Leaderboard

The ending CGs were good in the past, back in 1998 (25 years ago)... In Mystic Square, the ending has different fully colored drawings with a good art style despite the limitations of the PC98 hardware. Look at this: Now that the veins of hype are dry on my end, here's my opinion/review of Touhou 19. TLDR: The "Unfinished" in the title describes the game perfectly. Good Things: 1) The game has good mechanics. Charging attacks is intuitive and easy to pull off, getting the meter bar full is a simple collect the orbs, the spared hit is a good mechanic to make the game less punishing, although it's exploitable if you are good enough. Once a competitive metagame develops, we will know for sure how well done the combat system is. 2) Artistic department is beautiful. I really like the new designs and ZUN is improving his music, he used a lot of new instruments to him, the mixing is great, and the melodies still feel fresh even if he still composes with the same kind of tricks. 3) The story and writing is great. We still don't know the full details, but from what I've read, it depicts Gensokyo in the brink of a war, and it has a lot of interesting dialogue. For example, Son Biten being gaslighted into believing she's Son Goku's reincarnation, Hisami's possibly masochist tendencies and Chiyari being a hikikomori. She also managed to get me uncomfortable due to how creepy I find her. And that's all. Yeah i didn't like this game. I don't like a ZUN game since Touhou 11, it's incredible how massive his screw-up was in this one. I may dislike Touhou 11, but the game is finished and decently polished, not the case here. Bad Things: 1) The CPU is unbeatable. Especially when you take into account the "Human vs CPU" mode. As the CPU in this game is practically invincible, it's not like in PoFV where the CPU gets hits in normal. In about 2 hours of gameplay, the best I did was getting the CPU to drop 2 death bombs, meanwhile I was playing Orin VS Zanmu. 2) Lack of features. There's no replay and score system and ZUN can't justify it because he loves to reutilize assets, how hard is it to adapt the 18 game catalog's code to this game or hire someone? 3) Online is unplayable. I couldn't even join a match. The character selection screen dropped frames like crazy, and it had like 30 seconds of input lag. I won't be so critical here because I suppose that writing online multiplayer is very challenging. But why did ZUN not hire someone to make a reliable system? 4) Inconsistent art styles. It was a good idea to introduce new character sprites and boss sprites, but the job was badly done as returning characters like Sanae have their sprites from Touhou 12 meanwhile others are showing off new sprites. But not everyone got a fair deal, Ran's player/back sprite is vomit inducing. If ZUN at least allowed to remake all the player sprites, it would have consistent aesthetics. And he didn't fix the character selection screen to always be a hexagon, instead you get the ugly circle until you select someone. 5) Poor game balance. Half the cast encourages masochism, for example, I only managed to do decent damage with Orin thanks to the cards you get in story mode. Meanwhile, Reimu literally has infinite bombs with a good bullet slowdown aura. What the hell? 6) Atrocious pricing. I can't believe the game costs $15 with all the fundamental problems tainting the experience. For example, Terraria gives you tenfold the content for just $10 and Mystia Izakaya, a complete game without mayor problems (I didn't try it), is only $6. I can't even feel bad for pirating Touhou 19, it's simply not worth the $15. Before at least you got a finished experience with good polish and hours of entertainment. 7) ZUN's pride I believe we are entering a dark period of Touhou if ZUN doesn't drop the pride. Touhou is a FRICKING SOCIAL PHENOMENON in Japan, I'm sure he can hire more people to improve mainline Touhou even more. And not a gigantic amount of people that could bankrupt ZUN, he only needs a few beta testers, someone capable of providing a good online experience and a team of translators. 8) Development problems. If you pay close attention to how the story mode works, you will notice that once you reach a certain amount of time in a fight you automatically win, why is that? ZUN realized the CPU was unfair, but instead of fixing it, he made a quick lazy patch to allow players completing the story mode. Why did ZUN make that choice instead of fixing the problem? I don't know what happened, but Touhou 19 seemed to be stuck in development hell, as it's unusual that he didn't try to fix it by just reutilizing PoFV's CPU (I know he has the code, he kept the sprites after all). 9) Poor roster I know the roster makes sense for the story, but it's very strange that ZUN didn't include more characters. Combined with past games and the card mechanics of 18, he can easily introduce at least like 15 characters. And if it ruins the story, make them extra unlockable characters that aren't involved in the story. It would fit the style of progressively unlocking characters, like how it's done in Smash Bros. It also has some nonsensical character choices like Seiran or Orin, they don't add anything to the story. Something else that's weird is not having Kasen, Clownpiece, Keiki, Chen or Hecatia involved in the story as they are directly affected by the plot of the game. (yes, Chen technically appears in Ran's attacks, but why don't make her more independent?) Conclusion: I'm honestly impressed that, at the time of writing, ZUN is getting away unscathed after such a bad game. Steam's reviews are very positive and I can't comprehend how. Most of the critics I gave are due to a surprising lack of testing, polish and passion in developing this game, not me disliking core parts of the game entirely based on taste (like how I can dislike puzzle games because they don't entertain me). I want to like this game, as the things it does right are amazing, but it has fundamental issues that are only justified if the game was in early alpha. I really hope ZUN patches most of the game's issues (something unlikely to happen) and if that's not the case, at least that Touhou 20 or 19.X is a polished experience with good gameplay and new people on board. Maybe it's time for ZUN to either expand Team Shanghai Alice or hand over Touhou to new developers, it's unacceptable to have this experience in 2023 and a complete lack of improvements in a lot of areas. I just can't get over the fact that games made 25+ years ago on the very limited PC98 platform have comparable quality. Not even counting early Windows era games, my god. ZUN please do something.

It’s Spring! Day 46: Lily white I honestly love Lily as a concept. The first part to her is her simply being the spring announcer, which is super neat and gives her a gimmick that keeps her relevant. It’s nice to have these kinda of characters fluffing the roster, as she can always do her specific thing, not being overshadowed by others. Outside of this, she’s been frequently used as a character due to her fairy status. She’s portrayed as a bit dumb, not really caring about much other than the season, which makes sense due to her nature as a part of nature. Unfortunately, my anti fairy bias is present as usual, as I really don’t care for the kind of character that fairies present. Overall, a fun gimmick that stayed in her lane.

I'm very mixed on TH19, leaning more towards negative on it. I like some of the new ideas in the gameplay, but the game design is not that great. Some things I like: The extendable graze barrier mechanic from 18.5 is back. I like how it's used to slow down bullets and freeze spirits. The charge attack being mapped to a different key is an improvement, as now I don't have to mash to fire normally. A system like that worked better in PoDD, but was kind of ass to deal with in PoFV. It's probably just a "me" thing idk. There's a good selection of playable characters, and we have some interesting interactions. I personally like that there are no 1cc requirements to get a clear for a character to unlock the others. The new sprite art is very appealing to me (seriously, ZUN please bring that artist back for the next game). Minor nitpicks: We have a lot of new remixes of older songs, but most of them don't play for their respective characters in Story Mode. We just get generic filler tracks until near the end, with like the exception of Mamizou, who gets unique music during her early stages. Bombs are kind of lame looking. They're all standardized in the shape of the graze box thing. Bombs drain your meter, which I have never liked since PoFV. I prefer PoDD's approach in that Bombs were divorced from your meter entirely. There's like a "buffer" hit before actually losing a Heart. I don't have too much of an issue with this, but you can refresh it by using your own Boss Attack. I started to exploit it whenever I could in Story Mode lol. It's just too abusable with certain characters I guess. Enemy formations are the same from the first stage you play, to the last. Also it was neat in PoFV when the random Lily White mini-boss would appear, shook things up a little as well as giving a reward on defeat, and that game changed the aesthetics on some of the fairies for certain bosses. There doesn't seem to be any Extra mode content like in PoFV. I liked the "Sudden Death" challenge mode with Komachi, and it's sad there's no equivalent here. The difference in sprite quality can be weird. I'll be playing as Aunn or Ran, who have nice player sprites with good detail, fighting against Sanae who's using her player sprite from Touhou 12... It's just so bizarre seeing them next to each other. No Score or Replays. I don't care much for Score in this sub-genre, but no Replays is insane. I guess since the AI cheats, the Replay puppeteering would desync in a Story Mode run or something. I can only imagine trying to get a good Replay in an online match. The Ability Card system feels tacked on here. The customization options they bring are so negligible, they might as well not exist. No Dialogue Skipping. My bigger issues with the game: The CPU being immortal in Story Mode until a set amount of Boss Attacks are survived/cleared made fights boring as all hell. There's no point in it being a splitsceen vs. shmup when your attacks don't even function in the way they were meant to. That design approach being on every boss makes it all feel same-y. Having the large cast of characters is a detriment in its own way, especially on how unlocking characters is handled. In PoFV, you at least had a starting roster beyond just Reimu. I understand the design philosophy for it, as forcing someone to get to grips with one character and seeing how everyone else is different onwards is smart and provides a sense of contrast. However, it starts to compound with the last point, because you have to do the same song and dance with every character that becomes available to unlock every playable one after. The absolute imbalance with the character roster make certain routes even more tedious than others. A lot of characters just feel weak, and enemies take too long to kill. This leads to situations where actually killing the Boss Attack pattern becomes nearly impossible, as a character with no damage can't kill the endless wave of random fairies body-blocking the boss and you end up timing the pattern out. The state of Online is dire. $14.99 on Steam for this? If it were priced at $10.99 like Violet Detector or Impossible Spell Card, it'd be a better buy imo. I try to judge the Touhou games as games first, even if I like the characters, music, and what they bring to the lore. TH19 is not a very good game. Singleplayer content is too same-y and gets repetitive fast, while Multiplayer doesn't work that well and you need to have a friend who's into a niche sub-genre of STGs, who has a good connection or workaround for it. My guess is the absolute state of online play, and that all the imbalances from the demo weren't addressed at all. Agreed. Enoko is my second favorite design, only because the bear traps look too strange, especially them being red.

I think touhou has reached a status where the fanbase will eat up and praise anything tha comes out of ZUN. At this point it's more of a cult following than anything. "A touhou fan is part of your identity so you automatically love any kind of attention or content the fanbase may get. " I get that mentality sometimes. I'm still on the lookout for anything related to touhou on steam, for example. Props on that review, pepi. I think not only did you translate a lot of the games cons (and pros) well but you also brought some different points I hadn't even considered. Can't say I disagree with anything you put out there. The early endings in the series were hand drawn and digitalized. That's where the charm of the black and white art came from. Now it lost that aspect completely, and it's just some half done piece of incomplete digital assets. One positive point that I didn't see mentioned: I am not sure how much of it is recycled, but the spritework for some of this games' sprites is absolutely gorgeous. Especially the boss enemy ones.

1.AI is freaking broken(whats the use of charge attacks when the AI's gonna dodge them all anyways?) 2.Some characters are so trash they are not even worth choosing a second time(Nazrin, Rin) 3. Un-dodgable Mess of bullet against final bosses in hard and above 4. Some bosses have extra attacks which are too powerful(Rin, Chiyari, Saaki) 5. Zanmu, Saaki, and Chiyari(Purple haired one) are so op that they are gonna be the only one's people would want to use to win online matches 6. Overall, its a bit boring(I honestly find the earlier games more fun and enjoyableobale) 7. Music is just meh ( Didnt notice anything new except the last theme which was okish) Basically the gameplay is quite broken atm Agreed, its always the starting ones which are the best(even for movies), after that ideas run out

Suika's portrait art doesn't read as her, she's way too blonde. I avoided adding my art complaints onto the list, since I was afraid criticizing ZUN art might get me burned at the stake for how iconic it generally is (also the list started getting long-winded). Sanae looks off, Saki and Orin's posing both look awkward, and Tsukasa's art seems worse (it's the ears) and it hasn't even been that long since she was introduced. Man, the PC-98 ending CGs are leaps and bounds better than Window's CGs. I don't understand why the line art in Window's CGs is purposely made worse, and nowadays instead of color, it's just layered over some random wallpaper-looking background. The lack of Keiki really bothers me. She answered the call of the Human Spirits in the Animal Realm, gave them physical Haniwa bodies that prevented the Animal Spirits from harming them, and generally had those Human's interests in mind. So, if the Animal Spirits and their leaders are becoming a threat to Gensokyo, wouldn't it make sense for her to want to protect the Humans on the surface, from foes she's already fought? Heck, she could even send Mayumi on her behalf, since at least she'd be immune to any attacks by Spirits and can't be fatigued. I think a chunk of the character roster only exists as it does to shoehorn specific animal reps for an overarching theme. Though, why 2 foxes? I've asked myself the same question for a while. I feel like there are people nowadays that just accept mediocrity from series they are attached to, even if it's glory days have long since passed (I have a few friends who still buy Pokemon games on launch despite the quality dropping off a cliff and them knowing it). It doesn't help that I think the fandom over here can be toxically positive about anything Touhou-related, to the point where we just don't talk about quality... or they just politely shun you by ignoring your existence. My alternate take would be that they got a free game with their $15 CD. I'd say that's likely. I hate the "nothing" reviews on Steam, and it's the same for fangames too. I read negative reviews, because often times that person is passionate about the things they like, want it to improve, and can elaborate. Someone I know bought Genso Wanderer because of the wave of positive reviews, claiming it was like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. It wasn't, they were turned off by the overbearing enemies resetting any progress by destroying their items, and felt that they were lied to. They hated the experience.

I thought I was the only one feeling like that. The new art feels very "plastic-y" compared to IN-PoFV-MoF. The only reason I can think of is kinda dumb. I think that newer players who don't know what Touhou was like some years ago (and I say this as someone who started playing EoSD January last year). Also half of the reviews can be summarized by these screenshots:

For me it was very meh. The only improvements from PoFV is the fact that you don't have to spam the Z button and character select menu is prettier. I generally think that ZUN is unfortunately beyond his prime. The game feels very "stiff", for the lack of a better word. Stuff like the netplay as Canaranjo said, the lack of replays and score for seemingly no apparent reason, the lack of a true 1v1 since you just have to beat the boss battles etc. For now I've only beaten the game 2 times with Reimu and Marisa (also tried Ran but she has a horrible shot type) and for the love of god, what an abysmal last stage boss theme. I was never disappointed with a last stage boss theme and here we are with this atrocity (sorry of you like it). Also, other small things like the lack of a restart from start button (which existed on most of not all of Touhou games for Windows so it's not like ZUN had to implement a new feature) and dialogue skipping by pressing left control. I feel like the game has become a smartphone, removing features left and right. Finally, why are the collectibles so small and transparent?

I definitely prefer 9 over 19 so far. Though this might change if the community takes their time to improve this entry (as is with most pvp touhous). ZUN's native netcode is pretty bad for anyone trying to connect distances larger than japan mainland - japan mainland. Though I can't say I'm surprised. Parsec is a nice bandaid solution for the time being. The story mode is not a true 1v1 either, with it being a series of boss battles with an invulnerable oponent. What's even the point of the splitscreen? I haven't had the time to check the other modes just yet. The cast of characters is really interesting and new additions have their own appeal as well. Especially like seeing Yuuma and Ran here. Hisami's design is really unique, she's probably my favorite one of the newcomers. I do think ZUN continues to do Flandre dirty. Every other EoSD character has had their fair share of appearances (aside from rumia, poor thing), but one of the most popular characters in the series barely shows up beyond her original game. If we can't get a remake of th6, can we atleast have her shine again in another game? These are my initial thoughts anyway. I'd be happy to see OP (or someone else) elaborate on the points in favor of the game.

As no one metioned this topic i think i should. What you guys think about the newest touhou? I think it's a great game and the best phantasmogoria type game in the series. Gameplay is much better than PoFV and character selection favours the less known characters and adds four new ones. The barrier mechanic is making this game feel lighter than the older games and i like it. It makes the game so much more lightweighted and encourages to more agressive type of gameplay. As for characters it was a pleasant suprise to see Mamizou as a playable character. The new ones all look amazing even with ZUN's goofy artstyle. Son Biten is a clear winner when it comes to design and is a new competetor in the smuggest 2hu competition. When it comes to music it's great. The new themes are all catchy and old ones are just as good if not better than before. Overall great game.

Alright, I think this is for me, the worst entry into mainline Touhou games for now. Mainly because I had hopes of it being rather fine, which I guess is the last thing you want to have these days if you are interested in Touhou. I would point out the reasons why I hate it, but Pepi has posted such a great summary (except the part where he said that Th11 is bad >:( ) that I don't think I need to, but I'll still throw in my two cents about a rather peculiar thingy. The main reason why I was interested in it, was because of the multiplayer, now I knew what to expect from ZUN when it comes to netcode, but this is a mess that no man could ever prepare for. Multiplayer (from what I understand, at least) runs on Dedicated Servers! And that's absolutely horrible for something like indie games! The servers are in Japan, when connecting to Online VS, it sends requests to some servers ran by I think a Taiwanese web game developer, I guess ZUN contacted them to run servers for it. We might as well render official netplay as nonexistent for now. Probably forever too, unless someone makes a utility for servers to make the game actually playable for us gaijins. It also uses ports from 40000 to 59999. If anyone else has a theory/figured out how multiplayer for this game works, please post it, I am genuinely curious. At least we got Kaguya cosplaying as an Eggplant.

Having played through the game and the rest of the Touhou series, I completely agree with a lot of the stuff said here. It honestly feels like an imitation of POFV, but like a DLC with only added characters, minor mechanical additions, and some removals. There was nothing major in the SHMUP PVP from TH9. I honestly wished that TH19 added something new that TH9 didn't have, but the only things added were the things listed above by other users. Aside from net play mode being borked, I really wish that ZUN added something like actual spell cards that you initiate to attack opponents instead of using the boss system from TH9. Something like SWR/Hisouten in which you customize your decks and launch different attacks towards your opponent aside from relying on your attacker to flood the screen and hope your opponent gets cornered. Something more complex than onslaught mechanics. Single-player gameplay is not so fun after fighting the same drivel of bullets and getting the powerup cards, which don't really change anything aside from giving you minor boosts/changes and or damage. It feels like the bullet battles are more geared towards playing against a human opponent than an AI, as the bosses themselves don't play by the same rules as you do and punish you for launching attacks. I would rate TH19 to be the same, if not worse, than the fighting games. It relies on people to keep it going, as once you have beaten the AI, you really don't have anything else to beat aside from other humans who play on the same ruleset and can create dynamic fights. Without multiplayer, it's really just a one-off game that can't stand on its own legs, aside from the mainline SHMUP and some of the fighting games, which challenge you in actual difficulty/score rather than impossible fights that the AI can just zip through and crap on your screen.

https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Curiosities_of_Lotus_Asia/Chapter_36 In Curiosities of Lotus Asia, Sumireko works for Rinnosuke while she visits. As payment, he gives her really old 1000-yen bills. He explains that such bills are worthless and only used in Gensokyo as hard-to-reproduce promissory notes, and they don't care about the amount written on the bill. According to him, Gensokyo works on the bartering system, so they are more like easy to carry "credits" than anything (if you are familiar with Canadian history, the HBC used a similar system before a standard currency was established back in the 17th century). It's implied she exploits this by offering to work for him in exchange for the bills, taking them home and selling them as collector's items due to their age. That said, As stated above, mon must exist as per not only the cards in Th18, but Komachi's spell cards also use them, and as a ferrywoman for the Sanzu, she does take payment in the form of said coins. How exactly they are used in Gensokyo is unknown as far as I know.

Yeah, reviews for Touhou games are not reliable. I never wrote reviews before, but I had to for Kubinashi Recollection, since many reviews were just "Yeah! Sexybanki" or reviews lying about S-rank being impossible (but to be fair, the very first stage is near-impossible and way too hard compare to the rest of the game) It was the same deal for Luna Night, all of them going "Sakuya's thighs". So, pro tip: read a few good and bad review to get an actual impression of the game.

Hello. I started to suffer with loneliness when i was 22. It was 2019, 4 years later after my high school days reach its end. Always when i remember about that time, i feel very nostalgic plus lonely. Everyday i was doing something with my friends, it was so good, and after we all graduate, we all stapped seeing everyone more frequently. Also on general i miss getting affection from my parents, but i dont have any courage to go and ask for a hug or anything. For some time ive cried because of that, the feeling of loneliness really hurts. Good to see that you're taking care of yourself and going well! All the best.

"I am sorry…I should have seen this coming. I should have remained detached and watched from the safety of my Gaps. Maybe then I could have stopped this…look at what has happened to my beautiful home…" No one knows how it happened. The great Hakurei Barrier had always been there, keeping the outside world at bay. But in Season 123, something seemed to change in the barrier. Small shifts in the fabric of the barrier. Its guardian assumed these were normal ebbs in the flow of magic. Quick to appear and vanish again. All seemed normal, until the impossible happened. The magic within Gensokyo began to fade. The powers of great witches and youkai alike declined, until the fearsome power of the Spell Cards became a distant memory. With the rules of the Danmaku now forever broken, the natives of Gensokyo turned to the greatest of their kind for protection. Across this once-innocent land, banners rose to newborn nations. Dividing the land among themselves. Though in such tumultuous times, it was not long before Gensokyo fell into conflict… That is not to say all is safe away from the battlefields of these nations. Desperate to retain their powers, wild Youkai began to attack humans on the fringes of Gensokyo, hungry for their life force. Human supremacists, longing to see the day the Youkai are dealt with once and for all, operate in the shadows of free nations. Outsiders, guarding one of the few remaining paths to the outside world, plunder our home for its wealth and magicks. And all the while, the Lunarians silently monitor us all from the shadows… You are one of the few remaining heroines in this age of war. A champion, or perhaps a citizen, of one of these great nations. Perhaps you are a heroine who knew the world as it was, or a new champion rising to meet this new conflict. Perhaps you can throw a punch, shoot an arrow, fire a gun or know a blade. You may even know how to cast basic magic. As the armies of a divided Gensokyo march to war, you have no idea you will find yourself thrust into a quest to save the land the gods loved… ------ OoC ------ Hello one and all, and welcome to another Interest Check from Yumetou! With the votes for the next game tied, and my free time very limited, I decided Illusionary Nirvana might be the best RP to continue our reconquest of Eientai. The story is simple. The land is shattered as magic declines, dividing Gensokyo into several competing factions. You as heroines are destined to meet, and reverse this terrible fate for Gensokyo. Rules: 1) You may play as one character, either canonically from a Touhou game or a character of your own creation. 2) The only characters off-limits for the game are the leaders of the ten factions. Any other character is available. 3) Fill out the form below. When approved, you may post in the IC. 4) Have fun! Character Sheet ------ Lore ------ Major Factions Minor Factions (NPC) Timeline

Brief Introduction: Hm... So, i haven't been in the forum for months, and the reason is because i've been doing a lot on my personal life such as developing new personal relations and also working on myself, but before all that progress i had in my life, i went through the hardest times i could ever think of: the loneliness I'm an introvert, so i usually like to be alone, but it changes when it comes to feel alone I always loved to have my own time, thanks to that i discovered touhou and other things that made me happier, such as doing physical exercises and playing games, also thanks to that i found this forum where i did share a lot of my personal experiences and also opinions Since i disappeared, some people such as @CountVonNumenor asked what happened and if i was going to come back, and well, i'm not sure tbh, i found this forum cuz i wanted to share the few experiences i lived and also to know more about touhou, but in the transition between 2022 and 2023 my life changed completely, since i started dealing with several problems and also, with the loneliness feeling My experience with loneliness: So, since past year i've been talking to a girl which had several problems about health and her personal life, once she was a cocaine user and also a depression victim, but since i met her she changed, at least most of the time, she didn't use drugs or cut herself (due to her problems), it was life her life changed, even the subjects we used to talk about changed and instead of talking about negative stuff, we started talking about life and good things such as travels and etc Well, that was what i thought, this year she met another guy, but instead of trying to help her like i was trying to do, he did support her on all the shit she used to do, she even went to his house to smoke weed and have sex, and i didn't care at all, since it's her life and she can do what she wanted to I started to get away from her because she started saying weird stuff and asking me out, but i never wanted a relationship with her, and plus, some months ago she was having sex with another guy with the same problems as her, so why should i accept someone like that? Anyway, for some reason, i used to feel calm when she was near to me, but not because i loved her or smth, it's just because she was my only friend on work, once everyone went away from me since i started to meet up with her After some time she completely stopped to talk to me and blocked me on some places, and it made me get into a prison inside of my mind, i started to have a strong anxiety because i felt completely switched, i didn't have nobody to talk to, several times i did take my phone during the day to see if someone sent me a message or something, and nothing But then my friends tried to talk back to me, which didn't work, i got accustomed with being lonely, but i was still sad, so what i wanted at all? I wanted her company, i became a emotional dependant on her while she was hanging out with several friends who did the same drugs as her and had the same weird ideas as her And it made me notice what loneliness feels like, isn't just being alone, isn't just about not having nobody to count with, but yes about being in a prison inside of your head, a prison where you're feed with negative thoughts and self-devaluation, when you can't think about nothing aside from the problems in your life and when all you think of is about yourself and about how pathetic is your situation, thinking about how some kind of miracle would solve everything and make you get back to feel the way you used to when you were happier Nowadays, i'm with new friends and i don't have this feeling anymore, at least not at a very destructive point, i started dating again and now i have a way better life, but the first point to get better, was recognizing what i was feeling, and well, i know several people go through the same, and that's why i'll talk more about it now Loneliness: Well, being lonely isn't something that happens suddenly, but yes something that you only notice when it's already in it's extreme point, nothing is never enough at all, you feel alone even if there's people who would talk to you if you needed, you can't just ignore it because it will always get inside of your mind, when you lay down on your bed and look at the ceiling while thinking a lot about your life for example, when you're frequently feeling yourself empty and without value to others It is certainly worse when you really don't have nobody who cares about you, and well, due to that, several people end up developing depression and other problems, but a problem which always happen even if you have or not somebody who care about you, is the anxiety Being lonely causes a lot of anxiety, once you're frequently waiting for someone to send you a message or show some kind of interest on you, when you don't know what's wrong about you that apparently is making people get away and give up on having a talk with you, when you're thinking so much about the wrong points in yourself that you can't even work/study well, when you're always trying to find or receive something which can be a way to solve your problems And well, being lonely can end up making of you a true vegetable, which don't have any perspective of future and don't try to get better, and it can destroy completely someone, since those people can end up trying to be someone else instead of trying to be someone better I'm writing this because, nowadays, i opened my eyes about all this situation, and i can see a lot of people dealing with this same problem, and having no idea about how to solve it, i can't give a solution though, since the way i found to get better was forcing myself into new people till i found my friends i have now, and as much as i can recommend that, i'd say, everybody will always find their ways to solve their own problems Loneliness is literally killing people, and i say that not just because i had suicidal thoughts during that time, but also because i see a lot of people doing the same, and i did see people who actually did commit suicide due to this Please, take care of yourselves and try doing therapy or going to a psychologist, i'm not a doctor or a therapist, but yes one of the several people who already went through all that, and i don't desire this feeling not even for my worst enemy Maybe your problem can even be more serious, like depression or something, so, yeah, you should look for medical help if you identify with what i wrote, since i just got worse when i didn't look for this kind of professional help, i could get better alone, but this situation isn't the same for everyone See y'all someday! =D

It is. ZUN hired someone from I believe Twilight Frontier to make new boss sprites and his wife to make new back/player sprites. I'd say it's around 5-10 seconds, idk for certain. Once the competitive scene takes off, we will have tier lists and detailed documents for all the game's mechanics. He was, but I'm certain he was the person in charge of the game's character drawings and endings. I don't know how involved the rest of Amusement Makers was with the development of Mystic Square, but I remember the credits having the typical Everything = Made by ZUN

Sounds good!

Ah, I forgot to mention. I'll probably start the opening 'in media res' sometime this weekend. That's pretentious talk for 'in the middle of the action'. Since @Maniac Privateer and @Saathi are both Hakurei, I thought you two might be in a battle where you became separated from the rest of the Hakurei army. Probably with the Sanguine Warband, Pit of Sin or Wild Fairies. Which is where you would encounter @Juunimeta. Juuni, how would you feel about Keiki being sent as a diplomatic envoy to Youkai Mountain to ask for their help with getting their reactor working at full capacity. Your escort could be ambushed by one of the minor factions, giving you a chance to show off and Keiki to bump into Rikako and Senji.

Wasn't Zun working with a team back then on PC-98? Still, even if we ignore PC-98, early windows game had colored ending (PCB 7 and PoFV 9 comes to mind, even EoSD 6) that looks better than the minimalist ending we have since DDC 14. Even though colors were gone with MoF 10, there were still details in the background. Not all CG looked great, but at least you could tell that Zun tried. Nowadays, it's just one or two character draw with minimal details.

One of my favourite characters even though she's just a mid-boss

I like Lily White, she's cute and doesn't come off as a one-note prank monster like some of the other fairies do. I also like the headcanon of her not getting along with Letty, as Winter represents death, and Spring represents life. Her relation to spring might have her getting along with someone like Yuuka, too.

I made an account for this discussion. I feel lonely in a way where I am happy. I don't have regret since I am young but I feel like I can focus on my self. I feel happy and independent and I feel like I have 100% control of my life. One thing that makes me more happy is seeing other people improve them self to a point where they are happy with there life. There is something wholesome about that I can not put my finger on it.

Touhou games never had regional princing, but this one is being sold for a higher price than usual. And yeah. I didn't touch on that subject, but the art feels especially lazy on this one. Spritework aside, Suika's portrait is probably the worse offender, and so are the ending CGs, which were never ZUN's forte, but have definitely taken a dip even when comparing to the other digital era artworks. I have no idea why such a basic feature like replays is missing. I hope that gets patched.

I have not really caught up with the game news and what is going on. Could you please explain what happened? Outside the fact the game came out and what the character roster looks like, I have absolutely no idea of anything else. I have not played the game either, and probably won't do it given that bullet hell is not really my cup of tea when it comes to video games. So I'm listening, why is this "the worst game launch in Touhou history"?

Brother First of all Good to hear you are doing better then before I too used to feel exactly like you, even though I could get along well with mostly anyone, it was when I had nothing to do and was alone that the same thoughts you described started to creep into my mind. Where I live, there is a saying the empty mind is the Devils Mind. A lot of the things you described I have also experienced, although it was difficult for me an still is (to an extent) to express my feelings because you could say 'I am bad at emotions'. I am fully confident in you

Hello Mevs, I'm certain you don't recognize me as I joined after you left. Congratulations on starting to figure out something was wrong. Loneliness can be brutal, we thrived as a species thanks to our collaborative nature, and we are hardwired to seek connections. The best, practical advice I can give is the following: Stay Busy and Love Yourself. Find things to fill the void left by that toxic relationship, try to focus on things that don't have destructive potential, like eating a lot or spending unhealthy amounts of time devoted to entertainment. Learn things, find new people, create something, do exercise, anything that makes you enjoy life and don't get overly focused on the negative parts. Enjoy! Life is a gift! From reading the other responses, I can say, We are here to cheer you up.

Hey Mevs, It's been a while. I was wondering where you were this whole time, but now that I've read your post I can understand where you're coming from. While I don't have a lot to say, I certainly suffered from loneliness and anxiety to the point where it was slowly driving me to the point of madness and it almost ruined my life completely, that was one of the many reasons why I was seeking therapy to begin with. The amount of days and nights I've spent all alone was truly painful to me since I moved out of my dad's house which was toxic as fuck to in, I'm honestly glad I don't live with him anymore. Lemme just say: Seeking therapy was one of the best life decisions I have ever made and it made my life significantly better. I may not have a lot of friends (or any at all) and sure I don't trust some people nowadays but I'm honestly doing much better than I was back then. I'm just glad you're doing alright, hope everything works out for you. Cheers, mate.

It seems a lot of people are lonely these days. The reason I'm lonely is simple: I was bullied with physical violence all the way up until high school. I never learned to socialize. To this day I'm subconsciously expecting every conversation with a random stranger to end in a fist fight. I've tried mental health professionals. They're a waste of time, and money if they try to prescribe you anything. The truth is the functional human behavior when lacking the belonging need is to feel bad. The actual definition of insanity is when a mind doesn't match the environment. If you're alone and think you're the Queen of England, see a psychiatrist. If you're alone and feel sad, your mind is adequately assessing the situation and the psychiatrist can't fix you because you aren't broke. As for keeping yourself alive, hatred is an underrated emotion. Unlike love, you don't need another person in your life to hate. So a functional reason to live is to think of the people who set up the loneliness epidemic in the first place, realize they probably want you to commit suicide or even worse sperg out and try to take people with you in some act of violence. Hate those people and live to spite them.

I would have liked to leave a reply this evening, but it seems like it got late in the night, and what I was going to write would have been rather lengthy. I hope I can get back to is as soon as possible, and actually write what I wanted to say. This whole thread has hit way too close to home, and it reminds me too much of things that either happened or are happening to me right now. That entire feeling of loneliness is way too relatable, and I have also been fighting myself (a feelingly losing battle) against it.

Hey @_.Mevs. You won’t recognize me, even if I’ve seen your name now and then here. You left a couple months before I came onto the scene, and seem like a fun guy. I’m glad things have gotten better for you. Everyone has had their moments of weakness, but that is scant comfort when you are living through them in the moment. If you come back, I hope to get to know you. If you don't, I hope life is kind to you. Take it easy king.

Full game is out: On Steam as well if you want to support it: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2400340/Touhou_Juuouen__Unfinished_Dream_of_All_Living_Ghost/

Mon makes the most sense to me to be the currency of Gensokyo. Even though Yen would have existed for a few years before the barrier would go up, there is nothing backing up the worth of fiat currency afterwards. I believe the inhabitants would be more familiar with the Mon due to its longer circulation period. Also, there's an Ability Card in UM that clearly depicts Mon in it: There's also the golden tiles in UM that represent a currency for buying and trading Ability Cards. It's likely just meant to be an in-game sort of thing only, but I like to think it could be used in a fangame or something since it now exists as a type of currency in canon. Muenzuka is pretty much where outside world things turn up. From what I've read, objects from the outside world, especially tech, is kind of worthless. Rinnosuke found and identified Smartphones, and sold them at his shop as fancy paperweights in AFiEU. I don't really think there can be a smuggler ring given the microscopic list of characters who can freely pass through the barrier, and even less who'd actually care about that sort of thing. The only character I can think of who would might be interested in that is someone like Mamizou.

Worst game launch in Touhou history