- Innovative freezing mechanic defines gameplay
- Overall positive game experience
- Excessive and unfair difficulty
- Problematic ice barrier mechanics
- Poor and unintuitive controls
- Short, branching stages
Emotions
Players feel satisfied primarily due to the innovative and well-implemented bullet freezing mechanic, which offers a unique and fun gameplay experience. This satisfaction is enhanced by mastering the game's mechanics, the engaging story, high-quality music, and the overall value and replayability of the game, often leading to a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment.
Excitement stems from the game's unique bullet-freezing mechanic, which provides a tense and challenging experience. Players are also excited by the game's overall quality, its strong connection to the Touhou series, and the fun, addictive gameplay, particularly when playing as the powerful main character, Cirno.
Frustration is mainly caused by the game's high difficulty, which includes challenging bullet patterns and instant defeat scenarios. Poor control schemes, uncomfortable button layouts, and occasional bugs also contribute to player frustration, sometimes leading to physical discomfort or confusion during gameplay.
Players appreciate the game's innovative freeze system, high-quality music, and distinctive art style. There is also significant appreciation for the developer, ZUN, and the community, recognizing the game as a hidden masterpiece with careful design and thematic connections.
The game's high difficulty is a significant source of challenge, particularly due to intense and complex bullet patterns. Players find the extra stages and demanding unlock conditions to be especially challenging, requiring mastery of pattern-based gameplay.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 81% · Negative 19%. Score: 19 / 100
Positives:
- Players highly praise the unique bullet freezing mechanic, finding it satisfying, stress-relieving, and exhilarating. This core gameplay element encourages a different approach to bullet patterns and is considered a versatile and fun gimmick.
- The game is widely regarded as an enjoyable, challenging, and compelling experience. Players find it hard to put down, highlighting its creative core mechanics and overall fun factor.
- Players enjoy playing as Cirno, appreciating her unique ice powers and character development. Her dialogue and abilities are highlighted as strong points, making her a lovable and capable protagonist.
- Many consider this game one of the best Touhou spin-offs and a strong contender within the series. Its connection to the 'Touhou Sangetsusei' manga and consistent quality are frequently mentioned.
- The game's music receives consistent praise for its high quality, lively tunes, and catchy melodies. The soundtrack significantly enhances the overall player experience.
Negatives:
- Players consistently report the game's difficulty as abnormally high, even on 'Easy' settings, making it frustrating for both beginners and experienced players. The bullet patterns are described as terrifying, requiring extensive practice and memorization, and often feeling unreasonable.
- The core 'ice power' freezing mechanic is central but has several issues. Specific bullet types (flame, lasers) cannot be frozen, and the system's judgment is strict. The sound effect for freezing is also noted as painful, and the 'No Ice Victory' achievement is seen as ridiculous given the game's design.
- The control scheme is widely criticized for being awkward and uncomfortable. Issues include a bad button layout, the need to constantly switch between rapid-fire and holding for ice, and the demanding finger movements required for basic actions, leading to physical discomfort.
- The game deviates significantly from traditional Touhou experiences, lacking expected features like controller support and featuring bullet patterns that are a departure from the series' usual elaborate beauty. This makes it unappealing to fans of the original games.
- Players have reported several bugs, some of which are severe enough to force a restart of a stage. This negatively impacts the gameplay experience and adds to the frustration.
Gameplay:
- The game features a relatively short campaign with 3 main stages plus an extra stage, but offers multiple routes and branches, providing some replayability. Stages are generally brief, with increasing bullet intensity and new bullet types introduced as players progress.
- The game utilizes a unique percentage-based system for lives ('motivation') and bombs, where 100% equals one unit. Losing a life grants a partial bomb charge, making losses less punishing.
- Players appreciate the character, bullet, and overall graphics design, rating them positively. The game's manual is also noted for providing deeper insights into its unique mechanics.
- Effective use of the freezing ability requires careful timing and resource management, as it takes time to charge and recover. Players must learn optimal activation times and patterns to succeed.
- This point is based on limited and low-quality feedback that appears to be unrelated to the game's actual content, possibly from a different game or a misunderstanding.
Performance:
- -
No data available
Recommendations:
- Many players thoroughly enjoyed the game, rating it highly (e.g., 9/10) and recommending it to others. Several also expressed a desire to support the developer, ZUN, through their purchase.
- The game is considered a masterpiece within the Touhou series by some, offering a distinct experience from normal Touhou gameplay. However, it might not be ideal for absolute beginners to the STG genre.
- The game is recommended for players who already have a foundation in STG (shmup) games or are experienced with bullet hells, as it offers a good challenge with unique mechanics.
- A specific recommendation was made to switch 'Rapid' and 'Fire' keybinds for controller users, indicating a potential quality-of-life improvement.
- One reviewer suggested 'Hifuu Nightmare Diary' as an alternative if not yet played, implying it might offer a different or preferred experience for some.
Miscellaneous:
- This game is a Touhou side story, specifically Touhou 12.8: Great Fairy Wars, and is based on the Touhou Sangetsusei manga. Understanding the plot and universe is enhanced by reading the 'Strange and Bright Nature Deity' manga.
- ZUN is credited for the art and creation of the game, though he reportedly stated that the game was rushed. This provides context on its development.
- Players recommend using translation patches like THCRAP or specific guides for running the game in English or Korean, indicating a need for localization support for non-Japanese speakers.
- The game depicts the leisurely, interesting, and noisy daily life of fairies, including the appearance of popular characters like Luna. The Three Fairies of Light are also noted as cute.
- The game is noted for being shorter than average, with a successful run typically lasting about 20-25 minutes. This might appeal to players looking for a quicker gameplay experience.
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