DDC Demo: Touhou Double Dealing Character Demo (Hard Mode)

"Dullahan, rokurokobi, ZUN didn't exactly excelled at differentiating those two."
A video of me sweeping the leftovers of the Double Dealing Character demo as our favorite shrine maiden of Paradise, Reimu Hakurei
Double Dealing Character [Touhou Kishinjou ~ Double Dealing Character (東方輝針城　～ Double Dealing Character, lit. "Eastern Castle of Shining Needles")], is the fourteen game of the Touhou Project series. The Touhou Project is a series of games soon to be like Sonic: the fandom is never satisfied. A pity.
Anyways, a quick voiced Let's Play on the new Touhou game demo. I cannot comment on the music since I really didn't listened to it while I was talking. Gameplay-wise, I liked what I saw. This game is definitely harder than TD, what with the floating head and the wolf chasing you in merely the first three stages. Also, water danmaku is always a pain in the ass.
Mechanically, the game is fairly standard. Only weird thing is the bomb/live collecting, but even that is better than last games. The characters have two shot types, weapon and weaponless. Reimu's can either have her gohei seek people, or her standard sealing needles. Also, DDC version of Fantasy Seal is the most beautiful playable character bombs I've seen. Marisa is your powerhouse, low spread character. Her weapon, the hakkero, attacks with a shotgun range flamethrower and, of course, its bomb is the Master Spark. Otherwise she attacks with Magic Missile and her bomb is Aya's in SA, but it moves forward. Finally, Sakuya's daggers turn bosses into dust. Her bomb is also rather pretty. Her non-weapon is amazingly unexciting. Her weapon bomb is very similar to Nitori's in SA, while her weaponless bomb is a standard full screen wipe.
One thing I said during the game is that the game has a lot of Western influence when it comes to the characters (minus Reimu, obviously). While still for now, the second boss needs a little enlightenment. First of all, I know it's not Edgar Allan Poe. It was the first writer of weird and eerie short stories that came to my mind. Second, the second boss is either a dullahan or a rokurokubi. A dullahan, from what I read, is basically a headless horseman. A rokurokubi is a very human-like youkai whose main distinguishing feature is a very long neck. The second boss, fits both bills. If the translations are correct, the stage itself refers to her as a rokurokubi, but the song as a dullahan. The dialogue put her as a rokurokubi. Maybe she's special and most of her kind don't have full head separation...
The game looks nice and I'm looking forward to the full version. I've been wanting a game with a lot of Western mythological creatures. Granted that doesn't mean I'll get my wish, given how ZUN still have over half the game to break my expectations. Also, it's nice that the Spell Practice is becoming standard. Being able to go directly to the spot where you are having trouble does wonders.
Also, Touhou 13.5, Hopeless Masquerade, was released. I don't think I will be doing much. Fighting games are not my forte and this one seems to have a nonstandard control scheme. And it took me decades to sort of decipher the standard scheme. The last boss does look cool, however. Looking forward to an English translation.
Other than that... damn you ZUN for that third boss. I didn't wanted to deal with that in my tabletop Touhou RPG! I wanted to let the GMs deal with it. Although I suppose it was inevitable given vampires. =_=
And in case you haven't noticed, we already have DDC fanart. My opinion on the characters:
Wakasagihime is a mermaid and she will probably end up quirky like Nitori. There's even fanart with Nitori already.
Sekibanki looks cool in my opinion. Lover her creepy ability and how her design complements it. And she's very cute. Even her dialgue: she is confident on Reimu being a weak human. Upon defeat and expressing surprise, Reimu point at her gohei, Sekibanki reaction is, basically, to sweat drop, laugh half-heartedly, and start to back away. Excluding Ex-bosses and Byakuren, she's the first character I really like at first sight since Nazrin. And I'm calling it now: Sekibanki and Mami Tomoe crossover incoming.
Finally, Kagerou Imaizumi... DAMN THAT GIRL CAN PULL ELEGANCE (Visually at least). Or cuteness I suppose. I really like her design and I'm excited to see what the fandom can do with her. Unfortunately she is probably going toward the cute spectrum due to her dialogue., which is a darn shame.
For more info the Touhou Project, visit the wiki:
www.touhouwiki....

[@LReaper9]

Sensei's back! And kicking ass as usual I see :D

[@Debachi]

Speaking while reading the annotations is nice and you could always add voice commentary to your lunatic plays after capturing videos. I like that ZUN will be expanding the list of characters to include those of Western influence (I respect anyone who accepts all aspects of their culture). Since I'm a secondary fan (I got into Touhou because of your vids and the music) I might try my hand at Ten Desires first if it is easier.

[@hwq99818]

Yay! You uploaded something!

[@thecarrshow3934]

11:11 you are right raak, I listened again and it sounds a lot like the stage 4 theme

[@FleetOfRetribution]

In a folktale collected for his book Kwaidan, Lafcadio Hearn relates that the nukekubi can be misidentified as Rokurokubi, an error that also appears in the Fighting Fantasy book, Sword of the Samurai, and in Stephen Dedman's novel The Art of Arrow-Cutting. Ningyo (人魚?, "human fish", often translated as "mermaid") is a fish-like creature from Japanese folklore.

[@Adoradoradora]

Supongo que después de este video lo habrás seguido jugando, de verdad es tan difícil? Dx A mí me da muchos problemas la última spell card de Sekibanki y la segunda de Kagerou (como boss). Podrías darme algún consejo? D: Buen video, saludos! C:

[@l34512]

Oh, you finally got the videos in 4:3, as opposed to 16:9. Yay, aspect ratios!

[@MisterBeaverSaysNo]

The story you're looking for is The Velvet ribbon by Ann McGovern!

[@lightJason1]

Neck danmaku. Kagerou's theme reminds me of the opening theme of that old horror tv show. Tales from the Crypt.

[@MrMK109]

The latter is correct. ZUN said on the description on Sekibanki's theme that he wasn't sure if rokurokobi was the one with floating head or the elactic neck. To give the man credit, the danmaku trail left behind the head can be seen as a really long neck

[@ReginaRicaeMortis]

Sekibaki is actually a combination of a rokurokobi and an Irish Dullahan, judging from her powers/coloration. Because while her head does detatch, the bullet trail can be the 'spine' whip of a Dullahan, and it does act like a Dullahan's Head. Kagerou is fucking boss and I will firmly put her in the "elegant" category. Badass werewolf.

[@Debachi]

Will try to save up for a copy if I still can get it. Thanks!

[@rollanddev]

Boss Rush patch and more are available on shrinemaiden now. :)

[@craftymage5996]

When you died and all the colors inverted in the wave that went out the only thing to enter my mind when it happened was ZA WARUDO!

[@hjt091]

Also, about Kagerou, she's apparently a were-Honshu wolf, which is why she's Japanese. And 'Sirius' is Greek for 'scorching', so called because it's the brightest star in the night sky.

[@BoleroOFire]

I'm looking forward to the full game, maybe I'll be able to put up some videos since I'll be having some more free time.

[@lordfawful6950]

Some resemblances to PCB, like Sakuya as a playable, and Cirno as the Stage 1 sub-boss.

[@darkkijin]

You know there will be at least a couple though...

[@TheForgottenCherish]

Raak, there's already a picture existing with her and Charolette.

[@lukasi6688]

WOW, touhou 14 is extremely cool!!!! Especially Sekibanki. Flying head is awesome. Not that Orin style werewolf is less cool though >.< Ps. I like your "Oh crap Oh crap"

[@lauraa.w.7090]

Hey, Raak. Assuming that you have seen the remaining bosses in the full game; what is your opinion on them? I am actually rather curious about that.

[@RanYakumoShikigami]

((You can do something about a low framerate, use bandicam, for some reason, it doesn't seem to affect the framerate at all. The free version does have a logo on the top of the screen, but, if you make the recording area taller than the touhou window is, the logo will fall outside of the actual touhou window, so you can crop the video later.))

[@RisingproMK123]

ZUN's taking a look at Western myths? I hope he looks at Greek Mythology, they were very creative with their monsters

[@joetan8000]

I'm starting to think about it. Misty Lake=ESOD. Human Village=PCB(Tohno is not exactly a human village,but still...) Bamboo Forest of Lost=IN So does the following stages be setting from PoFV,MoF,SA and/or UFO?

[@kidedogawa16]

Seriously I laugh hard when I saw the bomb of first Reimu mode, for the first time. Its just like saying "Shoo shoo go away shoo" LOL

[@ShiroiFunBun]

Not rude at all, I don't look into the forum things too deeply. I just believe she fits the perimeters of one far better then the other :3 So I did research, just differently 8D

[@TheForgottenCherish]

Annotations don't show up on phones, sorry about that =w=.

[@kbnet_yt]

You're working on a tabletop Touhou RPG? What sort of system is it? Dice pool? Percentile? d20?

[@CorpseTongji]

Btw, if you play windowed the FPS gets better. I noticed that this game has weird speed issues when full-screened, even with the graphics at normal resolution. Hopefully this gets fixed for the full version.

[@lordfawful6950]

Sekibanki is all about headaches.

[@InzuDraRagna]

My desktop background is one of Remilia Scarlet. I would link it, but KZbin hates links. So if you want to see it, send me a message.

[@MELOD]

"Oh wait that's not a broom" Dude, you're hilarious! Also, if you install Classic Shell or Start Is Back on W8, it instantly becomes a very good OS for desktop and gaming. Most games run noticeably faster in W8 compared to W7, with the best example being Far Cry with over 30% better performance in some unbiased tests. Just ditch the Metro if you dislike it and W8 suddenly becomes way better for everyone.

[@dubbIestep1380]

Is it just me or does the werewolf's theme remind anyone else of Heian Alien?

[@CorpseTongji]

WAOOOOOOOOOOO!

[@Debachi]

In your opinion which was easier when you first played, Embodiment (which is what I get recommended most) or Ten Desires?

[@TheForgottenCherish]

Also, the blue things Kagerou uses don't hurt you.

[@Adoradoradora]

D: Gracias por responderme! ^_^

[@OmegaTaishu]

LOL Nice gameplay!

[@TouhouSignListening]

The thing I hate the most on YT's Touhouclips. People not translating or even showing the talks between the characters. Im someone who watches for the lore in the first place. But I guess I wont dislike this cause the quality is better as most others.

[@zazzzzarifpower]

I hope there's no twilight pun between Remilia and Kagerou ._.

[@Mrwar1992]

Sooooooo are we going to see SA lunatic run as a special x-mas present? xD

[@Coremann43]

Well not to be mean, but if you did you research and checked her talk page on the wiki you would see that somebody else pointed that out. And somebody replied in return that ZUN himself didn't know which one was which.

[@joetan8000]

If your theorey is true,I rather have Suika-Reimu Alice-Marisa Remilia or Meiling-Sakuya just to balance things out

[@ShiroiFunBun]

Nooo~! She's not a rokurokobi, she's a nukekubi q.q the wiki person didn't do their research~! The fact that her ability is to "make her head fly" directly contrasts with the stretching neck of a rokurokobi~!

[@AkumetsuLord]

I wouldn't say Touhou has at Sonic at all...well some games might have been meh/alright to some, its a bit different from what Sonic has put out and its weird story bits (though Generations and colors were cool). Also Sekibanki might be a Nukekubi since the wiki changed her ability is to make her head fly

[@jsthomson42]

The girl with the red ribbon, I think the story's commonly called. I'm pretty sure it's just a lame campfire ghost story.

[@hjt091]

Personally I prefer The Sealed Away Youkai ~ Lost Place to A Tiny, Tiny Clever Commander. That's just my opinion, though.

[@barrick725]

second boss is a dullahan

[@furicuri3]

Why no lunatic?^^ Of couse that would be more time consuming to pull off and harder while speaking... but still... :)

[@midnafan132]

Does anyone else think that Cirno looks a touch... off in this game? Her sprite looks too lanky and goofy to be Cirno...

[@furicuri3]

k... sry. I think I didn't hear that...

[@youmu0501]

Very fast

[@XwLuiswX]

:D