CountVonNumenor

I was not expecting to see this thread resurge, but uts nice to see some of my older posts alive again

Touhou LostWord is dead [Well, the game is still going, but I stopped played about a couple weeks ago] I have stopped playing the game about a couple weeks ago. The process of parting ways started three weeks ago, with the receival of a new phone, on which I have decided not to install LostWord. I did continue not playing a little bit on emulator, but then I stopped for good. And one of the reasons for doing so, outside sheer boredom and repetitive nature of the game, was due to the fact I have been playing it in parallel with another game - Azur Lane. In the following bit, I will answer a number of questions/criteria based on my experience playing that game until now: 1) "15 minutes maximum on dailies. If you take more than this, I will drop you so fast" Daily missions are very fast. Once you 3-star clean a stage, you can auto-play skip it next time, getting the rewards directly. 2) "at least decent writing. Bad writing puts me off a lot" I am not very familiar with the game writing, as I have skipped every cutscene until now. Therefore, I have no idea how good it is. However, I know a few things: the main campaign is just a retelling of the Pacific War from American perspective, except with ship-girs instead of the actual warships Operation Siren is the second campaign, which I guess is supposed to be the war against the alien invasion events - I have skipped the lore for pretty much all of them, but apparently some tend to be more serious, while others are silly miscellaneous (Secretary quests, campaign missions, etc) - still, I do not know how well they are written, although some of the Quests end up with the involved character getting some personality development character personalities - kind of bland, usually characters represent a type of personality, to which the writers are trying to add some references to the history of that warship to make it more appealing to the history nerds playing (such as myself...) 3) "challenge content must be optional or not intensely grindy. I’m no pro" There is not too much challenge content in the game, as far as I am aware. Meta Showdown exists, but it is completely optional, and it still offers you the same amount of points whether you won or lost. Events may have special stages once you finish the main story, but those are optional as well (the only thing you may play them for is to get some shiny decoration) 4) "gacha system with good rates. I shouldn’t feel like a max rare character is unobtainable without whaling" I would call the gacha here generous enough. To be fair, given the huge number of characters and the fact I am unfamiliar with most of them or how good they are on some supposed Tier List, I am just happy to get whatever. Especially during event banners, it is actually very easy to get different kinds of interesting units (after all, in full honesty, I am playing Azur Lane more as a waifu collection game rather than something very serious; whatever comes, very well). Plus, it is interesting that you can get units from outside the gacha as well - such as from cleaning levels/"dungeons". They may not be good units, but even weak units have their use as enhancement fodder or method to get exchange currency. 5) "no overtly sexualized designs that I constantly have to see. A couple is okay, but I don’t wanna shoulder check every time I open it" Yeah, this is where Azur Lane utterly fails. Personally, I am ok with a number of designs in this game, but I can perfectly see why some people are completely put off. I do have my own limit, don't get me wrong. And definitely prefer when characters are not having exaggerated proportions, barely wear any clothes, or are nothing but fapping-bait. Probably one of the weaker aspects of the game if that's not your cup of tea. Combined with shallow personalities/personalities made to be more fanservice rather than acting like a realistic person... yeah Quick-fire round of notes: I see that the animal theme seems to be mostly, if not exclusively applied on the design of Japanese warships as for other "assets", that is rather universal; increased assets usually go to the bigger displacement warships (the bigger/heavier the warship class, the larger the proportions), despite there being some exceptions both ways big booba/hips/thighs usually go to sometimes heavy cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers (of course, with exceptions - looking at you, Nagato...) smaller/loli proportions are usually allocated to small warships - submarines, torpedo boats, destroyers and light cruisers (of course, with exceptions here as well - looking at you, whole Dido-class light cruisers and others...) some ships do stay in medium proportions/lack of exaggerations, but those tend to be more rare I still like Ise though. Ise is fine as she is, at medium premium (image from the anime adaptations) 6) "good gameplay. I like team building and strategy mainly" I am not very familiar with what means "good gameplay" in such games, but from experience until now, I really did not have any issue right now with team building. I can still win any stage until now with whatever combination of units, and I like that the game actually encourages you to build a full 6 characters party (compared to LW, where you an still nuke with just 1 unit in the pasty). As for harder content, the game usually gives you a "Recommended" function, in which it auto-assigns the strongest units you have. Which is pretty useful, to be honest.

Oh no, looks like I promised something again, yet did not come to actually fulfill that promise...

EPILOGUE: It's been almost a year since the opening post. It looks like Blue Archive has scored again the highest at the Comiket in terms of content creator panels, at over 1700 (compared to the 766 Touhou had). I guess more power to them, especially if they are apparently as liberal with fan-made content as I may have heard. It does not make me want to try out that series, but it's interesting how things evolve. On a different note, it's impressive how Touhou can still have hundreds of panels even now, at over 20 years since the series came to be.

Oh shit, it's been a long time since I posted something here. As I am in that part of the year when my hype for Amagami gets back to high charts, I might be doing something for Christmas. I am not sure yet if it will be a more substantial comment part of this thread, or if I will write a new, special thread in which to put things into perspective (like a "Retrospective: Amagami"). That could be easily helped if I am also watching SS+ Plus, just to wrap up things nicely and have the whole series completed...

Looks like I am back at the Shrine, but not with something I would have liked to talk to as one of the "rare instance of CvN coming back to the Moriya Shrine". However, as I do not think this will be visible anywhere else, I will just do it here: I have been using Pinterest for many years now (probably at least since 2019), but in recent times the platform started to have a lot of issues with the filtering of content. I wanted to express my own point of view on the situation on the dedicate subreddit, but surprise, surprise, my thread has been automatically removed the second I clicked "Post". And since no moderator actually answered since my original attempt at trying to contact them, I guess my second best option was to post in a place I am familiar with and perhaps would have helped make the situation a little more visible. Therefore, buckle in, this is going to be an experience of all times... (the original thread can be found here) I am a monster... ..at least in the eyes of Pinterest. A bit over a couple week ago, another user was talking about the issue of Pinterest reporting art for being... well, art. (second attempt at posting this thread; first time it was automatically removed, and I am still trying to figure out why) In the past month, I have started my own collection of art. Paintings that are usually found in museums, art galleries and the sort. But as I was adding new content to the gallery (either saved from other users of the platform or uploaded from Wikipedia), I ended up getting drowned in content violation reports. To be fair, it is partially my fault, as about half the collection represents nude paintings, and Pinterest really has been on the offensive recently against such content. However, if checking out the content guidelines posted by the guys themselves, it says very clearly that "[...] nudity in paintings and sculptures and in science and historical contexts is OK".* I did get quite a of reports, but the account is still running. For each violation report I got, I sent an appeal. In about 80-85% of the cases, Pinterest changed the status from "adult content" to safe. At some point, the whole board in itself was put under Limited Distribution, but following an appeal, it became perfectly safe somehow... The closest thing to that kind of content I have put was a painting by Courbet, and that was AFTER the reports started flowing just so I could take a piss on this whole situation. And it's not like I was posting outright porn images/videos and/or hentai like other users used to do (speaking of which, why did there use to be so many accounts with seemingly Indian-sounding names that were done solely for that kind of content?). I remember that, among the people who decided to follow my content, one of them was a gateway towards all the content to the kind as he was subscribed to thousands of accounts posting porn. My rule of thumb on Pinterest has been, at least until earlier this year, that "you are always 2-3 accounts away from finding porn". Recently, I have not received any new content violation report, so I guess they might have just given up? Or at least gave me a break. At least the attacks on classical art have ceased for now, but I still do understand why would they go after something anyone could see if they went to an art museum/gallery. That EU transparency report sure must have scared the shit out them... And since still on the topic of content rating, following all those reports, I have a single question: how did "La perle" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau end up being rated safe, while "The night accompanied by the geniuses of study and love" by Pedro Américo remains "adult content", I have no idea... (on a similar note to other people that got stupid repots, I also had a few for stuff like a painting depicting the battle of Dybbøl as "graphic violence" - and which Pinterest refuses to put back even now after appeals, and an the image of two tank miniature figurine kits, also blocked for "graphic content" - this time however, they did have at least one neuron left and put it back) UPDATE since the original attempt at posting: the period of calm is over. Reports are coming in again, and I am facing more and more the situation of a post having been reinstate after appeal, but getting reported again not long after. tl;dr - not even art is safe anymore With this in mind, I am not very sure what to say about the use of the platform. I am not really going to get out of it due to the sunken cost, and the fact I have worked for 3 years to build a Touhou fanart archive worth of over 26K images at the time of writing this thread. But in case the platform might decide to go more harsh and outright ban me, I am preparing contingency plans: mass download of all images, along with backups of the website through Internet Archive/Wayback Machine. I hope next time I can come back with something more positive. *Directly quoted from the community guidelines, "Content safety" section

As time goes on, I am honestly feeling like I am getting closer to ending my deals with Touhou and moving further as I am losing more and more interest for it and what is going on. One of the few things that still keeps me on is the time and intensity of emotions spent for 3 years already. And yet, I am still saving images, and talking about it with people (despite being much more interested in other series right now)...

I really wish to reactivate this thread. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to read the recommended book, as I could not find it. Now though, I do not even remember its name...

Oh, I think I should have posted this some time ago. The 2023 take on Catherine:

Well, this did not age well.... Due to a series of allegations and a sentence he needs to serve, Stringstorm will not be up for quite a while. And probably his reputation will be on tatters as well. The story of what happened... is not very nice. Therefore, I am not sure of that song will be coming at any point. An Utsuho song, as well as one about Shinmyoumaru did come out before the accusations, and there was still a project related to PCB. Meanwhile though, there are lots of random one-off animations coming from western creators. Usually short, but still very good and fun. Similarly, I really wonder what Touhou reference will Sr. Pelo's yearly Spooky Month come up with this time around...

Oh god, its becoming ever so clear that I a either completely losing touch with this series, or at the very least suffer from a bit of a burnout. And what better sign of goin through a burnout than the fact that I am barely active on this forum anymore. I think I have mentioned that already as one of the points in the opening post, but now I really do feel like a mere shadow of what I used to be (known for) on this forum, and no longer live up to my reputation... I really need to get some time to reply on everything you guys have written here.

As I have already mentioned, I feel like recently I have lost touch with the music group's works. Following the Sekibanki song, I have not listened to anything new from them. Therefore, I have lost (or rather decided not to check out) over half a year of music...

Oh wow, it's been a while. Only now I saw how much I actually wrote in the last reply...

I do not even k ow what happened in the Doremy song. To be fair, I have not listened to anything new from this group since the Sekibanki song (Rock'n Rock'n Beat)

Coming out tomorrow:

That reminds me way too much of this honestly:

News round-up Oh wait, there's nothing really interesting happening in this game. Mostly event reruns and more character alts being shoved into the EoSD (A6) universe (we just got EoSD Youmu and Yuyuko these days...) At least the DanKagu successor has been released, even if I have not heard anything of that game ever since... End notes Just as I realized, I have not updated this thread for over half a year. To be frank, with all the boring bullshit and/or repetitive activities going on in the game, I really did not feel like there was any incentive to keep going. Things got so bad that I even got to the point where I am skipping story and event cutscenes - something I would have thought unacceptable to do just a year prior. I still keep playing the game, but by now it is mostly due to sunken cost fallacy. Meanwhile, I have tried out other games, and I am just 1 step away from completely uninstalling it and saying "Fuck it, I'll just go play Azur Lane instead" (which I already started since May - oh, the irony; going from mocking the game to playing it unironically...). Because at least that other one keeps being interesting, and when making the transition from LW, you realize how backwards the Touhou-themed game is (also yes, AL players are rather spoiled and always eating well - from huge cast to events that contain mini-games to a more interesting way of pulling, upgrading and enhancing characters, and an abundance of Live2D animations that are more than just a floating GIF). It may also be a bias on my side, but I would still say that AL is a superior game to LW. But that may also be from being an independent IP, supported by a big company that can pump tons of money into it to make the game as flashy as possible. Surely, it is very silly, stupidly hyper-sexualized game at some points, and with some stuff that you would prefer not to have been in your game, but it is still much more entertaining than whatever is going on right now in LW (even if I still have my love for Touhou as a series and universe). I kept making jokes earlier this year that LW earned its 2 million players after 3 years. Meanwhile, AL got 5 million players ON THE JP SERVER ALONE in a matter of weeks after release. So there's that... A game that just came from a non-existent until that moment IP managed to beat a game made under the logo that had 20 years of fame and recognition. Not that it makes the game automatically superior, just an interesting bit of data to put into perspective. Anyway, good luck and see you another time. Peace!

It's been over 24 hours since the results were published, but only now I got the chance to write something on the topic. Honestly, this year I am very content with the results. Last year, I remember that at first I was a little disappointed by the EoSD stomp over everything, but it was rather understandable given the symbolism of last year (20 years since the beginning of the Windows game series). But this year, it seems like things did not repeat for PCB (Youmu scored 4th place, and Yuyuko scored 10th). Now, I am quite curious to see what next year will bring... (credit for the tables goes to Maribel Hearn, who translated the results at super-speed just after the official publish) Probably one of the most interesting things is the fact our two main characters, Reimu and Marisa, have taken the first two places. I do not when this happened last time, but it must have been quite some time ago. Flan and Koishi are still keeping strong, same with a few more of the SDM cast. I will not say too much about music, because these are results that never change, and probably never will. I think we expect UN Owen, Septette or Hartman to be in the first 5 songs until the heat death of the universe... And on a more personal note, things are going not so bad. The characters I have cheered for seemed to either keep their spot or slightly go up, with some exceptions. At least compared to last year, they are performing a little better. ALSO AKYUU WENT UP BY 1 POSITON, AND KOSUZU BY 4? DAMN, THEY BE DOIN' NUMBERS! I am so proud of them. Big OOF though for Hecatia, and especially Raiko. They deserved more... Anyway, what do you thing about this year's results? Are you satisfied with them? Has any of the characters you have voted for gone upper or lower in the charts? Is there anything you wish could have changed? Tell your thoughts about this edition, and see you until next thread (whenever that may be...)

Again, thank you for your service!

An interesting development - not only has Surnist returned to YouTube, but he also blessed us with his own take on a review for Memories of Phantasms: OH BOY ITS OVER 1 HOUR LONG Well, this is gonna be an interesting watch for sure, given the video mark points...

Coming back to this with a very fresh instance. Well, it looks like the "no game end spoilers" rule is still heavily reinforced. Right now (or rather said a few minutes ago) I saw AspreyFM play Touhou 19 (he's finally doing it), and he keeps hiding the screen or censor it whenever a game ending is shown.

Just as I have taken a look at the Steam page of the game for Romania. Here the price is 14.76 Euro (or 16.16 USD). It's about 2 Euro more expensive than any other of the previous games available.

I have not really caught up with the game news and what is going on. Could you please explain what happened? Outside the fact the game came out and what the character roster looks like, I have absolutely no idea of anything else. I have not played the game either, and probably won't do it given that bullet hell is not really my cup of tea when it comes to video games. So I'm listening, why is this "the worst game launch in Touhou history"?

I would have liked to leave a reply this evening, but it seems like it got late in the night, and what I was going to write would have been rather lengthy. I hope I can get back to is as soon as possible, and actually write what I wanted to say. This whole thread has hit way too close to home, and it reminds me too much of things that either happened or are happening to me right now. That entire feeling of loneliness is way too relatable, and I have also been fighting myself (a feelingly losing battle) against it.