Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Bunbunmaru News~ => Front Page Headlines => Topic started by: Drake on July 19, 2018, 07:53:14 AM

Title: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Drake on July 19, 2018, 07:53:14 AM
Get it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/924650/__Violet_Detector/



https://kourindou.exblog.jp/27419239/

It's been a while. ZUN here.

Man, it's really hot. We all need to be seriously careful about heat stroke.
In this kind of summer, I've confined myself to cooping up inside and playing games, so I've made a little game to sell at Summer Comiket.

(https://i.imgur.com/oufchvo.jpg)

Touhou Project 16.5
  Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.

It's a game where Sumireko Usami, the high school girl that can only come to Gensokyo in her dreams, experiences some particularly strange dreams.

The aim of the game is to take pictures of psychic powers and danmaku to post onto social networks for glory, with systems that should feel very reminiscent of Shoot the Bullet, and yet somehow there's a kind of an ominous story in there, so while you can play without a care it's turning into something you can really sink your teeth into.

(https://i.imgur.com/gVC8A7p.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/CZ8leNS.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/6emPsk6.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/FvkMRSz.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Kiz2dqp.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/EhXhavF.jpg)

It's planned to be sold at Summer Comiket on August 10 (Friday) at booth 東シー15a Shanghai Alice Gengakudan.
Now let's see about the fate of Sumireko Usami.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Helepolis on July 19, 2018, 08:23:36 AM
Gravure Model Photoshoot session by Sumireko.

This blessing from ZUN is too much for me. I'll have to rip my wallet again this summer.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Hainiryuun on July 19, 2018, 08:48:11 AM
Gah, releasing during Otakon. Oh well, looks really fun. Cant wait to play!
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Tsalop on July 19, 2018, 08:54:25 AM
Good to see some more photoshooting action again... Now we only need a new Phantasmagoria as a main game.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Drake on July 19, 2018, 08:55:17 AM
Other things in here:

使用可能な超能力 Usable Psychic Powers
Lv1 バレットキャンセル Bullet Cancel
Lv2 テレポーテーション Teleportation
Lv3 テレフォトグラフィー Telephotography

この写真を見た回数 Number of views
👍イイッすね! Likes
❤️お気に入り! Favorites
総合評価点 Overall Score
The picture bonuses seem to be hashtags as well lol

Sumireko's bullets are her zener cards with stars on them.

Aunn's Spell Card is 独楽「コマ犬大回転」 Spinning Top "Big Komainu Spin"
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: PapilLionesskort on July 19, 2018, 08:56:08 AM
I am extremely excited for this!  :] It's only 21 days!
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on July 19, 2018, 08:56:30 AM
Very excited to learn more about Sumireko's dynamic between Gensokyo and the Outside World.
Also I never thought I'd see the day when there's a Touhou game revolving around social media in some way, your photos are seemingly graded on likes and favourites lmao.
Would definitely be interested in seeing how this story plays out, I imagine this game is one that could prove to have some very deep lore implications hidden in things.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: TresserT on July 19, 2018, 09:01:07 AM
Hmmm.... I couldn't help but notice that all of the screenshots are from LoLK or HSiFS. Combined with the day thing saying "Wednesday" instead of "Day 3" or whatever, I wonder how long this'll be. If it has items like in ISC, which it seems to going by Drake's "psychic powers" thing, it might have more replayability than a standard StB though.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Fluury on July 19, 2018, 09:06:28 AM
Really exciting stuff! Is this the announcement this tweet (https://twitter.com/_nyogi/status/1019130356392341504) was talking about?

Sumi really feels like ZUN's "hello fellow kids" character but something about it is awfully charming.

Im assuming no comments about Steam from ZUN's side have been made yet? Given the amazing reception of 16 (and frankly, the fantastic sales) I'd hope for it not to be a one-off.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Drake on July 19, 2018, 09:13:40 AM
Hmmm.... I couldn't help but notice that all of the screenshots are from LoLK or HSiFS.
Well those are the new characters.

If it has items like in ISC, which it seems to going by Drake's "psychic powers" thing, it might have more replayability than a standard StB though.
My thoughts are that
1) The HUD has no indication of her active powers, which suggests to me you might be able to use them all in varying circumstances.
2) Unlike tengu cameras, Sumireko's phone shouldn't need to recharge, but it also shouldn't be able to cancel bullets, hence her needing bullet cancel and teleport powers
3) All the photos are the same size and include Sumireko in the same way, so you can't focus in like tengu cameras; the substitute for this would be telephotography

Really exciting stuff! Is this the announcement this tweet (https://twitter.com/_nyogi/status/1019130356392341504) was talking about?
Clearly. Given it was literally yesterday he was probably given the ok to post the hint just before to hype.

Sumi really feels like ZUN's "hello fellow kids" character but something about it is awfully charming.
Honestly I think Sumireko is literally the opposite, rather being ZUN giving his take on youth and rampant cynicism among other things.

Im assuming no comments about Steam from ZUN's side have been made yet? Given the amazing reception of 16 (and frankly, the fantastic sales) I'd hope for it not to be a one-off.
Nikenme will very likely hold the answers.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Shizzo on July 19, 2018, 09:48:58 AM
I wonder what kind of ominous tones the story will have.  Then again Sumireko posting Gensokyo's pictures on the internet would make people start believing in it.  Isn't the fact people DON'T believe in Gensokyo's stuff the thing that keeps it alive and going?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suspicious person on July 19, 2018, 10:35:01 AM
Sumireko is my favorite tengu reporter
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Fulisha of Light on July 19, 2018, 10:38:24 AM
Probably unlikely, but I'm hoping ZUN introduces a new character like Double Spoiler did just to shake some things up a little.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suspicious person on July 19, 2018, 10:43:03 AM
Hai guyz

Considering that StB had Suika
and DS had Iku and best girl
This could be a chance for ZUN to finally introduce the new gen fighting girls into a proper danmaku title

Is my touhou theorys good
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Tsalop on July 19, 2018, 11:00:06 AM
Well, it would be fascinating what kind of danmaku Yorigami sisters would do... Also will there be multiple bosses on screen.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: ☆ Kana ☆ on July 19, 2018, 11:09:26 AM
 :o :o :o

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh??? Official Hifuu game??? This doesn't feel real but like at the same time it is and aaaaaaa~ <3

The social media-esque elements to score mechanics (and well, the main premise of the game really, lol) are amusing me so much, from the announcement text and screenshots alone it's already a game that totally screams "this is from Sumireko's point-of-view, this is entirely her adventure".

Oooh, if the HSiFS crew are gonna appear in this one, that means Kokoro, Kasen, and Yorigami sisters have got a decent chance of showing up too~! Super exciting~!

inb4 Kosuzu finally gets her game debut here :V
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Plubio on July 19, 2018, 11:16:32 AM
Seems promising, can't wait for more.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: N-Forza on July 19, 2018, 11:25:03 AM
大回転
Giant Slalom
There are real handy tools like "context" and "actual Japanese dictionaries" that will help you avoid stuff like this.
 
<3
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suwako Moriya on July 19, 2018, 01:02:10 PM
Given this news, I would be tremendously amused if it came out that the alleged Ki-san insert was actually Sumi and not Aya or Mamzoop.

Also ZUN-drawn Sumi is cute as heck (and as delightfully chuuni as ever what are you even doing with that hand)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: PyuDi on July 19, 2018, 01:15:16 PM
whoa - didn't expected it! am contributing to wiki article
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: andykhang on July 19, 2018, 01:34:06 PM
Hm...with all these arc character and Sumi going to the moon...I suspect that Sumi isn't in actual Gensokyo but instead the Dream World (if so, Smug Santa when?), and is experiencing Groundhog Day Syndrome, in which she encounter the same situation again and again.

Edit: Or else she's reliving the event of the previous game.

Edit 2: Also, instead of" returning to main menu", it's "return to Dream Diary", and instead of next game, it's "next Dream". Aside from the fact that Yume Nikki is a name synominous with a creepy game, this really does feel like she's digging deeper and deeper into Gensokyo's dream.

Edit 3: And with this game being a Shoot a bullet and Double Spoiler, this is definitively ZUN's way of saying how social media have become news in the internet.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: ふねん1 on July 19, 2018, 03:27:56 PM
I had no idea I needed a Sumireko game in my life until now lol

But yeah, this actually looks really interesting! The social media angle makes perfect sense for someone from the Outside World lol, and of course we get more of a look into her powers - I'm wondering if there's gonna be a bit of an ISC influence as well with those extra powers alongside a camera. Can't wait to find out more!
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: CyberAngel on July 19, 2018, 04:16:16 PM
On one hand, not-Renko looks like your run-of-the-mill Touhou knockoff fangame character. On the other, that adds another meta layer of hilarity.

Regardless, I'm not a huge fan of side-games, but I definitely look forward to some more sassy comments.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Tengukami on July 19, 2018, 05:08:23 PM
I could not be happier to see another photog game, and with several twists at that. I welcome the inclusion of these characters, too.

Holy crap this is awesome.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Helepolis on July 19, 2018, 07:52:45 PM
There is already some good art appearing of Sumireko and her smart phone:

Like this Overwatch parody featuring Sumireko as D.VA http://memefo.tumblr.com/post/176052889026/touhou-165-is-coming

The animation from Overwatch is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKh_EPteWJw
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Drake on July 19, 2018, 08:38:36 PM
There are real handy tools like "context" and "actual Japanese dictionaries" that will help you avoid stuff like this.
 
<3
Actually I figured it was specifically Slalom and not Big Komainu Spin or something because of how the danmaku looked, I didn't just pluck it out of thin air, but I could see how you'd think that. EDIT: I definitely just ignored the whole "spinning top" part because I was super tired and slalom fit the picture lol.

Given this news, I would be tremendously amused if it came out that the alleged Ki-san insert was actually Sumi and not Aya or Mamzoop.
in before every new character with a slightly odd amount of coverage is the new ki-san insert
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: gilde on July 19, 2018, 09:05:55 PM
MY DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Kilgamayan on July 20, 2018, 12:25:48 AM
in before every new character with a slightly odd amount of coverage is the new ki-san insert

Oh, I know. I don't actually care about the whole thing. But I would find it amusing that, instead of the speedy suave tengu or the clever mastermind tanuki, it's the dumbass chuuni brat. Like, that is something I would absolutely do to my fiancee for a laugh.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: shockdude on July 20, 2018, 03:54:51 AM
My thoughts are that
1) The HUD has no indication of her active powers, which suggests to me you might be able to use them all in varying circumstances.
2) Unlike tengu cameras, Sumireko's phone shouldn't need to recharge, but it also shouldn't be able to cancel bullets, hence her needing bullet cancel and teleport powers
3) All the photos are the same size and include Sumireko in the same way, so you can't focus in like tengu cameras; the substitute for this would be telephotography
Interesting mechanics. Looking forward to how it all works in-game.
whoops this was speculation.

I agree that the mechanics are gonna be a bit different from what we've seen in prior photo games, and I look forward to seeing how it all works in-game.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Hyn on July 20, 2018, 07:11:36 AM
AW it's been years since I've felt this excited for a new Touhou game! I love it!
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Popcioslav on July 20, 2018, 05:28:11 PM
My accurate reaction to this whole announcement:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/448939997786144779.png?v=1)
...and it's been like this for a day now.

So yeah, I imagine Sumireko starting off in a dream world must be related to her campaign in AoCF. I kind of suspect Doremy at least getting a stage of her own and I'm also curious if we're going to meet Sumireko's dream clone again. I mean ZUN wouldn't have to even make a new art for this, it kind of fits. The actual artwork for VD is pretty good, probably the best ZUN art since a long while imo.

Also I'm sorry for asking, but I haven't seen anyone actually tell me or translate what Sumi says to Reimu in the picture where they're in Dream World location, what does she say there?
I've seen someone say that ZUN mentioned this game's story despite the cheery and goofy theme might be a bit more on the tragic side... now I'm super curious.

Overall I'm pretty happy and still shocked about this announcement
Also memes (https://twitter.com/potetew/status/1020178553193738240)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: PapilLionesskort on July 20, 2018, 08:15:00 PM
I think something along the lines of "If you can't escape, just have fun, right?"
Anyone more skilled, feel free to pitch in.

"どうせ抜け出せないんなら楽しんでやろよ"
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: PK on July 21, 2018, 09:56:12 PM
After ISC, another spinoff with no "Touhou" in the title. I wonder if there's any meaning behind it.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Drake on July 22, 2018, 03:38:06 AM
Well there a bunch of those now, it isn't too surprising. Double Spoiler and Fairy Wars swap them to the secondary titles (both of which due to them being based on those namesake works), all of the music CDs don't have them, Grimoire of Marisa doesn't... if anything the main connection is that they're all kind of character-specific side works. There aren't really any hard rules with ZUN so it isn't like side stories would be expected to do it though.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Kanade on July 26, 2018, 11:33:47 AM
Would've preferred if it was 17th installment but yeah, another photo shooting game is not bad I guess.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Shizzo on July 26, 2018, 12:04:21 PM
Would've preferred if it was 17th installment but yeah, another photo shooting game is not bad I guess.

Considering how ZUN's latest years' release-patterns are, it's likely that touhou 17 will be announced March/April next year. 
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: N-Forza on July 31, 2018, 01:55:12 PM
I missed the announcement during the actual broadcast, but looking at Twitter comments, ZUN said on his Youtube show tonight that this will be coming to Steam.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Gpop on July 31, 2018, 02:02:12 PM
I missed the announcement during the actual broadcast, but looking at Twitter comments, ZUN said on his Youtube show tonight that this will be coming to Steam.
Can we safely assume that all Touhou games from Touhou 16 onwards will be appearing on Steam as well from now on?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Kafuu on July 31, 2018, 03:22:30 PM
CD jacket is here

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjceCQGV4AApxyy.jpg)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: CyberAngel on July 31, 2018, 03:58:48 PM
Blood splatters? On MY Touhou game?!
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Lightmaster on July 31, 2018, 04:11:12 PM
If this gets onto Steam (I'm waiting for this to popup in Steamdb), according to the announcement, I'm sure as heck I'll be getting it.

Which makes me wonder, what about the previous games to 15.5? When would those come to Steam as well?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: R. P. Genocraft on July 31, 2018, 04:19:00 PM
Blood splatters? On MY Touhou game?!
Funny how no one commented on the bloody title screen that's been around since the game announcement...
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: PK on July 31, 2018, 04:58:06 PM
Funny how no one commented on the bloody title screen that's been around since the game announcement...
Speaking of the title screen, looks like "Violet Detector" is Sumireko's name in some social media.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Fluury on July 31, 2018, 06:28:50 PM
Really happy it is coming to steam, when though. Optimially obviously it would be like with 15.5, where they both come out at roughly the same time.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Popcioslav on July 31, 2018, 07:27:26 PM
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/377122467795173376/473934474107944961/unknown.png)

Aaaaay hello there dream world Sumi!
EDIT: jk these are probably just her social media icons, but this really reminds me of Mokou in IN jewel case art. Which makes sense since Mokou and Sumi are bros
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: CyberAngel on July 31, 2018, 07:55:11 PM
Sumireko confirmed for final boss lol

(That said, it would actually make sense to deal with her whole doppelganger thing here.)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: R. P. Genocraft on July 31, 2018, 08:22:34 PM
Sumireko confirmed for final boss lol

(That said, it would actually make sense to deal with her whole doppelganger thing here.)
At least ZUN won't need to make you replay the entire game to fight her.

Hataters gotta hatate.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Plubio on August 01, 2018, 04:08:57 AM
Which makes me wonder, what about the previous games to 15.5? When would those come to Steam as well?

I remember hearing ZUN saying "probably", maybe? "Old games weren't that user friendly, though", something like that.
Yet I think it is true he lost game code from MoF backwards, so...

--

CD cover looks so sick, I love it.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Fulisha of Light on August 01, 2018, 06:49:04 AM
CD jacket is here
Maybe it's just me being tired but it almost kinda looks like there's another figure next to Sumireko (the line/shadow looks more defined like Sumi's silhouette.)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Lebon14 on August 01, 2018, 08:22:51 AM
CD jacket is here

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjceCQGV4AApxyy.jpg)

please remove :orig from your link. It's broken on my side because of that.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: PK on August 01, 2018, 06:05:43 PM
Maybe it's just me being tired but it almost kinda looks like there's another figure next to Sumireko (the line/shadow looks more defined like Sumi's silhouette.)
I've seen others saying there might be someone else besides Sumireko, but all i see is Sumi and her cape.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Tsalop on August 01, 2018, 09:05:21 PM
Well, if we are talking this silhouette I higlighted then it is the same picture of Sumireko as seen in the main menu:
(https://i.imgur.com/ULXdARE.jpg)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Lebon14 on August 02, 2018, 05:59:13 AM
Well, if we are talking this silhouette I higlighted then it is the same picture of Sumireko as seen in the main menu:
(https://previews.dropbox.com/p/thumb/AAKvp1ppRTOMKjtpotT3dkObG6OBIEIl225UF4fD-Z9KHvO2sNn6JoSTUK5vYZc2kFCA6zrJrhLDmoylqO4jJB7LxbpzE5Z-Wa5QXwHMTcvCBXdEAEhOM21OZWLzcv4yeNgvadLTqY_qS2nvbUqH2PZxQyy7TgS0-gaB2pQm86z2aAoYEZUo5hKfk1086tzWk0tzkPrjhvKkQHZkh81qQCjCouPtNIUn_ChYXuVNm5Ek_w/p.png?size=1600x1200&size_mode=3)

Your link is dead. There's Imgur and postimages.org for image hosts...
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Tsalop on August 02, 2018, 10:48:47 AM
Fixed it... Hopefully now it is visible to someone else than just me.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Lebon14 on August 02, 2018, 09:48:56 PM
Fixed it... Hopefully now it is visible to someone else than just me.

all good now.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: jhun on August 05, 2018, 03:59:58 AM
Been long since I have dived into the fandom and lookie here, it's 5 days

5 DAYS FOR THE UPCOMING GAME

Can't believe I'm late for the news
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Fluury on August 06, 2018, 10:09:28 AM
https://twitter.com/tiroryu/status/1026167230118092800?s=19

can anyone tell me what happened here, did ZUN DMCA himself?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Validon98 on August 06, 2018, 11:25:06 AM
Seems like someone else is trying to put a copyright on the name "ZUN". Uhuh. Okay.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suspicious person on August 06, 2018, 04:35:04 PM
Seems like someone else is trying to put a copyright on the name "ZUN". Uhuh. Okay.
Oh wow, I've heard rumors of trolls trying to make "Touhou" into an actual trademark back in the day but this is a new one ...

I remember that once upon a time, an insurance company sued the author of Asterix for copyright infringment because the series had a character whose name was exactly the same as the insurance company's name ... LONG thing short, things did not quite go in favor of said insurance company (frenchies familiar with Asterix characters should try to guess the name in question ~ <3). It shouldn't be unreasonable to expect this to go in a similar direction.

So yeah, uh, shouldn't be an issue that ZUN can't handle. Move along folks, move along. Nothing to see here ... get back to discussing the soon-to-be-released-game  :V
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Drake on August 06, 2018, 09:33:05 PM
It's a DMCA claim filed on use of the name Korindo Co., Ltd.

Which yes, is ZUN's own company.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suspicious person on August 06, 2018, 10:31:31 PM
What went wrong ?!

Not one to suscribe to conspiracy theories, but the timing seems awfully suspicious if you consider this (https://twitter.com/HojoTansama/status/1026624489755295744) happening as well. Kinda off topic but eh ...
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Validon98 on August 07, 2018, 04:50:29 AM
If Reiteisai is being targeted too, then... hmm. I dunno, maybe someone's trying to pull some funny business. It's probably not going to work in the end, but it's still kind of a thing.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Critz on August 07, 2018, 05:09:28 PM
I'm still rooting for a Sanae cameo, if only for her and Sumireko to finally interact.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suspicious person on August 08, 2018, 08:09:51 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, in conformity with our close-to-release-day fandom traditions, behold !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVV3GoOrP5c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oznIbNT01fg

Ignore previous history pertaining to leaks when it comes to ZUNmade 2hu games btw, empirism is for bores and nobody like smartasses
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Popcioslav on August 08, 2018, 09:32:48 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, in conformity with our close-to-release-day fandom traditions, behold !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVV3GoOrP5c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oznIbNT01fg

Ignore previous history pertaining to leaks when it comes to ZUNmade 2hu games btw, empirism is for bores and nobody like smartasses
You (or the person using this account) literally stole the content from this (https://youtu.be/xiAbAKeffaY) and this (https://youtu.be/EfmzdluryMk). The latter is also an arrange for unreleased JynX song "Debug World" and I suggested that idea to arranger. If you are the person who reuploaded these or you know them, please don't reupload someone else's work without credit.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suspicious person on August 08, 2018, 09:44:55 PM
You (or the person using this account) literally stole the content from this (https://youtu.be/xiAbAKeffaY) and this (https://youtu.be/EfmzdluryMk). The latter is also an arrange for unreleased JynX song "Debug World" and I suggested that idea to arranger. If you are the person who reuploaded these or you know them, please don't reupload someone else's work without credit, even as a joke.
Nope, wrong guy. Dunno where your assumption of that person being me comes from, but it is a wrong one, and I certainly do not appreciate getting accused of theft based of nothing solid.

Besides  I figured out that that was the case for these soundtracks, as one of the guy's upload sounds suspiciously similar to one of Sapphire Panlogism boss 1 OST.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: R. P. Genocraft on August 08, 2018, 09:47:41 PM
Nope, wrong guy. Dunno where your assumption of that person being me comes from, but it is a wrong one, and I certainly do not appreciate getting accused of theft based of nothing solid.

Besides  I figured out that that was the case for these soundtracks, as one of the guy's upload sounds suspiciously similar to one of Sapphire Panlogism boss 1 OST.
That would be this one (https://youtu.be/dT7cCBuCpZQ).
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Popcioslav on August 08, 2018, 09:49:58 PM
K good to know. After looking back this account just seems to mostly repost Zun music in meh quality, maybe they got confused that this was the actual OST somehow? Still, for someone to mistake it for actual ZUN music, geez.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: raysonwilliams on August 08, 2018, 10:17:55 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, in conformity with our close-to-release-day fandom traditions, behold !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVV3GoOrP5c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oznIbNT01fg

Ignore previous history pertaining to leaks when it comes to ZUNmade 2hu games btw, empirism is for bores and nobody like smartasses

HEY! That's my stuff! And yeah, one of them was purposefully made to sound like it's from Sapphire Panlogism.
Heck, the title gives it away.

"Sapphire Fae ~ Shining Sea Foam"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiAbAKeffaY
Was effectively the original one. I based the intro off these old chinese knock off toys that would have a very bit-crushed sounding square.
I even wanted to include a bitcrushed "Moshi-moshi" but I couldn't find anything of the sort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT7cCBuCpZQ
This one is (yet another) sort of love letter thing to Sapphire Panlogism.
I've arranged Fae Rising from Seafoam in about 3 ways now.

One just being mixed with a Nelly song.
The other properly mashed up with "Dilemma"
and then this one which is a hybrid of that and Illusionary White Traveler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfmzdluryMk
As pop said, he was requesting a transcription of Debug World by JynX.
So I got clever and knocked two birds with one stone.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Lebon14 on August 09, 2018, 08:35:20 AM
New blog update by Zun about the game
https://kourindou.exblog.jp/27472862/
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Fluury on August 09, 2018, 02:50:07 PM
New blog update by Zun about the game
https://kourindou.exblog.jp/27472862/

Mentioned steam but the google translate only says "there will be a steam version" - not if in 3 months, or at the same day.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Suspicious person on August 09, 2018, 05:59:41 PM
About one day(?) remaining till the game gets released. Guess I'll try to catch some lucky 16.5 streams while awaiting the game's arrival on Steam. After bed.

Looking forward to seeing some Clownpiece and Junko funtime  :X
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Drake on August 09, 2018, 10:49:47 PM
There isn't much of importance in there; it's his pretty usual "I'll see you at the event" post. It's 1000JPY as all side games are. It's apparently really difficult but the kind of difficult where if you just keep at it you'll clear. I can't tell if his use of 結構 referring to the game's length suggests "decently substantial" or "not too much" in context, but I'm thinking it might be the latter because the point seems to be to say that you should keep at it even if you're getting crushed because it isn't that long, kind of thing. Steam release is planned so if you aren't a stickler about getting the disc/case you can do that too.

Also in the blog post he mentions there were troubles sending in the cover art so he couldn't get a sample copy from the print, but he just tweeted (https://twitter.com/korindo/status/1027666233196335105) that he got a sample copy and it works so it's all good.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Tsalop on August 10, 2018, 09:43:03 AM
So far the game has felt easier than the actual photography spin-offs as you can shoot the enemies and teleport... Also there seems to be less levels than the previous.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 10, 2018, 09:51:13 AM
This game is awfully balanced. Quite honestly my least favourite game so far in the series.
There are some scenes which almost feel outright impossible to do. Controls are very finicky for a key element of the game. Lazy design choices lategame.
Super disappointed, as much as I hate to say it.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Drake on August 10, 2018, 10:07:36 AM
So far the game has felt easier than the actual photography spin-offs as you can shoot the enemies and teleport... Also there seems to be less levels than the previous.
lol
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 10, 2018, 10:35:03 AM
Full cleared the game. Here's the congratulations image (spoilers obvs). (https://imgur.com/Ph3h6q1)
Note that there is a different one for clearing the final day. (https://imgur.com/TK4lSyO)

Translations for these?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: PK on August 10, 2018, 12:01:12 PM
Nice to see
old characters used again. Never expected them being back, especially the likes of Ran or Flandre.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector.」
Post by: Helepolis on August 10, 2018, 01:46:45 PM
As Comiket day 1 is over and touhou 16.5 is released, I am invoking NO SPOILER mode for this thread for the upcoming few days.

Please mark potential spoilers with the spoiler tag and don't post endings.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Jimmy on August 10, 2018, 02:36:32 PM
My first impressions of the game (very heavy spoilers for those who don't want their experience impacted):

While I think
that the spell combinations starting on Nightmare Sunday are an interesting concept per se, but the way they're executed is just... I really hate to say it, kind of lazy to be honest. The individual patterns in the combinations could've used more balancing and slight differences in each spell, but like this it's just mashing two patterns together. Then again, I'm only speaking according to my first impression. It would've been also more interesting to see more unique interaction between the patterns, like Eiki does with the rods she fires.

Overall,
I'm sort of bothered by how many patterns are reused with little to no changes compared to their originals. In particular, I'm speaking about patterns like Bullet Golem, Doremy's first two "non"-spells a.k.a. Ultramarine Lunatic Dream and Azure Dream Catcher, Sagume's orb spam, Okina's Biohazard Dupion, and all of Mai and Satono's attacks. While some of them are decently fun to do with the new mechanics (I especially find the Teleport mechanic to be very interesting and fun, although frustrating at times), it overall gives a pretty dull impression in terms of pattern creativity. Glares at Junko's Trembling Shivering Star - Infinite Ver.

This is the first Touhou release that actually manages to leave me mildly disappointed.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 10, 2018, 02:49:12 PM
With achievements already being built in basically, I wonder if we might get steam ones.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CrestedPeak9 on August 10, 2018, 03:15:15 PM
My first impressions of the game (very heavy spoilers for those who don't want their experience impacted):

While I think
that the spell combinations starting on Nightmare Sunday are an interesting concept per se, but the way they're executed is just... I really hate to say it, kind of lazy to be honest. The individual patterns in the combinations could've used more balancing and slight differences in each spell, but like this it's just mashing two patterns together. Then again, I'm only speaking according to my first impression. It would've been also more interesting to see more unique interaction between the patterns, like Eiki does with the rods she fires.

Overall,
I'm sort of bothered by how many patterns are reused with little to no changes compared to their originals. In particular, I'm speaking about patterns like Bullet Golem, Doremy's first two "non"-spells a.k.a. Ultramarine Lunatic Dream and Azure Dream Catcher, Sagume's orb spam, Okina's Biohazard Dupion, and all of Mai and Satono's attacks. While some of them are decently fun to do with the new mechanics (I especially find the Teleport mechanic to be very interesting and fun, although frustrating at times), it overall gives a pretty dull impression in terms of pattern creativity. Glares at Junko's Trembling Shivering Star - Infinite Ver.

This is the first Touhou release that actually manages to leave me mildly disappointed.

I have to agree with you. The duo spell scenes could have been so much more if there were different patterns, but the way he actually did it was really bad; Suika comes off as the worst offender of this, having all three scenes she appears in be completely incompatible with the other. In fact, the whole of Nightmare Friday has some really bad combinations. It's not just that; the berserk mode attacks are either trivial or complete bullshit, which seriously makes me question the amount of time he spent balancing the game. The Teleport activation key sequence is incredibly wonky and gave even high level players headaches, and the amount of recycled content is just... ugh.

Don't get me wrong, the game is still somewhat enjoyable for a first playthrough. But it could have been so much more. There was so much wasted potential. At this point, I'm confident that someone modding the game and changing the attacks would produce a net better experience than what we have.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Jimmy on August 10, 2018, 04:16:52 PM
I have to agree with you. The duo spell scenes could have been so much more if there were different patterns, but the way he actually did it was really bad; Suika comes off as the worst offender of this, having all three scenes she appears in be completely incompatible with the other. In fact, the whole of Nightmare Friday has some really bad combinations. It's not just that; the berserk mode attacks are either trivial or complete bullshit, which seriously makes me question the amount of time he spent balancing the game. The Teleport activation key sequence is incredibly wonky and gave even high level players headaches, and the amount of recycled content is just... ugh.

Don't get me wrong, the game is still somewhat enjoyable for a first playthrough. But it could have been so much more. There was so much wasted potential. At this point, I'm confident that someone modding the game and changing the attacks would produce a net better experience than what we have.

Exactly that. Considering the solo patterns only occupy a relatively small part of the game compared to the duo spells, the reuse of those patterns can be sort of neglected to an extend, but it's still sad to see the same patterns from the previous games only with more bullets, more speed or different bullet graphics, especially if you compare this to ISC, where patterns have been largely original and unique since Day 1. The combination idea could've been immensely fun and actually has a lot of space for different pattern designs, but right here it's basically just the same pattern for each character thrown in. The only highlights here are where the bullets interact with each other, say Eiki with her rods and Shinmyoumaru's bullet size shenanigans. I don't even want to talk about how many times Tenshi's signature pattern has been reused already. It's already been getting old in ISC.

All that aside, I do also like this game in terms of gameplay mechanics, the teleportation mechanic turns the patterns into a bit of a puzzle, which makes it akin to ISC, which I really liked, giving the game a bit of originality besides the reused patterns. On top of that, the new soundtracks are pretty enjoyable - I particularly like the title theme and the nightmare week theme so far.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CrestedPeak9 on August 10, 2018, 04:54:48 PM
Exactly that. Considering the solo patterns only occupy a relatively small part of the game compared to the duo spells, the reuse of those patterns can be sort of neglected to an extend, but it's still sad to see the same patterns from the previous games only with more bullets, more speed or different bullet graphics, especially if you compare this to ISC, where patterns have been largely original and unique since Day 1. The combination idea could've been immensely fun and actually has a lot of space for different pattern designs, but right here it's basically just the same pattern for each character thrown in. The only highlights here are where the bullets interact with each other, say Eiki with her rods and Shinmyoumaru's bullet size shenanigans. I don't even want to talk about how many times Tenshi's signature pattern has been reused already. It's already been getting old in ISC.

All that aside, I do also like this game in terms of gameplay mechanics, the teleportation mechanic turns the patterns into a bit of a puzzle, which makes it akin to ISC, which I really liked, giving the game a bit of originality besides the reused patterns. On top of that, the new soundtracks are pretty enjoyable - I particularly like the title theme and the nightmare week theme so far.

I liked the teleportation mechanic too, but it's given so many people trouble when it could just have been mapped to C. And there's only a few scenes that force teleportation well; some force teleportation into bullshit (Nightmare Friday), others force teleportation to trivialize. I can think of, like, two natural uses of teleportation that work well. All the other scenes where teleportation isn't forced aren't much better. Most of them can be cheesed by taking literally one photo at the start, then abusing autobombing to get through the rest with next to no risk. The others, particularly very bad Nightmare combinations, are absolute bullshit. That's... not really much of a puzzle. Nor is it a photogame.

It was nice to see new bullets for Eiki and the return of so many characters in a game that was expected to be really short and last maybe 7/8 days, but... perhaps it'd have been better off if ZUN actually made 2 synergistic Nightmare spells with 2 actually sensible character pairings per day instead of mixing and matching them to drag them out to 6. Yes there's 22 days, but when you have days with just 1 scene and the entirety of the Nightmare week being just barely working bullet combinations, it cannot compare to a day in previous scenegames. Not even close.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 10, 2018, 05:32:47 PM
Played a bit and I am honestly liking it. Making the teleportation just a little bit less wonky with the double shift and simply mapping it to C would make the game so much enjoyable though.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 10, 2018, 06:44:44 PM
Wow. The first official Touhou bullet hell game that I don't care about one bit. Not gonna get it even to rip the music out for personal listening like I usually do. It's just THAT bland.
And pattern reusing is so bad the game's icon might as well be the Recycling Bin.
Oh well, godspeed to translators, the story might be its only saving grace.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Jimmy on August 10, 2018, 07:04:28 PM
And pattern reusing is so bad the game's icon might as well be the Recycling Bin.
Oh well, godspeed to translators, the story might be its only saving grace.
Oof, that's a tad too harsh.

Looking forward to understand the plot as well. This game quite has an eerie dark atmosphere.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Tengukami on August 10, 2018, 09:16:42 PM
I was kinda shruggo about this until I got to Wednesday morning. Now I'm quite enjoying it!

Also looking forward to translations. The story is a really important part of the game for me.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 10, 2018, 10:08:14 PM
Wow. The first official Touhou bullet hell game that I don't care about one bit. Not gonna get it even to rip the music out for personal listening like I usually do. It's just THAT bland.
And pattern reusing is so bad the game's icon might as well be the Recycling Bin.
Oh well, godspeed to translators, the story might be its only saving grace.

out of all the discussions I oversaw over the game, the music is the one thing people generally agreed was good as always

geez thats rough
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 10, 2018, 10:24:05 PM
I love the music. Extremely appropriate when you hit the plot beats and really set the mood.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 10, 2018, 11:17:20 PM
Some of the music was alright but its definitely the first time I've not been wowed by a 2hu ost upon release.
Btw the game is also extremely buggy.
As well as teleport being a stupidly finicky thing to do, I've had instances of snapping a photo of a boss where a scene should then end, but  instead of playing the finished scene animation everything on the field except my player disappears and I can still snap photos. Effectively this means that the scene is not cleared but I can't do anything but exit out. There's also reports that pressing Bomb + a direction on the Nickname screen crashes the game. I've also heard many second hand accounts of players having their game crash just from taking photos of bosses and such. Oh, and you can't press R to retry from the pause menu either, because it just unpauses the scene and keeps the menu text on screen too. You have to manually select it and press Z to restart a scene.

Not to mention some horrible mechanical design problems that really are just sloppy when we've had better. Teleporting has such an awkward key sequence to activate, it's literally 3 entire inputs just to TP in a game where some scene expect you to do it precisely insanely fast (looking at you WFriday 5). On top of that, lack of switchable camera mode is a sad thing after we were spoiled by DS. And the fact that Super Charge doesn't keep you at slow speed even when you're at 100% and instead just makes you go fast again at 100% seems like a complete oversight and lazy implementation of the same mechanic in DS too. On top of the lazy implementation of the Nightmare week gimmick, I really think ZUN dropped the ball hard with this one...

On the game front there were just so many awful choices imo and I really sincerely think ZUN should've waited and worked on this more.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suspicious person on August 10, 2018, 11:53:56 PM
So I got to watch someone doing a full (wow) playthrough of the game and, I must say, there is a lot of stuff to unpack.

The game's got some of the bits and bobs that made the older photo games and ISC distinctive, although I wouldn't say it exceeds them in what they do best : regarding the  "scenes"'s in general, the difficulty seems quite wonky : there seems to be hard attacks mixed with not-quite-as-hard ones on the
"normal"
weekdays ; and the difficulty doesn't seem to scale like in the photo games : most attacks essentially seem to stay the same regardless the remaining lifebar to go through ; and you get to see
familiar spell cards that seem to hail from different difficulty levels : Narumi's pet bullet golem, for example, is essentially the same as how it is in HSiFS NORMAL mode, save for the part that it pauses a bit when you take a picture of it, while Okina's spells in general seems to be substantially harder versions of her spells from extra and the HARD mode (correct me if I got it wrong) version of her Halo spellcard. Some attacks can be dealt with through pure twitch dodging, some others like Okina's requires very high IQ and a good execution when it comes to using your abilities.

The gimmicks this game's got are nowhere near numerous and usefull as ISC's cheat items, but are instead something that is best described as more ... situational ? 
The teleportation is pretty much essential for attacks that involve complete walls, which are not every attack ; and for the death cancel, while it gives you some reassurance, you can just as well take a picture instead of tanking random bullets.
Excluding the ability to take pictures and the fact that taking a picture deals a fair deal of damage, the gimmicks doesn't seem to be on the abusable side. However, considering that
you need to double tap shift then pick a direction in order to use teleport, things could prove to be either confusing or inconvenient :
personally, when I first played a photo game, I had a LOT of trouble adjusting to the way to play them, namely the way you charge up and take pictures. Having to get used to stuff that involves holding a button that you'd ever press only in emergencies or RELEASING that one comfortable button you'd be pressing the longest time while playing Touhou games can be confusing, and add to that having to think about
teleporting ...
ZUN should really consider relying a bit more on the C button or something, that'd make things more convenient.

Regarding the
nightmare weekdays, they're essentially about 4 girls, each with their own defining patterns, who'll fight you in a team of 2, essentially meaning that you get a certain someone's pattern mixed up with another ones. The creativity here can be ... debatable. I personally like the earlier individual attacks better tbh.

Plenty of stuff that ZUN reused, which I honestly I'm okay with, considering the fact that the way you approach these are obviously gonna be fairly different than how you would if they were in a normal Touhou game,
case in point, fighting Okina without rear shots
. Heck, some spells seems to have been remastered a bit even,
like Sagume's meatshield machinegun spellcard, which seems to have gotten the safespot dealt with
. A bit bummed that
the newhus from the new gen fighting games didn't get in tho.
That would have been cool. I also find kinda funny the fact that you get some of the
newest character sprites being there together with the VERY OLD ones. I bet one of the lesser reasons why ZUN gave Okina some of dialogue is because he couldn't be assed to give Yukari a modern portrait. You KNOW this to be true.

Music is cool as always, these ain't the kind of super loud, energy filled themes that might tire you out after a while. I'm not expecting something like the Gensokyo gods loved or Last remote in a decimal game, and these seems to set the mood. It's obviously gonna take some time to get used to these new themes, but I really like, and this is unusual, the title screen theme. Weekdays themes might sound good too if I properly take a listen without the constant charging up, bullet spawning and death noises.

I also like the fact that you'll need to finish pretty much EVERYTHING in order to have proper access to the stuff at the very, VERY end, instead of having to fill up a quota of scenes. Seems to make thing sort of rewarding or something ? Like when you unlock extra stage in normal games maybe.
The safespot for the first phase of the very last scene is kinda uhhh, tho

Difficulty wise, from a cursory look, I'd say it's probably between normal and hard. There are some hard stuff, but the difficulty doesn't seem to be consistant nor slowly ramping up as you progress. At least that's my impression of it. I think the wonky difficulty, the reuse of stuff you might have already seen,
the nightmare weekdays spell designs
,and the controls of questionable convenience will probably be what will get this game some criticism.

I'll still be looking forward to the Steam release anyway, and hope to see whatever bugs may be get dealt with before the release. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, it's got content, it's got challenge. I can see why people would have some reservations, but as a filthy casual who is fine with the not-super-hardcore stuff and came with no particular expectation, I think I'm cool with this.

Also ... speaking of Steam release ... this is certainly NOT the kind of game where you intuitively figure out the controls, so, if it stays purely in japanese then, uhhh ...
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drayen on August 10, 2018, 11:58:00 PM
Not gonna lie, the final day is so much easier than the nightmare days. Is there anything beyond the nightmare diary? I think shoot the bullet had a level unlocked based on score.

As far as the game goes, i liked it. I thought the teleportation mechanic, as clunky the keybind was, was pretty interesting. I liked nightmare friday 3 for exemple which has you teleport everywheer to avoid the unavoidable rings.

I kinda wish this game was like impossible spellcard, as in you can beat the spellcards without the use of gimmicks, but some are literaly unbeatable without teleportation or camera
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ChronaSE on August 11, 2018, 02:19:36 AM
I usually love the challenge of Touhou photo games, but this one was just getting a few shots and you're done so...
Getting used to the gimmick was certainly challenging, having to stay still to use it was annoying so im glad it was only situational.

Old sprites seriously need an update though, I get it's a rather short game with a few spellcards per character but...
IN Reimu, EosD Flandre and Remilia  :V that's like a decade ago
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ふねん1 on August 11, 2018, 02:35:15 AM
Yeah it's kinda like a fusion between the photo games and ISC. At least here there's no ambiguity regarding how you're supposed to play, so I can more easily accept not having a "no-items" challenge to go for.

Overall, I'd call this game good but not great. The previous photo games weren't really something I had enough fun with to stick with after clearing everything the first time, and VD, being in much the same style at its core, is no exception, beyond me setting up more replays for an eventual Youtube video. Only a couple attack types really drove me up a wall at any point, but since they were near the end, that was to be expected. The game balance in general actually seems pretty all right, running the gamut from Easy to Lunatic like in the other photo games, so there's still that element of having extra scenes to shoot for (no pun intended) as you get better. Regarding
the bosses' patterns on the Nightmare week being recycled over and over but in different combinations
, I can understand where others are coming from if they think it's lazy design, but I think it only feels that way on the surface -
the different combinations end up making you play them all differently too
, which imo makes up for it by keeping them fresh. And I don't really have a problem with
said patterns frequently being based on stuff the bosses used in previous games
. This is a side game, after all, and it's not unprecedented.

It's been like 6 or 7 years since I've played a photo game, so I had to get used to the controls again as I went. Not helped by me choosing to map the camera to 2 (my bomb button in other games), something completely different from what I did back then. The teleport mechanic is all right, but I probably would've made it so you only needed to tap the arrow keys to activate it, rather than holding them down for a brief period of time - in the heat of battle, it's surprisingly easy to just quickly tap every button you're using as your attention is shifting from one thing to the next, so I think that change could've been a big help. Other than that, my only major gripe is that
Ran is used on Nightmare Wednesday instead of Orin
, which makes absolutely no sense to me lol.

While I don't outright dislike any of the new music tracks, I also felt the music was kinda unremarkable. Having Lunatic Dreamer and Nightmare Diary play on so many stages didn't really help, as they didn't stick out to me right away anyway. The only track I really like so far is the title theme, Diary of Nightmares - it sounds kinda like a cross between Tengu's Notebook and No More Going Through Doors, giving it a very cool tone. I'd actually put it up there with my favorite title themes in the entire series.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ChronaSE on August 11, 2018, 04:11:30 AM
Junko's day
is where I truly hated the teleport gimmick, wish it could have been like ISC ying-yang teleport instead of the very uncomfortable double tapping  :V
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 11, 2018, 04:14:55 AM
Regarding
the bosses' patterns on the Nightmare week being recycled over and over but in different combinations
, I can understand where others are coming from if they think it's lazy design, but I think it only feels that way on the surface -
the different combinations end up making you play them all differently too
, which imo makes up for it by keeping them fresh.
A big portion of what makes me personally criticise this decision is that it's not really that well balanced. Some combinations end up being laughably easy, while you have combinations that end up insane (Byakuren and Flan was a very weird combination, Mamizou also made a lot of her scenes much harder than necessary, especially with Raiko). More tweaking should have been done to account for how the patterns would interact with each other, for the most part the only day that received notable tweaks between different duos was the day with Tenshi, Kaguya, Shinmyoumaru and Eirin. There were definitely bright spots in this week (Shinmyoumaru and Eiki had interesting bullet interactions with the others) but overall more needed to be done to make things a bit more individual and balanced.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 11, 2018, 10:15:58 AM
I feel like this game is one big experiment. A good experiment either way, but obviously not a very polished one.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 11, 2018, 10:26:38 AM
The teleport mechanic is all right, but I probably would've made it so you only needed to tap the arrow keys to activate it, rather than holding them down for a brief period of time

rip diagonal teleports

Anyway, checked out the story translation. The main twist is pretty nice, but the thing in the last scene is just awesome. I really love moves like that.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Lt Colonel Summers on August 11, 2018, 01:43:14 PM
Something I just noticed...

Other than DDC and ISC, all the Windows Era 3 games so far has had something to do with the Urban Legends Incident...
ULiL: Started it all with Sagume secretly giving the Lunar Capital Occult Orb to Sumireko. Then Sumi uses the full set of Occult Orbs to enter Gensokyo.
LoLK: Omake reveals that Sagume is indirectly responsible for the events of ULiL. Ending spoiler:
Yukari basically confiscates the Occult Orb that Marisa is researching on in her good ending...
AoCF: The Yorigami sisters morphs the Urban Legends Incident into the Perfect Possession Incident, indirectly leading to Sumireko's Doppleganger occult.
The Catfish from Meiling's Hisoutensoku story
is spotted in the Yorigami sisters' story, implying
he
had a role in it as well.
HSiFS: While nothing in the game or its omake references the Urban Legends/ Perfect Possession Incidents, Okina and the Backup Dancers' unexpected appearance in VD kind of implies that Okina might be aware of Sumireko and her Doppleganger condition...
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Minus+ on August 11, 2018, 01:44:29 PM
Did ZUN forgot about the Ten Desires crew? Looked at the wiki and only Toyosatomimi no Miko was there.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 11, 2018, 02:07:39 PM
Did ZUN forgot about the Ten Desires crew? Looked at the wiki and only Toyosatomimi no Miko was there.

They have already been sufficiently represented in Impossible Spell Card.
So was the DDC crowd. So it makes sense that only the latest game characters have substantial presence.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: PK on August 11, 2018, 02:45:37 PM
Did ZUN forgot about the Ten Desires crew? Looked at the wiki and only Toyosatomimi no Miko was there.
There's Mamizou too. PoFV on the other hand only had Eiki.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 11, 2018, 03:54:03 PM
All games up to 14, fighters included, are represented by final and extra bosses (where applicable) in the Nightmare week. Satori and Iku are the only ones outside that rule. Makes sense, really.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: the old guy on August 11, 2018, 06:06:20 PM
Yet again, people are hating on the newest game simply because it's New.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Jimmy on August 11, 2018, 06:38:58 PM
Yet again, people are hating on the newest game simply because it's New.
Are you putting those who bash and those who actually give legitimate criticism into the same bucket again?
Because I feel addressed by this since I'm rather critical about the release this time.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suspicious person on August 11, 2018, 08:09:09 PM
Cuphead speedrun strats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ9wFpYwyGw)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Shizzo on August 11, 2018, 08:57:26 PM
Cuphead speedrun strats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ9wFpYwyGw)

That last white ball isn't a bullet, but her soul ascending to inchling heaven.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 11, 2018, 11:17:52 PM
Are you putting those who bash and those who actually give legitimate criticism into the same bucket again?
Because I feel addressed by this since I'm rather critical about the release this time.

He does have a point. I snooped around in a few discords and so far the reputation of this game went from "shit" to "good/ok"
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 12, 2018, 02:22:20 AM
For people who are having trouble teleporting, here are some of the technical aspects about it.

- The longest valid interval between the two focus inputs is 15 frames. That is, once you press focus input 1, you have 15 frames to let go and then hit focus input 2.
- You can tap each focus input for as short as 1 frame.
- The shortest interval I could get was 2 empty frames between the inputs, but it seems reasonable that as long as there's one frame between it works.
- If you're moving when you hit the second focus, the teleport won't activate. This makes sense to avoid teleporting by accident, but this also means you need at least 1 frame of focus before the direction input. If you're stationary and tap focus then focus+direction on the same frame you move instead of teleport.
- However, if you press and hold the second focus when moving but stop moving before the 15 frames are up, the teleport will still activate as soon as you stop. It just won't activate the frame you had hit focus.
- Moving during the first focus is fine, so if you're moving, tap focus, then stop moving and hit focus on the same frame, that's a teleport. Or, if you double tap and hold focus while moving, but stop moving before 15 frames are up, that's a teleport too.

- In summary of the above: once you hit focus once, for 15 frames it first checks if you've let go of focus, then checks if you're pressing focus and not a direction. If so, activate teleport.
- Once you activate the teleport with double focus you can let go of focus before pressing a direction.
- You must hold the direction for 5 frames, and you are repositioned on frame 5. If you hold for 4 frames you do not teleport. You can mash away and nothing happens.

I think the last bit is the most important, or at least it's the one screwing me up the most. My expectation is that it should just happen the instant you press the button but whoops guess not.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 12, 2018, 05:02:10 AM
He does have a point. I snooped around in a few discords and so far the reputation of this game went from "shit" to "good/ok"
That's probably because it didn't live up to the hype at all but because it's ZUN made ZUN's level of bad work is still fairly good at it's worst. Doesn't mean this game does not have legitimate criticisms about it, doesn't mean this game is particularly enjoyable long term. I don't see myself personally returning to this for a while.

I just hate throwing away criticisms because "its just hating on the new game" especially when a lot of ppl like myself have had nothing but good things to say about previous games upon release. HSiFS was amazing upon release, heck I loved LoLK upon release too. AoCF got the same treatment as VD because by and large it felt like an unfinished experience upon release because of glaring bugs and not fully fleshed out mechanics. These criticisms aren't undeserved and aren't because it's new. I will still be saying these things months from now, maybe not with the same level of conviction as while it's still fresh in my mind but I don't see my opinion changing drastically at all.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fumi on August 12, 2018, 05:29:20 AM
Yet again, people are hating on the newest game simply because it's New.

Lurker unlurks to comment on this.

I have loved the newest Touhou games since TD, they all have been good honestly and I don't think any of them is bad, each had their charm and mechanic (heck even TD is one of my faves) and I really like the photo games.

But honestly, this one has a lot of flaws, it is not the best game, it is not bad, but I can say it is good, you can enjoy it if you don't compare it to other games, as it is, honestly its just ok but not exactly bad.

The teleport, the reused patterns and some of the patterns feeling a bit lazy, I will just say ZUN got lazy, too lazy or maybe rushed the game, come on,
the fighting game girls missing, the weird teleport, and the music, title theme + 3 new stages music when it's usually 4, on top of reusing Okina's theme for the final stage instead of using Sumireko's theme, heck Yukari being on the story would make more sense too
, the nicknames and ISC menu, not being able to pick up a favorite photo (and locking your own photos) and the weird behavior of the 100% ultra focused charge movement.

I feel like I shouldnt have expected anything big from a photo game, I usually don't and that's why they end up being my favorites but on this one I actually kinda expected a lot of stuff because it was somewhat of a "new" experience considering we havent saw a photo game since 2011 and I got slightly disappointed, the game feels mostly rushed.

But again, it's good, for a spin off it is pretty decent and enjoyable.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Monothemeerp on August 12, 2018, 05:33:35 AM
For people who are having trouble
teleporting, here are some of the technical aspects about it.

- The longest valid interval between the two focus inputs is 15 frames. That is, once you press focus input 1, you have 15 frames to let go and then hit focus input 2.
- You can tap each focus input for as short as 1 frame.
- The shortest interval I could get was 2 empty frames between the inputs, but it seems reasonable that as long as there's one frame between it works.
- If you're moving when you hit the second focus, the teleport won't activate. This makes sense to avoid teleporting by accident, but this also means you need at least 1 frame of focus before the direction input. If you're stationary and tap focus then focus+direction on the same frame you move instead of teleport.
- However, if you press and hold the second focus when moving but stop moving before the 15 frames are up, the teleport will still activate as soon as you stop. It just won't activate the frame you had hit focus.
- Moving during the first focus is fine, so if you're moving, tap focus, then stop moving and hit focus on the same frame, that's a teleport. Or, if you double tap and hold focus while moving, but stop moving before 15 frames are up, that's a teleport too.

- In summary of the above: once you hit focus once, for 15 frames it first checks if you've let go of focus, then checks if you're pressing focus and not a direction. If so, activate teleport.
- Once you activate the teleport with double focus you can let go of focus before pressing a direction.
- You must hold the direction for 5 frames, and you are repositioned on frame 5. If you hold for 4 frames you do not teleport. You can mash away and nothing happens.

I think the last bit is the most important, or at least it's the one screwing me up the most. My expectation is that it should just happen the instant you press the button but whoops guess not.

Yeah, this is what screwed me over the most and killed me a bunch.

Huh, I just realized I haven't changed my icon in years and now it's kinda fitting.
This game is... really weird. I kind of liked it more and more it went on but it's also gotten a lot more frustrating the further I went in. Also not that wowed by the music. The overall aesthetic and idea is pretty neat though, especially the later scenes. Just... overall kinda weird and I don't see much replayability value once I finish it? That's all, really. Usually Touhou is a game I can return to, and with ISC you at least had no-items and what not. But here there's... not really much. That's the part that's holding me up right now. It seems neat overall, just not something I'd play several times. Once and it's done. But I guess that's just how photo games go!
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: shockdude on August 12, 2018, 05:47:11 AM
The Instagram-like pictures in the background of the main menu seem to be the first-ever digital photographs of Gensokyo. From thpatch.net (warning, link contains spoilers) (https://www.thpatch.net/wiki/Th165/Images/en#title.2Ftitle_insta.png_.28edited.29):
(https://www.thpatch.net/w/images/1/1a/th165-title-title_insta.png)(https://www.thpatch.net/w/images/0/04/lang_en-th165-title-title_insta.png)

Does anyone know what the actual real-world sources of these photos are?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Wrathful_Scythe on August 12, 2018, 08:11:45 AM
Gotta admit, at first I was worried with the negative reception but after playing the game for a bit, I still find it very much enjoyable. Even if Sumireko is one of my least favorite characters. I get the critique, though.

The teleporting is interesting but hard to pull off if you are in a pinch. Double tapping is awkward and I would have liked to get the option to bind it to a single press.
I have yet to play the nightmare stages, so I can't really comment on the "fairness" in the difficulty. Haven't really spent much time with the Touhou games recently so my skills got inconsistent again. (Clownpiece and Junko all over again  :V)
But being able to shoot, photo bullets away and teleportation, the game shouldn't be to hard to beat.

My impression is a positive one. It was to be expected to be light on content with the timeframe it was released.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 12, 2018, 08:57:29 AM
That's probably because it didn't live up to the hype at all but because it's ZUN made ZUN's level of bad work is still fairly good at it's worst. Doesn't mean this game does not have legitimate criticisms about it, doesn't mean this game is particularly enjoyable long term. I don't see myself personally returning to this for a while.

I just hate throwing away criticisms because "its just hating on the new game" especially when a lot of ppl like myself have had nothing but good things to say about previous games upon release. HSiFS was amazing upon release, heck I loved LoLK upon release too. AoCF got the same treatment as VD because by and large it felt like an unfinished experience upon release because of glaring bugs and not fully fleshed out mechanics. These criticisms aren't undeserved and aren't because it's new. I will still be saying these things months from now, maybe not with the same level of conviction as while it's still fresh in my mind but I don't see my opinion changing drastically at all.

It's not exactly throwing away criticism; It's saying that a negative bias at the release of a game is to be expected, and thus to be taken with a grain of salt. Also really, AoCF? Unfinished at release with garbo mechanics? Maybe in single player but the Multiplayer mechanics and balancing were top notch.

I personally believe the game to be decent. Not amazing. Decent. And if they are going to throw this at us for the price of 8? (Given it costed 1000Yen), that's pretty fair.

And in all honesty VD would be a massively better game if we would get a patch that would change the teleport input simply to C.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: rsy_type1 on August 12, 2018, 09:19:15 AM
MUASTG has made a MOD for a better teleport feeling.

https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,21537.0.html
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 12, 2018, 10:12:07 AM
I think the last bit is the most important, or at least it's the one screwing me up the most. My expectation is that it should just happen the instant you press the button but whoops guess not.

From my very basic experience of making game-like things, properly registering a diagonal "direction" on a 4-way d-pad-like control setup (aka cursor keys) is a bitch without a hack like that. And even in this case people are finding it hard to use, from what I've seen.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Monothemeerp on August 12, 2018, 10:25:39 AM
MUASTG has made a MOD for a better teleport feeling.

https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,21537.0.html

Wow. It's unreal how much easier this makes it. Now why couldn't we have this in the normal game...?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Popcioslav on August 12, 2018, 11:00:44 AM
Ow I can finally access MoTK, still no clue what's with that, but okay.

And yeah, my overall reception of this game is alright. I wasn't expecting anything tbh and I did like the story
However I do wholeheartedly the teleport controls were so bad I had to literally buy a new keyboard just to finish a Touhou game. Shame I didn't see the mod thread beforehand because that would've saved me a bit I guess? At first I was disappointed with the OST, but I actually like the way ZUN reuses his 4 previous songs - Old Adam for tutorials, Swallowstone for Sumireko fight, Eternal Spring Dream for Doremy and Concealed Seasons for Okina "cya later" scene.

I agree, the game isn't that much, but it's still more than I was expecting and if you think this truly is the worst Touhou game... please replay some of them.
I do agree this game has some serious issues. But again, I was literally expecting the game to end on Okina day before the Nightmare week and maybe it's because I've treated that part like an after game I've enjoyed it more? Idk
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: R. P. Genocraft on August 12, 2018, 12:11:22 PM
The biggest flaw with the teleporting IMO isn't just having to double tap, it's having to double tap shift. And since usually your index finger will be on X and middle finger on Z, you have to press shift with either your ring or pinky finger, which are, for most people, the ones with the least coordination. In some scenes like Okina's second where you don't need to shoot, you can press shift with your middle finger, but the gap between index and middle is quite wide, so your fingers start to hurt quicker.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Minus+ on August 12, 2018, 02:02:15 PM
I liked the music but I haven't played it ingame yet. Some like Lunatic Dreamer probably was busy when heard ingame.

Nightmare Diary have become an ear worm to me now. I can't stop hearing it.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fumi on August 12, 2018, 05:56:41 PM
MUASTG has made a MOD for a better teleport feeling.

https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,21537.0.html

Would love a mod to fix the 100% charge movement, I got kinda used to the teleport already but it is very hard to micrododge while super focused, 100% charge is up and the speed change screws you up.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: rsy_type1 on August 12, 2018, 06:08:28 PM
Would love a mod to fix the 100% charge movement, I got kinda used to the teleport already but it is very hard to micrododge while super focused, 100% charge is up and the speed change screws you up.

let me ask him
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suspicious person on August 12, 2018, 06:12:23 PM
So I got to have a proper go at the game. Took a fair few bits of breaks in between before taking a pause after
beating Okina and reached nightmare week
at the end of 4 hours and 21 minutes of gameplay. As far as remarks goes, here's what I'd say for
the 2 first weeks :

On the control side of things, as expected,
teleporting gave me a lot of trouble initially, and most of my "mistakes" are related to having to try to clutch teleport in some situations : I've double taped the shoot button instead of shift, accidentaly shot a photo towards the direction I intended to teleport to, simply didn't get my teleport off and instead running towards bullets at unfocused speed. My biggest gripe is the fact that light tapping the shift key doesn't always work, and sometimes teleport activates when I have to alternate my speed between focused and unfocused. I have to sitck to vertical and horizontal movement to get the most consistency for my teleports, which severely limits my options.

One other things that really, REALLY, screwed me over about as much times as
teleport memes
did would be the way charging up behaves : you go straight away from super slow speed to you normal focused speed once you reach your 100 % charge, which can be devastating when it comes to the more tight attacks ; and, and this one really annoyed me, and I have no idea if it's a "thing " for other people as well, but I LITERALLY CANNOT perform diagonal movement when charging up the camera (edit : actually can, but complex finger exercises), and instead have to tip - tap vertical and horizontal movement buttons at superior speed. Does anyone have this issue as well ? Cuz sometimes I wonder whether there is, like, some kind of limit to the number of commands the games register (it's something that happened to me while playing HSiFS as well, at least twice).

Regarding the way the game work as a photogame that incorporate the shooting and the lifebar parts of non-photogames, it works in a rather intersting way : instead of there being some sort of quota of photos to fill up, you only need to keep going until the lifebar runs out : the "scene" is cleared so long as you take at least a single picture, and how you cleared it is of little consequence. There's plenty of ways to go about things : taking defensive photos might save your ass but will instead make the "scene" last longer, while taking a picture of the boss requires you to be not too far away, meaning you'll need to take a risk, in exchange of shaving some of the lifebar and getting a bit more score than if you either just took the pictures of either bullets or boss only. You can charge up you camera for the potential to take a photo, get some score and deal a fair bit of damage BUT lose you ability to shoot, or just shoot normaly until your camera loads up AND risk getting destroyed by whatever dangerous dodges may be. So yeah, giving damage to the camera surprisingly made for a pretty clever game design : as far as gameplay goes, you're allowed some flexibility in how you want to clear you "scenes" up. So i guess that's where the line is drawn in how it distinguish itself from older photogames. Also, regarding scoring (which I honestly am no specialist with) , you can literally complete a scene and leave with no retweets, no likes depending on how lazy you decide to be. Scoring might prove to be ... interesting ... imagine a super-low score challenge for late scenes  :V

Regarding the attacks themselves, personally, I find them pretty fair. There is EXACTLY one instance where you get the hard-to-deal-with RNG
(for the 2 first weeks), and that is Mai's Tanabata festival
, which seems like it's of the harder variety, and even that is fairly approachable owing to the fact that you can use the camera. The ones that gave me the most troubles are the ones where
teleport had to be used in rather clutchy moments. I have like 131 retries at Clownpiece's 2nd spell, and all of those owing to the trouble pertaining to teleport that I mentionned earlier.  But yeah, other than that, the rest are pretty fine : there's hardly walling potential (like I said, I've just reached nightmare week), and the spells that involves teleportation as a must-use gimmick can be done relatively simply so long as you're being methodical.

I must say I actually had some fun, which, yes, is a mysterious feeling most alien to this series, going up against some attacks,
particularly Clownpiece's 4 attack, Sagume in general, Hecatia's NOT first spellcard (86 retries, c'mon), especially the Majora's mask one, a fair few from Okina and, surprisingly, all of Junko's : I thought her 3rd attack was an unfeasable RNG attack until I figured the trick behind it, at which point I felt like I reached 2hu player enlightenment. Puzzle pattern fan here.
Balancing wise, at the very least for the
first 2 weeks
, I think that this game is on point : there's hardly a super unreasoble spell that you'd require good RNG in order to get a clear : hardly got walled, and for the attacks that trap you into certain death,
teleport is still available.

The story related scenes are, simply put, fairly easy :
Doremy's last LoLK spell equivalent attack is nowhere near dense nor tight as it is even in normal mode, just to give you an idea (for the earlier weeks at least, dunno how they play at the end even though I've spoiled myself)

Personally, I consider the
two first week to be the meat of the game. First week is kinda boring tbh, but second week's got some interesting stuff going on.
Had more fun than I expected. A crying shame that the controls are so lousy, considering all of that ... I think I'll put some sort of review-ish kind of thing for the
nightmare week too
, from the perspective of a player who move around normal and hard mode difficulty, once when I'm through with it.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 12, 2018, 06:31:52 PM
and, and this one really annoyed me, and I have no idea if it's a "thing " for other people as well, but I LITERALLY CANNOT perform diagonal movement when charging up the camera, and instead have to tip - tap vertical and horizontal movement buttons at superior speed. Does anyone have this issue as well ? Cuz sometimes I wonder whether there is, like, some kind of limit to the number of commands the games register (it's something that happened to me while playing HSiFS as well, at least twice).

By the sound of it, it's just your keyboard not liking too many of certain keys pressed at the same time. It's a physical-level limitation that depends on the specific model of keyboard, and there's no way to fix it besides the obvious or using some software to remap some keys to something else and hoping it works better.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ふねん1 on August 12, 2018, 07:16:56 PM
I'm curious though, wouldn't using those mods to make teleporting easier or let you keep your camera-charging speed make them "tool-assisted" runs? This stuff seems quite a bit more consequential than, say, modding LoLK to start from a particular chapter to practice it. While there are definitely some flaws to VD's controls, they're still far from game-breaking imo and you can find ways to work around them, not to mention that VD has arguably no attacks that approach the hardest ones in StB and DS. I can't necessarily stop people from using any mods, but I'd at least mention that you are indeed using them so others can make their own judgments based on that.

Personally, I consider the
two first week to be the meat of the game. First week is kinda boring tbh, but second week's got some interesting stuff going on.
Had more fun than I expected. A crying shame that the controls are so lousy, considering all of that ... I think I'll put some sort of review-ish kind of thing for the
nightmare week too
, from the perspective of a player who move around normal and hard mode difficulty, once when I'm through with it.
I personally felt
the Nightmare week
was more like the real meat of the game. Even though it has a bit less than half of all the scenes in the game, they're overall hard enough to keep you busy for a while, especially near the end. For a player of your skill level, I think you'll also have fun working your way through all those.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ChronaSE on August 12, 2018, 07:28:19 PM
I just can't finish
Junko's last danmaku ring spell, the teleporting needs to be precise and I always screw up as they get faster, i'm either accidentally holding an arrow key while double tapping focus or shooting. Very uncomfortable  :V
.

MUASTG has made a MOD for a better teleport feeling.

https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,21537.0.html

Oh wow this is just what I needed !
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suspicious person on August 12, 2018, 07:48:17 PM
By the sound of it, it's just your keyboard not liking too many of certain keys pressed at the same time. It's a physical-level limitation that depends on the specific model of keyboard, and there's no way to fix it besides the obvious or using some software to remap some keys to something else and hoping it works better.
Disregard my previous remarks, I actually can, I just have the NASTY habit of holding the shoot button while pressing the focus key and the bomb key together ... So, yeah, it's just my dumb  :X I actually can, but the finger position required to do that is quite complex. It's surprisingly hard to remember to RELEASE the shoot button in the games where you can shoot.

While there are definitely some flaws to VD's controls, they're still far from game-breaking imo and you can find ways to work around them, not to mention that VD has arguably no attacks that approach the hardest ones in StB and DS.

(...)

I personally felt
the Nightmare week
was more like the real meat of the game. Even though it has a bit less than half of all the scenes in the game, they're overall hard enough to keep you busy for a while, especially near the end. For a player of your skill level, I think you'll also have fun working your way through all those.
Playing through stuff being surprisingly different than just watching, I might probably gain a more favorable impression of
the Nightmare week
as I go, but for now, I think l should reserve judgement. The thing with the control is matter of getting used to, and I'm not having as much trouble as I did in the start. I'd say the main issue I'm encountering is related to the times where I have to alternate my speed and instead accidentally
teleporting
in bullets while doing so, or trying to clutch
teleport
in darker times, which is probably not very wise
(something I'm experienceing on Remilia-Flandre pair for now)
. I wouldn't say things are so bad that I'd need to rely on the mod yet for now, though.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: TresserT on August 12, 2018, 08:30:57 PM
The first and second weeks were fine and fun. There were some ridiculously hard, possibly cheapshotty spells, but it's an StB type game. I expect that, it's all good, it doesn't detract from the game's value since I can just replay the scenes over and over.

My biggest complaint is how lazy the third week felt. And given that the third week is going to take up most of the gameplay due to its higher difficulty, it winds up feeling like half the game was just a throwaway.

Besides week 3 I think it was a fine game, I really enjoyed the teleport mechanic. There was a nice mix of new patterns and old patterns that had to be dealt with in a new way. Week 3 just really tears the overall quality down for me.

Also, for what it's worth, I think this whole "hate new games because their new" thing is silly. The complaints about DDC being random BS, about LoLK being cheapshotty, and about half of HSiFS's patterns being bland as hell are all still pretty common. It's just that nobody talks as much about it because they aren't as relevent. I feel like it'll be the same with this game.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Tengukami on August 12, 2018, 11:39:57 PM
I had a considerably easier time with teleporting by switching from the keyboard to a controller, and using Joy2Key to assign the left trigger to Shift. Your preferred controller button may vary, but that's what worked best for me.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 13, 2018, 06:11:48 AM
From my very basic experience of making game-like things, properly registering a diagonal "direction" on a 4-way d-pad-like control setup (aka cursor keys) is a bitch without a hack like that. And even in this case people are finding it hard to use, from what I've seen.
Yeah, my mind slipped on diagonals which is pretty clearly the intention. But it's less the five frames that's the issue (bullets go barely anywhere in 5 frames) than it is having to hold the button. When I was testing for the breakdown earlier, button taps (e.g. for focuses) were typically 2~3 frames, sometimes hitting 1 and 4. There isn't any indication that you would have to hold it and the natural movement is definitely just to hit the direction you want; it makes much more sense that once you hit a direction you have 5 frames to input a diagonal but otherwise you teleport in that direction. I implemented this myself in DNH and it just feels way better.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ☆ Kana ☆ on August 13, 2018, 06:13:02 AM
Wrong Wednesday
is kicking my butt soooo hard however I am going to keep trying because I Am Very Stubborn.  :V

I really love this game's OST a lot, I freakin' cheered when I found out
Darkness Brought in By Swallowstone Naturalis Historia
was in the game~!

Not sure if I'll use the teleport mod just yet, it seems very useful but, again, I am stubborn lmao.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 13, 2018, 07:02:11 AM
Yeah, my mind slipped on diagonals which is pretty clearly the intention. But it's less the five frames that's the issue (bullets go barely anywhere in 5 frames) than it is having to hold the button. When I was testing for the breakdown earlier, button taps (e.g. for focuses) were typically 2~3 frames, sometimes hitting 1 and 4. There isn't any indication that you would have to hold it and the natural movement is definitely just to hit the direction you want; it makes much more sense that once you hit a direction you have 5 frames to input a diagonal but otherwise you teleport in that direction. I implemented this myself in DNH and it just feels way better.

Wait, so you mean you'd have to hold the diagonal for 5 frames as well? If so then wow, that's one sloppy way to implement that. You could activate it and rotate a joystick really fast without ever moving anywhere! :D
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Popcioslav on August 13, 2018, 08:16:10 AM
(...)

Personally, I consider the
two first week to be the meat of the game. First week is kinda boring tbh, but second week's got some interesting stuff going on.
Had more fun than I expected. A crying shame that the controls are so lousy, considering all of that ... I think I'll put some sort of review-ish kind of thing for the
nightmare week too
, from the perspective of a player who move around normal and hard mode difficulty, once when I'm through with it.
I agree with this entire review and it's mostly the same thing I thought.
The first week is very easy and relaxing to all clear
, even for a sucker like me. It's kind of a shame difficulty doesn't rise slowly with it instead.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 13, 2018, 09:28:45 AM
Wait, so you mean you'd have to hold the diagonal for 5 frames as well? If so then wow, that's one sloppy way to implement that. You could activate it and rotate a joystick really fast without ever moving anywhere! :D
I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to. In VD you can activate teleport and mash directions as much as you want and not move. In my implementation once you input a direction you will teleport in five frames, but if you also hit an adjacent direction you get the diagonal instead.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 13, 2018, 10:09:59 AM
Yeah, I was referring to the way ZUN did it. The way you did it would probably be the way I'd come up with myself as well.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Chill Observer on August 14, 2018, 06:48:32 AM
Something pretty funny that I've noticed only upon reading the wiki/thpatch: the spell card name for
Eirin/Shinmyoumaru
is mistakenly written to be the same spell card name as
Yuyuko/Suwako
.

If I had to guess the actual name based on naming convention, it'd be
永針符「壺中の大きな弾」 (Eternal Needle "Big Bullet in a Pot")
, but until we get a fix, it's gonna remain as
妖風符「土着蝶ストーム」 (Mystic Wind Sign "Native Butterfly Storm")
. Nice one ZUN. :V

in before I am completely wrong and the actual spell name is just 大きな壺 "Big Pot"
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Gregory on August 14, 2018, 12:01:25 PM
Waiting for the Ultra patch to see more
Nightmare
and ridiculous scenes
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suwako Moriya on August 14, 2018, 05:39:52 PM
Drake was "imagine being angry about doggo (http://clarste.tumblr.com/post/176990579121/i-believe-a-good-translator-should-be-as-literal)" you

It was absolutely you right
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Validon98 on August 14, 2018, 06:16:36 PM
It's like it's a game about a freaking idiot teenager memer on the internet using her horrible situation for efame, who even in the original Japanese is using emoticons and memespeak.

Localization is not a slippery slope, though yeah I can see different people having different opinions on it. In the end it's a combination of "what doesn't detract too much from original meaning" and "what is comprehensible to the audience being translated to." The intent is memespeak. Therefore have memespeak that makes sense to the audience it's for. Doggo fits that bill.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: gilde on August 14, 2018, 06:26:41 PM
doggo is extremely good and so is reimers, qed
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: nintendonut888 on August 14, 2018, 07:49:18 PM
My personal opinion on Reimers isn't so much that it sounds really silly (I am also of the opinion that all this meme slang is perfect for Sumireko, plus I always loved how valley girl Hatate turned out), but that it looks a little unnatural to me to apply English nicknaming conventions to a Japanese name. But it's not my translation, and I understand the translation should appeal to the greater community, so I'll support the translation staff with whatever they choose.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Serela on August 14, 2018, 08:24:48 PM
you mean sumireko doesn't call her raymoo and make cow jokes? /disappoint

this is sarcasm

I'm trying to wait for the game to appear on steam, but I wonder when that'll be. @.@
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suspicious person on August 14, 2018, 11:34:57 PM
So I finally got through
nightmare week
, beat the game, and got all the achievements, woo. Took 2 additional hours till I beat
Nightmare Tuesday,
at which point I took a break before dealing with the rest. Total playtime is 11 hours 16 minutes, and it took me an additional 20 minutes to get the last achievement. My thoughts on a few things :

Hitbox is quite forgiving in this game, as expected of a photogame hitbox, and there are hardly any bulletsof ambiguous size that gets you because of a few invisible pixels that happens to stretch your way.
You will especially feel the smallness of your hitbox in the first phase of the very last spell, which you can do viably by staying in the middle of the talisman bullets.

Regarding the new
gimmick that you get for nightmare week, death cancel, I'd say it's a case of a gimmick done right : it's not something that can be abused like the Jizou statue in ISC, and it's activation is like some kind of "passive" thing, where you don't have to do something outlandish and unrelated to what you'll have to do in the game : you'll still need your 100 % charge, and this ability can be used once you reach that charge. You don't get much invincibility frames however, and death cancel can be useless when you get bodied by bosses or hit by unerasable bullets : death cancel is only as good as the position you were in. At any rate, death cancel still got a little something that makes a bit interesting compared to regular defensive photos : in the old photogames for example, you need to take pictures that include the boss, and if you take pictures that don't fit that criteria, "defensive photos", they fail and you instead get 50% of your camera charge refunded : for this game, ANY picture will count toward your end score, and you will NOT be refunded anything for taking a defensive picture : death cancel, however, gives you back 33 % camera charge after it triggers, and also, it gives you some sort of failed-photo equivalent : you DON'T get a picture that'll be stuck on the side of the screens, but you will STILL get hashtags, likes and favorites.
I can see this being used in future score runs strategies. This game, however, doesn't seem to have visual cues that tells you when to get the nice shots, unlike the older photogames.

Regarding replayability in general, I don't really think there's much, aside from the potential score runs that there may be. You can pretty much get most or all of the nicknames / achievements this game can offer by just playing (and completing) it normally : when I finished the game, I got ALL but the 47th achievement, and even that I eventually got by accident, rougly 20 minutes later, while trying to test some scoring strategies related to the
deliberate use of death cancel that I mentionned earlier (achievement 47 is to use death cancel 500 times btw)

Now then, regarding nightmare week, from a personnal standpoint, depending on the patterns, things can prove to be a bit repetitive : personally, when I play, I try to figure out strategies and deal with patterns in the way I imagined : for the characters involved inside a peculiar day, strategies that are valid against them seems to generally work whenever they come back. Say Shiki Eiki for example : she throws 3 things that spawn bullets when they come in contact with other bullets : the way I dealt with it was to hog the top-right corner, dodge, charge up, take pictures, rinse and repeat until I get her down : It work with Shiki Eiki / Yuyuko and Shiki Eiki / Suwako ; another example would be Ran : she moves around but WILL get to CERTAIN places from where she'll try to bodyslam you : it's matter of trying to find where you want to be when Ran is at located at certain places. Whenever she's around, I'd generall start up around the bottom-left corner and try to misdirect her whenever she prepares for that tackle when she's in the right side of the screen : it was hardly about taking into consideration the way to deal with whoever she got paired with for me, but rather how to implement my Ran approach. I might move a bit differently depending on who she's with, particularly Okuu, who adds a few more misdirection. Most of the times, I find that it's not really about coming up with a COMBINATION SPECIFIC strategy, but instead of a strategy to deal with attacks that involve a particular character. There are a few exception, but they seems to me like pretty few and far between, notably the ones with Tenshi, Raiko and Mokou ones (just for me anyway).

As far as nightmare week goes, I honestly find the two first combination of every nightmare weekday to be the most interesting ones of the day. The rest are nothing much once you figure out how to deal with a certain someone's attack, and add that to the way you'd deal with a certain other someone's attack. Personally, the ones I've kinda struggled with tended to be the ones on the earlier day, and the combinations that involve a character whose pattern I'm struggling a bit with when paired with others. To illustrate, I've got 190 tries (but for the wrong reasons) for Remilia / Flandre but I didn't exceed 20 tries for the rest of their day, less than 10times for Nightmare monday in general, 56 for Tenshi / Eirin and 109 for Tenshi / Kaguya a minimum of 50 tries for all the Ran combos, 42 tries for Nue / Mamizou combo but nowhere as much for the rest of their day, 134 tries for Suika / Mokou and 89 for Suika / Hecatia but NOWHERE as much for the rest of their day, 110 retries on Marisa / Reimu but for the wrong reasons (I like experimenting), and, once again, nowhere as much for the rest of their day. So, as far as I'm concerned, difficulty seems a bit over the place. There were some I had fun with, which were pretty much the Tenshi combos, the Raiko combos, the Junko combos and the Okina combos, as well as specific combinations such as Kanako / Eiki, Shinmyoumaru / Kaguya, and Yukari / Sumireko. I felt like it was not really a matter of "gee, I wonder how things are gonna play next" and more of a "aww, it's gonna come with that one, isn'it" kinda sensation when it came to the less engaging attacks. So yeah, as far as nightmare week goes, I think the 2 first attacks of each day are the more interesting ones, aside from the occasional combination that seem to give birth to a new thing.

Still regarding nightmare week, this time focusing on the pattern that comes out when only one character remains, honestly if you've managed to deal with the combo attacks, you shouldn't experience trouble in there, unless it's against Eirin or Ran maybe. But then again it depends on your skill. Gaps between solo pattern bullets are a bit wide, at the very least if you compare their width to the tightness of the later days pattern in the older photogames : combine that with your small hitbox, and you will quickly notice how easier they are compared to the combo spell. I haven't tried all off the individual patterns of nightmare week, but you can take Miko, Koishi, Okuu and Kaguya as examples.
Their difficulty, or their lack thereof, is a bit weird considering it's this late in the game. How you'd appreciate that depends on whether you like things easier or harder. I'm quite neutral on this one issue personally.

STILL regarding nightmare week, cuz there's A LOT to say, as far as spell design goes, I'd still say that things are relatively fair. A bit of a walling potential in Nightmare thursday, particularly against Mamizou / Nue or Mamizou / Iku, but then again you have your teleport, small hitbox, and death cancel. I used my teleports generously as I played, but I can totally see people who don't use it regularly / properly getting trounced by Mamizou or Suika combos. Some of the game's pattern are obviously balanced around teleportation, so I wouldn't fault ZUN for the patterns that turns out to be harder if you don't use teleport. I mean, like, you don't have to use teleport for the more "regular", wall-free spells, but teleport really gives more option. Regular restreaming ? Kindah eh. TELEPORT restreaming ?! Galaxy brain plays. Nuff said. While there is a lack of scaling when it comes to difficulty, there is, however, a certain adaptation for some patterns when it comes to them being put together with some other patterns, most obvious in Nightmare friday : among what I've noticed, a lesser bullet density for Hecatia when she is with Suika, a bit more time before Mokou tackles you when she is with Hecatia, and more faster tempo for Junko's apex of creativity pattern when paired with Mokou. There are a few cases of patterns interacting, but they are too few and far between, them generally being the Shinmyoumaru ones, Shiki Eiki's, and the one with Raiko / Iku. There is a fair bit of balancing to conciliate patterns, so I wouldn't necessarily call nightmare week lazy. Compared to the wrong weekdays patterns, I'd say nightmare weekdays are a bit less interesting and less engaging, aesthetics wise.
I'd assume that's what most people criticize it for.

So yeah, it has been a pretty interesting experience, but probably not something that you'd put in the hall of fame of Touhou patterns.

And, finally, regarding the very last day,
nightmare diary, I'm pretty alright with it. Doremy's got enough hit points NOT to go down pretty fast, and not only her pattern is one of the more interesting solo pattern since wrong week, but its also obviously designed in a way that makes teleport a viable option (one which I took btw). It's pretty okay ; Sumireko attacks are pretty okay as well, although maybe nowhere near dense as you'd expect for the last day of the kind of game Violet Detector seems to be gunning for. The very last attack was pretty quirky for a ZUN designed pattern I must say, quite cute. Trust nobody, not even yourself.

On the quality-of-life AKA minor nitpicks side of things, excluding the controls that's been discussed to great lengths, a few things :
-Pressing R for retry is busted and instead give some kind of graphic bug
-Visual effects on
the Eirin's bullets on the Eirin / Tenshi  combination
hides stuff up and can mess with your reading, can result in avoidable silly deaths
-You can still get bodied by
Mokou
even when she is out of lifebar. I got nothing against a pretty gal running towards me, but not like this
-Kinda wish there was a way to sift through the days faster

Overall, I'm pretty alright with the game. Gimmicks are balanced in the sense where they're not abusable, but teleport is implemented in a "but why" kind of way ; difficulty is a bit whacky : no real scaling for the vast majority of the attacks,
a fair bit of gaps for the nightmare week solo patterns
. I'd probably say it's one of the easier, if not the easiest, of the decimal Touhou shooters. A ZUN experiment that works, but with design decisions that can be questionable. If I had to give it a grade, I'd give it a B, as in "Bretty all right, but could do better".



Regarding the story, while I'm pretty sure most people should've heard about it by this point, there was no kind of ending story sequence, which surprised me a bit considering how much dialogue this have compared to its predecessors and how seemingly important this is for the girl with probably the most
litteral kind
of identity crisis. I'd assume we'll get a proper conclusion in the next CoLA or something, cuz this is obviously something that's gonna matter for Sumireko. Anyway, if this kinda tie the knot for a character specific thing from AoCF, I'm hoping a resolution is brought to for best girl with peach hat. Dream world seems to be more relevant than how it was at first. It's a bit late now, but I think Eirin's butterfly dream pill or the people who take it, like SPECIFICALLY Alice, should be something pretty interesting to explore eventually, due to obvious reason.



I personally have a little theory regarding why ZUN decided to
design nightmare week this way : if you look at the characters featured in there, including Satori, it should be crystal clear that the intention was to cram up ALL of the "boss figures" from previous shooter titles ; also there being 3 different combinations for each and everyone them : making individual patterns was certainly possible, but giving each and every single one of them a relatively substantial number of spell (like, say, 2 or 3), designing said individual patterns, and, wild hypothesis here, possibly even having to add a 4th week to have some of the girls in (like instead of 4 girls per day, there are only two, the other move to the next week, dunno if its clear), ZUN's workload would've effectively quadrupled. Maybe combination spells was his way of efficiently conciliating his intention of getting previous shooter title bosses and substantial number of spell / appearances.

And wow, did I write all of that ...

Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 14, 2018, 11:57:35 PM
Drake was "imagine being angry about doggo (http://clarste.tumblr.com/post/176990579121/i-believe-a-good-translator-should-be-as-literal)" you

It was absolutely you right
It wasn't me but it might as well be. My stance on this thing has been that the people complaining about stuff like this don't know much Japanese and can't contextualize what is and isn't important in a translation, so all they see are the few terms that they don't like for not being Japanese enough. People clamoring for literal translations and keeping in Japan-isms often do this for one reason or another.

That being said, most of this current group are basing their acceptance of the translation on a handful of terms that they're personally put off by, and they see that choice as being made by the translators and not simply as a valid interpretation of Sumireko. In other words this is more about the difference in acceptance of specific internet slang between groups on the internet, than actually about translation. Which is why a lot of the argument on /jp/ quickly devolved into dismissing people by claiming they're part of certain communities or use certain platforms: it's about those out-groups being seen as accepting that slang, and also if you accept the slang you're a part of those out-groups. Pointing out that she doesn't use a "meme" in the tag itself is mostly a rationalization. /jp/ being an anonymous board is actually working against them because the group doesn't seem to be able to form consistent arguments and they won't get anywhere that way.

That being said, I actually slightly prefer doggie over doggo, but I see no reason to be bothered about it at all. I also like Reimu-cchi but understand that if people have trouble with it you should probably try something else. At least if it were manga you could put a note somewhere but that isn't a good long-term strategy.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: N-Forza on August 15, 2018, 12:11:13 AM
One thing about the "-cchi" ending for names is that it's supposedly an out-of-date way girls would nickname people. So this is either ZUN showing his age or him purposefully writing Sumireko as somewhat out of touch, at least until she got online to share pictures on Instagram.

But while I personally dislike "doggo" just as a word and don't entirely agree with using it in this case, it's nothing to start a witch hunt over.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Chill Observer on August 15, 2018, 02:11:56 AM
-You can still get bodied by
Mokou
even when she is out of lifebar. I got nothing against a pretty gal running towards me, but not like this
You'll be glad to know the exact same thing happens in ISC where that move is based upon. Gotta move out of the way.
And well, technically every game too. Even after a boss dies, the boss hitbox itself is not removed so you can still die by running directly into the boss.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ChronaSE on August 15, 2018, 04:55:35 AM
Okay I cleaned all the scenes except one which no way i'm doing  :V
Nightmare week was fun tbh, had difficulties with Flandre+Byakuren until I figured out teleporting inside Flandre's ring after it expands makes the spell a whole lot easier. All spells with Suika were ridiculous but possible with teleporting and luck. Mai's star spam spell however... yeah I give up on that one.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Shizzo on August 15, 2018, 10:42:45 AM
Okay I cleaned all the scenes except one which no way i'm doing  :V
Nightmare week was fun tbh, had difficulties with Flandre+Byakuren until I figured out teleporting inside Flandre's ring after it expands makes the spell a whole lot easier. All spells with Suika were ridiculous but possible with teleporting and luck. Mai's star spam spell however... yeah I give up on that one.

That one's tough but doable if you have a smidge of good luck.  I captured it even before I unlocked 'deathbombing' by taking as many pics of Mai as I could when I'm close, and when I'm eventually pushed down, I kept charging photos, using them to clear what's in front of me for breathing room, and shoot her a little.  It takes time (and with deathbombing it must be even easier), but it's super doable.  Don't give up!
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suspicious person on August 15, 2018, 06:18:21 PM
(...) I can see this being used in future score runs strategies.
Actually, scratch that. After doing some more testing in
the Marisa scene where teleport gets introduced
and doing a few comparisons, some involving ACTUALLY using my eyes to read the score, it turns out that the score you get is from  the best picture you take in a scene. Can't believe it took me so long to notice ... Quite embarrassing  :X

So, uh, yeah. Let's pretend I didn't suggest anything there, a'ight ? Scoring just isn't my thing, and I don't generally attempt to run for score to properly familiarise myself with their ins and outs.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Gesh86 on August 16, 2018, 06:15:43 AM
Game finally has a Steam storepage now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/924650/__Violet_Detector/

Not yet for sale though. Sometime in September is when we'll have it available more easily.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 16, 2018, 08:12:04 AM
Came here to post this. Will likely be available very early September (if not the 1st) as the game is released in stores on 8/31.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Helepolis on August 16, 2018, 10:22:23 AM
Seeing Touhou titles appearing on Steam after a release at a major event is, in my opinion, doing ZUN and Touhou good.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 16, 2018, 11:21:05 AM
Thinking about it, as much as some (yours truly included) might not like how
the Nightmare week
is designed, one gotta admit it works as a nice marketing move. Say, someone only played official Touhou games from Steam. They'll see characters from HSiFS, nice to see them again. They'll see characters from LoLK, no idea who they are but fine. And then they get to the "WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE AND WHY THEY HATE ME SO MUCH" part, and if that's not a good push to dig into the series to discover older games then I don't know what is.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 16, 2018, 01:08:01 PM
Thinking about it, as much as some (yours truly included) might not like how
the Nightmare week
is designed, one gotta admit it works as a nice marketing move. Say, someone only played official Touhou games from Steam. They'll see characters from HSiFS, nice to see them again. They'll see characters from LoLK, no idea who they are but fine. And then they get to the "WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE AND WHY THEY HATE ME SO MUCH" part, and if that's not a good push to dig into the series to discover older games then I don't know what is.

I seriously doubt this "marketing move" is intentional given if ZUN really wanted to cash in hiring some goons which would probably do it for free to translate the game would help him way more

either way, the page mentions controls: any chance the teleportation garbanzo was changed?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Failure McFailFace on August 16, 2018, 01:12:30 PM
I seriously doubt this "marketing move" is intentional given if ZUN really wanted to cash in hiring some goons which would probably do it for free to translate the game would help him way more

either way, the page mentions controls: any chance the teleportation garbanzo was changed?

Seems like it's still the double-tap focus teleportation.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 16, 2018, 01:38:15 PM
Seems like it's still the double-tap focus teleportation.

shit

guess there our hopes go of a patch, shame
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 16, 2018, 06:51:49 PM
I mean that was never a bug and is clearly the intention, dunno why there would be a patch. It's a couple of other things that need patching like the R to restart bug, if anything.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 16, 2018, 08:29:49 PM
I mean that was never a bug and is clearly the intention, dunno why there would be a patch. It's a couple of other things that need patching like the R to restart bug, if anything.

I'd assume that everyone and their mother would be complaining about the input which might move ZUN to change it.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CyberAngel on August 16, 2018, 08:50:31 PM
I'd assume that everyone and their mother would be complaining about the input which might move ZUN to change it.

You must be new to the series. Welcome aboard.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Suspicious person on August 16, 2018, 08:51:23 PM
I'd assume that everyone and their mother would be complaining about the input which might move ZUN to change it.
Previous ZUN patches generally address game-breaking bugs and issues. The issue with VD's input thing really is about convenience, so I wouldn't bet on that ; it's highly unlikely considering previous examples.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: shockdude on August 17, 2018, 02:50:33 AM
The double-tap-to-teleport strikes me as an intentional game balance decision, in a similar vein as special move inputs in fighting games. Double-tap forces players to sit still before the teleport, meaning they have to preemptively set up the teleport instead of being able to teleport instantly on reaction.

Imo a better implementation would be holding C+direction for a few frames to teleport. This preserves the delay before the teleport, and removes the frustration of the teleport not working due to moving during the double-tap.

The C-key teleport mod lets you teleport instantly without any delay, so imo the C-key mod is cheating. Holding C+direction results in stupidly fast teleporting. It's a cool mod though.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 17, 2018, 03:22:53 AM
Yeah the slight delay in teleporting is imo pretty important to the balancing of the mechanic. The issue for me comes in the fact that it's 3-4 entire inputs, each apparently with their own weird frame data that needs to be accounted for, so in the few spells that pretty much require speedy, accurate usage of teleporting it becomes soooo finicky and hard to use. Reducing it to 2-3 inputs with C + direction but keeping the slight delay seems like a much better alternative. Plus there's the fact that double tapping shift is both awkward to do intentionally to utilise a mechanic but also something that I and many others do during just regular dodging, leading to awful situations where a teleport just happens in the middle of dodging because of fast alternation between unfocused and focused speeds. Binding it to C removes pretty much all of the issues I have with it's current implementation.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Drake on August 17, 2018, 04:36:35 AM
I'm the one that broke down the frame data and I don't think the data itself is that weird. Most of it is to make sure you aren't accidentally teleporting; the only real strange part is how you have to hold your direction without any indication, which as explained earlier is just a sketchy implementation choice. I definitely double-tap shift a lot during movement too, but it won't teleport while moving so that typically isn't a problem either.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: CrestedPeak9 on August 17, 2018, 05:00:11 AM
I don't really think that whether he'd change the teleport is even up for debate, there's no way he'll do that.

My bigger problem is that given ZUN didn't fix any of the bugs in HSiFS, I'm deeply concerned over
Esc-R continuing to be broken in the Steam release, not to mention the game crash/respawn glitches possible thanks to the broken R hotkey
.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 17, 2018, 05:03:45 AM
I'm the one that broke down the frame data and I don't think the data itself is that weird. Most of it is to make sure you aren't accidentally teleporting; the only real strange part is how you have to hold your direction without any indication, which as explained earlier is just a sketchy implementation choice. I definitely double-tap shift a lot during movement too, but it won't teleport while moving so that typically isn't a problem either.
It was most definitely a problem for me at some points, most notably in
Hecatia's first scene (I think)
which featured a lot of relatively speedy left/right movement. there were many times there that I got teleported just trying to switch directions.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」NO SPOILER
Post by: Fluury on August 17, 2018, 05:11:30 AM
You must be new to the series. Welcome aboard.

Have been with the game since 8. I know that ZUN generally doesn't do that stuff but there are always first times, right? :(

(I'd also very much consider the C-Mod not cheating, just because I have no interest in getting carpal tunnel...?)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Helepolis on August 17, 2018, 07:11:49 AM
Good morning, afternoon, evening or w/e time zone you live in :V

Spoiler mode is hereby over. You may freely discuss / post about the game as long as you don't openly post endings or ending dialogues. Cheers.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Shizzo on August 17, 2018, 09:36:13 AM
Hooray, spoiler mode is over!  Now we can openly talk about how it's strange Sumireko's glasses' lenses don't have a bridge connecting them! \o/

Also, I took a pic of Junko and Hecatia and I got a #GetARoomYouTwoLOL bonus.  10/10
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Failure McFailFace on August 17, 2018, 03:07:07 PM
So I find it strange that the hashtags are fully English-translated in the THCRAP patch, but I can't find the strings anywhere. Makes me wonder where those came from, and if there's a list of hashtags and what they do on score.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: PK on August 17, 2018, 03:57:57 PM
So I find it strange that the hashtags are fully English-translated in the THCRAP patch, but I can't find the strings anywhere. Makes me wonder where those came from, and if there's a list of hashtags and what they do on score.
You mean this (https://www.thpatch.net/wiki/Th165/Images/en#bullet.2Fphoto2b.png_.28edited.29)? It's the only thing i could find in their site. I don't know if it exists in non-image format.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: shockdude on August 17, 2018, 04:19:50 PM
So I find it strange that the hashtags are fully English-translated in the THCRAP patch, but I can't find the strings anywhere. Makes me wonder where those came from, and if there's a list of hashtags and what they do on score.
The original Japanese hashtags are transcribed here (https://www.thpatch.net/wiki/Th165/Images#bullet.2Fphoto2b.png), for reference.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Failure McFailFace on August 22, 2018, 03:32:56 AM
I just minimally grinded my way to Nightmare Sunday, and have 100 attempts on Dream 1 (Rem/Flan) currently.

My ring finger hurts from mashing shift so much. I'm still not done.

Yeah, I very much agree that the teleport key combo is super janky. Sometimes I mis-input and go in the opposite direction I want, and sometimes I need to teleport and I somehow press the direction for less than 5 frames, leading to a failed teleport.

also how are you supposed to do the 2nd phase once you kill remilia it's isc day 10 all over again

edit: i'm at 155 attempts i'm going to bed
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Drake on August 22, 2018, 08:30:52 AM
personally I find saving remi for last is easier usually but I guess it's a matter of what your'e comfortable dodging
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: 7TC7 on August 22, 2018, 10:39:26 AM
My ring finger hurts from mashing shift so much. I'm still not done.

What are you teleporting for in Nightmare Sunday? I am pretty sure Junko is the only one in the Nightmare Week requiring teleports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb929DrtZnw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb929DrtZnw) <<< my completion of it.

I agree its one of the hardest Nightmare Spells however. Sure sets the mood for something that's sadly not to come.

---

And while I'm here, guess I'll give my opinion on the game.
This is probably my favorite of the Shoot The Bullet style games, and that's solely on the strength of Wrong Week.
I have forgotten everything that happens in the First Week and have shelved that as simply being a tutorial.
Nightmare Week is a very interesting concept and has some gems in it (Remi/Flan, Everything involving Junko), but overall it felt far too easy.

By saying "Everything involving Junko", it's probably obvious I really love the teleport mechanic. At first it was incredibly hard to get it down but I quickly got the hang of it and started really enjoying it. I don't think there is anything wrong with it aside from it maybe needing some more easy stages that require it before throwing you into the fire.

The two mechanical complaints I have about the game are:
1. that Double KOs happen far too often. Only Nightmare Bosses seem to care about properly cleaning up their bullets when they die and I have died during a boss explosion many many times.
2. the sudden speed change after you fully charge your camera. It's just really hard to react to that and then you shoot off into some bullet you thought you already avoided.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Failure McFailFace on August 22, 2018, 01:26:25 PM
What are you teleporting for in Nightmare Sunday? I am pretty sure Junko is the only one in the Nightmare Week requiring teleports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb929DrtZnw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb929DrtZnw) <<< my completion of it.

Your video's broke.

I was teleporting in Dream 1, with Remi/Flan, to get into the ring from Flandre's bubble bullets to prepare for Remilia's next wave.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: 7TC7 on August 22, 2018, 03:34:18 PM
Your video's broke.

I was teleporting in Dream 1, with Remi/Flan, to get into the ring from Flandre's bubble bullets to prepare for Remilia's next wave.

Sorry, had it on private instead of unlisted. Should work now.

The main trick to me seems to delete as much of Flandre's bubbles before they can hit the wall as possible.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: N-Forza on August 23, 2018, 05:24:11 AM
There was a Touhou Station broadcast on Nicovideo last night to commemorate the release. They showed off the game a bit and ZUN mentioned a few interesting tidbits.

It takes him around three hours (interspersed with drinking) to draw a character, but a month or two to fully flesh out their backgrounds.

He thought the Sealing Club fandom was "bothersome" when he heard they were grateful for the new game but didn't want too much backstory on that subset of characters.

He would never want to attend Comiket not as a circle and doesn't seem all that interested in fan works.

The next Foreign Creators magazine will feature not a special CD but a separate booklet with "surprising" contents. He'll reveal more during his next Youtube broadcast on the 29th.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Drake on August 23, 2018, 05:53:22 AM
crap I thought it was tonight
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Kilgamayan on August 23, 2018, 10:46:20 AM
:( Why he gotta drag the Hifuus like this
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: CyberAngel on August 23, 2018, 12:12:38 PM
Because imagine you're making a fantasy world that you can throw anything into, and you have people saying they prefer a bunch of personality-less mouthpieces from a "real" one that don't even interact with the rest of the cast at all.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Critz on August 23, 2018, 03:30:40 PM
Wasn't that the other way way around? N-Forza worded it like ZUN was disappointed that Sealing Club fans were actually disinterested in learning their backstories further.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Suwako Moriya on August 23, 2018, 04:44:29 PM
Oh, that reading makes more sense.

Clearly I should not be reading ZUN news 20 minutes after waking up on a work day. <_<
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Suspicious person on August 23, 2018, 11:00:45 PM
It takes him around three hours (interspersed with drinking) to draw a character, but a month or two to fully flesh out their backgrounds.
No way this is a general case, is it ? Cuz I cannot possibly be expected to believe that the likes of Nemuno, the LoLK moon bunnies and most of DDC's cast would demand that much time to come up with

I'd almost swear the necessary time is switched up there but that would just be being mean
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: PK on August 24, 2018, 12:02:13 AM
I doubt it's a whole month either. At least not for just the backstory.

Now, if "backstory" here means literally everything about a character that isn't actually drawing their portrait (Like actual backstory, naming sense, species, appearance, personality, if and how that species fit in the story or in the world as a whole, spell card names and themes, patterns, abilities, possible connections to the other new characters and the rest of the cast, what they can do in future appearances, what their boss theme should sound like, what their introduction implies in general, researching mythologic stuff about them, etc), then i could believe that it can take a while.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Failure McFailFace on August 24, 2018, 04:33:49 AM
i wonder how many times i've teled in the wrong direction or not at all in this game

i hate raccoon birds

i hate skull bass drums

why am i playing at 12 am

so how long have you guys played this game
(https://i.imgur.com/oesOXxW.jpg)

Mighty interesting it takes a month to flesh out a character. Yes, might include lore, but there's also theme, personality, bullet patterns and their difficulties, name, stage, etc
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: CrestedPeak9 on August 24, 2018, 07:48:37 AM
so how long have you guys played this game
spoilers for final day
https://imgur.com/LZn3YUj

game took less than an hour to beat can i have a refund

Seriously though, this game is pretty short. There's a Japanese run of VD that took less than 45 minutes real-time.
Speedrunning VD is kinda fun I guess. It's basically the only way I can play VD now.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: 7TC7 on August 24, 2018, 11:05:54 AM
so how long have you guys played this game

Took me a little over 12 and a half hours for full clear, so you seem to be on a similar course.

And I too hated raccoon birds. For Raiko and her drums just ... dodge and never shoot. At least most of them time.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: niektory on August 26, 2018, 12:45:55 AM
25 hours to clear all scenes. I guess I'm pretty slow.

(https://s33.postimg.cc/j641oudz3/th165_000.png)

Tenshi+Kaguya took me the most attempts, followed by Hecatia's first scene.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: ZoomyTsugumi on August 26, 2018, 01:07:12 AM
I full cleared in about 4 hours, and probably could've done it faster if I realised that the fast charge existed before I had only 3 scenes left and didn't try and no teleport clear every scene up until it was 100% necessary to use it for Junko's scene.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: not ZUNs wife on August 26, 2018, 11:47:32 AM
This game is a nightmare.. teleportation is such an oblique chain of button presses. :derp:
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Fluury on August 29, 2018, 01:48:53 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/vRxUy9i.png)

 ::)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: N-Forza on August 29, 2018, 02:21:04 PM
Hey, upload whatever you want. It's not like ZUN has control over Twitch or YouTube. He's only a drunken programmer. Go nuts.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Suwako Moriya on August 29, 2018, 02:24:23 PM
I think the eye-rolling is more at the fact that they couldn't be bothered to update the game title.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Suspicious person on August 29, 2018, 03:37:19 PM
Quote
Please note that we prohibit streaming or uploading video footage of "Touhou Tenkuushou ~ Hidden Star in Four Seasons." featuring the following:

     .   Any replaying of music through the Music Room

All other gameplay footage may be freely used.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Drake on August 29, 2018, 09:04:15 PM
why do people have to be so dumb about this
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Fluury on August 29, 2018, 09:32:02 PM
Hey, upload whatever you want. It's not like ZUN has control over Twitch or YouTube. He's only a drunken programmer. Go nuts.

I was mostly referencing the fact that they didn't even change to the proper title in the description :V
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: N-Forza on August 30, 2018, 12:36:16 AM
oh lol, sorry about that. Too used to entitled edgelords I guess.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: PK on August 31, 2018, 01:08:23 PM
The next Foreign Creators magazine will feature not a special CD but a separate booklet with "surprising" contents. He'll reveal more during his next Youtube broadcast on the 29th.
Anything about this in the end?
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Fluury on August 31, 2018, 02:36:22 PM
vd's got a release date on steam now

(https://i.imgur.com/q1mBQyZ.png)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Drake on September 04, 2018, 11:14:10 PM
Game's out

https://store.steampowered.com/app/924650/__Violet_Detector/
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Gesh86 on September 06, 2018, 05:49:54 PM
Our thread here prepared me a little that Violet Detector may be far from the best game ZUN has ever made. I was still pretty shocked and baffled when I saw the lukewarm reception on the shop page. Mid-sixty % of positive reviews is pretty low for Steam's standards and even most Touhou fangames currently do better than that. Main points of contention seem to be awkward teleporting (for anyone who didn't patch) as well as the gratuitous recycling of old patterns.

I've played only for a couple of minutes, so it's too early for me to vouch for the opposite. I don't hate it...yet. And it's a photo game after all. I liked all of those before.

I'll try and stay positive.  :(
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Failure McFailFace on September 06, 2018, 07:09:00 PM
Main points of contention seem to be awkward teleporting (for anyone who didn't patch) as well as the gratuitous recycling of old patterns.

Well to be fair there are very specific frames Drake laid out for teleporting, and the fact you need 3 inputs for teleporting. There are times where I want to teleport, but either I have to move at the last second and teleport regardless, or I manage to press the direction key for less than the 5 frames needed and not teleport at all.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Drake on September 06, 2018, 07:35:55 PM
The majority of the negative reviews are from China, and most of those are from people with low play times, suggesting they've played the game previously. I doubt the complaints about the game are any different than anywhere else but there might be a specific group simply more willing to give negative reviews as a form of complaint. Those reviews are also going to go up quickly and bring down the average right off the bat before reviews from Steam players trickle in, and there definitely wasn't the same review bombardment from fans that occurred with HSiFS.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: niektory on September 06, 2018, 08:00:25 PM
The teleport controls are definitely suboptimal, but when you know how they work (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,21516.msg1407748.html#msg1407748) you get (mostly) used to them eventually. I would recommend not using the teleport mod unless you absolutely can't stand playing the game without it, as it's very crude and has its own problems. First, it removes the delays making the teleport super-spammable and messing up the balance. Second, it makes diagonal teleporting unreliable unless you start moving in that direction before pressing the teleport key.

Another problem with the controls is the sudden speed change after you fully charge the camera with Shift+X, it has cost me many lives.

Also scoring is somewhat opaque. You get all these photo tags but no indication how they modify the score, unlike the previous games.

Pattern recycling didn't bother me that much. I might feel that way because it's been a while since I played most of the games they've been lifted from. There's also recycling of a different kind in the nightmare week. I don't think the gimmick was a bad idea, but many of the combined patterns ended up not really balanced, so yeah, it does feel like ZUN should've spent more time on some of them.

As for the music, I like most of it, but I feel the wrong week's track (Lunatic Dreamer) is a bit too noisy.

Despite some problems I've had a lot of fun with the game. It could be better, but it's still good.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Fluury on September 07, 2018, 09:37:57 PM
Sales(?) seem to be way worse too for it. I hope this doesn't disencourage ZUN on future Steam releases.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Lightmaster on September 07, 2018, 09:42:28 PM
Let's really hope that the chinese people don't screw the pooch, and more people purchase the game so we can give our support to ZUN. That's why I was willing to wait for the Steam release when it got released.

I'm still in Wrong Monday, 2/4 scenes finished. I'm trying to do my best on finishing all the spells.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Drake on September 07, 2018, 10:07:59 PM
I don't think that's a problem. ZUN releases on Steam pretty much specifically for the overseas audience's convenience. The fact that people are buying the game at all is justification for it; there being negative reviews isn't exclusive to players overseas nor is it relevant to ZUN selling it on the platform.
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Fluury on September 08, 2018, 06:12:32 AM
I don't think that's a problem. ZUN releases on Steam pretty much specifically for the overseas audience's convenience. The fact that people are buying the game at all is justification for it; there being negative reviews isn't exclusive to players overseas nor is it relevant to ZUN selling it on the platform.

Well this isn't about the negative reviews, and more about general sales seemingly being bad compared to aocf/16
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: shockdude on September 08, 2018, 05:47:30 PM
Touhou debuting on Steam was pretty hype, which gave HSiFS a really big push in of sales and reviews. In fact for HSiFS the review push was so big that the game became the #1 hidden gem on Steam (https://steam250.com/hidden_gems) for a few weeks. It helped that HSiFS was a pretty good game.
16.5 is a side game so I'm not surprised if it doesn't sell as well. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if side games were less popular than the main games in general.
Though it's also possible that there's people who, uh, previewed the game and decided not to buy it on Steam.
I do agree with Drake that it doesn't really matter whether the game sells well or is reviewed well. What matters is that people are buying VD on Steam.
(https://abload.de/img/vdsteamx8ivd.png)
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Fluury on October 10, 2018, 06:18:58 PM
-snip probably just steam bugging out-
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Deftera Ikari on November 21, 2018, 10:34:18 AM
This game is rather hard... I can say that it's lunatic mode on with special abilities but I can't find an English patch
Title: Re: Touhou Project 16.5 「Secret Sealing Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector」
Post by: Branneg Xy on January 11, 2019, 04:45:37 AM
This game is rather hard... I can say that it's lunatic mode on with special abilities but I can't find an English patch
In my humble opinion and analysis that is one of its main goals.
Touhou (and related) Photography(and Photography-like) /Danmaku genre,with "Violet Detector being indeed the " Prime among them ", does not grant the choosing of difficulty resulting in them having it " implicitly set by the genre,gameplay and mechanics".This result in a strong trend with them being milder during beginnings(tutorials),earlier stages and "even part of the first half,but  the fundamental main difficulty/challenge settings are around Normal/Hard up to Lunatic and more .Those""special abilities" are granted since the "gameplay goals and mechanic" are overall more specialized,unexpected,less known and thus are harsher,in the majority of cases,whenever considered and compared to the Regular genre  by "the standard pf sing scene and encounter" instead of "the standarda series of stages".