This game as a whole is very solid, but not the most memorable to me. The ost has a few songs that are a bit lacking, but unlike some people I have seen, I would not call it entirely bad. There's some great songs in there, and overall the score is perfectly fine.
The game itself is fair, not particularly difficult nor particularly easy. There's some really fun gimmicks in this game that stood out to me, with a lot more memorable spellcards than the average touhou game. [Seija in particular is very fun, but the lowest hanging fruit to mention]
Resources are also good. You're encouraged to time your resource collection well, as it rewards you with extra life and spell card pieces. While I personally prefer older games bombing/life systems [it being point based+midbosses giving you extra lives/bombs] I don't mind this one at all.
The game itself is fair, not particularly difficult nor particularly easy. There's some really fun gimmicks in this game that stood out to me, with a lot more memorable spellcards than the average touhou game. [Seija in particular is very fun, but the lowest hanging fruit to mention]
Resources are also good. You're encouraged to time your resource collection well, as it rewards you with extra life and spell card pieces. While I personally prefer older games bombing/life systems [it being point based+midbosses giving you extra lives/bombs] I don't mind this one at all.
It's pretty hard.
ES EL NOVENO TOUHOU QUE JUGUE 5 ESTRELLAS
The PoC system makes the stages of this game way more engaging than most. Music slaps, stage 4 forward is hell though.
Thankfully the games mechanics are very easy to take advantage of and makes the Lunatic 1CC quite easy to get over with.
Thankfully the games mechanics are very easy to take advantage of and makes the Lunatic 1CC quite easy to get over with.
oh lord she smol
Touhou
Yeah its pretty solid. I don't think it has much super stand out about it though. It isn't bad by any means but it defiantly just sorta feels a bit lacking in aspects. The boss fights especially had some really annoying gimmicks. Seija's control flips are infamous, but the Tsukumo sister's stage gimmick of lighting everywhere I found far more distracting and disorienting.
PS. Use Sakuya A, she absolutely cooks every boss in the game its nuts. Love her for that.
PS. Use Sakuya A, she absolutely cooks every boss in the game its nuts. Love her for that.
TLDR - This game has so much swagger and is so fun go play it.
ouble Dealing Character kicks off the 3rd and most current generation of mainline Touhou games on Windows. It is at this point in the series where the series starts to feel modern, the past of no visible hitboxes and (relatively) low resolutions. ZUN started exploring the style of each game here, or at least started doing it well. What once felt like "gimmicks" in SA and UFO now feel like style, undeniable personality these games are flowing with that dominates the fell of the 3rd Windows Generation. Double Dealing Character sets the expectation of what it means to own the concept of style. This game isn't the most notable on the surface, the patterns aren't as absurd as LoLK, the difficulty isn't as looming as UFO, the gameplay mechanics aren't as in depth as UM, however, it excels at polish in gameplay feel, presentation, and having the best self-contained plot in the series. In every aspect of the game you get a unshaking feel of professional execution. This isn't to say that this game is some higher art and transcends the scope of the series, it is still a Touhou game, but through and through it is excellent.
ZUN has really honed his craft by this point in the series and I feel this is the last tried and true, pure to the Touhou formula game in the series and I believe the effort, precision and quality are shown best through the natural progression of the game. During stage one, you visit an area seen often before, the Misty Lake, but it now looks and feels modern, and the music sounding more realistic, using more natural sounding instruments. These more natural and "earthy" instruments are consistent through the game, making the feel of the soundtrack stand out in comparison to most of the series, focusing more on execution and tone more so than bombastic melodies or insane pace that other soundtracks are known for. Some of my favorite songs from Double Dealing Character are Magical Storm, Illusionary Joururi, The Shining Needle Castle Sinking in the Air and Primordial Beat ~ Pristine Beat. All of the aforementioned tracks are more low-key in production but all add to the atmosphere of their respective sections in the entry, Primordial Beat getting special mention for incorporating Raiko's main feature, drums, for the solo of the song, creating an even more thunderous atmosphere for the Extra boss.
With Raiko being mentioned, it is hard to ignore the strength of the latter half of the cast of Double Dealing Character. Benben and Yatsuhashi being a personal favorite pair of the genre of characters that show up in pairs. Seija being one of the coolest characters in the series, so much so ZUN thought that he could make a spinoff with her (Impossible Spell Card). Personally Shinmyoumaru isn't fantastic to me but I can't deny her danmaku being interesting and her motives are fun to play with and consider for the entire hierarchy of Gensokyo. Raiko leaks swagger like a broken faucet and is a joy to fight and look at. Not to mention there's not a single design in this game that isn't interesting to look at or marvel. These characters all have that sense of individuality that looms over this entire game. I wouldn't say any of them are lacking love design wise or personality, they all fit in with the overarching theme of this game being society being flipped on its head. With that theme being considered, these designs aren't overtly glamorous or colorful (outside of Seija lol) but have the sense of quality and planning put into them, which in turn makes them all feel thoroughly fleshed out.
Visually this game is fantastic, the Misty Lake return already being mentioned in how revitalizing it feels, but the same applies to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. The stage, in all aspects feels like playing Imperishable Night stage 4 all over again with a modern twist. And with IN Stage 4 being one of my favorite stages in the series, is an extremely fun call back. The storms that crash upon Stage 4 and the Extra Stage have fun elements of music syncing with lighting crashes on the stage, and a real sense of motion moving above the skies of Gensokyo. But obviously the greatest visual piece in this game is the Shining Needle Castle, the intro to Stage 5 with the castle being actively flipped and the stage enemies spawning in what seems to be an upside down pattern is one of the most memorable moments in the series and still takes my breath away sometimes. While flipping is being mentioned, obviously Seija does it too, and its fun there as well. Visual clarity in this game is fine too, no real complaints about it. The danmaku in this game looks fantastic, Banki throwing her head around, Shimmy making her bullets big and then making you big afterwards is fun, Seija flipping everything is fun too, great overall.
Gameplay wise, DDC is in a bit of a weird spot. The patterns and raw difficulty of dodging is rather high, but the main gameplay mechanic is extremely intuitive and abuseable almost. This is where I mention how busted half of the shot types in this game are; for each character in this game you get the choice of using a cursed weapon with them or not. For Reimu this is her Gohei, Marisa it is her Hakkero, and Sakuya it is her knife. Each character has something busted. Reimu A can tap focus with her Gohei out to keep it over a boss to melt them quicker than intended. Marisa B has a bomb where you can farm life pieces with it if used correctly. Sakuya A has the second best survival bomb in the series that can refund you a bomb eventually with enough uses. Everyone has something busted, which in a way makes sense with the plot, instruments are being put on top of society so of course instruments used by the MC's would be better. This added tool of busted shot types and rather abusable way to gain lives in this game don't make it too tough to 1CC, but it does require some commitment to route. The main mechanic of this game is rewarding the player with either a spell card fragment or a life piece dependent on how many items are collected at the Point of Collection. This mechanic isn't a drastic, gameplay changing one like the mechanics in UFO or UM, but it is there and is constantly on the players mind on how to utilize it. I'd call it classy in execution and feel, it feels fantastic to chain life pieces from jiggling around the POC and rewards routing to find when the best times to go to the POC are.
Classy is the best way to descibe this game in my opinion, everything feels classy and polished, nothing extremely foreign to the series (outside of the screen FLIPPING), but this is done well. The old stuff is polished and feels modern, and the new stuff added feels like logical continuations of standards set in the series. I don't believe ZUN was trying to go back to basics with this game, unlike he deliberately stated for HSiFS, although how I'm describing this game it may seem like it. I believe his goal was more to set the standard for the modern Windows generation. That standard being a focus on building on what the past 13 games had laid the groundwork for and making these games still feel unique, even after (at that point) 17 years of installments. And in this he succeeded. DDC is fantastic, a great starting point for those turned off by early Touhou crust. DDC set the standard for what it means to be "modern" for a very in concept and practice at times archaic series.
ouble Dealing Character kicks off the 3rd and most current generation of mainline Touhou games on Windows. It is at this point in the series where the series starts to feel modern, the past of no visible hitboxes and (relatively) low resolutions. ZUN started exploring the style of each game here, or at least started doing it well. What once felt like "gimmicks" in SA and UFO now feel like style, undeniable personality these games are flowing with that dominates the fell of the 3rd Windows Generation. Double Dealing Character sets the expectation of what it means to own the concept of style. This game isn't the most notable on the surface, the patterns aren't as absurd as LoLK, the difficulty isn't as looming as UFO, the gameplay mechanics aren't as in depth as UM, however, it excels at polish in gameplay feel, presentation, and having the best self-contained plot in the series. In every aspect of the game you get a unshaking feel of professional execution. This isn't to say that this game is some higher art and transcends the scope of the series, it is still a Touhou game, but through and through it is excellent.
ZUN has really honed his craft by this point in the series and I feel this is the last tried and true, pure to the Touhou formula game in the series and I believe the effort, precision and quality are shown best through the natural progression of the game. During stage one, you visit an area seen often before, the Misty Lake, but it now looks and feels modern, and the music sounding more realistic, using more natural sounding instruments. These more natural and "earthy" instruments are consistent through the game, making the feel of the soundtrack stand out in comparison to most of the series, focusing more on execution and tone more so than bombastic melodies or insane pace that other soundtracks are known for. Some of my favorite songs from Double Dealing Character are Magical Storm, Illusionary Joururi, The Shining Needle Castle Sinking in the Air and Primordial Beat ~ Pristine Beat. All of the aforementioned tracks are more low-key in production but all add to the atmosphere of their respective sections in the entry, Primordial Beat getting special mention for incorporating Raiko's main feature, drums, for the solo of the song, creating an even more thunderous atmosphere for the Extra boss.
With Raiko being mentioned, it is hard to ignore the strength of the latter half of the cast of Double Dealing Character. Benben and Yatsuhashi being a personal favorite pair of the genre of characters that show up in pairs. Seija being one of the coolest characters in the series, so much so ZUN thought that he could make a spinoff with her (Impossible Spell Card). Personally Shinmyoumaru isn't fantastic to me but I can't deny her danmaku being interesting and her motives are fun to play with and consider for the entire hierarchy of Gensokyo. Raiko leaks swagger like a broken faucet and is a joy to fight and look at. Not to mention there's not a single design in this game that isn't interesting to look at or marvel. These characters all have that sense of individuality that looms over this entire game. I wouldn't say any of them are lacking love design wise or personality, they all fit in with the overarching theme of this game being society being flipped on its head. With that theme being considered, these designs aren't overtly glamorous or colorful (outside of Seija lol) but have the sense of quality and planning put into them, which in turn makes them all feel thoroughly fleshed out.
Visually this game is fantastic, the Misty Lake return already being mentioned in how revitalizing it feels, but the same applies to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. The stage, in all aspects feels like playing Imperishable Night stage 4 all over again with a modern twist. And with IN Stage 4 being one of my favorite stages in the series, is an extremely fun call back. The storms that crash upon Stage 4 and the Extra Stage have fun elements of music syncing with lighting crashes on the stage, and a real sense of motion moving above the skies of Gensokyo. But obviously the greatest visual piece in this game is the Shining Needle Castle, the intro to Stage 5 with the castle being actively flipped and the stage enemies spawning in what seems to be an upside down pattern is one of the most memorable moments in the series and still takes my breath away sometimes. While flipping is being mentioned, obviously Seija does it too, and its fun there as well. Visual clarity in this game is fine too, no real complaints about it. The danmaku in this game looks fantastic, Banki throwing her head around, Shimmy making her bullets big and then making you big afterwards is fun, Seija flipping everything is fun too, great overall.
Gameplay wise, DDC is in a bit of a weird spot. The patterns and raw difficulty of dodging is rather high, but the main gameplay mechanic is extremely intuitive and abuseable almost. This is where I mention how busted half of the shot types in this game are; for each character in this game you get the choice of using a cursed weapon with them or not. For Reimu this is her Gohei, Marisa it is her Hakkero, and Sakuya it is her knife. Each character has something busted. Reimu A can tap focus with her Gohei out to keep it over a boss to melt them quicker than intended. Marisa B has a bomb where you can farm life pieces with it if used correctly. Sakuya A has the second best survival bomb in the series that can refund you a bomb eventually with enough uses. Everyone has something busted, which in a way makes sense with the plot, instruments are being put on top of society so of course instruments used by the MC's would be better. This added tool of busted shot types and rather abusable way to gain lives in this game don't make it too tough to 1CC, but it does require some commitment to route. The main mechanic of this game is rewarding the player with either a spell card fragment or a life piece dependent on how many items are collected at the Point of Collection. This mechanic isn't a drastic, gameplay changing one like the mechanics in UFO or UM, but it is there and is constantly on the players mind on how to utilize it. I'd call it classy in execution and feel, it feels fantastic to chain life pieces from jiggling around the POC and rewards routing to find when the best times to go to the POC are.
Classy is the best way to descibe this game in my opinion, everything feels classy and polished, nothing extremely foreign to the series (outside of the screen FLIPPING), but this is done well. The old stuff is polished and feels modern, and the new stuff added feels like logical continuations of standards set in the series. I don't believe ZUN was trying to go back to basics with this game, unlike he deliberately stated for HSiFS, although how I'm describing this game it may seem like it. I believe his goal was more to set the standard for the modern Windows generation. That standard being a focus on building on what the past 13 games had laid the groundwork for and making these games still feel unique, even after (at that point) 17 years of installments. And in this he succeeded. DDC is fantastic, a great starting point for those turned off by early Touhou crust. DDC set the standard for what it means to be "modern" for a very in concept and practice at times archaic series.
peak touhou
why the fuck would you invert my inputs who the fuck had this stupid idea haha that was so funny haha no it wasn't you fucking fuck fucker fuck fucking fucking fuck fuck fucker fucking fucker fuck fuck
The final stage and final boss' themes are way too good and that's the main reason for the high score, plus the overall game quality at this point.
Fuck Seija's gimmick spells and the giant one as well.
Fuck Seija's gimmick spells and the giant one as well.
the first good touhou game (IN and DS are alright but i wouldnt call them good)
sakuya A is funny
this is NOT the first time i played this, wish backloggd had that button like letterboxd does
i played this while streaming to my friends so i somehow managed to fuck up an easy modo run beyond compare because i was too distracted talking with them to focus on the game
sakuya A is funny
this is NOT the first time i played this, wish backloggd had that button like letterboxd does
i played this while streaming to my friends so i somehow managed to fuck up an easy modo run beyond compare because i was too distracted talking with them to focus on the game
Total count for 1cc on Normal: 9
Character used: Reimu A
After the fiasco we got on Ten Desires, ZUN delivers us a fucking good game for once.
Double Dealing Character, second game of the Fourth Era of Touhou Project, this time, our girls are noticing that Youkai and even non-sentinent tools are acting weird and causing havok so they go to investigate this new incident.
We have 3 characters this time: Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya, each one with 2 shoot options, enchanted tool and non-tool, similar to Ten Desires we have an unfocused shot which is shared between the shoot types and a focused shot which is different depending if we are playing with the enchanted tool or not.
The other gimmick introduced is regarding the Border Line item collect, depending on how many items we get in one go, we get bomb pieces and life pieces repeating at a cycle of five times.
This is a personal favorite and a pretty good game despite some patterns being kinda bullshit (Kagerou and Seija) and also is one of the buggiest games in the entire series, Sakuya A can kill bosses on their spellcard preparation time and Reimu A can do ABSURD amounts of damage sometimes.
Character used: Reimu A
After the fiasco we got on Ten Desires, ZUN delivers us a fucking good game for once.
Double Dealing Character, second game of the Fourth Era of Touhou Project, this time, our girls are noticing that Youkai and even non-sentinent tools are acting weird and causing havok so they go to investigate this new incident.
We have 3 characters this time: Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya, each one with 2 shoot options, enchanted tool and non-tool, similar to Ten Desires we have an unfocused shot which is shared between the shoot types and a focused shot which is different depending if we are playing with the enchanted tool or not.
The other gimmick introduced is regarding the Border Line item collect, depending on how many items we get in one go, we get bomb pieces and life pieces repeating at a cycle of five times.
This is a personal favorite and a pretty good game despite some patterns being kinda bullshit (Kagerou and Seija) and also is one of the buggiest games in the entire series, Sakuya A can kill bosses on their spellcard preparation time and Reimu A can do ABSURD amounts of damage sometimes.
A really solid return to form, even if a little plain with no enemies having anything to do with the plot until Stage 5 which is unusually late for a Touhou game. Marisa breaks the game's resources in half but it's still a solid time and better than TD at the very least.
Several really fun and interesting new mechanics, those being the new reward multiplier thing when collecting items, and the special weapons for each character. All of the weapons feel very different from eachother and bring entirely different ways to play with them. (For Marisa however the only different way to play is not playing, her unique weapon kinda sucks sadly. MarisaC from MoF was not missed.) Playable Sakuya is always really good for bonus points too, thanks ZUN. Fun bosses, interesting themes, and a return to independent incidents. Overall, a very fun game.
Primordial Beat~Pristine Beat is one of my favorite themes for the series, really damn good and love the percussion for once, definitely a standout for the soundtrack of this game. I know I said fun bosses but god I couldn't go without talking about Seija. Flips your damn screen and shoves you in a washing machine. The fight is a bit scary but it's still honestly pretty fun and is very unique, out of the large pool of unique stage 5 bossfights.
Primordial Beat~Pristine Beat is one of my favorite themes for the series, really damn good and love the percussion for once, definitely a standout for the soundtrack of this game. I know I said fun bosses but god I couldn't go without talking about Seija. Flips your damn screen and shoves you in a washing machine. The fight is a bit scary but it's still honestly pretty fun and is very unique, out of the large pool of unique stage 5 bossfights.
Completed Any%, Non 1CC, plan to 1CC on future attempts.
My favorite way of getting resources in the entire series. Touhou 11 is cool with rewarding you for playing well and all, but damn.. this game is peak.
Cool
I hate Seija : D
I hate Seija : D
pretty cool scoring system but the story is pretty whatever and seija and shinmyomaru were the only two of the cast that really stuck out
Hilarious but also scuffed as hell, Shimnyoumaru and Seija gave me ptsd
Banging OST, just alright game.
In a big game franchise, there's always a couple of games that, to you, make you go "Oh yeah that happened". DDC is that to me and the Touhou series
Don't get me wrong, this game is great. A nice plot, and some really good gameplay. The gimmick this time has to do with getting your resources from the Point of Collection line and how many collectibles are on screen, which is not as bad as it sounds. The difficulty curve is pretty good, I would say it's an easy game if it weren't for the Stage 5 boss. Be warned, your muscle memory is about to be abused with that boss. OST is ok, it's kinda weird how sometimes I can't discern what song is from TD and this one. I really just don't know why it's so forgettable to me. It's great, but I just keep reminding myself that it even happened...
Don't get me wrong, this game is great. A nice plot, and some really good gameplay. The gimmick this time has to do with getting your resources from the Point of Collection line and how many collectibles are on screen, which is not as bad as it sounds. The difficulty curve is pretty good, I would say it's an easy game if it weren't for the Stage 5 boss. Be warned, your muscle memory is about to be abused with that boss. OST is ok, it's kinda weird how sometimes I can't discern what song is from TD and this one. I really just don't know why it's so forgettable to me. It's great, but I just keep reminding myself that it even happened...
THE GIRLS ARE REVOLVING. Some great girls in this one; I love when Zun draws a girl uwu blushy as she talks about cutting and stabbing people(see also: wolf youmu). Most people don't get it right. The spell cards are very sharp in this one with some pretty fun ideas on display. The treat collecting is really fun, I love being rewarded for risky play.
Seija is the worst, this game is terrible, 1 star.
Seija is the worst, this game is terrible, 1 star.
It's so difficult to explain the story to this one in a way that doesn't sound like some wild far-right conspiracy, but bear with me. Without getting into a lot of the folkloric specifics, Seija is a sort of demon and is naturally contrarian, opposed to whatever the nearest person thinks and whatever the current order of things is. Shinmyoumaru is a tiny little inchling who is basically peaceful, but being an inchling she's able to use the miracle mallet that grants wishes. Seija convinces her to try and reverse the oppression of the weak by the strong, and this is causing normally peaceful yokai to attack humans, tools to come to life, etc.
The thing that saves this, if anything does, is that the conflict has nothing to do with humanity. The playable girls only get involved because they're being affected as a byproduct. This makes me think of the in-universe purpose of the setting of Gensokyo, which is perservation. The protagonists are always inherently acting as defenders of that status quo. Change is accepted often, but only to find a new equilibrium. Despite that, a lot of the endings involve the player characters joining Seija's resistence, or considering it, or worrying that the others will join it. In a few, they become influenced by the tools they have that were given a will by the miracle mallet. The humans are basically depicted as entirely reactionary, in other words. They are preservers of the current order, but also live within it and are affected by it.
I don't wanna be any of the people who try to essentially project their politics onto ZUN because I don't know the man, but as always I find in the text here a deep fascination with the past and with myth and with the place humanity has as individuals within it. Maybe the whole thing is just owning me for the very act of trying to find a way to map human society as I understand it onto something that was designed without that in mind, knowing that I can twist it into any interpretation with only a little effort. After all, the very modern conservative interpretation is easy, but the game after this was a spinoff where literally everyone starts trying to arrest Seija by literally cheating, and I can write the anarchist interpretation of that in about five seconds it's so simple.
Anyway I love the characters and their theme songs but there are a bunch of annoying gimmicks like messing with your hitbox and shaking the screen so this isn't my favorite one of these. Still cool.
The thing that saves this, if anything does, is that the conflict has nothing to do with humanity. The playable girls only get involved because they're being affected as a byproduct. This makes me think of the in-universe purpose of the setting of Gensokyo, which is perservation. The protagonists are always inherently acting as defenders of that status quo. Change is accepted often, but only to find a new equilibrium. Despite that, a lot of the endings involve the player characters joining Seija's resistence, or considering it, or worrying that the others will join it. In a few, they become influenced by the tools they have that were given a will by the miracle mallet. The humans are basically depicted as entirely reactionary, in other words. They are preservers of the current order, but also live within it and are affected by it.
I don't wanna be any of the people who try to essentially project their politics onto ZUN because I don't know the man, but as always I find in the text here a deep fascination with the past and with myth and with the place humanity has as individuals within it. Maybe the whole thing is just owning me for the very act of trying to find a way to map human society as I understand it onto something that was designed without that in mind, knowing that I can twist it into any interpretation with only a little effort. After all, the very modern conservative interpretation is easy, but the game after this was a spinoff where literally everyone starts trying to arrest Seija by literally cheating, and I can write the anarchist interpretation of that in about five seconds it's so simple.
Anyway I love the characters and their theme songs but there are a bunch of annoying gimmicks like messing with your hitbox and shaking the screen so this isn't my favorite one of these. Still cool.
If you invert my inputs during my 1cc run I'm going to steal something from your fucking house !!!
Touhou rating: 7.5/10
What a journey, definitely one of my favorite Touhou Project games.
I'm really glad this wasn't too gimmicky like UFO and TD, really loved how the Border Line feature was handled and would like to see it in another game.
Music was great and the cast was pretty nice.
Though, some bullet patterns were too much chaotic for my liking. Also, this is one of the most glitchy 2hus out there, Reimu A and Sakuya A can pretty much break the game in half.
Overall, DDC was a fun experience.
I'm really glad this wasn't too gimmicky like UFO and TD, really loved how the Border Line feature was handled and would like to see it in another game.
Music was great and the cast was pretty nice.
Though, some bullet patterns were too much chaotic for my liking. Also, this is one of the most glitchy 2hus out there, Reimu A and Sakuya A can pretty much break the game in half.
Overall, DDC was a fun experience.
1cc normal
sakuya eu te amo
conhecido como o jogo mais bugado da serie
unico jogo que eu realmente me diverti jogando, os bosses morrem relativamente fácil e rapido principalmente se souber explorar os bugs
musicas no geral medianas com algumas boas
nivel 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ICZ0AAgDuA
boss 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23bGDZx2OPU
sakuya eu te amo
conhecido como o jogo mais bugado da serie
unico jogo que eu realmente me diverti jogando, os bosses morrem relativamente fácil e rapido principalmente se souber explorar os bugs
musicas no geral medianas com algumas boas
nivel 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ICZ0AAgDuA
boss 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23bGDZx2OPU
Nunca fiquei com tanto medo da minha hitbox aumentando e a minha tela virando em 90 graus antes. De resto, mto bom
You Grow Bigger will be there to greet me at the gates of hell for wanting to have premarital hnd holding with Sakuya