Touhou 13: Ten Desires (Drillimation)

Touhou 13: Ten Desires, known in Japan as Touhou Shinreibyou (東方神霊廟) is a 2001 3D maniac shooter game developed by the Team Shanghai Alice branch at Drillimation Studios and published by Namco for the arcades and home consoles. It was released in the arcades on April 15, 2001, followed by a release on the PlayStation 2 and home computers on August 15, 2001. Releases on the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox later followed as a launch title for both consoles.

Gameplay
The new game mechanics for Ten Desires features divine spirits. These divine spirits are released when enemies are killed, bosses are damaged, and at certain scripted events. The blue spirits add 10 to the player's "score value" (the number of points granted for collecting a point item at the top of the screen), in addition to slightly filling the player's trance gauge (see below). Gray spirits provide a larger increase to the trance gauge and act like additional Point items, giving you the current maximum Point value no matter where they are on the screen. Green spirits add 1 point to the bomb meter, and purple adds 1 point to the life meter. Extra lives are awarded at 10 life points for the first life, 15 for the second, 20 for the third, and so on. Bombs are awarded at 10 bomb points regardless of how many are acquired.

Grazing adds to the score value as well; every 10 bullets grazed increases score value by 10. Additionally, bosses can be "grazed" as they emit blue (and gray) spirits every few shots, and if one stays close enough to the boss they can absorb all the spirits that it emits. The rate at which spirits spawn is negatively correlated with the distance from the boss; The closer the character is, the faster spirits will spawn. This makes sitting on top of bosses while in trance a highly profitable score return.

At the end of every spell card (with the exception of the last spell card of a boss) the boss emits 1 green spirit, and 1 purple spirit (along with blues and grays).

The Trance gauge consists of zero to three flames that are built up by collecting blue and gray divine spirits. The player begins the game with one flame and can collect up to a max stock of three. Pressing the 'C' button when all 3 gauges are full will trigger a powerful, 10-second long trance state, where the character gets an upgraded shot type and is not damaged by enemy bullets. While in a trance state, the divine spirits take on a new shape that not only makes them much easier to see, it also makes them worth more. Blue spirits get x10 effectiveness, while purple and green get x2 effectiveness. If a character is struck by an enemy bullet while there is at least one full trance gauge remaining, the trance-state will automatically trigger, with the loss of a life once the timer runs down. The duration of the death trance depends on the amount of gauge collected to that point. In addition, when a trance (whether activated manually or upon receiving damage) expires, the player's trance gauge is reset to 0.

Shooting unfocused yields a higher score rate than shooting while focused. Divine spirits hover in roughly the same place while shrinking in size for approximately ten seconds before disappearing. In addition, they cannot be auto-collected (except by Reimu in Trance Mode). When a "death-trance" is finishing it still deals damage to everything on the screen similar to the way when a character would die normally. It is not possible to deathbomb while at least one gauge of the trance meter is full (that is when death-trance is possible).

Plot
Taking place after the events of Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object, a large number of spirits are being found throughout the city. Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, and Youmu intend to see what is going on. Depending on who you choose, one of them goes out and investigates.

The first place the heroine heads of to is the Netherworld, where spirits often go. While investigating, the heroine encounters Yuyuko Saigyouji. Yuyuko states that she has no idea what the spirits are going around for. The heroine battles with Yuyuko and Yuyuko is defeated. Yuyuko states that they are no ordinary spirits; they are 'divine spirits'. Yuyuko gives the heroine a hint: the graveyard behind the Myouren Temple. The heroine proceeds to the temple. While looking around, the heroine confronts Kyouko Kasodani, the temple's cleaner. Kyouko is easily defeated, and the heroine goes to the graveyard of the temple. Not too long after, the heroine meets Kogasa Tatara, who asks the heroine to defeat a girl who's guarding the place. Instead, the heroine attacks Kogasa and continues on. Eventually, they meet Yoshika Miyako, the Jiang Shi protecting the mausoleum. Yoshika is ultimately defeated and opens the door to the mausoleum.

Inside, there are way more divine spirits then there were before. The heroine tries to proceed but encounters Seiga Kaku. Seiga resurrected Yoshika and used her as a guard of the mausoleum. Seiga, with the help of Yoshika, battles the heroine to prevent them from proceeding. However, they are defeated. Seiga states that this temple was built in order to prevent someone from being resurrected. As the heroine goes in further, the heroine finds Soga no Tojiko, who is quickly defeated. Eventually, the heroine encounters Mononobe no Futo. Futo battles the heroine and is defeated. After being defeated, Futo realizes that the 'Crown Prince' is being resurrected and quickly goes to see what is going on. The heroine continues in the mausoleum and sees a ton of divine spirits. After a bit of wandering around, the heroine encounters Toyosatomimi no Miko, a Saint who had just been resurrected. The divine spirits were gathering here to see the resurrection of a holy person, the holy person being Miko. The heroine and Miko battle and Miko is defeated.

Sometime later, the heroine investigates around the Myouren Temple. After going around, an angry Nue Houjuu comes out. Nue seems to be angry that Miko was resurrected. Nue attacks the heroine but is easily defeated. After going through some danmaku, the heroine meets Mamizou Futatsuiwa, who claims that Nue sent her here. Mamizou heard that the heroine defeated Nue and Miko. Mamizou decided to have a battle with the heroine to see how powerful she was. In the end, Mamizou is defeated.

Development
Development of the game began in early 2000, a few months after Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object completed development. During development, an anime series based on the series titled Touhou Project: The Animated Series, produced by El TV Kadsre Animation in conjunction with Drillimation Studios, was airing. Unsure where to go next, ZUN was asked by Namco to develop the game using Driller Engine 4 and on a new arcade board, which was still in beta.

The same engine from Undefined Fantastic Object was used, and because the game was being developed using more advanced technology, the resolution was increased from 640x480 to 1024x768. Character models and environments became more realistic as a result of Susumu Takajima experimenting with the 3D modeling software Autodesk Maya. It was difficult for Drillimation to support Maya models in Driller Engine 4, so Takajima tweaked the engine to fully support them.

Because of the realistic switch, ZUN switched to a new synth for the game's soundtrack: the Edirol SD-90. The SD-90 was utilized as a VST synth in Open ModPlug Tracker, the program used to compose the game's soundtrack. Besides these normal versions of the tracks, all the stage and boss themes (except during the battle with Miko Toyosatomimi) also have "spirit world" versions. The normal version focuses primarily on the melody and harmony and contains relatively few background voices compared to ZUN's previous compositions. Upon entering trance mode, the music switches to the "spirit world" version. It's recorded using a lower sampling rate (22050 Hz) and focuses primarily on the rhythm and accompanying voices. Mixes have been created utilizing both soundtracks, which produces a different sound than when listening to either track on its own.

The game was unveiled in February 2001 during the Spring Drillimation Direct.

Reception
Ten Desires received mostly positive reviews. The game holds an 82% on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Behind the Scenes

 * This is the first Touhou Project game to:
 * Be released on an Xbox console.
 * This is also the first game in the series to release in North America first before Japan for that platform.
 * Be released for sixth generation consoles.
 * Be released in the 21st century.
 * Use more realistic graphics.
 * Use a different synth for music.
 * Be a launch title on a Nintendo and Microsoft console.
 * Have a final boss reappear as a first-stage boss.
 * This is the only game in the series to be made in Driller Engine 4.