Info about Black Market of Bulletphilia  ~ 100th Black Market.:

Official game description:
東方Project第18.5弾  
上海アリス幻樂団による弾幕シューティング！  
アビリティカードは普及し、陳腐化し、自分の役目はもう終えるだろう、市場の神はそう言った。  
ーーそして闇市場は開かれた。  
異変は解決されたはずなのに大量に追加されたアビリティカード。  
一体誰が何の目的で!?  
闇市場の調査（＆蒐集）に、魔理沙が単独調査に出る！  
東方Project第18弾  
東方虹龍洞 ～ Unconnected Marketeers.  
の後日談です。  
様々な能力を持つアビリティカードを装備してプレイする所は虹龍洞と同じです。  
虹龍洞とは異なり、ランダム要素が強く、ステージ選択制で一度のプレイ時間は短めになっています。  
繰り返し遊んで、たくさんカードを集めて、ハイスピードな弾幕ごっこと、装備しているカードで変わる攻略性をお楽しみ下さい。  
※ 細かい操作方法などはゲーム内の「操作説明（Manual）」を参照してください。
プレイヤー（自機）紹介
-----------
○普通の魔法使い  
　霧雨　魔理沙（きりさめ　まりさ）  
　Kirisame Marisa  
　種族：人間  
　能力：魔法を使う程度の能力  
蒐集癖がある魔理沙が、闇市場で弾幕ごっことカード蒐集に勤しみつつも、異変調査をします。  
何度も遊んで、魔理沙のようにカード蒐集を楽しみましょう。  
当ゲームは１００回目のコミックマーケットを記念して制作されました。  
おめでとうございます！  
そして、ありがとうございます。

Release date: 14 Aug, 2022

Categories: Bullet-hell, Roguelike, Card-based Gameplay, Character Progression, Collectibles, Single-player, High Score Chasing


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Highly Enjoyable & Replayable (weight 0.56): Players consistently found the game fun, addictive, and highly replayable, often citing a sense of skill growth and satisfaction. Many enjoyed grinding for achievements and cards, indicating strong engagement.
- Engaging Card System & Progression (weight 0.51): The card collection and deck-building system is a major highlight, offering deep strategic customization and a satisfying sense of progression. Players enjoy experimenting with cards, unlocking new ones, and adjusting difficulty through their choices.
- Strong Touhou Roguelike Experience (weight 0.28): The game is celebrated as an excellent Touhou spin-off, effectively blending danmaku (bullet hell) gameplay with roguelike elements. It's considered one of the best Touhou games by many, offering a fresh and engaging experience.
- Excellent Music & Soundtrack (weight 0.27): The game's music received widespread praise for its quality, catchiness, and ability to enhance the gameplay experience. Many tracks, especially the title and mid-stage themes, were highlighted as particularly good.
- Engaging Magic Circle Mechanic (weight 0.16): The magic circle mechanic adds depth to gameplay, allowing players to earn currency, evade bullets, and engage in strategic play. Mastering its use is seen as a satisfying challenge.
- Accessible & Flexible Difficulty (weight 0.14): The game's difficulty is noted as 'elastic' and adjustable, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced players. The card system allows players to tailor the challenge to their preference, making it forgiving or punishing as desired.
- Charming Marisa Focus (weight 0.13): Players enjoyed playing as Marisa, appreciating her character, comments, and how the game design encourages a 'greedy' playstyle akin to her personality. The focus on Marisa adds to the game's charm.
- Appreciation for ZUN's Experimentation (weight 0.1): Reviewers appreciate ZUN's willingness to experiment with new mechanics and concepts, particularly with the card system. His continued updates and efforts are well-received by the fanbase.

Common complaints:
- Excessive Grinding & Repetitive Gameplay (weight 0.99): Players are forced into tedious, repetitive grinding of early stages to progress, unlock cards, and increase stats. This loop is described as boring, monotonous, and a significant detractor from the game's enjoyment, making the overall experience feel like a chore rather than fun.
- Frustrating Randomness (RNG) (weight 0.8): The high degree of randomness in boss appearances, wave patterns, and card drops is a major source of frustration. Players often have to restart runs repeatedly to encounter specific bosses or obtain desired cards, making progression feel like a 'gacha' system and undermining strategic play.
- High Difficulty & Lack of Balance (weight 0.76): The game's difficulty is perceived as high and often unfair, especially for new players or without specific cards. Enemies are described as damage sponges, and certain bullet patterns are deemed unavoidable, leading to frequent deaths and resets. This contributes to a painful and frustrating experience.
- Poor Danmaku & Stage Design (weight 0.4): The bullet patterns (danmaku) are criticized for being uninspired, simple, and often reused from previous games. Stages are described as long, monotonous, and lacking impactful sections, contributing to a boring and uninteresting gameplay experience.
- Lack of Content & Polish (weight 0.34): The game is perceived as rushed, lacking in story, new music, and character interactions. After completing stages and collecting cards, there's little to do, leading to a shallow experience. This lack of polish and content makes the game feel incomplete and not worth its price.
- Overpriced for Content (weight 0.3): The game's price point is considered too high given the perceived lack of content, repetitive gameplay, and overall quality issues. Players feel it does not offer sufficient value for its cost.
- Unsatisfying Roguelike/Card System (weight 0.27): The card and roguelike elements are seen as poorly implemented, with many cards being useless or uninspired. The system often forces specific builds, lacks flashy combos, and doesn't provide the exhilarating progression expected from roguelites, making card collection a grind rather than a rewarding experience.
- Magic Circle Gimmick Flaws (weight 0.23): The central magic circle mechanic is criticized for being poorly executed. It's often not fun to use, can be difficult to aim, and sometimes even detrimental, as it doesn't clear bullets and can worsen situations. Overpowered magic circle builds also limit viable playstyles.
- Poor Touhou Spinoff Quality (weight 0.21): Many players feel the game falls short as a Touhou spinoff, lacking the charm, elaborate patterns, and overall quality expected from the series. It's considered one of the weakest entries, with design choices that contradict what fans enjoy in Touhou games.
- Visibility & Spawning Issues (weight 0.11): The game suffers from poor bullet visibility and problematic enemy spawning, with enemies appearing too close or without warning. This contributes to unfair difficulty and a frustrating gameplay experience.
- Persistent Boss Marker Bug (weight 0.11): A significant and reproducible bug causes the boss indicator to be consistently misaligned, shifted off-center. This issue has persisted for an extended period, impacting player experience and indicating a lack of timely fixes.

Gameplay feedback:
- Roguelike Danmaku Structure (weight 0.41): The game features a roguelike danmaku structure with stages composed of randomly ordered enemy waves and bosses. Players progress by clearing waves, purchasing cards, and defeating a boss to complete a run, encouraging repeated play.
- Card Unlocking & Progression (weight 0.41): Progression is heavily tied to unlocking new cards and card slots by repeatedly clearing stages and defeating bosses. This system allows for customization and gradually increases player power and strategic options.
- Magic Circle Core Mechanic (weight 0.37): The magic circle is a central ability, replacing traditional spell bombs. It slows bullets, deals damage, and is crucial for earning 'bullet money' by grazing. Its strategic deployment and cooldown management are key to success.
- Touhou Series Comparison (weight 0.21): The game is a Touhou side-game and direct sequel to Touhou 18, offering a different gameplay experience from the main series. It presents a higher challenge than some Touhou titles, with later stages approaching Lunatic difficulty.
- Pacing and Difficulty Curve (weight 0.2): The game has a generally slower pace compared to main Touhou titles and lacks difficulty settings. While early stages are easier, difficulty increases progressively, requiring skill and card acquisition for later stages.
- Achievable Completion Time (weight 0.08): Despite the roguelike nature, all achievements can be obtained relatively quickly, with estimates ranging from 5 to just over 20 hours, even for beginner players.

Performance notes:
- Stable performance, no crashes (weight 0.05): Players reported a generally stable experience with no slowdowns or game crashes during gameplay, indicating good optimization for most environments. This suggests a reliable core game experience.
- Crashes during screen transitions (weight 0.05): Despite general stability, some players experienced crashes specifically when transitioning between different screens. This indicates a potential instability point that needs addressing.
- Numerous visual and text bugs (weight 0.03): Several players encountered various bugs, including incorrect titles, flying fonts, mispositioned boss health bars, and incorrect names for bosses and player characters. These issues suggest a lack of polish in the game's presentation.

Recommendations:
- Mixed Reception for Touhou Fans (weight 0.58): The game receives highly polarized feedback, particularly from existing Touhou fans. While some recommend it as a good entry point or for those who enjoy specific Touhou sub-genres, many suggest that players, especially newcomers, should start with other main series titles or even other roguelike games, indicating it's not a universally appealing Touhou experience.
- Consider Other Touhou Titles First (weight 0.31): A recurring recommendation is for players to explore other Touhou Project works, especially main series shmups, before or instead of this title. This suggests that the game might not represent the core Touhou experience well or that other games offer more value.
- Install English Patch for Clarity (weight 0.03): For English-speaking players, installing the thcrap English patch is highly recommended. This indicates that the game's original language barrier might hinder understanding and enjoyment.
- Suggestions for Improvement (weight 0.02): Some players believe the game could be more successful with longer stages, more bosses, and optimized mid-stage and boss experiences. This points to areas where the game's structure or content could be enhanced.
- Price Point Questioned (weight 0.02): One review suggests the game's price should be lower, specifically around 30 units for a commemorative release. This indicates a perception that the current price might not align with the game's perceived value.

Other player notes:
- Beginner Player Experience (weight 0.07): Newcomers to shooting games and players who typically play on easier difficulties found the game challenging, with one reviewer almost refunding it. This suggests a potentially steep learning curve for less experienced players.
- Desire for Translations (weight 0.05): Players are requesting Chinese translation, and some have managed to play through trial and error despite not understanding the text. This highlights a need for broader language support to improve accessibility.
- Magic Circle Mechanic Feedback (weight 0.05): The 'Magic Circle' mechanic is noted for making the game feel similar to 'Fairy Wars'. While it lasts longer, it often forces players to reposition, creating a unique pressure point in gameplay.
- OS Compatibility Issue (weight 0.03): There is a specific request for an update to address OS compatibility, indicating that some players are experiencing technical issues related to their operating system.
- Limited Player Progression (weight 0.03): Player growth in the game is primarily tied to acquiring new cards upon clearing stages and expanding card slots/cost after defeating new bosses. This suggests a somewhat linear or limited progression system.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.21): Players felt satisfied by achieving all achievements, clearing the game, and experiencing progress. This was often linked to successfully navigating the roguelike and card systems, discovering effective strategies, and enjoying the game's replayability, flexible difficulty, and music. The core gameplay loop, strategic depth, and ZUN's effort also contributed to this feeling.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.18): Enjoyment stemmed from the overall gameplay experience, including the roguelike elements, challenging shoot-em-up gameplay, and the fun of deck-building and card collection. Players particularly enjoyed discovering powerful card combinations, the innovative gameplay, and the feeling of growth. The game's music, customization, and addictive loop were also significant factors.
- Frustration (weight 0.16): Frustration was primarily caused by poor game balance, random bosses, and technical bugs. Players also experienced frustration due to bullet visibility issues, ineffective gimmicks, and tedious grinding, especially in repetitive or poorly designed stages. The high initial difficulty and issues with money gain and equipment slots also contributed to this negative emotion.
- Disappointment (weight 0.15): Disappointment arose from a perceived lack of content for the price, unmemorable BGM, and unrefined gameplay. Players were also disappointed by the lack of innovation in spell card design, thin scenarios, and overall poor quality of danmaku patterns. The game's execution, despite interesting ideas, and limited build variety also led to this feeling.
- Anger (weight 0.04): Anger was expressed due to the game's price point, neglected bugs, and a perceived lack of developer effort or sincerity. Strong negative language in reviews indicated anger towards the game's overall poor quality, bad design choices, and a frustrating, long experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.03): Players felt excitement from unlocking new cards and discovering powerful combinations. The game's unique blend of STG and roguelite elements, along with its potential and improved design over previous titles, also generated significant enthusiasm, with some reviewers calling it one of the best Touhou games.
- Annoyance (weight 0.03): Annoyance was caused by repetitive early stages with low danmaku density and the perceived misleading replayability. Players also expressed annoyance towards specific tough enemies, forced card usage, and the lack of proper testing in the game.
- Skepticism (weight 0.02): Skepticism was directed towards the game's design choices, particularly the implementation of RNG. Players also expressed doubts about the high price point and ZUN's willingness or ability to improve the game in the future.
- Helpfulness (weight 0.02): Helpfulness was demonstrated by players sharing useful card builds, recommending the game as an introductory title for STG beginners, and advising different player types. This indicates a desire to assist other players in enjoying or understanding the game.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope was expressed for future game releases on Steam, for improvements in players' experience, and specifically for the inclusion of a Chinese translation. This suggests a desire for the game and series to grow and become more accessible.
- Acceptance (weight 0.01): Players showed acceptance of the game's grinding nature and ZUN's changes in design focus. This emotion also encompassed enjoying the game despite its acknowledged problems, indicating a willingness to overlook flaws for the overall experience.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement arose from the game's intensity, which some joked could lead to keyboard damage, and the meta-commentary on Marisa's character. The game's design encouraging greedy play also provided a source of lighthearted enjoyment.
- Encouragement (weight 0.01): Reviewers offered encouragement to STG beginners, believing they could succeed in the game. They also encouraged players to persist through challenges and explore other Touhou games, fostering a supportive community attitude.
- Addiction (weight 0.01): Addiction was attributed to the compelling mix of skill, luck, and concentration required by the game. The unique blend of roguelike and danmaku gameplay was also cited as a primary cause for its addictive nature.
- Hatred (weight 0.01): Hatred was expressed towards the game's overall design and the entire game experience when compared to other titles. This indicates a strong, pervasive negative feeling about the game's fundamental aspects.
- Relief (weight 0.01): Relief was felt when players no longer had to worry about getting hit with specific cards, indicating a reduction in stress. It was also experienced by finding a way for STG beginners to enjoy Touhou, suggesting a successful resolution to a challenge.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom was caused by the game's content, particularly during early boss battles. This suggests a lack of engagement or variety in certain parts of the game.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation was felt for future Touhou games and for the experience of playing the new game itself. This indicates excitement and expectation for upcoming content in the series.
- Confusion (weight 0): Confusion arose from an unclear game concept, suggesting that some players struggled to grasp the core ideas or mechanics of the game.
- Appreciation (weight 0): Appreciation was expressed for the game's music, specific game mechanics, and even minor details like Marisa's heels. This highlights positive feelings towards particular well-executed elements of the game.}