Posts from Daoshi's shrine

Adventures of a Somnambulist
the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Perfect Cherry Blossom
Imperishable Night
Imperishable Night (Extra)
Ten Desires
Double Dealing Character
Mountain of Faith

The first line in my exciting journey...So many different games have been played by me over the past few years, but none of them provided me with the proper enjoyment from a gameplay perspective. At least this was evidenced by the fact that I constantly minimized the game window, browsed the internet, etc., and for most of them, I even played with one hand resting on my chin, lazily moving the cursor across the screen.
If I were to rate the Touhou gameplay on a ten-point scale, as I do with other games, I would have to give it a ten while giving all others a one (of course, I might be exaggerating, but this perfectly conveys my enthusiasm).
You can't play this game by leaning back in your chair and putting your feet on the table. It is impossible to complete without enjoying the gameplay. The player needs not only concentration but also knowledge of how each level is structured. In my opinion, it took me at least a hundred attempts to complete th06. And this was just normal mode – the second out of four difficulty levels.
In any case, I can confidently say that this was the best thing I have ever played. I intend to go through all subsequent games in the series, and specifically in this one, I still have hard, lunatic, and an extra level ahead of me – even more merciless than the first six (of course, if I have enough skill for this).

I will note some moments from th06

The most disliked boss: Hong Meiling

In my opinion, the first three levels of this game are significantly easier than the others. And precisely because of this, losing a life in one of the first three caused particular frustration: ~90-95% of the time they were completed without any problems... Except for the boss in the third level. For some unknown reason, I constantly struggled with her, dying on completely random things. In addition, her bullets are bright and colorful, which put a lot of strain on my eyes and probably negatively affected perception.

The favorite boss: Remilia Scarlet

An excellent ending to a wonderful game. So many times I tried to defeat her, so many times I was on the verge of victory - but each time the Scarlet Devil turned out to be stronger than me. It is noteworthy that her spell cards are not particularly difficult (and do not cause frustration with their mechanics, like, for example, Sakuy's) and, by and large, in the battle with her, calmness and steel patience play a greater role (or an abundance of bombs or lives). Overall, I experienced incredible satisfaction from the moment I finally managed to defeat her.

Favorite musical themes (excluding extras): Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 and Locked Girl ~ The Girl's Secret Room

The other day I stumbled upon this Korean manga and immediately decided to read it — it is no secret by now that I am fond of vampire themes, whether they are traditional or more modern in nature. This, however, does not mean that I consume everything indiscriminately: Dracula movies (any that I've seen), "The Vampire Diaries" series, the "Twilight" saga, and various action flicks like Blade and Underworld do not appeal to me at all. At the same time, I highly value Bram Stoker's original book and its prequel, the anime series "Shiki," and much more. In other words, the main thing is that it be well-executed.

Crepuscule, while having a somewhat original setting, does not stand out for its unique plot, but since I flipped through all the chapters released up to this point (186) in just a day and a half, I can speak positively of this work.
The first part left a very pleasant impression; most of the events were mundane, but despite this, I read it with great interest.
I was very pleased with the art — I noted for myself that everything looks much more pleasant in color.
The majority of the characters are quite well-thought-out and drawn extremely beautifully.
The only (but significant) downside turned out to be the plot progression after the first part. The characters' motivations began to lose logic, and the events themselves became not only banal but also poorly executed.

Briefly noting my favorite characters (in order):

Angela Erzebet

A wonderful human succubus — one can only dream of such a mentor. My favorite character in this manga and one of my favorite characters in the anime and manga industry overall.

Nergal

At first, I didn't like him because of his silly hairstyle (ha-ha), but later I grew fond of this character, not least because among all the tricksters and manipulators in this setting, he is the only one who (in the end) did not do stupid things. A rather interesting fact: he treats those he likes with respect and sincerely wishes them well, while he treats those he dislikes as "trash."

Sekreuz Trenkel Navarus

A cold but good guy. Despite his high status, he ignores insults directed at him, almost never speaks of his own desires, follows orders without question and tries to execute them in the best possible way, while not being spineless or lacking character — he is an excellent leader and is not afraid to act as he deems necessary even if it goes against the will of his "superiors."

Riu Myers and Sylvia

Plot-wise they are not connected, but I decided to mention them together because, firstly, both are loyal servants and, secondly, both are werewolves.
That is where their similarities end, however — Sylvia is obsessed with the well-being of her boss for whom she is nothing more than a pawn, while Riu and Nergal have a very warm relationship.
Sylvia's positive qualities: extreme loyalty, diligence, style :rolleyes:. Negative: not particularly bright and easily gives in to anger if anything threatens the health or status of her master (though what else can you expect from a wolf-woman).

Lunatic: "There is only one member of Team Shanghai Alice, who goes by the pseudonym "ZUN" and is the main programmer, scriptwriter, graphic artist, and music composer."
Locky666: this isn't some random guy who just makes games; he needs a screenwriter, scripter, and artist.

From the first try, th07 seemed significantly easier than the previous installment in the series. This includes the presence of a hitbox, an indicator of the boss's location, and generally simpler (as I thought) patterns. In addition, I completed the first three levels without any problems at all (on the other hand, as I already said, in eosd, the first half of the game was also much easier than the subsequent levels). But despite all this, it still took me some time to complete it.
An interesting moment — I received an extra life when I was awarded points for completing (the final) level; yes, that's exactly what I needed.

The least favorite boss: Yuyuko Saigyouji

The only reason is that she didn't impress me as a final boss. The attack patterns are not particularly interesting and visually do not stand out with beauty.
But there was also a very interesting moment: when, it seems, the player should have won and relaxed (the boss's health bar is at its lowest), it turns out that this is not the end of the game — after that, the player has to dodge everything that flies at him for another 66 seconds without being able to speed up this process in any way. However, the pattern itself is simple to the extreme and requires only self-control (I didn't manage to calmly dodge for more than a minute without having bombs or lives).

The most liked boss: Youmu Konpaku

The presence of a new and quite interesting mechanic (the third spell card was the coolest, where, in addition to ordinary attacks flying across the screen, bullets also start rising from below — "thanks" to muscle memory, I killed myself several times on the first try) is very stylish.

Favorite musical theme: Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When?

It is noticeably more difficult than the previous installment. Many new gameplay elements have been added; the most notable of these is that the player now controls two characters instead of one (one in normal mode, another under focus; their shooting characteristics differ accordingly). I liked that the choice of game characters consisted of as many as four pairs (i.e., eight girls). The fourth and fifth bosses were more challenging for me than even in eosd, and I completely failed at the final all last spells. Well, never mind, after another 6+ games, I'll switch to Lunatic difficulty and extra stages, then we’ll see (ha-ha)!

The least favorite boss: Reisen Udongein Inaba

Brrr, it took a whole lot of time to figure out how to deal with her spell cards, and even after that, I couldn't avoid random deaths.
Otherwise, however, I really liked her; she's cool.

The most liked boss: Marisa Kirisame

Very beautiful sprites – multicolored stars and lasers. Not less difficult than the rabbit, but there is less "anti-fun" element.

Favorite musical theme: Love-coloured Master Spark

Unfortunately, I haven't felt much desire to push myself in recent months and have played very rarely; over the past few months, there hasn't been a single instance where I tried to do more than two attempts in one day. For this reason, it is difficult for me to say anything about the difficulty – it took me about twenty attempts, but if I had done it as I did with eosd, it would probably be much less (today, for example, I passed it on the first try). I think that I still have some reflexes developed and could handle hard mode or at least achieve perfect results on normal, but it’s just sooooo difficult. The most unappealing boss: Yoshika Miyako‎

(Zombie). In fact, there was nothing complicated or special in her spell cards; however, the mechanic by which she healed by absorbing spirits forced you to either move around the screen a lot (you could collect them yourself to prevent regeneration) or wait for the timer. What can we say about the situation where she does the same thing but acts as an obstacle between you and the next level's boss? The most liked boss: Toyosatomimi no Miko

I really liked her design and as a character; the spell cards are fun and beautiful. Definitely one of my favorite characters from Touhou Project. Favorite musical theme: Legend of the Great Gods

Aha. As you can see in the screenshot, I finished without spell cards and with no lives left; my lack of experience with the final boss had an impact (I passed it on the fifth attempt). In this game, the patterns seemed more difficult in themselves, but the ability to collect a lot of life fragments and spell cards allowed for more mistakes, and besides, I played as Sakuya this time – her gameplay was somewhat different from what I'm used to, but it seemed more convenient for a "quick" playthrough. The main difference is that her spell card doesn't deal damage; instead, it puts a shield on the character (it’s like stopping time) which explodes if you touch anything, while not losing any health. At the same time, if its duration expires and it isn't needed, the player gets 3/8 of the spell card fragments back, which made it possible to break through some areas by brute force and be bolder where otherwise I wouldn't have dared.

The most annoying boss: Kagerou Imaizumi

Well, the main point is that I died in places where I "shouldn't" have, and in this regard, I couldn't help but remember Maylin from the sixth part, about whom I wrote in my first post. The patterns are simple, but there were times when I stupidly failed.
And I laughed at this: 1 and 2

The boss I liked the most: Seija Kijin

This image perfectly describes the essence of this character: she reverses controls, flips the screen, and so on. That is, you can imagine that a second ago you pressed left and flew left, but now right, up and now down, etc., while the screen also flips at the moment you dodge bullets flying towards you.

My favorite musical theme: Ichlings of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess

A few cups of coffee and a sleepless night were not in vain. I started playing this part quite a long time ago, but put it aside for several reasons. And even now, having returned to it, it's hard to say how many attempts I spent on its Walkthrough; probably a million. The thing is, this part contains all the things that are most difficult for me, and besides, the spell-card system is the most inconvenient of all, since it is linked to your power and, as a result, when you use them, you lose firepower, which repeatedly led to situations where I had to shoot bosses for long and agonizing seconds.

The least fun boss: Nitori Kawashiro

The reason is the same — random deaths. The spell-cards don't seem to be the hardest, but how many times did I have to use bombs for no reason, and how many times did I ragequit?

Favorite boss: Kanako Yasaka

The entire Walkthrough stage leading up to the possibility of facing the goddess of the Moria Temple face-to-face strongly reminded me of the struggle in eosd, in a good way. Setting aside the fact that I played through it like a complete retard, I cannot help but notice that fighting her was fun; I'll specifically mention the last spell-card — "Mountain of Faith"

In itself, it is very easy, you just drift from side to side, however, there are two factors that gave me an adrenaline rush: first, it is the final trial, meaning you realize there's "just a little bit left," but at the same time, it is very long in itself, which in such a combination increases the chance of error and is generally cool.

Favorite musical theme: The Dark Side of Fate

Team: Illusionary Barrier Team
*Small hitbox.
*Long reaction time given for using Last Spells.
*Can use a Last Spell with only one bomb remaining.
Reimu Hakurei

Special Skill: Doesn't get hurt when colliding with an enemy familiar.
Normal Speed: ★★★★
Focused Speed: ★
Shot type: Mind Amulet (self-guided, wide range, medium damage)
Spell Card: Spirit Sign "Fantasy Orb"
Last Spell: Divine Spirit "Fantasy Seal -Blink-"

Yukari Yakumo

Familiar: Summoning Shikigami, type-Yakumo (self-guided; weak damage)
Normal Speed: ★★★★
Focused Speed: ★
Shot type: "Apparition Needle" (fires in front of her, high damage)
Spell Card: Border Sign "Quadruple Barrier"
Last Spell: Boundary "Quadruple Barrier of the Imperishable Night"

Level
The first part, although it may seem difficult at first attempt, is actually quite simple and I didn't have any problems with it. After the midboss, the difficulty increases noticeably: everything starts flying faster and more unexpectedly. Thanks to numerous attempts, I somehow managed to memorize the level, and subsequently, problems arose only in two places, including the last spell card that fills the entire screen. It is important to note that despite this, I could have played much better: I skipped many points, making things easier for myself.

Keine Kamishirasawa

Midboss of this level. At first, her first and third spell cards caused me great difficulties, but later on, she became relatively easy to defeat (although not without occasional random failures).

Spell Card No. 192: Past "Ancient History -Old History-"

Difficulty: medium.
At first, it seemed very difficult and was hard to manage, but later it became very easy.

Spell Card No. 193: Reincarnation "Returning-Bridge Ichijo"

Difficulty: easy
Here's the opposite situation – at first, this spell card was the easiest of all for me, but then when I got used to the others, it turned out to be a little more challenging than I expected; nevertheless, it is still easy and can be overcome with good reflexes.

Spell Card No. 194: Future "New History Of Phantasm -Next History-"

Difficulty: medium
Similar to #192, except that at first it seemed completely impossible.

Fujiwara no Mokou

Boss of the extra level. One, two, three.

Spell Card No. 195: Limiting Edict "Curse of Tsuki-no-Iwakasa"

Difficulty: easy
Not the most pleasant spell card, as random failures occurred quite often, but overall it is relatively easy to manage, not least because everything moves so slowly in it.

Spell Card No. 196: Immortal "Fire Bird -Flying Phoenix-"

Difficulty: medium
It's a matter of positioning. If you think through your actions beforehand, you will pass easily; if you try to rely only on reflexes, you are likely to lose.

Spell Card No. 197: Fujiwara "Flaw of Forgiving Shrine"

Difficulty: medium
At some point, I started using Reimu's special skill, which allowed me to defeat her without any problems; with other characters, I rate its difficulty as medium – there is nothing extremely difficult about it, and the pattern is simple, but problems may arise.

Spell Card No. 198: Deathless "Xu Fu's Dimension"

Difficulty: medium

Spell Card No. 199: Forgiveness "Honest Man's Death"

Difficulty: medium
Laser of evil - I never fully understood how it works, but it was relatively easy to manage.

Spell Card No. 200: Hollow Giant "Woo"

Difficulty: medium

Spell Card No. 201: Everlasting "Phoenix's Tail"

Difficulty: easy
Actually, I passed it immediately on the first try.

Spell Card No. 202: Hourai "South Wind, Clear Sky -Fujiyama Volcano-"

Difficulty: hard
The most problematic of all and the main reason for my long playthrough of this level.

Spell Card No. 203: "Possessed by Phoenix"

Difficulty: medium
The point is to survive for ~75 seconds while experiencing four types of attacks.
The first, third, and fourth are quite simple; the second one is difficult.

Spell Card No. 204: "Hourai Doll"

Difficulty: medium
Ugh, how many times did I die at this spot, just a step away from victory...

Last Spell; Spell Card No. 205: "Imperishable Shooting"

Difficulty: unknown
This spell card is additional and only affects the final score. I encountered it for the first time only when I finished the game, so I didn't have time to evaluate it – I lost almost immediately at the beginning on something that seemed relatively easy.

Musical themes: Extend Ash ~ Hourai Victim


Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Ha-ha!


Cleaned up the thread.

Everything I know about Touhou

Added in 1 minute
Oh, and Bad Apple too, that's from here, right?

Correct.

I viewed this game with some skepticism when Plesen first recommended it to me, but I installed and tried it anyway. I liked it very much, at least initially.

	Art and Style The images and sprites for NPCs and many (sub)classes are excellently done and align very well with my personal tastes. Occasionally you come across outdated art (such as for the F.Fighter), but it isn't very noticeable. The effects are colorful, and the skills themselves are very diverse in terms of visual design and theme. Monsters and locations, on the other hand, are more often unremarkable and boring. Overall, the graphic style chosen for this game has its own charm, but it is also the cause of certain technical shortcomings (compared to other MMOs) that manifest primarily at the level of immersion. For example, the world outside of dungeons is very sparse, the city looks poor, and there are almost no opportunities to interact with the surrounding world. When I first thought about this, I decided that the mere ability to run or fly through an open world in other MMOs is an important gameplay element, and I felt its absence greatly in DFO.
	Gameplay I must admit, 14 classes and 46 subclasses are a lot and it's great. It is especially great knowing that they are all unique to some extent and offer gaming experiences that differ from one another. The mechanics are an acquired taste, but those who enjoy this type of game will certainly find it appealing. Unfortunately, ultimately the game suggests the following approach to clearing dungeons (with good gear): enter a room -> use one or two skills -> move on. Very little remains of the beat 'em up genre. The economy, in my opinion, is very healthy. Everything is sold, everything is bought, own-game currency circulates from hand to hand and is available in large sums even to relatively new players. The game progress system (gearing characters) is one of the worst I've ever dealt with. There is too much randomness here, turning the process into a lottery and causing obscene levels of frustration. There is no end-game as such, and this is DFO's biggest minus.
	My Experience As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, when I first started playing, I liked it very much. I played a lot and grew indignant every day because of the fatigue system (when the fatigue bar ended, you couldn't go into dungeons); I wanted to play more. I really liked my character, the gameplay was snappy, and the plot is decent (at least for an MMO). Unfortunately, this didn't last long. When I reached the maximum level and completed all story missions, the grind and endless lottery filled with frustration began. I enjoyed buying and trying different avatars (cosmetic items), but I didn't want to grind for a "chance" to get a piece of gear. Interest faded every day, and at some point, I stopped spending my fatigue completely; the lack of proper end-game content was the main reason for this. After a couple of months, I stopped doing even the dailies. Later, I sold my resources and exchanged almost all my gold for $150 in Steam. Not the most pleasant outcome, but at least I got something out of it all. I don't think I dropped it entirely, but I lost too much to be able to enjoy the game as before.
	Luck Additionally about this wonderful aspect of DFO. The best (and essentially only viable) items in the game (epics) can only be obtained randomly, and to put it figuratively, the system for obtaining them is similar to the process of opening packs in card games. The items themselves cannot be sold, so players are forced to buy items that give a chance to obtain these epics (randomly). Someone might spend billions of gold and get nothing, while someone else gets lucky and assembles a set without spending a penny. Everything depends on luck, and this is not encouraging at all. I myself am perhaps luckier than the average player. Centurion Hero Set Resplendent Honor Symbol Set Wesley's Strategy Set I have these three sets at 4/5. This means I am missing only one drop to get a huge boost to stats and damage. There are many trash items among the epics, so I don't count those. The sad part is that even if I manage to assemble one of these sets, I won't have much to do with it, since there is no end-game.

Who I played, my characters (in order of appearance):
Asaliya

F.Slayer/Sword Master
My first character and main. I am a simple person, so I chose the class with the most beautiful female sprite. Also, I love swords, which is why I chose this subclass.
I tried many avatars and eventually devolved to using a mod for an avatar from an old pack that is now unavailable. I kept hoping for a re-release, but in vain. The same as in the Steam DLC; I tried different ones, but this one suits me best.
We spent a lot of time together, but in the end, I had to plunge a poisoned dagger into her back and vandalize the safe with resources, gold, and trophies : (
Shikata

Thief/Kunoichi
I am ashamed before the one whose name I gave this useless character! Despite the colorfulness, the gameplay as her is very tedious.
Direbond

Demonic Lancer/Skirmisher
Named after you-know-what. Unfortunately, he doesn't draw cards; he only jumps, pierces, and spins. Overall, dynamic and interesting, but weak, and for some reason there is little content for him.
Lichia

F.Fighter/Brawler
I once created a poll; back then I thought long and hard about which F.Fighter subclass to choose. I chose Brawler. I regretted it.
But this was to be expected; damage over time skills don't work in MMOs, and this subclass specializes exactly in that type of damage.
Zoushi

F.Fighter/Nen Master
Attempt #2! This also didn't justify itself; a very viable class (top tier), but not very interesting. Not to mention that buffing yourself with such a number of buffs every time simply becomes tedious.
Judarus

M.Mage/Swift Master
After the release of M.Mage subclasses, I chose the one that seemed most interesting. In reality, it turned out to be a brain-dead face-roll.
Nayuuta

Thief/Shadow Dancer
Assassin. Always strike from behind, attack at arm's length, slit throats, rip out hearts. Very cool. The first alt after the main that I found very interesting to play.