東方心綺楼 Hopeless Masquerade (TH13.5) - Discussion

[trancehime]

東方心綺楼 via TASOFRO

Apparently the 13.5TH Touhou game is going to be another Shanghai Alice+TASOFRO collaboration, marking yet another fighting game entry in the series. It appears to sport wildly different character graphics compared to SWR and IaMP, as well as even more changes to the fighter formula.

According to the teaser website, the focus of the game appears to deal with the themes of Faith covered in previous installments of the Touhou series. The small "world" within Gensokyo of humans is plagued with hardship and as such, they became pessimistic. People began to feel hopelessness when the imminence that the future would not change began to approach. Should also be of note that the phrase in brackets (ええじゃないか！) can be translated as "Isn't this great!" The transience of life became accepted and life itself changed to suit this pessimistic style of thinking. Thus, order became chaos. The more devout became aware of these changes, and sought to fix this. Thus, Faith was needed once more. Monks were able to establish temples, Taoists (?) who wished to leave behind their earthly ties and gain immortality and priestesses who wished to be reinstated to their rightful place...

These girls have decided. As such, it was time to declare "It's my turn!"

A charming battle using weaponry of Faith is about to begin.

EDIT: TouhouWiki-ites would probably know about this too. But I wanted to see everyone's thoughts on it.

EDIT 2: My actual take on the story, a more refined version of what I said here as I mentioned in #shrinemaiden:
18:19:52 (trancehime) 18:16:59 (Z-Virus) Someone translated what the voice said as "if nothing you do matters, that means it's okay to do anything". <-- That's the meaning behind the voice
18:20:01 (trancehime) The voice explicitly said ええじゃないか！ which means "Isn't that great!"
18:20:28 (trancehime) そうだ、何も変わらないのなら、何をしても良いんじゃないか？  <-- "If nothing you do changes anything (or matters), then isn't it okay to do anything?"
18:21:00 (trancehime) そうだ、もっと刹那的に生きれば良いんだ。  <-- "It's okay to live life as if you were living your last days." (aka, transience)
18:21:23 (trancehime) So the people started letting themselves go all out, and then everything became chaotic
18:21:51 (trancehime) The religious people took note of this and had to fix the situation and introduce order once again because that screws up a lot of things
18:22:15 (Z-Virus) and they used the chance to spread their religion.
18:22:46 (trancehime) Yes, they took over the people's hearts once more with their teachings
18:22:53 (trancehime) And thus, order was restored to an extent.
18:23:08 (trancehime) Once more, they needed to rehabilitate the gathering of faith
18:23:23 (trancehime) To do this, they set up  a temple, and two important people were needed - a miko and a doushi
18:23:36 (trancehime) This sets the scene for the fightans
18:25:00 (trancehime) The kanji suggests Taoist.
18:25:09 (trancehime) But in the context of the story, I'm not actually entirely sure

EDIT 3: Proofread, saw some errors in my initial readthrough

[HGH]

New fighting game by tasofro. Japanese part of the title is pronounced Shinkirou.





The plot seems to involve the Taoists, Buddhist, and Shinto factions fighting over the human village.

[Sungho]

心綺楼 is probably a pun on 蜃気楼, mirage.

The word used at the last sentence is 信念, which translates to 'belief' or 'creed' or those kind of sorts.
It has little to do with religious faith. I think.

It's great to see that Reimu still has the Ascension Kick.
Else, I wish that it doesn't use too much CPU.

[Chuckolator]

Eh, kind of disappointed it's a fighter, but any new game is a welcomed game regardless. Looking forward to hearing the music.

[trancehime]

The word used at the last sentence is 信念, which translates to 'belief' or 'creed' or those kind of sorts.
It has little to do with religious faith. I think.

No, I don't think it is directly related to religious faith. I agree with you there, but the definition of "faith" with relation to the Touhou series extends beyond simply what is "religious," it is more akin to "belief" of ideal, "belief" in a certain entity.

The translation on the TouhouWiki states it in this manner:

Now, let each of them, wielding their faith as their armament, fight with grace and splendour, stealing popularity and reputation from one another!

And yes, 心綺楼 seems like it'd be a pun off of 蜃気楼, seeing as they have the same reading. 'V'

[Kilgamayan]

Any chance to see Miko beat Byakreun up is one I'll gladly take.

[AnonymousPondScum]

Any chance to see Miko beat Byakreun up is one I'll gladly take.

STEP INTO THE RING WITH ME AND THEN SAY THAT, BUDDY.

[BT]

Any sign of new characters?

[trancehime]

Any sign of new characters?

No confirmations, the best we can do at this point is speculate.

[AnonymousPondScum]

OH GOD THIS MADE MY DAY.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

HOLY ORBS POSSIBLY PLAYABLE MYOUREN CREW PLZ YES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

* Narly Nyuudou Nun detonates in a fit of speculation-induced joy

EDIT: NO I'M NOT EXCITED WHAT GAVE YOU THAT SILLY IDEA.

ZUN and also Tasofro DELIVERS.

[Cadmas]

The plot seems to involve the Taoists, Buddhist, and Shinto factions fighting over the human village.

It begins!

How many bits are those sprites? (or is bits not the correct term?)

[Tamashii Kanjou]

New engine, new style.

Glad to see they're doing this again; and now to wonder if Kasen will make an appearance after missing out on Ten Desires...

A new character(s) would be nice too~ XD

[Shardmobile]

I hope it's more similar to IaMP than SWR/S, but that's just my personal taste.

I'm really loving the new character sprite style. Made me think of Skullgirls when I first saw the screenshots.

[MaStErSpArK94]

Let the hype begin!

Looking forward to this! The new style looks quite interesting.

[Kaze_Senshi]

Hmmm it's a official game with the authorization of ZUN or a fanmade one?

[AnonymousPondScum]

Hmmm it's a official game with the authorization of ZUN or a fanmade one?

It's Tasofro, dude. The guys responsible for the previous fighting game iterations of Touhou. :V

[Stuffman]

HOT DAMN, HD SPRITES? CHARACTER-SPECIFIC METERS? WILL ALMOST DEFINITELY HAVE BYAKUREN AND MIKO?

GETTIN' HYPE

[Sonae]

It's Tasofro, dude. The guys responsible for the previous fighting game iterations of Touhou. :V

Tasofro also made fangames. Such as Patchcon, for example.

[Kaze_Senshi]

It's Tasofro, dude. The guys responsible for the previous fighting game iterations of Touhou. :V

I am newbie at Touhou Universe and noob at fighting games  :V  :V  :V

So this is the first official game that they'll release and I'll witness it as a Touhou fan *-*

[Tengukami]

The notion of having Byakuren and Miko in a fighting game might getting me interested in playing fighting games again. The sprites look a lot nicer, too.

Anything about the mechanics revealed, or will that come to light with the game's release?

So this is the first official game that they'll release and I'll witness it as a Touhou fan *-*

Previous official iterations were Immaterial and Missing Power, and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, plus its expansion.

[Frog]

Oh man what, I was just talking to a friend about wanting a new fighting game today... hopefully this turns out good, very hyped.

[Hanzo K.]

Looks like they couldn't get Alphes, according to the looks of the portraits on the bars.
I wonder who all will be playable aside from Reimu and Marisa, the two in the screenies.

...But more importantly, I wonder when it'll be released.

[marukyuu]

THIS IS AN APRIL FOOLS' JOKE AIN'T IT
*checks date*
WHAT
OH BOY OH BOY I CAN'T WAIT

The screenshots look really good. Those high-res sprites and backgrounds are starting to grow on me.
Also, it looks like Tasofro dropped the spell card deck system from SWR which I never really liked. I'm curious about the new fighting mechanics.

Definitely watching warmly until it is ready.

[Cor]

I'm disappointed that it isn't a shooter, but I'd rather it be a fighter than another StB or GFW. Hope Hijiri is playable and that I can run it on my shitty laptop.

[fondue]

Oh my fucking god it's coming.
So happy. BWEEEEEH I WANT THAT GAME
Is it me or do the sprites look a bit... unusual?
Well if it includes Byakuren and/or Miko then I will get it NOW DOUBT.

[Lepetit89]

I'm not really sure if I like the plot, or rather, the solution for this conflict the religious institutions seem to be opting for. I hope there's more to it.

[Yonowaaru]

So, Touhou Shinkirou? Translation would be along the lines of eastern true beautiful tower/ eastern true cloth tower, I suppose. Doesn't really tell much, eh?
The fact that a new game was announced is still awesome though.

[Hanzo K.]

For once Petit, we share an opinion. I'm of the opinion that they all need to get headbap'd.
(Not like I used Reimu, Sanae, or Suwako much anyhow.)

[Kilgamayan]

Oh yeah.

The title of this game proves just how irrelevant Mima is - Shinki got into a Windows game before she did.

[Cor]

This is Gensokyo, it didn't take a genius to predict the next game would be a battle between 'em. I expected it to be another Phantasmagoria, though. Kinda miffed.

Anyway, I wonder who'll win in the canon ending? It'll be big. No, not trying to start a powerlevel discussion. Just saying it'll have an impact on the storyline. One of them being better than others.