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Touhou Community Thread | Highly Responsive to Posts

upandaway

Member
Finished playing through all the games (aside from 14) with a stick, I think at this point I'm better with a stick than with a pad. Although I'm still worse than I ever was because I got so rusty haha.

For one it's more fun to play and it feels like I can do more complicated maneuvers. On the other hand it feels a bit less precise in tight fits, like in slow spam, but maybe that's because I'm not entirely used to it.
It's also waaaaay more tiring because I really get into it and use my hands a lot and it's pretty tiring. I can play with a pad for a lot longer. That's why it's more fun though, I can move my fingers a lot harder in intense spots.

Stages like Patchouli especially are just way easier with a pad than with a stick. It depends on the character, but if you need to move in a certain way around spam to manipulate the stage, it just works better. Could be just me though.


In other news, C86! Anyone have something they like yet?

Hachimitsu-Lemon have new stuff (samples in the link) that are really really neat. Lots of piano, and some violin.
euYys2s.jpg
 

shockdude

Member
I always imagined that you could do super precise movements with a stick by simply flicking the stick. Though maybe that's not as practical in reality.
 

upandaway

Member
It's more precise in the sense that I can do things like, say, move in a wave pattern more accurately and much more easily, but less precise when I'm trying to nudge around little by little, if that makes sense.

I have to wonder though if it's just because I'm still inexperienced with it, never used a stick before getting this one. I was pretty surprised how fast it took me to get to the same level as I am with a pad, because god knows I'm still useless with a keyboard.
 

shockdude

Member
I'm a keyboard player but imo the default keyboard control layout isn't ideal.
I use AutoHotkey to map directions to ESDF, shot to J, focus to K, and bomb to L. This mapping gives you nice WASD-like movement in a natural typing layout, and it moves the bomb to the ring finger so that the index & middle fingers can be fully dedicated to shot and focus.
 

demidar

Member
Oof a keyboard player. Doesn't your hands cramp? It may be less accurate, but my hands and fingers are grateful I'm using a pad.
 

shockdude

Member
No cramps here. The way my keys are remapped my hands are sitting on the home row, so it feels very natural. I can see where cramps can come from using the default key mapping though.
And anyways you pad/stick players have the advantage of being able to dodge vertically more readily, haha.
 

microfolk

Member
In other news, C86! Anyone have something they like yet?

Hachimitsu-Lemon have new stuff (samples in the link) that are really really neat. Lots of piano, and some violin.

Ooh boy I'm having the time of my life, there are so much good albums out there and I keep finding new ones every day.

So far I've been pleasantly impressed by Touhou Bakuon Jazz 6 by TOKYO Active NEETs and チルノ式ぷろぐれ塾 by AQUARIA MUSICS, the first one as the name implies offers some really nice jazz arrangements of Touhou 8 music, while the second is a short album which dispense some serious prog rock goodness. The second track in particular is an 11 minutes arrangement of Eichi's theme and it's beautiful. The man behind the circle is also an illustrator from what I've gathered and it shows, the cover artwork is fantastic:


I'll post some more regarding this, there is really too much good music and I'm too excited to not tell the world about it. Especially because there is a new Touhou Project pops arranged instruments on the way.

Oof a keyboard player. Doesn't your hands cramp? It may be less accurate, but my hands and fingers are grateful I'm using a pad.

I'm not as smart as shockdude because I insist on using the default layout but I'm generally fine playing with my old ass keyboard. This doesn't apply when I'm playing with my shitty laptop, I can't play for more than 30 minutes stretches without having to deal with terrible wrist pain but I'm really to lazy to try to remap the control scheme.
I've never been too fond of playing Touhou with a pad but playing it with a stick sounds interesting, I'd like to try it in the future.
 

Evilisk

Member
In other news, C86! Anyone have something they like yet?

Hachimitsu-Lemon have new stuff (samples in the link) that are really really neat. Lots of piano, and some violin.

I've been listening to only this so far.


I'm not really liking it tbh. I might check out the one in your post since I love me some piano arranges.


Also I've been playing GFW recently and I'm surprised at how tough Easy is (don't ask me why I'm playing easy). I thought I'd picked hard with how difficult the last few spellcards are.
 

microfolk

Member
I fount BANQUET pretty cool, I'm really not that invested into orchestral arrangements but they pulled of a magnificent rhythmic session which was definitely nice.
If you're looking for piano arrangements please listen to DAYDREAM TUNES by the circle Assaultdoor:


12 tracks from 12 different interpreters and 100% awesomeness.

Then of course there is Marasy with 幻想遊戯<眠>2:


Here he takes a more contemplative approach instead of his classic hyper-cynetic hyper-technical style but he's still able to dispense some of the finest piano arrangements ever.

Moving on the formula piano + other acoustic instruments I also liked 夏風の音 by fox Laboratories and CHITEI NO SOUAN KOZASHIKI from pizuya's cell:


Both of them piqued my attention because of their lovely artworks but they are pretty cute, the second one in particular arranges the entirety of Touhou 11 OST and has a strong melancholic atmosphere.


Talking about the games I finally, finally pulled a 1cc Normal Clear on Touhou 11 after a month of trying, I love the game but I hope I'm not going to play it in the foreseeable future, I'm really burned out ugh.
 
Fairly surprised Xi-on did an orchestral album, their rock arrangements are usually pretty good.

Been listening to Sally's new album recently, it's probably my favourite C86 release for what it's worth. (Though I've always been partial to remixes of Unknown Flower ~ Mesmerizing Journey).

Tutti Sound's newest album (all PC-98 arranges) is fantastic as well, especially their rendition of Oriental Magician which sounds like the soundtrack to a battle scene from a movie.

K-Waves Lab's newest album was pretty good as well, one of the better Impossible Spell Card arranges.


Machikado-Mapoze's latest release is also really good, great waltz and orchestral remixes about. (Also that album art has one of the best fanarts of Merry and Renko I've ever seen)

If you're looking for piano arrangements please listen to DAYDREAM TUNES by the circle Assaultdoor:

The Fantastic Legend of Tohno remix they've got on their site is absolutely amazing.
 

microfolk

Member
I like to think that Kou Ogata (the man behind k-waves LAB) is a huge nerd who spent his childhood listening to midi version of popular songs and so when he grew up and started doing music he decided to dedicate his whole life to replicate that sound while arranging Touhou themes in a folkish fashion. And with this I mean that I love his work, it's always a pleasure to listen his albums and the new one is amazing, and the inclusion of True Administrator was a pleasant surprise.

Machikado Mapoze is god-tier as always (even though I prefer his works with Ciela because they tend to be more varied sound wise) and the artwork was provided by the lovely Terajin which already provided the cover artwork for Mr. Sound Postman and is ono of my favourite illustrator in the whole Touhou fandom.

And I'm ashamed of myself for not having talked about the new Floating Cloud yet:


As always it's amazing. They may be one of my favourite circle doing Touhou arrangements because how they always manage to take a Touhou theme and change it so much while at the same time making it perfectly recognisable.
They are so awesome that in their first Inchlings of the Shining Needle arrangement (because they have two arrangements of one of the best track in the Th 14 OST, how cool is that?) the vocals strongly reminded me of NieR, it's perfect.

The Fantastic Legend of Tohno remix they've got on their site is absolutely amazing.

Yeah it's incredible, I'm always suspicious about arrangements that last more than 6 minutes because you've got to be really good to make something worthwhile starting from such short basis but ジャム did an impressive job. Even though my all time favourite arrangement of The Fantastic Legend of Tohno will always be this one but I'm a ziki_7 fanboy so I'm biased. :p (yes that's my tumblr yes it's a shameless self plug but I post 99% about Touhou so take a look if you'd like ehe)


Music aside today I tried a no focus\no bomb run on Touhou 7 on Easy, it was incredibly fun! I might try it on Normal since Easy is still too easy but I feel limited in my options since Marisa and Sakuya are too fast to use without focusing and Reimu A has a pathetic unfocused damage, I should try doing some practice run of stage 4 and 5 to see if it's feasible for my skill level. Also working on a Hard 1CC, I think I could pull it off but it's strange how I struggled so much more with Touhou 11 on Normal than with PCB on Hard, maybe it's because I really don't feel comfortable with SA bomb system, it's too harsh on the player while PCB throws lives and bombs at you like confetti.
 

ibyea

Banned
Say guys, in terms of doujin manga, which ones would you recommend? There are a ton, and I would rather not go through the bad stuff.
 
Say guys, in terms of doujin manga, which ones would you recommend? There are a ton, and I would rather not go through the bad stuff.

I have a particular fondness for Karaagetarou's stuff. All Pixiv releases. (Techinically they're webcomics but the artist did release them on Doujin events)

They're all in Japanese though.

Chirei De! (A particular favourite of mine):
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=8711873

Mokou, Keine and the students!:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=3429410

Here and There Komachi:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=28523496

I'm worried about her:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=39767308

Sanae Miracle:
Part 1:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=32170735

Part 2:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=35712976
 

Evilisk

Member
Say guys, in terms of doujin manga, which ones would you recommend? There are a ton, and I would rather not go through the bad stuff.

I should really keep a proper list of these somewhere. Here are a few that I remember

For standalone works:

Miko Miko Suika by Haniwa's Store
This is easily one of the standout series for me. It's basically a slice of life/comedy focused around Suika at the Hakurei Shrine. I haven't read through it in a while but it's really really good.

Thoughts of Dolls by Haniwa's Store
Depending on your thoughts on Original Characters, you may or may not enjoy this. It's kind of short but it's a solid series based around Alice, Marisa and a living doll OC protagonist.

Omoito by Morino Hon
A series based around Hourai getting sentience with an obvious focus on Alice and Marisa with some surprising PC98 ties (IIRC, I haven't read this in a while tbh). It's pretty solid and even Medicine gets some time in this.

Stories of Sakuya by Ichinose
This is an SDM/Sakuya origin story that's currently ongoing (and not fully caught up in terms of translations). It's pretty good from what I remember about it

The Three Witches' Exciting Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea by Shako
This is just a single story but I really liked it. Stars the three Witch characters

Elemental 8 by Kemonomichi
Three parter series. The art is definitely something and it focuses on a few character groups (the main group though is Patchouli and Hong Meiling with Cirno). It's definitely a worthwhile read imo

Afterglow by Dynamo
It's a pretty good series (so far) about Nazrin and Shou. The setting is before Byakuren got sealed away and it's definitely not as lighthearted as most works tend to be which is what I like about it.


And here a few creators that I feel are consistent (and don't want to list all of their works above) or are at least are noteworthy to me in some way

Consistent
Tako: Mostly does comedy stuff, they're pretty consistent but all pretty same-y too.

Decent but Inconsistent
Tohonifun/Chado: Their works are really inconsistent, the stories can be somewhat hard to follow and not all of their works are winners but there are a few solid ones like Eclipse (starring Seiga!)
Carcharias/CIS: They're kind of inconsistent, and the really good Taoist series they were working on (Soga no Tojiko will not Talk) seems to have halted indefinitely for KanColle stuff (which is why I didn't list the series above) but I still think they're worth checking out.

Notable
Asatsuki Dou: I've heard (and read) quite a bit of grimdark stuff from them but they've done a few light hearted things like Goth Mystia vs. Princess Wriggle
Yakumi Sarai: They're pretty interesting. Notable to me specifically for a doujin called Vintage. Also for the way the author draws his smiles. I don't actually read a lot of their stuff tbh

Others that I've heard of:
Winter Scenery/Kannazuki Hato: I've read a few of their Cirno stuff and I've liked it. Haven't really read any of their other works though.
Imizu: I haven't read all of their works but their art is pretty good and in general they do some good action stuff. There was this Yuugi one (that I can't remember the name of), but there's also a Udongein vs. Remilia series too.
FLIPFLOPS: This is a collaboration between two creators. I'll admit I haven't read all their works. That said, they do have a couple of series under their belt. The main work I've read of theirs is Variant Youyoumu which IIRC is a adaptation of Perfect Cherry Blossom

Also there are quite a few parody series like Touhou Battle Royale, Touhou 300, Advent Cirno, Suwakoto etc.
 

microfolk

Member
I've read like three doujinshi at all but I've got to say that I like Tohonifun a lot.
Mind you I've read only Wriggle VS SDM, Koumakyou, Yuka vs Yukari and Yukari vs Ran and yes sometimes the stories and the action depicted on page are VERY confused and hard to understand but they've got some really nice ideas about how to implement the game rules in a coherent manner and Yukari vs Ran is a looooong story in 7 parts which depicts pretty much all the most important events that interested the Gensokyo inhabitants before the Windows serie began and it's beautiful.

I've also read some of Karaagetarou's stories\4koma and they are the cutest, you can find some translations on Danbooru (and I think Safebooru too if you don't want to risk seeing tons of porn).
 

Zweizer

Banned
I recommend you read whatever's been translated of Gensoukoumuten/Illusionary Engineering Firm's works. They are all set in the author's personal vision of Gensokyo and are pretty charming in a nostalgic way.
 
Say guys, in terms of doujin manga, which ones would you recommend? There are a ton, and I would rather not go through the bad stuff.
It's been too long for me to remember specifics, but aside from Tohonifun (mentioned already), I liked Pageratta's quirky 4koma humour and Omchicken's Satoriism.
 

Evilisk

Member
Touhou got mentioned during the Sony TGS Conference.

Not 100% sure what it was about though I think I saw some fangames in there.
 

cuc

Member
Today's announcement is not about ZUN's Touhou (we know nothing about what would happen to that). The three titles are all Touhou fan games: Sky Arena, Mysterious Gensokyo 3, and Genius of Sappheiros.

Touhou 14 has appeared in the trailer, but the actual announcement only says "Touhou fan games". Obviously, this is by his permission.
 

Evilisk

Member
Yeah what the hell was that? I'm intrigued since that's the last place I expected to see Touhou.

Haha yeah

I was just watching, saw some SHMUP (wasn't paying full attention at that point), thought the music sounded good and I was thinking to myself, "that music's pretty good, I should check out that series"

And then ZUN's smug face (with beer) pops up.
 

cuc

Member
Anyway, you'd better make a new thread, with a title like "Three Touhou fan games are coming to PlayStation 4" or something.

EDIT: and note that the official Touhou games are yet to be announced. It's possible they are coming, but that's unknown at this moment.
 

Evilisk

Member
Wait what. Didn't watch the thing, googling a bit. Is this it?

https://twitter.com/PlayStation_jp/status/506344651414966273

XdCGjYc.png


Says Zun and Sony are working to bring Touhou games one after another to PS4

screencaps show MariAri 2 though, so is this talking about the official games or the fan games?

Edit: oh cuc posted while I looked, welp

Weird pick of characters there. I mean Reisen 2? And Kasen? (not that there's anything wrong with Kasen) And I would have at least stuck Marisa somewhere there

Anyway, you'd better make a new thread, with a title like "Three Touhou fan games are coming to PlayStation 4" or something.

EDIT: and note that the official Touhou games are yet to be announced. It's possible they are coming, but that's unknown at this moment.

I wonder what other fan games we might see. I'd personally really like to see Meddlesome Magician (so there'd be local 4 player co-op) and Labyrinth of Touhou 1 and 2 for Vita if they're doing Vita (since that seems like it'd be really great for portable)

As for the thread, I kind of have to go now that the conference is over unfortunately :/ I'll make if it hasn't been made by the time I get back though. Anybody know when the stream will be uploaded to Youtube?
 

cuc

Member
There's a Reisen 2?

That's from the official manga and novel. Reisen used to be the pet (and the best student) of the Wakatsuki sisters, who are responsible for the defense of the moon. After Reisen deserted, they adopted another moon rabbit, and kept calling her Reisen.

In Japanese, they are distinguished by different writing styles - Reisen's name is in kanji 鈴仙, while the new rabbit's name is in katakana レイセン, and also by calling Reisen using her nickname Udonge instead.

In the Western fandom, it's harder to distinguish the two, so people generally use something like Reisen 2.
 

xk0sm0sx

Member
@korindo
ちなみに今すぐに、僕が出すというわけではないのです。何とは言わず

"By the way, very soon there will be a thing, not from me. I won't say what it is yet."

The context is that he tweeted it a few minutes before the announcement as a tease.



Off Topic : It seems like Sony's finally launching the PS4 in Japan haha.
 
I wonder what other fan games we might see. I'd personally really like to see Meddlesome Magician (so there'd be local 4 player co-op) and Labyrinth of Touhou 1 and 2 for Vita if they're doing Vita (since that seems like it'd be really great for portable)

Local co-op would be great, but online co-op would be wonderful. Netcode on games like Undoukai Matsuri tend to be disastrous, but finding people to play offline is not easy.

EDIT: Found a video of the trailer.
 

cuc

Member
Zun : By the way right now, I am not the one who will be releasing something. I didn't say anything.
(Please correct if it's an error)

"By the way, very soon there will be a thing, not from me. I won't say what it is yet."

The context is that he tweeted it a few minutes before the announcement as a tease.
 

ibyea

Banned
It's kind of weird seeing fan games being announced officially instead of an actual entry of the series. ^_^
 

cuc

Member
I've done some detective work!

This is the official site of the project: http://www.mediascape.co.jp/zunps/

As you can see, the company responsible for this project is called "Mediascape". According to its own profile page, the president of the company is Nozomu Ezaki. Google tells me, Nozomu Ezaki is none other than ZUN's buddy, D.N.A., of the doujin circle D.N.A. Softwares. D.N.A. has always been helping with ZUN and Twilight Frontier on the business side of things.

In other words, the company that will be publishing Touhou fan games on PlayStation systems is ZUN's own people, not some outsider.

The website also has a contact page, which fan game developers can use to apply for this publishing program.

When earlier this year, ZUN said he wanted to do something big to help doujin game developers, I suspected he wanted to create his own platform for doujin games, but couldn't imagine the logistics of this platform. Now we know that his plan is to use D.N.A.'s company to do the publishing, to build on Sony's console platform, and to lead the project with Touhou fan games. These sound like smart moves to me.


P.S.: It happens that yesterday ZUN participated in the PoriPori Club web stream, where he talked with the editor-in-chief of Famitsu magazine, and tommorrow D.N.A. will attend a game industrial panel and discuss the status of indie games.
 

demidar

Member
If Touhou doujin games (doujins of doujins, what a world) can find an official channel to distribute games outside of Reitaisai/Comiket and actually make money off of it, then the quality of these games would skyrocket and Touhou gets even more exposure.

Given that ZUN is already thinking of the western market by doing his own English translations and he's released a mainline game on Playism, I guess he's gonna take this franchise expansion thing seriously.

This can only be good.
 

shockdude

Member
Well this is fascinating stuff. Haven't seen any TGS footage yet, but am awaiting additional news as it emerges.

Also SSiB is hilarious in that goofy Touhou way (e.g. everyone
is riding a spaceship headed for the moon
, and then Sakuya
opens a window for fresh air
), and is worth a read.
 

xk0sm0sx

Member
"By the way, very soon there will be a thing, not from me. I won't say what it is yet."

The context is that he tweeted it a few minutes before the announcement as a tease.

/bows down

By the way how did you get the "There will be a thing"? Or you took the context into account?

When earlier this year, ZUN said he wanted to do something big to help doujin game developers, I suspected he wanted to create his own platform for doujin games, but couldn't imagine the logistics of this platform. Now we know that his plan is to use D.N.A.'s company to do the publishing, to build on Sony's console platform, and to lead the project with Touhou fan games. These sound like smart moves to me.

Hmm but what about the Playism collaboration then?
Maybe Playism for Overseas and Digital DL market, and Mediascape for console market?
 

Evilisk

Member
Anyway, you'd better make a new thread, with a title like "Three Touhou fan games are coming to PlayStation 4" or something.

EDIT: and note that the official Touhou games are yet to be announced. It's possible they are coming, but that's unknown at this moment.

I'm going to make this thread in a bit. Just wanted to double check, is it for PS4 only and not for Vita too? And it's just fangames so far right?

Also SSiB is hilarious in that goofy Touhou way (e.g. everyone
is riding a spaceship headed for the moon
, and then Sakuya
opens a window for fresh air
), and is worth a read.

It's too bad the actual
Lunarians
ruin the whole story (for me). Because I can honestly say that up until they
reach the moon
, it's easily my favourite of all the manga spinoffs.
 

cuc

Member
By the way how did you get the "There will be a thing"? Or you took the context into account?
The の in this sentence is an indefinite pronoun that can be used in place of anything.

Hmm but what about the Playism collaboration then?
Maybe Playism for Overseas and Digital DL market, and Mediascape for console market?
Probably something like what you said. I think ZUN would like to still keep his own games as indie as possible, meaning they'll at most become PC downloads. Mediascape seems only for the console market so far.

I'm going to make this thread in a bit. Just wanted to double check, is it for PS4 only and not for Vita too? And it's just fangames so far right?
The announcement only says fan games, though the trailer might have hinted at non-Touhou doujin games in the future. The currently announced three ports are for PS4 only, but their site (and trailer?) also has the Vita logo.
 
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