Touhou 13.5 東方心綺楼 Hopeless Masquerade - I'm hopelessly in love

[MaStErSpArK94]

Now if only Akyuu, Rumia, Hong Meiling, and Kasen were in the backgrounds as well...

Rumia says hi

[Starxsword]

Tasfro should've included an option to disable the timer. I might come up with one in cheat engine though or learn to be more aggressive.

Are you using spell cards? There should be no way that you wouldn't be able to trigger spell cards, considering this game's mechanic.

Also, given how broken they are I doubt the sisters will be playable. I mean, They didn't put in Mokou or Kaguya last games because they were afraid they would be broken(though I feel they may be less broken here since the game is about popularity more then beating each other up). Even ZUN has said they are broken, and wants to keep them Manga Only.

The Watatsuki sisters have no real storyline reason to be here. But I don't see why they can't be, if the developers want them playable.
I thought Kaguya and Mokou wasn't in was that they are really hard to balance?

The only other choices I see happening are characters from Touhou 14 or PC-98 characters

I see the latter as being less likely than the Watatsuki sisters being playable.

Does the game have place for two summoners? And if not, what exactly can Akyuu do?

Memorizable Gensokyo. So, its possible she can play like someone with all abilities. Like Seth, Edgemaster, or similar people.

Didn't realize that she's not in the game until you brought it up...  But then, she doesn't look like someone who can fight.

That's true she doesn't look like someone who can fight. She has visited various places in Gensokyo, some fairly dangerous, like Garden of the Sun and Road of Reconsideration.
But, it is also true that Kosuzu is shown in the human village and she is new. So, why isn't Akyuu seen in the game, at least I haven't seen her.

The unpleasant thing in this system is actually when players lose in an unfair way, like having almost all their life, the enemy being almost dead but having like 1% more popularity and win the game.

Isn't popularity related to how aggressive the player is? This way, it favors the more aggressive player and not one who can do more "chip damage" while turtling.
In theory, the mechanic is sound, but I don't know if that is so in practice. That is something players will have to figure out after playing a while.

Now if only Akyuu, Rumia, Hong Meiling, and Kasen were in the backgrounds as well...

I think Rumia's in the background of Futo's stage.

[Aqua Soo]

As a fighting game, I would say it doesn't get a satisfactory mark from me. Then again, this is different from traditional fighters in many ways, so I might be wrong. The popularity system doesn't necessarily promote "aggressiveness." It would be more accurate to say it punishes passive and careless play. However, putting a system to try to forcibly punish bad play isn't a good fighting game design.

I love the new art though. The in-game sprites for a few characters have faces/eyes that's a bit creepy, but maybe rightfully so (Hi, Koishi :3).

As for the character choices. Very heavy focus on newer characters, which is fine tbh. Newer characters need some love too! I am still disappointed to not see Kasen, though, who qualifies as a new character :V

Anyone know/plan to make/want a wiki for this game? Like the IaMP wiki and Hisoutensoku wiki? I think I found all the optimal Marisa combos lol.

[ElGreko]

Isn't popularity related to how aggressive the player is? This way, it favors the more aggressive player and not one who can do more "chip damage" while turtling.

Well, it's actually not exactly true, it's very dangerous to be aggressive in this popularity system too.
Players who are only defending will lose their popularity, that's a good thing and it's quite logical.
But aggressive players who aren't attacking wisely or strategically will lose even more popularity and give some to the opponent. (that makes sense too)

By the way, that's not a bad system, but one of the side-effects of this gameplay is that "sometimes" you can get inequitable situations.
For example, a match where you totally destroy the opponent but don't specially get a lot of popularity (happens very often), and your adversary manages to hit you by chance one or two times during some random attacks.
Even if you have almost all your life and ruled the whole game, and the opponent is almost dead, he could win just for that reason.

This is not particularly bothering me, by the way, I'm just noticing it.
But I still think that if the ?average of the life % and popularity %? would determine the winner, this would be funnier and more pleasant to play (but there is no way it's gonna change anyway x) )

Now if only Akyuu, Rumia, Hong Meiling, and Kasen were in the backgrounds as well...

So, everyone seems to believe there will be more additional playable characters in the game, I don't really believe it although I would really love it. Does anyone officially told anywhere that there will be more playable characters in the future?

Well, I'd love to finally see Kasen in a game, however I don't think Meiling would be added since Byakuren has a lot of movements that are similar to Hisoutensoku's Meiling, and they probably won't add characters that already appeared in Hisoutensoku-SWR [excepted Reimu and Marisa]...

The only other choices I see happening are characters from Touhou 14 or PC-98 characters.

That would be great, characters like Konngara, ect.., Sekibanki or Kagerou would be awesome.
But I don't think this would ever happen  :ohdear: (maybe some Touhou 14 characters in a next additional game [like they did with Soku and SWR] in a few years?)

[Quwanti]

Anyone know/plan to make/want a wiki for this game? Like the IaMP wiki and Hisoutensoku wiki? I think I found all the optimal Marisa combos lol.

http://shinkirou.koumakan.jp/
Here. And it already has some nice information.

[Sage Ω (Ultima)]

Are you using spell cards? There should be no way that you wouldn't be able to trigger spell cards, considering this game's mechanic.

Spell Cards are triggered mostly from getting hit yourself since attacking only fills it up at a very small rate and you'll definitely either get a time out or kill your opponent by the time it reaches half.

I'm used to having no timers in fighting games that way I don't have to be soo aggressive while playing, I'm more of a passive player at time and I try to wait and counter attack and whoop ass for a few seconds. I think the reason why I often have a hard time connecting hits is because I'm not used to a Aerial Fighter and this is the first time I played a game like this.

[Darth_Sirov]

I'm still learning, but in so far, the best way to gain popularity is to make sure you do a lot of counterhits, not just beating down on your opponent. Against some computers, if you can time and trick them into attacking, but hit them 1st (I find Reimu's B dash attack quite good). Though I'm still wondering how a single counter hit against me got my +50 popularity into 0 or a negative value.

Ok, quick question on their gimmicks (after reading them up a bit here):
Reimu has little gimmick involve, correct?
Marisa's stars add damage when using them up, correct?
Ichirin uses a rage meter?
Byakuren has a Charge meter?
Nitori uses an ammo counter?
Koishi has a "save move until position is correct"? Anyone want to explain this further to me, esp with her 3rd eye at the center, does it glow or something? (have only used her twice)
Futo - no idea?
Miko - gaijin?
Mamizou - the 4 leaf is based on which attacks and if they're knocked out, you'll lose some abilities, correct? Anybody care to explain further?

[Imosa]

@Darth_Sirov: Futo places and breaks plates to gain power that persists between rounds.

Someone pointed out to me that the newspaper at the end of the each match is dated May 30th in some year.

[Gpop]

Koishi has a "save move until position is correct"? Anyone want to explain this further to me, esp with her 3rd eye at the center, does it glow or something? (have only used her twice)

Most of Koishi's special does involve correct positioning, but a few is timing based, and one is combo based (the flower grab, which is why it gives her Buddhist).

I don't thing Reimu has any gimmick though. She's just the standard, straightforward fighter of the game.

[Quwanti]

I'm still learning, but in so far, the best way to gain popularity is to make sure you do a lot of counterhits, not just beating down on your opponent. Against some computers, if you can time and trick them into attacking, but hit them 1st (I find Reimu's B dash attack quite good). Though I'm still wondering how a single counter hit against me got my +50 popularity into 0 or a negative value.

Ok, quick question on their gimmicks (after reading them up a bit here):
Reimu has little gimmick involve, correct?
Marisa's stars add damage when using them up, correct?
Ichirin uses a rage meter?
Byakuren has a Charge meter?
Nitori uses an ammo counter?
Koishi has a "save move until position is correct"? Anyone want to explain this further to me, esp with her 3rd eye at the center, does it glow or something? (have only used her twice)
Futo - no idea?
Miko - gaijin?
Mamizou - the 4 leaf is based on which attacks and if they're knocked out, you'll lose some abilities, correct? Anybody care to explain further?

Reimu has more spirit.
Marisa has three stars, and after using three skills, the fourth one will have more density, power w/e.
Ichirin has indeed a rage meter.
Byakuren's attacks first has to be chanted by inputting the skill first, and then you can use them a few times (depends on the skill).
Nitori and Koishi are correct.
Futo's gimmick are her plates. She has to place tem using a regular bullet move, and break them using a special skill. After 20, 40, 60 and 80(?) broken plates she will gain some extra power and such.
Miko depends on the popularity. If it is red, she will gain some extra power and such, while blue makes is weaker.
Mamizou, I have no idea.

Someone pointed out to me that the newspaper at the end of the each match is dated May 30th in some year.

In fact, it depends on your computer time. 4 days ago it said 26 May, for instance.

[ToyoRai]

Reimu: Has larger spirit gauge than any other character.
Marisa:  Strong projectiles and specials lit up one of stars. Once all four are lit up, the next strong projectile or special wihh get a buff.
Ichirin: If she gets hit enough times, she will go into rage mode.
Byakuren: You must first chant the moves before you can use them. Also, each move has its own chant.
Futo: Melee and projectiles fire plates which stay on screen if they hit opponent. Specials will break them and give Futo buffs.
Miko: Gaining popularity gives him desires. The more desire she has, more powerful her moves become. On other hand, less desire means weaker attacks.
Nitori: Her moves cost less spirit to use, but if her energy counter reaches zero, she canot use some of her moves, some moves become weaker and consume more spirit.
Koishi: Set up Strong melee, projectiles and specials and if certain conditions are made, they will activate.
Mamizou: If she gets hit while using her attack, she loses it temporatily. If she loses all of her leaves,s he cannot use her specials until she recovers them back.

[Piranha]

Someone pointed out to me that the newspaper at the end of the each match is dated May 30th in some year.

Not quite right, it's the current date. It was May 29th yesterday and is May 30th today.

[Imosa]

Oh so they can bother to change the date on the newspaper but not switch out background characters. Jeeze.
JK, thanks Quwanti and Piranha

[commandercool]

Weirdly the first few times I played the newspaper was dated the previous day, so I assumed it was set to the release day. My computer was having some weird problems that have since been addressed, and now it shows the current day.

[zferolie]

Oh so they can bother to change the date on the newspaper but not switch out background characters. Jeeze.
JK, thanks Quwanti and Piranha

I have seen back ground characters not appearing sometimes, like Iku or the Oni's. I beleive they can remove a background character if they choose.

Not quite right, it's the current date. It was May 29th yesterday and is May 30th today.

That is quite an interesting addition.

I didn't get to play too much due to playing Marvel Heroes Early, but I did get some Futo Practice. She is quite fun, and yes, while spamming Dishes and fireballs is a good way to level up your skills, one needs to learn more. I find that either neutral of Taoist fits her shot types best. Taoist lets her fire Dishes very fast, while Neutral almost always leaves her with 4-5 dishes when you use her heavy shot. Fire ball is a must, but also water bubble forward has a huge area to hit dishes too.

Not sure if anyone has posted this, so here is how her skills increase as she levels up, and how it is effected by dishes, and the direction effects.

Fireball: It homes in on all dishes. If the foe is surrounded by dishes,  use fireball. Not sure how it levels up. Back and forward shoot straight, Up angles up, down angles down.

Water Bubble:No damage without dishes. With Dishes it causes any dishes that touch the bubble to spill water for a very short time, causing damage. Higher level means water falls longer. Forward Makes a huge bubble. Back makes a very small bubble. Up and down are medium bubbles. Not sure if they have any other effect.

Arrow: Fires up at and angle and comes back down. With dishes if the arrow is close enough it will land on the dies, causing it to split into multiple copies and then rain down. Higher level means more arrows when it splits. Forward is a very far shot. Up and down are medium, Back is very close. I recommend Up or down because that will allow it to reach dishes on almost the entire stage.

Teleport dive kick. Without a dish this just does your strong attack in that direction. With a dish Futo disappears and dives straight down onto the dies and spins, doing multiple hits. Only hits 1 dish. The higher the level the more damage and wider range of the spin. I see no difference  in the direction other then what strong attack you use if you don't have a dish out.

Boat: Futo gets into her boat and rides it 3/4ths accross the screen. Not effected by any dishes on stage, For every 2 levels you get a different boat, starting with a simple boat, upgrading to a bigger boat with a seat, and ending with a very large fancy boat with a Dragon front and sail. Back and forward go straight, Up angles Up, Down Angles down. I find Down misses a lot since the hit box is what Futo Stands on, though max level includes a little part of the dragon head. I say use up or straight.

Mountain: Futo jumps to the buttom of the screen and raises a mountain. If it hits a dish rock bits fly out to do damage. Can hit multiple dishes. As level increase the width and height of mountain increases. At max level the high is 3/4's of the screen. Forward has Futo umping forward to summon. Back has her jumping back, and up and down makes her summon it at her location. I recommend not using this skill until you got at least 2 or 3 levels. At low levels the mountain does not hit mid screen.

Strong attacks: As Futo Levels up he strong attacks gain a bigger hit box and do more damage FOr example, her forward strong gets a lot more range, and also gets an added hit that knocks people away at max level.

One interesting thing. If you are at max Popularity, all Futo's wind based attacks turn gold.

[Yonowaaru]

Ah, so Kosuzu's using a broom.
Now if only Akyuu, Rumia, Hong Meiling, and Kasen were in the backgrounds as well...

Rumia is in the background, she just doesn't always appear.

[hida]

I'm still learning, but in so far, the best way to gain popularity is to make sure you do a lot of counterhits, not just beating down on your opponent. Against some computers, if you can time and trick them into attacking, but hit them 1st (I find Reimu's B dash attack quite good). Though I'm still wondering how a single counter hit against me got my +50 popularity into 0 or a negative value.

Ok, quick question on their gimmicks (after reading them up a bit here):
Reimu has little gimmick involve, correct?
Marisa's stars add damage when using them up, correct?
Ichirin uses a rage meter?
Byakuren has a Charge meter?
Nitori uses an ammo counter?
Koishi has a "save move until position is correct"? Anyone want to explain this further to me, esp with her 3rd eye at the center, does it glow or something? (have only used her twice)
Futo - no idea?
Miko - gaijin?
Mamizou - the 4 leaf is based on which attacks and if they're knocked out, you'll lose some abilities, correct? Anybody care to explain further?

yeah well, when the demo was released the very first time, all those detail were reveled too, you win popularity by hitting the first time that can give you 10-15 % , by declaring spellcards, by comboing and by canceling your oponents hits or spells (the fastest way), and by moving forward ( it gives you a low amount thou), now that sittuation when you lost 50% popularity was on the story mode? im asking because it havent passed to me on  vs cpu mode, but is very frecuente there.
on your ather question, every character has an "special ability" that is like the "passive" in league of legends of the "racial" on wow, in reimu case, she can "travel" from one side of the battlefild to the other by dashing toward the wall, and on ichirin, when she is red,goes rage mode, her overall damage is incresed a lot, anyway, i hope i helped you even with my bad english.

[commandercool]

Hmm. Didn't realize until I read it just now that Miko's big homing bullet decreases her desire meter. That may help explain why I was having so much trouble with her, because I was spamming the hell out of it. Doesn't explain why I kept losing 150 popularity from light hits, but it does explain why her damage was so low for most of story mode. :derp:

[Quwanti]

Not sure if anyone has posted this, so here is how her skills increase as she levels up, and how it is effected by dishes, and the direction effects.

Fireball: It homes in on all dishes. If the foe is surrounded by dishes,  use fireball. Not sure how it levels up. Back and forward shoot straight, Up angles up, down angles down.

Water Bubble:No damage without dishes. With Dishes it causes any dishes that touch the bubble to spill water for a very short time, causing damage. Higher level means water falls longer. Forward Makes a huge bubble. Back makes a very small bubble. Up and down are medium bubbles. Not sure if they have any other effect.

Arrow: Fires up at and angle and comes back down. With dishes if the arrow is close enough it will land on the dies, causing it to split into multiple copies and then rain down. Higher level means more arrows when it splits. Forward is a very far shot. Up and down are medium, Back is very close. I recommend Up or down because that will allow it to reach dishes on almost the entire stage.

Teleport dive kick. Without a dish this just does your strong attack in that direction. With a dish Futo disappears and dives straight down onto the dies and spins, doing multiple hits. Only hits 1 dish. The higher the level the more damage and wider range of the spin. I see no difference  in the direction other then what strong attack you use if you don't have a dish out.

Boat: Futo gets into her boat and rides it 3/4ths accross the screen. Not effected by any dishes on stage, For every 2 levels you get a different boat, starting with a simple boat, upgrading to a bigger boat with a seat, and ending with a very large fancy boat with a Dragon front and sail. Back and forward go straight, Up angles Up, Down Angles down. I find Down misses a lot since the hit box is what Futo Stands on, though max level includes a little part of the dragon head. I say use up or straight.

Mountain: Futo jumps to the buttom of the screen and raises a mountain. If it hits a dish rock bits fly out to do damage. Can hit multiple dishes. As level increase the width and height of mountain increases. At max level the high is 3/4's of the screen. Forward has Futo umping forward to summon. Back has her jumping back, and up and down makes her summon it at her location. I recommend not using this skill until you got at least 2 or 3 levels. At low levels the mountain does not hit mid screen.

Strong attacks: As Futo Levels up he strong attacks gain a bigger hit box and do more damage FOr example, her forward strong gets a lot more range, and also gets an added hit that knocks people away at max level.

One interesting thing. If you are at max Popularity, all Futo's wind based attacks turn gold.

I myself don't use the water or the mountain, they are rather hard to use correctly against the other player. Her arrows are almost perfect though. Between 0 and 20 dishes it is rather useless, but after that I use it quite a lot as the multiple arrows can be quit annoying.

Also, you can do multiple Teleport dive kicks if you have more dishes set out, after eachother.

[zferolie]

I myself don't use the water or the mountain, they are rather hard to use correctly against the other player. Her arrows are almost perfect though. Between 0 and 20 dishes it is rather useless, but after that I use it quite a lot as the multiple arrows can be quit annoying.

Also, you can do multiple Teleport dive kicks if you have more dishes set out, after eachother.

The water one seems to be only good if you can get them trapped, and for a fast way to destroy dishes. I myself am not a huge fan.

As for Mountain, it is quite hard to use on anything other then max or near max level, plus it's hard to combo into. I do need to test more

The arrows are great. A great way to fill most of the screen up. I was thinking if you combine Arrows with high level mountain, you could cover almost the whole screen then stufff

Oh? I never knew that about the teleport kick, that could be really interesting.

[Darth_Sirov]

Thank a lot you guys. This is really useful. Looks like I need to play more of Futo, all those combination attacks makes for a fun gameplay. She greatly reminds me of Alice in her set ups.

[ToyoRai]

This might be bit random, but dear god, every one's eyebrows are freaking thick! Seriously now, when I saw Miko's "I'M AWESOME" portrait, I was thinking to myself "What the heck happened to your eyes?!" until I realized that her eyes were closed.

[ElGreko]

This might be bit random, but dear god, every one's eyebrows are freaking thick! Seriously now, when I saw Miko's "I'M AWESOME" portrait, I was thinking to myself "What the heck happened to your eyes?!" until I realized that her eyes were closed.

Oh wait wait wait, aren't you trying to say that you think character's eyelashes are eyebrows ?

God I'm laughing so hard right now  , thank you, you made my day  :] !

[ToyoRai]

Oh wait wait wait, aren't you trying to say that you think character's eyelashes are eyebrows ?

God I'm laughing so hard right now  , thank you, you made my day  :] !

1. Their acutal eyebrows are so tiny compared to their eyelashes they might aswell be eyebrows

2. I am not native English speaker, so I get those two mixed.

3. They still are freaking huge no matter which one they are!

[Darth_Sirov]

1. Their acutal eyebrows are so tiny compared to their eyelashes they might aswell be eyebrows

2. I am not native English speaker, so I get those two mixed.

3. They still are freaking huge no matter which one they are!

I'm not sure myself, but I think some artist draw thicker eyelashes as part of alluring eye beauty. I recall seeing Sakuya with thick eyelashes at Koumajou Densetsu.

[ToyoRai]

I'm not sure myself, but I think some artist draw thicker eyelashes as part of alluring eye beauty. I recall seeing Sakuya with thick eyelashes at Koumajou Densetsu.

I don't really have problem if people draw thick eyebrows/eyelashes. Doesn't mean I cannot point out how ridiculous they might look, though :V

[ElGreko]

1. Their acutal eyebrows are so tiny compared to their eyelashes they might aswell be eyebrows

2. I am not native English speaker, so I get those two mixed.

3. They still are freaking huge no matter which one they are!

You don't need to justify yourself, friend, I wasn't saying that to offend you :p !

I have a friend who also thought the same thing and when I told him, we laughed both hard too  That's funny actually!

(Ps: I'm not a native English speaker either, but I don't see the relation  :] )

By the way, the only noticeable thing is that the artist made the eyelashes color match with the hair color, I personally find the drawings pretty nice!

The only artwork I don't like is Koishi's one, I still don't know WHY did they choose that color for her hair!!
Why didn't they choose the original color instead, I don't even... But I find that "fluorescent green" awful. (also in the in-game sprites, she also have some weird green hair color, and her frozen facial expression is really weird, it's the only character I don't like in the charadesing although I really love Koishi  )

[Cadmas]

Color inconsistencies are a big part of touhou :getdown:

[Darth_Sirov]

So I was playing Miko, and her cape is very much reminiscence to Utsuho (her heavy projectile just screams Okuu). Also, I realized her desires has an effect on said cape. It actually turn red in your favor.

[Savory]

*Just saw a vid of Nitori's Last Word*