Free game recommendation: Touhou Wandering Souls
So I have gotten HOOKED on this freeware PC game. And it's weird... because as I try to describe it... there are so many things that are red flags. Things that if I read that in the game description, I wouldn't touch the game with a 10-foot pole.
The game is called Touhou: Wandering Souls
To start with... it's a beat-em-up. And I hate beat-em-ups. They're typically just boring button mashers. But it's more than that. It's a weird combination of Beat-em-up, Bullet Hell (google if unfamiliar), Fighting Game, Platformer, and RPG. And it blends them all perfectly.
Despite being a beat-em-up... it isn't a button masher. This sounds a bit like an oxymoron, I know. And while you do have to hit the attack button a lot... the game actually takes a lot of strategy. Just going up to guys and mashing attack will get you through maybe the first 5 levels... then you better get your shit together.
It's based on a crappy girly anime. And while this does lead to a plot that is as retarded as you'd expect... there is some funny dialogue... and cool "cutsie" art.
Also.. it's made in RPGMaker. But if I didn't tell you that.. you'd probably never guess. The game is extremely polished, fluid, responsive, well designed, and well programmed. About the only problem with it is the screen size isn't customizable (it's just windowed @ ?640x480? or fullscreen). Everything else is commercial-game caliber.
And this game is surprisingly big. I went through on "Hard" (which is really medium difficulty), and put 10 hours in before reading the 'end'... at which point you go through the levels again, but with newly unlocked characters, new items, and more/different/new enemies.
But yeah... this game is nuts. Crazy fun. I highly recommend it. It's one of the freshest games I've played in a long time.
Here's a youtube video of a trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvJMlDIvf_o
Note that the trailer, while it kind of looks cool, really cannot capture just how fun the game is. It doesn't really do it justice.
The download link is in the video description. But here is the direct link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/5m925egubtbey04/Touhou+-+Wandering+Souls+v1.02.rar
The game is called Touhou: Wandering Souls
To start with... it's a beat-em-up. And I hate beat-em-ups. They're typically just boring button mashers. But it's more than that. It's a weird combination of Beat-em-up, Bullet Hell (google if unfamiliar), Fighting Game, Platformer, and RPG. And it blends them all perfectly.
Despite being a beat-em-up... it isn't a button masher. This sounds a bit like an oxymoron, I know. And while you do have to hit the attack button a lot... the game actually takes a lot of strategy. Just going up to guys and mashing attack will get you through maybe the first 5 levels... then you better get your shit together.
It's based on a crappy girly anime. And while this does lead to a plot that is as retarded as you'd expect... there is some funny dialogue... and cool "cutsie" art.
Also.. it's made in RPGMaker. But if I didn't tell you that.. you'd probably never guess. The game is extremely polished, fluid, responsive, well designed, and well programmed. About the only problem with it is the screen size isn't customizable (it's just windowed @ ?640x480? or fullscreen). Everything else is commercial-game caliber.
And this game is surprisingly big. I went through on "Hard" (which is really medium difficulty), and put 10 hours in before reading the 'end'... at which point you go through the levels again, but with newly unlocked characters, new items, and more/different/new enemies.
But yeah... this game is nuts. Crazy fun. I highly recommend it. It's one of the freshest games I've played in a long time.
Here's a youtube video of a trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvJMlDIvf_o
Note that the trailer, while it kind of looks cool, really cannot capture just how fun the game is. It doesn't really do it justice.
The download link is in the video description. But here is the direct link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/5m925egubtbey04/Touhou+-+Wandering+Souls+v1.02.rar
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I don't know what this game is but it has Touhou in the title and it's freeware so why not?
Woah there bro. You might get assaulted for that...
| It's based on a crappy girly anime. And while this does lead to a plot that is as retarded as you'd expect... there is some funny dialogue... and cool "cutsie" art. |
Woah there bro. You might get assaulted for that...
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@Cheraphy: I've never played any other Touhou games before... this style usually is a big turn-off for me. But I dunno... there's just something about this game that is crazy addictive and fun.
I'm a fan of that style, but I'm a sucker for cute things. There's a reason I became a brony :P
| It's based on a crappy girly anime. And while this does lead to a plot that is as retarded as you'd expect... there is some funny dialogue... and cool "cutsie" art. |
i tried it out and it was actually quite fun. is it possible to get the source?
I mostly glance over platform beat-em ups, especially free ones, because they all end up feeling the same in the end. But your description has me intrigued. I find that when this genre gets away from the single button and single attack formula that 90% of them share it quickly becomes an amazing game; Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Marvel Ultimate Alliance are some of my favorites mostly because of this seemingly simple consideration. The notable exception to this is of course Jade Empire, I have no idea how this one game pulled off the single button masher formula when every other game before it failed so hard.
I'm at work right now so it will be a few hours before I can try this. My only concern is the art style, I'm usually critical about the 'cutsie' stuff personally but I'll give it a try.
I'm at work right now so it will be a few hours before I can try this. My only concern is the art style, I'm usually critical about the 'cutsie' stuff personally but I'll give it a try.
| I find that when this genre gets away from the single button and single attack formula that 90% of them share it quickly becomes an amazing game |
Yeah. I feel the same way.
This game can get surprisingly involved.
The idea is, you have your primary attack which has 3 different variations. In addition to that, your equipped weapon has different 'skills' that are triggered with 'fight-move' style button combos. IE: up,right,attack, or left,right,left,attack.
On top of that, you eventually get elemental souls which allow you to cast magic spells which do a bigger attack... or recover life... or up your attack power, etc etc.
You also get equipment which boosts your resistance to elements and status effects, or makes certain attacks stronger, or does other weird stuff.
Everything levels up the more you use it. As weapons level up they get stronger and more 'fight-move' skills are unlocked. Even the skills themselves level up the more you use them.
You start the game with 3 characters, and can switch between them in-game. As you play with one, the other two slowly recover health/magic/stamina. All 3 have different attacks, different skills, and different magic.
After you get through the first part of the game, you start unlocking even more characters.
Plus there's a whole elemental aspect to it. Some skills are elemental based... so like a fire attack would do more damage to enemies weak to fire.
And there a half-dozen different status effects as well. Getting 'frozen' hinders your movement, getting poisoned causes your health to drop, getting stunned sort of knocks you out so you can't move for a few seconds... you can get weakened... or muted so you can't cast spells (or "mustim" as the game calls it), etc. And with the right skills/magic you can do all that to enemies, too.
Then there's the bullet hell aspect of it. Bad guys typically fire dozens of projectiles. And while you can block a certain amount of damage... you can only block so much before your 'block gauge' expires and then you can't block for a bit. So mostly you have to dance around and dodge stuff while sneaking up and smacking baddies when you get an opening.
The baddies also can pull off big 'skill' moves and/or magic attacks which are often even more dangerous.
That's on top of these "yin-yang" enemies that are not really enemies (you can't hurt or attack them), but are just like these floating things that do nothing but fill the screen with bullets and/or giant laser beams.
It's crazy. You just have to try it. It seems simple at first, but it quickly becomes much more interesting. Everything is introduced to you gradually so as not to be overwhelming. And the difficulty ramp is perfect.
Probably my only complaint is how the writer(s) felt the need to use "kekkai" instead of "barrier".
Otherwise, the game is really fun. The secrets are just hard enough to find without being obvious, and the game lets you figure things out on your own. I fear trying to play the game on a difficulty harder than normal, though, rofl.
Otherwise, the game is really fun. The secrets are just hard enough to find without being obvious, and the game lets you figure things out on your own. I fear trying to play the game on a difficulty harder than normal, though, rofl.
I'm trying it on Lunatic difficulty. It's definitely hard, but is do-able if you're good at the game.
Is it possible to change the difficulty anywhere (say, new game+ or some such option), or do you have to start a new game?
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