FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE ABYSS, I SHALL RISE AGAIN!

[Crab]

Hello everyone! I'm Crab, and I'm pleased to meet you all.

My story with Touhou is rather long time-wise. I remember seeing few videos I loved over than a decade ago ("Bad Apple", "Prismriver Sisters on Drugs", and that one with Ronald McDonald), but I never really got into the franchise since 2017. Hm, almost another decade it is...
Since then, I was mostly a hermit (I'm a hermit crab, not an Hermit crab, mind you), I only joined one Touhou Community before this one. And then I left without interacting much, heh.
Instead of knowing other fans and talking with people, I just went to search for the golden fruits that the worldwide community had to offer. Mainly musics and fanarts, but few games were also magnificent for me (I hold a sweet spot for Megamari).
And I don't remember where I downloaded my first games (possibly here), but only years later I saw Moriya Shrine and thought "Maybe I should keep this website in mind" due to my passion for the sea, if you know what I mean. Later I ended up joining their Discord, chatted for few months, made few friends over there, and then I decided to make an account here.
So this brings us to the present! At my late introduction.

 

Well, that was longer than expected, so I will make the rest quicker.
-Favorite Touhou Charater? Iku Nagae
-Favorite Theme? No idea. Too many to count. Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly is fire, though.
-Favorite Doujin Circles? I treasure FELT a lot, and really liked many many pieces from CarrotWine, fromadistance, and Alstroemeria Records.
-Do I actually play the main series? No. Not a bullet-hell fan overall. I'd rather stick to the rest.
-Am I a lore nerd? Not really. I enjoy it's lore, but not nearly as much as other people do.
-Favorite Game? Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. I should mention that Hopeless Masquerade/Antinomy of Common Flowers are close though.
-Favorite Animal? Birds. All of them.

 

Did I miss anything? Well, if anyone wants to know more, feel free to ask! I won't use my claws on anyone who's not trying to eat me.

[Idioms21]

Your favorites are the fighting games? That's based

[kymoh]

Hello! I assume you're the same Crab I sometimes talk to on the discord server? The server has really been getting hectic recently.

Whether you intend on jumping ship or you just want to visit these forums a bit, you'll always be welcome! Everyone's super nice so feel free to jump into any topic that looks interesting.

On 1/26/2025 at 4:29 PM, Crab said:

-Favorite Animal? Birds. All of them.

One other thing... explain yourself here! This either must be some typo, or a simple ploy to deceive your fellow crab friends ...

[Crab]

31 minutes ago, kymoh said:

Hello! I assume you're the same Crab I sometimes talk to on the discord server? The server has really been getting hectic recently.

Sir yessir, it's the same me! The server is... well, better not bring that boat here.

32 minutes ago, kymoh said:

Whether you intend on jumping ship or you just want to visit these forums a bit, you'll always be welcome! Everyone's super nice so feel free to jump into any topic that looks interesting.

I plan on participating on stuff here, yes, and thanks for the warm welcome! Just a few glimpses made me realize it's a whole different thing than the Discord server, so I'll try to behave accordingly. I'm also not used to write at forums, so that might take some time.

28 minutes ago, kymoh said:

One other thing... explain yourself here! This either must be some typo, or a simple ploy to deceive your fellow crab friends ...

Nonononono, I'd never betray my kind!
You see, I really like crabs. We are really cool with our claws, carapaces, so much that other species are trying to copy us! I also enjoy the ocean a lot even though I'm from a freshwater species.
But birds? I have heard that "God created the skies so he could justify the birds", and I sign to that. They are so cute/amazing/fluffy/all of these options at once. Let me enjoy appreciating the beauty of their flight (even for pigeons) and the magnificence of their image (even for vultures). Yeah, I really like birds.

[Crab]

10 hours ago, Idioms21 said:

Your favorites are the fighting games? That's based

My, thank you for the compliment! Glad to see another lad who appreciates the fighting games!

I also feel like I must add these are my favorite Touhou games, but not favorite games of all time.
If I had to choose between the best game for me, I'd say either "Antichamber" or "The Talos Principle". I don't dig too much into puzzle games, but DAMN these two are great!

[Stan]

On 1/27/2025 at 6:15 PM, Crab said:

My, thank you for the compliment! Glad to see another lad who appreciates the fighting games!

I also feel like I must add these are my favorite Touhou games, but not favorite games of all time.
If I had to choose between the best game for me, I'd say either "Antichamber" or "The Talos Principle". I don't dig too much into puzzle games, but DAMN these two are great!

I would like to get into the fighting games but I am too lazy to learn fighting games :/

i applaud those who do enjoy those games because the 2 goated celestials come from there

Edited January 30 by Stan

[Polo Rossi]

Nice, do you have any cool fighting games to recommend? I don't play many but it would be nice to pick one up when I have time.

[Idioms21]

On 1/28/2025 at 10:15 AM, Crab said:

My, thank you for the compliment! Glad to see another lad who appreciates the fighting games!

I also feel like I must add these are my favorite Touhou games, but not favorite games of all time.
If I had to choose between the best game for me, I'd say either "Antichamber" or "The Talos Principle". I don't dig too much into puzzle games, but DAMN these two are great!

I just find that the touhou fighting games are one of the craziest high skill ceiling fighting games with also one of the most genius implementation of the original series gimmick into fighting game form which is why I really like them (though i am actually very bad at them).
I could also relate to you having puzzle games as a favorite despite not being into the genre. My all time favorite is Outer Wilds and I only decided to play it after everybody and their mother told me to play it but not look up anything about it and it is just as good. Anyways that Antichamber game looks kinda wacky so I might actually see what thats all about

[Crab]

9 hours ago, Stan said:

I would like to get into the fighting games but I am too lazy to learn fighting games :/

i applaud those who do enjoy those games because the 2 goated celestials come from there

I can't deny that both Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (Touhou 10.5) and Hisoutensoku (Touhou 12.3) have high skill ceilings if you want to be competitive, but sincerely, you don't need to be good at the game to enjoy it. Sometimes I'm lazy to invest my time into mastering a specific game, but I can be enjoy it nevertheless. Plenty of times I just go against bots to have fun while listening to good music (I like "Dancing Water Spray" and "Fragrant Flowers" a lot).
If you want less-complicated combat, you can try Hopeless Maskerade (TH13.5), Urban Legend in Limbo (TH14.5), and/or Antimony of Common Flowers (TH15.5). They are very similar to each other but with few different mechanics and/or musics. AoCF has the biggest character roster and also great soundtrack, so it's my favorite of these three. They are as fun to play as SWR and Hisoutensoku, and don't require lots of investment in terms of skill. Might be worth your while!

And just as important, gotta love these celestials. I wish Iku had a bit more of attention nowadays, y'know? All the credit goes to Tenshi (which isn't that bad since I also like her), but we got nothing more for the Messenger of the Dragon Palace since the game's release. Come on ZUN... give us another earthquake incident or something.

 

6 hours ago, Polo Rossi said:

Nice, do you have any cool fighting games to recommend? I don't play many but it would be nice to pick one up when I have time.

Ayyyyyyy, nice to see you here Polo! Hope you are doing well.

Alas, I don't have solid recommendations for this genre, but I'll share the experience I had.
I used to play Brawlhalla (it's rather similar to Super Smash Brothers, but Free to Play) and that game also has a high skill ceiling. It can be VERY frustrating, so even though I had my share of fun with it I don't think I should suggest going for it.
I was also a big Mortal Kombat fan when a kid, but ended up stopping when things got... hyper-realistic. I guess I rather stay at the old games, heh. I have no idea how things are going for the franchise and it's fans nowadays.
And since I'm digging deep into the past, there was also a game called "One Piece: Grand Adventure" from PS2 that I used to play as a kiddo. I recently revisited it and I loved playing again. Of course I might biased for the fact I'm an One Piece fan (plus the nostalgia), but even so I keep this last one as a recommendation! The combat isn't complicated, but there are some combinations that are easy to go unnoticed.

[Crab]

2 hours ago, Idioms21 said:

I just find that the touhou fighting games are one of the craziest high skill ceiling fighting games with also one of the most genius implementation of the original series gimmick into fighting game form which is why I really like them (though i am actually very bad at them).
I could also relate to you having puzzle games as a favorite despite not being into the genre. My all time favorite is Outer Wilds and I only decided to play it after everybody and their mother told me to play it but not look up anything about it and it is just as good. Anyways that Antichamber game looks kinda wacky so I might actually see what thats all about

They are my favorites of the franchise, but I never claimed to be good at them

The reasons I like them are many. Soundtrack going perfectly with the situation you're having (such as the Pre-Battle themes), the different weathers that change the way the fight flows (AoCF has the possession thing which is also awesome), good character roster for all games, great story mode (except Soku, can't lie), and then there is the fact I'm a simple crab and just enjoy things I enjoy. So yeah, unnoticed things I like are also a plus.

As for the puzzle games, I don't think you'll be disappointed by Antichamber. Some times it's kinda...trippy, which might not be your thing, but either way it's very enjoyable and manages to bring life lessons combined to the gameplay in a clever way. I'm very positive it's a worthwhile experience for (almost) anyone to have
I'll properly check Outer Wilds later. So far, the premise of the game is great, so I'll be looking forward to it after I finish some projects.

[Stan]

5 hours ago, Crab said:

I can't deny that both Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (Touhou 10.5) and Hisoutensoku (Touhou 12.3) have high skill ceilings if you want to be competitive, but sincerely, you don't need to be good at the game to enjoy it. Sometimes I'm lazy to invest my time into mastering a specific game, but I can be enjoy it nevertheless. Plenty of times I just go against bots to have fun while listening to good music (I like "Dancing Water Spray" and "Fragrant Flowers" a lot).
If you want less-complicated combat, you can try Hopeless Maskerade (TH13.5), Urban Legend in Limbo (TH14.5), and/or Antimony of Common Flowers (TH15.5). They are very similar to each other but with few different mechanics and/or musics. AoCF has the biggest character roster and also great soundtrack, so it's my favorite of these three. They are as fun to play as SWR and Hisoutensoku, and don't require lots of investment in terms of skill. Might be worth your while!

And just as important, gotta love these celestials. I wish Iku had a bit more of attention nowadays, y'know? All the credit goes to Tenshi (which isn't that bad since I also like her), but we got nothing more for the Messenger of the Dragon Palace since the game's release. Come on ZUN... give us another earthquake incident or something.

 

Ayyyyyyy, nice to see you here Polo! Hope you are doing well.

Alas, I don't have solid recommendations for this genre, but I'll share the experience I had.
I used to play Brawlhalla (it's rather similar to Super Smash Brothers, but Free to Play) and that game also has a high skill ceiling. It can be VERY frustrating, so even though I had my share of fun with it I don't think I should suggest going for it.
I was also a big Mortal Kombat fan when a kid, but ended up stopping when things got... hyper-realistic. I guess I rather stay at the old games, heh. I have no idea how things are going for the franchise and it's fans nowadays.
And since I'm digging deep into the past, there was also a game called "One Piece: Grand Adventure" from PS2 that I used to play as a kiddo. I recently revisited it and I loved playing again. Of course I might biased for the fact I'm an One Piece fan (plus the nostalgia), but even so I keep this last one as a recommendation! The combat isn't complicated, but there are some combinations that are easy to go unnoticed.

I agree on the Iku point, I keep forgetting Iku even exists sometimes. She is a pretty cool character that deserves to be in more games

[Idkism]

-Hello there Crab, and hello to everyone else in this lil thread! I did go into my backstory on some recent thread, so no need to retype it, i've been wanting to get into the forums due to my...break from the discord, so i hope everything would go smooth.

On 1/26/2025 at 5:29 PM, Crab said:

Favorite Touhou Character?

-Byakuren, and i mean...i think it's obvious, don't you think? XD

On 1/26/2025 at 5:29 PM, Crab said:

Favorite Theme?

-I don't necessarily have a particular theme, ZUN's music is one of the things that haven't regressed for the guy, he knows his stuff, but if i had to give a game, i'd say IN or UFO, those were what i'd say his standout scores to me.

On 1/26/2025 at 5:29 PM, Crab said:

Favorite Doujin Circles?

-As much as i'd say Kuroneko, i wouldn't consider them a doujin circle, y'know, one man army, basically moved on from touhou, yadda yadda. Although my favorites would be... EastNewSound, i really like their stuff (and also c'mon, i'm just a sucker for EDM in general).

On 1/26/2025 at 5:29 PM, Crab said:

Favorite Game?

-UFO, bar none, i just love how each stage can be setup for maximum gain via the ufo system, it's a really well made gimmick that actually makes the stages important in a touhou game, instead of them just being "waiting areas with fairies to shoot".

9 hours ago, Idioms21 said:

I just find that the touhou fighting games are one of the craziest high skill ceiling fighting games with also one of the most genius implementation of the original series gimmick into fighting game form which is why I really like them (though i am actually very bad at them).

-While i can agree on the high skill ceiling part, there are some insane techniques you can do on the OG FGs (pre 12.3), flight cancelling, high execution combos that require some really tight timing, etc... I don't really think that the implementation is genius, for me touhou can't be completely made into a 2D fighter, i find a more...3D arena fighter with air battles, it's a series with magical girls battling in the sky with magic bullets! Don't get me wrong, Twilight Frontier did a really nice job translating the formula from bullet hell to 2D fighter, but to me at least, i don't find it a complete translation.

But of course, you don't need to be good at them, they're not a SF, TK, KOF etc... they're just made for casual fun, you can be competitive in them sure, but y'know, it's a choice lol.

6 hours ago, Crab said:

I wish Iku had a bit more of attention nowadays

Yeah, same... Hell, i just want more representation in the games, sure the mangas and extra material is nice, and you can't go wrong with a few fanfics...

but really, i'm kinda getting sick of ZUN making new stuff for the sake of it, i'm not saying to not make new characters, that's just dumb, but like... if we're just having new characters for the new game (ahem and lost word gachafarming ahem), at least make them a bit more involved... The old characters are on the abyss, and the new characters are too undeveloped to care for, but whatever, maybe i'm just complaining for the sake of it lol.

[Crab]

3 hours ago, Stan said:

I agree on the Iku point, I keep forgetting Iku even exists sometimes. She is a pretty cool character that deserves to be in more games

Liking an underrated character has it's cons surely (also it's pros, can't deny). My solace lies on the fact that skilled artists did (and still do) amazing fanarts of her.
As for her theme... well, it's good but very repetitive. Shame that this characteristic also translated into the arranges too, so I end up disliking a bunch.

Also, I took a while to see who you are. Nice to see you here too, Schloozy! Hope you are doing well.
I think I should call you "Stan" from now on since it's the name you're going with over here, but yeah I still remember the little chats we had at Discord.
I'm not forgetting that time when someone put a unsolvable problem, named it "Autism Test", and posted for us to solve it. The worst part is that we almost did it

 

1 hour ago, Idkism said:

-Hello there Crab, and hello to everyone else in this lil thread! I did go into my backstory on some recent thread, so no need to retype it, i've been wanting to get into the forums due to my...break from the discord, so i hope everything would go smooth.

Hello Idkism! Welcome back! Kinda funny for me to say "welcome back" when I joined way after you, and while you were away, but still, take a seat! The more the merrier!

1 hour ago, Idkism said:

-Byakuren, and i mean...i think it's obvious, don't you think? XD

Based. Come on, who doesn't like our Youkai Jesus? Even the Taoists should like her to a certain extent. If they don't, the religious wars might be speaking louder than their reasoning (I'm joking, it's totally okay to dislike things).

1 hour ago, Idkism said:

-I don't necessarily have a particular theme, ZUN's music is one of the things that haven't regressed for the guy, he knows his stuff, but if i had to give a game, i'd say IN or UFO, those were what i'd say his standout scores to me.

I wasn't thinking about a game for the soundtracks, but I had to pick one I'd say Scarlet Wea-
Nope, no way. Antimony of Common Flowers has better music. Miko theme is FIRE, Kokoro's is also lit, Yukari "new" theme is still amazing, Reisen's goes hard, Tenshi theme tells us that Jazz is the Celestial Music Genre (we had a removed jazz theme for SWR as well, so a nice foreshadowing mayhaps), and so many other character themes are so great I'd need to mention almost the entire character roster to keep this up.
I also MUST remind the glamour we got from the Gucci Goddess Yorigamis' theme. Absolutely fantastic for it is both a great theme and it was perfectly positioned for the situation.

1 hour ago, Idkism said:

Yeah, same... Hell, i just want more representation in the games, sure the mangas and extra material is nice, and you can't go wrong with a few fanfics...

but really, i'm kinda getting sick of ZUN making new stuff for the sake of it, i'm not saying to not make new characters, that's just dumb, but like... if we're just having new characters for the new game (ahem and lost word gachafarming ahem), at least make them a bit more involved... The old characters are on the abyss, and the new characters are too undeveloped to care for, but whatever, maybe i'm just complaining for the sake of it lol.

My humble opinion is that ZUN should allow more people to produce more Touhou stuff. Get more people to make more games besides Twilight Frontier who are carrying the whole Touhou fighting games on their backs.
So make other game genres, more manga stories, maybe even hire an animation studio, I dunno. Not sure how the bullet hell genre is holding up nowadays, but I feel like most Touhou fans treasure more the other aspects of the franchise instead of the main series shooting games. Come one, people want more stuff, and it would be great if they weren't focused only on the most popular characters.

And over the old characters, I have no idea how the last remaining Kisume fans are still going. Compared to her, Iku is popular (I just checked the popularity poll from 2024 and Kisume is 1 or 2 spots above Kasen's Arm, lol). So yeah, I think they deserve more love as well, and the best way to show said love to all of them is by making more good quality content. Develop the personality of our bucket girl in a little series and suddenly more people will start to love her.

Edited January 31 by Crab
Whoops~

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Crab said:

Liking an underrated character has it's cons surely (also it's pros, can't deny). My solace lies on the fact that skilled artists did (and still do) amazing fanarts of her.
As for her theme... well, it's good but very repetitive. Shame that this characteristic also translated into the arranges too, so I end up disliking a bunch.

Also, I took a while to see who you are. Nice to see you here too, Schloozy! Hope you are doing well.
I think I should call you "Stan" from now on since it's the name you're going with over here, but yeah I still remember the little chats we had at Discord.
I'm not forgetting that time when someone put a unsolvable problem, named it "Autism Test", and posted for us to solve it. The worst part is that we almost did it

 

Hello Idkism! Welcome back! Kinda funny for me to say "welcome back" when I joined way after you, and while you were away, but still, take a seat! The more the merrier!

Based. Come on, who doesn't like our Youkai Jesus? Even the Taoists should like her to a certain extent. If they don't, the religious wars might be speaking louder than their reasoning (I'm joking, it's totally okay to dislike things).

I wasn't thinking about a game for the soundtracks, but I had to pick one I'd say Scarlet Wea-
Nope, no way. Antimony of Common Flowers has better music. Miko theme is FIRE, Kokoro's is also lit, Yukari "new" theme is still amazing, Reisen's goes hard, Tenshi theme tells us that Jazz is the Celestial Music Genre (we had a removed jazz theme for SWR as well, so a nice foreshadowing mayhaps), and so many other character themes are so great I'd need to mention almost the entire character roster to keep this up.
I also MUST remind the glamour we got from the Gucci Goddess Yorigamis' theme. Absolutely fantastic for it is both a great theme and it was perfectly positioned for the situation.

My humble opinion is that ZUN should allow more people to produce more Touhou stuff. Get more people to make more games besides Twilight Frontier who are carrying the whole Touhou fighting games on their backs.
So make other game genres, more manga stories, maybe even hire an animation studio, I dunno. Not sure how the bullet hell genre is holding up nowadays, but I feel like most Touhou fans treasure more the other aspects of the franchise instead of the main series shooting games. Come one, people want more stuff, and it would be great if they weren't focused only on the most popular characters.

And over the old characters, I have no idea how the last remaining Kisume fans are still going. Compared to her, Iku is popular (I just checked the popularity poll from 2024 and Kisume is 1 or 2 spots above Kasen's Arm, lol). So yeah, I think they deserve more love as well, and the best way to show said love to all of them is by making more good quality content. Develop the personality of our bucket girl in a little series and suddenly more people will start to love her.

I don't care whether you call me Stan or Schloozy, I still have Schloozy as my username on discord although Stan is my display name. And yes I do remember the autism test. One day I will circumvent the 4th dimension to make it work. Or maybe the second? I don't know I am no physicist/mathmetician, just some guy