/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>I am new to this series but now that I have finally caught up it is time for me to review a game in its 0.01a stage! Surely I will be popular now!

Agreed on the music, sounds like zun just slapped it together. No PARTY@MYUNDERGROUNDHOUSE here.

ZUN can redeem himself if he drops the whole danmaku rule bullshit.

I actually agree on music, he may be able to redeem himself but so far it's all been subpar for him.

The third boss makes up for everything bad in this game

Music's shit, but this is the most fun I've had with a Touhou game.

(DO NOT STEAL)

Music is terrible

>>2206490
thats what everyone said about SA's music at the start too. Then people actually listened to the tracks for a bit and realized that they're awesome.

Aw come on guys, if the third boss didn't exist, we wouldn't have this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA3EJ5Fi4GE

>>2206516

>>2206522
Eh, I dunno about that.

Nazrin's theme is pretty cool, but MoF still has my favorite soundtrack.

>(DO NOT STEAL)

Third boss theme is not that bad

>>2206522
Listen to Parsee's themes... FUCK THAT SHIT WAS AWESOME!!

It looks pretty, but the UFO system is distracting and the punishment for deaths is much too harsh.

The boss and stage patterns weren't too inspiring, either. A couple of patterns were fun to dodge, and I liked stage 1, but lots of them had far too much random dogding to be fun and not enough opportunities to puzzle out the card and apply more advanced techniques. Every boss also seems to be a showcase for some attack using some gimmicky new bullet sprite; those crystals on stage 1, asteroids on 2, and the BROFISTs on 3. That's fine occaisionally, but for EVERY boss?

I am enjoying this game except for the fact that it rapes you sideways if you die.

I can't comment on lunatic yet, but hard mode is incredibly fun. Umbrella Bitch's last spellcard reminds me of something from an Extra stage. And not in a whiny "bawww it's too hard!" kind of way, just the way it's designed.
Well, that's what it reminds me of, anyway. At any rate though, it's fantastic.

>>2206588
Yeah, that's the best spellcard in the game.

>Music: the worst ZUN has ever performed.

This is true. It's all plinkety-plonk that could come from a random generator.

>>2206588

I agree, I'm having a blast with hard. Lunatic is pretty bullshit though, especially stage 3.

The music isnt really catchy this time, but not too bad either.
The graphics are fine, i like the Sanae sprite. But the background graphics suck, just boring. The Brofist is awesome though.
The gameplay is okay, it seems a little more difficult than SA. I dont really like the UFO system, its too distracting and when the blinking ones just change colors before you collect it FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
Sanae A seems to be a bit too powerful compared to the rest.

>>2206614
Brb, designing a Touhou random music generator.

I dunno Anon. I know you don't play many STGs. Especially since a few of you say that IN is the best due to the number of playable characters.

I'm not sure if I can take a review by you seriously.

So, I hear there's a guy boss in this

confirm/deny/pics

>>2206656
IN is the best because of the wonderful level design and such shit. I'd be happy if Youmu was the only character.

>>2206688
It's true, but acceptable because he's a cloud. and BROFIST

>>2206714

I gotta admit that the stage three boss is hilarious.

>>2206714
>>2206733

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA3EJ5Fi4GE

>>2206656
>Especially since a few of you say that IN is the best due to the number of playable characters.

Of course it is. It has the most content, the most features and some of the best music. Anything else is trivial details.

>>2206779
I still don't understand why ZUN didn't keep the option to practice individual spellcards in games past IN.

>>2206798

Because he's fucking lazy, that's why.

That mode wasn't just "yo dawg I herd you like capturing cards so I put Shoot The Bullet in your regular touhou game", it also served as a cool collection of every card in the game, complete with neat little comments. Capturing cards seems so pointless and unrewarding without it.

The fact you did graphics and music first lead me to believe your opinion on STGs is worthless. Have a nice day.

I know none of you are going to believe this, but I play Touhou games for the story.

>>2206814
>Capturing cards seems so pointless and unrewarding without it.

This is such bullshit. How the fuck is capturing Scarlet Meister during a 1cc lunatic run LESS rewarding than if you capture it during spell practice where you can just replay it over and over and over again out of context?

>>2206825

Fuck your worthless opinion, tourneyfag. You're probably one of those retards who like Mushihimesama.

>>2206798

It helped people take less time practicing, and I get the feeling that ZUN has been trying to drive away less-able fans recently in the hope of reducing the number of secondary fans. Look at STB, the insane last card on Easy MoF, and the raw difficulty of SA.

What I don't like is the arbitrary fake difficulty way he has of doing it; is, for instance, making continues utterly worthless (two lives restart, no power... good luck retrying Stage 6 to get it availible for Practice with that) really adding to the game in any way? And doesn't he realize that that secondary fans are by definition the ones who don't care about the game, anyway?

My main complaint with it is the UFO system. It's the only fucking way to get bombs/extra lives/a score that doesn't suck, but you usually end up sacrificing a life just waiting for them to turn the right color and chasing them down. Also, they're UFOs. Since when is Touhou a standard science-fiction shmup?

>Not a single track stands out, the worst ZUN has ever performed.
TASTE AND OPINONS

I don't remember any theme catching my attention in MoF and SA.
UFO works somehow better for me.

>>2206859

Since KoG made his Alice in Spaceland series

>>2206852
Mushihimesama is a fine game dear friend.

>>2206848

Because without the spell practice modo, why the fuck would I even BOTHER capturing anything?

You gotta realize that for a lot of people, when they play the regular mode, the only thing they give a shit about is survival. Maybe collecting score items. Capturing cards is something I don't actively attempt, or even notice unless there's the spell practice mode. There is no reward in it without the spell practice modo.

>>2206869

No game where the danmaku has only a single color can be fine, old chap.

Touhou games have art in their patterns. Mushishitmesama only has a huge wall of FUCK YOU, PLAYER after another. No doubt dodging it takes skill, but so does inserting foreign objects into one's urethra and that doesn't make it fun.

This all in my respectful opinion of course, you are free to enjoy any strange thing you like, good sir.

>>2206879
The reward is not wasting a bomb or live.

>>2206852
Yes, I do. Although being an elitist, a "tourneyfag," is what makes my opinion superior to yours, especially when sticking up for something. Your opinion is baseless and infantile, it fails to appreciate anything other than face value. That's sad, Anon.

>>2206857
>I get the feeling that ZUN has been trying to drive away less-able fans recently in the hope of reducing the number of secondary fans. Look at STB, the insane last card on Easy MoF, and the raw difficulty of SA.

It's the opposite. He figured that his games don't have that influence on fandom except for spawing memes like Zombie Reimu and Cho-Marisa.
Since the secondary people won't care either way, he's trying to make the games more enoyable for the hardcore player crowd.

>>2206852

Japanese ZUN likes Mushihime. Remember, Touhou is a game series made by a STG_Expert (over 1,000 played). So you can't insult us STG-tards without insulting Japanese ZUN himself.

>>2206798
>>I still don't understand why ZUN didn't keep the option to practice individual spellcards in games past IN.

Because he realized it was a silly and pointless feature. The bro knows what makes a STG interesting, and spellcard practice is not one of them (just like having 1000 playable characters).

>>2206894
Sir, I would wager you have never played the game you are critiquing. Again (I assume you're the same poster), your opinion seems to be about what looks nice or sounds nice, irregardless of the fact the game underneath, what is actually the art in regards to a video game, is better than anything in the touhou series.

>>2206905
I'm not sure how that's any different from what was originally said.

CAVE vs. Touhou, Go.

Stage 1 boss patterns: Noncards suck, spellcards are fun on Hard or higher.
Stage 2 boss patterns: Shit.
Stage 3 boss patterns: AWESOME.

>>2206920
>The bro knows what makes a STG interesting to a tiny self-absorbed circle-jerk of STG enthusiasts who make maybe one percent of his fans, and spellcard practice is not one of them (just like having 1000 playable characters).

You sound like those faggots who oppose removing diagonals from fighting game inputs because it would let the "scrubs" play.

>>2206920 Hey guys, my opinions on what makes a game fun are objectively true and right, and your opinions suck!

Okay.

>>2206825
> The fact you did graphics and music first lead me to believe your opinion on STGs is worthless. Have a nice day.
A master of rhetoric presents the most important matters last.

>>2206798
Spell practice only enables bullshit micromemorization static cards. IN is the worst Touhou, and spell practice is largely to blame.

GTFO 2hu CANCER. LEARN HOWTO PLAY REAL GAMES, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY TO TREAT THEM FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE, MERELY GAMES, VIDEOGAMES IN PARTICULAR, AND NOT GODLY ARTIFACTS YOU BUNCH OF DRUNKEN FAGGOTS.

>>2206879

Sorry, but this makes absolutely no sense.

>Maybe collecting score items. Capturing cards is something I don't actively attempt

I assume you play Touhou games because they are fun and challenging. Capturing spellcards is both. And yes, there are times when that isn't an option and you simply have to bomb, so I can sympathize. But as an example, say a person plays PCB using Sakuya and bombs at every possible opportunity...how is that 1cc rewarding at all? Shouldn't that person feel like they just cheesed their way through the most interesting parts of the game?

>>2206991

How does it do anything of the sort? All it does is let you play the pre-existing spellcards individually. If I were to code a card from this game into a single level in Danmakufu, would it magically become a "bullshit micromemorization static card"? It lets people just play a few fun patterns for a short while without getting bogged down in a full stage, and it lets people practice a tough card until they get it without going through the whole stage each time.

For the music part im hoping for the other levels. SA too had the best music in the later levels.

>>2206991
Spell practice only enables fun. IN is the best Touhou, and spell practice is largely to thank.

>>2207027
Both stage two and three had great tunes, both for stage and boss.

>>2206905

Except "Secondary Fans" is not a direct overlap with "People who aren't so hot with Touhou". The hardcore already have two difficulty settings, with more cards in them to boot; let the mediocre have a level as well.

>>2206926
Not the fag you responded to, fag- but Mushihime is simply fucking boring. It's about as generic as a bullet hell game can possibly be.

When it comes down to it, newfags and HARDCORE GAMERZ, the only thing that matters is whether or not the game is fun to play. While you fuckheads are arguing about the difficulty, how much THE GAME SUX NAO, or I PALYED MUSHIHIMESAMA AND ITS BETTR DAN DIS, I'll be getting some quality entertainment out of it.

>>2207024
>It lets people just play a few fun patterns for a short while without getting bogged down in a full stage
>without getting bogged down in a full stage

Bogged down. By a full stage. You mean 5. fucking. minutes?

Well, my own review would be completely opposite, actually...

Music: Nothing completely outstanding, but nothing that jumps my ears as being bad. Seems ZUN went for a happy medium, instead of the whole "SA demo has two songs worth it on the whole". This makes me happy.

Graphics: Best graphics in the series yet. This is probably the first time in Touhou that I feel the game flows and I'm flying with my character, instead of being static over a parallax circuit. The bomb effects are cool, and seeing Master Spark in all its glory made me giggle like a kid with a new toy.

Gameplay: The UFOs are distracting as all get out, and I keep dying due to greed by trying to get them before killing the enemies so it'll collect more. But the game itself is very fun, and the multitasking of the UFOs actually force me to pay attention. The patterns run the gamut from completely uninspired to pretty friggin' cool. Above that, the game seems to "flow" significantly better" than usual.

All in all... if ZUN improves on this as much as the last three stages improved on SA's demo, I might just have a new favorite Touhou game.

Quality work OP. 9/10.

>>2207064

For someone who wants to play a select few 15-20 second cards (ie. the FUN patterns, not the samey stage one) several times, then yeah, that doesn't really represent a significant return on investment.

>>2207086
>"SA demo has four great songs and three ok songs"

>>2207024
The spell practice isn't directly to blame, but once you've made spell practice it would be a waste if nobody used it, so there are many spellcards that are near impossible at first but easy if you memorize an exact route in spell practice. "Fujiyama Volcano" is a perfect example - I don't believe anyone could capture it on their first attempt, but when you've memorized a route it's trivial.

the game is good and fun fags

also is just a fucking demo

>>2207023

I of course attempt to conserve lives and bombs because that's an inherent part of survival. But if it leads to cards being captured, I don't notice or care. During a regular game, a card is just an attack you gotta survive, one out of dozens and dozens, not in any inherent way different from the nameless attacks during the pre-boss stage.

During spell practice, the card is the whole game. It gets to be the star of the show for a moment. It has a name (too hard to read during normal play because you're busy staying alive). It has a personality that doesn't get lost among dozens of other attacks. And you get a neat little "album" of the attacks you have captured, and you get to try and improve their individual scores.

Yes, mechanically speaking nothing has changed: it's still technically the same card. But it's so much more interesting and rewarding. It's a psychological effect and fun is all about those.

I remember the names of almost all attacks in IN. Out of the other games, I only remember a handful - perfect freeze, maze of love, eternal meek.

Stage 3 song is the only good track.

>>2207055
My argument was never that Mushihimesama was better and you should play that instead, I just had to stick up for it.

Seeing people say Mushi is bad because it’s not "pretty," and that UFO is bad because it doesn’t have pointless features or such great music, should be annoying to any STG fan; newbie or hardcore.

>>2207116
Capturing spellcards greatly helps survival in PCB, because it improves cherry item value, so yet get more borders. I remember more card names from PCB than IN.

>>2207064
Arguably playing the same 5 minutes over and over for half a day is only mildly entertaining.

I don't even know why you people raised up on easy console games bother to touch these games at all. If all you're going to do is RAAAAAGE at how hard something, quite simply you are a scrub and should go back to your JRPG's, and give yourself that empty gratification of time invested=skill, no matter your piss-poor reaction times.

>>2207130
Presentation is always an important part of a game, even for STGs.

>>2207116
Well, I get bothered whenever I start a PCB game and notice chirno's stage 1 midboss spellcard is at 24/26 or something like that. Especially in PCB where popping a border is actually better for survival, but you don't get the capture.

>>2207130
>Seeing people say Mushi is bad because it’s not "pretty," and that UFO is bad because it doesn’t have pointless features or such great music, should be annoying to any STG fan; newbie or hardcore.

I don't see how. Aesthetics are an essential part of a game as much as anything else is. And frankly, a casual Shootan Geim player won't even notice much of a mechanical difference between the various bullet hell games so the only thing they're left with is whether they like how it looks and sounds.

>>2207130
> Seeing people say Mushi is bad because it’s not "pretty," and that UFO is bad because it doesn’t have pointless features or such great music, should be annoying to any STG fan; newbie or hardcore.
But noone's said anything like that.

>>2207143
>>2207130
Actually Mushihime has nice presentation, but the PS2 port rapes it horribly. The bullet patterns don't look so hot, but the enemies and backgrounds are great.

>>2207116

Wow...just fucking wow.
Are we even playing the same games?

>>2207140

>>2207164
I actually haven't played it, I was mostly commenting on the idea that presentation shouldn't matter when rating the quality of a game.

>>2207140
Because bullet-hell games are all about reaction times, right?

I agree, people bitching about the difficulty need to practice more and stop whining like faggots. That being said, you're an idiot if you think reflexes alone are enough to play Touhou games.

The main thing about Mushihime is that I can't fucking play it without turning the volume off. The music is bland and lame, and the Japanese screaming every time you get hit makes me cringe.

>>2207116
I would suggest you begin writing articles at action-button, though sadly you might know too much about games.

Music wise, the only good songs are Nazrin's and Ichirin's themes, in my opinion, while all the music from stage 2 is shit. Of course, Kogasa's final spell card completely makes up for it.

>>2207208
Stage 4 makes it all worth it.

>>2207164
>but the PS2 port rapes it horribly

Yes, when I tried playing the PS2 version of Mushi, I came out from that bewildered and wondering "how the fuck can people even *play* this? I'm not a graphic fag, hell, I regularly play NES games, but this fucking hurts my eyes!"

Then I saw the arcade version. Man, what difference. I can even distinguish where each bullet ends.

Anyway, I am, as said, not one for caring about game graphics. However, I do have to admit I need my shmups to have good music. I just can't get into the patterns without some appropiate music.

ESP series / Guwange > Mushi.

Also, UFO demo Lunatic if anyone cares.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6376862

>>2207195
Of course you have to learn the patterns as well. That's naturally learned as you play through the game over and over again. However, due to the random number generator every wave of enemies or spellcard you go through will be a little bit different, not to mention cards that do require random dodging, reaction times are king.

Mushihime? Touhou?

Lame. You guys are a bunch of pussies. How about playing a real shooter for once?

>>2207185
And my point wasn't that they should be ignored, but they shouldn't be such a big emphasis. Especially in a genre where every second is gameplay, outside of the few dialogue exchanges, and for games made by one person.

Mushi actually does look really nice, bullets are purple sludge but the patterns are certainly there and the backgrounds are lovely. That's why I put the quotes around pretty.

>>2207243
>ESP series / Guwange
Hour long boss milking and game long chaining sure is fun.

>>2207255
I'm afraid I must disagree, sir. On harder difficulties I find memorization is far more important.

>>2207242
This is one of the main reasons I don't play Mushihime-sama very often. Touhou's music is great. Mushihime-sama's well...sucks.

>>2207266
Because everyone here can't play against other people because they fucking suck. They have to stick to fighting AI bosses.

>>2207255

Actually, in my case at least, having a good peripheral vision is much more important than having a good reaction time. Touhou bullets aren't too fast on average, but they come from fucking everywhere, so you need to be able to keep an eye on a very big part of the screen - because spot-dodging without paying attention to the rest will make you trap yourself really quickly.

>>2207266
>>2207291

If I wanted to play a console FPS I'd go play Perfect Dark, or Timesplitters 2 - certainly not Halo 3.

>>2207266
>>2207291
You can samefag all you want, nobody is going to fall for this line of troll.

>>2207281
Well if you don't like chaining and long boss fights then no, I guess Cave games aren't for you.

>>2207302
>Perfect Dark
>Timesplitters

Quit trolling the troll.

>>2207311
Do you even check the IPs before you go around shouting "SAMEFAG! SAMEFGA!" like a /b/tard?

I'm sorry that it takes so much intelligence to look at a fucking number, but you should consider learning how.

>>2207208
>>I can't fucking play it without turning the volume off

6/10, good work bro.

Seriously though, I love the music (especially the stage one theme). Even the Mushihime doujin music remixes are great.

And Manabu Namiki (the composer) is just an awesome bro in general, since he's a huge aficionado of STG music and game music in general. I can feel it in my heart that Japanese ZUN is a fan of this guy as well.

>>2207242
If you play it on an emulator, you can set the internal resolution higher to get a much crisper picture, but for me it causes slowdowns so it doesn't help.

>Music: Not a single track stands out, the worst ZUN has ever performed.
Wait, you mean the same shit people said for the SA demo? Word for word, the exact same shit people said for the SA demo?

>>2207329
NEWFAGS CANT DO TRIFORCE

▲
▲ ▲

>>2207345
You best be trolling, faggot. I've never heard any remixes, but I do know the standard game music is god-awful. Moreover, it feels horribly out of place for a shmup.

>>2207311
No other Cave game has boss milking like EspRaDe except the Raizing games now being produced under Cave. And no other Cave game has game-long chains like Guwange at all. How about that?

>>2207266
>Real Shooter
>Halo

>>2207345
1/10

>>2207363
And yes, I aimed too high.

>>2207358

If there's any place on /jp/ right now where this picture belongs, it's in this thread.

>>2207361
>>I've never heard any remixes

Well gee, I'm not surprised. If only people here would take the time to listen to doujin remixes besides Touhou stuff.

Is it just me, or do enemies absolutely hemorrhage powerups and point items? I find it clutters the screen.

>>2207396
The thing about Touhou remixes is the fact that the original music is good. Mushihime's is not.

Also, for tripfagging as ZUN, you seem like more of a Cave fanboy.