- Return to Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
General
The 6th game in the Touhou series features a much simpler scoring system than the later ones do. It does not have the exponential increase in scoring potential as the stages progress. Also, it does not have the high penalties for bombing that the other games do.
These are the primary non-obvious goals for obtaining a high score:
- Collecting the point items above the POC
- Defeating boss attack patterns while many bullets are on screen
- Grazing
Spell Card bonuses and the end-game Clear bonus are not included because they are accomplished through not dying and not bombing during bosses, both of which are instinctually done. The same goes for power item bonuses.
Point items
This will be the major part of your score (about 60-70%). The key to collecting these items is the POC, a point about 1/4-1/5 of the way down the screen where the point items are maximized. When you go into full power mode, going above this line automatically attracts all items on the screen to you, although not instantaneously. The difference between collecting an item above this line and just missing is about 33%. For example, on Hard you get 150,000 for collecting an item above the POC, but only 100,000 for just missing. The value keeps shrinking as you go down the screen, until it is almost not worth it to collect the item.
So what do you do? Make a concerted effort to collect every single point item above the POC. Obviously this is not possible on stage 1 and the beginning of stage 2, and the later stages make it extremely difficult to do this at times. However, you should always be thinking of a way to shoot everything AND move up to the top whenever possible. This can be facilitated through the use of bombs, which help you safely move and hang around above the POC while still shooting down enemies. You should identify points where bombs will get a lot of points compared to trying to move up there yourself.
Timing boss takedowns
In Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, the Enemy Bullet bonus (awarded for the number of on-screen bullets at the moment of taking out a boss healthbar) can be quite substantial, sometimes earning double or triple the Spell Card bonus. This means it is imperative to defeat the boss only at certain times. Many of the bosses attack in waves of bullets, so you must time your shot to finish the boss in the middle of a wave. Also, if you happen to use a bomb during a boss, you must wait for the screen to fill before defeating the boss so you can salvage those points.
All Spell Cards give a Enemy Bullet bonus, but only some non-Spell Card attacks do. You will have to remember which ones do and plan accordingly.
Grazing
This is not as important as the other factors, but you should try to get as many as you can without recklessly endangering yourself. In particular, there are various spots with bullet clouds that can be grazed for a high reward/risk ratio.
Specific
This section contains advice on specific areas of the game. Beware of spoilers for the game.
Stage 1
The main thing to work for is to get as many power items as possible. There is a threshold, around 60 power, where you activate a big item to give you 8 points. If you don't reach it, you will start stage 2 with less power than you should have. Also, you will have to balance collecting every point item with collecting them as high as possible. Sometimes it is better to let one or two drop so that you can collect a power item or collect a point item above the POC.
(Specific spell card advice)
Stage 2
The easiest way to collect all the items at the beginning of the stage is to use a bomb.
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6
Be careful about bombing in the early part of this stage. Sometimes enemies do not appear if you bomb at the wrong time.
Extra Stage
Miscellaneous
An important note about MarisaB and Master Spark: this bomb is extremely powerful, and is one of the best methods of collecting point items. In fact, I would estimate that about 7-10 million points, on Normal, are obtained purely through this bomb above and beyond what the other characters can get. This is because there are sections, namely the middle of stage 5 and the beginning of stage 6, where there are enemy waves which cannot be completely defeated without Master Spark, as they leave the screen too fast. They also happen to hold about 4-5 point items each.
Of course, there is a drawback to this power. If you use Master Spark during a boss battle, you will probably defeat her and end up with no bullet bonus. A perfect player does not care, of course, but... In any case, you should be aware of what Master Spark can do for you.
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