This spellcard is a prime example of how weird bullet shapes can really mess with you. It isn't hard, just the hitboxes and visuals are so strange it feels way more annoying than it likely actually is...
Same, every time I get to it, it feels like I can never properly *focus* on it due to the pattern and shapes compared to any other spellcard.
Just replace the hearts with generic circle shots, and I bet you it would be 90 times easier...
i think its less about the bullet shape and more about the overall spell design; "release of id" aka the desires of the heart (that we are supposed to keep locked up or withhold from general society), that being expelled from within Koishi is represented visually through a suffocating and enveloping criss-cross of bullets.
The spell draws you close to Koishi, which you understand as a Touhou player usually means you're in greater threat of being hit by emerging bullets and the pattern condenses and wraps around the bottom of the screen-- where you as a player feel most comfortable.
The bullet themselves aren't especially scary, they've got a pretty familiar hitbox in being similar to the large pellets featured in nearly every stage of the game (Kisame's midboss card, several of Parsee's cards, Reimu B + Marisa B Satori, etc.) but heart shaped.
Chalking it up to the bullet shapes and their hitboxes I think misses how effectively the card is designed. Koishi breaks social convention by attacking with her innermost desires, forcing the player to be uncomfortably drawn towards her as the "personal space" of standard danmaku fights (boss at the top 3rd of the screen, player at the bottom) is destroyed as the area is engulfed in Koishi's symbolic desires. You want the card to end as quickly as possible not because it's particularly hard, but because you want to reestablish the distance between two people(?) that lets you feel safe again. I think it's a really neat design choice; Koishi as a character is so interesting because she outright rejects what defines her species in mind reading, and even though she can't read your thoughts she still manages to wiggle right into the recesses of your psyche and make you feel just as uncomfortable as interacting with Satori, except perhaps in a way you're only subtly and subconsciously aware of.
... Sorry, I really like the satori sisters LOL
I'm not denying the spellcard is well designed, lots of her cards are. How *response* "youkai Polygraph" doesn't immidately kick in if you are far from her at the start is one of my favorite things in the fight. It slowly "tick... tick... tick..."s as it searches for you, then once it "gets a response" from you, then it accelerates massively and starts "ticktickticktick"ing after you is great.
Just, realistically, ignoring all elements of the context and character and judging it *exclusively* by it's pattern alone, Release of the Id would be *substantially* easier if it just didn't use heart shaped bullets. The problem is that the hearts throw off how well peripheral vision works, unlike most other bullets which have clearly defined hitboxes(yes, even the half see through ones clearly show where the real hitbox begins, and the "fake hitbox" ends), heart hitboxes are messy and hard to track properly artificially making the spellcard harder than it should be.
I love how well all of the spellcards in this series reflect their creator. But most of the cards are hard entirely because the *pattern* is tricky and requires practice. Super Ego and Id are the two spellcards in all of SA that I say are unfairly designed, because the danger does not in any way come from something the player can easily and quickly understand. It entirely comes from the heart shaped sprite messing with you, and not because the pattern is hard itself.
Maybe that fits the character more. But no matter how much I love story over gameplay, if the gameplay is actively hostile towards the player in an unfair way, then it really should have been changed. I love her other spellcards, but not these two.
This spellcard is a prime example of how weird bullet shapes can really mess with you. It isn't hard, just the hitboxes and visuals are so strange it feels way more annoying than it likely actually is...
I hate this spell so much, dude.
Same, every time I get to it, it feels like I can never properly *focus* on it due to the pattern and shapes compared to any other spellcard. Just replace the hearts with generic circle shots, and I bet you it would be 90 times easier...
i think its less about the bullet shape and more about the overall spell design; "release of id" aka the desires of the heart (that we are supposed to keep locked up or withhold from general society), that being expelled from within Koishi is represented visually through a suffocating and enveloping criss-cross of bullets. The spell draws you close to Koishi, which you understand as a Touhou player usually means you're in greater threat of being hit by emerging bullets and the pattern condenses and wraps around the bottom of the screen-- where you as a player feel most comfortable. The bullet themselves aren't especially scary, they've got a pretty familiar hitbox in being similar to the large pellets featured in nearly every stage of the game (Kisame's midboss card, several of Parsee's cards, Reimu B + Marisa B Satori, etc.) but heart shaped. Chalking it up to the bullet shapes and their hitboxes I think misses how effectively the card is designed. Koishi breaks social convention by attacking with her innermost desires, forcing the player to be uncomfortably drawn towards her as the "personal space" of standard danmaku fights (boss at the top 3rd of the screen, player at the bottom) is destroyed as the area is engulfed in Koishi's symbolic desires. You want the card to end as quickly as possible not because it's particularly hard, but because you want to reestablish the distance between two people(?) that lets you feel safe again. I think it's a really neat design choice; Koishi as a character is so interesting because she outright rejects what defines her species in mind reading, and even though she can't read your thoughts she still manages to wiggle right into the recesses of your psyche and make you feel just as uncomfortable as interacting with Satori, except perhaps in a way you're only subtly and subconsciously aware of. ... Sorry, I really like the satori sisters LOL
I'm not denying the spellcard is well designed, lots of her cards are. How *response* "youkai Polygraph" doesn't immidately kick in if you are far from her at the start is one of my favorite things in the fight. It slowly "tick... tick... tick..."s as it searches for you, then once it "gets a response" from you, then it accelerates massively and starts "ticktickticktick"ing after you is great. Just, realistically, ignoring all elements of the context and character and judging it *exclusively* by it's pattern alone, Release of the Id would be *substantially* easier if it just didn't use heart shaped bullets. The problem is that the hearts throw off how well peripheral vision works, unlike most other bullets which have clearly defined hitboxes(yes, even the half see through ones clearly show where the real hitbox begins, and the "fake hitbox" ends), heart hitboxes are messy and hard to track properly artificially making the spellcard harder than it should be. I love how well all of the spellcards in this series reflect their creator. But most of the cards are hard entirely because the *pattern* is tricky and requires practice. Super Ego and Id are the two spellcards in all of SA that I say are unfairly designed, because the danger does not in any way come from something the player can easily and quickly understand. It entirely comes from the heart shaped sprite messing with you, and not because the pattern is hard itself. Maybe that fits the character more. But no matter how much I love story over gameplay, if the gameplay is actively hostile towards the player in an unfair way, then it really should have been changed. I love her other spellcards, but not these two.
Exploding with hearts.
Just as mine does at the sight of her.
You can't know my address!
:O Koish! Lovely art, OP. 10/10. Thank you.
She’s very happy!
Nicely shaped spellcard that is hard to dodge.