Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom - Extra Stage Clear Part 2

Game - Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom
Extra Stage
Character - Marisa Type A

This is my first clear of any Extra Stage in the Touhou series, certainly a milestone for me. Although Extra Stages tend to rely a lot more on memorization of patterns and tricks than regular stages, you still need the skill to pull them off, as Extra Stages only have one difficulty (not counting Phantasm). Because this stage blatantly exceeds Youtube's 10-minute time limit, I've split this up into two parts. The first part covers the stage portion, while the second features the Ran Yakumo battle.

Ran is no pushover. Someone with a shikigami has to be strong, even if she is a shikigami herself. Her eight nonspells share a "kunai" theme - 5 are streaming-based, while the other 3 test your ability to judge when to move. Being an Extra Boss, Ran has a ton of spellcards, each of them very unique and beautiful in their own ways. Pretty much the entire fight is fun, even if I don't necessarily do so well on certain parts. I've recently taken a liking to her last spell - simple in concept, deadly in practice, and the very definition of "curtain fire". And on top of all that, Ran's theme is completely kickass.

It's fortunate that the Extra Stage is so fun, because otherwise I would have little reason to play PCB at all. The only regular stage portion of the game I like is the Yuyuko battle - everything else is either ridiculously boring or fundamentally stupid. SA's danmaku is much better designed, in spite of its inherent difficulty. But I digress.

Given that my goal was merely to clear the Extra Stage, you'll see me bomb, die, and intentionally break my "Supernatural Borders" as makeshift bombs (a strategy that, at the time, I had only recently started to use). Here's a rundown of everything that wasn't "perfect":

- 2nd Spell: 1 broken border, since I wasn't comfortable with the attack's pattern at the time
- 3rd Spell: 1 death from misjudging where I was compared to the laser
- 4th Spell: 2 bombs, since I let myself get walled
- 5th Nonspell: 1 broken border for protection, 1 death from misjudging a kunai's path
- 5th Spell: 1 broken border because I didn't move in time
- 7th Spell: 1 death from misjudging a bullet, 1 broken border for protection
- 8th Spell: 2 deaths from misjudging the butterflies' paths, 1 bomb for protection
- 9th Spell: 2 bombs for a safe transition between corners, 1 death from misjudging a bullet
- 10th Spell: 2 bombs because I let myself get walled

I've begun practicing the whole Extra Stage "no bombs" so I can learn Ran's spells for an eventual perfect run. However, it'll most likely be a while before that actually happens. I plan on beating SA Lunatic before then.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Touhou
• Perfect
• Cherry
• Blossom
• Extra
• Stage
• Clear
• Replay
• Marisa
• Kirisame
• MarisaA
• Chen
• Ran
• Yakumo
• Climbing
• the
• Endless
• Staircase
• Summon
• of
• Youkai's
• Youkai
• Maiden's
• Illusionary
• Funeral
• Necro-Fantasy
• Funen1