start date: 8/12/23
normal 1cc: 8/13/23
written: 8/13/23
i'm back again! were you expecting my return so soon? cause i wasnt :P
nina's thoughts on Touhou 13 - Ten Desires
ok, i definitely did not expect to be writing this so soon. after the training arc of MoF and SA i think the return of real proper bombs to touhou has made me a monster. do you want to know how many runs it took me to 1cc this one? SIX! i might need to graduate to playing these games on hard difficulty... UFO to me made since cause they made getting extra lives super easy, but they cut down hard on extra lives in TD so i don't even know. i feel like i barely even know this game, but its done already.
the basic gameplay is pretty similar to UFO, minus obviously the UFOs. instead theres a new pickup system in Divine Spirits that pop out of enemies and fade away in a few seconds unless collected. there are 4 types of Divine Spirit, 2 common and 2 rare. the two rare types are Pink and Green and are pretty much just life pieces and bomb pieces with a different coat of paint, although you need a lot more than 5 of them now, starting at 8 for a full life/bomb and increasing in cost every time. the common types of spirit are Blue and Grey, blue ones increase the worth of point items, and grey ones increase your trance gauge (i think all spirits do, but grey ones do it better).
the trance gauge itself is pretty weird, when you get hit by a bullet you go into a trance which increases your damage and makes you fully invincible for up to 10 seconds depending on your gauge, and then you die when it runs out. alternatively, if your trance gauge is full, you can manually go into trance, which doesnt kill you when it runs out. its pretty much either a really strong get-out-of-spellcard-free move, or its a weird inbetween mood of "welp im dead in a few seconds, might as well see how much damage i can do"
in terms of playable characters, TD is very similar to Imperishable Night, having 4 choices with 1 moveset each, those being two seperate weapons taped together based on focusing. Reimu to nobodys surprise has homing shots and needles when focusing. Marisa has illusion lasers when focusing shoots magic missiles, although these are more like Nitori's missiles than Marisa's own. Sanae is back again but sadly doesn't get either of her cool weapons from last game, instead having a wind-based shot that goes wide normally and turns into a weird helix shape when focusing. and the 4th option is Youmu returning out of nowhere, although it makes sense given that the Netherworld is involved in this games plot. she has the weirdest weapon, with her unfocused shot being like MoF!Marisa's trailing options, and her focused shot being that you don't shoot while focusing, instead while you hold down focus you charge up a powerful sword slash that you unleash when you stop focusing. the sword charge is a really cool idea and is reminscent of how she played in PoFV, but while in that game her sword deleted bullets, it doesn't do the same here, making you feel really vulnerable. i want to like Youmu's moveset, but im just not a fan. granted, i only played as Youmu one time. i played each character once, then gave Marisa a second shot, then gave Sanae a second shot and got my 1cc. Sanae's weapon set is probably my preferred one just cause it feels like it synergizes the best, but Reimu is good too.
for the new characters,
i gotta give shoutouts to the trans icon Toyosatomimi no Miko. She's the reincarnation of Prince Shoutoko, a Japanese historical figure who apparently used to be on the ¥10,000 note, who somehow ended up in Gensokyo and when coming back to life decided "i think im a girl actually". she has the ability to hear the desires (of which there are 10) of those she talks with, and is able to judge their character and motivations through them. however, shes a terrible listener when it comes to actual conversation, and frequently talks past people.
Kyouko is a pretty fun character. although she doesnt do much in this game, in external media she becomes besties with Mystia from IN and they form a punk band together, which is just amazing. if you go to one of their concerts you will almost certainly go deaf considering Kyouko's power is basically to shout things very loudly into the distance. they must get so many noise complaints.
like UFO im having trouble deciding on a third pick. Yoshika is a cool Jiang-shi with an interesting mechanic in her fight where she will summon divine spirits and then eat them to regain health, becoming basically unkillable if you don't grab the spirits before she can.
Mononobe no Futo also has some fun attacks, i love how she just randomly jumps onto a boat for some of them, and her final spellcard "Saint Card「 Oomonoimi's Banquet」" is a really fun pattern to dodge, spinning in circles while avoiding the cards flying at you.
final thoughts on TD, uh... it sure is a game! i like how it uses returning characters like the netherworld duo, and Kogasa again lol. the divine spirits and trance gauge are just kinda eh, and the playable character movesets are also kinda eh. i hesitate to call it bad, but its certainly not ranking highly imo.
thanks for reading! i have no idea what the rate of these posts is going to be like, we'll have to see how i handle #14. until next time!