I DID IT! Share your latest 1CCs/other triumphs here...

[seraph]

I finally got the Dodonpachi 1-all. I sucked too much to be allowed in the second loop. >_>

[ACSeraph]

Almost 1cc'd Ketsui's first loop today! Very nice progress. I died really stupidly at the end where I thought I could squeeze through a gap but I couldn't so no clear for me today. Maybe next time.

Nicely done, keep pushing to get the clear! And welcome to the forum

I finally got the Dodonpachi 1-all. I sucked too much to be allowed in the second loop. >_>

Congrats! Fuck the loop, if you can get even a basic DDP clear you definitely don't suck. Be proud

[chempop]

My first ever Letter-score 1CC!

[Softdrink 117]

Congrats chempop! You've earned it.

[Wyrmnus]

DeathSmiles IIX Level-1 Clear w/ Folett earlier today. I got to the final stage on a Full Lv. 3 clear, but died halfway through because I made too many mistakes on the extra Carnival stage.

[chempop]

Thanks Softdrink!
I have sorta-can-randomly-occasionally get the midi milk, but I usually blow up too many wheels by accident.
Got a nice mil+ from kasumi, and kept or rebuilt the chain for a very successful stage 5 medal rush. As usual, stage 6 was on the brink of game-over up until the credits. I was worried because I had to launch 2 of my 4 hadous on Theresa's first form, but it worked out nicely.

[Softdrink 117]

Nice!

Stage 6 is still crazy intense for me too. Getting much better at it, but it's definitely not one of my strong points. Glad to hear you're having some success with the Midi milk; it certainly has a learning curve.

[Wyrmnus]

Update on my Deathsmiles IIX progress; Full level 2 Clear, TLB included. I'm considering using this as material for my YT Channel as it was a near perfect run.

[ACSeraph]

Update on my Deathsmiles IIX progress; Full level 2 Clear, TLB included. I'm considering using this as material for my YT Channel as it was a near perfect run.

Congrats!

How hard is that compared to the basic level one clear anyhow? I've never even really attempted kicking things up in IIX because I only ever play it when I'm feeling apathetic, but maybe I should give it a go.

[Wyrmnus]

Level 1 is a snoozefest lol, even in a Super Rank based mode like Arrange.

[Squire Grooktook]

Congrats! Fuck the loop, if you can get even a basic DDP clear you definitely don't suck. Be proud

Yeah. TBH people here probably don't consider it remotely hard, but if you can clear Contra 1 on Nes you're probably above average and therefore good in my book.

[ACSeraph]

Level 1 is a snoozefest lol, even in a Super Rank based mode like Arrange.

That's exactly why I like it I usually only play IIX (and Otomedius) to wind down from other shmups.

But I've been thinking lately maybe I should actually show IIX a little respect and have a go at its real intended difficulty. I think I'll give it a try tonight actually.

TBH people here probably don't consider it remotely hard

I used to think this but I'm not really so sure anymore. I don't feel like the majority of active players on here would objectively call a DDP 1-ALL easy. I mean we have those crazy players who cut through these games like butter... But like you said, if you can clear a game like DDP or Contra you aint no average gamer, even if the gods among us here are 2-ALL-ing Ketsui.

[To Far Away Times]

TBH people here probably don't consider it remotely hard

I used to think this but I'm not really so sure anymore. I don't feel like the majority of active players on here would objectively call a DDP 1-ALL easy. I mean we have those crazy players who cut through these games like butter... But like you said, if you can clear a game like DDP or Contra you aint no average gamer, even if the gods among us here are 2-ALL-ing Ketsui.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that even the easier shmups tend to be harder than the most challenging "mainstream" games. Doing a 1CC of Contra or DDP is harder than beating something like Ninja Gaiden Black, Super Meat Boy, Dark Souls, ect...

[Sakurei]

TBH people here probably don't consider it remotely hard

I used to think this but I'm not really so sure anymore. I don't feel like the majority of active players on here would objectively call a DDP 1-ALL easy. I mean we have those crazy players who cut through these games like butter... But like you said, if you can clear a game like DDP or Contra you aint no average gamer, even if the gods among us here are 2-ALL-ing Ketsui.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that even the easier shmups tend to be harder than the most challenging "mainstream" games. Doing a 1CC of Contra or DDP is harder than beating something like Ninja Gaiden Black, Super Meat Boy, Dark Souls, ect...

But DDP 1-all is really easy. Hell, looping DDP is simple too if you can NMNB stage 5 for 30 seconds. Bomb a lot and don't be retarded are pretty much the only things necessary to 1-all the game. No memorization required. I'm terrible at shmups and looped DDP after 2-3 hours of play. None of you can tell me that it's a hard game.

[ACSeraph]

Congrats on missing the point completely

[Squire Grooktook]

But DDP 1-all is really easy. Hell, looping DDP is simple too if you can NMNB stage 5 for 30 seconds. Bomb a lot and don't be retarded are pretty much the only things necessary to 1-all the game. No memorization required. I'm terrible at shmups and looped DDP after 2-3 hours of play. None of you can tell me that it's a hard game.

Easy by bullet hell standards and by the shmup fanbases standards, but think back to the very first time you ever played a shmup, bullet hell or otherwise: Remember what it was like when it all seemed so impossible, when you flailed around over one aimed shot and spent 3 credits on each stage after the first one?

(okay maybe you didn't have this experience, but I bet a lot of people here did before getting good)

That's the average players experience of any bullet hell shmup. Most people would probably consider Mario Galaxy or Dark Souls the hardest game they've ever played, remember that most players who haven't spent any time with the genre consider Touhou on normal and even easy to be this mind boggling experience of insanity to brag about.

A Dodonpachi 1-all probably takes better developed skills than the vast majority of (I hate to use this phrase) mainstream games. When I first played it, I had been brushing my teeth with Mega Man Zero games, and Dodonpachi in comparison seemed almost impossible to 1cc past the fourth stage (and at the time it took me a week or so before I could even 1cc past stage 3). Later I came back to it with more experience with the genre and had the same experience you did.

[Bananamatic]

Dodonpachi was my first arcade 1cc ages ago and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or that you are supposed to memorize the routes through the stages, I didn't even do any savestate practice, took me maybe 10 hours at most?

Dark Souls took me 10 hours to just understand the basics and the combat system. 66 for the whole game minus DLC.
I'd say mainstream competitive games can take longer to get to the top, especially FPS games.

[dunpeal2064]

Unless "the top" in DDP is a WR

[Bananamatic]

Top FPS players have 4k+ hours played, I don't think anyone here put a thousand hours into a single shmup(and a DDP WR really sounds very doable in that time)
I just know that the Touhou players here have been getting world records or at least getting really close to one in 500~ hours

[Squire Grooktook]

Dark Souls didn't take me long to understand the combat from a single player perspective (assuming you're talking about playing PVP competitively or something).

It's definitely above "average" difficulty for a hack and slash and has a lot of depth, but I don't think it's that hard for anyone to clear it over time, except for the types who punch holes in their tv if a boss kills them more than once.

Also anything can be incredibly time consuming and deep if you do it competitively. I think part of what makes shmups so niche is that there's almost nothing to them beyond playing them competitively (for a 1cc or score). The same could be said of fighters but those at least can be played as party games at times and have a more obvious social aspect.

[dunpeal2064]

Top FPS players have 4k+ hours played, I don't think anyone here put a thousand hours into a single shmup(and a DDP WR really sounds very doable in that time)
I just know that the Touhou players here have been getting world records or at least getting really close to one in 500~ hours

Good point. Is that 500 hours per game, or across the board?

I think Prom may have 1k+ hours in DDP, but yeah, more of an exception to the rule.

[ACSeraph]

As someone who plays fighters competitively I don't really think you can compare them to shmups. The difficulty of a shmup is set, whereas the difficulty of any given PVP match is dependent on the level of your opponent, which is theoretically infinite. It's just not the same thing at all.

Getting back on topic here, all I was trying to say was be proud of clearing a difficult game even if it's not the most difficult game in the fucking genre. I was also trying to say I felt like the active players on our forum weren't a bunch of elitist assholes who look down on "easy clears" because everyone here can remember when shit wasn't so easy. Isn't the whole point of this thread and forum to offer support to each other on our quest to topple games in one of the most difficult single player centric genres around? When did this become a dick measuring contest? Everyone here is on a different level, and if you are working hard and performing the best you can at your level then you deserve to be congratulated on your accomplishments.

[dunpeal2064]

Wasn't trying to measure dicks, I actually think that debunking some of the myths that these games are overly difficult can make players strive to achieve something that may seem too far out of reach otherwise.

I was whining about lazer wheels just last week, and if people told me, "its okay, that game is hard, just be proud of your 1-ALL", then I'd probably be done with it. It was BNM telling me that the stage was easy and to go learn a route that sparked my desire to get better at the game, and in just a week I've progressed with DFK quicker than any other shmup.

I don't think you should discard pride of a clear just because others find it easy, if you strived for it and it was challenging to you, you know that. You know you pushed yourself, and you should feel proud (Or, if you just cheesed a 1cc without putting barely any time into the game, you know you really didn't push yourself, and shouldn't feel proud).

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I remember I used to be a huge Touhou player (it was pretty much the only shmup series I was into for a while), I tried out DDP at some point and thought it was lame because the bullets were too fast. Nowadays I realize it's cause I was spoiled by slow patterns and I love arcade shmups. Bring it on Cave! `<`

[Sakurei]

Getting back on topic here, all I was trying to say was be proud of clearing a difficult game even if it's not the most difficult game in the fucking genre. I was also trying to say I felt like the active players on our forum weren't a bunch of elitist assholes who look down on "easy clears" because everyone here can remember when shit wasn't so easy. Isn't the whole point of this thread and forum to offer support to each other on our quest to topple games in one of the most difficult single player centric genres around? When did this become a dick measuring contest? Everyone here is on a different level, and if you are working hard and performing the best you can at your level then you deserve to be congratulated on your accomplishments.

Nobody was saying you shouldn't be proud of an achievement you worked for. All I was just saying is that pushing the difficulty of shmups into artificially high levels is not right. There are hard non-shmups too that can compare to what we play. That's what i was trying to say.

Not to mention this whole comparison is stupid anyway. The skillsets required are much too different to compare. I'm pretty sure I would suck even worse at Super Meat boy than I do at shmups and then say SMB is harder. This whole difficulty thing is all relative to your person. To a certain extent, anyway (since I believe we can all agree on, let's say ketsui ura 2-all being hard, and not easy).

I remember I used to be a huge Touhou player (it was pretty much the only shmup series I was into for a while), I tried out DDP at some point and thought it was lame because the bullets were too fast. Nowadays I realize it's cause I was spoiled by slow patterns and I love arcade shmups. Bring it on Cave! `<`

Play PoDD on lunatic. Faster than anything CAVE I have seen. And it's random as shit. Can't even memorize your way through it. Truly a top game.

[seraph]

Thanks for the compliments, everyone. I know a DDP 1-all isn't anything huge but I didn't expect compliments. :) Next time I clear something, I should probably post a screenshot.

I remember struggling with Touhou on Easy, a year and a half ago, and now when I look at it I don't understand how anyone could miss, and eventually I could even 1cc Lunatic. That series is where I, and probably a lot of newer shmup fans, started. I do think that even "easier" shmups are harder than most platformers. I'm playing Cave games now and I find them wonderfully challenging.

[Squire Grooktook]

As someone who plays fighters competitively I don't really think you can compare them to shmups. The difficulty of a shmup is set, whereas the difficulty of any given PVP match is dependent on the level of your opponent, which is theoretically infinite. It's just not the same thing at all.

I compare them because theirs a strong sense of fundamental skills that transfer between games and improve the more you play. The difficulty of a single shmup might be set, but there's always new high scores or harder games to shoot for, and within each game is a competitive aspect and a sense of dedication that feels very similar to other competitive genres.

[ACSeraph]

In that sense I agree. I should specify that I mean comparing their difficulty, as the difficulty of any given FG depends a lot on how far the community has progressed with it. There really isn't any upper limit to mind games.

The difficulty of a shmup is apparent and set from the moment you begin to play it. I guess you could argue that if you were specifically pursing world records, the required score would depend on the competition, but essentially beating your own scores could be a form of competition in and of itself. It's not dependent on the abilities of other players.

[Nali]

Nicely done, keep pushing to get the clear! And welcome to the forum

Thanks. I got my loop clear today. It was not actually as hard as i thought it would be.


I used my bombs very sparingly because i was scared of voiding the loop requirements (last run was bombfree) so i died a lot. I think i will need to do some consistency practice on this for a while. I am pleased with my progress though. I am still just learning this game.

EDIT: Oh no, those pictures are big. I promise to crop them a bit next time people. Please forgive my annoying big pictures

[ACSeraph]

Update on my Deathsmiles IIX progress; Full level 2 Clear, TLB included. I'm considering using this as material for my YT Channel as it was a near perfect run.

Just gave it a quick run to see how it was on lvl2 +EX and cleared with Rosa, but I didn't get the TLB. What are the requirements exactly?