Me: Hey it?s time for my horrible review wall-o-text again!
Crowd: P l e a s e r e f r a i n
I must say all the wait was truly worth it. For your first release this looks really promising already and all I can do is to congratulate everyone involved in this project so far? but you know where this going surely, time for some honest ?feedback?. Tried categorizing each complaint and observation so respective person from the team can look up for what is most important for them
-STORY AND DIALOGUES-This actually just seems like a pretty good ol? Touhou story. Also another incident involving sea/rain? (Some patterns made me think of Marine Benefit, but that?s fine. Also poor Promised Mystery of Moisture? again). So far it?s only 3 stages, but there?s some really nice setup. Also, I?m just saying it right now? I feel like I?ve already got most of the plot figured out, but I might be wrong the same way I was wrong
, but it feels like this game is going to have mixture of Buddhist and Greek mythology? which sounds really cool.
I base it it mainly on the fact that every odd number stage has greek inspired boss (Azure,
, we have playable Hecatia + playable Shou, entirety of stage 2 and the dharma wheel/dharmachakra in the main menu. Sadly while I know greek myths pretty well and my bets are on stuff like Poseidon, Hestia or Demeter? I feel like stage 4 and final boss are going to be buddhist inspired and Iroha will already take the place of Stage 5 boss? At least that?s what I think. Also I?m really happy you guys actually created and established new place in Gensokyo and hopefully you?re not stopping there.
I?m not going to cover spell titles here since I?m pretty sure frogmask made them so I?m saving them for the later section, BUT I?m really positively surprised with the quality of the dialogue. I didn?t think you could make an originally English Touhou dialogue feel authentic? but so far so good. Shou?s stage 2 dialogue is quite funny and I do like the little hints, some useless ones and some might not
-CHARACTER DESIGN, GRAPHIC FORMALITIES -Out of main characters, Shou is definitely my favorite. Idk, just the reason she was drawn makes her look kind of weird, but cute in a way? I mean, just look at her being tired. We?ve all been there, trying to get a LNN 1cc? we?ve all made that face full of pain.
Hecatia using her Gensokyo body also makes sense and is a nice touch (I miss her Hellish t-shirt already tho).
Now onto bosses! Azure is pretty good example of stage 1 boss? and that?s mostly it. I really do like the (appearently fake) massive bluebell she?s holding though. There?s just not much to say about her. I think her stage is pretty basic, but alright theme wise. I was really surprised to realize these nice flower patterns and river were just very simple textures in game?s files.
Spoiler:
You know my thoughts about Jiriri already. I think her design?s amazing, she could?ve easily been stage 2 boss, but now we got 2 in price of one I guess? The colour pallete is strong with this one and I still love how she?s based of aka-kuchi? she?s only missing a huge red tongue? nvm maybe that?s one part she doesn't need.
I still can?t believe I got tricked into believing Jiriri was the real stage 2 boss. I thought the silhouette behind her in the japanese VP was just a teaser for her final spell or something, but nope. I really like Sakkagumi despite that tho. She feels kinda? out of place as a stage 2 boss, but that?s what I like about her actually. I thought at first ama-nyūdō was just something you guys made up, but nope - She is pretty darn interesting, simple and quirky enough. Her colour pallete is amazing, but that?s also to be expected from the nyūdō. Probably my second favorite design, after Jiriri.
Stage 2 overall is beautiful and probably best looking from the demo. It is kind of hard on the eyes at first, but you really don?t have to change it. It?s just that some enemies? projectiles mesh really well with the backgrounding making it hard to distinguish and thus you die without realizing what hit you.
Oh no, you?ve moefied Ursula? Actually Saga (Sega?) is pretty epic and I wasn?t expecting to like her all that much based on her previous design, but do I love the update. People did mention she looks like Marisa from the future (presumably holding the book stolen from Patchy), but I actually don?t mind that. And yeah, her being kind of an attorney and contract broker is kind of clever. Also really big thank you for showcasing both nereid and an oceanid, there's a difference folks!
From the little we?ve seen from Iroha, she?s also nice, but? kinda? reminds me a of Barbie doll? She does look much better with wings, but I?m just interested to see what you will do with her, but so far judging from the sprites she seems like mixture between Ariel and Wakasagihime colour swap.
Also I can?t stress enough how cool it is you?ve made custom auras for each character so far. Really that?s one aspect of the game that?s pretty polished.
-SHOTTYPES AND SYSTEM-Ok elephant in the room first something I?m sure you guys either know about or are working on. I?ve tried playing and defending Hecatia? but yeah she?s weak. Red?s shotgun is good? against like stage 1 boss and that?s it so far. Yellow?s stars are good for some stage parts and Blue one is the only one with enough range to hit on normal distance? but they lack enough power, resulting in you having to time out a lot of later spells and nons.
I do understand the point of this shottype, not being good at everything, but having enough utility to deal with most things if you know what to switch to? thing is in most situations red and yellow give same results and she lacks both power and homing/range somehow. Easiest way would to make red slightly more range/power when up close, blue have increased attacked and yellow? have homing? But I know that already does sound similar to a certain other shottype.
Idk I?d be happy with any buff because despite her being rough I really want to main her. It would really funny if everyone just assumed she was bad in final version because of the trial, but she would be bonkers. Every other shottype is alright, I actually like Marisa?s missiles but, she also needs some way to deal with spells since you need to time out like half of them. Shou?s rough? until power 2.0. So basically never. She and Reimu feel like most balanced characters so far. All of the bombs however seem pretty weak, which makes them pretty useless, probably only exception being Shou's bomb?
On matter of bombs, is it just me or the deathbombing is either really wonky or nonexistent? As Linnah mentioned, the i-frames are also a bit nuts, kind of reminds me of the issues HSiFS had with releases. I had so many times I died and tried to deathbomb at the exact same, but I?ve lost my life anyways, just to lose another one while I thought I still had i-frame from the bomb, It?s just better to forget bomb button exists at this point.
I?ve seen also people discuss the droplet system, either that there has to be more red drops/decrease the requirement for extend and yes, also about how collecting some is impossible. I?ll tackle the latter point first, I think it?s actually completely fine. You are NOT FORCED to collect everything. Yes, your touhou player heart will suffer when you don?t collect every single drop, but the game already gives you a dozen of them per stage/boss spell. Not just that you autocollect every point and power item with collecting drops so, the drops always should have priority, unless you?re Shou or Marisa in early game. I just feel making more ways to autocollect all kinds of items would make players too spoiled and game too easy - maybe? That being said, I?d love seeing bosses drop more drops after nonspells, I don?t think they do during boss fights, unless it?s after a spell.
The red droplets issue is also kinda? not an issue if you prefer a harder game with less resources and if you don?t like spoiling players, you should be already getting 3-4 extends in the demo and in final game we should get more spells, meaning more hard to miss drops. Thing is I personally like getting spoiled with lifes and I wouldn?t mind getting more of them or getting lower requirements, maybe I just hope we will get reasonable and balanced extra as well? Yeah after some thought I'd rather have a harder game with more extends. That?s up to devs though.
-STAGES AND PATTERNS-Not much to say from me for now since I?m not expert in that part, however from what I?ve played this trial so far, this game has some truly awesome patterns you don?t see everyday, although I do feel stages 2-3 overall are more interesting and stage 1 just kind of feels too blad in some places.
Stage 2 also feels like a huge difficulty spike and as it is with Touhou fangames/games lately, the second stage has some much nastier things to show than Stage 3 boss, at least for me. That?s not to say they need a nerf or something, that?s just my observation.
-MUSIC AND TITLES -I see people say this game doesn?t have ZUN like music at all and I highly disagree so far. Right, it?s not exactly like ZUN?s older or newer music, replicating that is practically impossible, but I do feel like we?ve got a pretty great mix between chill electronic music and some good ol? japanese instruments, like the flute. Actually this kind of reminds me of Ten Desires with LoLK mixed a bit more than anything. Also read this with grain of salt, cuz I know little to nothing about real music terminology, I just listen to it to stuff too much. Also surprised you didn?t just upload the OST on YT or Soundcloud.
Saline Petrichor is a decent title screen/main menu theme. It gets the job done. The first part with echoes really reminds me of either PMoM or other OSTs, but it does get much more interesting before the loop. Not my favorite, but one of the better ones.
The Sky Wanders Closer is also a pretty good stage 1 even though I feel it?s kind of all over the place. I feel like the intro is honestly the best part of it with the guitar and all, but it does get better and better with a pretty nice part before the loop.
Fae Rising from Seafoam is honestly the only theme where I feel like I?ve got less than I expected? But I suppose that?s just fitting for the stage 1 boss~
Idk, Azure?s theme kind of feels like combination of ?Warning Glory!? and ?Midsummer?s Fairy Dream? being mystic and all. It?s alright, it just felt like everything was already showed from it in the trailers. Also it one loops in a very meh way?
Seeping Through the Blue Canopy - on the other hand this one surprised me a lot. Wasn?t expecting much from the trailer, just the typical stage 2 theme, but it feels pretty melancholic and journey like and it?s really fitting for the stage. I also loved this one?s final parts. It might honestly be one of my favorite themes in the demo if not for the-
Vow of Silence [/i]- man? please refrain from doing this again? ok no.
I knew i was going to love this theme since the trailers but you somehow made it even better frogmask, with violin, traditional instruments in the background and somehow guitar combined? This song will never leave my head now, thanks.
A Mermaid Chasing a Shrine Maiden's Tail - another big surprise, I wasn?t expecting to enjoy this theme that much, but man it really is something else. I also love how the parts are synced to the midboss appearances and all. Easily one of my favorite stage 3 themes, it?s just so varied.
Circe Sitting in the Clouds - this theme rocks. I was expecting it just to be your typical tense boss theme, but it turned out to be so
in-depth, befittingly of the character it plays for. I especially love how so much tense the melody gets, the further you get into the song.
Score's Resting Place - this one?s impossible to unlock in the game, presumably because the title for it in music room data is missing? (lol) However it?s a solid Kanakover theme. Again, gives a feeling of drowning, I like it, but it seems to not loop right?
Music titles are simple, but meaningful, much like most of ZUN?s nowadays work and spell titles are just chuckful of cool trivia and stuff. From Mino?s stream I?ve learned about how one of Sakkagumi?s spells might reference Th?ch Quảng Đức which is really cool and morbid. On the other hand? Trade Sign ?Osculum Infame? ? As someone who also tried on creating convincing and quality titles in the past, I know it?s actually harder job than it looks, but you did great.
-TECHNICALITIES AND DATA MINING-Well I haven?t experienced that many obvious bugs myself I think, the only one being
this graphical one where always the clouds on the left would glitch out and all, it?s often, but I haven?t seen it on anyone else so I just assume it?s only my issue.
Also ye so ive found some stuff in game?s files!
...I?m sorry? I was just really curious.
For starters the
game seems to have titles for all the game?s difficulties? including Extra, Phantasm, Last Word and ULTRA.I am a bit sceptic on Phantasm and LW, but ultra? LET?S GO BABY
Secondly ye,
Thirdly I?ve found this cute easter egg under stage title banters:
Showing what looks to be a sprite of
early stage 1 boss. Is she coming back or is she?s just there to handcuff all those nasty dataminers like me? I wouldn?t mind the later, I think it?s hilarious~
So there you go, I?ll probably edit this like 600 more times, but for no I?m just too exhausted and mah illness is killing me.
tl;dr
Just wanted to say, thank you for doing this.
