Touhou Thread 6 - Fear and Loathing in Lunar Voyages by Hunter S. Clownpiece

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > VEGETA > Touhou Thread 6 - Fear and Loathing in Lunar Voyages by Hunter S. Clownpiece

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Which religion is the best? This poll is closed.
Shintoism	59	9.58%
Buddhism	77	12.50%
Taoism	66	10.71%
FEAR CLOWNPIECE	414	67.21%
Total:	616 votes

[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

Namtab posted:

I can deal with Marisa but Reimu just fucks me over. I hear lots of people have trouble managing the stars though.

That's always the problem with encountering unusual bullet types: it takes a while to get used to the size of their hitbox. I have a similar problem with the arrows in TD. ...I can't actually think of anything particularly tough about Reimu though.

# ? Jul 30, 2013 20:36

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 22:29

HGH: Dec 20, 2011

I think her wrap around gimmick is annoying. It's not too hard to understand but I can see people messing up because of it. And then there's all her moving around really fast, and the fact that you can easily die if you accidentally unfocus without noticing there's a yin yang orb on top of you.

Speaking of difficult things though, the people who made that Jesus/Christianity themed game made another one recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz6Obi1xBWg

I feel like these bosses have too much health. The game also has a second harder loop. All the over the top stuff reminds me more of a Cave game than a Touhou one.

# ? Jul 30, 2013 20:44

Schwarzwald: Jul 27, 2004; Don't Blink

I definitely have more trouble with Marisa than with Reimu, although Blink is no joke.
A part of it is confusion with the star bullets, but Marisa is also much more erratic.

# ? Jul 30, 2013 21:44

SirSlarty: Dec 23, 2003; that's wicked

I'm a novice player and Reimu gives me more trouble than Marisa. I find it easier to weave through Marisa's stars than dodge Reimu's sporadic non-spell attacks.

# ? Jul 30, 2013 22:13

MadRhetoric: Feb 18, 2011; I POSSESS QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN TOUHOU GAMES

TD is the easiest modern game, whereas MoF is the most lenient (Always Be Bombing). Stage 4 is annoying and Kanako is hard, but MoF is nice and simple. If you remember the Marisa B trick, boss fights are trivial. General consensus is that TD is incredibly easy and I should get around to playing it.

For the earlier Windows games, IN is the most lenient (Spell Practice, Border Team, a potential 7 lives to start and a deathbomb window that's so big it fucks you up for later games) whereas PCB is the easiest. It's simple, has a built-in safety net in the Cherry Barrier and it has Sakuya A. Stage 4 is more tiring than difficult and you can cheese the Prismriver fight by shooting the non-Merlin sisters as Sakuya. Yuyuko's a bit on the easy side final boss wise.

And IN Stage 4 seems tailor made to throw off every kind of player.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 02:53

KataraniSword: Apr 22, 2008; but at least I don't have
a MLP or MSPA avatar.
I am my own man.

MadRhetoric posted:

General consensus is that TD is incredibly easy and I should get around to playing it.

Miko is hardly a stage 5 boss, much less a stage 6. If you can get past Seiga without burning too many resources, you can 1cc the game with little extra effort. She's easily the easiest final boss in the series (A title likely held by Yuyuko or Okuu before TH13 depending on personal opinion) and I can't think of any other game in the series where the difficulty reaches its usual worst in Stage 4 and simply coasts along afterwards. Even EoSD, IN, and MoF, the three Windows games known for their particularly brutal Stage 4s, at least have challenge afterward for the players that get past them.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 03:04

Redmark: Dec 11, 2012; This one's for you, Morph.
-Evo 2013

I'm one of those people who hates bombing, so I'm great at PoFV but have problems with IN/MoF :v:

(Well, PoFV is pretty much all bombing but it's a different kind of bomb. I always like it when I'm not just holding down Z, which is why I play MarisaB in SA.)

# ? Jul 31, 2013 04:22

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

Okay, this is a kind of a tangent and maybe you guys won't appreciate this but I feel like I have to ask.

As some of you are aware I translate the official Touhou comics. I wouldn't say I'm a particularly great translator, but I try not to be completely terrible. Anyway, in a chapter I'm currently translating, (kinda but not really spoiler, sort of a dialect question that may reveal who shows up) there's a character who uses the honorific "dono". Which is basically an old fashioned way to address people that in the modern era makes people think of samurai dramas. It probably has some more nuance to it, historically, but nowadays dono pretty much equals feudal. A quick way of establishing a character as archaic. That's all well and good, but how should it be translated? My first thought is "Sir" as in "Sir Bob, slayer of dragons" which makes people think of knights and I think that's appropriate, but the feminine equivalent of that (and of course I need the feminine equivalent) is "Dame" which is a bit less common and maybe looks kinda weird. Well, weird enough that I hesitate to use it. Dame Reimu?

"Lady" is another option but that's the feminine equivalent of "Lord" and has more connotations of subservience than I think are appropriate, and overlaps with "sama". Actually, it's currently translated that way on the wiki (Futo uses it), but I'm a bit uncomfortable with that too, although as a wiki though I don't feel any urgency in fixing it, unlike a comic where it becomes set in stone. And of course there are other options. The simplest way would be to leave it as -dono, with maybe a footnote, but I'm kind of proud of the fact that Touhou translations tend to be less Japanophilic than they could be and I wouldn't want to break tradition.

Anyway, I'm probably overthinking this way too much, but I want like a dozenth opinion or something. Most people I've talked to (my friends) have said "Dame" is fine and frankly I've already edited the chapter to use that, but I guess I don't think it's fine so I want someone to talk me out of it. Or give a neutral opinion for why it's fine.

Sorry for the derail.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 05:28

MadRhetoric: Feb 18, 2011; I POSSESS QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN TOUHOU GAMES

Stick with your first thought, since it is really archaic.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 05:33

TOO SCSI FOR MY CAT: Oct 12, 2008; this is what happens when you take UI design away from engineers and give it to a bunch of hipster art student "designers"

Clarste posted:

Okay, this is a kind of a tangent and maybe you guys won't appreciate this but I feel like I have to ask.

As some of you are aware I translate the official Touhou comics. I wouldn't say I'm a particularly great translator, but I try not to be completely terrible. Anyway, in a chapter I'm currently translating, (kinda but not really spoiler, sort of a dialect question that may reveal who shows up) there's a character who uses the honorific "dono". Which is basically an old fashioned way to address people that in the modern era makes people think of samurai dramas.

Sorry for the derail.

"Sir" and "Dame", to me, include connotations of royalty and upper-class; depending on who the character is and who they're addressing, this might be appropriate or not.

Does the character have enough lines that you could indicate archaic dialect through some other mechanism, such as vocabulary or grammar? That would probably make for a more natural translation. I'm not saying to go full-blown stark raving prithee, maybe try to emulate the style of books or historical texts written in the 1700s and 1800s.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 05:45

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

TOO SCSI FOR MY CAT posted:

"Sir" and "Dame", to me, include connotations of royalty and upper-class; depending on who the character is and who they're addressing, this might be appropriate or not.

Does the character have enough lines that you could indicate archaic dialect through some other mechanism, such as vocabulary or grammar? That would probably make for a more natural translation. I'm not saying to go full-blown stark raving prithee, maybe try to emulate the style of books or historical texts written in the 1700s and 1800s.

There are enough lines, but quite frankly I don't think I'm a good enough writer for that. I have enough trouble as it is giving characters a slightly different "voice" and I don't think I succeed most of the time. And let's be honest here: I'm translating comics about "young ladies" getting drunk every month. Quick characterization shortcuts to avoid having to have good writing is kind of the name of the game. Although I am constantly tempted to have Marisa talk like a cowboy.

As for the connotations of nobility, I think that might be the case for "dono" as well. Again, feudal. It's a bit hard to tell though because no one actually uses it anymore.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 06:05

apophenium: Apr 14, 2009

After largely ignoring this series I figured I'd give it a legitimate shot. I couldn't figure out where the link to download Imperishable Night was on its homepage, so I've been fooling around with Subterranean Animism. Stage 2 is really kicking my rear end on normal. I'm very hesitant to use bombs so I end up dying in some dumb spots. I'm also trying to not use continues and actually get better at the tough spots. In any case, I really didn't expect to be enjoying it as much as I am. Should I continue with Subterranean Animism or should I try one of the other ones?

# ? Jul 31, 2013 06:17

AdorableStar: Jul 13, 2013

apophenium posted:

After largely ignoring this series I figured I'd give it a legitimate shot. I couldn't figure out where the link to download Imperishable Night was on its homepage, so I've been fooling around with Subterranean Animism. Stage 2 is really kicking my rear end on normal. I'm very hesitant to use bombs so I end up dying in some dumb spots. I'm also trying to not use continues and actually get better at the tough spots. In any case, I really didn't expect to be enjoying it as much as I am. Should I continue with Subterranean Animism or should I try one of the other ones?

Why would you not use continues? As I understand it, it restarts the stage you're in when you're talking about games after MoF. It doesn't continue you over the spot where you died, but restarts the stage itself. It won't count for a 1cc, but I don't think you're trying for that right now.

And I definately reccomend PCB. But that's just because I have a bias towards it.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 06:20

DrSunshine: Mar 23, 2009; Did I just say that out loud~~?!!!

Clarste posted:

Okay, this is a kind of a tangent and maybe you guys won't appreciate this but I feel like I have to ask.

As some of you are aware I translate the official Touhou comics. I wouldn't say I'm a particularly great translator, but I try not to be completely terrible. Anyway, in a chapter I'm currently translating, (kinda but not really spoiler, sort of a dialect question that may reveal who shows up) there's a character who uses the honorific "dono". Which is basically an old fashioned way to address people that in the modern era makes people think of samurai dramas. It probably has some more nuance to it, historically, but nowadays dono pretty much equals feudal. A quick way of establishing a character as archaic. That's all well and good, but how should it be translated? My first thought is "Sir" as in "Sir Bob, slayer of dragons" which makes people think of knights and I think that's appropriate, but the feminine equivalent of that (and of course I need the feminine equivalent) is "Dame" which is a bit less common and maybe looks kinda weird. Well, weird enough that I hesitate to use it. Dame Reimu?

"Lady" is another option but that's the feminine equivalent of "Lord" and has more connotations of subservience than I think are appropriate, and overlaps with "sama". Actually, it's currently translated that way on the wiki (Futo uses it), but I'm a bit uncomfortable with that too, although as a wiki though I don't feel any urgency in fixing it, unlike a comic where it becomes set in stone. And of course there are other options. The simplest way would be to leave it as -dono, with maybe a footnote, but I'm kind of proud of the fact that Touhou translations tend to be less Japanophilic than they could be and I wouldn't want to break tradition.

Anyway, I'm probably overthinking this way too much, but I want like a dozenth opinion or something. Most people I've talked to (my friends) have said "Dame" is fine and frankly I've already edited the chapter to use that, but I guess I don't think it's fine so I want someone to talk me out of it. Or give a neutral opinion for why it's fine.

Sorry for the derail.

If I were you, I'd go with "madame".

# ? Jul 31, 2013 06:30

Takoluka: Jun 26, 2009; Don't look at me!

Clarste posted:

Dono

In projects I've been involved with, we usually go with Lady (and Milady), depending on context.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 06:33

Outer Science: Dec 21, 2008; Daisangen

DrSunshine posted:

If I were you, I'd go with "madame".

Yeah, do this. "Sir" and "Madame" as titles evoke an image of Arthurian legend in my mind, which seems to be the sort of thing you're going for. "Dame" just sounds immersion breaking, because even if it is an archaic title, I've never heard it used as such, so it comes across as awkward. Can't speak for anyone else obviously, but it's true for me.

And of course by "title" I mean things like Mr./Mrs.

e: spoilers

# ? Jul 31, 2013 06:55

Schwarzwald: Jul 27, 2004; Don't Blink

I like dame simply because you could have Deimu Reimu.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 06:56

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

Isn't "madame" just, like, French? I don't think I want the character to sound French. Although I guess that would be hilarious, in some sense.

Edit: I can't stop thinking of them talking in a French accent now. Thanks for that.

Clarste fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Jul 31, 2013

# ? Jul 31, 2013 07:13

Outer Science: Dec 21, 2008; Daisangen

I'm fairly sure the word itself is French but when I read it I think of a knight bowing to a woman on a horse, so :shrug:

And now I'm thinking about French Touhous too.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 07:18

Takoluka: Jun 26, 2009; Don't look at me!

Relambrien posted:

I'm fairly sure the word itself is French but when I read it I think of a knight bowing to a woman on a horse, so

Which is how I feel about Lady/Milady. Very knightly.

The thing to consider is that there isn't a 1:1 translation for some of this stuff, and Lady or Dame or Madame could all be used of -sama and -dono. You have to use what sounds the most natural coming out of the mouths of actual people, both the characters and the readers, which is why I err n the side of Lady.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 07:47

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

Takoluka posted:

Which is how I feel about Lady/Milady. Very knightly.

The thing to consider is that there isn't a 1:1 translation for some of this stuff, and Lady or Dame or Madame could all be used of -sama and -dono. You have to use what sounds the most natural coming out of the mouths of actual people, both the characters and the readers, which is why I err n the side of Lady.

That's true, which I guess makes asking without telling you any details kind of pointless, huh? Sounding natural for the audience is the main reason I'm uncomfortable with "Dame". I'm not sure I can accurately judge the audience by myself though, hence this survey.

Edit: Removed some stuff. Changed my mind about spoiling the story just to ask for advice. Sorry if you already read it.

Clarste fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Jul 31, 2013

# ? Jul 31, 2013 08:35

Pureauthor: Jul 8, 2010; ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST

I think something like 'My dear' would work in the context of both sounding polite and being condescending.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 08:41

RacMutau: Jul 4, 2012; I don't need to bench press!

Namtab posted:

I hear lots of people have trouble managing the stars though.

Those fuckin stars. I actually find Reimu harder since all I play is Reimu and you never fight yourself in story mode.
I also met a fellow weightlifter who also plays and has 1CC'ed all games on hard.

I think i'll try to get back into it soon.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 09:02

leather fedora: Jun 27, 2004; The closest acceptable translation is
"die properly"

Relambrien posted:

And now I'm thinking about French Touhous too.

So, the Scarlet Sisters?

# ? Jul 31, 2013 10:11

CommissarMega: Nov 18, 2008; THUNDERDOME LOSER

Speaking of foreign Touhous, Setz has released two English Touhou comics (his other English comics being Dark Souls-related):

http://www.donmai.us/posts/1474965
http://www.donmai.us/posts/1474966

Seriously though, how DOES Tojiko's feet work?

CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Jul 31, 2013

# ? Jul 31, 2013 10:47

versus: Sep 11, 2001

leather fedora posted:

So, the Scarlet Sisters?

Pretty much what I was thinking.

Game-related, I can beat lunatic AI in single matches in 12.3 :shepface:

(and that's it)

versus fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Jul 31, 2013

# ? Jul 31, 2013 11:33

AdorableStar: Jul 13, 2013

I am completely terrible in all aspects of the fighting games; I just press buttons without even knowing how to melee. It works for the first two bosses. On normal.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 11:35

Namtab: Feb 22, 2010

Re: the dono suffix, instead of having it be like "Sir Reimu" or whatever, just throw in a few thous and thees. You can indicate archaic speech in english without giving someone an awkward rear end title.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 14:07

DrSunshine: Mar 23, 2009; Did I just say that out loud~~?!!!

Clarste posted:

Isn't "madame" just, like, French? I don't think I want the character to sound French. Although I guess that would be hilarious, in some sense.

Edit: I can't stop thinking of them talking in a French accent now. Thanks for that.

Okay, go with "Madam" then! Or "Milady" works fine. Seriously, I don't see the major difficulty here, English totally has old-fashioned words for addressing nobility.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 14:20

a cartoon duck: Sep 5, 2011

I was in fact the proest Meiling player in the Touhou LP's Hisoutensoku tournament.

On the issue of writing archaic dialogue, just take some pointers from Steven DeKnight's Spartacus. Just omit articles like "the" and "a" half the time and replace "without", "thanks" and "sorry" with "absent", "gratitude" and "apology", and most importantly, insert "loving" "cock" and "oval office" as often as possible into dialogue, it works perfectly trust me.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 14:38

MadRhetoric: Feb 18, 2011; I POSSESS QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN TOUHOU GAMES

a cartoon duck posted:

I was in fact the proest Meiling player in the Touhou LP's Hisoutensoku tournament.

On the issue of writing archaic dialogue, just take some pointers from Steven DeKnight's Spartacus. Just omit articles like "the" and "a" half the time and replace "without", "thanks" and "sorry" with "absent", "gratitude" and "apology", and most importantly, insert "loving" "cock" and "oval office" as often as possible into dialogue, it works perfectly trust me.

Cock Reimu.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 20:03

Schwarzwald: Jul 27, 2004; Don't Blink

CommissarMega posted:

Seriously though, how DOES Tojiko's feet work?

"Quite well, thank you."

# ? Jul 31, 2013 20:05

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

Okay, Forbidden Scrollery 9 is now translated and on the wiki.

Summary: Marisa abuses the ability to talk to animals for fun and profit, archaic language is used and poorly translated, and no lessons are learned by anyone.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 21:51

a cartoon duck: Sep 5, 2011

Pop-quiz: Who's that Touhou? Touhou characters become kinda exchangeable once you remove their hats, huh?

Also, it's a bit of a shame Forbidden Scrollery and Wild and Horned Hermit introduce youkais every other chapter just to forget about them and move on to the next one. Marisa and the snake shoulda totes become partners in crime.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 22:24

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

While your point is true in general, straight shoulder length black hair is actually kind of rare in Touhou. I can't really think of who you might mistake her for.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 22:33

Fighting Falken: Aug 13, 2012

a cartoon duck posted:

Also, it's a bit of a shame Forbidden Scrollery and Wild and Horned Hermit introduce youkais every other chapter just to forget about them and move on to the next one. Marisa and the snake shoulda totes become partners in crime.

Yeah, I think so too. I thought there would be more on abusing the talking to animals thing, that seemed like a good enough reason to keep the snake around a little longer.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 23:01

KataraniSword: Apr 22, 2008; but at least I don't have
a MLP or MSPA avatar.
I am my own man.

a cartoon duck posted:

Pop-quiz: Who's that Touhou? Touhou characters become kinda exchangeable once you remove their hats, huh?

Which is the reason people always herald ZUN as a master of costume design as opposed to character design.

Clarste posted:

While your point is true in general, straight shoulder length black hair is actually kind of rare in Touhou. I can't really think of who you might mistake her for.

And yeah, to be fair, black-haired Touhous are astoundingly rare, considered. There's Reimu, Kaguya, and.......

# ? Jul 31, 2013 23:27

Redmark: Dec 11, 2012; This one's for you, Morph.
-Evo 2013

To be fair I can't really think of many low-production-value characters that have distinguishable faces. You can have things like Mario, but a big nose and goofy mustache isn't really any different than a goofy hat.

# ? Jul 31, 2013 23:33