RQ: Need help dealing with frustration. (Len'en 2)

[Regdren C.]

Hello. I've been working on what I'd like to be a clean run for Len'en 2 (hard) and I'm running into a problem. Roughly a year ago I decided to put together a run of this game to share with people. I told some friends that I was doing so. At first I just wanted to get a 1cc including the TLB. This changed as I learned more about how the game worked and what I might be capable of, so my goals became more ambitious.

A couple of months ago I got a run where everything went how I would like. If you play the game and you're curious: I play as Yabusame. The run includes a "Cutting Dance" capture and perfect "A Single Glimmer." However, I took a really stupid death due to being absent minded in stage 5, on the last pattern. One that I easily finish cleanly on any other run. It's my only real mistake but it's such a glaring one that I don't feel comfortable showing the run to anyone.

You've probably guessed where this is headed. Since then I haven't managed to come up with anything as good at the One Big Flaw run. I've been spending more time just practicing trouble spots, watching my diet and sleep schedule so I can play at my best, everything I can think of. No luck. It's getting tough to deal with. I know I can do better because I already have in the past. I have this replay staring me in the face, I could stop at any time if I was willing to just accept that stupid mistake but I feel like I'll just regret it so hard if I upload what I have.

That's where I'm at. If anyone's been in a similar place and has advice, I'd really appreciate it. Or if not, thanks for letting me vent a bit.

[BIL]

Perhaps treating the current run as a milestone rather than the endpoint, and aiming to nail a perfect run later on could take some pressure off of you? In my experience that stuff can really sneak up on you, despite the challenge being self-imposed. Taking a step back often helps me recover some enthusiasm.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Shmups are a game genre where even in the best runs it's almost inevitable to have a few stupid mistakes. When you're playing a danmaku where you're making tight dodges and squeezing a few pixels away from bullets at all times, dying once over the course of an entire run hardly sounds like a big deal honestly. There's plenty of cases of fairly difficult or significant runs where the run goes smooth aside from one or two stupid deaths.

[Regdren C.]

Shmups are a game genre where even in the best runs it's almost inevitable to have a few stupid mistakes. When you're playing a danmaku where you're making tight dodges and squeezing a few pixels away from bullets at all times, dying once over the course of an entire run hardly sounds like a big deal honestly. There's plenty of cases of fairly difficult or significant runs where the run goes smooth aside from one or two stupid deaths.

I guess. The reason it sticks out so much for me is that Len'en lets you press the bomb button after you get hit to avoid dying, and the reaction window is very generous and obvious. There are some shmups where death is more preventable than in Len'en, but not very many.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

and the reaction window is very generous and obvious.

Is it possible you're overestimating how generous the window is? I've not played this game but it appears to be heavily styled after the Touhou games, and in the Windows-era Touhou games, the time you're given to deathbomb can vary, and appears to be shortened significantly if you've gone a long time without dying or if you've already deathbombed a few times on your current life. Imperishable Night's "Last Spell" deathbomb mechanic has a huge variance based on a number of factors, so it's entirely possible this game does too and you simply got hit at a period when there was a minimal reaction window.

Even if you screwed up and were too shocked by the hit to bomb in time with a decent sized window, it's not the end of the world. Not everyone needs to feel pressured to post no death no bomb runs or stuff like that, you don't have to feel obligated to stress yourself with being satisfied only with absolute perfection to enjoy the game. That'll just end up ruining the game for you.

[Regdren C.]

I feel like I could do better but that will probably not change no matter what kind of run I get. Thanks very much for all the advice. I put my playthrough in the I DID IT! thread.