 | "Osananajimi Omake 9" by Akira
(2007-05-24) |
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 | "Mountain of Faith Demo(Preview) and Scarlet Weather Raphsody" by Totaku
(2007-05-24) |
This week I don't have alot on my plate on what to discuss at the moment, so I'm going to talk about some more Touhou (since that has been the big focus this week).
As of 20th of this month, at the Reitaisai convention in Japan. ZUN came over to the convention to sell some demos of his game to the series, that he is working on progress called "Touhou Fuujinroku"- Moutain of Faith, which is the 10th offical game in the seires (this includes the PC-98 versions) Crowds were heavy and activity was insanly high as people were selling tons doujin works and ZUN was selling his demos and promoting his other game. But luckly, after the convention many got to see the game first hand And from I've seen based on the reports....views are mixed....
Mountain of Faith- Preview As we begin a new adventure in the magical land of Gensokyo, ZUN reveals a deeper story for once for the Prelude. To basicly sum it up, Reimu Hakurei, the Shine Maiden known through the series is facing a dilema where she is facing the possibility of closing her shine due to the youkai infestivity that has scared away people from coming to her shrine. (Those who play the games previously, while not derectly known, it's possible this could be related to 3/4 of the cast from the Touhou series on the PC [since most of the residents that came to her shrine were the youkais she beat up from game 6-9 that became sort of became her "friend".]) After reciving a message from a god warning her about that the shrine may soon need to be removed or taken over since the youkai issue hasn't been solved, Reimu has a conversartion with Marisa, the "ordinary witch", about the situation which they reach the conclusion that they need to go up to the Youkai Moutain to confront a god that they can enlist to works for her shrine and rid the issue regarding the youkai, and hopefully bring business back the shrine.
While I have yet to play the game (since I'm on a mac and need to get the right Windows XP to put in bootcamp.) I cannot say much other that what I've seen from the videos. From what I've seen up to the point of the demo, it is completely made of new faces (other than Reimu and Marisa). Basiclly, some of the elements have changed as well, the biggest one being the options and bombing. Usually as you grab power icons you gain options that grow more powerful and assist you in doing damage to the enimies. In this game, you'll get up to 4 and there are up to 3 different ways they can be used base on the type you pick form the beginnig. You can also bomb in the game, but unlike the previous games, bombing does not take the form of fancy flashy spellcard (which I belived helped give form to what defiened Touhou) but rather a giant ring blast that takes out bullets. Each bomb sacrefices an option reduing your firepower.
There are also a new point feature called Faith points which are used as a multipule system giving you more points for the points you pick up. The higher the faith, the more points you'll get. Also there is no more grazing points earned for sad reason (which I'll go through later.)
Other than that pretty much since there are only three stages, we only get to meet a few faces, but they all new and seem to be very interesting.
To begin the series takes place in the Fall, and your first series of boss the charater will confront are a pair of sister goddesses that control the conditions of Autumn season. first is the midboss Shizuha Aki who basiclly control the changing and turning of the autumn leaves. Follwoing that is the older sister Minoriko Aki who controls the growth and amount of crops that are harvested in autumn.
Follwowing up later is a cursed god namedHina Kagiyama who the team confront on the way to the moutain. Hina main ablitiy is using curses that she stores.
Finally in the 3rd stage as the gang travel through a river torward the moutain they run into a Kappa named Nitori Kawashiro who happens to be a big tech nut (when you run into her she runs off and tries to hide using her "Optical Camofloage Suit" (Suddenly, I'm remember Metal Gear Solid). Her main ability is controling water.
From there, the demo pretty much ends. From my view though, one of the biggest issues that has occured here that seem to feel really odd even for this doujin series is the fact that ZUN has made big changes to the system such as the lack of trademark moves (no Fantasy Seal or Master Spark) and the fact that the demo looked unfinshed (but that's sort of expected to an extent). When I mean unfinshed I'm reffering to the charater design. The biggest problem is Reimu Hakurei's design (not pictured) which looks drasticly unfinshed and unrefined compared to his previous games. Most of the other designs looks more closer to his level, epecially Nitori. (We know he's not a pro artist, but he a professional programmer)
But other than these feature, alot of what I've seen looks impressive. The game's graphics are superb and awsome. the enemy spell card danmaku is now more tougher than usual. The sprites are nicely done. and the music is purely awsome. Pretty much the game's main feature seems to pretty much make up for most of the other mess ups, but hopfully ZUN will have time to fix at least the charater art a bit for the final version that ways it'll alot better and less issues will be concerned regarding the series.
For now though. lemme present you some videos featuring the game's demo in action:
Touhou 10 demo - Hard Stage 1-3 Good demo of the game in it's hard level setting where the danmaku is thick and insane.
Touhou 10 demo Normal- Stages 1-2 A more simpler demo of less intense danmaku
Touohu 10 demo Normal- Stage 3A more simple demo of stage 3 with less intense danamku.
Untill the full demo comes out, I will hold complete judgement over the game, but for now it is very promising....
Also on the side burner, at the Reitaisai Convention ZUN and Twiglight Fronter unvailed Scarlet Weather Raphsody to the public(which has turned out to be a fighting game like Inmaterial of Missing Power). While they did not give away any demos they did show off the charaters and thier skills. So far, it's been confirmed that Reimu, Marisa, and Aya (the Tengu News reporter) are in it.
other than that all I got is footage of the demo Looking good so far...
That's about it. ^^;;; Till next time.
Ja Matta
-Totaku
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