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OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
SugarPunch Design Works (a YT channel known for their MK / Injustice / Netherrealm animation critique videos) recently played Touhou 15.5 on their channel. Unfortunately it's not quite like their normal analytical content (they've just been playing all sorts of random anime fighters for Christmas and this happened to be one of the games) and it's not quite a Fisticuffs video (rip SBF channel) though it's still a fun watch. The two players are also actual Touhou fans, even if they both don't seem to have kept up since Touhou 12 / 13.

 

CRQ

Member
Oct 25, 2017
153
lately I've come to realize I reread bomber grape doujinshi monthly

they're just too good I'm sorry I have no regrets

DDC best ost don't @ me
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
I'm past that awful multi-floor puzzle (that completely killed my motivation to play last time), and all the optional party members have been recruited so far. All I've got to do to progress is clear the Eientei fight, which has been pretty hard to figure out. I've even done a few "research runs" where I just test all three bosses (to see their elemental weaknesses, check out the damage types of their spells etc.) but they all have way too many different spells to account for. E.g. I can't just go "okay they all use PHYS AoE's so I'll set up PHYS tanks" because they can just choose to randomly use a MAG AoE that'll ruin everything.

The only "weaknesses" I've found are paralysis (all three bosses are somewhat susceptible to paralysis compared to other bosses) and a predictable behaviour in Kaguya's AI where she'll rebuff all her allies if they're debuffed. The second one's not really a weakness at all, but it's somewhat useful to abuse because if Kaguya's rebuffing then she's not destroying your team with AoE's.

I'm not really sure whether I'm missing something here, or if I just need to grind some more tbh.

DDC best ost don't @ me

I wouldn't call it the best but it's pretty damn good yeah. It's definitely one of the stronger modern era OST's imo.
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
What even is this dungeon layout

9Q0DaWi.png


Anyway, I'm currently up to 15F, though I'm not exploring it until this last boss on 14F (in the east) is over and done with. I've currently recruited Suika, also cleared 13F with the help of a guide (I suck at math, go sue me lol)

On the Eientei fight: I managed to clear it, partly with a few adjustments (like adding Tenshi) but mostly with a LOT of luck. My strategy was to keep all three bosses alive, but paralyzed and poisoned and then try to knock them off at the same time (or at least kill Reisen last, because she's least threatening / easily paralyzed compared to Eirin and Kaguya) and it... mostly worked.

Actually trying to keep all three alive is easy ironically enough because of Eirin's heal spell. Her healing Reisen and Kaguya lets you know when they're on low health, lets you avoid accidentally killing Reisen or Kaguya by accident (and eating a desperation spell to the face) and lets you know when to start wailing on Eirin (as Eirin has the most health of all three bosses). Once Eirin's down, Kaguya will go down quickly too (she has half of Eirin's health value, and even Eirin's healing can only do so much) leaving you with Reisen (who is not a problem if you have one the following characters still alive to paralyze her: Reimu, Cirno, Yuugi, Suwako or Komachi. It's even easier if you have two or even three paralysers to keep her down, like I did)

The luck based part mostly comes down to what Kaguya and Eirin are doing while you're trying to drain all three characters health down. Kaguya has several AoE's can cause problems (like Fire Rat Robe which will destroy Cirno), Eirin also has a few AoE's and a very problematic Magic Drain attack that can hit at the worst moments. I was lucky as Kaguya didn't use FRR, and Eirin mostly just used her single target spells against a buffed up Tenshi, but things can go bad pretty quickly if Eirin wants to be a jerk and sap all the SP off Patchouli after you just switched her in.

Tbh this was not my favorite boss to fight. The fact that Kaguya and Eirin (and also Reisen) have so many attacks that can screw up your party in so many ways (mana draining, poison, silence, multiple elemental AoE's) is way too much tbh, even the paralyze strategy doesn't work so well if Eirin decides to just never get poisoned or paralyzed (which happened a lot). The fight just feels way too random for my liking.

I'm hoping the later bosses are a bit less random / more consistent to handle (so more bossfights like Alice and Tam's Foe, less like Youmu and Eientei)
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,294
new jersey
At the Nikenme Radio AI event, Ruw made an announcement with ZUN that next year they will be trying to release some of the previous Touhou games on Steam next year. They plan to release a couple (2 or 3) of them, starting around the most recent unreleased titles, being Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, Impossible Spell Card, and Double Dealing Character.

Additionally, ZUN plans to attend Summer Comiket with a new work, and gives the sense that it might be a decimal game. He seems to be very motivated to do a bunch of Touhou stuff in 2019.

(taken from 4chan's /jp/ thread on ZUN's livestream last night)
 

shockdude

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,309
At the Nikenme Radio AI event, Ruw made an announcement with ZUN that next year they will be trying to release some of the previous Touhou games on Steam next year. They plan to release a couple (2 or 3) of them, starting around the most recent unreleased titles, being Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, Impossible Spell Card, and Double Dealing Character.

Additionally, ZUN plans to attend Summer Comiket with a new work, and gives the sense that it might be a decimal game. He seems to be very motivated to do a bunch of Touhou stuff in 2019.

(taken from 4chan's /jp/ thread on ZUN's livestream last night)
Nice. Good to have more Touhou on Steam.
 

CRQ

Member
Oct 25, 2017
153
Hell yes ISC is so good

DDC best ost of the modern era

I can't wait for ZUN to just drop a link to thcrap like "just wait for these nerds to translate it lol"
 

ibyea

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,163
I just played a few scenario from Violet Detector. It's my first time playing a photography Touhou game, and man it is weird. Takes awhile to get used to, but it's pretty fun. I don't like the way the teleport move has been implemented with the double shift. The social media angle to it us pretty funny.
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
I don't think I'm clearing Labyrinth of Touhou before the end of this year, but I feel like I'm getting close.

Some of the newer bosses have been on the easier side, with only Mokou, Orin and Flandre being any real challenge. Orin and Flandre felt pretty manageable with the right strategy (with Orin, don't jump into the last fight immediately; keep one knight alive and paralyzed and you can get lots of SP back with focus / switching; Flandre also got less intimidating when I started using Ran / Reimu's defense buffs for 2/3 of the fight, and then just dropped in quick attackers like Marisa and Nitori to finish her off)

Only with Mokou did I not really have a clear strategy to use. Her gimmick, besides health regeneration every turn, is complete poison immunity and that was a huge problem since my playstyle / strategy for most bosses is exactly that (inflict poison ASAP, then tank the hits. Poison works really damn fast in this game so it's pretty viable). Except for obvious attacker characters like Marisa, every character I've upgraded / leveled up is mostly customized to be tanky as well, so this was kinda awkward for me. Her fight ended up being pretty difficult to clear, though it was also really enjoyable too. It felt a lot like the early game bosses (before you unlocked Wriggle / poison as an attack option)

Only Yukari's stopping my progress now. Still unsure on what my strategy for her is gonna be.

WlIbEXc.png


(Apparently, your save / load portrait changes depending on your most used characters, so I guess this officially makes Chen my most used character ever)

At the Nikenme Radio AI event, Ruw made an announcement with ZUN that next year they will be trying to release some of the previous Touhou games on Steam next year. They plan to release a couple (2 or 3) of them, starting around the most recent unreleased titles, being Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, Impossible Spell Card, and Double Dealing Character.

Additionally, ZUN plans to attend Summer Comiket with a new work, and gives the sense that it might be a decimal game. He seems to be very motivated to do a bunch of Touhou stuff in 2019.

(taken from 4chan's /jp/ thread on ZUN's livestream last night)

That's good to hear. I also heard somewhere that the new book (that one with the plot about fireworks / danmaku festival I'm pretty sure I posted about) also got an approximate release date.

Tempest of the Heavens and Earth was recently released on Steam. It looks good; has anyone played it?

Haven't played this, sorry but this looks pretty legit.

I appreciate that it's more focused on characters from the second era (like Nue, Futo, Tenshi etc.). Now if only we could get more games focused around the current era
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
Seems like everyone decided to upload their stuff on NYE, since I've got a ton of new content from channels I'm subscribed to.



This (small) channel does speed drawings set to piano arrangements (also done by them). While they've mostly covered Touhou games, they've also dipped into ZUN's other works, covering tracks from Dolls in Pseudo Paradise, Akyuu's Untouched Score and even Seihou.



I can't remember if I've brought this up before, but this channel's been uploading a mish-mash of Dark Souls and Touhou. This newest video (with Kogasa, and to a lesser extent, Koishi) specifically seems to be a remaster of an earlier video (but with a bit more story, a few more jokes and improved animation). While not really made for English viewers, the videos can be enjoyed without knowing Japanese if you're reasonably familiar with both series.

xDarkshutter Puch, another MMD channel, uploaded this funny clip from one of their recent compilations (their channel has a pretty good upload rate but their videos aren't really for an English audience). Harpoonneet also uploaded an end of year video made of leftover clips.

EDIT: Also noticed this cute little clip, featuring Reimu and Aunn in a New Year themed video.
 
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SiG

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,485
It's around 9 bucks right now on Steam.

My God that
Marisa
fight... Never before have I felt like such a BADASS slowing down time and
weaving through her Master Spark
. This game really is like the perfect fusion of Mega Man X bossfights with Castlevania-style exploration/enemy placements.
 

CRQ

Member
Oct 25, 2017
153
Maybe I will in fact buy Touhou Luna Nights. Next week, lol.

Interesting that ZUN is using the name "Usami" rather than just "Sumireko". Wonder if there will be anything tying it to Renko and Merry's wacky adventures.

Or maybe it was just easier to write lol
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
Seems like some interesting stuff is currently going down in WaHH. I won't really spoil the current arc, though I will say that the other recent chapters that I recently caught up on have been pretty fun. Komachi and Tenshi have been great additions to WaHH (well, Komachi was in WaHH earlier but it seems ZUN recently remembered that she's buddies with Kasen lol).

Also might as well mention this cool character design analysis video of the Yorigami sisters from AoCF.
 

ibyea

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,163
I checked gameplay footages of Luna Nights. Wow it looks amazing! I think I am getting it once the open access period is over.
 
OP
OP
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Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
I completely forgot about this but, Hollow Song of Birds got a major update earlier this month.

HSoB is a danmakufu script by several programmers including ido (responsible for the Last Comer, Mystical Power Plant and other fan shooters) and raichu (who worked on Book of Star Mythology). I haven't gotten a chance to play it / check it out properly yet, but the game does allow you to play as Kaguya and, as with other ido titles, has a decent Touhou-style soundtrack by Wanwan. My favorite tracks so far are:




 

Dlent

Member
Nov 2, 2017
178
I bought and beat Luna Nights and that game is fantastic and I recommend it to everyone.
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
I started playing around with Hollow Song of Birds yesterday. I unfortunately can't make the game run consistently on my ancient computer. Even after disabling a lot of the special graphical effects in the options, it'd dip during dense boss spellcards or it'd freeze when the game was obviously loading in the boss or next level.

EEPDVFv.png


Despite this, I'm actually enjoying the game. Setting aside the inconsistent framerate and serious difficulty spikes around Stage 5 and 6, there's some really fun gimmicks and inventive bullet types. Also, as a bad player, I appreciate that there's no upgrading shot types (you're always at full power, even if you die). The Egyptian theme and bosses are also damn cool. And that music is great for a Wanwan soundtrack.

I'm not gonna go for a 1cc (framerate is way too big of a problem, though I'm not sure I'd clear it anyway) but I am gonna get the English patch, and try to complete the game with all characters (even if those clears aren't with only 1 credit)
 

SiG

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,485
I'm going to chime in and say Touhou Luna Nights is well worth it. Even if it didn't have the Touhou branding, it would still be considered a very solid game in its own right just because of its mechanics and boss fights.
 

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,332
Ibis Island
Congrats Touhou Era, you're now the community spotlight!

Insert joke about "U.N. Owen was her?" - Delete this after posting
 

SiG

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,485
Do you think TLN needs it's own thread?

This is one of these games that, even without the Touhou branding, would stand quite well on its own.
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
Just unlocked Kaguya by 1ccing the game on Easy

HSoB game is kinda nuts even on Easy difficulty tbh. I'm not sure I would have beaten it without the frame drops (at one point, a spellcard dropped the game down to like 12FPS, which was crazy. Took like 2 solid minutes to clear that one spellcard because the framerate was so slow).

Do you think TLN needs it's own thread?

This is one of these games that, even without the Touhou branding, would stand quite well on its own.

If anyone else wants to make a thread, then they can go ahead

(I haven't played the game myself, so it feels wrong for me to make a thread... also I should probably be cleaning up the OP as well)
 
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ibyea

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,163
Here is the gameplay video of Hollow Song of Birds, if anyone who hasn't seen it is curious how it plays:


Also, just from a brief look, the patterns here are very cool.

Honestly makes me think of how ZUN is lately in a creative slump when it comes to patterns.
 

Dlent

Member
Nov 2, 2017
178
I would consider making an OT for TLN, but I haven't made enough posts on this website. Definitely think it should have one though.
 
Oct 28, 2017
605
Hi, spotlit community! I just wanted to drop by to say something. For years, I'd disregarded Touhou completely because I didn't think it was for me... and that is still true! Bullet hell just isn't for me, and the art and character style just isn't either. It's totally not my kind of game.

HOWEVER

Touhou music RULES.

Strangely enough, it was this song that did it for me. It's not an official Touhou song or by ZUN at all. It was actually this fangame song of all things.



I think the composition just really grabbing me, together in addition to the fact that it's fanmade, that really shifted me all the way towards respect and a strange sort of appreciation for this bizarre little sphere of video gaming.

Y'all keep on keepin' on, Touhou fans.
 

SiG

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,485
If anyone else wants to make a thread, then they can go ahead

(I haven't played the game myself, so it feels wrong for me to make a thread... also I should probably be cleaning up the OP as well)
I don't know if it's too late to make an OP. What should it be then? LTTOP?

In any case, let me gather some media and see if I can make a nice thread for this game...
Hi, spotlit community! I just wanted to drop by to say something. For years, I'd disregarded Touhou completely because I didn't think it was for me... and that is still true! Bullet hell just isn't for me, and the art and character style just isn't either. It's totally not my kind of game.

HOWEVER

Touhou music RULES.
I strongly urge you to give Touhou Luna Nights a try. The game deserves the praise it's getting because the mechanics are just that fun.
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
Hi, spotlit community! I just wanted to drop by to say something. For years, I'd disregarded Touhou completely because I didn't think it was for me... and that is still true! Bullet hell just isn't for me, and the art and character style just isn't either. It's totally not my kind of game.

HOWEVER

Touhou music RULES.

Strangely enough, it was this song that did it for me. It's not an official Touhou song or by ZUN at all. It was actually this fangame song of all things.

I think the composition just really grabbing me, together in addition to the fact that it's fanmade, that really shifted me all the way towards respect and a strange sort of appreciation for this bizarre little sphere of video gaming.

Y'all keep on keepin' on, Touhou fans.

Thanks for dropping by!

I can respect people appreciating the music without wanting to dip into the games. I knew of Touhou for a while but a music cover is what actually got me to make the jump. It wasn't a fan made theme (it was a cover of what I would later learn is one of the most overrated Touhou tracks ever lol) but I still totally understand because I listen to a lot of the original fan compositions myself (I can't get enough of ZUN's compositions and the waiting between official games can be unbearable so yeah)

Anyway, I actually looked into the composer of that specific track you posted and they have a Soundcloud page (here's the SC version of their track as well). They seem to be fairly new (relative to other fan composers) but eh I figure it's worth mentioning if you like that track. Also, this was already in the OP, but I'd recommend giving this a quick watch as it briefly explains (and gives examples) of other Touhou music. It's more concerned with remixes of the official themes rather than original themes, but Touhou's official music is honestly pretty great (there's a reason why Touhou music is so popular to remix after all)



(There's like one slightly NSFW moment around 30/40 seconds in. It's brief, and it's the only moment, but here's your warning anyway)

Regardless of whether you check these out or not, thanks for posting!
 

Theorymon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,376
I bought Luna Nights a few weeks ago, its out of early access now right? Can't wait to dig in if so. I've taken a long break from Touhou games, but the idea of a Touhou metroidvania was too good to pass up imo!
 

Elodes

Looks to the Moon
Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,230
The Netherlands
Touhou spotlight!


I don't really know what to say, except that these games are genuinely fantastic and so much fun. Their music is undoubtedly the best videogame music that there is; I wish I knew other artists that created melodies as evocative and wild as Touhou's.
 

Deleted member 1484

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
355
Oh, Community Thread? Subscribed.

Only played Embodiment of Scarlet Devil but loved it sooo much. I should probably play the sequels...
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,294
new jersey
Oh, Community Thread? Subscribed.

Only played Embodiment of Scarlet Devil but loved it sooo much. I should probably play the sequels...
100% play Inperishable Night. It's soo good. Touhou games are super underrated, they're fantastic. Great cast of characters, interesting story, and fun gameplay.

Really wish it was more big in the west. It's a success story for all indie devs to look up too.
 

Radokat

Member
Oct 30, 2017
626
I just found that someone uploaded all Fantasy Kaleidoscope/Memories Of Phantasm episodes with English subs:



Don't know how i could miss this:)
 

Narumi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
253
Oh wow fancy seeing this up here.

In other news, my copy of Strange Creators finally came in the mail. Comes with a spell card mini booklet of every single character in every single game which is quite nice. (Mima who?). The focus this round is on the TD crew and Kokoro which makes me very pleased indeed.

And no one's discussing the latest revelation in WaHH? You guys sure are slacking.

Waiting on Grimoire of Usami to arrive.
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
In other news, my copy of Strange Creators finally came in the mail. Comes with a spell card mini booklet of every single character in every single game which is quite nice. (Mima who?). The focus this round is on the TD crew and Kokoro which makes me very pleased indeed.

And no one's discussing the latest revelation in WaHH? You guys sure are slacking.

I brought up the chapter earlier but no one really responded lol

Since we're now on the topic

I'm still waiting to see what happens next but not gonna lie, I actually prefer the loook oni Kasen over regular Kasen. It's weird because the few times they've teased her horned look in WaHH, it's always looked really bad. But it looks great in this chapter. It has to be the extra additions to her design (like the long nails and the extra chains), because it's made me realize how bland regular Kasen is lol

Also, oni Kasen (or rather Kasen's arm manifesting itself as past Kasen) really makes me think WaHH might be coming to an end soon tbh. I hope that it's not the case, because WaHH has been really great since Tenshi started appearing, but yeah

Also, you bringing up Strange Creators reminded me that Clarste translated this recently. It's a diegetic review of the TD cast done in pairs (with Reimu / Marisa, Byakuren / Miko and Mamizou / Kokoro).
 

Dlent

Member
Nov 2, 2017
178
I don't remember, but is that severed demon arm from way earlier Kasen's, or unrelated?
 

Haganeren

Member
Oct 28, 2017
89
I really want the new WAHH to come out ! Actually, the three fairy story is a little interesting too it's just.. Quite less than the other one.
I am a little less hyped by the game since i didn't liked Touhou 16 too much (even Touhou 15.5 seemed a little too "seemy" with the other ones) but i won't lose heart since i absolutely loved Touhou 15 mainly for the story, concept of patterns and musics. ( I really found the concept of "pure damnaku" really cool and completly out there.

If people like fan made content, i always loved this one :


Open it in Youtube if you want to see the follow up, it's like Yotsuba X Touhou.
 

CRQ

Member
Oct 25, 2017
153
So much activity, hooray for the spotlight!

look fellas I just gotta say I love FELT so much, I could listen to their music forever
 

Theorymon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,376
Yo does anyone have any particulalry good Touhou fangames to reccomend, especially shooters (but not limited to them)? Since the main series is bianual now it seems, I gotta find a way to scratch that same itch while waiting! I'm probably gonna try out Hollow Song of Birds a least.
 
OP
OP
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,355
The Mods giveth, the Mods taketh away it seems(eth)

Yo does anyone have any particulalry good Touhou fangames to reccomend, especially shooters (but not limited to them)? Since the main series is bianual now it seems, I gotta find a way to scratch that same itch while waiting! I'm probably gonna try out Hollow Song of Birds a least.

I'm only recommending games I've played but: for shooters, there's Fantastic Danmaku Festival and Shoot Shoot Nitori: The Golden. Also if you enjoy HSoB, consider looking at the other scripts made by the different creators (e.g. White Names Spoiled Past, Riverbed Soul Saver etc. the TH Wiki page on HSoB has more details). Also also, I haven't got around to playing it yet, but Azure Reflections seems to be a solid (horizontal) shooter.

For other games, I liked Touhou Rhythm Carnival, Touhou Soccer and Labyrinth of Touhou 2 (I really like LoT1 but I don't think that's for everyone tbh, LoT2 has some good QoL changes). Also, I've enjoyed my time with Genso Wanderer so far (though you should probably get get the updated rerelease, Genso Wanderer Reloaded).

Also also, Luna Nights just came out and seems to be really, really solid. SiG made an OT for it here


(Also also also, I just noticed basically all my suggestions are in the OP. I need to play more fangames...)
 

lucentcrowe

Banned
Feb 11, 2019
35
Touhou era!~

Ive nursed a vague interest in touhou since uh. 8 or 9 years ago? But I never made the jump to really looking into the series or trying to play one of the games, always assuming the stg gameplay wasn't for me.

I'm playing Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and it's really fun! I'm on Easy and as it's my first Danmaku I'm having a healthy bit of struggle. I'm mostly stuck on consistently clearing Cirno's first Spell Card, the icicle one. I downloaded the Touhou Community Remapper ahk tool so that I can use focus with Lctrl instead of Lshift, and that helped. I also used my first Bomb on the second part of it and cleared it without dying for the first time. Now the furthest I've reached is Hong Meiling's last phase. Well, what I think is her last phase.

I downloaded a fangame that's intended as a teaching tool for beginners called Moedan. I don't really like the music or the super bright colors much so far, but playing as Flandre is cute.

I just started reading Forbidden Scrollery. Is that a good manga to start with or is there another ZUN work I should read first?

I also downloaded Fantasy Maiden Wars Scarlet, a Super Robot Wars inspired fangame. And Mystical Chain, The Genius of Seppheiros, Genso Wanderer Reloaded, and Labyrinth 2 plus. I added Luna Nights(!), Scarlet Curiosity, Tempest of Heavens and Earth, and Antinomy of Common Flowers to steam wishlist to watch for sales.

I'm trying to do Era's 52 games challenge, and now it looks like I might cram some Touhou for it!