Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

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blossom
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Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by blossom »

I've not played much of Touhou, so the idea of a dedicated focus/slow button, as helpful as it sounds, is awkward to me. I'm curious just how much I would be hurting myself if I used antimicro to rebind controls to something more Cave-like. Are there any less obvious survival *or* scoring reasons that this would be a bad idea?
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Shepardus
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by Shepardus »

I believe the Touhou games have an option in the config to do just that (slow when firing). Should be fine for survival, but if you want to get serious about scoring you'd probably want a dedicated focus button so you can have focused movement without firing (i.e. for graze milking).
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CyberAngel
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by CyberAngel »

It should be easy enough to get used to it if you've used autofire in CAVE-style games. Which you should have since tapping all the time isn't worth it if you have that option.

Or maybe it's the other way around, and I prefer to use autofire because I trained my basic danmaku skills in Touhou? :wink:
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CloudyMusic
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by CloudyMusic »

Not sure what control method you use, but since I play on stick I just use this arrangement and it feels natural enough:

A = focus
B = bomb
C = shot

So technically A doesn't actually fire anything, but since in most Cave games you hold A+C for focused shot anyway, it feels the same aside from having the ability to do focused movement without shooting.
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EmperorIng
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by EmperorIng »

Given all the hemming and hawing about DDP-style focus, or touhou shotless focus, etc. it makes me wonder if an independent speed select is the ultimate method, a la Thunder Force.
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by Square_Air »

The in game option that Shepardus pointed out is what you're looking for. It might be better in the long run to just get used to a dedicated focus button, but it's probably not a huge deal until you get into scoring mechanics.
EmperorIng wrote:Given all the hemming and hawing about DDP-style focus, or touhou shotless focus, etc. it makes me wonder if an independent speed select is the ultimate method, a la Thunder Force.
The only thing that's better than this is when changing your speed also fires your thrusters and incinerates whatever comes in contact with it.
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blossom
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by blossom »

I love Thunder Force and I would not be opposed to every game having adjustable ship speed. It's hard for me to play any R-Type game other than Delta because speed icons might be my most hated thing in classic shooters.

I may have to experiment with CloudyMusic's suggestion, honestly I'm probably clumsy in that I don't use A+C, and only A or C, but here's an idea: what if I were to make Touhou and exCeed into four button games? A B and C could be your typical Cave setup, while the bottom row would have a button whose only purpose is to focus. Would this be considered cheating? Looking at some of the custom buttons available on Japanese arcade cabinets, I wouldn't think so, but maybe it is?
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Shepardus
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by Shepardus »

I don't see how that would be considered cheating, all you're doing is binding A = shot + slow.
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Exy
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Re: Opinions on Cave-like focus shot in Touhou, exCeed, etc

Post by Exy »

blossom wrote:I love Thunder Force and I would not be opposed to every game having adjustable ship speed. It's hard for me to play any R-Type game other than Delta because speed icons might be my most hated thing in classic shooters.
I'm the opposite, I find it super distracting when you can change your speed during the game. I don't even like the ubiquitous "laser makes you slightly slower" style, which is why I appreciate doj minimizing this effect when using Exy.

My favorite speed approach is the Dangun Feveron style where you can just select your speed at the start, with no trade-offs etc (but perhaps this only works in games like feveron where the patterns are challenging whatever your speed is.... allowing the player lots of latitude in selecting speed doesn't work for me in raiden fighters).

Shepardus get on shmups discord already, your absence (as well as Trap's and Perikles' tbh) is an embarrassment.
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