Author Topic: 東方魔宝城 (Touhou Mahoujou) ~ Book of Star Mythology (Read 73958 times)

Validon98 · « **on:** September 30, 2015, 04:59:20 PM »

Helepolis said something about this needing its own thread so heyo it now has its own thread!

This seems to be like a main site I dunno it looks kinda spooky.

Touhou Mahoujou ~ Book of Star Mythology was originally a fan music compilation project headed by maceknight, with ido and Wanwan as participants among a bunch of other composers, much like the prior project Heavenly Gathering of Clouds. Now, however, maceknight and co have decided to turn this into a full-fledged game, with raichu (the developer of Youkai Kori Kassen) as programmer and other peoples joining in. The news on this can be found not only on the site linked above, but also on ido's blog here.

From what it looks like, it's using the same engine used back in Riverbed Soul Saver, and there seems to be some sort of LoLK Pointdevice/Legacy duality in modes based off of the screenshots, chapters and all. Other than that, not much more is known about actual gameplay or plot. Yay for vague descriptions and stuff!

LunaWillow · « **Reply #1 on:** September 30, 2015, 05:43:55 PM »

So like Riverbed Soul Saver improved TD mechanics, this will use LoLK ones? I hope it won't be as hard ~~not like I will be able to run it~~...
I like the art style, Reimu looks really cute here.

TresserT · « **Reply #2 on:** September 30, 2015, 07:08:16 PM »

Quote from: LunaWillow on September 30, 2015, 05:43:55 PM

Not like I will be able to run it

Don't give up hope! WNSP used ido's engine, and that runs much better than ido's games. Hopefully maceknight will make some improvements.
...

Spoiler:

Quukii · « **Reply #3 on:** October 03, 2015, 03:40:35 AM »

Quote from: LunaWillow on September 30, 2015, 05:43:55 PM

I like the art style, Reimu looks really cute here.

I like the art too. Marisa looks really cute as well and has a neat outfit. I'll try to check out the game when a demo gets released.

Validon98 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 08, 2015, 01:45:26 PM »

http://osayou.net/tokusetu/mahojo/%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E8%AA%AC%E6%98%8E/

Not a trial yet, just gameplay information. Sadly I can't do the old copy-paste Google Translate/JParser as usual since the text is all in an image format, but from the bit I can read in general, it's talking about the differences between Legacy (represented by the yin-yang orb) and the Pointdevice-like mode (it's not called Pointdevice but I can't read what it is called, or even if it does the same sort of checkpoint thing with chapters as in LoLK), chapters, and the items.

Uruwi · « **Reply #5 on:** October 08, 2015, 05:28:53 PM »

The mode is called "Legendary Hero Mode".

Also seems that not dying will give you a bomb piece at the end of a chapter.

Maple · « **Reply #6 on:** October 09, 2015, 10:04:47 AM »

The triangle seems to be the Item Collection Line (can't read kanji, just guessed by the katakana). Probably will be some mechanic similar to Marine Benefit. The star item has a parenthesis in the description, about Legacy Mode (either exclusive to it or it can't be found at all).

Uruwi · « **Reply #7 on:** October 09, 2015, 01:39:16 PM »

Quote from: Maple on October 09, 2015, 10:04:47 AM

The triangle seems to be the Item Collection Line (can't read kanji, just guessed by the katakana). Probably will be some mechanic similar to Marine Benefit. The star item has a parenthesis in the description, about Legacy Mode (either exclusive to it or it can't be found at all).

Actually what I'm getting from the explanation is that every 777 wish items gives a bomb in Pointdevice but a life in Legacy.

Maple · « **Reply #8 on:** October 22, 2015, 08:55:53 PM »

...did anyone notice that they were kind enough to give us bits of the plot already?

Playable characters
Boss characters (up to stage 3)

(Obviously these are spoilers, click at own risk)
The characters page include links to what seems to be the game scrips (one for each player) up to stage 3, it also includes when the boss theme starts playing.

KaiserKnuckle · « **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2015, 02:30:55 AM »

A video of the demo has recently been posted by Maceknight.

Apparently, instead of graze slowing down point items, you need to pointblank big fairies for star items, which also come from star enemies. Something like that, or maybe Gilde will describe it better.

gilde · « **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2015, 03:06:50 AM »

It's here! The demo version will be released on the following day. Since the developers were so kind as to put the dialogue and (most of the) character info on the website already, I think I can have it translated relatively fast this time around.

Gameplay stuff:

~~Triforce~~ Legendary Mode gives you infinite lives. It's like LoLK, but you don't have to rewind every time you get hit.
Shooting enemies in rapid succession will lower the autocollect line, represented by the blue arrow on the side.
Shooting enemies at close range (indicated by a magic circle for large fairies and bosses) will cause them to emit more star items.
Collecting 777 star items will give you a bomb on Legendary Mode and a life on Legacy Mode.
Completing a chapter with no deaths will give you a bomb fragment.

Uruwi · « **Reply #11 on:** November 29, 2015, 04:22:10 AM »

And yet they didn't notice that the mechanics were fundamentally broken.

On Legendary Mode there's absolutely no reason to dodge, as you can die all you want.

gilde · « **Reply #12 on:** November 29, 2015, 06:18:42 AM »

Quote from: Fluffy8x on November 29, 2015, 04:22:10 AM

And yet they didn't notice that the mechanics were fundamentally broken.

On Legendary Mode there's absolutely no reason to dodge, as you can die all you want.

Well, your score is lower, at least, and there's various ranks you can get as an incentive to play well. It's basically an extra mode compared to Legacy, anyway.

Here's my translation of all the text shown in the video. I seriously can't wait to play this tomorrow!

edit: Trial version is out! (warning for axfc's usual nsfw banner ads)

Also, Lunatic gameplay videos. I love how much visual flair the stages and bosses all have.

Maple · « **Reply #13 on:** November 29, 2015, 09:24:08 PM »

So, i played the demo. Please note that their blog posts were on November 28th, today it was released, different timezones and all.

It seems that everything is huge, or rather, it was "zoomed in", notice the player's sprite, the bullets (mostly arrow bullets, and no i don't mean the stage

Spoiler:

boss), the size of boss graphics. My memory isn't fresh but maybe this is a carryover of the engine from White Names Spoiled Past.

I blind 1cc Normal on Legacy and then a run on Pointdevice Hard. Don't quote me but it feels that deathbombing time is longer on legacy, my only (?) death there was from crashing into a star enemy, yes, there are enemies with the shape of stars, they shoot danmaku and you can destroy them. The game so far feels generous giving you opportunities to shotgun stage enemies and some bosses, thus giving resources like candy. Maybe this is because i got gud enough. The biggest difficulty from hard mode are the changes in the bosses, stage portions are simple, but i'd say a bit too short, though.

Uruwi · « **Reply #14 on:** November 30, 2015, 12:56:39 AM »

Seems to be an option on where you respawn when you die in Legendary Mode: either where you left off or at the beginning (of the stage, I infer).

Also, even in Legacy Mode I ended up with 6 lives and 5 bombs.

Still hope Legendary Mode gives a bad ending in the full version.

gilde · « **Reply #15 on:** November 30, 2015, 06:00:53 AM »

Quote from: Fluffy8x on November 30, 2015, 12:56:39 AM

Seems to be an option on where you respawn when you die in Legendary Mode: either where you left off or at the beginning (of the stage, I infer).

That option lets you choose whether to respawn at the bottom of the screen ("Home") or at the location where you got hit ("Stay").

Validon98 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 30, 2015, 08:00:51 AM »

Having given it a spin on Legacy on Normal, I do say it's a tad bit on the easy side and after stage 2 you just get a flood of lives as long as you try to consistently point-blank. Still though, I really like the attacks so far, especially for stages 2 and 3. Plus I can actually run the game with all the effects on without it lagging like crazy, and they still look pretty damn amazing as far as these kinds of things go. It's just difficulty that right now needs adjusting, along with the mechanics for getting lives and certainly how Legendary Mode works.

LunaWillow · « **Reply #17 on:** November 30, 2015, 09:48:36 AM »

I played it, and it was pretty cool. Though it lagged. Not as much as RSS, but still, on some parts of stage 3 I had 30 fps.
I don't think I've ever seen this many stars on the screen at once before. The patterns were really cool, and the music is nice. Stage 3 boss' theme sound a lot like that of the Labyrinth Stage from Treasure Castle Labyrinth. This game was supposed to be just a collection of music and characters like TCL at first, right? Maybe that's just a coincidence.

Plastic Vortex · « **Reply #18 on:** November 30, 2015, 12:00:01 PM »

Warning Glory is too good for a 1st stage boss theme.

The aesthetics of the game is very pretty, and has caused rather minimal lag so far. The part where the cry of a bird is heard and scares away the faries is also pretty good.

However, the game is just too easy. Legendary Hero mode looks as if it is too easy, since lives don't matter and the player can die as many times as they want. Legacy mode is also very easy, since bombs and lives are given to you like candy. Perhaps, doing something about the life per 777 Star Crystals and making it 5 bomb fragments per bomb would make it more balanced.

Uruwi · « **Reply #19 on:** November 30, 2015, 01:41:09 PM »

314 million on Normal.

Maple · « **Reply #20 on:** January 29, 2016, 11:46:36 PM »

UPDATE
kinda
maceknight is trying to say something about the second demo version of the game. Maybe some info on the 4th stage (he [?] retweeted an image of the silhouette of the 4th stage boss), and published images for both shottypes of Marisa and Sanae.
Marisa A:

Spoiler:

Marisa B:

Spoiler:

Marisa bomb:

Spoiler:

Sanae A:

Spoiler:

Sanae B:

Spoiler:

Sanae bomb:

Spoiler:

The site does cite an update today (Jan 29th), but no new downloads.

Good thing i often check the twitter acount of

Spoiler:

RegalStar · « **Reply #21 on:** January 30, 2016, 12:20:22 AM »

The hitbox seems to be off-center compared to the sprite. It's throwing me off.

KaiserKnuckle · « **Reply #22 on:** March 25, 2016, 01:14:55 AM »

From what I read a few days ago, Oyasu just announced that BoSM (or just a second demo?) is to be released on April 2nd.

Nolegs the Cat · « **Reply #23 on:** March 25, 2016, 01:19:48 AM »

Quote from: Soichiro W. on March 25, 2016, 01:14:55 AM

From what I read a few days ago, Oyasu just announced that BoSM (or just a second demo?) is to be released on April 2nd.

Yeah, second demo.
It will have all 3 characters and go up to stage 4.

Also, for what it's worth, I've managed to score 605m in the demo, even if I died at the end.
My highest no-death score is 595m. -shrug-

Gray21oh · « **Reply #24 on:** March 31, 2016, 01:23:27 PM »

Doesn't it strike anyone that on Oyasu's twitter there's screenshots that involve a new score mechanic with magnitudes and potentially mentions of Last Words?

Jimmy · « **Reply #25 on:** March 31, 2016, 11:29:28 PM »

I've noticed that as well. Seems like some sort of a score multiplier, where the lower the "magnitude" is, the higher the multiplier, at least that's what I could take from Oyasu's screenshots.
Can't wait too see how that works, looks really interesting! :3

Maceknight also has recently posted some screencaps from Marisa's and Sanae's shots: https://twitter.com/maceknight/media

Nolegs the Cat · « **Reply #26 on:** April 01, 2016, 12:40:49 AM »

Marisa has backshots! ... I don't see how that'd be helpful in any of the current stages. .-.
And Penetration. Naturally.

Judging from Google Translate, Marisa's flamethrower is still a shotgun shot-type?

Google Translate gave me no useful info about any of Sanae's shots.

As for the Magnitude system... I'm curious.
I just hope the old system is still there, too. It's fun.

Maple · « **Reply #27 on:** April 01, 2016, 01:14:59 AM »

Quote from: Nolegs the Cat on April 01, 2016, 12:40:49 AM

Marisa has backshots! ... I don't see how that'd be helpful in any of the current stages. .-.
And Penetration. Naturally.

Talking about penetration...

Quote from: Nolegs the Cat on March 25, 2016, 01:19:48 AM

Also, for what it's worth, I've managed to score 605m in the demo, even if I died at the end.
My highest no-death score is 595m. -shrug-

Was it with oonusa Reimu or with needles Reimu? I have an easier time making better scores with homing Reimu, as her focus attack is a small area-of-effect, killing multiple enemies when needles would hit some and leave the others hiding behind. More killings, more items to collect, it compensates for the lower damage on bosses and lower spell card bonuses. Current record is 416m with ReimuA on lunatic, missed some cards.

I consistently have difficulty with the stage 2 midboss card.

Nolegs the Cat · « **Reply #28 on:** April 01, 2016, 03:11:44 AM »

Quote from: Maple on April 01, 2016, 01:14:59 AM

Was it with oonusa Reimu or with needles Reimu?

I used my Broom to good effect.

Quote from: Maple on April 01, 2016, 01:14:59 AM

I consistently have difficulty with the stage 2 midboss card.

It's running in circles around her. It's stupid, though.

Jimmy · « **Reply #29 on:** April 02, 2016, 11:39:39 AM »

Preview of stage 4 on NicoNico is up: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm28555864

Click at your own risk.