Randomness Thing

Whats this we have here? A post? I daresay it has been quite a while since I’ve last made a post. There have just been too many things to do that I really don’t want to do. I still have yet to fill out my only college application and I haven’t even tried to find a new job yet. Things just got really real on me really quick so please try and cut me a little slack.

Today’s long overdue post is on Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object. It features some old game elements, a few new ones, and three playable characters; Hakurei Reimu, Marisa Kirisame, and Sanae Kochiya. It’s been well over a months since I played the game so my review will be a bit sloppy and I’ll probably have to resort to the Touhou Wiki again, though I try not to.

This game, unlike the previous ones, reintroduced the old bomb system of a set amount of bombs, which I like very much. A new twist on this game is the UFOs that certain enemies drop upon destruction. There are three different colored UFOs that the player can pick up and depending on which ones are picked up different enemy UFOs will appear that the player can destroy for either points, bombs, or life fragments. The system is easy enough to abuse with a little patience. I managed to scrounge up well over ten bombs with this system but I don’t use them very much with the way I play.

Rumors have been circulating around Gensokyo of a mysterious flying treasure ship. Each of the three girls have their own reasons for going off to find it. Marisa for treasure, Sanae to learn how to hunt Youkai, and Reimu for being Reimu.

The first confrontation in the pursuit of the flying treasure ship is Nazrin who came from the flying object yet denies its existence. She is also looking for some sort of pagoda that houses a great deal of power. Nazrin also happens to be one of my favorite characters because of her theme and the fact that she is unique in being a mouse Youkai.

The next obstacle is Kogasa Tatara whose goal is nothing more than to frighten or surprise people. Unfortunately for her she picked the wrong Youkai hunters to try and surprise.

Upon catching up to the ship the girls are intercepted by Ichirin Kumoi and her familiar Unzan who resembles an angry and old reddish pink cloud. Ichirin states that she is trying to revive a certain somone and that the UFOs the girls have been collecting are vital to her goal and a battle ensues.

Inside the ship the girls encounter the captain of the ghostly ship, Murasa Minamitsu who is my other favorite character from this game also from her theme and the fact that she is total badassery. Murasa tells the girls that the ship is bound for Hokkai and that it is a one way trip. The fact that the girls have collected so many UFOs which power ship causes the ship to already begin its path towards Hokkai.

Before very long, just outside Hokkai, the player runs into Nazrin again, who has found what she was looking for – the Bishamonten pagoda. After defeating her a second time, Shou Toramaru appears. Now that both the pagoda and the fragments are together, the revival can begin. Shou tells the player that they are trying to revive a “saint” who has been sealed for many years – a person who helped both humans and youkai, and was punished because of it. After defeating Shou, the player opts to help revive this person, since they’re already there and everything.

The final confrontation occurs deep within Hokkai where Byakuren Hijiri has been unsealed. The player’s job is to exterminate youkai(or, in Marisa’s case, to prioritize protecting humans), so Byakuren disagrees – she is an ally to both, and treats both equally. The player defeats Byakuren in a long battle, and the story ends on peaceful terms, as she and Murasa cruise around Gensokyo in the ship for a while before settling down and rebuilding Byakuren’s original temple.

However, the mystery of the UFOs hasn’t yet been solved. Marisa discovers that upon opening one of them, a snake comes out and the UFO turns into a piece of wood. The girls take off once again into the night sky to figure out what’s going on. Kogasa reappears in the process, again attempting to surprise the player. After that, the strange flying object appears again and transforms into a youkai named Nue Houjuu, who was the one that disguised the fragments. Apparently the player was the only one who saw the UFOs as UFOs – the enemies the player fought against knew that they were actually pieces of the ship. After defeating her, she explains that she was originally just trying to mess with Murasa’s efforts to revive Byakuren, but the player caught her interest, so she ended up helping the player out too.

I never actually managed to beat the original storyline without a continue, though I only played through it once. Byakuren killed me. Lasers with bad hit detection are not my friend, especially when they arc around in strange patterns. All in all a good game. The next post should follow shortly unless other things come up. I happen to be well versed in the next game as I have played it extensively. Until next time.