Touhou ~EasyExtra~ mods

[Krushal]

Not something for most of you Touhou-pros.

If you're like me and never jived with the ex-stages, these mods might be of interest.

In pictures:
    -->>   

Aiming for difficulty a little higher than similar modes in Len'en and some TH-fangames.
The mods admittedly lack a certain polish and balance (there are so many games to cover).

Games supported: [10,11,14,16-18].  Currently WIP: [06,07].

Install and play via TH-patch.

[Velociraptor]

Nice, I think it'll be helpful for newer players! Does it just remove some layers of the pattern or also decrease density?

[Krushal]

Since you ask, here's a brief run-down of my process:
I start by reducing most bullet-speeds, seeing what I can deduce from the code regarding other easily-changed parameters.
I then test the "first draft", taking note of anything that's outright broken or still way too hard.
At this point, I usually turn to a NMNB Ex video for a more detailed consideration of natural ways to decrease difficulty.

I then test and tweak until I beat that particular mod, and move on to the next game. 

Speaking of which, if anyone else thinks this is a useful project and would like to help, UFO and LoLK will be a real struggle for me...

[vanyk]

Tried this mod with SA. Some moment became easier, some bullet became slower, but I haven't noticed a serious change in difficulty. For me it was strange the remove of the noob strat on Sanae's first spell (when you could just dodge everything hugging the bottom of the screen). In my opinion, some Koishi's nonspells became harder, because the bullets became slower. And maybe Sanae's 3rd spell, Koishi's 2nd and 3rd spells should have slightly less bullets (and maybe the last phase of 9th spell could be slightly slower).
I liked the idea with additional after midboss. Maybe in some games it could be a good idea if there could be an additional at the middle of the boss (after 5th spell for example) like in Len'en.
Anyway, this project is interesting. I hope where will be more updates.

[Velociraptor]

I agree with vanyk, making the bullets slower doesn't necessarily make a pattern easier, in fact it can make it harder the bullets take longer to go off screen and despawn making the area cluttered. In some patterns it could even make the gaps between certain bullets smaller.

[williewillus]

Thirded, reducing density (providing more gaps, etc.) is often preferable to reducing speed.

[Krushal]

Thanks for all the feedback.
I am well aware that slower bullets without bullet-count or shot-rate modification results in higher density. Tried to mitigate it with those or other changes.
There is a readme.txt which details issues that I've noted (patterns that became harder etc.).

On the subject of 1ups, while it could be useful sometimes (SA), I've tried to avoid using them. Feels like a bit of a cheap hack, unless resources are particularly scarce (might end up doing it again in EoSD).

About safe-spots/ standard strats: I'm not an Ex-expert, and I might not notice things like that in playtesting or a video (probably riskier score-strats I'm watching). I would need to rely on feedback from those of you familiar with the default Extras.

I consider these as v0.9 or beta releases. If/when I get back around for updates, I'll be sure to take any feedback on board.
Thanks again.