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spottoPlaying two Touhoumons at once!? I wonder what I'm doing.
There's too many freakin' versions D:
But, I'm going to discuss my roster of both games (and discuss Touhou itself further on) under this cut. :D
I felt like replaying one of the first gen. Pokemons again, but then I felt that it'd be too repetitive as I've played it many times and I pretty much know what to do wherever I go....but then, what if I play a modded version of FireRed? Then it'll be at least a little fresh (also I get to play FireRed, obviously P:) Thus Touhoumon was played!
I'm well aware there are many other modded versions, such as Moemon, but I decided on Touhoumon since I actually play the Touhou fighters so I actually might know stuff from it, but I realized as I continued to play there is still quite a lot of stuff I don't know. And so I went to TvTropes to get a ginormous summary of everything and everything, like Cirno being 9, or yukkuris, and such. (I looked at the comics of those too. O_O ...take it easy?)
And with my newfound knowledge of the background of Gensokyo, I began to travel the world of Touhoumon, throwing orbs at various little girls that are frolicking unsupervised in dangerous bushes, so I can capture and use them in violent cockfighting competitions that seem to be eagerly enforced in this world.
Yeah.
So why is Spotto playing two versions? I figured that I would want to play the most recent, patched version which I thought was only avaliable still in Japanese, but that turned out to be an old patch...which I realized halfway through the game. I then started an english patch and I'm about 1/4th through on that one. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish them both because then it'd be especially repetitive (even though they're actually significantly different, such as Touhou placement and what forms they can reach, etc.) so yeah...nonetheless here is my roster for the Japanese version!
I chose Sakuya as my starter...her steel type seems to reinforce that she's more defensive (and I already know Marisa will be the powerhouse of the starters) plus ice is kind of like water (well, it's FROZEN water) so she was probably the squirtle of the group. I always choose Squirtle...that and Sakuya is cool.
When I realized the utter size of Patch's movepool, I immediately added her into my team. I almost removed her because of her awful-everything-except-special stats, but I decided to keep her for her sheer versatility in moves. She's kind of like Alakazam in that way...teleporting away when you catch it, psychic, amazing special and crap everything else. I don' think Alakazam can learn flamethrower though.
The main reason Remilia's on my team is she's flying type. The dark type and the bite that flinches and kills everyone is a bonus. In regular Pokemon I almost never choose a flying type because I don't like them, but then that would mean going to the PC box EVERY TIME I WANTED TO FLY, since Remilia can also bite and kill people, I kept her. I'm sure there are other flying types that can also kill people, but can they bite? P:
I always want to have a ghost type on my team. Gengar tended to be that in regular Pokemon, but I hated every other ghost pokemon...yes I'm picky. However in Touhoumon I pretty much want to use EVERY ghost Touhou...and went with Yuyuko because she's very versatile, like Patch. Also well...she's my favourite character right now. :D (Also I NEVER have a grass pokemon in regular pokemon, so it's nice to have one here)
I was lacking in a proper tank, and I heard Suika was one...so here she is. I can tell she has tons of health because she's ten levels lower than Patch and yet has ten more health than her. Also Patch has no health anyway, but yeah. Ground is the type I often have the most in regular Pokemon, so having one here makes sense.
Yes, I have Cirno. Two reasons: As we all know, a team without Cirno is not the strongest. And I needed someone to be water so I can surf. It is one thing to visit a box every time you want to fly, it is not even tolerable if you must do the same with surf--especially since Surf is a very powerful attack so it's best to use it anyway. She eventually becomes water type (as a secondary type) in her final form, so I have a lot of grinding to do.
I'm about to fight Koga and the Fuchisa Gym in this version.
Now for the English version!
I contemplated choosing someone else to be different.
I liked Sakuya too much.
Water/Ground!? That is an amazing combination. I don't have to worry about the electric type at ALL and still be able to surf and such. I found absolutely no Suwakos in the Japanese version, so when I saw her on Route 1, she's going to be on my team for a very long time.
I tend to think that something that is difficult to catch, should not be wasted rotting in the box. This is how Yukari landed on my team, by being the most annoying thing to catch EVER. Not once in regular Pokemon have I seen someone be both super rare (I'm willing to bet a 1% encounter rate!) AND teleport away in utter annoyance. If it weren't for VBA's super speed option I'd still be trying to catch her right now.
You should've seen my face when I found a Marisa in Viridian Forest of all places, giving me the impression she's a pikachu pretty much. Then I eventually learned all the starters can be caught later on, so choosing a particular one in the beginning wasn't actualy that important. Marisa is a very strong electric type that made the Cerulean Gym MUCH easier for me than when I attempted it in the Japanese version (with a Lunachild as my electric instead...didn't work out so well. KOMAAACHIII!!!!!)
I also noticed I lacked a flying this time around. I was going to combat this by evolving Marisa into a Last Word Marisa (Electric/Flying rather than Electric/Fire) before I realized you can't get a sun stone to evolve her into that form until AFTER the elite four. Bleh.
This time I went for Remilia's sister, Flandre...who is a bitch to train...but I'm sure it'll work out eventually. She's both Dark AND Fire, even though Marisa supposedly covers fire, I still like that combination type. (Houndour!!)
I do not have a permanent resident on my sixth spot yet however because it's reserved for Yuyuko.
-
What is Touhou you ask? I'll correct you first: it is not an Anime. It is a series of bullet hell games that began all the way back in 1996. The gameplay, graphics, music, and amusing artwork are all done by one incredible Japanese man who at first glance seems like an average joe with an appetite for beer. I only started playing said games when they created spinoffs of the bullet hell games into fighters, and I love playing fighters. I especially enjoyed the unique system of IaMP (the first Touhou fighter spinoff) where a lot of the default attacks are not punches or kicks, but bullets, projectiles (which makes sense considering what's spun off of)
This game series has spawned ENORMOUS popularity over in Japan. If you've EVER watched a little video on Youtube, probably a cute animation of your favourite anime characters doing something...there's a VERY good chance it's an adaptation of an original Touhou one. CNN has even covered one of the most popular videos "Bad Apple!" where its roots are of Touhou (you've probably seen some sort of shadow-art like fan-parody video of some anime/game series you like) of course the story itself on CNN was pretty much butchered, but you get the point.
Considering it started in 1996...I'm incredibly late to the party, but still as I was scouring the internet to find more information of this I did find many annoyances I always do voice out on this blog, such as the character of Alice. The games themselves do not provide that much canon for the fans, so a lot of the personality, backstory, and traits, gimmicks, quirks, whatever you want to call it of the characters are fanon. It reminds me kind of like Hetalia (except Hetalia has a complicated unique issue where a lot of the fanon is taken from historical canon, which may or may not be part of the actual canon...but still it feels like most of the stuff is fueled by the fans) and from the tip of the tip of the iceberg I've touched on in this massively popular fandom, I've noticed this about Alice.
Whether she be tsundere, kuudere, or yandere or whatever dere they want to throw on her, she seems to love Marisa. Like a lot. To completely creepy levels. While most of the other characters seem to have at least a somewhat not-one dimensional personality ("Is that so?" gdit!) Alice is just...Marisa. I mean it's probably very amusing and funny and entertaining, but if every incarnation of her is simply Marisa it seems kind of...really really stale.
She seems to be part of the most popular fan-love-triangle where her love rival is Patchouli. The thing is, at least Patch is portrayed as something else too! Like an otaku, or a hikikomori, or whatever. So while she is huddled inside her library reading books or staring at hentai, Alice is at home playing with dolls...a Marisa and Alice doll. I have yet to find something that DOESN'T do this to her, but I guess it makes sense considering the most popular Touhou video out there is "Marisa Stole the Precious Thing" which is about this pretty much, and if that is often the first thing a potential fan sees of Touhou, I guess they're immediately attached to this whole Alice thing.
But I think of all characters she has my favourite character design, even if she looks kind of plain compared to others....and also she has awesome rapping. (one of my favourite Touhou vids so far) I'm just a little put off by how she's portrayed, oh well.
Although this is in no way as extreme (OR MAYBE IT IS) it relates back to why I care not about KonoSetsu in Negima at all. Setsuna just becomes Konoka after five volumes. Remember I mentioned Yuyuko is my favourite at the moment earlier in this entry? I've seen a Touhou parody of the 1000% SPARKING opening for Negima, and then they rehashed part of one of the Negima OVAs, turning...yes, Konoka into Yuyuko and Setsuna into Youmu.
Well of course there's a difference, otherwise I'm a shallow hypocrite. Konoka is amusing yes, but whenever she's in trouble--ALWAYS SAVED BY SETSUNA. I mean yes, you should always shoot the medic, but doesn't that obviously mean the medic might need to know how to fight if she's the most targetted!? Setsuna cannot always be by her side (as completely pointed out by the Magic World arc where everyone got spread out EVERYWHERE) and if Konoka must rely on Setsuna that much, that means Setsuna's mental and emotional state must rely on Konoka even more, as her life is to protect Konoka all the time, and if she cannot defend herself it makes protecting her all that more important and especially pressuring. You could argue that a bunch of other characters can't really defend themselves and need to be saved as well, but they either tend to stay out of trouble (Kazumi) are just new to the knowledge of magic (Ako) or have achieved ten levels of badass and can somehow protect themselves anyway (Nodoka) Konoka's been there forever and she STILL just heals. Sure she can heal better now, BUT IT'S STILL JUST HEALING.
Even if Setsuna is in the way...get rid of her and the group no longer has a cheap get-out-of-death-free chance card.
So if your personality is SIMPLY SOMEONE ELSE...I don't like you, and thus I am still looking for a different Alice portrayal (while she still gets epic-looking artwork constantly)
Oh right, that's different from Yuyuko and Youmu. Yuyuko is clearly stronger than Youmu...but there's a reason why Touhou is filled with useless gatekeepers/guards...well besides requiring subbosses, midbosses, dragons, etc. It;s kind of like hiring a butler. You have more money than this butler. The butler works for you because you are higher in the class hierarchy (unfortunately for them) but if you've become rich through hard work and knowing what to invest on, etc. you probably deserve a butler doing the inane things for you. KonoSetsu though, feels like someone inherited a bunch of money or won the lottery and got a butler who is probably much more hard working than they ever were. That's what it feels like.
And also it's nice to see how many similar things Negima has with Touhou for some reason. I always thought Yue was unique. Then I see she has over nine thousand expys, and is an expy herself! Wut.
That be all!
There's too many freakin' versions D:
But, I'm going to discuss my roster of both games (and discuss Touhou itself further on) under this cut. :D
I felt like replaying one of the first gen. Pokemons again, but then I felt that it'd be too repetitive as I've played it many times and I pretty much know what to do wherever I go....but then, what if I play a modded version of FireRed? Then it'll be at least a little fresh (also I get to play FireRed, obviously P:) Thus Touhoumon was played!
I'm well aware there are many other modded versions, such as Moemon, but I decided on Touhoumon since I actually play the Touhou fighters so I actually might know stuff from it, but I realized as I continued to play there is still quite a lot of stuff I don't know. And so I went to TvTropes to get a ginormous summary of everything and everything, like Cirno being 9, or yukkuris, and such. (I looked at the comics of those too. O_O ...take it easy?)
And with my newfound knowledge of the background of Gensokyo, I began to travel the world of Touhoumon, throwing orbs at various little girls that are frolicking unsupervised in dangerous bushes, so I can capture and use them in violent cockfighting competitions that seem to be eagerly enforced in this world.
Yeah.
So why is Spotto playing two versions? I figured that I would want to play the most recent, patched version which I thought was only avaliable still in Japanese, but that turned out to be an old patch...which I realized halfway through the game. I then started an english patch and I'm about 1/4th through on that one. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish them both because then it'd be especially repetitive (even though they're actually significantly different, such as Touhou placement and what forms they can reach, etc.) so yeah...nonetheless here is my roster for the Japanese version!
I chose Sakuya as my starter...her steel type seems to reinforce that she's more defensive (and I already know Marisa will be the powerhouse of the starters) plus ice is kind of like water (well, it's FROZEN water) so she was probably the squirtle of the group. I always choose Squirtle...that and Sakuya is cool.
When I realized the utter size of Patch's movepool, I immediately added her into my team. I almost removed her because of her awful-everything-except-special stats, but I decided to keep her for her sheer versatility in moves. She's kind of like Alakazam in that way...teleporting away when you catch it, psychic, amazing special and crap everything else. I don' think Alakazam can learn flamethrower though.
The main reason Remilia's on my team is she's flying type. The dark type and the bite that flinches and kills everyone is a bonus. In regular Pokemon I almost never choose a flying type because I don't like them, but then that would mean going to the PC box EVERY TIME I WANTED TO FLY, since Remilia can also bite and kill people, I kept her. I'm sure there are other flying types that can also kill people, but can they bite? P:
I always want to have a ghost type on my team. Gengar tended to be that in regular Pokemon, but I hated every other ghost pokemon...yes I'm picky. However in Touhoumon I pretty much want to use EVERY ghost Touhou...and went with Yuyuko because she's very versatile, like Patch. Also well...she's my favourite character right now. :D (Also I NEVER have a grass pokemon in regular pokemon, so it's nice to have one here)
I was lacking in a proper tank, and I heard Suika was one...so here she is. I can tell she has tons of health because she's ten levels lower than Patch and yet has ten more health than her. Also Patch has no health anyway, but yeah. Ground is the type I often have the most in regular Pokemon, so having one here makes sense.
Yes, I have Cirno. Two reasons: As we all know, a team without Cirno is not the strongest. And I needed someone to be water so I can surf. It is one thing to visit a box every time you want to fly, it is not even tolerable if you must do the same with surf--especially since Surf is a very powerful attack so it's best to use it anyway. She eventually becomes water type (as a secondary type) in her final form, so I have a lot of grinding to do.
I'm about to fight Koga and the Fuchisa Gym in this version.
Now for the English version!
I contemplated choosing someone else to be different.
I liked Sakuya too much.
Water/Ground!? That is an amazing combination. I don't have to worry about the electric type at ALL and still be able to surf and such. I found absolutely no Suwakos in the Japanese version, so when I saw her on Route 1, she's going to be on my team for a very long time.
I tend to think that something that is difficult to catch, should not be wasted rotting in the box. This is how Yukari landed on my team, by being the most annoying thing to catch EVER. Not once in regular Pokemon have I seen someone be both super rare (I'm willing to bet a 1% encounter rate!) AND teleport away in utter annoyance. If it weren't for VBA's super speed option I'd still be trying to catch her right now.
You should've seen my face when I found a Marisa in Viridian Forest of all places, giving me the impression she's a pikachu pretty much. Then I eventually learned all the starters can be caught later on, so choosing a particular one in the beginning wasn't actualy that important. Marisa is a very strong electric type that made the Cerulean Gym MUCH easier for me than when I attempted it in the Japanese version (with a Lunachild as my electric instead...didn't work out so well. KOMAAACHIII!!!!!)
I also noticed I lacked a flying this time around. I was going to combat this by evolving Marisa into a Last Word Marisa (Electric/Flying rather than Electric/Fire) before I realized you can't get a sun stone to evolve her into that form until AFTER the elite four. Bleh.
This time I went for Remilia's sister, Flandre...who is a bitch to train...but I'm sure it'll work out eventually. She's both Dark AND Fire, even though Marisa supposedly covers fire, I still like that combination type. (Houndour!!)
I do not have a permanent resident on my sixth spot yet however because it's reserved for Yuyuko.
-
What is Touhou you ask? I'll correct you first: it is not an Anime. It is a series of bullet hell games that began all the way back in 1996. The gameplay, graphics, music, and amusing artwork are all done by one incredible Japanese man who at first glance seems like an average joe with an appetite for beer. I only started playing said games when they created spinoffs of the bullet hell games into fighters, and I love playing fighters. I especially enjoyed the unique system of IaMP (the first Touhou fighter spinoff) where a lot of the default attacks are not punches or kicks, but bullets, projectiles (which makes sense considering what's spun off of)
This game series has spawned ENORMOUS popularity over in Japan. If you've EVER watched a little video on Youtube, probably a cute animation of your favourite anime characters doing something...there's a VERY good chance it's an adaptation of an original Touhou one. CNN has even covered one of the most popular videos "Bad Apple!" where its roots are of Touhou (you've probably seen some sort of shadow-art like fan-parody video of some anime/game series you like) of course the story itself on CNN was pretty much butchered, but you get the point.
Considering it started in 1996...I'm incredibly late to the party, but still as I was scouring the internet to find more information of this I did find many annoyances I always do voice out on this blog, such as the character of Alice. The games themselves do not provide that much canon for the fans, so a lot of the personality, backstory, and traits, gimmicks, quirks, whatever you want to call it of the characters are fanon. It reminds me kind of like Hetalia (except Hetalia has a complicated unique issue where a lot of the fanon is taken from historical canon, which may or may not be part of the actual canon...but still it feels like most of the stuff is fueled by the fans) and from the tip of the tip of the iceberg I've touched on in this massively popular fandom, I've noticed this about Alice.
Whether she be tsundere, kuudere, or yandere or whatever dere they want to throw on her, she seems to love Marisa. Like a lot. To completely creepy levels. While most of the other characters seem to have at least a somewhat not-one dimensional personality ("Is that so?" gdit!) Alice is just...Marisa. I mean it's probably very amusing and funny and entertaining, but if every incarnation of her is simply Marisa it seems kind of...really really stale.
She seems to be part of the most popular fan-love-triangle where her love rival is Patchouli. The thing is, at least Patch is portrayed as something else too! Like an otaku, or a hikikomori, or whatever. So while she is huddled inside her library reading books or staring at hentai, Alice is at home playing with dolls...a Marisa and Alice doll. I have yet to find something that DOESN'T do this to her, but I guess it makes sense considering the most popular Touhou video out there is "Marisa Stole the Precious Thing" which is about this pretty much, and if that is often the first thing a potential fan sees of Touhou, I guess they're immediately attached to this whole Alice thing.
But I think of all characters she has my favourite character design, even if she looks kind of plain compared to others....and also she has awesome rapping. (one of my favourite Touhou vids so far) I'm just a little put off by how she's portrayed, oh well.
Although this is in no way as extreme (OR MAYBE IT IS) it relates back to why I care not about KonoSetsu in Negima at all. Setsuna just becomes Konoka after five volumes. Remember I mentioned Yuyuko is my favourite at the moment earlier in this entry? I've seen a Touhou parody of the 1000% SPARKING opening for Negima, and then they rehashed part of one of the Negima OVAs, turning...yes, Konoka into Yuyuko and Setsuna into Youmu.
Well of course there's a difference, otherwise I'm a shallow hypocrite. Konoka is amusing yes, but whenever she's in trouble--ALWAYS SAVED BY SETSUNA. I mean yes, you should always shoot the medic, but doesn't that obviously mean the medic might need to know how to fight if she's the most targetted!? Setsuna cannot always be by her side (as completely pointed out by the Magic World arc where everyone got spread out EVERYWHERE) and if Konoka must rely on Setsuna that much, that means Setsuna's mental and emotional state must rely on Konoka even more, as her life is to protect Konoka all the time, and if she cannot defend herself it makes protecting her all that more important and especially pressuring. You could argue that a bunch of other characters can't really defend themselves and need to be saved as well, but they either tend to stay out of trouble (Kazumi) are just new to the knowledge of magic (Ako) or have achieved ten levels of badass and can somehow protect themselves anyway (Nodoka) Konoka's been there forever and she STILL just heals. Sure she can heal better now, BUT IT'S STILL JUST HEALING.
Even if Setsuna is in the way...get rid of her and the group no longer has a cheap get-out-of-death-free chance card.
So if your personality is SIMPLY SOMEONE ELSE...I don't like you, and thus I am still looking for a different Alice portrayal (while she still gets epic-looking artwork constantly)
Oh right, that's different from Yuyuko and Youmu. Yuyuko is clearly stronger than Youmu...but there's a reason why Touhou is filled with useless gatekeepers/guards...well besides requiring subbosses, midbosses, dragons, etc. It;s kind of like hiring a butler. You have more money than this butler. The butler works for you because you are higher in the class hierarchy (unfortunately for them) but if you've become rich through hard work and knowing what to invest on, etc. you probably deserve a butler doing the inane things for you. KonoSetsu though, feels like someone inherited a bunch of money or won the lottery and got a butler who is probably much more hard working than they ever were. That's what it feels like.
And also it's nice to see how many similar things Negima has with Touhou for some reason. I always thought Yue was unique. Then I see she has over nine thousand expys, and is an expy herself! Wut.
That be all!
