r/TrueTouhou • u/fgweuyifh89y48 • Nov 09 '24
Help/Question What's a good first game to LNB?
Hi guys, I'm a returning touhou player who's been on a hiatus for like 2 years at this point after lunatic 1ccing all the main games before 19 came out. I feel like I'm ready to commit to LNB'ing the main games now even if I'm a bit rusty, but what's a good starting point? I've been heavily debating between 6 and 7, but would love to hear your guys opinions.
2
Nov 10 '24
I did SA as my first and it's my go-to recommendation for so many reasons.
- 4 of the 6 shot types are viable for a first LNB and have wildly different playstyles, strengths, and weaknesses. You're not siphoned into using the 1 or 2 "good" shots like MoF or DDC, so you have more room to choose something that fits you without being an intentional handicap.
- It rewards routing much more than other games, which is great since routing becomes more and more important the higher level you want to go. There are tons of safespots (that video is super outdated and missing a lot of newer ones, but still a good resource) and many deterministic patterns that become way less of a threat after some practice.
- The resource system is actually amazing for getting used to no bomb play. It sucks to lose life pieces when you're starting out, but it feels great to get better and be rewarded with more extends. More importantly, though, it means that you always have a new extend to work towards, instead of not getting any more once you hit a certain point in the game. For example, against Utsuho, assuming you cap the 100% free attacks Utsuho has (non 1, non 3, Ten Evil Stars), you only have to cap at most two others to guarantee an extend. For most final bosses, you can't get any more extends once you reach them.
Stage 1 is really annoying and it's definitely not a game you can pick up and play, but I think it's worth the investment if you're serious.
1
u/fgweuyifh89y48 Nov 10 '24
I personally will do SA at a more future time. I remember stage 1 being annoying in the past, and with me being very washed at the moment, even the easy stage 1s are quite difficult for me right now. What are some newer safespots if you don't mind? Are there new spots that've been discovered in the past 2 years?
2
Nov 10 '24
The video mentioned the Orin final speedkill, but there's a simpler, more effective one you can do with Marisa A and Marisa B. You can also do the Utsuho non 2 thing that the video went over with non 4, which the Marisa B replay does at 23:25. The Marisa B replay in general shows off a lot of tricks you can do with her, like how you can speedkill the big fairies in the stage 4 post-midboss section to completely trivialize it.
The newest SA survival advancements are less safespots per se and more that people have gotten better at using the other shots. Reimu A used to be the only one everyone used, but popular opinion now is that her harder Satori fight, harder post-midboss stage 5 section (AKA popcorn), and lack of horizontal range make her worse than the others. You can watch a newer run using a different shot and probably see a couple strats you're unfamiliar with.
What's probably the newest actual safespot is on the stage 5 midboss, which people have started getting consistent at, though that's only relevant for LNN and I'm not 100% sure how consistent it really is.
(I wrote out this comment before but then I think I accidentally hit cancel, so I wrote it again. Apologies if you get two notifications)
1
u/fgweuyifh89y48 Nov 10 '24
Funnily enough, that was my main gripe with Reimu A back then. I did my lunatic 1cc with Marisa A since the Satori fight is so much easier, and Mari A is still a solid shottype.
2
Nov 10 '24
Nice, I used Marisa A for my first LNB. Unfocusing to deal the best damage in the game is just too fun.
Good luck with whatever game you pick!
2
u/MustyBoi69 Nov 09 '24
IN because of the easygoing difficulty while simultaneously challenging because of stage 4, Kaguya and not being able to rely on spread & homing