MYSTERY NIGGA
(yes it's the real one)
https://www.melonbooks.co.jp/detail/detail.php?product_id=3079934

I think there's a hairy wonder stone on the left?

JPbros trying to work it out

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

>>49790126 (OP)
Inb4 the Touhou is AI generated too

Place your bets, Anons: do we finally get an actual dragon 2hu, or a Pterodactyl?

>>49790148
skeletal tail, feathery looking wings

yup i'm thinking I called it

Looks like she has at least one nue-like wing

>>49790126 (OP)
God the AI gen background looks like messy ass, tell ZUN to go back to the floral prints

Digits decide on who the newhu actually is

>>49790230
Mima

>>49790126 (OP)
Her left wing kind of looks like three very big lit matches.

>>49790126 (OP)

>>49790235
>>49790259

>>49790259
MY BONES ARE TURNING INTO DUST

>>49790230
>>49790266
The digits have spoken, it IS Mima

>>49790266
Oh shit

she looks like a piratehu with a pegleg (bones as pegs)

Rate the new cover

>>49790290
It's ANOTHER barefoothu?
ZUN's fetish is getting unbareable

This appears if you alter the brightness

>>49790126 (OP)
looks like she'll be as overdesigned as okuu i'm a bit excited tbqhwy

>>49790300
Junko was an example of aura making the silhouette hard to make out, but this time it looks like the boss really just has a crazy design.

>>49790313
another not cute newhou

>>49790337
Don't worry, we still have at least three other newhus to be disappointed by :^)

>>49790300
I never realized the IN cover was so good.

>>49790148
>>49790126 (OP)
>wings
>funny tail
>turquoise color scheme
>dragon in background
Quetzalcoatl..?
>>49790210
It’s honestly hard to look at for too long.
>>49790300
I’d say it’s mid. Nice color scheme but it hurts to look at too closely. It also can’t seem to decide whether it wants to show the silhouette. UFO is by far the best cover IMO.

>>49790344
ZUN should have stopped at Okina. Everything after Okina is trash, he should bring back old characters like Remilia, Patchouli or Alice instead.

>>49790300
On par with the others with unclear sillouttes like HSiFS lr DDC, meh.

>>49790455
Something something Touhou topped anywhere before 9.
Shouldn't you be withering away any day now, Oldman?

>>49790455
>Everything after Okina is trash
wilybeasthou are good

What's your bets anons. Is the political message of this one going to be boring shit as usual or a giga-based take about elites controlling the world?

>>49790455
Anyone who likes any of these three characters a little bit too much is a secondary.

>>49790540
I'm not underage so I couldn't give less of a fuck about an old drunkard's takes on politics.
All I care about is girls shooting each other to death and then getting drunk right after

Interesting, she will likely have wings, but its also possible she has massive sleeves on her robe.
Also short hair - i like that.

>>49790572
>I'm not underage I just want to fap to the girls, also I'm still in my mom's basement
lol

>>49790544
Still better characters than fucking Sannyo, Chimata and other literallywho characters.

>>49790592
Her wings are asymmetrical, and she also appearas to have two tails, unless she's wielding a fishbone sword (unlikely but would be fun)
>>49790614
Pic related

We went from mysterious witch and badass vampire to a fucking clown with blue hair.

I love Chimatan
She's fun to draw

>>49790633
>clown with blue hair
The t*ngu or the bitcoin scammer?

>>49790633
>vampire to a fucking clown with blue hair.
These are the same character and i love her for it.

>>49790300
Mediocre or a bit on the bad side but the title itself is cool because of the eye

>>49790633
Heca-tan isn't a clown...

Imagine if Nareko moggs the final boss of this game in design

>>49790666
No doubt she's getting the most votes this upcoming TohoVote

>>49790625
Sannyo has a good theme and an interesting background
Chimata is a fun character and the ability cards are cool
What's the point of crying about early windows girls not returning when ZUN is known for creating new girls every new mainline rather than regurgitating EoSD/early windows like most fanworks do.

>>49790683
I think we're about due for a Cirno reappearance, though. It's been a couple games since her last mainline game.
Maybe she can take a page from her friend's book and become a Stage 4 midboss, instead.

>>49790683
You're the one taking a sarcastic secondary seriously

>>49790763
People that pretend to be retarded are still retarded and deserve to be called retarded.
Don't see the issue.

>>49790666
That would be really funny. Her design isn't Touhou-like at all.

>>49791104
>Her design isn't Touhou-like at all.
You could say this about most new girls after DDC

>>49790184
She does feel very Nue-like
Now, this will sound really uninspired, but could it be that she's an even older, more powerful Hojuu?

>>49791164
You're not wrong at all, there haven't been any frilly designs since Koishi. But Nareko in particular is as anti-frill as it gets.

>>49791220
The Hojou family arc

>>49791304
I remember in one of the announcement threads we joked about Mama Komeiji making an appearance
I think all the negativefags need to bend over and prostrate their prostates to ZUN if he actually does that idea but with Nue and her new sister
like fucking hell introducing shimaidon AND oyakodon in the same game?!

>>49790300
didn't realize how good the UFO cover was compared the others

>>49790300
I'd say this can be directly compared to Ten Desire's cover. Miko was very uninteresting to speculate as a silhouette but contrast it with this girl's weird ass silhouette and this beats TD

>>49791354
>shimaidon AND oyakodon
Not quite.
Do the japs have a word for a Mother-Daughter-Granddaughter foursome? I'd be surprised if they don't

jackalman posting and new game Touhou 20 Fossilized Wonders
This 2025 was the best year

>>49791220
>>49791304
Japs are coming up with Itsumade theory
in other words the answer to the question "Hiroari shoots a strange bird ~ Till When?" is 22 years for the strange bird to come back

>>49792008
That's actually really nice!
Though it looks too sober for current ZUN desings

>>49790126 (OP)
it's... a ghost? with wizard hat and a staff?

>>49791742
well Oyakodon comes from a dish that translates literally to "mother and daughter rice bowl" and Shimaidon is a play on Oyakodon but replacing the first part with "older sister and younger sister"
So in other words we can create the word for it ourselves

Obaoyakodon?
Sansedaidon?
Obadon the Despoiler??

>>49792047
The mom cooks the egg (daughter).

whatever that shit is on the left is definitely a flaming pyramid, the girl herself is probably way smaller

>>49792008
Yeah, this seems to make perfect sense. If this happens, we're really back, I hope she fits well into the story too.
The only problem I can think of is that she might be Nue2, but that would still be better than being Shithu23.

>>49792120
While I don't disagree on the actual size of the 'hu, it looks too 'wobbly' to be a Wonderstone, be it in flames or not

>>49792163
it's THE wonder stone, it gets to be a little different

>>49792008
Don't itsumades appear in times of great trouble?

>>49792179
That pic has seen some usage kek
Half the times it was me

>>49792179
Today ZUN confirmed that the pyramid are meant to be evil in lore, that is why he make it annoying, and you SHOULD be hating it

>>49792008
what game had the most accurate silhouette guess?
i've only been around for 19's release

>>49792322
they've always been pretty wildly innacurate
I'd say the closest we've ever got was either 17.5 because we knew it was Toutetsu beforehand, or 19 where people were able to pick up on the sun wukong stuff early on and enoko's bear trap was obviously visible in the silhouette.

>>49792357
Damn she looks like a bad Magia Record character

>>49790300
Everything about UFO was so cool.

>>49792382
Theres a reason people say either UFO or LoLK where the last good games

>>49790664
Your temple got destroyed you fucking clown. Keep crying.

>>49792322
HSiFS was accurate.

>>49792402

Where are the hot mature dragon ladies, ZUN?

>>49792320
i do hate it, he's done a good job. where did he say this?

>>49792322

Fun times.

>>49792322
This one managed to get Keiki's dress pretty accurate.

>>49790300
UFO cover is so pretty

>>49792423
arent the chinese weirdo and Bitchie enough?

>>49792441
No. I demand a big breasted and POWERFUL (very important) mature dragon lady.

>>49792454
Visions of Basedworld

>>49792454
ENOUGH OF THE TENGU!

>>49792469

>>49792450
This is very interesting

I wish I had the full res for these.

I wonder if we'll ever get a situation where we know for a fact what a character who hasn't been shown yet will be.
The fan Toutetsu's from after WBaWC came out were interesting.

>>49792490
Some maybe wilder than others

>>49792687
Well thats Ryuuchi for ya

>>49792490
>>49792687
Sex with these two Yuumas at the same time.

>>49792691
And we love him for that

>>49792696
they look like some third rate shonen characters.

>>49792696
I like what he did with her hair and skirt
out there designs like these are pretty cool

>>49792703
Honestly, considering the "highly rated" shonens of these past few years, I don't know how bad it could be.

>>49792754
Canon Hisami proportions.

>>49792322
They guessed HSiFS right immediately

>>49792809
Nah, Hisami is tall but more modestly endowed, possessing a graceful, mysterious, yet mature allure through the way she carries herself; a hellish charm that captures men so thoroughly that they willingly throw themselves into hell.

>>49790300
If the silhouette is not discernible at a quick glance then it's instantly shit tier.

>>49792809
Canon Hisamin orientation!

TH19 was an embarrassing piece of dogshit and nothing from it deserves acknowledgment.

So true...

>>49792911
Eh? No. KO!

>>49791296
>frilly designs
Does Mai or Keiki or maybe Eika count?

>>49792953
I guess Mai and Eika are a bit frilly, but I wouldn't put that label on Keiki.

>>49791296
Wish ZUN would make a new game with something "western" as the incident culprit to justify a return to frills

>>49793134
Anon... Frilly lolita costumes are quintessentially Japanese
If anything if he was to design anything explicitly western themed, he'd do all but that.

>>49792120
>>49792179

>>49793251
Can't look at that hairline and not think it's Nue

>>49792425

first porn of Fossilzed wonders is jackalman sckeb there reimu not haves skirt

>>49793281
go away /v/cuck

>>49793251
this would kinf of make more sense yeah

>>49793251
very nice

>>49793281
https://rule34.paheal.net/post/view/6865304
first ubame post tagged jackalman

>49793281
>49793336
Hey just so people are aware, this is a schizo ESL spammer, don't engage him. Don't bother asking about the backstory of his posts, it's a forced unfunny meme. Just ignore and report.

holy jackalmanbroken

My guess is that the boss is related to primordial dragon bones that become dinosaur bones when named... So maybe it's a dragon-dino chimera or something. Maybe wonder stones are prism shaped because of the dragon-rainbow relationship.
Read that youkai also meant strange bird/fire. So somehow dragon=dino=bird maybe... Could be a lot of things, also seen some post talking about Kojiki as well as Ainu religion and many more...
Izanami whose design could be bone related and is someone sealed underground since ancient times.

>>49792008
Would be funny and could mix well with youkai if it really was used for birds... The kanji nue was also originally used for a bird as well.
Guess the design might look like an undead bird or similar if it's something like that.

>>49790431
Some Futaba post also mentioned Quetzalcoatl and I guess we have technically el Dorado in a song title... but I doubt we get some native American gods... maybe via synchretism it also being the dragon god and the Hong and so on...

>>49790313
Thanks, way easier to see like this.
Also saw someone saying that the "tail" at the left might be a massive ponytail.
But I guess the "bonetail" might as well just be a fossil that the 2hu is holding, rather than a part of her body.

Hoping she makes up for all the other hus so far being not very good.

>>49792430
How did people first react to Saki and her cowboy hat?

>>49793859
Pretty well.

>>49793859
everyone just said YEEHAW and HOWDY

Guys it's very obviously Sese making a cameo. We finally got that collab.

>>49793912
Howdy

>>49792703
they don't look like dudes dressed in black tho

>>49792926
funny how many predictions cast her as some kind of divine sea dragon

>>49790126 (OP)
Dare we hope…

>>49794583
My mistress would never stand on one leg like a goddamn t*ngu.

>>49790300
I personally love the mix of green and blue, and the explosion or branching out effect. Very dreamlike.... Reminds me of オカメP

>>49793251
I would love if this is what it turns out to be because it'd basically be the "Too Bad! Wonder Stone Appeared!" Pic made manifest

>>49793912
What about in Japan?

I think I clocked the final boss guys

(If the Player's main stone is yellow)
>Still, using an incident's power...? I get an uneasy feeling from that stone. That altar gives off the same feeling... But that's impossible.

>You have a pristine, merciless power... Oh, the west entrance is opening. The pyramid is welcoming you... I've never seen this happen before.

Yellow stone would correspond to either SA or IN
the legendary first Japanese emperor Jimmu is stated to be a descendant of the Sun goddess Amaterasu further more the story of how he established his reign began with him capturing Yamato in a military campaign where he was guided towards Yamato by Yatagaratsu

however most notably Emperor Jimmu is the son of Tamayorihime the basis for Yorihime the cold hearted moonie bitch herself

another thing about Emperor Jimmu's legend was that he had guaranteed victory everytime he fought eastwards towards the sun which would explain why the branching paths in the story are corresponding to cardinal directions. Logically speaking if we're facing an enemy who wins fighting eastwards we simply need to attack them from the west

Spread the word, Yellow story stone in the way to go!

>>49795892
It being a figure from imperial history or related to such would tie it to lore about Minakamiyama. It's a mountain in Nagano which some claim to be a man-made pyramid. The locals also have lore about how the cave where Amaterasu Oomikami hid herself was actually in there. During the WWII, there were plans to evacuate the imperial court to a shelter built under the mountain. The mountain however turned out to be too unstable, so the plan was abandoned and another mountain was chosen.

ZUN lived his childhood in Hakuba, Nagano, and there are a ton of references to places and things around Nagano in Touhou lore. For example, the sphinx that inspired Nareko is near Suwa in Nagano. It was placed near a road where people used to dump trash to stop such. There's an old class of Japanese deities called to dousojin which guarded roads. Her design also incorporates iconography common to these deities.

But getting back to our potential pyramid under Youkai Mountain, Minakamiyama has some incredible strange folklore surrounding it, not limited to people believing it's a pyramid or unorthodox religious beliefs. It experienced a really strange cluster of like 40 000 small earthquakes in the 70s. People claim to see UFOs there. The current kanji for the mountain suggest a meaning of "mountain of all gods", but there is an old way to writing it which is "mountain above water".

It's also an old sacred site, there's shrines and kofun around it. The shugendo mountain ascetics consider it a holy place. There's a shrine at the very top of the mountain too that is said to enshrine Izanami and Izanagi, the first woman and man from Japanese mythology.

I could of course be wrong, but the pyramid under youkai mountain being some passed into fantasy version of Minakamiyama would fit well into ZUN's patterns and habits.

Minakamiyama isn't the only mountain that Japanese think is artificial though. There's a whole scene of people believing in this thing. In the early 20th century, there were also some Japanese people who tried to prove that the ancestors of Japanese were Egyptians. This was in line with other pseudoarcheological trends like British Israelism that were in the vogue at the time.

>>49790126 (OP)
>AI generated garbage
Don't tell me anyone is seriously going to buy or play this

>>49796318
i've already bought 10 copies.

>>49796318
I'm going to buy and play it.

>>49796318
It might be the first Touhou game I will actually buy.

>>49796318
I will buy you

>>49796318
i'll wait for the dolphin porn megas. i bought 19 and regretted it.

>>49796318
This whole AI debacle strongly reminds me of the skub comic.

>>49797035
Because it's the same pretend retards trying to start shit but switching sides every other time?

>>49797059
yeah the quoting nobody should have been a tipoff. This is exactly what I predicted would happen when the AI stuff in the demo was discovered, it may be total nothing but now we got fuel for low-effort trolling to derail every thread now

>>49795892
>>49795952
In Futaba they were speculating about the Golden Kite(that is seemingly conflated with the Yatagarasu) they were talking about it also being due to the game being originally intended to have the gold kanji in it's name as well as the kanji of brocade pointing to the imperial standard(錦の御旗). Which apparently was a pair one with a Sun and the other with a Moon at some point. Guess it's no coincidence that SA and IN got the same stone.
So I guess Yellow has the heavenly ancient kami power and the rest are more modern powers.
>Logically speaking if we're facing an enemy who wins fighting eastwards we simply need to attack them from the west
Was more thinking about the player moving in the same direction imitating him, but that's also a nice point of view. Don't think where fighting Jimmu though, but I think we might fight with the bird...

>>49798062
This makes me wonder, what happens when ZUN runs out of characters from Chinese and Japanese mythology to turn into cute girls? Will he just make up more characters, or will he start looking at more global myths for inspiration?

>>49798435
He would die before that happened. They have that many. And he is already capable of getting inspirations from global myths (Chiyari and Chupacabra.)

>>49797059
That and it not being a big deal to begin with.

>>49798481
It's pretty interesting how even with the characters inspired by global myths he still mixes them with Japanese myth too
like Chiyari is a Tenkajin and not a Chupacabra technically but her character is based on a Chupacabra
same like how Nareko is a Dosojin based possibly on Sae-no-Kami (possibly making her Chimata's sister) but is meant to be a Sphinx in design and behaviour

>>49799149
My take.
He's probably minorly salty about how the most popular cast is still SDM, who are almost all entirely westerners and much simpler in inspirations.

>>49790758
Cute lilly, dude

>>49799244
When was the last time Remilia appeared in a game ? I miss her so much and I want her to come back. I don't care about newhus, bring my favorite vampire lady back.

>>49799456
Violet Detector
you don't need more

>>49799456
Touhou 12.3 was the last game Remilia made an important appearance, meanwhile Flandre was playable in a very recent game.

>>49799549
Nigga that was almost a decade and it was a really minor role, at this point Flandre is more relevant than Remilia.

>>49799598
> at this point Flandre is more relevant than Remilia
At this point?
I think she always has been, even moreso after ZUN saw that little kids liked her design (despite not knowing where she was from)

>>49800199
please, the little kids know she's the most powerful touhou. most powerful is always popular among little kids.

>>49800234
>>49792416

>>49799244
I don't think he cares at all about that kind of thing. Like the phrasing implies either he'd be mad out of some weird sense of nationalism (which I don't think ZUN's shown any sense of Japanese exceptionalism in his writing and opinions so far) or because the characters were easier to come up with
>>49799456
When the stars align and we get another co-op partner game ala IN and SA (hey so that's what those two games have in common for the Yellow Stone) with Sakuya as a playable character
(or if we get another fighting game and Remilia is a returning character)

>>49793281
>>49793336
ok i'll bite what the hell is jackalman because I first noticed this thing popping up because someone uploaded still images from a W.T. Dinner Komachi and Shiki Eiki flash loop but recolored the guy to be orange and tagged it jackalman and then I noticed Jackalman is edited into other shit too

>>49800543
>>49793342
ESL schizo. that's it. Report and ognore

shit I still haven't gotten around to playing the demo

>>49801633
I played it, and with it being literally the first Windows 2hu I played, I can attest that it's fun

>>49801650
Sexo with Chimi.

>>49801686
You wouldn't, would you?

>>49799244
>>49799456
>>49799598
>>49800199
Unrelated but recently he directly mention EoSD and how people keep asking him to remaster it, he said that is simply not how he do things, he wanted to keep creating new things rather than stuck remaking the same game over and over

>>49798435
>>49798481
Not neccessarily, ZUN have always draw idea from random stuffs he saw on the internet, Nareko was largely based on that sphinx someone put at the side of the road to Moriya Shrine as a sign to stop people from littering. It's likely he thought that was interesting and made a character out of it

>>49801751
>he wanted to keep creating new things rather than stuck remaking the same game over and over
Which is why all the print works focus on the same handful of characters, yeah? Sounds like an excuse.

>>49802146
Up to you to interpret it, I only relay his word, none of us are mind reader

>>49802146
writing in old characters doing new things =/= as remaking an old game

Just skimmed through the thread, so I apologise if this has already been said here or anywhere else, and I'm going to feel really dumb if this is a common theory that everyone already knows about, but Touhou 20 may well be the last game in the series

This isn't a bad thing, though, I think ZUN may have found the perfect way (or maybe someone else gave him the idea) to wrap things up

I don't know who the character on the cover is, it might not be the stage 6 boss

I have a theory about who's sealed in the pyramid:

This isn't about Mima, she's probably never coming back (although that silhouette does look an awful lot like her), but ZUN has brought back PC-98 characters in the past and he hasn't done it recently but that doesn't mean he won't do it again

This game is about age, letting go and following your dreams, the bosses get older as you progress through the stages, and ZUN is getting older too, he's not a young man anymore and he's clearly lost interest in Touhou, he just wants to retire and spend the rest of his life with his family like any married man

It would be a perfect way to bookend the series if he brought her back

It's been 29 long years, but maybe it's finally time to bring her back: the first ever final boss of any Touhou game

Maybe it's time for Sariel, the Angel of Death to make her return

Death is certainly a very, very old concept, as old as life itself, so it would be appropriate

What do you all think?

>>49803283
I kinda feel it, yet I kinda don't.

>>49803331
Yeah, it's just a theory, but it seems plausible to me

It's probably just some random overdesigned goddess with the power to manipulate life energy or something and he'll keep slaving away on this series until he drops dead of cirrhosis at age 52

>>49801650
>with it being literally the first Windows 2hu I played
Which other games have you played before this one?

>>49801633
same

>>49803355
>Which other games have you played before this one?
The PC-98 games.
HRtP just won't click for me, got Normal 1CCs with all Shot Types in SoEW-LLS, one 1cc in PoDD, And right now I'm stuck on MS.
I also played Luna Nights. Short but really enjoyable.

>>49803391
Are you new to the series out of curiosity? Also you're cool for starting with PC-98, haha.
If you could all-clear SoEW and LLS, you're bound to get MS eventually.
>HRtP just won't click for me
Don't worry, I don't like it either. I'd easily consider it the worst in the series.
>Luna Nights
I should play that sometime. I really enjoy Metroidvanias

>>49803455
New to the games, yes.
I've passively known of and progressively got closer to Touhou for basically as long as I've been on the internet

>>49803283
I see more of a chance of each entrance leading to one of the SoEW-MS final bosses seeing how all HRtP bosses except Mima were ignored even withing pc98.

Death/end related characters could be fitting, but that makes me more thing of Japanese tales and stuff like Izanami appearing (maybe she's even the bird if ZUN makes her an ubume) considering how ZUN has been ticking lately. Not sure if it will be his actual last game, but who knows maybe he changes his modus operandi after this one.

I will applaud tho if your post comes true though. If I got the same experience when defeating the final boss as when I started playing the games I might shed tears. But I guess it would be funny if instead it was unexpectedly Konngara, or Kikkuri (whose words where forgotten by history) but I'm just rambling at this point.

It would be funny if ZUN trolled people with the "back to basics" sentence and made the game have a stage intro like HRtP and put some tiles, or fairy in a similar formation. Even if it's just a joke and then game immediately switches back to being an STG.
Well guess getting hit by the wonder stones kinda capture the feeling of getting hit of your own yingyang orb...

Hope you have fun with the games.

>>49803283
Silhouette looks nothing like her, I'm a copium addict and I'm not stretching that far

Also sorry to say but Sariel is definitely not coming back because she's literally from a porn game no joke

>>49804070
Yeah, like I said, she's probably never coming back, but seriously:
>Pointy wizard's hat
>Cape
>Long hair
>One prosthetic leg: Mima started out with a ghost tail and ended up with two legs

It's a bit of a stretch, admittedly, and knowing ZUN this is just a giant troll and it'll be a completely different character who has the exact same silhouette as Mima

>>49804071
No, Sariel is from Jewish tradition, I didn't know that particular design was from a porn game, but if that's true then it just needs to be changed enough to be legally distinct, but since ZUN has a history of just blatantly ripping designs off from other media and afaik he hasn't really faced any consequences from that I don't think he'd even bother

>>49790300
Nothing can ever beat MoF

>>49804087
Just wait until I get off work to get the picture
It's literally just better drawn Sariel but with her tits out, same pose and everything

>>49804243
Could well be

This is probably just a repeat of the Mizuchi situation: "Look, guys, Mima's back! Lol sorry it's someone else"

ZUN is probably just sick of people begging him to bring her back, so he does this to fuck with them

>>49804243
>>49804251
You know what, I don't think she even has a pointy wizard's hat at all, I don't think that's part of her silhouette, it's just part of the background pattern that by "coincidence" happens to make her look like Mima

ZUN is a giant troll

>>49804262
Sorry, I keep double, triple posting, whatever, but I just had another thought

If that truly is Sariel on the cover, she might actually be the stage 5 boss

This is just more wild speculation, but what if the stage 6 boss is another PC-98 character? Someone who resembles Sariel a lot, same long white hair, six wings, only hers look a bit different?

What if the stage 6 boss is actually Shinki?

I always wondered why they look so similar: maybe they're actually sisters, and not just sisters, but identical twins

I don't think ZUN has been planning this far ahead for this long, he probably just reused Sariel's design for her, but if this is true and he really has been planning this out this whole time I'll be amazed

>>49792179
the benben stone

It's probably going to be a Nue clone that will end up in the shit pile with Zanmu.

>>49804071
>>49804243
Okay so the game we'll want to be taking a look at is Toushin Toshi II or Tournament of the Gods II
aka the game where infamously that one Highly Responsive to Prayers background came from. Particularly its a random enemy you can encounter and i've included its ecchi defeat art
It's an Alice Soft H-game that even has Rance appear in it as a cameo fight.
As you can see Sariel's design is actually taken from one of three Angels from this group. Same wand in the air, same pose, same everything except for sense of modesty
At the bottom there is Shizuku Kobayakawa a character who some say might have inspired Reimu appearance wise but I think that's a pretty generic 80s - 90s anime design so I don't think so she also appears in the Toushin Toshi 2 OVA in about Episode 2 ten minutes in
here's a CG gallery for Toushin Toshi II
https://hitomi.la/gamecg/toushin-toshi-2-&-omake-disk-1000717.html
and here's a random hentai site I found the OVA on
https://haho.moe/anime/fo1tmoy9/2

nothing happens with her in the OVA but in the game you can choose to rape her which leads to her committing suicide so pretty fucked up

>>49805030
Honestly, the Itsumade story and concept is interesting enough that, even if she is Nue 2, that would still be better than almost all recent 2hus.

barefoot fatige

>>49805947
I will draw her with kneesocks and high heels

Half the thread overdosed on copium, but of course it's only Mima fans that are delusional.

>>49807567
Correct.
And they always will be.

I hope the newhu on the case has a stupid shirt so we can bully her like Heca.

>>49807600
We are truly the most oppressed fans.
Anyway, if there's any design element in these fan guesses I think is 100% spot on, it would be a leg pose like shown here >>49792008 and it should be considered before huffing copium about returning characters. I don't think either Shinki or Sariel or Mima would do such a pose.

>>49807784
Then it's either Konngara or Yuuka, got it

>>49807833
>Yuuka
Sorry, she's been relegated by Zun to a guest character, like Dante in SMT3, she's never coming back in any meaningful capacity.
>Konngara
No wings.

>>49807853
No need for wings >>49793251
I also forgot Yumemi, wich reminded me of my shitpost theory of the Pyramid actually being the PSH

>>49807875
>No need for wings
Ok, no horn then.
>Yumemi
This is such a ridiculous thought, I don't even know what to say. Wasn't the whole Nareko's thing about cosplaying as a Sphynx because she went insane out of boredom? It sure sounds like she's been protecting the pyramid for a long time, much more than a human lifespan.

Again, sorry if this is already quite well known, I've been avoiding speculation about this game, but every character so seems to be themed around opposite pairs:

Two playable characters, Reimu and Marisa, representing the archetypes of the Fool and the Magician: talent and hard work

Ubama is the boss of the yamanba and has the power to destroy sanctuaries, contrasted with Sakata, who has no interest in society and can create sanctuaries: extroversion and introversion, creation and destruction

Chimi has the same surname as Nue and may well be her mother, she's unidentifiable like her daughter, but that's because she's older than the concept of youkai itself, while Nue is clearly a youkai: parent and child, old and new

Nareko is Japanese, but cosplays as an Egyptian, and she's a dousojin, which are often represented as a human couple: east and west, male and female

And if my silly theory about Sariel and Shinki is right: good and evil, life and death

There seems to be a yin-yang theme to this game, and to Touhou in general, of course, but it's especially prominent here

That Ghost's so thick it should be illegal
>>49807959
>Ok, no horn then.
Ok fair
>such a ridiculous thought
It was shitpost speculation, after all

>>49807988
Thinking about Yumemi more, I remembered that she and Chiyuri were new arrivals to Gensokyo in PoDD and they weren't guarded by a dousojin. So why would they be guarded now? And even if they were for some reason now guarded, I don't imagine that a lot of time has passed between PoDD and FW for Nareko to go insane. I mean it's been almost 30 years, and Reimu and Marisa are now 40 year old ladies, but I don't imagine it's a significant amount of time for a dousojin.

>>49808036
Crackpot theory: The Pyramid was built around the Hypervessel to prevent it from fucking up with Space-time/the Barrier.
To add: Yumemi IS the PSH: she uploaded her mind into the ship and is now an immortal, sentient AI

>>49808070
Well, again, I don't think enough time has passed between PoDD and FW for Nareko to go insane and start cosplaying as a Sphynx. Yumemi should really appear in Hifuu though.

>>49808082
This is Gensokyo. Common sense is best left at the door.

I made a mistake here >>49803283

Touhou 20 may well be the last game in the series, but it won't be the end of Touhou

ZUN's passion is music, he started playing music at a very young age, he's probably wanted to be a composer since he was old enough to understand what the word meant

He clearly cares about the setting and the characters after all this time

He's not a game designer, he never wanted to be, he just thought it would be neat to learn how games are made and maybe make a few of them himself

He only kept going with Touhou after MS because he tried to apply for Comiket with just a music CD and got rejected

If I'm right, then from this game onwards, Touhou may well just be a series of print works and music CDs

I don't want to say anything else, I have a lot more theories, including about who the extra boss(es?) might be, but I won't say anything else just in case by some miracle I happen to be right and get accused of knowing ZUN personally and leaking the ending

Again, I'm probably wrong about all of this

>>49807979
The whole life and death thing also makes sense for a living fossil girl. Which could also go the route of flesh and stone as a duality, given fossils aren't just bone, but stone replacing the flesh and bone of the once living. Stones also being a prominent theme for the game.
Feels like a basic jump to assume the stones used in the gameplay might also very well just be fossils. If not just outright some of the titular fossilized wonders.
We've already seen what oil can do/represent. Makes sense fossils themselves which are much more tangible in a way might act in a more significant manner.

>>49808145
This is gonna sound pretty dumb, but... which one's the living fossil? I assume you're talking about Nareko, since she's the only one that fits that description, but I can't find any information on the Touhou wiki (yes, I know) calling her that

I haven't even played the demo very far, in fact I only played it once, died in stage 1 and immediately gave up

I'm not good at STGs and never really enjoyed them, it was always my biggest problem with Touhou: it's a great series, but STGs aren't for everyone

I do enjoy the games, I've played every game so far, I have some normal 1CCs and I've defeated a couple of the extra bosses, but yeah

Anyway, back to what you were saying: "life and death" certainly fits that, but I think there's a different dichotomy here: human bodies are soft and squishy, while fossils are hard as a rock (obviously because they ARE rocks)

From the Tao te Ching (chapter 78):

>Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
>Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.

>The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
>Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.

It's soft and hard: life is soft, death is hard

It's saying that water is the elixir of life, since water is essential for all life on Earth, and that life will always win over death in the end

I'm waxing philosophical here, but you get what I mean

>>49808205
Ah my bad, I should have been a bit more specific. I'm just working off a hunch the case cover girl will be a living fossil of some kind at this point given what people have seen in the cover art. Especially with that looks like a bone-like tail or appendage. >>49790290
So just a bit of rambling on my end.

>>49808221
Oh, right

I think you might be right: there may well be a living fossil in this game, someone who was once dead but is now alive, someone who was a ghost but is now human, someone who conquered death, turned from evil into good

I can feel it in my bones, which, of course, are where fossils come from

>>49797059
>>49797956
>>49798550
Quit defending the quality of the games getting worse. ZUN started his AI slop with TH19, which notably was a wreck of a game and failed to notify anyone about it (despite all the platforms selling it requiring AI usage to be disclosed). All of the backgrounds in TH20 that use AI (which is a high amount mind you, it's not just one or two spell cards like people like to say, it's a large amount and there is no point in the game where the user is not looking at something made with AI bar solid black loading screens).

"But it lets him make the games quicker" no it doesn't, and even if it did we would see no benefit from it, as the quality is worse.

"But he doesn't like to make backgrounds" than he can hire someone to make these assets.

"But he doesn't like to work with other people!" he has done it before and he can do it again. He stopped being a strictly-solo dev ages ago, and if it's hindering the quality of his work it's a practice he needs to stop. Any artistic merit of him working alone is undermined by the use of AI working as a co-creator.

"You're just shitposting!" you're just accepting whatever garbage ZUN throws out. I don't care if ZUN himself says he hates criticism, his work should still be criticized.

"The game might still be good!" the game would be better without the AI assets.

"What's the worse that will happen?" people have already seen ZUN using AI as an approval to flood doujin sites with AI slop, which is a strictly negative result. The idea of turning something that used to be a passion-driven scene into a slop dispensary shows a lack of care for creation and a lack of care for what you consume. You might e focused on only consuming whatever and moving on to the next thing to consume, but some of us have standards.

>>49790300
too much noise/10

>>49790300
The simple ones look best. 6, 12, 13, 18

>>49796943
All I have are physical copies of the early windows games as a novelty
I don't think I've ever bought any of the touhou games on steam
I'm pretty much a leech on this franchise

>>49799598
>at this point Flandre is more relevant than Remilia.
And before that the last important appearance was in 9.5, so?

>>49809110
>ZUN started his AI slop with TH19
And yet there was no outcry until some Twitter celeb threw a fit over the TH20 demo. Not manufactured controversy and celeb simping at all. Nuh-uh.

I like that you can customize shot types. Makes me wonder what the best challenges will be. Ones that I am not good enough to do, that's certain.

>>49811953
Take your fucking meds retard. Your argument is that, because in one of the most unpopular games where it was used in a small amount that went unnoticed by most people, no one has the right to complain when the next game uses it for almost everything but the character art?

>manufactured
You don't even know what that word means
>celeb
The Touhou community in the West has no real celebs and isn't big enough for that lmao

>>49813257
>>>/v/

>>49813333
I have obviously won this argument if that's the best you can do now. Thank you for conceding.

>>49813336
underage pls go

>>49813342
Damn you really are mad.

>>49811953
>celeb simping
That's what ZUN cocksuckers do though
ZUN is basically a Japanese e-celeb like Hiromoot

>>49813333
>>49813342
Feel free to fuck off to an altchan if you want a hugbox so badly.

>>49809110
L + yap + don’t care

>>49790126 (OP)
New game doko?
At least news about the 2hus?

I am sold on the boss hairstyle, Touhou certainly could use more tomboy

>>49814556
17th

Is it or is no one excited for the next game

>>49798062
>Don't think where fighting Jimmu though
The endless inbreeding shitposting would be hilarious, though.

>>49815403
I'm excited, myself, but unfortunately all the talk is going to be pretty pointless until the game releases and people can actually bring up what it does, like they did on the first day the demo dropped. Everyone was saying it felt refreshing, I think the same.

>>49813257
No, don't be disingenuous. The reason nobody complained about sloppa in TH19 was because the AI-generated assets were parts of the game that were either in the background, obstructed, distorted or otherwise inconsequential. Which is why the "outrage" over AI in TH19 only ever flared up when some twatter cunts tried to make it a thing in the wake of the TH20 controversy. Then died out just as quickly once their sycophants got bored. Claim what you like about TH20 and I won't dispute it because I'm waiting for the full game and haven't touched the demo, sue me, but sloppa in TH19 was literally imperceptible if you were playing the fucking game instead of datamining for social media clicks.

>>49813257
>The Touhou community in the West has no real celebs and isn't big enough for that lmao
Uhhh toby fox

>>49815415
It'll be nice when the game is finally out and it can be judged on the gameplay and not some moving background being the hyperfocus some people have latched on to. Still gonna suck having to deal with people using their AI strawman arguments to attack the game and Zun though, regardless of how good or bad it is.

>>49815493
>disingenuous
It's funny how once you start paying attention, most posts blatantly trying to stir up trouble like that guy are usually just twisting things for their own benefit, and typically immediately resort to insults to fuel emotionally responsive engagement.

>>49815403
I'm not a hype beast or very speculative myself and pre release threads have been poisoned beyond repair, which is a shame because prior to the whole AI background thing, thoughts on the demo were overwhelmingly positive, with more varied stage design, build flexibility, and solid difficulty to look forward to.
It just so happens that I don't need to reiterate on these good points, so discussion is drowned out by the aforementioned debacle among other usual talking points brought with every new release.

>>49815781
To be clear, what I meant was that nothing began with TH19, nor was TH19 "slop". There was no controversy outside of the brief, manufactured one. Claiming it's solely because TH19 was somehow unpopular, as if nobody played it or looked at the art, is what's disingenuous, or at the very least reductive. People didn't flip out because there was nothing egregious to flip out about. End of story.

>>49790126 (OP)
IM A CHUCKSTER

So if the pyramid has 4 entrances does that mean there will be 4 variations of stage 4? Maybe not the layout but the way it looks.

>>49815908
People were already speculating another vs protagonist in stage 4 because of Marisa's flipped braid so who knows

>>49815493
>disingenuous
Fuck off, you're the one being disingenuous here saying people only dislike this because some nebulous Touhou celebrity is psyoping everyone against it. If anything the closest person to that defended ZUN's use of it and tried to convince other people before rabid Japanese AI shills mass-reported his account for not being pro-AI enough.

Also nice work defending the fact ZUN explicitly broke storefront regulations on both Steam and DLsite with Touhou 19's use of AI.

>>49816632
>rabid Japanese AI shills mass-reported his account for not being pro-AI enough
Never confirmed, btw. He's been asked time and time again but never provided any proof or even source of the claim. That's celebs for you.

>>49816641
You could watch it in real time. I saw the Japanese AI shill tweets myself.

>>49816632
>>49816632
>ZUN explicitly broke storefront regulations
Nigga, who cares?
>muh AI
Nigga, who cares?

>>49816632
>saying people only dislike this because some nebulous Touhou celebrity is psyoping everyone against it
Where did I say that? In regards to what? Because last I checked, I said that people didn't give a shit, not that they disliked it. Kind of the opposite, innit?
>defending the fact ZUN explicitly broke storefront regulations
Never did. If you believe otherwise, feel free to quote where I did. In any other eventuality, shut the fuck up, you're making stuff up to be mad about, which stinks of exactly the kind of manufactured controversy I expressed frustration with.

>>49816657
Gay furries on Twitter and Discord care, so that means the whole world needs to know about it for some reason.

Some people get very upset if you criticize ZUN using ai in the game, and I don't get it. Just because some less than likable twitter people criticized it doesn't mean it should be defended. There's no soul in using ai artwork, even if it's something small; it'll just set a bad precedent. ZUN has talked about how his inspiration for becoming a game dev only came because he wanted to make game music, so he got motivation to start making games because he had to overcome the challenge of getting his music out there somehow

Imagine how a young indie creator would feel now, there's AI tools you can use as a shortcut so that you don't have to try your hand at a creation you are unfamiliar with, and other indie developers, like ZUN, are using them, so it's fine. It's just an example, and obviously you can't generate games with ai, but Touhou as we know it wouldn't exist with such extreme shortcuts. The series has, and is going to change a lot but I think this is one thing that should be rejected

Also besides that the ai assets in 20 are just ugly lol

>>49816782
>Touhou as we know it wouldn't exist with such extreme shortcuts
Yeah, just imagine if early days ZUN traced other artists' work or something. Inconceivable.

>>49816803
Absolutely, it's just as much of a bad thing and I don't think it should be defended either, but his tracing/copyright infringement was (as far as I'm aware) contained to the pc-98 era, so his college years, and it's something he got over with time.

Is using ai resources something ZUN would "get over"? I hope so, but I don't think that's how it would work out.

>>49816803
This is the state AI bros are at? You fuckers think tracing is good now? lmao

>>49816782
>doesn't mean it should be defended
Sorry to break it to you, but people can defend whatever they like for whatever reason they fancy. Saying it "shouldn't be defended," as if your negative assessment is the sole factual one, is childish at best, malicious at worst. Then there's the matter of aforesaid criticism veering toward the emotional and nonsensical.
>There's no soul in using ai artwork
This, for example, is meaningless, unquantifiable, undefinable babble.
>the ai assets in 20 are just ugly
This, on the other hand, is a valid complaint, yet you bring it up almost as an afterthought when it should be the focus. Why? This entire debacle, sorry, debate has been like this. Trying to drag TH19 into it and rewriting history based on fake twatter controversies is a symptom, too. Can't we set the made up shit aside and focus on the facts? Is it going to be HURR SLOP vs HURR LUDDITES forever?

>>49816856
I'm sorry, what? Did you quote the right post?

It's all so tiresome.

>>49816782
Because half the time it's not criticism. It's just a flow of insults shitting on ZUN and the game which gets real old real fast when it's just the same general anti-ai rhetoric that's been going on for a few years now.
We get it, most AI looks like and is just garbage, incompetent retards use it and try to monetize it, or pass off learning with it, and have forever tainted fanart, writing, and programming as a result. The way the average normalfag uses it is lazy.
But I don't think I've seen a single post properly articulate WHY they think the AI is bad with actual examples pointing out flaws in the product and how it's impacted the game itself. Just that it exists, so it's inherently evil and that's it. or you get hit with
>yeah, nu game bad, don't need to explain, fuck you, been going downhill since *any game after PC-98*
It's tiresome.

You get one mention of explaining where AI is used, and suddenly the entire game is supposedly this toxic mess. I'm not in favor of the use of AI for anything creative, but at the same time if it's truly just background images, and the game is par the course for a windows release, I'm not going to obsess over it until I see how the final product turned out.
ZUN himself already works in tech for his actual job, so fucking around with a "new" technology is arguably to be expected, especially for aspects of development he doesn't actually enjoy.
Hell, shit like neural learning/networks have been around for a long time. It's only within the last few years they've become so entry level accesible.

Congrats on derailing the thread by giving the troll attention. He won.

>>49816858
>This, for example, is meaningless, unquantifiable, undefinable babble
Actually he's right about this. Art is inherently about human creation. A computer cannot create art. All it can do is pump out a regurgitated imitation of it while lacking all the elements necessary. Even children understand this concept, which is why many children's shows have a common story setup where a man and machine fight and the machine is unable to meet the soul and passion of the man.

For the record, even ZUN agrees with this notion.

Most people are able to inherently understand the concept of soul in artwork except most AI bros. This might be why they see no issue with it's use, because they are unable to understand art on any level deeper than a consumerist one. They don't think about themes, or handicraft, they're the kind of person who buys Transformer tickets, has fun, and forgets the movie two days later. They are only able to consume art on the most basic of levels, and since AI "art" is entirely surface level, they have no problems with it.

In short, AI bros are mentally deficient and enjoy any slop thrown in front of them.

>>49816858
I can't speak for any twitter controversies or how TH19 was involved because NTA, I think the ai usage in that game is just as bad but I don't think it reached public attention because it was used very minimally

I apologize that I did not make it clear, yes you can defend the ai usage, I just don't agree with it
However I don't see how the post was saying anything made up

>>49816858
>Trying to drag TH19 into it and rewriting history
What history is being rewritten? It's a fact TH19 uses AI assets. It's a fact ZUN didn't disclose them. It's a fact TH19 wasn't well received even before the knowledge of the AI assets was widespread. What history in your schizophrenic mind is being rewritten?

>>49816897
well im curious, what were the assets that were AI-generated.
post 'em

>>49816880
I think I agree with the general sentiment. There are a lot of people online, like twitter, for example, who criticize AI but don't understand the full scope of why/how it's bad
It's also definitely not unexpected for someone like ZUN to try using generative ai at some point
But I think besides just the ugliness of it, it is fair to criticize the ai assets used in 20, even before the full game has come out. It shows a lack of creativity and integrity from ZUN, and I think making criticisms against it, although intelligently, is good because I, and I think a lot of other people who share the same opinion are hoping would pressure ZUN into replacing the assets with non-generative ones. That's not really feasible or likely now but it's how I felt when the drama first started in May, and seeing as it's a change I still want to be made, I don't think it's something to be swept under the rug; ai assets aren't something I want to see in future games even past 20, for example

>>49816911

>>49816940

>>49816943

>>49816911
bottom 3

>>49816951
Happy, or do you think I invented a time machine and rewrote history by forcing ZUN to inject these all into his game just to prove you wrong?

>>49816940
>>49816943
>>49816951
>>49816954
>>49816955
Can you post in-game screenshots? Raw assets like textures always look silly out of context.

>>49816911
One of Zanmu's spell card backgrounds. Don't know if there were any others.

>>49816961

>actual nothingburger
well if you're happy, ZUN in his drunk stream has said he dislikes using AI art so you can rest well

>>49816966
Hm?

>>49816961

Here's the truth (or part of it, anyway) about AI:

>AI good if used by good people for good reasons
>AI bad if used by bad people for bad reasons

Is ZUN a good person or a bad person? You decide

>>49816886
>A computer cannot create art.
Correct, which is why even the most advanced generative AI currently available requires human input and moderation. But, I know what you're going to say: the input is minimal, it requires no work, there's no investment, yadda yadda. Well, people said the very same thing about burgeoning digital art in the 00s, especially about amateur artists picking up cheap graphic tablets, and look at us now. But that's beside the point. Just a glimmer of perspective, perhaps. Hopefully.

The point is AI is just a program, used by people. It 100% does have intentionality - or "soul" if you prefer - and that's really the crux of the problem, because a lot of people use it incompetently, incorrectly or with outright malicious intent. Its widespread availability and low skill floor exacerbate this problem, of course. If it was all up to the machine, it wouldn't be one. Unfortunately, people are, as ever, a factor. Well, we got around this issue with tablets eventually, so I'm holding on to hope with AI as well.

Anyway. The only real, objective, tangible and incontrovertible problem with AI assets in TH20 is that they're shoddily produced, with apparently no QA. This is what we should be focusing on. Otherwise it's arguing whether the car broke down because you used the wrong brand of screwdriver. They look bad, plain and simple, and unlike TH19's, they're in high exposition. How they were made matters very little here and really isn't what warrants complaining. Though, I suppose it's the more emotionally/subjectively charged and therefore attractive angle. Oh, well.

Oh, and I dare you to drop by our resident sloppa thread and tell them their stuff is soulless or that it has no personal touch. Sometimes there's so much of it you need to wash your hands afterwards.

>>49816981
Zun is a dork.

>>49816979
Oooh, now I see why people were so upset about AI art in Touhou 19. It really jumps out at you. How did ZUN get away with this?

>>49816657
AI Pajeets now arguing that scamming people is good, I'm not surprised

>>49816803
AI Pajeets now arguing that tracing and stealing work is fine, I'm not surprised

>>49816911
>>49816961
>>49817016
AI Pajeets being disingenuous and refusing to concede, I'm not surprised

>>49817039
>tracing and stealing work is fine
I CTRL+F'd this statement on this page, but the only result found was your post.

>>49817043
Trying to justify or minimize the fact ZUN traced art in his early days carries that statement implicitly yes. You're not clever.

>>49817051

who do you think will be the final boss on the cover...

>>49817062
nue 3

>>49817062
I like that one anon's guess at a Quetzalcoatl. Especially with how it's both a mythological entity and a reference to the Quetzalcoatlus which serves as a tie in to fossils.
Granted it didn't have much in the way of a tail...

>>49817079
Personally I'm doubtful since ZUN hasn't ever made a character that wasn't based on Chinese or Japanese mythology.

What did ZUN mean by this?
https://youtu.be/XTp4QX_rZ7E

>>49817117

>>49817117

>>49817145
shithu

Seeing this reminds me ZUNart is at its best in traditional media. Too bad he won't ever use it for in-game portraits.

>>49816883
IS THAT FUCKING RIKA?!

>>49816966
That's not really goalpost shifting. He's asking for more information before forming an opinion.

>>49817380
Dude that's the most blatant example of goalpost moving ever.
"TH19 doesn't use AI, you're rewriting history!"
"Yes it does."
"Well post the images then!"
"Ok"
"W-Well maybe it doesn't look that bad in game, post in game screenshots of it!"

>>49815781
Irony is ZUN's still railing against AI use, he's very clearly condemning it as a replacement for genuine artistic expression. He just hates making backgrounds that badly.
Honestly the worst consequences of this AI thing was accidentally giving the greenlight to slopmongerors to think they're wanted and enabling this concern trolling to derail discussion. And it is concern trolling because the touhou fans on fucking tumblr and reddit let it go by now

>>49817406
>And it is concern trolling because the touhou fans on fucking tumblr and reddit let it go by now
Even they will largely say they don't care for it. Their opinion hasn't changed, they just aren't talking about it because who the fuck talks about a shmup game for months on end?

>>49816883
sadly this

>>49817138
>>49817145
Got me there.

>>49817292
The switch to digital was painful. He should go back to scanning pencil sketches for portraits.
>>49817339
yea

>>49817389
>TH19 doesn't use AI,
Anon... Nobody said that.

>>49816981
He never claimed to be much of an artist and is quite honest about touhou being a derivative work (at least it used to be.) We never had expectations of him such that a few AI generated background images would devalue his work. Contrast this with AI generated music. If ZUN used AI generated music, we wouldn't be debating whether it devalued his work. We'd all be clowning on him.

>>49817791
This.
>>49817411
And that's kind of what I was trying to say

Even Gaben is telling people to use AI to help while making games, just stop being autistic about people adopting a new tool to make things more convenient so they can focus on what matters.

>>49817857
Why should I be happy with the quality of the things I enjoy becoming worse? Why should I be happy that art being "made by humans" will be considered a luxury and not the norm?

>>49817865
Quality is entirely up to the creators. Not the computer programs they use.

>>49818375
When it comes to art, intent is important. AI removes the intent.

>cover background is just the same aislop that was on the title screen, for the first time outside of spinoffs
ZUN graphic design soul is officially dead. Unconnected Marketeers was the last Touhou game.

>>49821603
?

>>49790300
6, 7, 8, 12 and 15 are the best.

>>49822375
The prior games had original covers besides some of the spinoffs, 20 just uses the title screen background (which is probably AI generated)
I like UM's aesthetics and it felt really high effort to me with most of the portraits reaching the level of "good by conventional standards" plus all the cards drawn by ZUN's wife and the cool visual effects happening in the last few stages. Now it feels like a last hurrah with the fall into ugly AI textures almost immediately afterward and some recent portraits looking goofy as hell again.

>>49822603
Maybe he crashed out in regards to art with how UM seemed to not get that much attention from fans due to the comparative effort put into it.
The Fox and Tengu feel like they're the only ones that get any attention.
I don't think I've ever seen such an underrepresented Stage 6 and extra boss since the windows games started given the time UM has been out.
Can't say I liked how a lot of TH19 portraits looked. Felt like they had less effort given to them compared to the previous few titles.

Baseless speculation on my end at the end of the day, but I do wonder if something happened between 18 and 19.

>>49821560
>AI removes the intent.
Retard

>>49821560
>AI removes the intent
AI isn't powerful enough to do that. The indomitable human spirit is too strong.

kuso thread award

>>49825198
kusoge award