I just made a submission (IN Hard, Alice Solo); thanks for this initiative! I was wondering if you could provide instructions on how to view this weekly stream, as I have no background on streaming in general and would like to watch.
Normally, I consider myself an insular and stubborn Touhou player when it comes to outside advice - that's just a result of really enjoying the process of trying to work things out by myself and not being exposed to too many 'spoilers', even when I'm having difficulty. But I also would like to share my Touhou playing with others, and see what strategies others have come up with. I also think the goal of "showing the diversity of the western Touhou community" is a good one, and I hope it encourages more community participation in Touhou playing
This sounds great, and I'd love to take part and have the professionals pick apart some of my replays. I just have a query about one of your guidelines:
You see, I'm the kind of player for whom survival and scoring are not separate goals. I always try to score, even if it's a category I haven't cleared yet. I try to learn scoring techniques a little at a time and incorporate them into my runs. I'm nowhere near professional scoring level yet -- but I'd still prefer my runs to be treated as scoring runs and for you to tell me what's good and what needs improvement. Is that okay? Or maybe I should mark my runs as both survival and scoring to show that I'm kind of a bit of both?
I think this is a good point to raise - in my opinion whilst there are obviously 'pure' score runs and 'pure' survival runs, there are definitely runs that are on a continuum between the two. Would the threshold for inclusion as a 'scoring run' be something above what a 'defensive/conservative' NMNB could achieve? Also, there's a distinction between intent and result - somebody could be trying to do a scoring run but not do very well and get a lower score, but the replay could still indicate a preference towards scoring-based play rather than survival-based play. For example, suppose I play SA, and I try some of the easier scoring strategies (increasing graze via timing out attacks, using bombs as ReimuA, positioning my character in riskier positions). I could still end up with a score lower than that achieved by a No Miss run, simply from dying due to the added risks I'm taking.
On the other hand, to a relatively average player like me, the scoring runs at a significant percentage of World Record scores are obviously on a whole other level of gameplay to what most of us can achieve. It's almost like watching a different game mode being played, and I think it is important to maintain this distinction. My personal preference in this case would be to allow ticking both 'scoring' and 'survival' in the online submission form for replays like the ones Mikuru is suggesting. A run that uses a few scoring techniques but nothing really crazy (e.g. significant usage of point-blank safespots) can be still commented on like it's a survival run, but the individual scoring techniques deserve to be commented on too (for example, manipulation of the human/youkai meter in IN to get time orbs). I'm not sure how discussion of replays is planned or structured (obviously), but I'm assuming each replay will be viewed at least once prior to the stream, and so issues like these can be addressed if relatively minor.
Maybe the bit in the original post that says 'Check the hiscores page for reference' could be a little more specific? E.g., for a 'pure' scoring run, your score should be around X% of the MotK top score/World Record, or similar?
