Keeping this short and simple:
Touhou 13 is an excellent addition to the Touhou lineup of shmups developed by Zun. It's simple learning curve, yet high difficulty, give this game high replay value and a retro arcade feel for those that enjoy fast-paced games.
Ten Desires delivers the goods, but sadly fails to impress on some parts.
The music is excellent, and it is evident that Mr. Ota has been experimenting with various genres of music; from the techno versions of musical themes while activating Trance mode, to the heavy bass of the stage portion of Stage 6. Zun has also preserved most of his previous techniques, namely the Zunpet, which is a synthesized instruments resembling that of trumpets. In Ten Desires, while there is more diversity in Zun's compositions throughout the game, the music doesn't start to pick up until the second half of the game. Prior to Stage 4, most themes are left unmemorable, because they feel too resemblant of songs from previous installations of Touhou. Stage 4's stage theme is fast-paced, matches the rhythm of the game, and it energizes the player. The difficulty also begins to pick up during this stage, and the fast bpm and louder bass make it a fairly intense stage that energizes the player.
Ten Desires contains many new and already-existing characters in the franchise. The player can choose from Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, or Youmu, all of which were characters released in earlier Touhou games, to play as in 10D. Yuyuko returns in Stage 1, but from that point on, all introduced characters are new to the series, with Houjuu Nue being the later exception in the Extra Stage
. Design-wise, it is difficult to immediately determine whether the characters are memorable or not based on their personality, one reason being because there is not an English translation patch for 10D available at this moment (Translations for individual conversations are posted in raw at touhouwiki.net) and because Zun is also known for leaving much of the characters' personailities to the fandom's imagination.
Touhou 13 also features refined artwork and higher quality portraits of characters than previous releases of the game. When I first played through the game, most of the new characters struck me as plain and boring. There were exceptions however, such as Mamizou and Yoshika, the former being a Tanuki and the latter a Jiang-Shi, respectively. Seiga just stood out to me as another fairy, the one that didn't make it to Fairy Wars, and Toyosatomimi no Miko just didn't live up to my expectations as a Stage 6 boss, design-wise, at least. Most characters tend to grow on the players after some time, however, so I wouldn't be surprised if they become more popular, especially after the English patch is released. Zun's artwork overall has shown more traits of the "cute and mo?" anime style, and his anatomy is noticeably improving with each release. (Hands!)
Ten Desires, like most other Touhou releases, has a game mechanic that sets it apart from the other games. In 10D, the player has a Trance meter at the bottom represented by a Skull and as it fills up, three ghost souls will appear. When the meter is full, the player presses the C button to activate Trance, which is a brief period where the game theme changes and the player can run around the screen, collecting points and collectibles without taking damage. It is a period of invincibility where the player can chance to gain many points, score on bombs and lives. Lives, also known as "Extends," are obtained by collecting red life fragments. Bombs are earned by collecting green fragments. While in Trance mode, the value of these collectibles are multiplied by two, so the player can earn lives more quickly. This game mechanic allows the player to decide when Trance should be used, whether to collect points or to escape a difficult situation.
Spell cards function the same in Ten Desires than any other Windows Touhou game: The player must eliminate all of the card's health without losing a life, bombing, and in the case, using Trance, in order to capture the spell card. Touhou 13 also features Spell Practice, a feature that was also in Touhou 8, Imperishable Night. In this mode, the player can practice individual spell cards to sharpen their skills immediately. In some cases, when a spell card is captured on all four difficulties, overdrive mode will be unlocked for that card, which is even more difficult than the Lunatic version.
Spell patterns were for the most part, unimpressive. Some of them had clever gimmicks such as Yoshika's spell cards, which heal her if the player does not collect the souls in time, but some of them just felt like boring repeats of patterns shown in earlier games, such as Toyosatomimi's final spell card. The Extra stage felt very much like Subterranean Animism's Extra stage at times, both in the stage portion and the boss portion, especially Mamizou's nonspells. Personally, most of these cards just felt like they were missing the intensity and the complexity of previous spell cards, and it suddenly felt like I was playing an earlier release of Touhou except with updated sprites and graphics.
Touhou 13 is your typical Touhou release, but with a few added bells and whistles. It offers four characters to choose from, and the added Spell Practice is a very special feature that was anticipated by many players. It offers a new game mechanic that allow players to score many points in a short amount of time, and also save themselves in a situation where they are out of bombs. The spell patterns are the usual what you would expect from a Touhou game, but don't expect anything too flashy. Music sticks out especially well in this release, and Zun's compositions do not fail to impress, but little can be said about the first three stages. Ten Desires is an excellent title to pick up for the returning Touhou shmup player, but it should not be recommended as a first title for someone who is barely beginning to get started with the series.
(Short and Simple, yeah right. This is a quick review, and I know I left out a lot of things, but please bear with me. I only wrote this for this thread. I'll make a better and more complete review later)
Okay, I will try to do this I guess...
Touhou 13 Ten Desires
Music : Liked just about all of it alot, the Stage 3 Boss theme still gets stuck in my head every once in a while, the Stage 6 Boss & Extra Stage themes along with it's Boss theme are notable favorites of mine.
Scoring : Only thing I like about it is that it makes getting extends & more so then that, bombs easier to get then before which is needed though not in such a manner, it's still better then only getting them for the reasons 1 would in SA or by extent UFO. ZUN needs to really put more time into the scoring system in his games as they don't seem to have the right satisfaction ratio among hardcore players & "the other" players as I didn't even like it as it destroys death bombing & I mean seriously, just no, it's not even fun for me to do & I am 1 of the crowd previously stated as "the other" players. Nothing else worth mentioning here so...we're done, we're done.
Playable Characters : This is from a perspective that is not referring to the story as I don't speak Japanese. It seems this time around that there are even more characters around that have weak shot types when focused then in even UFO as both Marisa & Sanae are so very annoying to use because of this depending on their Power level that is & I don't even know when or in what way that is which is frustrating when trying to get through the game. Reimu is once again the best character(to pick) for obvious reasons & Youmu though hard to use like in IN, is actually quite usable imo & though I haven't beaten the game with her, it's just because of my own fail level as a player but not so much for Sanae who is just not doing it for me even with her perks which only work well on the higher difficulties but because her shot type is so weak...yep...Anyway, I liked that ZUN fused(kind of did anyway) the shot types together but Reimu & in a small way, Marisa is the only 1s who benefited from it what so ever. Lastly, Marisa's shot type is once again badly made, at certain levels her unfocused shot seems more powerful then her focused shot type but then at times it seems the way it is suppose to be with her focused shot type being better but with all that being said my biggest problem with her is that her lasers are piss poor weak considering their narrow range & all I mean they are suppose to give her range but in reality, they don't & Sanae just needs a re haul in regards to her shot type in general so...As far as bombing, Marisa's is the only 1 that sucks & the perks don't make up for it what so ever & it lasts too long...there is nothing really worth mentioning in regards to movement speed so umm, I'm done here.
Non-Playable Characters : This is from a perspective that is not referring to the story as I don't speak Japanese. Well, I will say some things that seem that way but still...anyway...From the perspective of not knowing their personalities or whatever, I find them all appealing to a great extent except for Mononobi no Futo because of the reoccurring boat thing...again!? Can we now have a game where I don't see a boat please as I saw too many of them in UFO to want to see any at all in the NEXT GAME in the main series of games, sorry, just no. Kyouko & Mamizou are both really, REALLY adorable while Yoshika I find to most likely be very entertaining when I find out what it is that is going on in the dialog & Seiga I find to be the prettiest of them all though in close competition to some of the others & lastly, Miko as everyone is calling her so I will to is impressively designed imo. Nice to see Yuyuko again as it is again nice to see Kogasa & Nue though both of the later could have been characters I haven't seen in a second game to date instead of I am satisfied I guess.
Difficulty ; Here we go...here we go, let's do this.
Stages : I find Stages 1-3 to be actually nothing different then past experiences but once I hit Stage 4, there was a huge increase in tempo or speed that was annoying & lasted til Stage 6...at first anyway but that went away after I got used to it which didn't take even a week, Stage 6 is meh which is good imo as I don't think in these games they are meant to be an actual stage but just some puddies you smack around while waiting for the "big bad boss" to show up though I didn't like only getting 1 bomb fragment in that entire flurry of wasted time so again, it was so-so, meh. Extra Stage was utter trash & I dare you to disagree with me, it was just a rehash of previous Extra Stages bunched together & I mean that literally, go look & tell me I'm wrong, didn't even enjoy going threw it I mean there has only been 7 or in the case of the PC-98 games, 13 Extra Stages(not counting Phantasm Stage of PCB cause it was obvious a rehash which was fine imo) so he should still have some good ideas for this stage, just saying, I was not impressed & frustrated at the same time, not a good combination. The better of the stages are Stage 6(What?! Yes!) & Stage 3, the rest were forgettable in all honesty.
Mid Bosses/Bosses :
Saigyouji Yuyuko was done correctly, not TOO easy but not too difficult either like some others I won't mention or remember at the moment.
Kasodani Kyouko was first off, boring & at times seemed to be a rushed job of potentially borderline broken(not in the difficult way) patterns & at times ignore-able patterns as well which were both due to that sound barrier thing she does which ricochet the bullets every which way meaning I may have wanted to give her a suffocating Hug after whoever I was playing with would destroy her but...she is WAY more of a annoying runt then an actual Boss like she was suppose to be.
Miyako Yoshika is 1 of the better done bosses though she has a pattern or 2 that is fade out-able on like the Spell Card with the purple slashes of bullets, she also has some stuff that is more aggravating that enjoyable like the point of the word challenge not being the word difficult was missed completely like her 1st & last Spell Card being a pain, more so her last 1 as it requires 1 to make some resounding drifts around the boss that variate in direction each time you need to do it & is strict on the time interval if you want to do it really quickly(only done it once perfectly, ONCE!) so she is alright, not terrific but not dreadfully unamusing either like someone previously mentioned.
Kaku Seiga who I could have sworn had a longer name somewhere on the screen besides Kaku, I think it was Keiku but whatever, not important...what is important is that(& I need to use this comparison to evaluate her so) the duet of Bosses that were Stage 4 of Mystic Square rains all over their parade everyday of the week I mean poor Kaku can't even generate a worthy pattern on her own to save her life, HER LIFE I mean come on now, Yoshika completed her in that battle so it was really like battling 1 person who was no better then any 1 other person I have fought in any other Touhou game to date I mean at least the formally mentioned duet was a challenge worthy of a Stage 4 Boss in anyway but nope, I get this...only thing difficult about her patterns were the speed they were coming at for the difficulty I was playing on which was always impressive but there was nothing else to anything she did so after 1 time failing to beat her I almost perfected her on an actual playthrough of the game but I fail so I had to bomb something that was catching me a bit off guard so whatever, my point is that she is a Boss, just not a Stage 4 Boss, more like a Stage 2 Boss or even a Stage 1 Boss depending on some of the perspectives around here.
Mononobi no Futo, whose name I remember due to it's flow being similar to Mononoke which is obviously from Mononoke-Hime...is actually leaving me with mixed feelings, her Spell Cards are okay though 1 or 2 of them are so so very easy like the 1 with the circle of bullets & the rain of shard bullets raining down along with it or the 1 with the red & orange bullets especially but her normal patterns that aren't Spell Cards can die as they require too much of an good calibration on whatever you are using to move your character around to do them without too much trouble but otherwise they are not a problem or too easy so she is though a failure in comparison to Yoshika a decent boss as well.
Toyosatomimi no Miko, while I am hoping she is some sort of animal girl Miko was the most enjoyable challenge wise of the entire roster of characters, she is actually pretty fun for me to battle & the only real problem I have for her is that her final Spell Card is actually in all honesty, a disgrace to say the least, I still have a hard time doing it but that is because I currently am forced to use a analog stick which is known to be a terrible choice when playing these types of games...On the other hand, her normal patterns that aren't Spell Cards needed much more variety like any other previous Stage 6 Boss in any main Touhou game & a couple of her Spell Cards are easier then they should be for whatever reason & lastly, she doesn't seem to have a Spell Card with any wow value that isn't just a almost rehash of 1 of Utsuho's or some other boss' Spell Cards & the 1 with the bullets blitzing away from her is just fun to do, all in all, I can except this from a Stage 6 Boss besides the Final Spell Card which was rushed & was more so irritating like Utsuho's last Spell Card then a challenge like Byakuren's last Spell Card but anyway, like this boss fight.
Futatsuiwa Mamizou is in all honesty the most fun I ever had with an Extra Boss outside of Suwako who is most likely never going to be beaten, her patterns seem easy compared to even Suwako's or any of the other 1s but they are not by any means too easy for Extra Mode imo, her Non Spell Cards much like most other Extra Stage Bosses are until it hits the later part of the battle & then it just becomes boring as hell & a bit more challenging though not much of course, I have & most likely never will get to the Time Out Spell Card if she has 1 because I just can't do well enough against her with my stupid analog stick on my PC controller so I only have seen up to the spell where the birdies & wolves/doggies are coming from the left & right respectively & I either lose before being able to attempt this card or before getting past the next normal pattern that follows this, overall, say what you will but she isn't terrible for an Extra Stage Boss, just not 1 of the harder ones which I am glad for since I need a change from the norm or whatever.
Tatara Kogasa was easy even on Hard & most likely even Lunatic & I only see myself ever failing her Spell Card on Lunatic for obvious reasons, she was okay but could have been more difficult without making the game any more frustrating to beat what so ever but what can you do.
Soga no Tojiko I wish was 1 of the actual bosses but I always wish this in regards to 1 of the Mid Boss exclusive characters, anyway, she was more exciting & even challenging then the actual Boss of both the previous stage & the stage you are on when you fight her which is good...for her...she was perfectly fine, don't want a Mid Boss being hell on earth, that is suppose to be reserved for the actual Boss of the same stage, though I do find her a bit on the easy side, I will get to that in a sec.
Houjuu Nue was a combination of annoying & challenging that I am used to seeing from the norm of Extra Stage Mid Bosses from this franchise, her first Spell Card was fine but too easy to do from the bottom of the screen which is sad, her second Spell Card is the Spell Card I hate of the entire collection of Spell Cards the game has to offer & I purposely bomb through it cause it is BS, BS! though her last Spell Card is just a piss poor version of Toyosatomimi no Miko's Last Spell's first phase which is both just annoying & kind of easy actually, I only fail it when I am exhibiting some kind of aching or cramps on my hands...at least she isn't Ex-Keine, that is for sure or I would not be happy at all, but I digress.
In general, the Difficulty of the game was a bit on the easy side but I figured this would happen simply based on the Scoring System main attraction, other wise known as Trance Mode or whatever...It could only really be implemented the way it was but there still could have been some risks thrown in there & not have that stupid nuking of the Death Bomb's interval upon having the gauge full but what can you do. I also don't like being forced to do something at a specific moment in order to get more extends or bombs so I am not a friend of any of the scoring systems after MoF's which I don't really like either but it handled Extra Extends better then 10Ds did.
Overall Impression = B
Hopes for the Future = I am hoping that TH14 or whatever the next game is handles Extra Extends & Bombs, Difficulty variations between the different difficulties & among the stages themselves on any given difficulty including Extra of course & lastly, handle the player characters way better while also introducing another character & this time someone I haven't used in a previous game already for the new character as I do like the multiple options for characters & don't completely mind the vanishing of the multiple shot types for any given character as I don't find it appealing as I used to anyway.