Game balance feedback

[Swordsdeer]

(Although these matters are more suitable to discuss on Discord, my account was banned for being mistaken as a bot.)

Alright, I’ve invited a Chinese Vtuber to play Taisei. Her name is Kirisame Odo, and she is a Touhou Lunatic-level player who achieves NoMiss and NoBomb runs. She seems to have significant criticisms regarding the game’s balance. Specific details will be elaborated slowly once the stream replay is available.

[Swordsdeer]

（Bilibili homepage: space.bilibili.com/4861197）

[laochailan]

Thanks for spreading Taisei! :) Happy to hear any feedback.

[Swordsdeer]

Replay：bilibili.com/BV1PqnDzXEbw

[Swordsdeer]

To summarize, there are two main issues:

1. The bullet patterns are overly intense and difficult to distinguish. Both she and other viewers in the stream have raised doubts: "Did you even test whether these bullet patterns can be dodged by human players under NoBomb and NoPowerSurge conditions?"

2. The Power Surge mechanic is significantly harder to understand and control compared to Hyper systems in other STGs. However, clearing Taisei relies too heavily on Power Surge, leading to a situation similar to Touhou 12: the developers found it very straightforward, but other players are complaining extensively.

[Swordsdeer]

There are a few other minor issues:

1. It would be best to create an in-game manual.
2. The character models you drew look a bit odd. Would it be more suitable to adapt afens' illustrations into Live2D? (Similar to ZUN's approach.)

Other than that, there's nothing else. She mentioned that as a free Touhou fan-made STG, Taisei is actually quite decent, and whether changes are made or not doesn't really matter—as long as you're enjoying the process. Personally, I think it's truly impressive that you've been able to dedicate so much effort to Taisei over the years... I considered giving some suggestions, but decided against it in the end.

[laochailan]

Thank you for translating the comments! Also sorry you have trouble with accessing discord.

I agree an in-game manual would be helpful and the character models are a known weakness. Live2D is a good idea though, maybe we can make it work (although I still think hand animation with better skill would look best)

Concerning the other points: In our design we did not take power surge into account as a tool to clear bullets. It was actually a rather late addition to the game. Beating the game without it should be possible. At least for older versions there are some no-bomb no-surge clears on youtube.

However, this does not mean that our patterns are readable, especially for first time players. If there are specific points where this criticism applies, it would be helpful to point them out.

[Swordsdeer]

(Sorry for disappearing for about half a month due to exams and building a new PC, but I’ll get the translation done as soon as possible!)

Alright, we're back—let's keep talking about the issue then.

[Swordsdeer]

1. There are two highly counterintuitive mechanics in Taisei (compared to other games): first, Power Surge cannot cancel out a miss; second, why using a death-bomb consumes two bombs ...

(If I were to design Power Surge, I might make it somewhat like the Supernatural Border from Touhou 7—it could cancel a miss, and grant a score bonus if it runs its full duration... That way, it wouldn't be too easy nor too hard.)

[Swordsdeer]

2. Reimu B is way too weak and desperately needs a buff.
   (I'm heading to bed now; I'll talk about the other issues tomorrow.)

[Swordsdeer]

3. An old issue: some items obstruct the field of view too much. Accessibility Improvements (Colour & Contrast Balance) #198