How to grow as a player? / Your first lunatic

[KroloRDS]

Hi.

I didn't want to start my own thread right away, but I find all the questions asked here to be too specific and I come with a rather general one.

So I want to become a better player, but I stumbled across a roadblock. I have no idea on which game should I work in next. I did all of the Hard 1cc that were within my reach (Only SA, UFO and LoLK left) but now every Lunatic I try seems to be way out of my league. I think I eventually could do DDC MariB or Autumn abuse in HS, but I don't know if it will give me anything in the long run. Maybe I should try no death/no bomb on some easier diffs instead? I also did about everything I could to in the spin-off games, 100% StB and VD, Cleared every scene in DS, mostly using Hatate, completed ISC mostly without items excluding some bullshit cards like Remilia's 12s Nightmare.

My question is this, what was the game that you chose for your first Lunatic 1cc and why was it that particular one? Also I would appreciate some shottype recommendations since I still mainly use needle Reimu in most games, because of how straightforward she is. Other shottypes require developing elaborate strategies for each one individually and now I think it's a good time for me to finally look into it and stop bruteforcing everything.

[GenericArrangements]

I'm surprised you'd consider Lunatic out of your league, if you've done so many Hard 1cc's. Lunatic probably isn't out of your league at all but maybe the motivation isn't really kicking in yet. It's all about the practice, as you'd already know, and continuously playing one game on Lunatic is probably more effective than trying every one and wondering why it's not working out.
You can try for all those no death/no bomb runs (which would be really cool) but in the end you'll be really good at the Hard spell cards, not necessarily the Lunatic ones, though it may develop your skills enough anyway (I can't properly judge this).

My personal recommendation is picking your favourite game (as in, favourite to actually play, not other aspects). It's a good idea because you'll be more familiar with it and find some enjoyment out of each attempt (especially good if you really like the music in that particular game too lol). This works as long as your favourite isn't IN (because of the sheer difficulty difference between Hard and Lunatic) and as long as it isn't UFO (because uh... heck).
For these reasons my choice was MoF. It's also (maybe) easier than some other ones, but besides SA I wouldn't know.

Not very good with recommending shot-types because I'm really lame and pick less strategic ones. Good luck with Lunatic!

[KroloRDS]

Hmm, the game I like the most. That would definitely be VD, but I already did everything there. My second thought was MoF, it was my first Toho game and I still feel nostalgia every time I play it and it has my favourite soundtrack (alongside GFW). But if I were to consider it purely gameplay-wise I think I will go for TD. This might be a little strange, because I know many people dislike it, but I really like trance system. It opens up new possibilities while it's not completely broken (or maybe I just wasn't using it properly). I already did some test run with continues just to unlock stage and spell practise. Miko fight is horrible, but apart from that it looks doable. Now, regarding the shottype, Sanae is obviously out of consideration, Marisa is not that great either, in my opinion. I'm already very used to Reimu, but maybe I should try Youmu instead? I hear many people say she's definitely the best both score AND survival-wise. Is she really? I would aim for someone who's good at boss fights, since stage portions can usually by trivialised by memorising layout and good routing. Especially in TD.

[CyberAngel]

Youmu is powerful if used right. Try doing a Hard 1cc with her to see how quickly you can get used to using her charged attack effectively. But really, Reimu should be just fine for a first 1cc.

Also, 10D is a good game and you can punch anyone who says otherwise. Its Lunatic is said to be among easier ones as well, though that's a bit balanced out by a pretty low amount of lives you can get.

[Shizzo]

I kind of was on the same road as you, I've 1cc'd all games on hard and then was trying to go for Lunatic.  I think my first Luna 1cc was TD/MoF.  What I'd recommend you is using powerful shots which aren't 'cheesy' (Like MarisaB on DDC or Autumn HSiFS as you mentioned).  Go for Survival-Focused characters with strong bombs, like TD Sanae or Reisen on LoLK. 

Another good idea is for you to check 1ccs of stuff so that you learn how to bypass a few tricky stage portions that usually cost you bombs.  That helped me especially during Stage 5's since those usually have some really seemingly-impossible-at-first-sight-but-are-actually-mega-easy segments.    That also helps with Spellcards, like Wakasagihime's 1st, or Sagume's Yellow Orbs. 

That being said, I'd recommend you HSiFS (ReimuWinter/Summer), TD (Sanae/Reimu) and DDC (BothReimus, but especially SakuyaA if you think she's fair).

After that I'd recommend SA (I did it with ReimuC, but everyone likes ReimuA and maybe MarisaC), MoF (ReimusA/B and MarisaA are a favorite) and finally PCB (SakuyaA's 4 bombs and homing reeeally help.)

[Mikuru]

For me, it was an easy decision. Mountain of Faith was my first Touhou, has always remained my favourite, and is simply the one I know my way around the best. I've achieved Hard 1ccs elsewhere (IN, SSS, close to one in HSiFS) but MoF is the only game where Hard 1cc is comfortable; I can start a credit knowing I'm going to achieve it, and it doesn't matter if I make silly slips here and there.

For my Lunatic 1cc, I'm using ReimuA (homing) because then I don't have to spend time learning stage portions. The spellcards will still be tricky, but the spellcards took the most learning effort when I was going for my first Hard 1cc, so I know them pretty well by now.

I was also stuck for a very long time feeling that Lunatic might be forever out of my reach. What got me to the point of seriously going for it was a combination of things: (1) I got some great feedback on my runs from Touhou Replay Showcase, especially Normal scoring or Normal challenge runs (e.g. no focus or no vertical or no bomb), and Maribel outright said that in his opinion I was ready for Lunatic; (2) improving my general skill by going for high-fps achievements, such as Normal and Extra 90fps; (3) the release of HSiFS. When HSiFS came out, I struggled enormously at first, just because it was so tempting to do risky things to get a good reward from releases; but I kept at it until I could actually do those things, and I soon found that my overall play had gone up a few notches.

[Karisa]

I alternated between all the games back when I was first trying for Lunatic 1ccs (and Hard and Normal before that), eventually settling on one when I felt like I was making more progress than in the other games. I'm not so sure if that was a good idea, though. Most of my Lunatic 1ccs were accomplished by routing where to use bombs, which requires practicing the same game enough.

I would recommend making sure you know the life systems, though. In the games without an easily reached extend cap (anything besides LLS, EoSD, IN, MoF, SA probably), practicing the stages and learning how to gain lives will help. For example, don't underestimate the extra lives you can gain by collecting point items in PCB, or planning out life parts in UFO onward.