| ~Beyond the Border~ > Akyuu's Arcade |
| What compels a 1CC? |
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| Funbil:
I've been thinking lately about the different reasons non-shoot-em-up players might pick up a game and convince themselves to 1CC it. After all, we're not all natural-born shmup freaks – in my experience, getting into this style of game has to be a pretty active effort. Investing so heavily in a single game requires deliberate dedication. Where does that dedication come from? This is what I've been wondering lately. I've been asking my personal friends who don't usually play STG why they do play the ones they play, and have since been going around the different forums I visit asking the same thing. With this being a Touhou forum, I'm especially interested in what compelled some of you to dive into this style of game. Do you play other STG besides Touhou? What was your first STG, and was that the same as your first 1CC? How do you decide which games to pick up, and then how do you decide if you want to spend the time and energy 1CCing it? For anyone who hasn't 1CC'd a game yet, what aspects would you look for in a game you could imagine yourself 1CCing? I'd love to hear any and all perspectives on what anyone looks for in a game. For me personally, I've noticed I tend to spend the most time with games that are fantastical. Kiki Kaikai, Panzer Dragoon, and of course Touhou being my favorite franchises, along with other individual games like Mushihimesama, Magical Chase, or Harmful Park. For me, the creativity of the presentation is what draws me in. I love an imaginative game. At the same time, the mechanical richness of a series like R-Type and Darius or games like Battle Garegga also compel me, though I find myself spending less time with those – and I usually only uncover that depth in gameplay after being directed towards it by someone else. Games purely interested in its design and less in its atmosphere (not to say R-Type or Darius are not atmospheric – they absolutely are – just not in a way that especially grips me), while of course being "better games," are usually trickier for me to swallow unless they're really good. Maybe it's a bit like wrapping a pill in cheese to feed to a dog :cirnotan: In this way, I could absolutely see myself 1CCing a game like Metal Black or Crimzon Clover, but I'd be much more willing to put that time into a game that retains similar mechanical depth while also presenting itself in more expressive ways like Magical Shooter Putchin Pudding. For example, some games I have managed to 1CC are ones mentioned above such as various Kiki Kaikai games and Mushihimesama. I've attempted to 1CC games like Ketsui but they tend to not hold my attention for as long. With this being a Touhou forum, I wonder how many of your experiences are similar to mine? Did we all come for Touhou's interesting presentation and stay for their CAVE-like mechanical depth? I'd love to hear your thoughts. |
| williewillus:
--- Quote from: Funbil on January 13, 2024, 02:56:40 PM ---Do you play other STG besides Touhou? What was your first STG, and was that the same as your first 1CC? --- End quote --- Touhou was my introduction to shmups, and like many others EoSD normal was my first 1cc. --- Quote from: Funbil on January 13, 2024, 02:56:40 PM ---How do you decide which games to pick up, and then how do you decide if you want to spend the time and energy 1CCing it? --- End quote --- Presentation, music, the challenge of danmaku, and getting the "fully intended experience". This is also the same reason I initially tried improving to play on lunatic if possible, because the patterns are at their fullest and most beautiful on that difficulty. Touhou, more than most arcade-y shmups I think, are very presentation-heavy -- when I start a game of Touhou (or a Touhou fangame), there is a certain way in which the patterns and music unfold that make it very....theatrical? Orchestrated? I enter a flow state that's a completely different experience than playing for example Mushihimesama which is mostly just raw "let's dodge!!". I actually made a video about "danmaku and music syncs in Touhou" a while back, and I might come back to the topic in the future with another video or maybe a video essay or Touhoufest panel. I haven't found another STG series that has the same vibe. As for why 1cc, I think the simplest answer is that you get to save your replay and watch a good ending if you 1cc, and get a bad ending if you don't. It's the mark of actually "clearing" the game instead of just playing it for fun. As for which games I pick up, I play pretty much every mainline Touhou shmup (STB, DS, VD, and ISC still in the queue). I also play a lot of the higher quality fangame shmups, some of which have closely emulated or even mastered ZUN's orchestration and presentation techniques. Examples include the Kaisendo games, a variety of Chinese fangames such as Elegant Impermanence of Sakura, Blue Devil in the Belvedere, Shining Shooting Star, Abyss Soul Lotus, Fantastic Danmaku Festival 1/2, etc. |
| CyberAngel:
While not my first shmup, the game that sparked my interest in bullet hell stuff for real was Dodonpachi. Then I looked into other CAVE stuff, and that eventually lead to hearing of Touhou. That was when I started to take these games seriously and practice for 1CCs, starting with EoSD and onwards. Nowadays, besides Touhou, I play some more CAVE games and a few similar doujin titles. I barely look at any new stuff, having a few dozen games to revisit once in a while is enough for me to have fun when I'm in the mood. I'd say both aesthetics and gameplay are important for me in a bullet hell game. The former is what's likely to catch my eye and make a game memorable, and the latter determines how much staying power they have. There are some CAVE games that I've dropped because I wasn't enjoying their mechanics, and I never tried some Touhou games seriously specifically because of their looks or music (1-5 and 17-19 respectively). The main incentive for me to come back to bullet hell games time and again is, undoubtedly, scoring. Going for pure survival is important at first, but sometimes the games show their true colors when you get into more intricate mechanics. And you don't always have to be good at raw survival for that. It's pretty rare for Touhou, but for arcade shmups there's usually quite a bit of competition even among those who haven't even gotten a 1CC. Another important thing for me is having freedom to chose how you want to play. That means choosing both between survival and scoring approach (or rather being able to mix the two at your will), and between grinding for 1CC and just being able to credit feed for a casual ride. (Which is why ZUN still deserves a punch for TH10-12 continue system.) |
| HartWurst:
I've only really played Touhou, but I've occasionally played Ikaruga. My first 1cc was Imperishable Night I believe, I did it on easy first and then on normal. The main reason was just because it was my favourite Touhou game at the time, so whenever I'd want to play sometime I'd just start playing. And eventually, that led me to get a 1cc. The same thing has happened for EoSD, I found it fun and eventually I played enough of it to end up with a 1cc. |
| nav:
For what it's worth, I went for a Normal 1CC because people said it's challenging. And boy, was it ever. Took me months to get it. But point is, if I didn't want to test myself against something difficult, I woulda stuck to listening to the soundtracks and arrangements. |
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