Touhou 13 announced - 東方神霊廟 ~ Ten Desires (demo is now out)

[KennyMan666]

Official blog post

After a year of 12.numbers games, we're finally getting a new main series game.

Four playable characters, we got - Reimu, Marisa and new mainstay Sanae, of course, and to make Sakuya fans rage, the fourth is none other than Youmu. Quite unexpected.

The fourth screenshot looks to me like there will be Hypers in this game, because that is what a Hyper looks like.

Also: Angled Marisa lasers, glowing items, and a story that is apparently about investigating spirits.

Playable demo is most likely going to happen at Reitaisai.

Excellent.

[Observer]

I see small skulls at the lower left corner of the screen... Indeed, I feel that percentage below the power could be a Hyper-like thing.

Or could ZUN be making cues to Crimzon Clover and adding a Spirit Mode or something akin to Break Mode? Obviously, not going to expect a wide variety of enemies (screens seem to show fairies and not much else).

Ah, well, let's see if improves things a bit compared to Touhou 12. And I wonder how many Madoka references there will be...

[KennyMan666]

What percentage? The third, grey line is the Graze counter.

[Observer]

What percentage? The third, grey line is the Graze counter.

Above the skull, there seems to be like a yellow bar (percentage for me, I'm too brainwashed by Crimzon Clover =P) and next to it there is a spirit icon thingie. Perhaps you have to fill that up and, bam, trigger "hyper loli mode" to break other lolis and stuff?

I got things mixed and, yeah, below the power it's the graze.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Hopefully it's fun unlike UFO.

It can be harder than UFO, but it needs to be in ways that aren't stupid.

[raigon50]

Woo! I was starting to wounder if ZUN was calling it quits.

[Snake]

At least Touhou fans get a new release of something they will enjoy (I assume) every year or two. No other shmup fans get that.

[Aisha]

What percentage? The third, grey line is the Graze counter.

Above the skull, there seems to be like a yellow bar (percentage for me, I'm too brainwashed by Crimzon Clover =P) and next to it there is a spirit icon thingie. Perhaps you have to fill that up and, bam, trigger "hyper loli mode" to break other lolis and stuff?

I got things mixed and, yeah, below the power it's the graze.

Yeah, I had the same impression. There are three icons around that skull which are colored blue, red, and green. I don't think it's a coincidence that those are also the colors that the new enemy type comes in. Shooting down those new enemies probably fills the respective icons, and once those are filled, the skull lights up and you can unleash a hyper.

Although, that seems simple, and one of the diary translations I read stated that the game system was supposed to be complex.

[KennyMan666]

After the horrible things that were the UFOs I really hope for something simple.

[Despatche]

Vivid sound and hybrid colors. Hype as usual.

At least Touhou fans get a new release of something they will enjoy (I assume) every year or two. No other shmup fans get that.

...CAVE?

[Elixir]

After the horrible things that were the UFOs I really hope for something simple.

donk



















donk

[Hair]

I thought this was already announced, but yeah I'm stoked. TH gets a lot of hate around these parts, and for some good reasons, but I find the games enjoyable. I'm at least psyched to get the demo and then may or may not buy the full game.

When is Reitaisai?

[Aisha]

I thought this was already announced, but yeah I'm stoked. TH gets a lot of hate around these parts, and for some good reasons, but I find the games enjoyable. I'm at least psyched to get the demo and then may or may not buy the full game.

When is Reitaisai?

Reitaisai is on March 13 (I wonder if that date is deliberate). The full game will probably appear at Comiket 80 near the end of August.

[Bananamatic]

incoming hype, brace for impact

[moozooh]

Aww, are those Abnormal Reco's small beetles? Adorable! (Why do Marisa's lasers not extend to the top of the screen?)

Hope there will be rank this time.

[Treasurance]

Youmu.

GET HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

also, Spell Practice

[Bananamatic]

one desire-stop making games

[BarfHappy]

Youmu.

GET HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

also, Spell Practice

who gets hyped for youmu ? she s no yuyuko...

one desire-stop making games

Fairies are with you.

[Treasurance]

who gets hyped for youmu ? she s no yuyuko...

fuckyouuuuuuu

Fairies are with you.

Touhou 12.8 - Cancel the Bullet

[JoJo]

At last Youmu gets a spot as a heroine, deserves it too, my favourite next to Sakuya.

Wonder if ZUN will do a few shoutouts to some more shumps.

[Hair]

Reitaisai is on March 13 (I wonder if that date is deliberate). The full game will probably appear at Comiket 80 near the end of August.

Thanks. Sweet, not a long wait at all for demo or full game.

I have another question: Since 12.8 was a normal TH shmup, why wasn't it just called 13? I thought the sequence was set so that the fighters and other non-standard shmups were fractions and the main games were whole numbers. Or was the ice bullet cancelling thing too much of a change from normal TH gameplay?

[Blackbird]

Or was the ice bullet cancelling thing too much of a change from normal TH gameplay?

Probably answered your own question, there =P.

[nZero]

Or was the ice bullet cancelling thing too much of a change from normal TH gameplay?

Probably because it was more of a fanservice side story with a different artist as opposed to The Continuing Adventures of Reimu and Marisa (and Friends)™

[Naut]

After the horrible things that were the UFOs I really hope for something simple.

Disregarding the fact UFOs are simple anyway, ZUN specifically said he complicated up the system more so the difficulty could be lowered.

[shadowbringer]

I have another question: Since 12.8 was a normal TH shmup, why wasn't it just called 13? I thought the sequence was set so that the fighters and other non-standard shmups were fractions and the main games were whole numbers. Or was the ice bullet cancelling thing too much of a change from normal TH gameplay?

ZUN made Aya for StB (but because having a playable newcomer would feel strange, according to him, he introduced her in PoFV first), because he thought of StB's gameplay while taking snapshots from his other games and thought that forcing a new gameplay on Reimu would feel strange, so he made a character who would have reasons to take photos.

Traditionally, (according to him) human characters are protagonists in the "main games" because they're more identifiable with (since, in the series' setting, youkai minds or pov are unfathomable or less similar), and because of the series' plot regarding humans solving incidents caused by youkai in non-lethal "spellcard battles", because humans and youkai must fight each other to keep their abilities from diminishing, which would make them more vulnerable to possible external threats (one example, imho, being Kanako from MoF, to an extent)

Bullet cancelling was present in IN and PoFV (if you don't count bullet cancels from boss takedowns :p).. and UFO (by killing UFOs :V)

edit: was present too in PoDD and LLS :p

[Master Bigode]

Wiki:
http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Ten_Desires

one desire-stop making games

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q125 ... d-1-37.png

[BPzeBanshee]

Damn, I was hoping this would be a sequel to Kiwami Shooting.

Don't hate me bro. =P

[KennyMan666]

The demo is here.

All the download mirrors ZUN has linked to are pretty much pounded to death, and the torrent link I hear is under a bit of a heavy load too, so here is a mirror of the torrent. If you can't torrent but still want it, PM me for a mirror of the setup file - I don't want that link to be public.

And it's a pretty good game.

There are indeed hypers, charged by collecting wisps. Wisps collected in hyper mode (which is actually called "Trance", but come on) are worth more. If you have a hyper ready and get hit, the hyper is automagically triggered for you, but it's only for the duration (the more charge you have, the longer you can hyper), and then you die. Very straightforward system, it's "shoot enemies, collect things, don't die" and the hypers. I find that welcome. Shot types are no longer, and have been consolidated - unfocused and focused shot are the two types now. For instance, unfocused Reimu is homing Reimu, while focused Reimu is needle Reimu. Unfocused Marisa is laster Marisa, focused Marisa is missile Marisa.

It's slightly lower difficulty than before, I find (on Normal, haven't played anything else), but there's no difficulty spike anywhere in the demo, so presumably it will be the classic stage 4 leap.

Two new characters, two old characters, apart from the four playables.

The circle boss health bars from Fairy Wars are back.

And that's what I have to say about it for now.

Definitely better than UFO.

[Observer]

Been playing the demo for the last two hours. Initial impressions are that it's definitely a step up from UFO and several steps back in terms of art, music (which is just the samey tunes ZUN's been churning for a while after Subterranean Animism) and the scoring.

edit2: some videos using Sanae in Normal.

Stage 1: http://youtu.be/Yfa6SK05Fw0
Stage 2: http://youtu.be/omGC1oYB3Wo
Stage 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw8erMhr7ak

Oh, boy, the scoring. It's Ketsui meets DOJ Hypers/BUREIKUMODO but without the awesome. It's just so underwhelming, the music changes and all but you just don't feel the "hell yeah, time to beat the shit out of whatever they throw at me, kakamu selah!" it's more like "oh, let's start spawning some ghosts/smilies for score. So, point blank shit to get ghosties and be able to cast the hyper and get ready to suffer a lot of terrible deaths. I used Sanae and her hitbox feels weird. Weird in capitals. WEIRD. Or maybe the butterfly bullets of the first boss (you know who she is) were modified, they just felt wrong.

Also, zombie loli.

Graphically, the game seems to run far better than UFO did and it definitely looks less blurry as well.

Overall, it was fine but I don't see myself trying to "do the Ketsui" in this game. I simply fucking hate the mega tiny bullets and how confusing things get. By Stage 4 your score probably goes to hell since the infinite clusterfuck of colourful death will push you to the very bottom of the screen.

And one death will severely screw you since powering down here HURTS. Enemies are stronger this time.

And yeah, lolis, it's not Crimzon Clover, play Mars Matrix, check Armed Police Batrider and up the irons.

[moozooh]

No, it's not Ketsui at all. It's Dangun Feveron in fact, as you have to point-blank everything before it has the opportunity to shoot you down. And since enemies are twice tougher than usual, you're in for the true DOJ-level methodicity of "follow this exact path or you're going to die AND lose points". And you also need to pick wisps up before they leave the screen, and quickly strafing to the POC and back won't cut it this time. (Also, is the POC higher than usual, or I'm really that much out of the loop?) Watch this become the most cruel Touhou scoring system devised to date. :D

I can't yet comment on how it works out since my piece-of-crap netbook here only allows to run the game at 50 fps, but I already see glaring flaws. For one, explosions from Marisa's missiles obfuscate everything at point-blank, making it impossible to tell if you're going to be hit by a bullet you won't be able to see. Also, Sanae sucks in this game. A revenge for overpoweredness in UFO?

Ok, a conclusive proof that Reimu is overpowered yet again, and the fact that point-blanking matters in this game. Watch carefully as my point item value climbs up when I get really close to the bosses. Btw, what is the hyper button?