東方Project 第14弾の情報です - Double Dealing Character

[Zil]

When bullets (in any game from PoFV onwards) hit something, they kinda turn gray and spin off to the side. That is 100% for sure, no doubt about it, one of Sakuya's knives.

Also, that percentage thing displays at the title screen as well as character select, in case people didn't notice. I don't think it would be character usage over all plays.

[Imosa]

I don't think it's one of Sakuya's knives because if you look at the ones she's throwing, they all have a blue or red tail following them. The one that mystery character X is holding lacks a tail in any way. Furthermore, the angle of the red knife doesn't coincide with any of the other red knives being thrown. The only other red knife that Sakuya is throwing in her general area are flying straight ahead. Finally, shes holding out her hand as if to hold the knife.

There is also a strange knife below the mystery character but above the wisp thing below her. That knife also doesn't have a tail and is at an even stranger angle. I don't know what the knife by the enemy is, I wonder how it hasn't hit the enemy yet.
If what Zil says is right then I'd say it's Sakuyas knife.

@Zil, good catch on the title screen.

[cuc]

I know what you mean by the blue trails, but it is Sakuya's knife. Its shape is exactly the same as the knives. The knife's guard is bending backwards.

>There is also a strange knife below the mystery character but above the wisp thing below her.

I think it's part of the magic circle.

[Zil]

Note the tilted white rectangles. It's the same thing happening with the knives.

[Imosa]

I think it's part of the magic circle.

It seems to me that the magic circle appears much darker and has no other apparent markings besides that one crooked sword right there. That seems like a weird magic circle.

[cuc]

Translation:

The weapon selection screen:

Weapon Select - Please select your type

Use Youkai Artifact "Mini-Eight Trigram Furnace"
Heat-Releasing Firepower Type

Unfocused Shot: Illusion Laser
Seamless forward-attacking lasers

Focused Shot: Eight Trigram Fire
Flamethrower attack with limited range, powerful at a close distance

Spell Card: Youkai Artifact "Dark Spark"
Drawing out the Mini-Eight Trigram Furnace's heat power to the highest limit.
A laser that returns everything to nothingness.

Aquamarine Level
NORMAL MODE
A relatively [easy?] difficulty. For all ages.

Reimu's dialogue:

"A youkai disturbance is happening at such a near place to the human village!?"

IRIC "youkai disturbance" 妖怪騒ぎ is a very new phrase to the Touhou universe, first appearing in last month's FS Chapter 6, and seems to refer to minor disturbance caused by youkai activity.

[Imosa]

ZUN you clever deviant. Constructing the weapon selection screen so that we wouldn't be able to see other options. I guess this still leaves the weapons wide open as a subject of speculation.

[Drake]

ichirin

bad shop, good attempt at the style

[AnonymousPondScum]

why can shop not be real ;_;

[cuc]

Analysis and speculation:

Title:
Touhou Kishinjou - Castle of Shining Needles

Kishin = oni gods from hell, like the one who tried to assassinate Seiga in WaHH. Needle mountain is an important feature of hell, referenced by Remilia and Orin's spell card, and mentioned very recently in FS Chapter 1. The hint is too blatantly obvious, must be a trap.

The symbol in the game logo looks sort of like a modern tatoo. With Sakuya, the Western-style mirror frame in title screen, the logo, and a boss wearing a red cape, the game's tone feels a bit more Western than recent games.

Needless to say, this is like MoF, another back-to-basic game with a revamped engine. Note that ZUN calls EoSD a "20th Century-Extending Game of 21th Century" (see its cover). Now he's doing "2000s Neo-Retro".


Pre-game:
It sounds like each character will have two choices: "[use possessed weapon and] struggle against the weapon in one's own hands", and "abandon weapon". As shown in the screenshots, the Mini-Hakkero has become corrupted, and can be used as a flamethrower.

People have pointed out Reimu's gohei stick kept getting longer with each game. It's even longer now.

Normal mode is "for all ages", so Easy is "for children", Hard is "for adults", and Lunatic is probably "for long-living youkai".


Stage and season:
In what appears to be the 1st stage... Reimu shouldn't have dialogue before the game starts, so her zero score must be the result of debugging.

The stage is a road with water on its left side, pebbles and willows on its right side. The story should take place in summer. Previously summer was occupied by fighting games, but with HM taking place in spring, summer is free again.


Story:

The peaceful youkai are rebelling, so maybe the TD Extra title is a preview of that. Or it's a preview for both HM and DDC.

It's also interesting to see ZUN use the word 大人 again in the story synopsis. It's literally "like an adult", meaning "docile, quiet". You can see it a whole lot in the IaMP story.

[AnonymousPondScum]

As shown in the screenshots, the Mini-Hakkero has become corrupted, and can be used as a flamethrower.

can be used as a flamethrower

CAN BE USED AS A FLAMETHROWER HOLY CRAP

:]

[game2011]

My friend said that someone found a beta picture of the new character and that she looks like a maid with a sword.  Is this true?

Thanks in advance!

And great to see that this got announced sooner than expected!  Was thinking that we'll have to wait until at least Monday...

[WestTxTapper]

 Easy is "for children"

I hope this doesn't mean that he gave in to that ridiculous meme about "only kids play easy".

[Imosa]

Isn't the Mini-Hakkero some kind of heating element that is re-purposed as a weapon. I remember that it was mentioned in Curiosities of Lotus Asia and used as such in Silent Sinners in Blue, on the spaceship. The fact that it's shooting fire can't be too strange.

My friend said that someone found a beta picture of the new character and that she looks like a maid with a sword.  Is this true?

It's not surprising to see fan art out early, so maybe your seeing that. The fact that this picture has not come to this thread, makes me think what your seeing isn't legitimate.
The safe option is to always be weary, ask for the sources, and make sure the sources are legitimate. Assume anything else, no matter how plausible, to be speculation. This announcement is, apparently, from ZUN's official blog which is why we trust that information.

[Shadow]

All of my yes. This made my day.

One of my main interests right now would be the overall difficulty. After 10D, I would personally prefer something SA or UFO-caliber in terms of challenge, but this is just me. On the other hand, I am wondering whether ZUN has mastered the new music style he had experimented with in Ten Desires. It was nice seeing (er, hearing?) a change of style, so this is something to look forward to as well.

[game2011]

Isn't the Mini-Hakkero some kind of heating element that is re-purposed as a weapon. I remember that it was mentioned in Curiosities of Lotus Asia and used as such in Silent Sinners in Blue, on the spaceship. The fact that it's shooting fire can't be too strange.
 It's not surprising to see fan art out early, so maybe your seeing that. The fact that this picture has not come to this thread, makes me think what your seeing isn't legitimate.
The safe option is to always be weary, ask for the sources, and make sure the sources are legitimate. Assume anything else, no matter how plausible, to be speculation. This announcement is, apparently, from ZUN's official blog which is why we trust that information.

Just confirmed it with my friend, and yeah, the fan art that was posted here is the one he's talking about..

Note the tilted white rectangles. It's the same thing happening with the knives.

Where is this from?

Thanks in advance!

[Jq1790]

Where is this from?

Looks to be UFO Stage 1, while fighting Nazrin as...ReimuA?  Not sure on player there, but the rest I'm pretty sure about.

[cuc]

Another detail I noticed...

We used to speculate that if Sakuya is playable again, following the convention after MoF, her option should be a watch.

In the screenshot, Sakuya's options are playing cards (which she uses when teleporting in fighting games). This also ties into the etymology of the word "double-dealing".

[shadowbringer]

opinions/thoughts/etc:

- there's a swirling theme to the game (the HUD, the destroyed fairies in the flamethrower screenshot; though they seem to have the old explosion effects as well). It's possible that said swirls are for focused mode only (may be part of a scoring mechanic, like Ketsui's, or like the secondary shot in ESP Ra De)
- Sakuya's shot looks like spread shots; it seems that she has moved a bit while autofiring
- the final boss is when's Neo-Mima, because SoEW was the retro-est of the Touhou shmups (for the sake of the series' evolution -- even if ZUN doesn't like calling his games a series --, and for SoEW's misfortune. It might as well be the Donpachi of the Dodonpachi series.)
- agree that this game sounds like the start of another "arc" (like MoF), with it's (kind of) premise of return to basics
- maybe the story will involve finding out who's/what's the cause of the weapon's loss of control and the youkai's behavior, and may involve fighting their own weapons or doppelgangers (their opposite shot types)
- maybe the game resembles MoF's premise (of return to the origins or basics) a bit too much ("resetting" the playable characters), and Sakuya was added to remind people that old characters haven't gone anywhere (Sakuya in particular being from the first Windows-era Touhou game), or Sakuya is actually important to the plot?

[BT]

- ZUN is aiming for a 'retro' theme, and has replaced complex scoring systems with making the core gameplay as simple as possible.

YES

- Plot synopsis: Everyone's weapons have been possessed, and at the same time there's a new outbreak of youkai activity

OKAY

- Sakuya finally made it back as a playable, while Sanae is absent.

Spoiler:

Clearly she was murdered

HOPEFULLY BETTER THAN PCB SAKUYA

I'll be looking forward to the trail version. Also, seems like ZUN is keeping the Spell Practice as a permanent fixture in the games now.

...Holy hell you're right HALLELUJAH

- Reimu's sprite, is it me or she was prettier in TD?:V

If you have a thing for ghosts, maybe. I'll take anything over TD.

Did someone give any of you a good excuse to start talking about TD? Those days are OVER

SHOTGUNNING MARISA, HOLY FUDGE

Yeah, I think my only worry is TOO MANY recurring characters. The translation kind of hints to that IMO.

[EthanSilver]

...No Sanae in this one? Sakuya playable once again? A return to simple game mechanics? OMFG U GAISE I CALL FAEK! There's no way ZUN can be this awesome.

Excuse me while my squids and I go crack open the "no-more-Sanae" champagne... =D

(Edit: Oh wait, spell practice too? Wtf, I think I'm having a stroke or something. Next you'll be telling me I won't have to wait until next year to see a demo or something...)

[Amraphenson]

alliterator the big fonts hurt.

[cuc]

Oh by the way, that "ZUN made the game easier so his wife can play" thing is not about this game. It happened in the past, so it can only be about IN's Easy mode.

- there's a swirling theme to the game (the HUD, the destroyed fairies in the flamethrower screenshot; though they seem to have the old explosion effects as well).

Good point.

[iK]

A bit off the topic, but would anyone happen to know the pixiv tag for "mystery character" to describe the new? girl?

[game2011]

This is why Sakuya is out to solve this incident:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[danyun]

Reimu is looking too adorable for her own good.

[Tsalop]

Dat short haired Reimu... Me like!
Also Sakuya? I have been waiting her to be playable for a long time...
If th14 starts a new story arch, does this also mean a start of a new arch
where Sakuya is nearly always playable character instead of Sanae?

[Lepetit89]

So the rumors that it would be a PoFV-styled game were false? A bit of a pity, but I'm looking forward to it either way. I've never been too great a fan of scoring, so I'll be happy as long as the patterns and the music are interesting. I really like this game's art, though.

[MaStErSpArK94]

Flamethrower Marisa made my day :V.

Also, Dark Spark? Corrupted Hakkero? Very interesting...

[gtbot]

That is 100% for sure, no doubt about it, one of Sakuya's knives.

it is Sakuya's knife. Its shape is exactly the same as the knives.

While I do feel that those knives may in fact be Sakuya's, there are also effects (obscured by bullets) that are within the path of Sakuya's knives that resemble the decay effect's sprites from PoFV. It looks more like the new character is dropping the knives from her hand, which would explain her arm being extended out and the odd positioning of the two visible 'disabled' knives. However, I'm not particularly sure why someone would do that.

(Here's a picture I threw together)