Phantasmagoria of Flower View at Himeya Soft........

postman · Post by **postman** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:02 am

http://www.himeyashop.com/index.php/cPath/62_63

$26 bucks plus shipping..........

Go Get!!!!!!

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:23 am

Well, if the eBay seller, "palet_th" (Palet mail service division), is going to sell it. It would be much cheaper. "palet_th" has got all ZUN's previous titles on sale at his eBay store right now, and most of them are just US$18.

I think there is a great chance that "palet_th" would have "Phantasmagoria of Flower" in stock later.

The price has risen a lot, I reminder buy ZUN's PCB from "palt_th" for $12 early this year...

Dewclaw · Post by **Dewclaw** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:36 am

I don't shop at himeya, but if I remember correctly palet's shipping prices are pretty extreme though. At least if you live over in north america.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:47 am

Dewclaw wrote:I don't shop at himeya, but if I remember correctly palet's shipping prices are pretty extreme though. At least if you live over in north america.

Himeya's shipping prices are higher. The cheapest shipping at paletweb is 6 or 7 dollars, but the cheapest shipping at Himeya is 9 dollars. Paletweb has cheaper prices and shipping for the first 3 windows Tohou games.

http://www.himeyashop.com/shipping.php
http://www.paletweb.com/selectpage.asp?code=9900000259

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 2:07 am

I just got a reply from "palet_th":

palet_th wrote:Shanghai Alice sold "Touhou Kaeidzuka" only in the comic market.
We cannot sell this item by the promise with Shanghai Alice until the middle of
September even if we have it.

We will list it to our webshop in the middle of September.

So they have an agreement with ZUN that they would only sold their stock online after the comic market event.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 2:16 am

SAM wrote:I just got a reply from "palet_th":

palet_th wrote:Shanghai Alice sold "Touhou Kaeidzuka" only in the comic market.
We cannot sell this item by the promise with Shanghai Alice until the middle of
September even if we have it.

We will list it to our webshop in the middle of September.
So they have an agreement with ZUN that they would only sold their stock online after the comic market event.

Are doujin games usually sold in book or comic stores? What happens in the US is that sometimes bookstores get manga before comic book stores. I'm glad that paletweb will be getting the game.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:06 pm

Well, Palet Mail Service has "Phantasmagoria of Flower View" for preorder at their web store now. It only cost US$18 !!!

http://www.paletweb.com/selectpage.asp?code=00020

They also got other great game to offer, my personly picks are:

MELTY BLOOD
ElePaper Action
MIKAGURA
and all the others ZUN's titles !

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:14 pm

I'm tempted by this, but hesitant at the same time...I love Zun's stuff in general and would like to support him, but for me this latest game feels the most "derivative" of all the stuff of his I've played thus far...while Embodiment, Cherry, and Imperishable all had a unique feel about them (despite being "inspired by" other titles), Phantasmagoria felt to me almost exactly like Twinkle Star Sprites, just more manic. That's not necessarily a "bad" thing, but considering that I already own the Saturn version and have already broken down and ordered La Petite Princesse despite it supposedly having much the same stuff as I already mentioned, I don't know if springing for basically a third copy of TSS is in my wallet's best interests...guess I'll wait and see, for now.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:24 pm

Hmmm...I just got an email from Palet, which mentions that not only are they carrying Zun's games, but they also apparently have some exclusive trinkets packaged with them...they look like some kinda bookmark/sticker-type thingy. Each game or soundtrack from Zun, if you pay a few bucks extra, includes one of the things, each item has a different character on it. Zun fans or collectors might be interested...

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:37 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:I'm tempted by this, but hesitant at the same time...I love Zun's stuff in general and would like to support him, but for me this latest game feels the most "derivative" of all the stuff of his I've played thus far...while Embodiment, Cherry, and Imperishable all had a unique feel about them (despite being "inspired by" other titles), Phantasmagoria felt to me almost exactly like Twinkle Star Sprites, just more manic. That's not necessarily a "bad" thing, but considering that I already own the Saturn version and have already broken down and ordered La Petite Princesse despite it supposedly having much the same stuff as I already mentioned, I don't know if springing for basically a third copy of TSS is in my wallet's best interests...guess I'll wait and see, for now.

Phantasmagoria of Flower Lane is actually a follow up to Phantasmgoria of Dim Dream for PC-98. Strangly enough, Phantasmgoria wasn't the first Tohou to play like Twinkle Star Spirtes, Dim Dream was. If anyone has played it, how does Dim Dream compare to Flower Lane? Where can I find screenshots of Dim Dream?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:51 pm

Does Dim Dream play in the same manner as TSS, with the split screen and all that? I wonder when it was made...as far as screens and whatnot I'm not sure where (if anyplace) you'd find those, though I believe that Maidens of the Kaleidoscope had a link to an emulator and roms for some of Zun's pre-Windows games...not sure if it still does though.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:56 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:Does Dim Dream play in the same manner as TSS, with the split screen and all that? I wonder when it was made...as far as screens and whatnot I'm not sure where (if anyplace) you'd find those, though I believe that Maidens of the Kaleidoscope had a link to an emulator and roms for some of Zun's pre-Windows games...not sure if it still does though.

I don't know. It's hard to find info about the game, but from what little I could find, it says it plays like TSS. That site doesn't have the roms anymore either.

Edit: I found some screens for the game at shmup.com. From the looks of it, it's definatly two screens like TSS. http://www.shmup.com/index.php?page=fiche&id=696

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:07 am

Touhou 03, plays as TSS, split screen, and all taht stuff ...
problem with it, is that it didnt sell much like other touhou games, so ZUN dumped the idea for some time ... as far as i know, it seems like ZUN likes this TSS game style than the other one (Spell Card and stuff) **Thx, AONA for lettin me know about this**

TH03, was released in 1998 or somethin like that (i ahve to check on game to see th release date), and even tho, i preffer the SpellCard gamestyle, i still enjoy this ones, since you can invite a friend to play it with you, and have some funny hours at it.

the ROMs ... there were a link for all of them at Maidens of Caleidoscope, but for some legal issues, they had to take them off ...

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 8:41 am

excuse my ignorance but what does "Dojin" mean as a game category?

i am apparently ignorant about this nice little market for PC only shmups. ive never heard of any of these games anywhere but here.

anyone care to enlighten me?

Tychom · Post by **Tychom** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:09 pm

Daigoro wrote:excuse my ignorance but what does "Dojin" mean as a game category?

From Wikipedia:

Dōjin soft (short for "software") are video games created by Japanese hobbyists, more for fun than for profit; essentially, the Japanese equivalent of shareware video games. Most of them are "fan works", based on pre-existing material, but some are entirely original creations. They are almost always exclusive to the PC, but a few notable exceptions also exist for the Dreamcast, because of its very weak copy protection.

Like other shareware games, dōjin soft are typically available in "demo", "trial", or "体験版" form for free on the internet, with full versions available for purchase. Most dōjin soft sales occur at anime and video game conventions, however, with some titles selling well enough that their creators can make a full-time job out of their "amateur hobby".

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 1:56 pm

what cant wikipedia tell me?!

thanks, that explains it all quite nicely. im interested.

anyone have any reccomendations for a Dojin noob?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 2:02 pm

I'd definitely recommend the Shanghai Alice games, made by the same guy who did the game mentioned in this topic: their titles are "Embodiment of Scarlet Devil," "Perfect Cherry Blossom," and "Imperishable Night." I also like "Bike Banditz" a lot. There are plenty of others too, but those are my personal favorites.

To find the demos for each of these and a bunch more go to www.shootthecore.com and find the link to the PC Shmup Database. You might also want to head over to Maidens of the Kaleidoscope (you can find their address if you Google 'em), they cover a lot of stuff about the Shanghai Alice games.

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 2:07 pm

ah cool. i was just about to come back and edit my post to say that i should just go search up some demos.

thanks for the help. im going to check some stuff out now.

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 11:02 pm

could anyone possibly point me in the direction of a demo for one of these games?

ive tried a few links on Zuns website, but im not sure what im looking for.

thanks for any help.

Eltegantis · Post by **Eltegantis** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 11:44 pm

Here are direct links to all the demos. They're mostly compressed in .lzh format archives, so use something like Winrar to extract them.

Phantasmagoria of Flower View (vs. shooter):
http://mirror11.fuzzy2.com/zun/kaei_ver002.lzh

Immaterial and Missing Power (pseudo-official fighter, 110 MB!):
http://www.tasofro.net/arc/th075_t2.zip

Imperishable Night:
http://mirror11.fuzzy2.com/zun/eiya_tr003.lzh
http://mirror12.fuzzy2.com/zun/eiya_tr003.lzh
http://mirror13.fuzzy2.com/zun/eiya_tr003.lzh

Perfect Cherry Blossom:
http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/data/soft/youmu_tr011.lzh

Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (requires language for non-Unicode programs to be set to Japanese):
http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/data/soft/kouma_tr013.lzh

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 2:27 pm

great, thanks.

i think i may have downloaded one of those, but maybe just wasnt extracting it correctly.

ill get to work on em now.

*edit: i just played Perfect Cherry Blossom for the first time.

pretty damn cool! i need to do some more practicing and maybe find some faqs for these games (no idea what that slow button is for if i can just slow down by holding down fire), but im interested in buying one or more of ZUN's games for sure now.

very cool stuff! thanks for the help.

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 4:53 pm

the Slow button allows u to go ... uh ... slower, so that u can dodge bullets better (trust me, theres times when u WILL need to use this button) ... that button its even more usefull in Imperishable night than in PCB, since in addition to slowin YOUR movements, it gives you the ghost mode in IN (meaning, you change your char for the secondary player char when u press and hold the Slow button) ...

well, if you want more info about this, head to shrine maiden's forum ... theres lots of info about that matter there.

about buyin them... Himeya and Playasia (and many other online stores) have them ... so, its just a matter of huntin them on online stores.

now, if you like ZUNs work, i'd like to recomend you another great doujin maker, Murasame AEju, the maker of the great games Gundemonium, Gundeadlignè, Royal Edoma Engine and his latest installment, Hitogata Happa .... try the demos, and lemme know what do you think about them ... www.murasame.com (warning, the website its in japanese only).

there are MANY doujin circles, and MANY good doujin STGs ... but with ZUN and Murasame's work, you've got plenty to try on for some time.

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 6:25 pm

great, thanks for the reccomendation.

some cool looking games on that page. ill let you know how i like them after i try a few.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:36 am

Daigoro wrote:pretty damn cool! i need to do some more practicing and maybe find some faqs for these games (no idea what that slow button is for if i can just slow down by holding down fire), but im interested in buying one or more of ZUN's games for sure now.

Depending on how you set the game up in the options menu, you may or may not need the "slow" button at all: I forget exactly what the option is called (it's something like "Shot Slow"), but if that's set to "on," then you're able to slow down your character just by holding down the shot button, but you have to tap the button for your "regular" shot, like in a lot of Cave games and such. If the option is set to "off," though, you still use your "regular" shot when you hold down the fire button, and you have to use the separate "slow" button to slow down and condense your shot. Neither setup is really "better" than the other, it's just a matter of personal preference. But yes, the button does have a purpose, heh.

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:02 am

ah ok thanks. that helps.

i guess its set to default on the demo then, because holding down the shot button slowed me up with no visible change in what my shot was doing (i was expecting Donpachi type lasers).

thats where the confusion was from. i think i like the two button setup the best.

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 4:54 pm

its all a matter of preference, i like the 3 button setup the best, specially in IN, since, when ur tappin the slow button while facing bosses, u have a slight power improvement (u can kill bosses in less time...) now, if you preffer milkin the bosses, neither setup its the best... again, just a matter of prefferences.