you practice shmups?
It depends how busy I am, and some days I don't play at all, but if left to my devices I could easily find myself playing for hours on end. Generally, I try to get at least an hour or two in daily (this is more likely if I'm actively working towards a goal at the time).
>I remember you calling DOJBL "the best thing ever" or something similar. If that's the case then what is your 2nd favorite shmup?
Right now, I couldn't really settle on a #1 favourite - it's a three-way tossup between Dai-Ou-Jou Black Label, Ketsui, and Mushihimesama Futari 1.5.
>If the former answer is not a Touhou game, which Touhou game is the best in the series (not counting 10D because it's not done)?
As much as I think UFO is the best game in the series so far, my actual favourite is EoSD. It's where I got my start with shmups and I still find it a lot of fun to just play a credit of every so often.
>What is your favorite shmup theme?
NO REMORSE, the original version. It's such a cool theme. The timing is great - it starts out as a much more intense, speedy version of the final boss theme, and then Ketsui's main theme kicks in just as Doom's final phase begins. Most people seem to prefer one of the newer remixes of it, either from the 360 port or Ketsuipachi, but for me you can't beat the raw intensity of the original.
>What's your favorite tea?
Really, I'm not that knowledgeable about it - usually I'll just go with milk tea.
Okay, I'll post this wall now and continue with the questions in a bit before this post gets unmanageable. :V
