Hollow World of God

[Milkyway64]

Does this count as a touhou doujin? It appears to have very little to do with Gensokyo or it's characters, but it has mostly the same bullet sprite set, sound effects, and a music cameo that I've heard.

Anyway, it's pretty fun and apparently very deep for a shmup. Pre game there's some town where I can buy a whole lot of things, but I have no idea what any of it is. >.>

There also seems to only be one shot type, too. The classic homing shot. I assume some of the things at the shop are extra characters, but since I can't read Japanese, I'm not sure.

Also interestingly enough, I can get into Extra and Phantasm modes without clearing the game, and got steamrolled by both. You all should try it, it's free. (I'm 99% certain, I got mine from a reupload of a broken link on the official site, found here: http://www.mediafire.com/?ng3d4i5zmtd)

If anyone can translate the shop, that'd be wonderful. I've already bought a few cheap things and noticed nothing different at all.

[Suikama]

Hit Ctrl to change to a high damaging forward shot type.

However you can only do this if you bought it from the store first.

[Milkyway64]

Hit Ctrl to change to a high damaging forward shot type.

However you can only do this if you bought it from the store first.

Ah, nice!

See, this is why I wish I could read this stuff. The store system is pretty cool, actually.

[Demonbman]

I just bought stuff from it not knowing what it was, then I went into spell practise and found the Touhou Section with the Nico Nico Medely begginning survival music spell

[Ghaleon]

Yeah the game was pretty fun, but I didn't think it was quite as enjoyable after beating everything. The hardest difficulty isn't really all that hard either. Also, have you noticed that the BGM for one of the dragon bosses is exactly the same as one of the generic boss songs in Touhou Labyrinth?

Anyway here is my crowning achievement for that game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7UHxqBEDY8

Just ignore what attempt # that was.

As for the shop, I don't know, I bought everything except the one that costs 10,000 or 10m, or whatever it was (it's 1 more than the cap). After that I only noticed 3 differences:
Shot type change as already mentioned (didn't get it until clearing the whole game, extra, and phantasm)
lowered point of collection,
some other 3rd one that I don't really recall that wasn't terribly significant.

[?q]

I'm glad I saved this.~

Item Shop

"輝く指輪"
"Shining Ring" - Increases absorption range of items by half.
"魅惑の指輪"
"Fascinating Ring" - Increases absorption range of items by half.

"輝く宝石"
"Shining Jewel" - Lowers "Autocollect border line" 40 pixels.
"魅惑の宝石"
"Fascinating Jewel" - Lowers "Autocollect border line" 40 pixels.
(I'm not sure what to call the "Item Get Border Line." The mechanic of getting all items when you move up is often called "autocollect" among players I know - what do people think of "Auto Item Collect Line," "Autocollect Border Line," or "Item Collection Border" as for what flows best? Or any other ideas?)

"輝くステスルジャケット"
"Shining ??" - Reduces your hitbox size by 20%.
"魅惑のステスルジャケット"
"Fascinating ??" - Reduces your hitbox size by 20%.
(What's meant by ステスルジャケット? The romanization is "SUTESURUJAKETTO," and I understand "Jacket," but I'm not sure what sort you mean. A "straight jacket," for keeping people tied up and restrained? A "suit jacket" to look fancy and that might tighten your waist? Or is it something else?)

"輝くフェロモン"
"Shining Pheromones" - Extends enemy hitbox by 30%.
"魅惑のフェロモン"
"Fascinting Pheromones" - Extends enemy hitbox by 30%.
(Would "perfume" work better? Pheromone is a more scientific term about scents used to signal biological reactions from others: perfumes are scents made to smell nice/pretty, often used by people to have those pretty scents.)

"輝く親父の根性魂"
"Shining ?" - Extends bomb length by 50%.
"魅惑の親父の根性魂"
"Fascinating ?" - Extends bomb length by 50%.
(This one's difficult: I'm pretty sure "the amount of time the bomb lasts" is the effect, but I don't know what Aisha's bomb is called! orz What does "喰らいボム受付時間" mean, then?
I also don't understand the name of the item. There are Shining and Fascinating versions, but "親父rooted in the soul" from Google Translate is confusing. I think it has to do with spiritual power, but I'm not sure what to call it. Something to focus your strength through? An item that enhances your power? Well, maybe I can ask someone that knows better than me...)

雑貨ショップ
General Store
(Google Translate gave "Grocery Store," but grocery stores are usually for food. General stores are more for tools, like those offered.)

"使い古された斧"
"Holy Axe" - Opens Extra stage.

ドレスショップ
Dress Shop

魅惑のドレス
Glamorous Dress - Lets you shoot different bullets.

"神秘のドレス"
Mystic Dress - Does nothing?
(What does "Unpopulated" mean? Has no effect, or its intended effect is not in the game yet?)

"○○スペルの鍵"
"oo Spell Key" - Unlocks bonus spell practice "oo"

Anyway, the game is pretty fun; blatantly inspired by Touhou but that's not a huge deal.  It gets a lot easier after upgrades so what's the point in buying them?~.

The homing shot you get by default is IMO a lot more useful than the laser shot overall, except against the Phantasm boss (and even then I'm not sure on that).

It's overall a giant endurance festival; getting high ranks on the later stages is pretty difficult to do.  There really aren't a ton of difficult attacks though (with some noticeable exceptions; there's one really nasty one near the end of Stage 5).

Extra is actually pretty terrible, with some of the worst-designed stage ideas and boss spells in the game.  And a boss theme that sounds like the catchtheme to a bad anime.  The stage theme is cool though.

Phantasm is shiny more than anything.  The laser cage attack near the end is dodgy, and of course the last attack is... well.

[Suikama]

The homing shot you get by default is IMO a lot more useful than the laser shot overall, except against the Phantasm boss (and even then I'm not sure on that).

Eh well considering how you can swtich between the two ingame, I don't see why you wouldn't use laser on stationary bosses, and homing on moving ones

[Milkyway64]

Yeah the game was pretty fun, but I didn't think it was quite as enjoyable after beating everything. The hardest difficulty isn't really all that hard either. Also, have you noticed that the BGM for one of the dragon bosses is exactly the same as one of the generic boss songs in Touhou Labyrinth?

I sure did. I was all "OH HAI ALICE" as soon as it started playing.

Thanks for the shop list. Some of them just kinda break the game though. By default, my hitbox was reimu size at least. Small enough to cheat the maze extra card.

Also Phantasm Lite is a joke. Beat it first try, two deaths.

[?q]

Also Phantasm Lite is a joke. Beat it first try, two deaths.

It's kind of relaxing and fun though.  Like IN Hard

For what it's worth, the music in this game was overall pretty good.  The only really lame pieces were the Stage 1 boss and the Extra boss.  All of the boss themes looped way too quickly given how long the battles lasted though.

Eh well considering how you can swtich between the two ingame, I don't see why you wouldn't use laser on stationary bosses, and homing on moving ones

I'm not sure if the laser actually does noticeably more damage to be worth swapping out your homing shots.  (Isn't it always like this, Marisa?)

[Ghaleon]

It's actually heaps more damaging. But  you have to be pretty much exactly under the target to hit it. It's far more picky about that than focus-shot types in Touhou for example. So moving in and out of bullet patterns under the boss basically makes the point moot, even if you purposefully move back under perfectly.

There are a few spots where it's REALLY handy though, Also good at speeding up defeating certain spellcards with a "charge up" time before barrages of bullets.

I never got it until I fully cleared everything though >=P

[Pesco]

Do want! But so many ongoing games for me right now

[Tengukami]

I'd seen this game a couple years ago, touted as an MoF clone. Maybe as far as the color scheme goes, sure, but apart from that ...

Ah, well, I may give it another day in court. I remember it being pretty, and knowing what the shop items are helps.

[?q]

I'd seen this game a couple years ago, touted as an MoF clone. Maybe as far as the color scheme goes, sure, but apart from that ...

Don't forget the bombing system, which is even more lenient than MoF's.

It IS a very watchable game though.

[Despatche]

The developer kept working on the game for the next two years, with v2.83 being released in 2012. A few months back, a sequel was announced! Should be out by the end of this year.

Why do we call it "Hollow World of God"? I've never seen that phrase anywhere except in English speaking areas, and it doesn't match up with the title at all. The title (四聖龍神録) is more like "Record of Four Saint Dragons" or something. Really basic kanji, there's nothing about hollow worlds of gods in there. Might as well romanize it too, so we get "Shi Seiryuujin Roku".

"ステスルジャケット" should be "stealth jacket", since it's the hitbox equip.

[Shikigami101]

Hmm...
In my opinion, this game is *too* similiar to be called a doujin. A lot (and I mean it!) of stuff is extremely similar mostly to PCB or MoF. Even the fairies, not getting started with the bullet patterns.
I don't know anything about its plot or if the music used is credited, so feel free to correct my thoughts.
But I have to admit, I had some fun with it (mainly when I was recognizing copied spellcards ). I think the focused speed is too slow.
Either way, the author of it has some potential. I wonder why they decided to rip a game off...

[Drake]

I'm not sure you quite get the whole "doujin" thing yet lol

To call this a ripoff is at the very minimum a silly faux-pas made in ignorance for being somewhat new. It's wrong, and also pretty insulting?

[Ghaleon]

I've never seen a 'released' game that is a more blatant rip-off than Torchlight is to Diablo, and even that is welcome work to many people so yeah, I agree with the whole 'rip off' title needs to die in gaming... Unless it's one of those funny counterfeit chinese games that I can't remember the names of any except fist of fu or something like that IIRC.

That said, looking forward to 2.

[Shikigami101]

While it may seem I don't like this game, it was actually a pretty fun thing (I didn't know the items in the shop, so I guess I had a harder experience). I look forward to a sequel too. I wonder how much the game will change. Maybe they'll add a new playable character? Hopefully the author won't take too much inspiration from LoLK's difficulty.  :derp:
Oh, and sorry if I sounded dumb. I just haven't played any other game that would be that similar. I should have thought twice.

[Maggs]

Hit Ctrl to changes to the kw finder program a high damaging forward shot type.

However you can only do this if you bought it from the store first.

LOl, nice. I never knew this was possible.

[?q]

Wow, hello, me from seven years ago.

There is a credits sequence after Phantasm.  (Remember when this game was all the rage because of dBu's contribution?)
Though, a lot of the music changed from after the game was originally released, and I'm assuming the credits changed as well.

I came back to this game somewhat recently and I can reaffirm it's more endurance than anything else.  Also the Extra isn't quite as bad as I thought it was at first but there are like three long survival cards in a row at the end.

(Also, the game is now playable on a smartphone now?  I'm not sure shmups and smartphones mix...)

[Drake]

Just ask Cave I guess

Japan's mobile gaming market is huge so I imagine a lot of people just play on phones a lot for the convenience regardless.

[Ghaleon]

phone shmups are sexist. Manly fingers cover up too much of your character/ship (though I guess long nails could also obscure things if that's your thing, I'm a horribad nailbiter so problem solved!).

Seriously though, I thought that would be more of an issue when I played dodonpachi's demo on my phone but it never did become a problem... That was only the demo though. I would be floored if later stages and higher difficulty settings didn't make that a significant issue.

I never realized dBu contributed to the game. It thought all the music was free music library stuff. My fave track, the true last card one, I know that's a free track online. i even have the site bookmarked on my older browser. And I recognize the boss music as the same boss music as labyrinth of touhou for youmu's fight (and other bosses maybe? I forget, it's a fairly boring generic track imo).

I do recall that dBu contributed to the BGM of Valkyrie sky though. I miss that game, was awsome. until that patch ruined it with super fast permanent durability loss. WTF. I really really want some fan server to appear with that game again without the durability loss (and preferably with less stamina/fishing mechanics). sighh.. I mention it cuz it was also a shmup. dBu apparently has a thing for making bgm for obscure shmups.

[?q]

I thought all the music was free music library stuff.

Silver Dragon Story - to be continued - - SILDRA COMPANY
    Sound recording
    0:01 - 1:40
    BIG UP! (https://big-up.style/)
    Monetized by copyright owner

    終焉 - SILDRA COMPANY
    Sound recording
    1:45 - 2:36
    BIG UP! (https://big-up.style/)
    Monetized by copyright owner

These are the claims on the Stage 1 music.