Touhou 14.5: 東方深秘録 ~ Urban Legend in Limbo. is HM sequel, demo at Comiket 87

[cuc]

Surprise, surprise. The JBOX website has the screenshots at a much more readable size.
http://www.jbox.com/product/TF031JP

My comments:
* Look at the seams between sprites on Kasen's dragon. They made it look that much more like a cardboard cutout.
* The artist who did the English name graphics simply copied ZUN's inconsistent spellings from the main games. So Mamizou's surname is written as "Hutatsuiwa", same as in TD. A more proper spelling should be either "Futatsuiwa" (Hepburn format) or "Hutatuiwa" (Kunrei format); this is neither. Yet Futo is "Futo" not "Huto", again because that's how TD spelt it.
* Then there's "Hatano Kokoro". I don't think ZUN was responsible for that.


Apparently the game's main title is pronounced "Shinpiroku" rather than "Shinhiroku". For example, that's how the store March Rabbit's English page wrote it. The word 深秘 "profound secrets; profound and esoteric", in addition to being a pun on 神秘 shinpi "mystery" here, is also a real word that can be pronounced either shinpi or shinhi, and shinpi seems more common. It's still a word you are unlikely to encounter unless you study Vajrayana Buddhism.

[monhan]

There's one for Mokou too, I think : if you look at her health bar, you can see that there are white colored parts instead of the typically blue colored ones. It should be safe to presume that she'll use up her blue health bar for her skils, will regenerate up to the white health bar with her regeneration skill, and will only get KOed when the white bar is empty... maybe.

Indeed, that seems to be it. But I don't think that you'll need to deplete the white bar to make her go down, instead, I think it will function akin to the red health bar in Melty Blood. So the white bar is simply the maximum health Mokou can regenerate to at a certain time, and it will decrease as she keeps taking damage/chip damage. Depleting the normal blue health bar is enough to put her down.

At least, that's how I think it might work.

[game2011]

Off-topic, but here's hoping that Touhou 15 is being made and will be announced later this month if there will be a demo this Reitaisai!

[Critz]

Likewise, I highly hope for Touhou 15 and new Phantasmagoria, considering that we had another 5 main games since the last one and it's the 20th anniversary (PoFV was released on 10th).

If ZUN's going to announce it, there's not much time left though. If I'm not mistaken, the shortest period between announcement and demo at Reitaisai was 15 days (DDC). 23 days left until next Reitaisai as of now.

[notext]

I'm assuming that there'll be a 14.8 before there's a Touhou 15. I'm prepared to be wrong though!

[snowflake247]

I'm assuming that there'll be a 14.8 before there's a Touhou 15. I'm prepared to be wrong though!

I'm pretty sure there will be, if it follows the pattern of 12.3, 12.5, and 12.8, which are 12.25, 12.50, and 12.75 rounded to one decimal place. Back when ISC came out, some people spotted this pattern, and were speculating that 14.3 might be 14.33 instead of 14.25, so the next one would be 14.66, or (rounded) 14.7, leaving only 2 games between 14 and 15. Since ULiL is 14.5 instead of 14.7, though, this pretty much guarantees there being a 14.8. (I forget who originally spotted the rounded decimal pattern, sorry  :blush:)

[Critz]

That's possible too, but this doesn't mean he *has* to follow this pattern to a tee and make a spin-off just for the sake of filling the last third of the numeral. Especially since GFW was previously hinted at. Not to mention another spin-off coming on the heels of ISC and ULiL would be disappointing for a 20th anniversary (then again, so would be getting only  ULiL). And I don't think there ever was a three-year gap between two main titles (UFO to TD was only 2 years), so I have big hope that the next week will bring us a new and glorious announcement.

[SuperVehicle-001]

It's not like the order the games are released in matters too much. As far as I know, IaMP (7.5) was released later than IN (8 ) was.

EDIT: Darnit, that emoticon wasn't there before.

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

It's not like the order the games are released in matters too much. As far as I know, IaMP (7.5) was released later than IN ( was.

Doesn't the story of IaMP take place between that of PCB and IN?

[SuperVehicle-001]

Doesn't the story of IaMP take place between that of PCB and IN?

Yup. What I'm saying is that ZUN could release Touhou 15 this year and then release 14.8 at some point afterwards if he wanted to. He did it once (again, 8 getting released before 7.5), so, if it came down to it, what's stopping him from just doing it again?

[Fastest Thing Alive]

Maybe there'll be both 14.8 and 15. That's not out of the question or anything, is it?

[TresserT]

Maybe there'll be both 14.8 and 15. That's not out of the question or anything, is it?

The problem is everyone wants is a main game for the 20th anniversary. For that to happen, ZUN would need to release 14.5, 14.8, and 15 all in one year, or release 14.8 after 15. Both seem really unlikely.

[7TC7]

The problem is everyone wants is a main game for the 20th anniversary. For that to happen, ZUN would need to release 14.5, 14.8, and 15 all in one year, or release 14.8 after 15. Both seem really unlikely.

Which is a strange thing to want, because a non-main game like 14.8 could potentially be a much bigger and better fitting game for an anniversary than a main game. Mind, I have no idea what kind of game it would be or could be, but not being restricted to 6 or 7 stages would help already in making it more special.

14.8 could also potentially just be a smaller game like Fairy Wars and not even get a demo, with 15 getting a demo in summer and full release at winter comiket.

There is a lot of possibilities for what could happen, but I'm pretty sure we'll find out pretty soon as I doubt that ZUN won't have anything at all for Reitaisai.

Also, I thought it was announced that there would be more News for ULiL? Or is this happening at a weekly basis?

[Tiamat]

Yea, for an anniversary, which is usually to celebrate the past of something (I feel, at least), I think it'd be more fitting if ZUN made a Touhou game with a ton of old Touhou characters rather than a new one where only Marisa, Reimu, and Sanae/Youmu/Sakuya return.  If ZUN was to do a Touhou like that which had like, 15+ different Touhou characters (a Phantasmagoria, for example.  Or a fighting game, but we're already getting THAT, obviously), a 14.8 would be the place to do it than a 15.

[cuc]

The game has gone gold ("master up" in Japanese venacular). That is to say, the game development is done, and the master disc has been completed and is ready for mass production.

http://tasofro.net/diary/view/110

[Plastic Vortex]

I'm excited to see Moe Harukawa's rendition of Koishi. Also going to try to play as her, now that she doesn't have the gimmic going on.

[Gpop]

I'm excited to see Moe Harukawa's rendition of Koishi. Also going to try to play as her, now that she doesn't have the gimmic going on.

I second this for both of the statements here. I'm actually very curious as to how she'll play now, especially since her B moves in HM were really good by themselves, so I can only imagine them nerfing those sort of moves a bit if you can use them on command now (especially the lightbulb range)

[cuc]

According to twitter information, you can see an official trailer of the game at today's NicoNico Super Conference event.

The trailer features, among other things, Harukawa-drawn portraits of all returning characters, and what appears to be ZUN's Kasen theme.

It's safe to say we should expect to see the trailer this evening.

[Drake]

finally, people might stop using rumble temple as a temporary kasen theme

[farios]

Some footage of the new characters (Mokou, Shinmyoumaru, Kasen) taken from Chou Nico Nico conference

http://blog.livedoor.jp/tohomemory/archives/43766670.html

And finally, Koishi new cutin

thank you very much Harukawa-sensei

EDIT: Koishi footage
https://twitter.com/dosukoiland/status/591794889014120448/video/1

[cuc]

Ichirin
Hijiri
More pics for HM characters here

Music arrangers:
Reimu: Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly by Comp (Buta Otome)
Marisa: Love-colored Master Spark by oiko
Ichirin: ShavaDava (Sound CYCLONE)
Hijiri: NYO (Silver Forest)
Futo: Tai no Kobone (Azure&Sands)
Miko: Taka (CROW'SCLAW)
Nitori:  Yuuyu
Koishi: Kishida (Kishida Kyoudan)
Mamizou: Futatsuiwa of Gensokyo by Shuzou (Sekken'ya)
Kokoro: Dobu Usagi (dBu music)
Mokou: ziki_7
Shinmyoumaru: Akiyama Uni

Kasen's theme:
華狭間のバトルフィールド, Composed by ZUN
"Battlefield of Hanahazama" (temporary translation)

華狭間, lit. "flowery interstitial space" (狭間 can also mean "ravine" and "arrow/gun slits in a fortification"), likely pronounced "hanahazama", is not an existent word. But most people's first reaction upon seeing the title would be the Battle of Okehazama, which was the battle that first established Oda Nobunaga's place as a great warlord.


Shinmyoumaru's spell cards:
釣符「可爱い太公望」
Fishing Sign "Adorable Taigong Wang"

小槌「伝说の椀飯振舞」
Mallet "Lavish Banquet of Legends"


Character titles:

Ichirin's title:
驚愕！長身の入道使い
Astonishing! The Tall Nyudou Handler

Hijiri's title:
極速！ライダー僧侶
Extreme Speed! The Rider Monk

Futo's title:
番町！皿を割る尸解仙
Banchou! The Plate-Breaking Shikaisen

Miko's title:
怪奇！二色マント魔人
Bizzare! The Fiend in Two-colored Mantle

Nitori's title:
太古！三畳紀の河童
From Time Immemorial! The Triassic Kappa

Koishi's title:
本怖！貴方の後ろにいるよ
True Horror! Right Behind You

Mamizou's title:
侵略せよ！宇宙妖怪狸
Invade! The Youkai Tanuki from Space

Kokoro's title:
戦慄せよ！悪夢の能面女
Shiver! The Noh Mask Woman of Nightmare

[game2011]

Mokou and Kasen's videos only have sound for me.

[Koog]

Mokou and Kasen's videos only have sound for me.

Yep. Same here...

[cuc]

Updated the post with twitter info.

[Shadowlupus]

Yay, a new theme for the returning characters.

The ULiL's art is better than HM's art on many levels too.

[monhan]

Didn't see this soon enough this morning. What a great news.
Nice to see that we now know about the current character's titles, hinting a little more to their occult attacks.
Funny that I expected Miko to use the "Red mantle, Blue mantle"(it was almost so obvious), but didn't see that coming from Hijiri.
I speculated that it'll probably have to do with speed, but the first one that came to my mind was the "Jet Babaa(or Turbo Baa-chan)", which would be hilarious, but there's Skanda for that. And here we got the Headless Rider(probably). I certainly don't mind more of Kamen Rider White Lotus.
Koishi is likely Merry-san, and Kokoro is Kuchisake-onna after all. But what's that with Nitori? So it's dinosaur urban legend?

Anyway, things I note:

• The Mokou video showcases her fighting style that consists mainly of kicks, which was expected and mentioned before. Also, we now can see the kick spellcard from last time. It;s a Fujiyama Volcanoooo!
• Sukuna sure throws the opponent back and forth, which should complement her Occult skill very well. Looking forward to trying her out once it's out. Nice cut-in as well.
• Koishi retains her gimmick, but this time with only 1 button. So you store them first with 2;4;6;8A, and the various C skill like usual. In a way, this is a good thing so people don't need to change their playstyle much. However, I didn't see any gauge like in HM to indicate what you're storing, so it's the player's job to memorize and count the time till it worn off. I'm not sure that's easy to newcomers.
  What's your opinion, Gpop?
  
  This could mean that most of the others characters should also retain their gimmick, like Byakuren's charges(which isn't that difficult to bring over to ULiL, thus probably won't be removed). Though some other character like Miko may have some modifications.
• Most important one in this update. In Kasen's video, her bullet spreads. This means two things: they changed her bullet properties from the demo; or skill customization is confirmed to be implemented(from Kasen's dragon in the previous update), and seems to include bullet types as well(kinda like HM's faith allignment). That certainly would spice things up and makes things way more enjoyable
• Last but not least, Hijiri looks surprisingly reserved in Moe's art. B-B-But why though?

Not related to this update, but after seeing what we can for now, I really think Reimu has the worst occult attack.
Hideously slow startup and recovery, grazeable, not that damaging. The only chance I can see it's being used is probably after a wall slam(and has to be across the stage too so you have time to use it).
Marisa is decent if you got the piano, and Kasen's arguably the most useful and a core to most of her damaging combos.

[cuc]

Jet Babaa is still very likely, and seems a better fit for Hijiri.

Koishi should be Satoru-kun.

[Plastic Vortex]

Loving the art and the music so far! 

I'm guessing that the old spellcards and moves would be kept?

[game2011]

Is there anywhere else to see the videos?  Two of them are not working properly for me...

And still bummed about most of the cast being old characters...  Most of them don't look like they fit into the story.  Let's hope Hanako and the final boss, assuming there is one and that Hanako isn't the final boss, are interesting enough to make up for it!  Hoping for an expansion pack like 12.3 in the future too!

[Shadowlupus]

I use Google Chrome to watch and it works properly for me.

I would say ULiL looks like a remake of HM more than a sequel. Seeing how the game mechanics are better made and using old characters.