Hypothetical Touhou MMO Ideas

[Sakuyafan22]

I don't know why, but I've been thinking that a Touhou MMO would actually be a good idea.
Such a thing would be expensive to attempt, yet it would definitely be a hit in a genre that hasn't had much success in recent years.
But what would all of you like to see in such a project if some brave soul had the capital to make the venture possible?

For me, I would like something where exploration, worldbuilding, dungeon crawling and discovery was front and center.
The player would customize their character and then be free to roam an open world sandbox while making their own choices with few restrictions.
Official characters can be encountered as quest givers or bosses in instance dungeons.
There might even a minor faction system as well since not every youkai eats humans and not every human is terrified of youkai;
not to mention the religions that make up a large part of Gensokyo's society.

Professions would give the players certain skills and buffs, but wouldn't prevent them from learning other professions.
Rather, players can choose different skills that compliment their builds or they can simply pick whatever they like casually.
I wouldn't involve player leveling or any other feature that makes players grind pointlessly for hours.
I know some people like it and it keeps the players engaged, but let's face it, all it does it block off content until the game says you can progress.

Many quests could be given and completed in the typical fashion, but I like the approach Morrowind used for it's quest system.
Sometimes you genuinely encountered part of the quest by accident, which made it feel more organic.
I wish other developers did this so that questlines didn't feel so artificial.

 

[j0depo]

Having a physical Gensokyo to feel the scope of would be great. The other realms and locations like Old Hell and The Netherworld also give cool places to quest.

It'd be complicated, but I'd love if there was a Spell Card system where each player character could have a custom one. It'd be affected by their class and certain perks/add-ons would change how it affects you, allies, or enemies. Everyone's would be different (though meta spell card builds would likely emerge).

 

[Sakuyafan22]

It'd be complicated, but I'd love if there was a Spell Card system where each player character could have a custom one. It'd be affected by their class and certain perks/add-ons would change how it affects you, allies, or enemies. Everyone's would be different (though meta spell card builds would likely emerge).

Maybe there could be a spell card tree where the player initially has access to the skills of their class with neutral abilities that allowed a limited connection to the trees of other classes.
These skills can then be compiled into at least three custom cards that the player can equip.

Perks would be the icing on the cake that give spell cards a powerful effect that could be equipped to a single card.
At first the perks the player finds aren’t as strong, but have access to better abilities through quests or a trainer NPC.

 

[Cafelas]

I think it'd be pretty cool! It could be a way for TH fans to meet up and explore. Doing dungeons or quests together ccould be fun!
I'd like to see some retro era areas ngl, maybe reworked or something?

 

[Sakuyafan22]

I think it'd be pretty cool! It could be a way for TH fans to meet up and explore. Doing dungeons or quests together ccould be fun!
I'd like to see some retro era areas ngl, maybe reworked or something?

With some tweaking to the writing, the PC-98 Era locations would easily fit into the modern Windows timeline.
I don't see any reason why the locations of both versions wouldn't coexist.
You'd get the best of both worlds at once if done properly.