How to get to grips with Touhou - general hints, tips and advice!

[Zil]

I want some more advices on Kanako's and Suwako's spellcards...
they really giving me a hard time...
tnx...

There's an entire thread devoted to getting help with spellcards. Ask the question there.

[Luna Scarlet]

whats the title thread or link?

[Sapz]

Spellcard Help thread. You can find stuff like that here.

[Eatay]

Typically, for practice and preparation, is it better to practice and 1CC easy, or go straight ahead to normal mode with as many 'cheats' as possible to somehow complete the 6 stages so as to unlock practice mode?

working to 1CC normal PCB

Oh and 'cheats' as in 5 lives, max bombs, slow mode etc

[Zengeku]

I recommend skipping to Normal mode. Easy mode doesn't really teach you much about anything. The idea of unlocking the stages for practice is good but you shouldn't use slow-mode. 5 lives is fine when you just want to unlock but you shouldn't use slow-mode since it will add slow motion that isn't meant to be there and you won't improve as much from dodging it.

[Chuckolator]

How am I supposed to enable the number pad for IaMP? Using spellcards by going down+downright+right is extremely awkward and rarely works, and there has to be a better way.

[shadowbringer]

don't know how to enable the number pad, sorry. Down/Downright/Right is used not only for the spellcards (assuming you've declared them beforehand with Down Down D with 1 level of the Super meter or more and the declared spell hasn't timed out or you have enough Super meter levels to cast, and you're not spirit-drained as well), but for various special (non-supers) attacks as well.

[Kanade]

It all comes down to practice... I don't think there are no better advice than this.

Oh and watch some replays as well, to guide you that is.

[SusiKette]

I just started playing PoFV few days ago and I'm having hard time with it, because it's so different to the other games. So, how do I get charge levels and what affects on how fast I get them, and how I beat bosses (when one appears to my playfield)

[Sanger Zonvolt]

This was helpful to me when I first started, thank you for writing it.

[Piranha]

Thanks for this guide, I desperately needed it when I started.  :]

[cactu]

How am I supposed to play this game for longer than 2 hours without having sore arms and hands for the rest of the week?

[Drake]

exercise

[ARF]

How am I supposed to play this game for longer than 2 hours without having sore arms and hands for the rest of the week?

I'm guessing either the controller you're using isn't great, or that you're exerting gratuitous amounts of force pressing buttons.

[Chalros22]

I'm guessing either the controller you're using isn't great, or that you're exerting gratuitous amounts of force pressing buttons.

CONTROLLER?!?! :O

[_cf]

CONTROLLER?!?! :O

I'll get my shotgun.

[Cream Soda]

I tried using a controller. The keyboard is way better. Also, thank you Sapz for that excellent guide!

[Miky200]

If somebody wants have guide to use controller Xbox-360 i got guide for you.

LB:Bomb,change spell card in fighters
RB:Focus mode this helps me a lot,Using spell card
Y:Skip events or dash in the fighters
A:Shot and melle attack in fighters
X.Trance in TD and weak range attack in fighters
B:Sometimes i using for skip and it is for have stronger range attack in fighters.
Start.Pause Menu.



 

[LepLep]

If somebody wants have guide to use controller Xbox-360 i got guide for you.

People have different preferences on different key settings. Although thanks for sharing your input method, everyone has their own ideal key settings I guess.

Mine's:
LT: Pause
LB: Skip/Trance
RB: Bomb
A: Focus
X: Shoot

In case anyone is interested, here's a video of MASTU with a PiP showing his(her?) PS2 controller inputs I believe.

MATSU's:
L2: Focus
R2: Skip
R1: Pause
Square: Bomb
Cross: Shoot

[Zil]

A: Focus
X: Shoot

This strikes me as being difficult to use. At least, I wouldn't want to play PoFV like that.

In general, I use...

A: Shoot
X: Bomb
RB: Focus
LB: Ice
Y: Pause
B: Skip

I'm never sure where to put Cirno's ice power. In the past I've used B but LB is probably better. I've also tried bombing with the bumpers/triggers but I feel like I'm slower to react that way. Then I once tried something like:

RB: Right
LB: Left
RT: Up
LT: Down

Hoping to gain total control over every direction at once. I think those buttons are just too slow to press though. Especially the triggers.

[ciddypoo]

Yeah, triggers are probably the reason I'm switching 'back' to Dual Shock 2 as far as gamepads go.

I like uh:

Square (PS) / X (360) for Shoot
X (PS) / A (360) for Bomb
R1 (PS) / RB (360) for Focus

[Osiris]

Thank you so much, i'm new to touhou so i'm sure this will help me! 

[Nindella]

Kefit's reaction is still one of the best things ever, haha.

Man this guide's been out for a while, still really super good!  (I remember reading this in my bed on my phone when I was still going for normals, hehe   :derp:)

[Kurosun]

Maybe a little consideration about using bombs the moment you get hit to preserve a life (even if it uses all of your unused bombs and one at least must still be there) could be done, especially for those who want to playu and survive on. Basically this was what saved me on IN and got me to finish it and reach Stage 6 final boss with full lives. Other than that, the guide is epic!
And for the controller, I got a XBOX 360 as well, but my keys are like:
Y: Skip text
X: Focus mode
B: Bomb
A: Shoot
LB/RB (depends on the game): Pause

[Karisa]

That only works in IN. It should be an automatic reflex after playing for a while. If anything, it could be mentioned that it's important not to over-rely on IN's deathbomb interval, which I think is a common mistake by people who play IN as their first game.

The deathbomb interval isn't large enough to reflex-bomb in the other games (except maybe PCB Reimu), and even in IN it costs you an extra bomb, which adds up if you deathbomb often throughout the game (meaning you'll finish with several more lives by manually bombing instead). I'd say look at IN's deathbomb interval as a smaller penalty for mistakes that would result in a death in the other games.

Also, although I don't use a controller, I do wonder how you can bomb while shooting focused with that setup...

[Kurosun]

Oh, I see. No wonder it didn't work when I tried in Touhou 13...
That was something very interesting, I've learnt something new and very useful.
And about the controller, well, I rarely bomb when focused, but to do so I hit the focus and shoot key by pressing them with my thumb and with the index finger I bomb.

[Fonzi]

Greetings. I'm Fonzi and still relatively a new face on Shrinemaiden. Nice to meet you all.
While I'm not a complete beginner in the Touhou games, I have nothing significant to brag about either. The "Help me, Eirin" attracted my attention, since it's been some time since I've played the games regularly, with clear and certain goals in mind, and now I'd like to continue and improve myself. But the first step would be getting back into the groove, which isn't half as easy as I thought. I've found a lot of helpful information here, for which I'm grateful. Hopefully I'll learn something from this thread and from the resident danmaku masters. 

[Szayelaporro Granz]

I just started playing PoFV few days ago and I'm having hard time with it, because it's so different to the other games. So, how do I get charge levels and what affects on how fast I get them, and how I beat bosses (when one appears to my playfield)

PoFV is basically a pvp danmaku, this means you use ALL you have without holding back in order to win asap because it will get worser as the battle takes longer.

-Spam level 2 bombs whenever possible (you can choose bomb type by holding Z), the more bullets on enemy screen the harder the time given to the enemy. Don't take my words too literally though, there are times when you have to save bombs.
-Level 1 bomb won't delete bullets (except for Youmu), but it will fill your spell bar so use it!
-You beat you opponent appeared on your screen by either: surviving as much as possible while shooting the boss or using level 4 bomb for counter attack and you will get extra points by doing so. In case of Lily White, just shoot her as much as possible and get close to her for a bit before she drops bullets.

Hopefully this will help, because I suck at PoFV either Good luck

-------

Oh and, I think I need some tips for another improvement. I've 1cc TD on normal before, but I haven't 1cc any other games on normal yet so is it a good idea to play TD on hard mode to improve? Thank you beforehand.

[Kenta Kurodani]

I use a ps2/3 style controller, so here's my layout:
L1: Focus
R1: Bomb
Square: Shoot
Triangle: Pause
Circle: Skip Text
Thinking of putting Trance/Ice on X

[RegretDesi]

I could use some tips for the photography games.  :derp: No idea what I'm doing.