Info about Hifuu Nightmare Diary ~ Violet Detector. :

Official game description:
ストーリー
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秘封俱楽部初代会長　宇佐見菫子。  
彼女は夢を見ている時だけ幻想郷を訪れることが出来る。  
しかしある日曜日、不思議な夢を見た。  
博麗霊夢が、理由も無く攻撃を仕掛けてきたのだ。  
しかも、いつまで経っても夢から覚めることは無く、延々と霊夢に攻撃されたのである。  
途方に暮れた彼女は、記録にとって楽しもうと考えた。  
弾幕を写真に収めた途端、夢から目覚めたのだが……。  
それから何故か現実の記憶も曖昧になり、悪夢に悩まされる日々が続いた。  
はてさて、彼女の運命は如何に……。
ゲームの進め方
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攻略したい曜日を左右で選び、それから弾幕夢を選ぶと  
短いステージが開始します。  
相手の体力を０にすれば、そのシーンはクリアです。  
しかし敵弾に当たってしまったら、もう一度やり直しです。  
**＊ただし敵を撃破しても、写真を一枚も撮っていない場合はクリアになりません。**  
＊ストーリーを見るのにすべての弾幕夢をクリアする必要はありません。  
　クリア出来そうなシーンだけクリアして、先に進みましょう。
操作説明
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・上下左右　自機の操作  
・SHOTキー（Zキー）　ショット  
・PHOTOキー（Xキー）　写真撮影  
・SLOWキー（Shiftキー）　低速移動  
・PAUSEキー（ESCキー）　ポーズ  
＊特殊な操作  
・SLOW + PHOTO　撮影ゲージ高速チャージ  
・SLOW二度押し　テレポーテーション（超能力Lv2以上）
写真撮影
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写真ゲージが100%時に、PHOTOボタンを押すと撮影することが出来ます。  
写真に収めた弾幕は消す事が出来ます。  
避けられない弾幕を攻略するのに必須です。  
また、**ボスを撮影すると高いダメージを与える**ことが出来ます。  
（写真中央に近ければ近いほど高ダメージです）  
・ファインダーモード  
　PHOTOボタンを押しっぱなしにすると、一定時間フォーカスフレームを動かすことが出来ます。  
　但し、写真が小さくなってしまうので、慣れてきたら出来るだけボスに接近して撮影しましょう。
写真ゲージ
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プレイヤーの近くにあるパーセント表示は、写真ゲージです。  
100%の時だけ撮影できます。  
ゲージは自動的に増加します。  
**ショットをボスに当てると僅かに早く回復**します。  
更に、SLOW と PHOTO ボタンを押しっぱなしにするとショットが撃てなくなる代わりに**「高速チャージ」**ができます。
写真評価点
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写真を撮影すると、それぞれに推定評価点がつきます。  
評価点は  
　・撮影した弾の多さ  
　・ボスを写真に収めている  
　・自分が写っている  
等により総合的に評価されます。  
撮影した写真の中で最高得点の物だけが記録になります。  
つまり何枚撮っても**点数は最高点の写真一枚**だけとなります。

Release date: 4 Sep, 2018

Categories: Bullet-hell, Single-player Story, Character Progression, Puzzle Solving, Shooting, Photography Gameplay


- 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:
- Excellent Music and Story (weight 0.73): The game's soundtrack is consistently praised for being fitting, atmospheric, and high-quality, enhancing the overall mood and experience. The story is also well-received, offering an interesting narrative with beloved characters.
- Engaging and Fun Gameplay (weight 0.65): Players consistently find the core gameplay loop enjoyable, challenging, and strategically deep. Despite minor flaws or initial complaints, the overall experience is highly recommended, offering good value and entertainment.
- Creative Danmaku Design (weight 0.38): The game features a wide variety of innovative and experimental danmaku patterns. These designs allow for flexible gameplay, encourage creative problem-solving, and provide a good challenge for both beginners and experienced players.
- Acceptable Teleportation Mechanic (weight 0.36): The controversial double-shift teleportation mechanic, while initially clunky, becomes manageable and even convenient with practice. It adds novelty and strategic depth, allowing for high-speed movement and new ways to survive danmaku.
- Accessible Yet Challenging Difficulty (weight 0.25): The game strikes a good balance, being more accessible than some previous titles while still offering significant challenge, especially in later difficulties. It's enjoyable for both series veterans and beginners, with a satisfying difficulty curve.
- Motivating Boss Battles (weight 0.23): Bosses have manageable health, and the retry system is forgiving, making repeated challenges enjoyable. The satisfaction of overcoming difficult enemies and spell cards keeps players engaged and motivated.
- Strong Sumireko Character Focus (weight 0.19): The game excels in developing Sumireko Usami's character, with her art style and story contributions being highly appreciated by fans. Her unique superpower system adds novelty to the gameplay.
- Innovative Photography Mechanic (weight 0.15): The core photography mechanic is well-received, offering flexible ways to clear stages by either damaging bosses or canceling bullets. This unique hybrid approach makes Violet Detector a distinct and fun entry in the series.
- Favorite Touhou Spin-Off (weight 0.13): For many players, this game stands out as a favorite Touhou spin-off, praised for its unique take on the series and its overall quality as a new installment.
- High Replayability (weight 0.09): The game offers significant replay value, particularly among 'decimal point' works, with players finding themselves drawn back to complete more spell cards and challenges.
- Enjoyable Nightmare Diary (weight 0.08): The final day's 'Nightmare Diary' content is a highlight, providing a fun and engaging conclusion to the game, with its title music also being a favorite.

Common complaints:
- Teleportation controls are flawed (weight 0.99): Players consistently report that the double-shift teleportation mechanic is difficult to use, prone to misfires, and causes accidental inputs. This design choice leads to frustration, stress, and even physical discomfort, significantly hindering gameplay, especially in later stages requiring precise movement.
- Recycled and uninspired danmaku (weight 0.83): A significant portion of the game's bullet patterns (danmaku) are perceived as direct copies or slightly modified versions from previous titles. This lack of originality, particularly in Weeks 1, 2, and 3, leads to a monotonous and unengaging experience, disappointing players expecting fresh content.
- Overall negative game experience (weight 0.62): Many players find the game to be a lackluster and frustrating experience, citing issues such as high difficulty, numerous bugs, and a general feeling of sloppiness. The game is often unfavorably compared to previous entries in the series, leading to a perception of low quality and a rushed release.
- Developer perceived as lazy (weight 0.23): Players express disappointment and criticize the developer (ZUN) for what they perceive as a lack of effort and playtesting. This sentiment stems from the recycled content, design flaws, and unaddressed bugs, leading to a feeling that the game was rushed and lacked sincerity.
- Limited and uninspired music (weight 0.13): While some find the music decent, there's a common complaint about the scarcity of new tracks and the reuse of old boss themes without variation. This contributes to a less fresh and engaging audio experience.
- Problematic ultra-low speed mechanic (weight 0.11): The game's mechanic of automatically switching from ultra-low speed to low speed at 100% charge is confusing and disruptive. Players find this change annoying and 'scary,' as it removes a crucial control option when fully charged.
- Presence of various bugs (weight 0.06): Players report the existence of various programming bugs that affect the gameplay experience. While not always critical, these bugs contribute to the perception of a rushed and unpolished product.

Gameplay feedback:
- Variable Stage Progression & Difficulty (weight 0.3): Progression involves clearing one stage per day/week, with difficulty scaling strangely between stages and weeks. The game features independent stages and danmaku types, suitable for short play sessions, but with significant difficulty spikes, especially in later weeks.
- Successor to Photo-Taking Series (weight 0.3): The game is a spin-off and successor to previous Touhou photography-based danmaku games like Double Spoiler and Danmaku Amanojaku. It combines elements of bullet cancellation via photo-taking with shooting mechanics and special abilities, maintaining a similar gameplay style.
- Diverse Gameplay Objectives (weight 0.28): Players can approach stages with varied strategies: focusing on shooting to reduce enemy health, using photos primarily for bullet cancellation, or combining both. The objective is to reduce enemy health, with one photo often being sufficient to clear a scene.
- Spell Card Structure & Retries (weight 0.27): The game is structured around individual spell cards, which are challenging puzzles requiring problem-solving and quick reactions. Players can retry each spell card infinitely, allowing for experimentation and learning without harsh penalties.
- Week 3: Tag Team Bosses (weight 0.21): The third week significantly increases difficulty by introducing double-boss battles. While individual bullet patterns might be familiar, their combination creates new and challenging scenarios, requiring different strategies to overcome.
- New Superpowers Introduced (weight 0.15): The game introduces several new superpowers for Sumireko, including Bullet Cancel, Teleportation, Telephotography, Pyrokinesis, and Death Cancel, which add interesting twists to interacting with attacks and feel like a modified version of previous item systems.

Performance notes:
- Improved Linux compatibility (weight 0.04): Players on Linux report a significantly better experience using Steam Play compared to vanilla WINE, specifically noting proper photo alignment. This indicates a positive impact on the game's accessibility and performance for a segment of the player base.

Recommendations:
- Mixed Reception for Game (weight 0.46): Player sentiment is highly divided, with some strongly recommending the game and others advising against it. This suggests the game appeals to a specific niche or has significant flaws that deter a broader audience.
- Touhou Fanbase Divided (weight 0.42): While some Touhou fans recommend the game out of loyalty or for specific elements, many others, including long-time fans, do not recommend it, suggesting it falls short of expectations for the series.
- Developer ZUN Needs Improvement (weight 0.4): Players express a desire for ZUN to address bugs, implement features like achievements, and produce higher-quality, more polished games in the future, indicating a perceived decline or lack of effort.
- Support for ZUN/Touhou (weight 0.35): Some players purchased the game primarily to support ZUN or the Touhou series, even if they don't fully recommend the game itself, highlighting a strong community loyalty.
- Game for Niche/Experienced Players (weight 0.34): The game is primarily recommended for experienced players who enjoy specific challenges, dodging danmaku, or those who appreciate the story, rather than a broad audience.
- Alternative Touhou Games Recommended (weight 0.25): Players frequently suggest other Touhou titles like Shoot the Bullet, Double Spoiler, Danmaku Amanojaku, or Touhou Tenkuushou as better alternatives for specific gameplay experiences or for beginners.
- Value and Price (weight 0.2): There's a minor discussion about the game's value for its price, with one player stating it's worth 39 yuan, while others suggest saving money for older works.
- Suggestions for Play (weight 0.11): Players offer advice for playing the game, such as using a guide, configuring controller keys, using slow mode, or enduring until specific power-ups, indicating the game's challenging nature.
- Community Conduct (weight 0.06): A small number of players emphasize the importance of constructive criticism, tolerance between different fan groups, and opposing personal attacks within the community.

Other player notes:
- Mixed Story Reception (weight 0.28): The plot, initially simple, becomes more interesting, featuring unexpected final bosses and prominent roles for characters from HSiFS. Sumireko's comments and ZUN's tag humor are appreciated, continuing the Dream World narrative after AoCF, but some found the overall quality disappointing.
- Variable Player Skill & Playtime (weight 0.24): Players reported varied skill levels, from 'very bad at STG' to 'L-shooter', with playtime ranging from 3.5 hours to over 14 hours. Some found a bug that guaranteed clearing the game, while others struggled with danmaku.
- Touhou Photography Game (weight 0.22): The game is identified as a Touhou photography side-game, specifically Touhou 16.5, and is the third official Touhou Project title released on Steam. Many players bought it to support the creator and hope for more official Touhou games on the platform.
- Minor Technical & Quality Notes (weight 0.19): The game is perceived as a rushed work with some copy-pasting, leading to disappointment for some. However, it features Steam Cloud support and can acquire previous save files, with BGM being tolerable and animal photos effectively raising sanity.
- Community Localization Efforts (weight 0.15): Official localization is lacking, with players relying on community-made patches for Chinese and Korean translations. THCrap is mentioned for English play, indicating a strong community effort to make the game accessible in various languages.
- Teleportation Control Mods (weight 0.13): Players have developed mods to change the teleportation key from Shift to C, finding it more comfortable. However, these mods are incompatible with original replays, posing a trade-off for players seeking improved controls.
- Achievement System Present (weight 0.1): The game includes an in-game achievement system, with one reviewer noting they achieved 49 out of 50, missing only a high score photo achievement. This indicates a clear progression and completion goal for players.
- Unfamiliarity with Predecessors (weight 0.03): Some players noted they hadn't played previous Touhou photography games like Bunka-cho, which influenced their perception of repeated boss spell cards.
- Nickname System Included (weight 0.02): The game incorporates a Nickname system, though its specific function or impact on gameplay is not detailed in the provided feedback.
- Considered a 'Topic Work' (weight 0.02): The game is referred to as a 'topic work', suggesting it might be more of a discussion piece or a game with a specific niche appeal rather than a mainstream entry.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.26): Players frequently experienced frustration due to the difficult and often unresponsive teleportation mechanic, particularly its double-tap shift keybind. This was compounded by various bugs, unreasonable difficulty settings, and a perceived lack of originality or recycled content in bullet patterns and design choices, leading to a generally difficult and unpolished gameplay experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.2): Disappointment stemmed from the game's overall quality, especially when compared to older titles or high player expectations for a spinoff. Recurring issues included copy-pasted content, particularly in danmaku and spell cards, a rushed development feeling, and a lack of innovation or freshness, with the third week's design and ZUN's perceived laziness being specific points of contention.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.17): Satisfaction was primarily derived from overcoming the game's significant challenges, such as difficult bullet patterns and bosses, leading to a sense of personal achievement and skill improvement. Players also found enjoyment in the game's story, music, characters, and the overall learning process, appreciating the manageable difficulty and replayability.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.11): Enjoyment was found in the challenging bullet patterns, the process of clearing difficult spell cards, and the overall gameplay experience. Players appreciated the game's unique mechanics, engaging story, and ZUN's music, finding the hybrid gameplay and creative elements to be entertaining.
- Anger (weight 0.04): Anger was directed at the poorly designed teleportation mechanic, specifically the double-shift keybind, and the game's overall quality, which some perceived as a rushed product. ZUN's design choices and the game's difficulty were also significant causes of player anger.
- Excitement (weight 0.04): Excitement was generated by the game's challenging nature, particularly the thrill of dodging bullets and overcoming obstacles. Players also expressed excitement for the music, plot, and the overall experience of a new Touhou installment, considering it a favorite.
- Hope (weight 0.03): Players expressed hope for future improvements, specifically wishing for ZUN to fix existing bugs, create more innovative danmaku, and develop better, more polished games in the future, especially for the main series.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Confusion arose mainly from the teleportation mechanic, with players finding its implementation and feel to be strange or difficult to understand. There was also some confusion regarding the game's perceived difficulty compared to other titles.
- Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance was caused by the design of the third week of the game and issues with the camera. Some players also expressed annoyance towards critics of the game's design.
- Encouragement (weight 0.02): Players offered encouragement for beginners and the 'right audience' to try the game, suggesting that it might appeal to specific player types despite its challenges.
- Motivation (weight 0.01): Motivation was driven by dying in the game, which spurred players to improve and continue playing. Certain game features also contributed to this motivation.
- Stress (weight 0.01): Stress was primarily linked to the difficult and often frustrating teleport controls, as well as the overall demanding gameplay experience.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players were surprised by the inclusion of Steam Cloud support and by the unexpectedly positive overall game experience, indicating that their initial expectations might have been lower.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Appreciation was shown for the game's core concept, particularly the cool photography mechanic and the innovative idea behind it.
- Helpfulness (weight 0.01): Helpfulness was demonstrated by players providing practical solutions, such as instructions for a Korean language patch and strategies for struggling with danmaku.
- Sarcasm (weight 0.01): Sarcasm was used to critique ZUN's development process, particularly regarding copy-pasted danmaku, and to ironically recommend the game to non-players for library admiration, highlighting perceived flaws.
- Discomfort (weight 0.01): Discomfort was experienced due to the high input difficulty required for the teleport move, making the mechanic physically taxing or awkward to execute.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust was expressed simply at the thought of reopening the game, indicating a strong negative reaction to the overall experience.
- Affection (weight 0.01): Affection was specifically directed towards the character Sumireko, indicating a positive emotional connection to her portrayal in the game.
- Understanding (weight 0.01): Players showed understanding for the game's limitations, acknowledging that it was developed by a single person, which tempered their expectations for its polish and scope.}