ZUN announces PS4 version of Touhou 14.5 ULiL

[Koneko]

I guess the more important question is whether PC will get the new characters and stages.

So ... Anything on this ?

[game2011]

So ... Anything on this ?

Nothing on new characters, but who knows?  Perhaps they want to hide everything until a week before release or so like with the original version.

If there's anything that supports there being more characters, then it's the fact that there are lots of new music made for it, so much that a music CD is getting released.  I can't really see there being lots of new tracks and not having more characters.

[Koneko]

But, again, if they're PS-exclusvive, then they're as good as nothing to me, considering that I aint gonna buy one anyway

[TresserT]

Is this a full on music OST CD? I remember ZUN's released small, 3 song mini-cds in the past, especially when it comes with something else. Like the SSiB or the PMiSS CD.

[game2011]

Is this a full on music OST CD? I remember ZUN's released small, 3 song mini-cds in the past, especially when it comes with something else. Like the SSiB or the PMiSS CD.

I only know that ZUN said there's a lot of new soundtracks.  Depends on what he means by "a lot..."

[cuc]

Forgot to write about the game price:
JPY 4700 (w/ tax) for the physical edition, JPY 3800 for the digital edition.

Viewers all noticed that Reisen's Kunekune does not resemble the original humanoid creepypasta monster, but are modeled after Hattifnattar, a clan of white stick-shaped creatures from the Moomin series.

Due to their anime adaptations, the Moomin series is well-known as a family brand in Japan.

Is this a full on music OST CD? I remember ZUN's released small, 3 song mini-cds in the past, especially when it comes with something else. Like the SSiB or the PMiSS CD.

It's bundled as a bonus item with the first printing of the physical edition. This indicates it to be a mini-OST.

EDIT:
Oh, another funny thing. I checked the Tasofro website half an hour before Friday's stream began, and the site still had the Asian IP block.

Less than an hour into the stream, I checked the website again, and the IP block was gone. It has not been turned on again, even now.

This somehow reminds me of "ZUN's Message to Asian Gamers", a video posted by Sony in July (be sure to watch it, it's quite interesting):
https://www.facebook.com/Touhou763/posts/1749396022014768

[Koneko]

Kinda straight for him to worry about Asian fans not understanding Japanese culture
I mean, they do have differences, but still ...

[N-Forza]

Amazon preorders are now available. I'm not sure why they included screenshots of Genso Wanderer though.

Only tangentially related, but there was a stream for premium members of Nicovideo after the regular stream where they interviewed ZUN. Someone was nice enough to make a rough transcript, so I'll put some of the more interesting ones here:

Q. Do you have slumps and how do you get out of them?
A. I do, but I don't have any method other than drinking my way out.

Q. How long do you devote to your creative activities in a day?
A. About 8 hours, lately. It used to be more.

Q. Any recommendations for sightseeing in Nagano?
A. Hakuba

Q. What's your favorite proverb?
A. "Curses return upon the heads of those that curse." (but the Japanese version which is basically "Curses have two holes.")

Q. Why have the characters' clothes after defeating them not been as damaged as they had been?
A. Because the average age of people playing the games has gone down.

Q. What do you see as a good goal for making your own game?
A. Try to make it in less than a year.

Q. Do you have plans to add voices to your games?
A. Well, it's not that I don't want to...

Q. Do you have a PS4?
A. Yes

Q. Why did you call the games "Touhou"?
A. Ask the college me.

Q. Has having a child affected your works?
A. In the sense that my life in general affects my works.

Q. Why did you release Line Stickers?
A. Because someone made a set of imitation characters, so I did it to prevent it from getting worse.

Q. Any plans to release a game on PS4?
A. There was, but the PS4 didn't exist then.

Q. How can I make my fan works canon?
A. Bring them to the publisher! (No guarantees.)

Q. How long does it take for you to make a song? And what's your favorite?
A. Anywhere from 1-2 hours to a whole day. And while my favorites change a lot, I've liked Omiwa Legend for a while.

Q. Have you been to places related to your games?
A. I've been to some, but not others. And of course, I haven't been to the moon.

[cuc]

The Amazon screenshots seem to have been corrected.

The product information has some interesting things to say. I presume it to be written by someone at Tasofro.

The first ever console port of an official Touhou Project game!
The official works of Touhou Project thus far had all been released on PC, making this the first game to be ever ported to PlayStation 4. The game's PC version has high hardware requirements, and is distributed by doujin-only channels, limiting the demographic it can reach. Now ported to PS4, it will be able to reach a large audience who couldn't play it before.

Obviously the logic doesn't hold up, since while PC ownership among young Japanese people is dangerously low by developed country standards, their PS4 ownership can only be even lower. Nonetheless, here we can see ZUN's collaborators give their justification for ULiL, or even the entire Play,Doujin! program.

It also manages to make the game sound as unexciting as possible.

Q. What's your favorite proverb?
A. "Curses return upon the heads of those that curse." (but the Japanese version which is basically "Curses have two holes.")

That has always been his motto. The literal translation should be "he who curses another should dig two graves," one for the victim, one for himself.

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

The game's PC version has high hardware requirements

So 2 GHz multi-core CPU, 2 GB RAM, and 512 MB video RAM are considered high-end among Japanese users. Looks like everything I've read about computer usage in Japan have been correct, for the most part.

distributed by doujin-only channels, limiting the demographic it can reach

If I remember correctly, part of ZUN's guidelines on Touhou-derived products is that the should only be distributed through doujin-only channels. This definitely represents a shift in his views. Why it's limited to the PS4 is something I don't want to think about.

All in all I'm a bit disappointed at the direction this is all headed, with "non-doujin channel" distribution of ULiL limited to the PS4. I, as well as a lot of other people who imported the original PC version of the game, are hoping that Tasofro has it in them to port the new content to PC. Otherwise, this will be taken very negatively by their existing customer base and I can't see anything good come from that. It's not about a single game, but about setting a precedent for future development of games from all doujin circles and possibly ZUN himself.

[N-Forza]

possibly ZUN himself.

It will be be a cold day in Old Hell if ZUN ever drops the PC for PS4.

I would argue that precedent has already been set, since nearly all the other games under the PlayDoujin label have expanded upon the PC releases without going back and adding that new content back in, and I haven't really seen much complaints about "splitting the user base" (although I don't go looking to be honest). And you mention "non-doujin" channels, but I think the mindset of the people behind PlayDoujin see the line between doujin and indie as blurred, and also want to help make it more accessible beyond fairly minor outfits like Toranoana to help create more aspiring game makers in Japan. It's certainly a bit of a gamble if existing players feel ripped off and decide to stop supporting anything Touhou or doujin-related, but I think it's worth pursuing.

[commandercool]

Q. Why did you release Line Stickers?
A. Because someone made a set of imitation characters, so I did it to prevent it from getting worse.

Pardon me if this has already been covered or is irrelevant, but what does that mean?

[N-Forza]

There is a messaging service called Line that's hugely popular in Japan and other parts of Asia with moderate use elsewhere, with part of the reason being large cartoony stickers you could send to your friends. There's a huge market for both officially approved stickers by anime companies and anything else with marketable mascots, and independent creators who want to make their own thing (or companies who don't want to go the official route for whatever reason.)

Anyway, one of these independent creators made a set of stickers titled "Cookie Fairies" (probably in reference to a popular yuri-leaning Touhou video on Nicovideo) which were released near the beginning of the year. As can be seen here -- http://blog.livedoor.jp/tohomemory/archives/46503394.html -- they were basically rip offs of Touhou characters. This eventually reached the attention of ZUN & co., and they eventually worked to release official stamps directly through Line a couple of weeks ago, where they instantly hit the top of the best-selling chart for a good while despite not being drawn by ZUN. - https://store.line.me/stickershop/product/6988/en

ZUN mentioned on Twitter soon after the release that he'll consider a second set if they sell well enough, so that much is more or less confirmed at this point. One strange thing though is that it seems the "Cookie Fairies" stickers have been delisted from the store. I'm not entirely familiar with the workings of the creator stickers, so either they were forced to take them down through TSA or some other entity, or they took them down out of respect for the real thing.

[cuc]

Re: stickers, you should just think of them as really huge emoticons used in a feature-rich messaging environment.

I started working on a full report on the LINE stickers when they came out, but haven't had the time to finish it.

This eventually reached the attention of ZUN & co.

You say the rip-off series is a motivation behind the official stickers? That's a plausible reason, but is there a source on that? Admittedly I was busy during July and August, so I may have missed news from that period.

I did know that ZUN is a big user of LINE.

[N-Forza]

My source is the same interview I translated a summary of above. Here's another article on tohomemory that elaborates a little more. http://blog.livedoor.jp/tohomemory/archives/48371232.html

[cuc]

Here's another article on tohomemory that elaborates a little more. http://blog.livedoor.jp/tohomemory/archives/48371232.html

Thanks, more stuff for the article!

[Suwako Moriya]

http://kilgamayan.tumblr.com/post/150059795476/been-in-this-fandom-since-2007-heres-a-picture

Man.

[Drake]

nice shop

[FearNagae]

Well... what is everyone's opinion on PS4 ULiL?

I guess I can be fine with the conclusion of the Lunarian Arc being unplayable for me but I'm pretty butthurt because this sets a precedence for another PS4 release.

[Koneko]

I mean, at least we should remember that this is a fighting game from ZUN AND Tasofro, not the OG shootings that ZUN does
Still annoying as hell anyway ...

[Critz]

ZUN: Honestly speaking, I don't feel like releasing games there. Why not? Probably because I hate dealing with consoles.
Iruka: You did say that porting a finished game onto a console would be spending time on it again, so you don't really like it.
――: You don't like touching stuff you've done in the past?
ZUN: More like I don't see the point in making a game from the beginning just so you can play it on consoles. But if Tasogare-san's the one making it and Sony can be satisfied, that'd be nice. But it won't be just a simple port, that's what I thought.

I hate canon being console-exclusive as well, but if the above is true, we can at least count on ZUN not making console games himself.

If worst comes to worst, I can see someone ripping Reisen's data and transplanting it manually to the PC version somewhere down the line.

[SuperVehicle-001]

Count me in in the "dun like this at all" camp, especially now that it seems they won't port the new story/Reisen to the PC version.

[Gpop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vajqc4txYU8

Official TGS trailer for Reisen and PS4 ULiL

[game2011]

If Reisen is really the only new addition, then I think this wouldn't be as big of a loss.  Having several new characters and being forced to get a new console and game disc to play them will be outrageous.

[cuc]

Cover art revealed in today's (Oct 9) Play,Doujin! stream. The CERO rating is B (age 12 or above), same as the other Touhou games ported to PlayStation. The game will be demoed at Oct 16's Autumn Reitaisai.



New artwork from the Autumn Reitaisai website (click to link to the full-size image):

[TresserT]

Huh, I see we have someone other than Reisen on the box. More playable characters? woo. At a glance it looks like Suika, but that'd be really random. Wonder who it could be.

[Quwanti]

Huh, I see we have someone other than Reisen on the box. More playable characters? woo. At a glance it looks like Suika, but that'd be really random. Wonder who it could be.

It's just this illustration Reimu.

[VTPHOENIX]

It's just this illustration Reimu.

haha it totally looked like a horn! It's her stick...  :V

[Phasm]

Well thats certainly dissapointing 
Was hoping for Yuugi having a little bit more screentime

[cuc]

One day before Autumn Reitaisai!

You can watch the short Reisen gameplay footage shown in last week's stream here.

A 4Gamer Tora no Ana twitter post has the largest version of the key art. The actual game cover might be reversible, with both the key art and its Touhou-traditional silhouette version?

Tasofro had acknowledged in the stream which one actually fits ZUN's style, and put the silhouette version up on their website.

U2 and JYUNYA have received the promotional decoration for game store racks demo stations. You can see three ULiL screenshots, and two contains new info. In one we can see Reisen's Eientei stage, and in another we can see Reisen has replaced the "Random" slot in the character select screen.