I was curious about Touhou and how everyone loves it so much, so I downloaded and played a few games and thought they were pretty fun. However, I really wasn't engaged by the world of Gensokyo or the characters - but it seems like everyone follows Touhou for the characters and such. Maybe I'm missing a form of media like those fan-made music videos on Youtube etc?
Basically, how did you guys legit get into Touhou?
1. bullet hells are fun
2. people want to fuck the girls
That's basically the appeal.
I got into touhou by playing the 7th which is truely the first. It was fun dodging all the bullets and i liked the cute characters, it was pretty easy for me. If it doesnt appeal to you then play a later game like 15
>>18149
I personally find everything appealing
The raw character desings are pretty cool, ZUN draws like shit(he's getting better) but the art made of them add so much detail that you get simply possessed by them.
Setting and story is what I like the most but for us gaijins is kind of hard to understand if you aren't very /jp/ or /a/ at least, it talks about how tradittions became forgotten because of modern society and gensokyo is a middle realm created to hold all of that wich has no place to en up to, there you can find gates to worlds that humanity doesn't believe they exist anymore(Makai, Ghost world, even Heaven because of the increment atheists), find youkais/monsters, ghosts, magical creatures, and even gods that we have forgotten, sometimes even that little thing that you lost under the wardrobe and never found again end up in there. In a sense is kind of made so you think that it could be real at some point.
Music is another strong point ZUN's arrangments have a lot of heart and personal touch in them, obviously this en up leading to a shitload of songs and videos who made alternative versions of them, and most are fucking good.
Also the characters have very remarked personalities, you get to know them very well if you follow all the source materials, and ZUN is a cool guy, if the fanbase is too eager to give a feature to some girl, he ends up making it cannon.
>how did you guys legit get into Touhou?
I started with 7.5, a fighting game, I really liked that peculiar fight, win, NOW DODGE system, then I wanted some info on it, discovered Bad apple and Cirno's perfect math class and by that point it was too late.
That's how I see 2hu, I don't know maybe it simply doesn't suit yourt taste but definitely everyone should give it a chance.
>PD: Touhou 8 is the easier.
I just like the music. A lot.
Cute characters, pic related
Pretty much this >>18193
But let's expand on it:
Bullet hells are fun as fuck, yes. And in the earlier windows games, the difficulty was actually pretty high, so it's quite easy to get obsessed with it - kinda like, say, Street Fighter II, except you play a touhou game for longer. Add in incentives like the graze system, and then the versus mode of the phantasmagorias, and you have the recipe for a game series that will make you autistic about it.
And yeah, people want to fuck the girls - and ZUN has helped with it by giving his explicit approval for the use of his characters in doujins, and even in games, as long as it's self-published and not another danmaku. And japanese artists gladly accepted.
>>18149
I like the back story of the characters and their personas.
Liking touhou is something that has to grown on you in your own way.
In my case it was not the games, art or doujin, it was the music.
I simply loved the music (the vanilla music from the games, not arranges and the likes) and still listen to it regularly, at some point i started liking the characters of the songs i liked the most because of their connection to the music and so i started looking into their lores, eventually i downloaded and played the games (Altho i have only beat PCB) and read the official doujins, and of course, watched all the IOSYS and similar works because they are fun.
It's a matter of liking the right part of touhou for you for the rest of it to grow on you over time.
>>18259
The music is definitely a big aspect.
>>18149
I like it because:
1. Bullet hell games are oddly mesmerizing
2. ZUN made GREAT music for most of the games
I know a lot of people that are in it because they want to put their penis in the girls, but the music is what really does it for me. Very well composed, sounds great. Been playing it since TouHou 6 EOSD, fell in love instantly. I'm not really into anime anymore, and I still love these games.
>>18149
it's sort of like pony:
1.original product is good
2.original product has cute girls
as a result, fans make things which sustains the community
the world and characters are developed more in the doujins
My gf loves Touhou but she hasn't played any of the games, she just loves the music it produces as well as cute girls doing cute things.
>>18911
>Having a disgusting secondary as a GF
>>18149
There is nothing really appealing about touhou. It's just autism basically. MLP, but for weebs.
>>18933
Watch those edges kid, you might cut somebody
The games are fun and the doujins are good
>>18149
/r/ing a pic that listed what gave Touhou its appeal, it was
>intricate and difficult bullet patterns
>great music
>cute and/or fuckable (moe) girls
>very good character designs
>Eastern mysyicism themes
>cheesy official art
>enormous amount of fan-made content of all kind
>>19003
I don't think it's the image you're looking for but it's close.
In answer to OP's question Touhou is great because there is something for everyone. The games are pretty unique and addictive for bullet hells. 1cc'ing them is a great adrenaline rush.
Zun's arrangements are great and have resulted in many great remixes.
Most Touhou fan games have an absurd amount of effort put into them for a not for profit game.
The lore is pretty great: the background is detailed while leaving plenty open to interpretation.
Considering the above statement there is all types of doujinshi. Whether you want Grimsokyo, a cute story, or anything inbetween, you've got it.
>>19003
Also this
>>18149
I saw fanart then I played Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Imperishable Night, and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody.
[spoiler]I haven't beaten any of them.[/spoiler]
>>18213
I like very little of the music a lot and hate the rest with a passion.
Cute girls, repetitive music, and porn
>>18149
Cute hats.
Also the character designs are just great. I mean just spend a few minutes reading through some of the character descriptions and you'll see why a lot of artists like to use touhou. Especially when you consider them altogether you can combine characters in pretty interesting ways. The amount of uses for an ice fairy alone number in the billions. Pic related.
They're really cute, but also sexual since you have something for just about every fetish possible.
Also things like anime or manga leave less tot he imagination since they tell stories in more detail.
Touhou is pretty loose and lets fans fill in a lot of the gaps so they feel more involved.
The games are ok, but I think a lot of the appeal is just the massive amount of fan made content.
