Touhou 16 「東方天空璋 ～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons」 Report Completed!

[VividMemory2000]

Edit: Decided to input more thoughts

Thoughts:

Narumi is adorable and i fail to understand the creepiness behind her other than the fact she has slightly big ears... and her theme is pretty good not to mention her spellcard attacks were tough....

Not really fond of Satono and Mai nor their theme but their spellcard attacks were pretty neat... in a way

Okina taking away my power + sub shot was a bit of a screw over since i couldn't capture her spellcard but eventually did in spell practice and i can hardly take her seriously because in my mind i imagine her as a little sister of junko but with a superiority complex

It was a bit disappointing knowing there wasn't a new extra stage boss and okina ended up being that extra stage boss. However i find her EX portrait more favorable than her Stage 6 / Final stage potrait

The Themes of: Etanity, Nemuno, Aunn, Narumi, Extra stage and Okina's Remixed EX theme are my favorites. Overall favorite theme being etanity's

Expectations i had:
Yuki (or mai) or letty being in the winter stage as a Midboss (despite yuki's powers being fire she did appear as a boss alongside mai in Makai's frozen world)
Yuuka appearing as an extra stage boss (because of the whole "Flower Master of the Four Seasons" title she has) or at cirno's good ending
Mima appearing
a season-esque boss

despite me yammering all about this the game's pretty good

[GuppyForce]

Just finished watching the game on Youtube. Really looking forward to playing this one, it looks great. Stage 5 and 6 boss themes are really good, but the Extra stage and boss themes blow everything else in the game out of the water. The late-game backgrounds are really good, as well -- fantastically creepy with the theme of doors / windows opening onto everywhere

Good to see someone else appreciating the extra tracks. Those were the ones that stood out to me on a first listen, though the others are growing on me too since they fit very well in game. More importantly though I really like the danmaku in this game. TD was a real letdown in terms of danmaku aesthetics and DDC wasn't too hot either. LoLK had some really good stuff but also had Junko (Hecatia minus her Spirit World spells and Clownpiece's spells looked pretty bad too). This one seems to be consistently pretty from start to end.

[CyberAngel]

"back entrance"

I can already tell what the first wave of doujins with this character will be about.

Also, this game's story raises SO many new questions... Hope to see new characters in WaHH soon or something.

[Lebon14]

I can already tell what the first wave of doujins with this character will be about.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

EDIT

Clarste translated the character profiles:
http://clarste.tumblr.com/post/164063890796/maybe-im-super-late-on-this-but-here-are-my
Obviously, following the link is SPOILERS.

[Tengukami]

Also, this game's story raises SO many new questions... Hope to see new characters in WaHH soon or something.

Boy do I agree with you there. Like this bit in the character profile of our final boss, as translated by Clarste:

"Not only that, she’s also one of the sages who created modern Gensokyo. She bears the duty of protecting Gensokyo from the outside world, as well as preserving the balance of Gensokyo from any mysterious lifeforce or spiritual power seeking to secretly gain control of it, no matter where the threat comes from. She normally relies on her hands (Mai and Satono)."

Reading this I'm like "whoah, hang on", and thinking about the retcon possibilities that may arise from this. But even if there's no retcon, it still opens up a lot of possibilities regarding our understanding of how Gensokyo is "administrated", as it were.

[kevin1127]

Has anybody mentioned that after Cirno beat the extra boss, Matara said that apparently Eternity is a god? (Not joking)

[ToyoRai]

So does anyone have idea why does Okina have a mirror? Does it hold any importance?

[CyberAngel]

Interesting thing about stage 4 boss. The way she appears strongly reminds me of how you use Jizo statues in 14.3. You could say the midboss character used her as a substitution to take your attack in her stead!

[Wrathful_Scythe]

Small question regarding the shot types: Is there any reason not to use autumn?

Compared to the others, autumn seems to be the best by far. Winter might offer a small increase in focused damage but the difference is small and focus damage isn't always possible. Summer might have multiple uses but the area and duration is pathetic, just like the spread damage. And lastly, spring, which increases the area with each level up to a screen clear. It's usability still pales compared to autumn from what i've seen due to needing a high level for anyworthy effect. the homing shots are nice though.

Maybe I just don't see the use of the others but autumn seems to be the way to go for survivability and score.

[Shizzo]

Small question regarding the shot types: Is there any reason not to use autumn?

Probably because it's dangerous?  I hate using it at the demo,  if you screw up you can die pretty easily. 

[Kurzov]

Small question regarding the shot types: Is there any reason not to use autumn?

No, not really.

[TresserT]

Autumn has the best release but the worst sub options. They don't do all that much damage or improve spread, and you can't even shotgun with them. In comparison, the winter sub options give you a pretty large damage boost and the summer sub options give you a pretty good range boost, with the added bonus of being hard to lose all of them. Spring is

[ClancHuranku]

I just played a Lunatic blind run, the trial stages were easy (I played 'em before) but the rest is brutal.
How hard is the Extra?
Which would be the best shotype?
I'm lovin' this game! I hope THCRAP translates the remaining half of the game soon.

[Mero]

I just played a Lunatic blind run, the trial stages were easy (I played 'em before) but the rest is brutal.
How hard is the Extra?
Which would be the best shotype?
I'm lovin' this game! I hope THCRAP translates the remaining half of the game soon.

Extra is not very hard (probably around UFO Extra level). You move around a lot, so Reimu is the best imo.

[CyberAngel]

Another stage 4 boss observation. Her hat does make her look a bit mushroom-like, so she really fits the Forest of Magic. Also, she's unexpectedly adorable. Almost as much as Aunn. inb4 Marisa adopts her

[cuc]

So does anyone have idea why does Okina have a mirror? Does it hold any importance?

It's a mystery.  Matara-jin is depicted holding a drum in his hand, and has no association with mirror in the original lore. Could be a ZUNism, like a symbol of the back side.

[The ⑨th Zentillion]

From what I'm assuming from the profile information, she and Marisa already know each other in some passing fashion, maybe.

Also, Ammy, I wouldn't say these new developments really retcon anything in particular, it's just that we've only really known Reimu's family and Yukari were part ofgensokyo's creation; which would mean Okina has ANOTHER "hidden" thing about her and her involvement is only being brought up now. Kind of conjecture, though, honestly, and unlike some people *coughsummerscough* I will freely admit it is only that.

cuc: That IS a drum, actually. One of those small, flat, handheld ones. it just looks like a mirror because of the perspective, and I've already seen fanartists draw it as such.

[Drake]

The first thing I thought of was a drum, but it does look like a mirror because of the shiny lines on it

[cuc]

Three factors: the reflection lines are too pronounced; the drum has a cylindrical shell, but it's depicted as a solid rim of pure black, making it harder to notice; there is another texture on the drum surface, which makes it weird and confusing.

[game2011]

It is a drum, probably one with a shiny surface.

Also, Narumi's profile calls a golem as well, which is one kind of character I wish to see in the series.  Not a big fan of her hairstyle, but nice to have a wish granted regardless!

[TrueShadow]

I read Reimu's scenario and basically the final boss' goal is causing an incident for the sake of causing an incident?

[game2011]

I read Reimu's scenario and basically the final boss' goal is causing an incident for the sake of causing an incident?

Final boss wants a new assistant, so she messes up the weather to see who can resolve it and be worthy of being her assistant.

[Serela]

Final boss wants a new assistant, so she messes up the weather to see who can resolve it and be worthy of being her assistant.

Exceeeept... when you beat Extra she apparently says that was just a ruse.

[martelefort]

I read Reimu's scenario and basically the final boss' goal is causing an incident for the sake of causing an incident?

I may be wrong, but i think she caused this incident to see how it would get resolved, to " test out " how incidents were dealed with in gensokyo.

[aGenericUsername]

New glitch! In Spell Card Practice EX-1 to EX-3, if you kill the green girl with a release before the spell card starts, the spell card doesn't even start, so you skip a spell card in Spell Card Practice.

[PK]

God of hindrance:
As a demon, Matara-jin can also be a harmful source of spiritual "hindrance" that keeps people from wisdom, i.e. the kleshas we touched on before. Black magic. The nomadic outcasts were probably going to need it?

So she's also a demon of some kind? Could this have something to do with her door having very similar signs as Byakuren's scroll from Makai?

[Helepolis]

Opening post has been updated with game details and report! Feel free to correct where I a made mistakes. Also help with the spell card names or familiar shots or main shots is welcome. The only one I could read was Master Spark Frozen

Due to no spoiler mode, I haven't posted any more screenshots than necessary. Also clicking on the portraits is at own risk.

No Spoiler mode will be lifted tomorrow at the end of Comiket C92's 3rd day. I can assume by then people are here and there exposed to materials on various websites. Until then, please keep using the spoiler tag. You're all doing a super job. I am a happy Siege Engine. My thanks to you all!

Once spoilers are allowed, I will post more screenshots and details for the report.

--Helepolis

[TresserT]

A lot of the information you want is on the wiki. (Warning: spoilers).

[Tengukami]

Also, Ammy, I wouldn't say these new developments really retcon anything in particular, it's just that we've only really known Reimu's family and Yukari were part of gensokyo's creation; which would mean Okina has ANOTHER "hidden" thing about her and her involvement is only being brought up now. Kind of conjecture, though, honestly, and unlike some people *coughsummerscough* I will freely admit it is only that.

Yeah the more I'm reading the more I'm seeing that as Yukari is forever the Great Mystery Lady in Gensokyo, there really shouldn't be any retcon going on now that it's been revealed she and Okina are tight. Yukari has all kinds of plates spinning behind the scenes, and this is just another aspect of her largely hidden life.

Also I love our new character designs. Yes, even Junko 2.0, as I've seen some people call her.

[TresserT]

Funny enough, Okina is the only one of the new full version characters who I really really like. The rest don't really stand out to me, though I don't dislike them.