Forums / Discussion / General

It begins in 2 days!

Touhou 14 expected in 4 days

Oh god I wasn't paying attention, heart nearly burst.

List of Touhou Related Releases at the event.

I am having trouble finding a game trailer sizzle reel like I did last time, but I will keep my eyes open.

Does anyone on this site know anyone or know anyone who know's anyone who is going to Comiket? If so, please reply quickly. I really need the help of someone with something.

Update: Touhou now expected on the 15th, official sources say.

@DrPepperfan: Wait… are you there right now? I would like to go to it at some point in time, but I am not financially able at the moment.

@Katie: Just great. Lands on the day that ultimately triggers my moving week. Damnit.

I bet it was a last-minute game breaking glitch Zun found or something. Either that or he looked at a spell card and was like "Nah, not cool enough" and scrapped it. If the later… bleh. He could have decided he didn't like it earlier. >_<;;

Where you moving to?

Moving from Forest Grove to Gresham to attend Mt. Hood Community College. Namely to avoid god awful rush hour transit (If I do the math correctly… 3-4 hours one way?)

Not far, but time consuming never the less. I would have enough time to acquire the game. Getting a good session in is the issue.

My work is going to take me as far as Portland sometimes, eventually even as far south as Salem.

Also, I know the feeling of rush hour transit there, it's one of two places I've ever been to where I've come to a complete stop.

But it's the only one where it's been a complete stop for over a minute at a time.

Anyway…have you noticed that there's an abominable spike in difficulty from Normal to Hard? I'm not going to be able to beat this game on hard, most likely.

Ah, that's neat. And yeah, Portland's traffic… uhg.

I did a casual playthough of all the modes a month or so back, and admittedly yeah. Hard Mode shot me down shortly before I reached the stage 2 midboss, when I could easily reach the stage 3 boss without losing a single life. (Or even a bomb if I didn't graze farm off that one double-lasers-from-five-directions card)

The Mermaid's second attack wave finished me off in Lunatic. Not proud of that one to say the least. But again, casual ultra-aggressive playthough where I use ALL THE CONTINUES.

Well, at least you're not being taken out by Cirno, right?

…Seriously, I'm getting a PCB vibe from this game. I mean, the playable characters are Reimu, Marisa, and Sakuya, the stage 1 midboss is Cirno… (I used the wiki to find dat stuff out.)

I'll be waiting quite some time before I acquire 14…

Then again, I don't exactly NEED to acquire it quickly, considering I'm not that good at the others. I can't even 1cc TD on normal. (I ALMOST did once with Sanae. The problem was I had no reserve lives/bombs going into the final spellcard.)

Well, I was actually able to beat PCB on Hard…somehow.

I beat it on Hard, but it took several bombs and a few deaths to get it done without continuing.

Brief Analysis of all the play styles:

Reimu Cursed: Rather average for Reimu. Unfocused, amulets will attack different targets and when focused a boomerang gohei will fly around the screen attacking single targets. Once again it's a style suited for beginners, but I would like to see how it holds up against later bosses as her homing style is usually a make or break in the past. The bomb is relatively weak though, it being a melee bomb requires her to be unfocused, and sometimes is hard to remember to let go of shift so you can close your distance between the enemies.

Reimu Clean: A modification of her style from Ten Desires. Again, unfocused all of her amulets will attack up to 4 different targets. Focused however, the straightforward Persuasion Needles trajectory have become a bit wider, and when fully powered up will have one orbs worth of needles shoot past a boss. Fantasy Seal has been powered up from Ten Desires, and seems roughly as effective as it was in UFO.

Marisa Cursed: A bit of a departure for Marisa. Unfocused she will use her usual Illusion Lasers in the same trajectory as Ten Desires, two forward and two angled to either side when fully powered up, still lacking the penetration ability the lasers lost last game. Focused, she uses a very large Flame Thrower that gets thicker and longer as you reach higher power levels. The closer you are, the more damage the flames will do, thus will cause the player to be ultra-aggressive. The Black Master Spark is just a reskined Master Spark, and like in 10 desires you can change it's trajectory. I this style won't be as useable in higher difficulties as eventually bullet patterns will become too thick to stay in the opponents face.

Marisa Clean: Similar deal as Clean Reimu, merely a modification of her style from Ten Desires. Though a lot more has been changed. Focused, she will use her magic missiles. And when the missiles impact with an enemy without killing said enemy, they let out a Power Chip. Because of this, Marisa can gain and regain full power VERY easily, making her a good option for the Lunatic Level. Her bomb on the other hand, the Magic Absorber, is underpowered and the invulnerability time is outlasted by the bomb itself. On the flipside, after the Invulnerability aura runs out, the absorber turns bullets into P Chips you can collect. This will likely be the style used on most Perfect Runs, as it has the highest damage output out of all the other styles.

Sakuya Cursed: Her style seems to have evolved a bit since her absence. Unfocused she still has the highest spread shot out of anyone in the series, getting nearly a 90 degree angle of forward trajectory. Focused, her knifes shoot out in aimed strings, and explode if an entire string hits a single target. The more strings that hit a target, the bigger the explosion. Much of Sakuya's style here is keeping enemies in place, usually breaking several patterns and giving safe passage. Likewise, items fall slower for Sakuya so it's easiest for her to gain extra bombs and lifes. Her bomb is a clone of Nitori's Stealth Camouflage from Touhou 11, clearing the screen and seeing if you can survive for 30 seconds. If you are hit, the screen is cleared again, if not you are rewarded 3 bomb parts.

Sakuya Clean: The style clearly intended for score runs. Focused, Sakuya redirects all of her knifes in a very thin wave. You would think this to be the strongest focused shot, but it was nerfed a bit heavily and is easily outmatched by most of the other focused shots. Her bomb, what I assume to be The World, is mostly a clone of Yukari's Opposite of the Lack of Common Sense with a shorter time limit. Freezing all bullets on the screen and giving you roughly 3 seconds to graze off of everything you can before the screen is cleared. True this style may be eventually used in Score Runs, but lacks the power needed for an average playthough, and I likely won't be using it.

Overall, the characters just don't feel as weak as all the Ten Desires styles did, which is nicely complimented by the faster pace. Thankfully, it will be a test of reflexes again rather than a test of patience.

…Sakuya brings ZA WARUDO with her on her return?

Awesome. We don't have enough ZA WARUDO from our favourite (only?) time stopping knife throwing maid.

HOLY SHIT

HOLY SHIT IT'S ISSUN!

I don't know why it says Mima, but it does.

Yumemi? Is that you?

And if it is her, Zun is trolling the Mima fanbase HARD.

And Issun will probably try to get into Sakuya's chest only to find- knifed

As a side note, I think I finally found the trailer for Comiket 84's Video Game Releases:

If I remember correctly this is over a half hour longer than the previous conventions trailer, so it will take me a bit to watch it all myself. n_n;;

I think that's who it is.

You know why? It's not even because of the features, it's because she's wearing a lab coat, and I was reminded of the scientist from TH3, despite not remembering what she looks like…but they look exactly alike.

Yeah…the Mima fanbase got trolled hard.

Apparently it is out now.

SPOILERS

I've got an update: It's a new character based on Raijin.

Ok, I watched the video, and here's my response:

This game is hard. That 4th stage boss is annoying with its wily bullets, too wily to tolerate.

Stage 5 is made in hell. The bullets change direction and stuff, and then there's the perspectivefuck during the bossfight that probably makes this the most infuriating boss in history.

Also, the final boss is pretty hard too. It's back down to 6 spellcards, but while Touhou 13's final boss had spellcards that were a cakewalk if you know what you were doing, this one has some hard and gimmicky ones, and it ends with the lovechild of Rainbow Danmaku and Virtue of Wind God.

Now…the Extra stage is the easiest one I've seen in a long time, and the Extra boss is too. The extra boss has lots of attacks similar to ones in other games. The other bosses do too, but the Extra boss takes it to another level. The extra boss has some weird spellcards, but is mostly easy for an extra boss, but its survival spellcard is an abomination.

Here it is!

I tested it, it works. You know what sucks though? Full resolution still does not work.

Just attempted a normal all-continues playthough, and god fucking damnit. This game is a nightmare.

Stage 4: Somewhat longish stage. The laser + bursts are annoying, but manageable. The stage bosses are ANNOYING AS FUCK. New Bullet Types and all that, not to mention the patterns where so thick I had to bomb though nearly all the non-spells due to lack of a visible path.

Stage 5: Stage wasn't that hard actually. I used my first continue during the stage, but again, not too unmanageable if you aren't constantly making a break for the Item Gravitation Line. The boss is a fucking nightmare… I can't see the paths though her non-spells, and she flips the fucking screen around. FUCK YOU ZUN! ALL OF MY HATE!

Stage 6: Easier than Stage 5. Probably to allow you breathing room to get up to the item get line. The boss… was kinda fun actually. Even though each time the Lucky Mallet was used I had to just shout out "Whaaaaaaaat!?!". I used my last continue when she caused me to pull a Suika and grow to the size of a car. Making everything nearly undodgeable… >_<

Can't wait to see the extra boss, but that will take either waiting or work. The Work half coming after mother fucking chores.

…I can't help but notice the pads joke was used in this thread.

The fact that ZUN clearly can draw visible breasts – On the majority of the characters, even – means that joke should clearly die. Hell, SAKUYA HERSELF is one of those characters he drew with visible breasts.

I haven't tried this game yet – Not really in a position to download it, so….

>Zun clearly can draw
>Zun can draw

Incorrect.

Not sure if joking or just didn't read the whole sentence.

I got my ass handed to me by the Stage 5 boss. I was doing sort of ok until then. That boss is made in hell, and on the 2nd spellcard, when it flips upside down, I get tricked into thinking that left to right movement is inverted again.

Stage 4 boss is bullshit though. I hate hate hate those lasers.

Yeah no you're right, I got 8 words into it, suddenly went blind and couldn't read anymore, and managed to write that reply based on what little info I had.

Don't bother asking how I read this reply.

Ahem, Objection.

Actually, Zun has consistently drawn Sakuya as flat till this game.

Here is all of Sakuya's portraits Zun has drawn:

Flat

Flat

Flat

Flat

BOOBS

In my opinion we should actually keep making jokes about the damn inconsistent character designs. Maybe he will finally get drawing lessons, or hire the guy from Twilight Frontier to do the portraits for him.

Well, I played again, and this time I got owned at the part where the final boss whacks you with the magic mallet and you have to survive. Those hitboxes are something else.

I wonder how fast that Dutch guy is going to do a Perfect run on Lunatic.

EDIT: Umm guys…the 4th stage boss A is easier on Hard than on Normal…for real. The only attack of hers that's harder was already a cakewalk to begin with.

Also, after watching all the Hard Mode footage, it turns out that the final boss doesn't even have thicker bullet patterns on Hard: They just get faster.

The Dutch guy says that Lunatic in this game is equivalent to an Ultra patch

Just noticed something about the scoring system. Point Chip Value increases if you attack an enemy while focused, in addition to the graze multiplier. Not only that, the point chips you gain from a broken spell (when previously the enemies bullets would turn into negligible 10 pointers that gravitated at you) increases the Point Chip Value TREMENDOUSLY.

This really does shake the scoring system up a bit.

Have you seen what happens when you use Marisa B?

I first noticed it with Marisa B. But I checked the rest of the characters and it seems to be a universal trait. (Though at first sight it seems Marisa B has a higher rate, but I was playing with her at full power when I noticed it.)

Edit: And if you where referring to the endless supply of P Chips, yeah I saw that too.

Edit again: Now that I think about it, Sakuya might really be the best for score runs. Namley if you spend her bombs in the right spots entire screens turn into point value. Especially Sakuya A, as she can gain 2 screen loads a bomb.

Going back to the artwork-related question….

Maybe he's only just gotten good enough at drawing for it to happen consistently?

I mean, the only characters which could still be flat are…

1. drawn from the front and have something that is not clothing covering the chest area

2. The clothing makes it unclear

3. Marisa. (Seriously, even Reimu has them visible now… I guess it sucks to be you, Maris-Master Spark'd)

Let us not forget Suika, who is the flattest character in all of Touhou.

And mostly it's Marisa's attire that has been hiding her breasts (Noticeable in 11 and in 13 when her costume changes, you can tell her chest is more defined than it was before, Fairy Wars doesn't count as that comes after 10.5 in the timeline). The age of the characters are still questionable, but if it's "Mid-Teens" they are still growing. Not to mention they are wearing Sarashi's for Bra's. They are probably actually a size bigger than they visibly are.

It's pretty safe to say that Yuugi and Mamizou are as stacked as they appear to be.

Amazing how much one spellcard can tell us about exactly how human the youkai of Gensokyo look.

It's done!

I just got back from a hilariously bad run where I kept dying in the middle of stages.

And guess what? I 1CCed it. Using bombs to farm lives is cheap. If you could do that in Touhou 13, I'd have 1CCed it on Hard by now.

Also, I sadly has a fantastic failure on the end spellcard. I died right when the boss was at its lowest amount of health.

No luck for me thus far.

On the note of Game Releases, does anyone know if 天壌のテンペスト (Tenjou no Tempest/The Tempest of Heaven and Earth) has been uploaded anywhere yet?

Look at 54:53 of the game releases video to see what I am talking about. Same guys who made Mystic Chain.

How far did you get?

So…I did the Extra stage. It's not the hardest one I've ever done…but…fuck.

The boss isn't too hard, but the stage can go fuck a dick.

I think the hardest Extra Stage is Fairy Wars'. I'm lucky to make it to the midbosses.

I've reached Marisa, but I think I've only completed three spellcards.

The hardest one other than Fairy Wars is in UFO. Sure, the boss isn't too hard, but the stage is.

I haven't even got past stage 4 of UFO on a 1cc attempt yet… Wich isfurther than I've got in all other Windows games except 6 (where I've reached the same point), the Aya games (Can't even get past the second set of spellcards in StB, therefore I won't download DS), and the one that's only just come out as I can't really download it right now anyway. (Not to mention I tend to wait for translation before attempting to unlock an extra stage.)

Here is the furthest I've gotten in normal 1cc attempts:

EoSd: stage 4
PCB: I got to Yuyuko once with Sakuya
IN: I need to be ready with the bombs for Marisa, but can make it to stage 5…
MoF: Extra stage unlocked!
SA: Stage 5. Satori is a cheating bitch.
UFO: Stage 4. Gimmick bullets, gimmick bullets everywhere.
Fairy Wars: Wile I have used easy to unlock the extra stage, I am not doing well on normal.
TD: LAST. F**KING SPELLCARD. WITH NO RESOURCES TO SPARE. FFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

Satori's not that bad tbh, it's perfectly possible to take her down without making a single mistake, I've done it before.

She's still a cheating bitch for busting out Extra/Phantasm and StB spellcards even on easy, however.

You forgot the ones from the fighting games.

The ones from the fighting games are't known for being hard, though.