Touhou 14.3: Danmaku Amanojaku ~ Impossible Spell Card announced!

[Jq1790]

I'd had thoughts myself that perhaps a "power to manipulate rules/laws' or something might be at play here...

[Leon゠Helsing]

An embodiment of anti-law (FFTA)? It's times like these that I should remember ZUN doesn't shy away from introducing characters with levels of hax that would make Nasu blush. :V

[Soul Devour]

Right! This means I have to queue early for Reitaisai.

ZUN making a youtube trailer almost feels like he is taking the oversea more and more serious.

You felt that way too eh? It certainly seemed unexpected...

Regarding my own feelings on this game, I'm pretty excited for the release. The item mechanic, while susceptible to balance issues, looks to be very refreshing and add a nifty twist on solving the puzzle a spellcard presents. I *do* hope that like in Great Fairy Wars, these cards are doable without items for those who really push their skills to the limit.

[Gamer251]

I'm LATE 
Anyway, this game seems promising~
Go all-out against a rebel~!

[shadowbringer]

I'm LATE 
Anyway, this game seems promising~
Go all-out against a rebel~!

you reminded me of this, and I had to share. I imagine Seija listening to it now

[Hatateru]

An embodiment of anti-law (FFTA)? It's times like these that I should remember ZUN doesn't shy away from introducing characters with levels of hax that would make Nasu blush. :V

Naaaah, he's really toned down a lot since SA, just sayin' :V

Anyway I hope Seiga and Yukari will be in this game, I've been dying to see an ultimate troll-off between the three of them since last year!

[cuc]

ZUN: Now that I've taken a look at Youtube comments on the Danmaku Amanojaku trailer, I see there are many English comments. In terms of numbers of views, the U.S. is also second only to Japan. I am quite surprised, but it still must be pointed out that the May 11 release will be only for Japan...

ZUN: Also, about 15% viewers are female, much higher than expected. I feel so embarassed.

[Gpop]

I think you mean May 11 unless I missed something in March :V

Well not surprised at this game being JP only though.

[Tengukami]

ZUN: Now that I've taken a look at the comments on the Youtube comments on the Danmaku Amanojaku trailer, I see there are many English comments. In terms of numbers of views, the U.S. is also second only to Japan. I am quite surprised, but it still must be pointed out that the May 11 release will be only for Japan...

Is this modesty or is he genuinely surprised, even after AWA? What will it take to convince him that he has fans outside of Japan?

ZUN: Also, about 15% viewers are female, much higher than expected. I feel so embarrassed.

Amazing. Even ZUN is embarrassed by his power level.

[Jq1790]

Eh, I would have been beyond surprised if we got it same time as Japan.  I mean, isn't he sti.l working out the logistics for international release anyway?

[hungrybookworm]

ZUN: Also, about 15% viewers are female, much higher than expected. I feel so embarassed.

We are in your fandom, slowly taking over your touhous.

[Yatakarasu]

ZUN: Also, about 15% viewers are female, much higher than expected. I feel so embarassed.

Oh god, that's adorable.

[Hello Purvis]

Is this modesty or is he genuinely surprised, even after AWA? What will it take to convince him that he has fans outside of Japan?

Still in shock. AWA represented only a small fraction of our total power. Can't blame him, though. It's not like he ever intended to actually reach the West, let alone achieve anything like recognition.

[Drake]

Is this modesty or is he genuinely surprised, even after AWA? What will it take to convince him that he has fans outside of Japan?

The way I read the tweet last night was that it was more of a note with a bit of modesty, bit of surprise. The tweet starts with "come to mention it" and the whole thing reads pretty casually, I doubt he was blown away with shock or anything. Having him put up a Youtube video of all things suggests this was to gauge international interest to begin with.

[Colticide]

Even though it's a spin-off and won't have much of a story I'm still interested to know about that aspect. From what I gained from it it seems the DDC incident didn't do that much damage but just made everyone mad, maybe there isn't an arc this time.

"I can say this with certainty: there is no fan service whatsoever in this game." - ZUN, that seems strange to tweet out unless I'm looking into it more then I should. But it did bring something to mind, why is Keine there? She had nothing to do with DDC (not sure about behind the scenes though.). But if you think about it you play as the character that does the opposite of everything, maybe ZUN is doing the same, saying one thing and doing another, but who knows, it's be nice to see old characters again with updated portraits.

[cuc]

I think Keine is there to go with Sekibanki, as a human village character. There was a huge amount of subtle meanings packed into Keine's spell card names in IN and StB, so it's a surprise to see a funny name like "20XX" here.

He's also already doing an opposite thing to an extent. He said in last year's "Reader Engineering" panel that he actually didn't like fan works to call themselves "Touhou something", which can potentially confuse people who don't know which are the official works. And now here's an official work that contains no "Touhou" in its title.

[Drake]

Even though it's a spin-off and won't have much of a story I'm still interested to know about that aspect. From what I gained from it it seems the DDC incident didn't do that much damage but just made everyone mad, maybe there isn't an arc this time.

DDC at the very least had an effect on the tsukumogami even after the game's events, as seen in Forbidden Scrollery. I've already been toying with the possibility that the effects of the Miracle Mallet managed to do something here too.

For one, I'm surprised that Seija got a hold of a Yin Yang Orb, considering as a goshintai of the Hakurei god it should hurt youkai. Of course, Seija probably had this flipped in some way.

[ToyoRai]

It would be that its either a regular Yin-Yan Orb, or a tainted oe which Reimu wasn't able to cleanse it before Seija snatched it. I'll go with former to go with most of the items (for example, my current theory for Send-Off Lantern of Ghosts is

Spoiler:

the same lantern which Kokuzu destroyed from one of the kappas in one of chapters of Forbidden Scrollery.

Spoiler:

)

[Formless God]

There was a huge amount of subtle meanings packed into Keine's spell card names in IN and StB, so it's a surprise to see a funny name like "20XX" here.

Reference to this?

[not ZUNs wife]

Do sign me up for this. The gameplay concept of mastering abilities' strengths and weaknesses to counter impossible attacks sounds like it has a lot of potential. Personally I'm hyped because that's the sort of idea I've been playing around with in my fanmade bullet hells, and I want to see how the master himself pulls it off.

[Kirin no Sora]

I thought of something, guys...

What if the Nimble Fabric isn't from Nitori, but from Miko?
Miko can teleport with her cape, so it could be that Seija just stole that.

Of course, that would mean that Miko may end up appearing in the game herself, and with her, some of her allies too, with the intent of "punishing the filthy youkai who would dare steal from the prince"...

Also, on a separate note, I believe that the items shown are NOT the only items that Seija might use in the game. For example, I recall that Sakuya in the fighting games could throw status fields that stops whatever touches them. What if Seija had stolen the Luna Dial, and using it allows her to fire off a status field in front of her, freezing the bullets that it touches while it persists and thus creates an opening in the impossible danmaku. Interesting idea, yes?

[Maiden Synnae ミ☆]

Also, on a separate note, I believe that the items shown are NOT the only items that Seija might use in the game. For example, I recall that Sakuya in the fighting games could throw status fields that stops whatever touches them. What if Seija had stolen the Luna Dial, and using it allows her to fire off a status field in front of her, freezing the bullets that it touches while it persists and thus creates an opening in the impossible danmaku. Interesting idea, yes?

I'd enjoy more the ability to slowdown time in order to dodge bullets rather than freezing it.

[CyberAngel]

After playing Hellsinker with its "suppression field" mechanic, I can say that "area that stops/slows bullets" wouldn't help with impossible patterns at all, bullets would just clutter at the edges, making going past them even harder.

[Kwak]

Of course, that would mean that Miko may end up appearing in the game herself, and with her, some of her allies too, with the intent of "punishing the filthy youkai who would dare steal from the prince"...

I get the feeling that every character that came out after Double Spoiler is going to make an appearance, Miko included. But yeah, I'd rather it be her cape than Nitori's

[Maiden Synnae ミ☆]

After playing Hellsinker with its "suppression field" mechanic, I can say that "area that stops/slows bullets" wouldn't help with impossible patterns at all, bullets would just clutter at the edges, making going past them even harder.

Seems like someone here has never played Leiria Stargazer then.

[CyberAngel]

I talked about Kirin no Sora's idea. Plain slowdown is always nice, but would be useless if there is a pattern with no gaps between bullets, which I suspect this game will have. Though not all of them would be like that, probably, so yeah, it could as well be another ability. (You misspelled Espgaluda, by the way )

[Maiden Synnae ミ☆]

(You misspelled Espgaluda, by the way )

This one counts too. Feeling dumb for forgetting about it... >.>;

[cuc]

Reference to this?

The whole reason you get the "20XX  An Afterlife Odyssey" translation is because I believe it to be such a reference. Someone else had translated it as "20XX  A Voyage After Death".

It also seems very different in tone from Keine's earlier spell cards from 10 years ago.

[Colticide]

I talked about Kirin no Sora's idea. Plain slowdown is always nice, but would be useless if there is a pattern with no gaps between bullets, which I suspect this game will have. Though not all of them would be like that, probably, so yeah, it could as well be another ability.

The only way I could think it could work is if it's a small aoe and not the whole screen, thus bullets that are outside the aoe would still be the same speed and the ones inside will slow down creating the gap.

Some thing I'm on the fence about is the item level system, how broken can the items get? How do they level up? (clearing spell cards with the item seems likely to me) And the one that has me a little worried is will it get a bit grindy? I haven't seen ZUN use this system before so I'm just hoping he doesn't fall into most RPG traps like grinds. (if the levels even go really high)

[Kirin no Sora]

The only way I could think it could work is if it's a small aoe and not the whole screen, thus bullets that are outside the aoe would still be the same speed and the ones inside will slow down creating the gap.

That's what I meant, actually.