Which Touhou Game is the Hardest/Easiest?

[Failure McFailFace]

As in, on Normal Difficulty. Extra Stages don't count.

For me, the easiest game is PCB, due to the way that point items give you lives, so I can get up to Stage 3-4 without having to continue....

The hardest Touhou games are the newer ones from TH10 on. The fact that ZUN only gives you 2 lives to start off with gives me RAGE.  Although it gives more life pieces to make up for it, though...

[Wriggle]

On Normal, the hardest is probably SA, while from Hard and above it goes to UFO.

The easiest on Normal... well, I'd say PCB or TD. TD is easier but you have less resources, so that varies from person to person.

[Eric]

I agree that SA is generally harder on normal, at least for me. UFO to an extent too, but the red ufos make my life much more easier to the point where I can 1cc on hard now.


MoF, PCB, EoSD, and TD are all generally easy for me on normal and at this point require next to no effort to nab a 1cc.

[iK]

Going to third PCB for being easiest to, at the very least, clear, followed by IN, and then MS and EoSD tied.

TD humourously gets easier on higher difficulties because you gain spirit so much faster and can thus enter trance more often to obtain more resources.

SA is pretty universally accepted to be one of the hardest games to learn and ubiquitously the most punishing, while UFO is generally considered the hardest  on higher difficulties.

Personally I also have problems with the system of the post-PoFV games, but more due to its  life and bomb pieces being split up, and the lack of point-granted lives that otherwise rewarded strong play with the chance to rest more easily. Having to go out of my way to get a mere fraction of  a life makes it feel not even worth it, while missing a point item can be made up for by getting points by other means.

LLS  gives me a lot of trouble, but that's mostly from bullets being really, really hard to see against the background.

And we don't talk about HRtP, even among PC-98 games.

[Sage Ω (Ultima)]

Easiest: IN
Hardest: UFO (no contest)

[I have no name]

TD humourously gets easier on higher difficulties because you gain spirit so much faster and can thus enter trance more often to obtain more resources.

You can not tell me with a straight face that lunatic is easier than hard in that game, or hard > normal, or normal > easy.

SA is pretty universally accepted to be one of the hardest games to learn and ubiquitously the most punishing, while UFO is generally considered the hardest  on higher difficulties.

Personally I also have problems with the system of the post-PoFV games, but more due to its  life and bomb pieces being split up, and the lack of point-granted lives that otherwise rewarded strong play with the chance to rest more easily. Having to go out of my way to get a mere fraction of  a life makes it feel not even worth it, while missing a point item can be made up for by getting points by other means.

I find TD more punishing than SA-you can bomb through SA relatively easily.  UFO isn't that punishing due to so many opportunities to gain resources-I'm not saying those resources are easy to get, but I'm saying they are there!  (note: I'm only good enough to get them on lunatic with a plan TO get them, and messing up my route results in getting a lot less overall).  On scoring lives...EoSD you get all of them , PCB you get the 800 or 1000 extend, maybe 1200 (or 1400 if scorerunning), IN you get all of them, PoFV good luck getting the 90,000,000 extend when you're going for a first clear, let alone the 70,000,000 on any difficulty but lunatic and even the 50,000,000 extend is a challenge at that level on normal.  MoF you get them all easily if you're skilled enough to clear, SA you get 10 lives to work with, minimum, UFO you get at least 5 assuming a Nue capture, but you can get up to 16-17, and TD gives you 6-8.  That you have to fight for.

So really, TD is the most punishing.
PCB or IN is probably easiest to clear, assuming you don't bomb everything in MoF.
SA or UFO are hardest to clear, depending on how much you bomb, go for UFOs.  I found them equally difficult to clear on normal, though since I've done 8DNB normal SA (bad) and 2DNBNUFO, well, UFO.  I think that says which one is trickier on normal, in my opinion.

tl;dr: TD's difficulty widely depends on the player and how likely they are to derp and stupidly lose resources, SA's depends on how much you pre-emptively bomb/die with bombs/dodge at low power, UFO on UFOs, MoF on how much you bomb.

The hardest Touhou games are the newer ones from TH10 on. The fact that ZUN only gives you 2 lives to start off with gives me RAGE. 

Well, you start with 2 lives in all the games...    Just use the resources you have carefully and practice and eventually you'll pull through.

[Reiko]

Well, I cleared SA normal last, but at this time it felt relatively easy. I would say UFO is harder, mainly because it requires you not to sleep during stage portions.

As for the easiest, MoF. Bomb everything, don't fail the last spell too much, there you go.
Not sure about TD...it had some weird habit of killing me with the supidest things. I cleared it after UFO, and only thanks to Marisa'a ability to bombtrance Miko given a few extra lives. Depends on the player, I guess.

[Zengeku]

Perfect Cherry Blossom.

I suppose in terms of bullets patterns alone PoFV, PoDD and GFW will obviously be the hardest  :V

[CyberAngel]

As far as Normal goes, then for me it's like this (from easiest to hardest):

MoF - EoSD - IN - TD - SA - PCB - UFO

...And if you count GFW, it's off the charts to the right.

[chirpy13]

Easiest would be LLS by far.  Stuff is mostly trivial for whatever difficulty you're on in that game, plus a huge amount of resources.  Play on Hard if you want it to feel like Normal mode.  PoDD for hardest.

[ふねん1]

Looking strictly at Normal difficulty, SA is the hardest of the regular shooting games. It has the toughest patterns by far, and resource management may end up being tricky for newcomers. As for easiest, honestly I have no idea - it's been years since I've played any Touhou game on Normal, and I only remember SA Normal as much as I do because I started out with that game.

[Shimatora]

TD humourously gets easier on higher difficulties because you gain spirit so much faster and can thus enter trance more often to obtain more resources.

Have you tried Lunatic TD? The spirit gain in this same as hard, but there's more bullets. Try flying up to grab them. The amount of spirits doesn't make it easier because you actually have to get them first. Also, to get the most spirit out of boss fights and have the chance of trancing an attack you'd need to shotgun the boss if you didn't want to spend a bomb.

[ARF]

From easiest to hardest in terms of danmaku.

TD<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<MoF<SA<<<UFO

[Failure McFailFace]

Oh, I just remembered.

From UFO on, when you die, the fact that you lose 100 power items is brutal.
At least UFO's item spamming and Rainbow UFO help me get back to full power...

...I really need to practice more...

[TrueShadow]

I find UFO to be harder than SA even on normal actually. It probably has something to do with the fact that you need to actively pursue UFOs to get resources, and those goddamn UFOs just love to change color just when I have the chance to grab it. In danmaku patterns alone I think they're rather equal.

As for other games, I think from easiest to hardest:
PCB > EoSD > MoF > IN > SA > UFO
I don't count Phantasmagoria games and those I haven't played.

[Kingault]

So, how's HRtP in terms of difficulty?
I actually like the game.

[Limian]

Not sure why people rank EoSD near the lower end of difficulty. It's the third-hardest game in my opinion, and can even give SA a run for its money. The amount of resources you get isn't very big and all the random patterns in the game require much more raw reading and dodging ability than PCB and IN, for example. Furthermore, there's rank to complicate things and the lack of a visible hitbox can trip you up as well.
TD isn't that easy considering that a death can screw you up hard (lack of extends and you lose your trance when you might have wanted to save it for certain points in the stages). MoF is probably still harder because I'm a resource derper and very hesistant to bomb. :V
As for SA vs. UFO, I did take more attempts on SA to get my normal 1cc (and UFO/MoF were actually pretty similar in terms of history on the first spell), yet for some reason, I can't bring myself to say that SA is harder. My ranking would probably be:
UFO > SA > EoSD > MoF > TD > PCB > IN

[Tengukami]

And everyone forgets the photography games, as usual.

[Kingault]

And everyone forgets the photography games, as usual.

Those are different.
Still hard, though.
Gotta get close to your target and stuff.
FW still harder for me.
Then again, I never beat level 2 in either StB or DS...

[Shin Rokuren]

For patterns, I personally pick...

Easiest: TD
Hardest: UFO

Normal mode only though...

[Zengeku]

And everyone forgets the photography games, as usual.

They are easier of course since you get as many attempts as you would ever want. It's not like you have 10 ayas and if you lose them all, it's back to Level 1.

[chum]

And everyone forgets the photography games, as usual.

OP was wondering about the games on Normal difficulty, the photography games don't have difficulty levels and It makes little sense to compare those to games where you can actually, you know, game over.

I think most of the Touhou games have very similar difficulty on Normal. Which one you find harder or easier will largely depend on your own experience with it, as well as perhaps your weaknesses as a player.

That said, SA always appeared as the hardest one on normal to me, not counting the Phantasmagorias or GFW which could possibly also be the hardest if you don't know how they work. Some people mention UFO... I think they're crazy. UFO on Hard or Lunatic is one thing, but UFO on Normal has nothing difficult in it. Easiest to clear would be either MoF With MarisaBugged and/or unlimited bombs, or PoFV with Aya or Medicine. Easiest in terms of patterns is probably TD.

[Sakurei]

I like how some justifications for difficulty are super subjective and sometimes don't even make sense.

TD humourously gets easier on higher difficulties because you gain spirit so much faster and can thus enter trance more often to obtain more resources.

You can not tell me with a straight face that lunatic is easier than hard in that game, or hard > normal, or normal > easy.

hard is not easier than lunatic, read shimatora's post, but normal is relatively harder than hard mode in this game (i.e some trying for a first clear on normal will have a harder time than someone trying for a first clear on hard). that's the way I see TD, but it's really overall an easy game. IHNN, you just really really really suck at the game. calling it universally hard is silly, simply because you have troubles with it.

next up is:

Not sure why people rank EoSD near the lower end of difficulty. It's the third-hardest game in my opinion, and can even give SA a run for its money. The amount of resources you get isn't very big and all the random patterns in the game require much more raw reading and dodging ability than PCB and IN, for example. Furthermore, there's rank to complicate things and the lack of a visible hitbox can trip you up as well.

here's all sorts of wrong with this in a certain way. yes, EoSD gives you less resources which makes it tougher. no, raw dodging does not make is harder. not everyone is better at memorizing patterns. I find EoSD mostly easier than IN on lunatic (proven by the fact that I have a derp LNB in EoSD, but game over to stage 4 in IN). the not-visible hitbox is something that shouldn't trip you up after you have played the game long enough, and the same goes for rank and the different hitboxsizes on the bullets. and when I say long enough, I don't mean like a thousand hours or something like that. of course, completely getting used to where your hitbox is takes a bit longer, but on normal you hardly have to do anything that requires squeezing through some bullshit like on lunatic (at which point you should know where the hell your hitbox is). avoiding the bullets with your whole sprite is possible for most of the game.

now, don't get me wrong, both IHNN and Limian. it's true that these facts can make a game harder for yourself; or maybe some other people, but don't make that shit look like something universal. I find TD and EoSD easier than most games. you find them hard(er). the next person will say EoSD is hard, TD easy and UFO in the middle or something. the way I type this whole thing made it seem like difficulty is something set in stone, but it fucking isn't. it's subjective - for the most part. sure, there are games where people will largely agree that it's hard (like SA normal), but that doesn't mean you're crazy for finding it easy. overall there are little things in touhou you can really rank and you should keep that in mind when you post things like that.

I find UFO to be harder than SA even on normal actually. It probably has something to do with the fact that you need to actively pursue UFOs to get resources, and those goddamn UFOs just love to change color just when I have the chance to grab it.

make a route for token collection. it's the easy way if you just want to live through the game. form the route so you collect the third toke when enemies are about to spawn (to fill it up; chances are there aren't many bullets onscreen on normal) and then bust it. making the route will likely take you less time (probably still more than an hour or something) than wasting a bunch of credits on the game in which you won't clear. missed a UFO in your route? summon a rainbow instead; you'll get back on your route that way. use your head. "the ufos turn blue when I wanna grab them" is a terrible excuse. if that is going to be your excuse for UFO being hard then understand the game, sit down and make a route.

now, I can't really tell which game is hardest on easy. I only play IN. but on normal it's SA for me. it's punishing deaths on bosses pretty hard. your first death on a boss pattern is essentially 2 lives for the whole game since you will lose that life piece. your 6th death on a boss pattern is also effectively two lives lost. (if you die that many times to bosses). the bombs are weak for the most part and therefore don't do much damage and the patterns can be kind of tough.
for the easiest game I think it's PCB. shittons of lives, easy patterns, getting those lives is easy. and for those who think it's easier than raw dodging: a lot of memo (though not necessary on normal).

of course those are just for simple living. try to score and PCB is easily the hardest game in the series on that difficulty.

[I have no name]

sometimes don't even make sense.

Don't make sense to you, that is.

hard is not easier than lunatic, read shimatora's post

I posted before Shimatora, and that was in response to iK, who seemed to be implying that.

calling it universally hard is silly, simply because you have troubles with it.

I gave my opinion on the difficulty and why I find it harder than SA to clear on lunatic.  On normal it's among the easier because the patterns are much simpler, but on lunatic the low resource counts make it tougher until you get over a certain skill level and are very comfortable with the patterns.  I'm not saying the patterns are harder than, say, SA, but that I found SA easier to clear than TD.  Pretty straightforward.

but it's really overall an easy game. IHNN, you just really really really suck at the game

Difficulty is subjective, you can't call it universally easy.   :V  Also, that's completely uncalled for.

but normal is relatively harder than hard mode in this game (i.e some trying for a first clear on normal will have a harder time than someone trying for a first clear on hard). that's the way I see TD

And I see its hard mode as one of the trickier ones to clear, again not due to patterns but due to resource counts.  I just see TD as having difficulty dictated by your resources instead of the patterns.

[Sakurei]

Difficulty is subjective, you can't call it universally easy.   :V  Also, that's completely uncalled for.

I phrased that pretty badly, yes. what I meant was that it's generally accepted as overall easy. it wasn't uncalled for when you call it hard. what else am I supposed to say? "but don't worry, you're still really good"?

[iK]

Hard and Lunatic are the higher difficulties.  By the game getting easier in that regard, I mean frankly that. Hard and Lunatic provide more access to resources and lead to the famous "bomb and trance through everything" stereotype of the game. It isn't to say that Lunatic is easier than Hard, but that Hard is easier than Easy and Normal from my experience. My experience on Easy and Normal tend to be getting killed by random spawning enemies while trying to grab life portions, however. I also find PoFV to be quite easy even without Medicine, since the game is literally just survive until the AI's algorithm flicks the SD switch.

Turns out, difficulty is subjective based on playstyle.

[commandercool]

I find Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil and Perfect Cherry Blossom to be among the harder games on normal. Not as hard as Subterranean Animism or Undefined Fantastic Object probably, but certainly not the easiest. Imperishable Night is by far the easiest in my opinion.

[Zengeku]

now, I can't really tell which game is hardest on easy. I only play IN. but on normal it's SA for me. it's punishing deaths on bosses pretty hard. your first death on a boss pattern is essentially 2 lives for the whole game since you will lose that life piece. your 6th death on a boss pattern is also effectively two lives lost. (if you die that many times to bosses).

it's not really punishing death any harder than most other games in the series. It's just giving you less extra lives in a game where you already get far more lives than you should ever have had. Stuff like UFO and TD punishes death much harder due to leaving you in a lower state of power as well as in TD's case making you lose your trance (although you get to use it, you might have saved it for resource gathering and lost the trance at least as far as that is concerned)

[Quukii]

The hardest for me is SA, and the easiest is IN.

[Nindella]

MoF was probably the easiest for me, I remember that watching this replay by Drake made things a lot easier.

If you're having problems with MoF normal, I highly suggest you check it out~  (Replay condition = use a bomb on every attack).


The hardest was UFO.  I left it till near last and it still proved the toughest to 1cc despite the experienced I'd gained from my previous 1ccs.  As a normal player, having to pay mind to the UFO system in addition to playing a relatively hard Touhou game (pattern-wise in its own right) was quite tricky, so the initial adapting and learning certainly added to the difficulty.


Also, SA AIN'T THE HARDEST NORMAL!! ARGHHH  :getdown:

Hey, this is all subjective anyway, beep boop~