I always figured the Marisa laser thing was on purpose. I also figured "Naruko" was on purpose, as a minor joke. The Mai Spell Practice bugs probably exist because they depend on Satono's existence somehow. Remember that in Spell Practice, you're always defeating the boss. Likely, As far as I know, no other boss in the Windows games works like this (two distinct bosses, with bars that are linked to each other, fought at once), so I'm perfectly willing to give ZUN some slack here. Likely, it'll be fixed in an update, he usually fixes stuff like that.
Now:
The Lenen "community" is completely fucked, that is not up for debate. They're obsessive and there are far too many of them. Where do they keep coming from? That aside, pretty much everyone in the Touhou community was like Summers ten years ago, and I was there to see it for myself.
The game has overt Lenen jabs. I find it extremely difficult to believe that ZUN simply ignores the few high-profile Touhou-like fangames (as opposed to unassociated non-STGs that just happen to use Touhou characters), and I get the feeling he appreciates these games more than the unassociated kind (especially when they're being released for free or for print price instead of trying to gain some big profit). I have no idea why anyone would even hypothetically assign "some gaijin" (Drake) credit for an idea that has nothing to do with what we see in this game (SoD).
There are two ideas that are clearly taken from Lenen, behaving in very similar or near identical ways. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, too.
-The entire Release system is basically Flash Bombs, and to my knowledge no game in the STG sphere was doing anything like Flash Bombs before Mugenri and Tasouken appeared on the scene. Obviously, there are changes to make them unique, and they likely won't appear outside of this game (because ZUN doesn't really keep game systems around while JynX largely iterates). You even charge them with grazing! Grazing doesn't even do anything in this game except charge the releases. Even HellSinker doesn't have a Flash Bomb-type weapon anywhere as far as I know, and that game has just about everything you'd ever want in STG. The actual Releases themselves are modified Maiden Pits (admittedly, a small circle around your character is an obvious choice for a mechanic like this), and the Summer release is basically a stockable, slightly larger Maiden Pit. He even put in a final attack gimmick involving Releases (albeit in reverse), just like how Tasouken requires you to use Flash Bombs for the Tasouken card. This is significant because none of the other Touhou games do final boss/attack game system gimmicks except for Eiyashou night advancing (a huge stretch at best), and no other Touhou game does any other game system gimmick at all except Yoshika creating and eating spirits (which is a really bizarre idea and execution, and does not happen anywhere else in the game). Um, and I think Nue does something with the UFOs? I don't remember. Junko has different dialogue if you play Legacy or never retry. Look, I'm clearly grasping at straws here.
-Black Snowman works exactly like Kurohebi's Mugenri kuro bullets, and I'd be completely unsurprised if "kuro_bullet" appears in the code somewhere. I can't think of a single game that would even want to pull a trick like that, and I get the feeling ZUN toned it down because he felt the idea itself just went too far. It's even worse in Teneisenki, where Kurohebi becomes harder than a number of later bosses because reversing the effect is a hundred times more difficult.
I couldn't care less about "plot" crap. Tenkuushou plays out basically 0% like Mugenri, not sure where people are getting that idea. Matara did not impersonate anyone, nor did she suck anyone into a weird alternate dimension to play a silly game. The only similarity is in the "employment" bit, and Tsurubami deceived people into thinking it'd be a real prize, while Matara is using the employment bit itself as the real deceit. It'd also be exceptionally dumb to think that Matara is supposed to be a Suzumi reference, when it's much more so a reference to the "normal version" PC-98 games all featuring a character as the stage boss of two stages (because none of the other Windows games do that). By the way, where's (Windows) Yuka in Tenkuushou? Master of four seasons and all that? Seems weird to have Aya and Cirno but no Yuka. I guess this was covered months ago, but I never really played or followed the trial (because endless hype is boring). I guess ZUN wanted to avoid people getting the impression that Yuka might be in with the sages? But really, this glaring omission just leaves me with more questions...
You're not just asking me to believe that ZUN ignored the last four years of history and a number of high profile (by doujin standards) titles. You're also asking me to believe that ZUN ended up at multiple conclusions that a very recent Touhou-like game ended up at, conclusions that basically no other game was doing. Seriously, the only other Touhou-like game with a mechanic like that is Suishouguu, released just a few years ago, and it doesn't work like Flash Bombs/Releases at all.
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I don't really understand why anyone would be "underwhelmed" by this game outside of difficulty. It sounds to me like those people have no idea what they wanted. Reused boss? I get the feeling the PC-98 fetishists (of which there are too many) are saying that. Creepy mountain hermit? A koma inu??? A jizo turned magic-user, never mind her actually powerful ability, is just bizarre, even if she seems "plain". Crazy back dancers!!!! And then there's god-emperor Matara-jin on her throne, with her Smaug-ness. (I am MATARA! I kill when I wish!) Nearly all the characters are so totally fucked, only poor little Eternity Larva makes any "sense". Reading up on their unique situation tells me this is some "weird" take on a Kishinjou-type event. Then you have the doors, and... yeah. The soundtrack is so very different from even Kanjuuden somehow. ZUN said he wanted a curveball while also returning to his roots, and he actually completely delivered on both accounts, I think. Nothing "grimdark" about it, more Yukari/classic-style horror (very different things).
As for my thoughts, I like it a bit more than Kishinjou or Kanjuuden (let's not talk about Shinreibyou). Per above, Matara is a grade-A badass, and we really needed a tough old final boss who's super chill, because we haven't had one in a pretty long time (returning to his roots!). Even Yukari doesn't sit on a throne like some god-emperor (she'd probably find it stuffy, wouldn't she?).
This is the best soundtrack he has ever done. EVER. Oh my GOD, this is phenomenal. I was largely meh about the last few soundtracks (barring a specific few songs), and then here comes this.
Having selectable seasons will always be a really big mistake. The seasons should have been each character's unique abilities, and could have even tied into normal firepower similar to Hujinroku/Chireiden; since they're separate from regular bombs, this makes much more sense.
Matara could have had a different outfit for Extra, but that's not a big deal. The Full season really should have had a different graphic for the shot though, it just reuses the Magic Missile graphic. I mean, he drew new bullets for Reimu and Marisa and all, why not here...?
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Bonus points for Matara's first theme clearly being based on Necro-Fantasy/-Fantasia; I like to call it Back-Fantasia. Then I read up on the translation, and found that she's a sage, a buddy of Yukari's, and a very Yukari-like character in general. I thought it was just cool, but it's probably intentional! However, her second theme is totally different, it doesn't sound like Necro at all. It has a bit meant to resemble a bit from her main theme, but that's it.
I get the feeling she's actually a youkai that became a god. Like Yukari, her entire existence is mostly made of mysteries. Her relationship with Yukari is probably a bit like Marisa and Alice's (the canon one, not the silly fanon one), or something; different existences, but pretty similar lives, and they probably bicker like old frenemies.
Her ability is clearly more "permanent". Yukari creates and destroys gaps as she pleases. We never hear about a "dimension of random gaps", but here is a dimension of random doors. Actual physical doors right on people's backs? Yukari would probably find that too grotesque.
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Finally, regarding something from the end of the previous thread: people need to be careful of how they view "elitism" so. It's one thing to appreciate new fans, but it's another to act like you know so much about the series when you simply don't. It's always been a BIG problem with Touhou in particular, especially when it comes to anything even remotely gameplay related. A lot of the actual honest-to-goodness elitists accuse me of this all the time, yeesh.