The All-New All-Purpose Doujn Games Thread -- Touhou 12.⑨: Fat Cirno Attack

Aroduc

Aja posted the trial to SS2 after all.
http://m.amatukami.com/~aja-games/downloads/Koumajou2_trial2.zip

Whee.

Enlong

Anyone here tried any of the Extra stages in the Touhou games? I've cleared Mountain of Faith's and Perfect Cherry Blossom's, but I just can't seem to finish Imperishable Night's.

Ianator

Enlong wrote: »

I've cleared [...] Perfect Cherry Blossom's

Both of them?

EDIT: Oh hey I know you

TNTrooper

Enlong wrote: »

Anyone here tried any of the Extra stages in the Touhou games? I've cleared Mountain of Faith's and Perfect Cherry Blossom's, but I just can't seem to finish Imperishable Night's.

What character are you using and what part are you getting stuck at?

Aroduc

Man. I thought IN's was the easiest around, especially with its spellcard practice letting you... uh... practice the spellcards without having to suffer through the stage.

Enlong

Ianator wrote: »

Enlong wrote: »

I've cleared [...] Perfect Cherry Blossom's

Both of them?

EDIT: Oh hey I know you

Nah. I beat Ran with Sakuya A, but I haven't even unlocked Phantasm mode yet.

TNTrooper wrote: »

Enlong wrote: »

Anyone here tried any of the Extra stages in the Touhou games? I've cleared Mountain of Faith's and Perfect Cherry Blossom's, but I just can't seem to finish Imperishable Night's.

What character are you using and what part are you getting stuck at?

I'm using the Netherworld Team. They make most of the stage itself a breeze. Just Keine and certain faeries that pose a problem before I reach Mokou.

Anyway, I'm not really getting stuck on any one part: if I'm on a run that I deem satisfactory (as in, I get past Ihakasa's Moon Curse before dying), then I can generally make it to Possessed By Phoenix, and I can usually ace 2 or 3 of that move's 4 phases.

I just end up dying too much to make it through Possessed By Phoenix. And I've only reached Hourai Doll twice, both times with no lives left. It's actually much like Suwako: I feel like if I can reach Mokou's last spell with even one life in reserve, I can win.

As for the parts that are screwing me up...

Hollow Giant: Woo. I really don't know what I'm doing and I despise tiny random lozenge bullets.
Everlasting: Phoenix Tail. I find that moving to the sides of the screen gives me relatively more time to dodge, but then I face the problem of Yuyuko's shot dealing crap damage at that range.
Her last nonspell. You know, where all the amulet-rings are purple and they move way too fast for me to dodge. It just turns into a bombsink for me 'cause I can't survive it if I don't have any.
Fujiyama Volcano: Seriously, screw that spell. The parts of Possessed By Phoenix that use its familiars is actually easier.

I have trouble with some of the other patterns sometimes (freaking Xu Fu's Dimension and its wonky hitboxes. And Ihakasa's Moon Curse and its knives), but those are the patterns that are consistently messing me up.

Oh, and Keine's Past and Future cards. Returning-Bridge Ichijo is fine, but I can't stream effectively enough, so I just take it for granted that I'll blow two bombs on her and one on the last doom-fairy.

TNTrooper

http://www.mediafire.com/?g1blvnuo592v2uf

Here is a bunch of replays I made for you (<3 spell practice) just remember make a backup of your replay folder before replacing it.

Everlasting Phoenix Tail the outer edge of the fireballs doesn't count so you get a little bit more dodging room.

With Horai Doll in the actual EX stage she takes damage from shots that hit her wings unlike in practice mode. Yuyuko actually kicks Mokou's ass pretty bad in that stage.

I bomb that last non-spell and fairy of doom so I can't help much with them.

Aroduc

Sounds to me like you're glued to the bottom of the screen instead of using approach as part of your dodging.

Giant
Try to force her to shoot near the edges of the screen to minimize bullets, and when she shoots multiple times in succession, delay moving out of the way as long as you can so there's less spread. Don't be afraid to move up and over her.

Tail
Seriously? I've never had any issues with that ever. I'd say it's arguably her easiest card. The fireballs have deceptively small hitboxes.

Volcano
I usually end up bombing at least once, but it's just one of those cards where you make an arc from one side to the other back and forth. You're probably not being quick enough to move back throught the explosions. They linger on screen a little longer than they're dangerous, so move to dodge the shots even if the booms haven't quite stopped yet.

As for streaming, just tap with a regular rhythm. There's really absolutely nothing else to those two cards for Keine except that. Dodge the initial barrages (identical every time), then stream. You should be able to do that in your sleep.

You may also want to try switching to Reimu/Yukari instead, especially if you're finding yourself jammed in the corner a lot.

Enlong

Don't need to switch to Reimu/Yukari, because guess who just beat Mokou with the Ghost Team?

I didn't unlock Imperishable Shooting (was one card away), but who cares? I won and I'm on top of the freaking world!

Aroduc

Man, AQLoop, I can't even fucking tell what kind of game you're making anymore.



Also, V3 of BBB2 demo up. Now with a laughably bad AI and even less comboability.

cj iwakura

It's an RTS like GrimGrimoire, I think.

setrajonas

I just noticed Doujin was misspelled in the thread title.

Also, huh. Looks like an Umineko fighting game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MTmMprmZIw

Seems like it's an official game too.

Antihippy

Any idea who the developers are?

setrajonas

Scuttlebutt says Tasofro, but there's no actual information on that front that I've seen. I sort of hope it isn't Tasofro to be honest since they seem incapable of making good fighting games now.

Antihippy

What was their most recent fighting game?

IaMP was pretty cool.

setrajonas

SWR and the Soku expansion, which were... not very good. It's basically a party game in the guise of a fighting game. Which is a pretty bitter pill after EFZ and IaMP.

Zandracon

Looks like they have some character pages up. The metaworld thing sounds like a fun gimmick, I think.

Antihippy

Animation is fucking terrible but hey, HYPE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmt09SloUY0&feature=player_embedded

Still actually working through the VNs. Can't wait for Ep 8.

setrajonas

Animation looked fine to me other than the Siesta's walk/run. I'm pretty excited though.

TNTrooper

Breast grope attack and bouncy boobs.

Antihippy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWBsxJP3Nvo&feature=player_embedded

Super portraits everywhere.

cj iwakura

More interested in the PS3 visual novel, especially since there's rumors it might get localized.


Great music though.

Antihippy

Really?

Though they could just copy from the witch hunt I guess.

Antihippy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=862GKbHFCuI

Seems like they're putting out gameplay vids pretty regularly.

So, ange has sakutaro as an assist, beatrice is totally awesome, and battler is a sis/shota-con confirmed?

System mechanics. Predicting that it'll be awesome fun and broken as fuck.

From R07:
The word is finally out.
Today, I'd like to talk about Ougon Musou Kyoku, the centerpiece of it all.

We've been working on this one for a pretty long time now.
We always wanted to make a fighting game some day! So we had a dream, we had the help of many people we will be forever indebted to, and we had a work to put all our effort in.

Actually, the reason we started working of this is because of our talks with BT-san.
(And it's a great pain that he couldn't make it to this day...)
And, after all these years, all these people put so much effort into this.

Netplay, full-voiced. Many tricks we wanted to include in the system, etc. etc.
Anyways, there are tons of combos and ボコスカ (?), so we think we've done a splendid job.

There are also some "Umineko-like" mechanics which can only be seen in Ougon Musou Kyoku, so make sure to enjoy them, too.

For more details on the game, make sure to check out "Ougon Musou Kyoku" website, which is already open to the public.

Some notes about the gameplay which can be derived from the screenshots, both important and minor:

- There are more than one life bars, at least three of them can be seen (blue, yellow and red). I guess they work the same way as lifes in Darkstalkers.
- There are additional effects given by different characters. The ones you can see on the screens are Break Boost (from Siesta 410), Attack Touch (from Lucifer), Berserk (from Evatrice) and Auto-Guard (from Shannon).
- You may or may not choose the same characters for both slots on your team - there are no screens with such teams.
- Counter-hits are present.
- There are two versions of each stage. This may or may not have some gameplay meaning.
- The time limit can be greater than 100 seconds, probably because of character switching and multiple life bars.
- The life bar is shared by both characters on the team, as it doesn't change with characters.
- Break Limit gauge is your usual guard gauge, it fills when you block moves and you get a guard break when it's full.
- The gauge that you fill while dealing damage, blocking moves etc. is your second character's SP gauge, so if you want to actually use the gauge that you filled, you must switch characters.
- You may switch characters by spending one stock of your second character's SP gauge. After that, your Assist gauge drops to zero, and you must wait for it to fill to change characters again.
- You may burst by spending two stocks of your second character's SP gauge.
- Ronove's ability is Counter Boost and Kanon's is Silent Attack. That leaves Virgilia as the only character whose ability's name we don't know.
- There are three ways of switching characters, all of which require a filled Assist bar. First, there are Touch (which simply switches characters) and Attack Touch (which comes with a free hit to continue the combo). Both of them cost half a stock of your second character's SP bar, but the former actually gives it to the character you switch from AND gives the now-first character the second character's ability.
- The burst is called Damage Touch, and it's the third way of switching characters. It costs you two stocks of your second character's SP gauge and gives you nothing - except for the burst itself, of course.
- To enter the Meta-Field, you must switch characters at least twice. If you do, your half of the Meta-Field bar turns red, and you can activate it whenever you want. You can probably use it as a cancel, Arcana Heart-style.

setrajonas

Two hidden characters, like everyone suspected pretty much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-twPWf9hSrQ

Antihippy

SUPER ANiMATIONS EVERYWHERE AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.

Fuck yes cake and jelly from eva beatrice.

Antihippy

Anyone think that there should be a separate thread for this? Because it looks to be becoming really substantial.

Holy hell I love the sound effects here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yw4XKKQj9Y&feature=player_embedded

I was hoping to settle for beatrice and bronove/battler as my main team but lucifer looks way too much fun.

Explanation on character abilities.

Battler - Resurrection: Recover HP over time
Beatrice - InfinitySP: Specials do not consume SP
Ange - StunBoost: Increase Stun damage and duration
Lucifer - AttackTouch: Use AttackTouch without using the Touch gauge
Shannon - AutoGuard: Guard automatically if possible
Kanon - SilentAttack: Decrease enemy SP gain through your attacks
Virgilia - Brimful: Recover SP over time
Ronove - CounterBoost: Increase counter damage
Eva Beatrice - Berserk: Increase damage inflicted
Siesta410 - BreakBoost: Increase Guard Break damage

Also, meta world shenanigans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0rGdGFQLLw&feature=player_embedded

Explanation goes something like this.

-1 stock for metaworld activation
-2 stocks for canceling it
-2 stocks for canceling the cancel and reactivating it
-3 stocks for canceling the reactivation

Basically being able to cancel your opponent being able to do cool shit, and then the opponent canceling that cancel and then reactivating being able to do cool shit. And so on and so forth.

System stuff.

General stuff
-Game uses 3 attack buttons, one Touch button, and an Appeal button (seems to be a taunt).
-Doing an Appeal slightly recovers HP.
-There are 3 lifebars and no second round, so if you get KO'd that's it.
-Press all attack buttons to activate the metaworld.
-You can dash cancel, tech throws, and tech your falls.

Touch
-Switches characters and reduces your Break Gauge and stun.
-There are 5 kinds of Touching.
-Normal Touch: The active character taunts and switches with his/her partner. Activates the ability of the character that tagged out and costs no SP.
-Attack Touch: Touch during an attack, and your partner comes in with an attack to continue attacking. No SP needed.
-Guard Touch: Touch while guarding to switch characters while blocking. Uses 1 SP.
-Damage Touch: Touch while getting hit to break the combo, send the opponent flying back to the other side of the screen and switch characters. Uses 2 SP.
-Assault Touch: Qcf+Touch to do an invincible "tackle" that switches characters and knocks down the opponent. Uses 2 SP.

Meta World (if any of the names sound weird blame Google)
-As said before, it's activated by pressing all attack buttons.
-Activates both of your characters' abilities and allows you to use your meta special for no cost while it's active.
-Meta Declaration: Uses 1 SP and requires the Meta Gauge to glow red.
-Meta Return: Used after a declaration, uses 2 SP and depletes the opponents Meta Gauge.
-Meta Redeploy: Used after a return to activate the meta world again, uses 2 SP and reduces your Meta Gauge by 25% of what it originally was.
-Meta Surrebutal: Used after a redeploy, uses 3 SP to deplete the Meta Gauge again.
-Meta Forcing: Used after a surrebutal, uses 2 SP to activate the meta world again and reduces your Meta Gauge by 50% of what it originally was.

Antihippy

http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english&vgForm=ProductInfo&sku=TVG-PC-0263&template=default/product/e_display.html

Preorders are up btw.

CygnusZ

So, should I get the PS3 version or the original version of Umineko?

Antihippy

PS3 if you know japanese I guess...?

The original version is fine though. The art takes on it's own... charm.

cj iwakura

There's a very strong rumor saying that this might be localized.

Wait and see.

Antihippy

Even then you'll be missing out on Ep5-8, probably for quite awhile.

CygnusZ

I've finished the PS3 version of Umineko, and I'm overall quite pleased.

My impressions include spoilers for Higurashi and Umineko 1 - middle of 5.

I played the PC version of Higurashi in July last year and it made a big impression on me. The first three episodes were absolutely terrifying while I felt all the Kai episodes presented genuinely moving stories. The only real thing that bothers me is that Hinamizawa disease is basically explained away as Hanyu which is just stupid on so many levels. Well, that and Takano's corpse. But still, every curse was explained fully and there are only a few glaring plotholes.

Umineko hasn't so far quite reached those heights. Killing everybody over and over again has just made me numb to the violence. I kind of emphaized with Eva-Beatrice just because I've become so used to seeing all the characters die over and over. As a setting, Rokkenjima is a bit more bland than Hinamizawa. In Hinamizawa it always seemed to be a real possibility that the entire village was out to murder Kei for whatever reason. There were no terrifying moments like in Himatsubushi when Asakusa tries to use multiple payphones only to discover the wire is cut and he's been lured out into the middle of the village.

Still, the scenario has its good points. I'm certainly interested in the story of the gold (does it exist in all games, or is a variable?). Certainly, who exactly is Beatrice, and what is her real connection to Battler (probably related to Asumu not being his mother?)? The main theme of the story seems to be "Ai ga nakereba mienai", so for a cynical magic-disbeliving dick like me, I'm hoping that 5-8 give me some big reveals. The riddle almost seems unimportant, like the important things is in trying to solve it...? Also, maybe I'm being an asshole again but it seems like all of the potential hiers are fuckups. Clause is outright incompetent, Hideyoshi has no one to blame but himself for the buyout, Rufus' "business" is one step away from gambling (and for that matter, it seems like Kirie should be the boss) and Rosa is just... sympathetic but a complete fuck-up. Speaking of Ai ga nakereba mienai, I thought Enjie's reaction to her classmates helping her was a distortion of the truth? Cynically you can think that people trying to help you is them mocking you... but it seems to me like they were really just trying to help her because they were concerned and her mind was so closed she just couldn't see it that way. The Japanese term for this is gishinanki 疑心暗鬼, and exactly this was a recurring theme through Higurashi.

Finally, I think the game references Higurashi too much. Do we really need Rika and Takano lookalikes in there? Battler mentions a certain "book he looks" and constantly makes comparisons. I've played through about half of episode 5 and he's still doing it. Also, what constitutes a miracle seems to be a different. Higurashi made it clear that a miracle was an event that absolutely wasn't supposed to occur, I think the example given was rolling a 7 on a 6 sided die while in Umineko both "miracle" and "absolute" seem to mean "extremely low" and "extremely high" probability respectively.

Anyway, playtime was around 84 hours but keep in mind that I actually sat around listening to all the voice acting and it was on for at least a few extra hours while I was away from the machine doing something else. I felt the acting was above average on the whole, with Beatrice being absolutely amazingly well done. Though, in a way I'm kind of glad to be playing the non-voiced version now just because of how much it made the chapters drag on. I also prefer the more abstract art in the PC version. It's a shame the PC version of Beatrice's mocking faces are nowhere near the PS3 version. My preferences are probably influenced by my fondness for the PC art in Higruashi though.

EDIT: Whoops! Ai ga nakereba mienai (愛がなければ見えない) is something Okonogi says to Enjie. It means that those without love cannot see and seems to be the centarl theme of Umineko.

Anyway, feel free to respond but no spoilers past episode 4 please.

cj iwakura

Does it have any gameplay, or is it strictly a visual novel?

Pata

It's a totally non interactive Visual Novel.

But it's a really good story.

CygnusZ;

Well, one thing about the tone is that Umineko is more of a straight forward murder mystery rather then a horror story like Higurashi. So it stands to reason that there'd be less scary moments.

And yes, the theme is basically "Without love, it can not be seen." And also, yes, Kinzo's children are basically incompetent, if you ask me.

Does it really reference Higurashi that much? While it definitely takes place in the same universe, other then a few nods it's mostly self contained. Though, I'd say that yes, Bernkasteland Lambdadelta are pretty needed. Especially Bernkastel. The twist that she actually not on your side and an evil prick would not be near as effective if she didn't look like Rika, a known and loved good guy from his previous stories (In fact, I'd say a lot of elements in Umineko exist to screw with Higurashi readers)

setrajonas

I've been playing Clarice in Arcana Heart 3, and I happened to notice that she's voiced by Sayaka Ohara (Beatrice VA). Good times.

CygnusZ

Pata wrote: »

It's a totally non interactive Visual Novel.

But it's a really good story.

CygnusZ;

Well, one thing about the tone is that Umineko is more of a straight forward murder mystery rather then a horror story like Higurashi. So it stands to reason that there'd be less scary moments.

And yes, the theme is basically "Without love, it can not be seen." And also, yes, Kinzo's children are basically incompetent, if you ask me.

Does it really reference Higurashi that much? While it definitely takes place in the same universe, other then a few nods it's mostly self contained. Though, I'd say that yes, Bernkasteland Lambdadelta are pretty needed. Especially Bernkastel. The twist that she actually not on your side and an evil prick would not be near as effective if she didn't look like Rika, a known and loved good guy from his previous stories (In fact, I'd say a lot of elements in Umineko exist to screw with Higurashi readers)

Higurashi and Umineko spoilers (up to ep 5)

Yes, I really think the parody goes too far.

1) The message bottles final page is exactly the same as the final page in Oishi's book from Higurashi Ep 4.

2) Battler directly references Ep 7 of Higurashi when he states that Beatrice may be leaving him for last to make him feel alone and afraid.

3) Both Lambda Delta and Takano are maniac fans of Galaxy Express 999. Similarly, they both express apathy towards the classic Japanese novel, Night of the Galaxy Express.

4) Putting Okonogi in the story was pointless enough. To we really need a carbon copy of Akasaka as well? Almost in the exact same role as well.

There's more, I just can't remember it off the top of my head. The thing is filled with Higurashi references.

The basic premise of the story indicates, at least so far to me, that they're not part of the same universe. On the most basic level, Rika was never able to travel between worlds, she was merely ferried between them by Hanyuu. A few tidbits of fanservice would have been cute, but the problem with so much of it is that it's constantly pulling me into comparing it with Higurashi. As good as Umineko is, IMHO the scenario, writing, characters and story of Higurashi was just more well thought out and fully realized. Which is shame, because Umineko is really good, it's just not quite striking that perfect balance that Higurashi did. So far at least, Umineko still has 3 more episodes to go.

Anyway finished episode 5. I still have no clue what the sin of 6 years ago was, but I'm going to guess that it's not related Natsuhi's sin of 19 years ago and that neither Natsuhi nor Battler are the culprit.

Absolutely insane predictions:

Kanon and Shanon are robots. At minimum they're incapable of having children.
Battler is Kinzo. (this makes absolutely no sense)

Antihippy

Your speculation of kannon and shannon aren't crazier than what the game is hinting (I think? It's been awhile)

Kannon and shannon are part of beatrice.

Can't wait for Ep 8 translations.

setrajonas

Oh French Bread

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/French-Bread/20110206/1296981766

Unreal BLACK THINGS indeed.

Also more MBAACC news:

About the next Melty Blood
- Additional Characters.
- 2 screenshots were shown.
- Powerd Ciel added to the game.
- Scheduled for Spring.
- Arcades currently running Current Code will get upgraded free of charge.
- Another character will be revealed around Summer, they can't say who it is just yet, but they can give a hint.
- Afterwards, they'll consider Melty Blood HD, but Type-Moon's side thinks it's too soon? [Not sure about this one.]

cj iwakura

O...kay...